pachinko

Definition

A mechanical ball-dropping game similar to pinball, popular in Japan.

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese パチンコ (pachinko), from ぱちん (pachin, onomatopoeic sound of the machines) + こ (ko, diminutive). Compare etymology of gacha, from Japanese ガシャポン.

Example Sentences

• "Two teen-age boys, after selling their personal belongings to play pachinko, sold their blood to "gamble.”"
• "The rain kept up, falling along Harajuku, beading on her plastic jacket, the children of Tokyo trooping past the famous boutiques in white loafers and clingwrap capes, until she'd stood with him in the midnight clatter of a pachinko parlor and held his hand like a child."
• "Snow filled her mouth. She caromed off things she never saw, tumbling through a cluttered canyon like a steel marble falling through pins in a pachinko machine."