The Japanese Game Center

Although you might be pressed to find a DDR setup these days, full-fledged VR Gundam capsules, multilayered music synthesisers, and beautifying photo booths are just a sampling of entertainment to be had.

If you’re a high school dude and you have yet to master this machine, don’t expect to get any chocolate on Valentine’s Day. UFO Catchers are Japan’s take on the crane game, and like any imported source of entertainment, they have taken it to a level of extreme perfection.

Although still focused on utilising a pinching claw, you must learn to make it push, flip, slide, and wiggle items out of an assortment of positions. And what prizes await you? Well, anything from Samurai swords to smartphone battery chargers… but usually just your standard plush doll, albeit a limited edition variety.

Believe it or not, some of the most popular games in Japanese Game Centers are based around gambling. Although some of you may be familiar with pachinko (pinball-style gambling), they are arcade versions of the coin slot game that trade you cash for credit to keep playing. The machines are usually pretty easy to find as they are by far the loudest and most visually engaging. If you find yourself in front of one, make sure you have secured the appropriate bucket of steel bearings that are fed into the machine that activate the animated background, spring loaded, pseudo pinball machine experience.

Being Japan, your ranking and accumulations are all stored online giving you access at any of the arcade chains branches. Perhaps even more impressive than the virtual slots, is one of the most popular games of recent that has players betting on digital horse races. The entire experience from personal tables and chairs to a 4K wall spanning monitor make it hard not to throw in a coin or two, just to see what happens.

As a long term resident of Japan, the draw to Purikura photo booths is still a mystery to me. The fact that they mostly appeal to young high school girls and couples who have little else to do might be part of it. However, with enough Asahi in my system, even I cannot resist the alluring lights, colours, and theme songs that accompany cramming with friends into one for a snapshot of the night.

As you have probably already guessed, Purikura is a typical ender for the evening that has everyone striking their cutest pose to take a soft filter picture. Back in the day, these photos were used as a mainstay for profile pics as they each contain special settings for increasing your eye size, adding make up, and making your skin look flawless. Matching those features up with a slew of cute heart shapes and digital glitter pens has made sure that these booths will be hanging around for awhile.

Posts by Jimi Okelana

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Update date：2024/04/19

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