Pachinko, could a house advantage be calculated?

I was reading on wikipedia about gambling and I came upon a thread called Pachinko. I had never heard of this, but it looks like a pinball machine. Apparently the object of the game is sort of like Plinko on the Price is Right, to get the ball to land in an area to win more balls. These balls are traded for trinkets since cash cannot be paid out, but a shop nearby gives cash for the items. My question is this, is there a way to calculate a house advantage (maybe based upon the designs or payout cubes) or a way to beat the game? Bodog has a new electronic Pachinko game in their other games category that I played with fun money and promptly lost most of the wager. Anyone else have any thoughts about this funky game?

If I ever make it to Japan, you can expect that I'll do my best to get to the bottom of pachinko. In my Gaming Math class at UNLV one of my Japanese students did a talk on pachinko for extra credit. I got the impression from his talk that most pachinko players were similar to slot players here. The motive to play is to forget your troubles for a while as you machine draws you in. He said a minority of players were professional advantage pachinko players. The key is the "flowers." These are things that open and close at different times of the game. If a ball goes into a flower while its open, you win lots of balls. The key is to play a game with a lot of flowers already open, and play it until it is in a negative state, and then look for the next good game.

Keep in mind this is all coming second hand. If anyone else can add to or correct this, as always, I'm all ears.

There is a good Pachinko page at Wikipedia.

I went to Japan a few years ago, but didn't play any Pachinko. You can't even imagine how loud those places are. Yes there is a center spot (flower) that is usually closed, but you have to hit the ball into the correct spot to open. The modern machines have an LCD screen above this flower and once activated its sort of like a mini game. I've seen something similar to a slot machine on it with matching symbols to earn yourself more balls etc. There are more stages to these as you keep hitting the "flower" As far as I can tell the trick is to turn the dial (the mechanism that automatically shoots the balls) just the right amount so the balls have the best chance of winning. I have a Sea Story pachinko machine at home, but the thing is so loud without a volume control that I hardly play it. Also balls end up everywhere since it isn't all enclosed like its originally designed.

Another neat thing in Japan are the pachi slots where you stop each real individually. I always wondered if there was an advantage play to these.

Both kinds of machines should be available realatively cheaply in the US. My pachinko machine that has a LCD screen and came with 1000 balls cost me $150

Speaking of Japanese slots, I have a Japanese style slot machine in my garage. It works and is in almost new condition. The thing is extremely loud, and I can't find a volume control. I'd like to get rid of it if anyone wants it. You haul.

There usually isn't a volume control, but a good electronics person can usually solder in a capacitor and a dial in order to add volume control. I would totally take the machine, but I don't know when I'll be up in Vegas next.

I want to take a look at it! Maybe we can meet up for one of your coffees, then look at it? I will be driving into Vegas Tue Aug 17 and staying until Sunday the 22.