Probably the most famous money game in Japan, the pachinko (パチンコ) is an amusement machine that looks a bit like a flipper, but standing vertically. Using turnbuttons, the player tries to redirect little silver balls flowing down, in order to multiply them. The balls collected in baskets stacked behind the player will eventually be exchanged against various prices. (Note that people will look at you badly if you try to collect the balls that falled on the ground)

pachinko

Pachinko stores (or pachinko-yasan, as they are called) are often noisy and smoky places where hundreds of people go every day to releave their stress by spending hours (and thousands of yes!) facing these “happiness machines”.