SILVER BALL PLANET
PINBALL ARCADE


Location: 3rd Floor, Big Step shopping centre, 1-6-14 Nishishinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka 542-0086, Japan
Date: March 2014

Report by John

In mid-March 2014, I had my second visit to Silver Ball Planet Arcade and stayed two-and-a-half days there.

The Big Step shopping mall
The Big Step shopping mall

There had been four major changes since my previous visit in early January 2014.

  • An entry fee was no longer required, and the cost of most machines was Yen100 per game

No entry fee required
No entry fee required

  • Some Japanese pinball user guide were available

Japanese guides to playing pinball
Japanese guides to playing the pinball machines

  • Starting in March 2014, a regular IFPA recognized pinball tournament will be held on the last Saturday every month.

A regular tournament each month
A regular tournament each month

  • There were 22 more machines, bringing the total to around 60 machines.
  1. Evil Knievel (Bally, 1976)
  2. Space Invaders (Bally, 1979) *
  3. Skateball (Bally, 1980) *
  4. Guns 'N Roses (Data East, 1994)
  5. World Cup Soccer (Midway,1994)
  6. South Park (Sega, 1999)
  7. Starship Troopers (Sega, 1997)*
  8. Harley Davidson (Stern 1999)
  9. Austin Powers (Stern 2001)
  10. Monopoly (Stern 2001)
  11. Playboy (Stern, 2002)*
  12. Shrek (Stern,2008)
  13. Tron Legacy (Stern 2011)
  14. AC/DC Pro (Stern 2012)
  15. Avengers Pro (Stern 2012)
  16. Metallica Pro (Stern 2013)
  17. World Cup (Williams 1978)*
  18. Black Knight (Williams 1980)*
  19. Space Shuttle (Williams 1984)*
  20. Funhouse (Williams 1990)
  21. Bram Stoker's’s Dracula (Williams 1993)
  22. No Fear Dangerous Sports (Williams  1994)
  23. Congo (Williams, 1995)
  24. Dirty Harry (Williams, 1995)*
  25. The Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb 1980)**

Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel

Space Invaders
Space Invaders

Skateball
Skateball

Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers

Playboy
Playboy

World Cup
World Cup

Black Knight
Black Knight

Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle

Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry

One interesting thing I noted from the Starship Troopers pinball - the right upper flipper operates independently from the right lower flipper. This is my first time I had seen this design.

Independent flipper control
Independent flipper control

On the second day, I had a casual but fruitful meeting with David (the organiser of the monthly pinball tournament at the SBP), Mr. Mori (Manager of the SBP) and other guests. We shared our opinions and knowledge about pinball.

Casual meetings
Casual meetings

I got the following information from Mr. Mori:

  • There would be another batch of 21 pinballs coming to SBP.  His target is to have around 100 machines in SBP.

  • The aim of setting up the SBP is to introduce pinball (as part of American culture) to Japanese youngsters.  Hopefully, this will also benefit other fashion shops inside the Big Step shopping mall, which is also known as 'American Village'.

  • Some of the pinballs would be put into other locations (eg. bowling centres) under the same company.

This time, I stayed at SBP for a total of two-and-a-half days, and had the following best scores:

High scores on Shrek, and Spider-Man
High scores on Shrek, and Spider-Man

If I have more leisure time I will definitely make a return visit to the SBP later this year. (^o^)


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