If you have played the Yakuza game series from Sega, also known as Like A Dragon, or have visited Japan in real life, you might have come across pachinko parlours where an array of flashy slots are set with colourful animation on the screen and a deafening noise. If you’re familiar with the American TV Show, The Price Is Right, the name Pachinko must ring a bell, as it sounds similar to one of its prize games, “Plinko“. So, what is the Pachinko game really? Is it somehow related to Plinko?
What Is Pachinko?
Pachinko is a Japanese arcade-style game that sits somewhere between a slot machine and pinball. It is believed to have derived from the Corinth Game from the United States (See: A little about the machines….). There is also PachiSlot, short of Pachinko Slot, which is a combination of slots and pachinko.
At a pachinko parlour, players buy trays of small metal balls, fire them into a vertical board filled with pins, and hope the balls drop into winning pockets. Prizes are won as more balls, then swapped for small goods, which are then exchanged for cash at a nearby shop. This prize exchange loop exists because direct cash payouts are restricted under Japanese gambling laws, so pachinko operates in a legal grey area as a “semi-gambling” pastime that pays out indirectly.
Pachinko Slots in Yakuza
In the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, pachinko is a gambling-style minigame set in parlours where you buy trays of metal balls, fire them into a vertical machine, try to trigger spins/jackpots, then use the jackpot phase to earn large numbers of balls that can be cashed out for plates and other prizes.
In Yakuza 4 and 5, you’ll find pachinko parlours like Volcano (Kamurocho) and Lucky Parlour (Nagasugai). Machines include Virtua Fighter and Aladdin Destiny. You adjust ball launch speed to feed a “start” pocket under the screen; each hit grants a spin, and jackpots open a lower drawer/gate to farm balls for a limited time. Virtua Fighter adds a “fight” bonus sequence after jackpots (timed button presses), while Aladdin Destiny focuses on managing stored spins. Completion goals typically require finishing a session with thousands more balls than you started (e.g., +5,000 in Yakuza 4; +7,777 in Yakuza 5). Cheat items like the Get-Rich-Quick Card, Chance Stone, and Gambler’s Amulet can boost your odds or guarantee an early jackpot.
In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the parallel minigame is “Pachinko Slots” (pachislot), which is a 3‑reel slot you stop manually to match symbols, win medals, and exchange them for items/plates at parlour counters (e.g., Maruhan, Espace Nittaku, PIA). It has its own controls and prize tables distinct from the ball‑based pachinko machines of earlier games.
Note: On some PC releases of Yakuza 4 and 5, the pachinko minigames were removed and related completion targets adjusted, whereas console remasters retained them.
Pachinko, Plinko, and Why People Mix Them Up
Outside Japan, people sometimes compare pachinko to plinko, a peg board game popular on TV and now online. The resemblance comes from balls or chips bouncing down pegs into prize pockets. In recent years, plinko games have been more of a gambling product offered by online casinos and crypto sites, not a street parlour format. It is digital, uses transparent odds systems, and pays out directly within a player account, which makes it quite different from pachinko’s physical halls and prize exchange model.
Difference Between Pachinko and Plinko
Pachinko is a physical Japanese arcade gambling-style game played with metal balls and prize exchanges, whereas plinko is a pegboard drop game popularised on TV and now mostly offered online with transparent, RNG/provably fair mechanics and direct cash payouts. They look similar (balls/chips bouncing through pegs) but are distinct games. The key difference includes:
- Gameplay
- Payout model
- Odds and transparency
Gameplay
In Pachinko, you shoot balls into a vertical pinboard and aim to earn more balls. The experience is tied to physical machines in parlours. On the other hand, plinko has you drop a chip/ball down a peg pyramid. Online versions let you set rows and risk/volatility and often include features like Lightning mode, custom strategies, or head‑to‑head battles.
Payout Model
Pachinko winnings are exchanged for prizes (with cashing out typically handled indirectly via prize exchange), not paid out directly at the machine. Online plinko pays based on the RTP, and your win is calculated as your stake times the multiplier of the pocket your plinko ball lands in.
Odds and Transparency
Pachinko operates as a physical amusement/gambling hybrid. Machines are not typically presented to players with an explicit RTP figure in the same way as online plinko. On the other hand, RTP/house edge is published (often around 96–99%), and “provably fair” systems are common in online plinko.
Pachinko Explained with Plinko
In short, pachinko is a uniquely Japanese, physical, semi‑gambling pastime built around firing metal balls and converting winnings via an indirect prize‑exchange loop, and the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series mirrors this with parlour minigames, ranging from classic ball‑based machines to pachislot, where you earn medals and swap them for items/plates, with some PC versions omitting these modes entirely.
While the bouncing‑through‑pegs look invites comparisons to TV‑popular plinko, they’re not the same: pachinko’s gameplay, payout model, and opacity differ from online plinko’s direct payouts and published RTP/provably‑fair systems.
Treat it as a cultural cameo rather than a Plinko clone, and remember that legality varies by region and you should play responsibly.
Whether online gambling is legal or not depends on where you live. COGconnected doesn’t offer any legal advice. Gambling can be addictive. Play responsibly.