AKB48 pachinko machine targets (otaku?) gamblers

In the latest example of their marketing stunts, AKB48 and their busy corporate strategists have teamed up with pinball gambling chain Kyoraku to produce a special AKB48 pachinko machine.

It will stream 12 of the pop band’s “songs” to brain-dead gamblers while they whittle what little money the economy allows them down the tube of the infamous bottomless pit that is pachinko.

The pachinko machine is being promoted by “Team Surprise”, a cross-team mix of AKB slaves formed just for lucky Kyoraku. Hell, it even includes exiled hottie Rino Sashihara, now languishing in Kyushu.

The new songs will be released on the machines one a week. Apparently it is meant to be like experiencing an AKB concert up-close. We wonder if that means you can see the girls lip-synching?

AKB is ostensibly still an otaku group, but the majority of pachinko customers are a different kettle of fish. We are curious if they are hoping to entice new AKB fans through pachinko — or if Kyoraku is just hoping to benefit by bringing in new visitors, in the shape of otaku, into their gambling dens, looking for some up-close-and-personal team with some pinballs and idols…

Of course, we are also sure the intimate atmosphere will be affected by the usual milieu of a pachinko parlor — an air thick with cigarette smoke and deafening noise.