A-Pachinko

[john4541]

hello, the machines on the a--pachinko.store site are very very clean ( This is the first time I have received such a clean machine. ). I received machines from pachi games and jt comatz and they are full of dust. there is a price difference, that's for sure and a--pachinko.store should offer transport by pallet.

[Falken Hawke]

hello, the machines on the a--pachinko.store site are very very clean ( This is the first time I have received such a clean machine. ). I received machines from pachi games and jt comatz and they are full of dust. there is a price difference, that's for sure and a--pachinko.store should offer transport by pallet.

I chose to go with A-Pachinko because they clean the machines. Yes I could do it myself and save money but with the kind of "stuff" that gets removed from cleaning, I'd rather pay someone else... :S As for shipping, I get the impression they'd accomodate options as someone obviously received a shipment that wasn't via DHL. Just my experience with my single purchase also gives the impression of their accomodating attitude.

Again, it may cost more with what they do but if one simply asked, I'm sure they'd be more than able to work something out.

[TheDilPickle]

My first order I did with them was via UPS. That ended up being a disaster on UPS’ end with 4of 7 machines being severely damaged. Junna/Satoru immediately worked on sending all new fully cleaned machines/cells as replacements (depending on the damage). They were so apologetic and helpful with me during this. This is when I suggested we try DHL as a way to ship since I know their international shipping department has always worked well for me. Not only did everything arrive in full working order but arrived even faster than UPS. My subsequent second order I made with them about a month later was then done via DHL as seen in the photos I posted on the pallets etc. They may cost a little more but they truly do go above and beyond and exceed my expectations.

[Drunkenclam]

It must be a worldwide thing. Because I will never use UPS again. That was just a small box from UK to Germany.

[Falken Hawke]

I received my order today, 1 pachislot, "Girls und Panzer". First off, A-Pachinko was very communicative the whole time.

First I was informed of the time frame for each step from disassembly, cleaning, reassembly, testing, packaging, local (within Japan) shipping, and International shipping.

To my surprise, this was followed up with a PDF progress report showing the machine being packed as well as a link to a video showing the machine working.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoseIo...ature=youtu.be

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hmzv0...ature=youtu.be

I was also sent pictures of the prepared shipment:

IMG_7422.JPG

The good part ends here. DHL (to me anyway) screwed this up every which way they could...

IMG_20220224_131105.jpg

Note the orientation of the box BTW...

IMG_20220224_131045.jpg

To be clear, this is the BOTTOM of the box. Note the bottom of the box when sent to me was sitting on a pallete.

Despite DHL's attempt (to me anyway) to screw up my machine, I received it working and not physically damaged along with 1000 Bi-metal metals and a coinless adapter. I am a bit upset about the missing pallete though, I had plans for it.

[jasonlujan]

their prices on pachinkos seem to have skyrocketed

[Falken Hawke]

First off, a door hinge on my machine broke, preventing the bottom door from closing. On a wild shot, I emailed A-Pachinko hoping they would be able to provide a replacement (and a spare). After a few details, I was accomodated and have replacements on the way.

Second, I was notified their shipping cost has been reduced for some destinations via FedEx. I know this doesn't compete with many who are able to group ship but for some of us like myself, every little bit helps

https://a-pachinko.store/blogs/new/s...-price-reduced

[Sneech]

Hello, I am new to Pachitalk and having just visited Japan for the first time in October, already fell in love with pachinko and have my very first machine on the way from Japan ordered from A-Pachinko. While fairly expensive, A-Pachinkos prices seemed reasonable when comparing them to the other two USA Pachinko resellers I had found in my initial Pachinko research, namely Clover Collectables, and Modern Pachinko. I slightly regret not finding out about and joining Pachitalk first as I've started reading about private groups on here people are able to get machines for just a few hundred dollars and also reasonable shipping! I'd be very interested in learning more about those when I inevitably choose to expand my collection!

As far as A-Pachinko goes, they were very communicative during the whole process. I ordered my pachinko on Oct 23 and it shipped out today Nov 7th from Japan. FedEx is estimating it should arrive by 11/13. The pachinko was $758.24 + $400 shipping from Japan to USA = $1,158.24 total for my first machine. I'll post again when it arrives about any additional incurred Customs charges if any and condition upon arrival.

I had also added 1000 pachinko balls to my order for $20 since I'm just starting out and have no balls. I was hoping that they would be able to include it in the pachinko box and not have additional shipping charges but unfortunately they could not do that and wanted an additional $150 shipping to ship the $20 pachinko balls from Japan. I was able to cancel the balls part of the order since that's just way too much and just have the pachinko machine coming. I was able to find 1000 11mm bearings on Amazon for around $60 shipped so I just got those, if anyone here knows a better place to get balls cheap in the US please let me know!

[lotsoballs]

Hello, I am new to Pachitalk and having just visited Japan for the first time in October, already fell in love with pachinko and have my very first machine on the way from Japan ordered from A-Pachinko. While fairly expensive, A-Pachinkos prices seemed reasonable when comparing them to the other two USA Pachinko resellers I had found in my initial Pachinko research, namely Clover Collectables, and Modern Pachinko. I slightly regret not finding out about and joining Pachitalk first as I've started reading about private groups on here people are able to get machines for just a few hundred dollars and also reasonable shipping! I'd be very interested in learning more about those when I inevitably choose to expand my collection!

As far as A-Pachinko goes, they were very communicative during the whole process. I ordered my pachinko on Oct 23 and it shipped out today Nov 7th from Japan. FedEx is estimating it should arrive by 11/13. The pachinko was $758.24 + $400 shipping from Japan to USA = $1,158.24 total for my first machine. I'll post again when it arrives about any additional incurred Customs charges if any and condition upon arrival.

I had also added 1000 pachinko balls to my order for $20 since I'm just starting out and have no balls. I was hoping that they would be able to include it in the pachinko box and not have additional shipping charges but unfortunately they could not do that and wanted an additional $150 shipping to ship the $20 pachinko balls from Japan. I was able to cancel the balls part of the order since that's just way too much and just have the pachinko machine coming. I was able to find 1000 11mm bearings on Amazon for around $60 shipped so I just got those, if anyone here knows a better place to get balls cheap in the US please let me know!

Congrats on the new machine! But you probably shouldn’t have bought the Amazon ball bearings as they are known to cause ball jams and other problems. I’d buy some real pachinko balls off a vendor on eBay or Clover Collectables

If you can afford $1000+ pachinko; you can afford to buy real pachinko balls.

https://clovercollectables.com/produ...inko-balls-500

[Sneech]

Congrats on the new machine! But you probably shouldn’t have bought the Amazon ball bearings as they are known to cause ball jams and other problems. I’d buy some real pachinko balls off a vendor on eBay or Clover Collectables

If you can afford $1000+ pachinko; you can afford to buy real pachinko balls.

https://clovercollectables.com/produ...inko-balls-500

Thanks for the info! Good to know about the issues with Amazon balls, I haven't heard anything about that until now. Can you share some more info on why they are known to cause jams and the other problems?
I'll have to compare them with the 100 balls that the machine comes with to confirm the dimensions are the same. I received them awhile back and they look fine and don't have any machining oil on them or anything like that.

That's the issue though, I can't afford $1000+ pachinko and prob shouldn't have purchased it and am too broke to afford a ball lifter, or balls for that matter LOL... cries... When I was initially looking I saw machines in the $2-$3k price range so I thought getting one for just over $1k shipped was a good deal, until I came here! Hahaha Once I'm not broke I'll definitely be interested in getting more machines for a fraction of that price. May I ask your favorite place to get them from?

[Bowl987]

My favorite place to buy pachinko balls is from pachitalk members! Sometimes members buy in bulk and sell on here.

I think one of the issues with ball bearings is their weight. I know it is an issue with vintage machines, not so sure about the modern machines.

[lotsoballs]

I stocked up with a case of 4000 balls from JT Comatz in the last group shipment.

Otherwise I normally get them from Clover Collectables or pachinko pagoda on eBay.

There’s a few threads around here and many posts on the various Facebook pachinko groups complaining about Amazon ball bearings causing payout issues or ball jams. I have not personally tested Amazon ball bearings in a modern pachinko… maybe they won’t cause issues; maybe they will!

If you research and shop around you can get real chrome plated pachinko balls for the same price or even less as Amazon ball bearings.

[lotsoballs]

The supposedly 11mm ball bearing on Amazon are really 7/16” which is 11.13 mm.

Slightly bigger diameter (and weight?) than real pachinko balls. The difference is not much; but enough to cause issues for some machines it seems…

[takethecastle57]

Back in 2002 it was hard to find any quantity of pachinko balls at a good price so I did try the hardware store ball bearings and was not happy . The folks now are Really lucky to get them at a Really good price .