pachinko
(pəˈtʃɪŋkəʊ)
Also pachinco.
[Jap. pachin onomatopœic word repr. the sound of something triggered off + ko dim. suffix.]
A variety of pin-ball popular in Japan. Also attrib.
| 1953 Encounter Nov. 7/2 In Tokyo there are 5,000 registered pachinko halls. 1954 J. L. Morse Unicorn Bk. 1953 262/1 An interesting development in Japan was the popular craze for pachinko, a kind of poor-man's pinball game. 1964 Listener 8 Oct. 540/2 Pachinko is played with handfuls of ball-bearings. You drop them, one by one, into the machine, flick them round, and if they land in a winning cup, the machine coughs back fifteen ball-bearings which are bought in the first place, twenty-five at a time, for fifty yen (one shilling). If you amass enough of them, they can be exchanged for prizes. 1971 Guardian 11 June 11/6 Pachinco machines, dozens of them side by side in rows..are all identical. A trigger shoots off a ball which may find its way into a slot and produce a jackpot of balls. 1973 A. Broinowski Take One Ambassador v. 55 This [joint] next door's pachinko..reminds me of some of the leagues clubs at home. Ibid. 56 They'll [sc. the Japanese]..spend their time in a useless game like this pachinko. |