People familiar with Japanese arcade culture / business, please tell me if I have this correct:
Some pachinko parlors are “gambling” type. In these, you can exchange balls for a “special prize”, and then trade the special prize at a nearby shop for cash. This is called the “three store system”.
These “special prizes” are often a small quantity of gold, but can also be other things like gift sets of golf balls or lipstick. They also have “normal” prizes you can buy with balls, but which you can’t exchange for cash.
These “gambling” type parlors sometimes also contain medal games, which work the same way; you can exchange medals for a “special prize” or normal prizes.
“Amusement” type arcades in Japan (like Round1), have medal games (and pachinko machines?), but you can not exchange medals for **any** prizes. The **only** use for medals in these arcades is playing medal games.
In America (and probably some other countries as well), arcades often have “redemption” games you can play for “tickets”, and then you can exchange these tickets for prizes. But there is no system for exchanging those prizes for cash.
Tourists to Japan are sometimes confused because they’ve heard about pachinko parlors with prizes, and/or they’re used to the American “tickets” system. They go to an “amusement” arcade and win medals, and expect to be able to exchange the medals for a prize, but there are no prizes.
Do I have this correct?
**Follow-up questions:**
Is it rare these days for “amusement” arcades to have pachinko machines?
Are there places in Japan that DO have prizes, but don’t have “special prizes”?
Are there arcades in Japan that use a “tickets” system like American arcades? If so, are there ever games that award tickets and games that award medals in the same arcade?
Are the “gambling” type parlors dying out?
(I also posted this in r/pachinko , but it looks like that forum is more specifically about collecting and repairing the machines than about pachinko parlors / arcades.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/151mcbp/questions_about_gambling_vs_amusement_places_in/
1 comment
>Some pachinko parlors are “gambling” type.
Basically all of them.
>These “special prizes” are often a small quantity of gold, but can also be other things like gift sets of golf balls or lipstick. They also have “normal” prizes you can buy with balls, but which you can’t exchange for cash.
No, the ‘special’ prizes are the gold tokens/chips. Extras like the golf balls or CDs or whatever are all “normal.” Mostly, if you have ‘extra’ balls left over after you get your gold chips, you use the rest on snacks, because in the end the ‘regular’ prizes are 99% for appearances.
>These “gambling” type parlors sometimes also contain medal games
No? They’re generally only pachinko or pachislo, both for “gambling.”
> Tourists to Japan are sometimes confused because they’ve heard about pachinko parlors with prizes, and/or they’re used to the American “tickets” system.
Are they? Never heard of that before.
>They go to an “amusement” arcade and win medals, and expect to be able to exchange the medals for a prize, but there are no prizes.
This might be an issue, I suppose? At most arcades the prizes are all in crane games.
>Are the “gambling” type parlors dying out?
[Yes](http://pachinko-shiryoshitsu.jp/en/structure-industry/scale/), but who knows what happens once gambling is legalized in Japan (we’re getting casino resorts in Osaka in the next few years).