What is 'pachenko'?
Mr. Y tells Mrs. Y that he was playing something that sounded like pachenko.
Is it a card game?
I think it's Pachinko, similar in some way to a slot machine.
shareIt is Pachinko. Pachinko is a game where steel balls are inserted into a machine and you control how hard they are shot up the side wall using a knob that you twist. The steel balls then fall down the panel in front of you and hit pegs. If they land in certain places, you collect points which add to the total number of steel balls coming out of the machine. In the end you can cash out by taking the large amount of steel balls to the counter. 80% of Pachinko parlours in Japan are korean-owned.
PS - A person who is a talented player of this game is called a Pachi-pro in Japan.
On the skilled Pachinko players, I heard a lot of skill has been taken out of the game over the last 40 years. Turning a knob isn't quite the same as flicking the thumb, as was done in the old days. Also, it used to be more than just the thumb. The experienced player was also able to tell by how the front of the machine was bowed as to whether there were enough balls in it to warrant the investiment of time and balls. They were also able to tell by examining the nails as to whether a particular machine was prone to pay out.
shareThe game is featured a lot in most animes. Such as one episode of GTO which involved Onizuka use a magnet disquised wig to cheat his way through pachinko but got caught for reavling what he's doing out loud. Course in one manga volume of GetBackers, Ban and Ginji also cheated in Panchiko only they set off the alarm system that detects magnets.
So from what I leanred it's one of the few game you can't get away in cheating.
The real joke with pachinko is that gambling is illegal in Japan (except for racing certain objects like boats!) so instead of money, you win a toy. Then you take the toy to a little pawn shop thingy, which is conveniently next door to the parlour, and say "how much will you give me for this stuffed bear?" "Ooohh, I'd say that was worth 1500 yen...". Japan has raised the art of double standards to a lifestyle philosophy.
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