FAQs - Pachinko Age, Make and Model

These FAQ pages will be continuously updated with questions and answers. If you have any corrections or additions, please let us know.

Determining Pachinko Machine Age

Where can I find the year of manufacture on the machines? You can't. The vintage machines were not stamped with a year of manufacture.

How can I tell how old my machine is? If your machine still has an expiration sticker, then you can use the table below to estimate the year of manufacture.

What is an expiration sticker? When pachinko machines were put into service, they are stamped with a sticker that has the date when the machine must be taken out of service. The time in service is probably either 1 year or 3 years. Today we understand it is 3 years, but we believe it probably was 1 year back during the days of these vintage Pachinko machines. When we find our for sure we will update this page.

Where is the sticker? It should be in one of the corners of the pachinko machine playfield. It may have fallen off or been taken off the machine. (I'll add pictures later).

Where is the year on the sticker? You may need a magnifying glass. On many stickers there will be lots of Japanese characters, then you will see two numbers some more Japanese characters, then one or two more numbers.

What do the numbers mean? The first two numbers are the Japanese year when the machine expires. The other number(s) is the month. See the chart below to translate this information into the Christian year of expiration and date of manufacture.

Conversion or Expiration Sticker to Year of Manufacture

Japanese Year (expiration on sticker)	Christian Year (add 1925 to Japanese Year)	Year of Manufacture (subtract 3 years)
55	1980	1977
54	1979	1976
53	1978	1975
52	1977	1974
51	1976	1973
50	1975	1972
49	1974	1971
48	1973	1970
47	1972	1969
46	1971	1968

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