Pachinko and Slot Machines

Some people like to do a bit of gambling from time to time.  It may to be try and make a big win and walk away with lots of money, or some might just like the thrill.  Well in Japan you can go fuck yourself, that shits about illegal as it gets, but that doesn't mean there isn't something else in place for you to pump money into.

Dotted all over the country are these Pachinko and Slot places, that I have seen many times, but actually have very little experience with.  But what you have to realise is that these places aren't for gambling, not really.  You exchange money for medals (slots) or little round balls (pachinko) and as you play you can win more.  When you are done, you convert these medals or balls into a ticket, which you can then "cash in" for prizes.  Think of it like those ticket arcade machines, but instead of shitty plush toys you can get beer and cigarettes and stuff, hell I've even seen game systems behind the prize counter.  So kind of like gambling but not really.

That said, I've only ever seen pachinko, and I've only ever tried slots once.  I mean I don't mind heading to a casino in the UK to play some card games, but things like slot machines have never appealed to me.

However what does intrigue me is why almost all the machines are themed around some kind of video game or anime series.  When I think about the kind of person that would be into this kind of gambling, I don't think about gamers or anime fans.  These kind of people, at least in my head, would rather spend money on anime and video games than fucking slot machines.

The above picture is the only slot machine type I have ever tried, and I mean look at this fucking thing, it's all Neon Genesis Evangelion themed and stuff.  But they are ALL like this and it's not just slot machines too, there are Evangelion and Tekken themed pachinko machines too! The strangest one I've seen on YouTube was a Shadow Hearts themed machine, I mean goddamn is there anything they won't theme a machine after?

So yeah, that's the phenomenon of pachinko and slot that I just do not comprehend at all.  I've heard that you can go trade your prize ticket to a guy who will then give you cash, but the guy might be yakuza or something, I don't know I've never seen it.  If anyone does have any experience with this stuff I'd love to hear it, I don't really want to spend my money to find out.