So Japan was awesome! In part 1 I spoke about Osaka, this time I’ll write a bit of Kyoto in before I talk about the wonderland that is Tokyo. Although Kyoto itself is more of a traditional city, the Japanese capitol before moving to Tokyo, there was still some eye candy for the gamer to check out.

Gambling in Japan seams a little more friendly than it does in England. For one, I don’t actually have a clue what all the buttons do on the machines in pubs. Regardless of my amateur gaming skills we still decided we should give it a go because, you know, when in Rome. There are three button on the slot machines over here, nice and simple, one for each wheel. That’s how it should be! What am I supposed to do with the nudge button in the pub machines when I have no near wins. It reminded me of so many bonus features in snes games like Mario Bros 2 and Pokemon red/blue/yellow where you press the A button to stop each revolving image. Still….didn’t win anything, clearly all the practice did not come to good use. Why am I talking about slot machines though in a gaming blog though? I had to mention it. Over here in the pubs we have slot machines themed to 50 year old movies none have us have ever watched, like Das Boot. In Japan? Monster hunter!! Gamble away all you want, find it a little boring? Above the spinning wheels is a screen that displays cut scenes from monster hunter that reflect how you’re doing on the slots. The same goes for the other machines with different themes such as Transformers and Japan only games we rarely get here.

There are other machines  that are worth mentioning. In keeping with the themes that the machines have; they still continue on the thunderingly noisy ‘Pachinko’ machines. This is worth searching on Youtube to see what this crazy game is. Its physics based I guess (this is my idea of a joke, please refer to the Youtubes). It starts with a tray full of metal balls that you put into the machine at your own expense. Using a handle, you cant control the speed and quantity of ball you let fly. The more points you rack up (I don’t know how points are exactly racked) the more balls you get back, which can be traded in for prizes of money.

The gambling In Japan definitely seems a lot more friendly than we’re used to. A rookie such as myself can walk in and give it a go with no explanation needed. Seriously I’m 24 and tend to avoid Das Boot sitting in the dark corner of the local pub. If I had more time I bet I could have come away with a little extra Yen to spend. I could have been rollin’ in the Yenjamins (sorry, that was our terrible pun for the holiday) As for Pachinko; I would deffinitely give it a go, wear earplugs if you happen to just have some in your pocket, as you do. For a gamer, gambling seems a little nicer, everything has a theme and most of the time it is a game or a movie. So if gambling itself doesn’t seem the most exciting thing to do in a gamers paradise, take my word for it, it’s definitely worth having a try, even if its only to see action from popular game franchises and after all don’t forget; when in Rome!

STE JILLINGS