Pachinko is a fun game of chance and skill. Drop a marble anywhere at the top and try to get higher scores at the bottom.
Pachinko is a fun arcade game that is extremely popular in some countries. It is mostly a game of luck but there is some skill involved. The goal of the game is to drop your marble somewhere in the top and have it drop into high scoring slots. You can compete against other people with this game by having a set number of drops and keeping score. 
Materials and Tools:
- 1 Rectangular box at least 2 inches in height (I use a size K3)
- A tool to cut cardboard with
- Glue or hot glue
- Masking Tape
For this project I use a K3 sized box which is 18.75 x 13.25 x 6.25. Just about any rectangular sized box will work well for this project.
Measure two inches up from the bottom of the box and cut it all the way around. That bottom piece is our pachinko board. And the top part is what we use to make the various pieces.
Trim the box like this: 
From the top half of the box cut one of the shorter flaps and size it to fit in the bottom of the box.
Tape it neatly into place. This gives us a nice smooth surface for the marble to roll on.
Cut several slots in one end of t he playing surface. We will be dropping the marble through these slots.
Cut several two inch squares of cardboard and glue them into the other end of the box like this. These are the point pockets. Make one center pocket that is the narrowest. This is the highest scoring pocket.
Cut a whole lot of one inch triangles. These are the pins the marble will bounce off. Make at least twenty of them.
And glue them onto the playing surface like this – with a flat edge toward the top of the playing field.
Try to make a nice pattern with them like you see here. Glue lots of them onto the playing surface but don't put any of them so close together that a marble could get stuck between them.
Finish making the playing surface by adding point labels to the point pockets. My center one is ten points. ON each side of that is five points, then three points. And finally, the largest slots on the outer edges are one point.
Next cut two pieces of cardboard as legs for the game.
And glue them to the sides at the front of the game
Creative ideas for your pachinko game Add a rubber band powered plunger to shoot the marble up to the top of the playing board like you see here.
Here is a close up of the plunger. The pivot point is simply a toothpick. My thumb is pushing the lever forward and this extends the rubber band. When release it will shoot the marble forward.
What kind of creative ideas can you come up with for your pachinko game? |
