LET'S GET SERIOUS HERE.
The goal of this post is to ensure everyone is on the same page, and prevent us from drowning in the flood of data. Obviously, I can't do this alone, so I'm counting on you to correct me if you see any errors or omissions...
If we trustArchFeyuk's informations : there is only 3 Junji Ito Pinball produced and 1 prototype. Some of them may have been rebranded.
(It would explain why so many people have seen those machine approximately at the same time even when it seems they were at different places)
the timeline that I have been able to construct based on the information available here
(WORK IN PROGESS !! I'll try to organize better the datas during the next days)
LAST UPDATE / 10 FEB
| when | where | what | link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Tokyo Joypolis | "Mr Gray" a man in suit took teenagers in a backroom in an arcade room. something special from Stern. Pinball machine's graphic black and white, something eerie. Creepy graphics, a face clearly visible with a spiral hole in it like Uzumaki. (NOTE : Uzumaki was published for the first time in Big Comic Spirits in 1998) sound of the machine "chilling". the poster (gozooze99)lost contact with his friend refuse to talk about the pinball at all (AS THIS POST IS THE MOST ACTIVE, I HAVEN'T ARCHIVED ALL THE DISCUSSIONS YET) | https://itch.io/t/5880458/reddit-post |
| ? | South californy : back of a local pawnshop (localisation unsure) | black and white pinball machine : the owner would give a demonstration. "Strange sound" white noise and static in my head when OP try to think about it owner was "glued to the machine", and the pawn shop would close few time after maybe OP could find some photos of the local area on one of old cameras (not any news about it on 09 Feb) | https://itch.io/t/5882501/i-remember |
| ? | ? | OP tells us in a strange poem he played the machine again and again "The score counter creeps up in little bloody numbers." "I think it’s trying to say hi" no more information for now (09 Feb) | itch.io/t/5882651/everything-is-fine |
| late 90's/early 00's | "during a family road trip" | "watched his brother play a Junji Ito pinball machine"
brother isn't responding to texts or calls. user pablo_in_blood getting REALLY agressive about the fact that the machine doesnt exist theory of a crossover with Junji Ito pachinko machines | https://itch.io/t/5881517/strange-coincidence https://www.reddit.com/r/pinball/comments/1qvvlyy/junji_ito_pinball_machine/ |
| (location still unknown... ask DannyFist) | found a picture of a pinball machine that looks like the original image posted bt displayed the other way (impossible to know where the photo comes from) someone saw it in a magazine, maybe late 90s early 00s DannyFist claims he have seen themachine in a cafe near his town (location still unknown...) - went to talk with the owner, that is suspiciously vague about it (He said, “I think we had one a few years back of course that was…”, and then he sort of trailed off and looked a million miles away.) Danny fist found the company he gets the machines from -> 09 feb MAIL SENT? WAITING FOR AN ANSWER | https://itch.io/t/5882757/so-i-think-i-found-a-possible-prototype-for-the-junji-... | |
| 2009 (creation of CAHumanity) - 2019 (date the photo was taken) | Chicago/Midwest (headquarter of CAH) | a funny card mentionning having physical relationship on the top of the junji ito pinball machine. present in original print-at-home edition of CAH a friend of Rat Bastard Games printed off for his 16th birthday (ask for the exact date?) some cards have been took off the game after ? maybe special 2017 edition ? question asked onbluesky, no answer for Card Against Humanity (09 Feb) | https://itch.io/t/5884587/cards-against-humanity |
| 2003 | midwestern suburbs (USA) | "Pinball Mike" Japanese last name obsessed by JinjuIto Pinball machine drawing during art class | https://itch.io/t/5886065/classmates-weird-art |
| ? | Vermont (USA) | Weird pinball machine in Vermont museum
(very blurry photo, hard to use as an evidence) when the photo was taken, security arrives and escort the family out of the museum !!! | https://itch.io/t/5887281/weird-pinball-machine-in-vermont-museum |
| Australian Pinball Museum | Stern Pinball schematic TITLED : 520-7017-72D- ITO A | https://itch.io/t/5887434/partial-schematic | |
| ? | ? | Someone claiming playing the machine. No more explanation, no answer from the poster called "Dozzyrok" since 3 days....... (troll or worrying disappearance?) | https://itch.io/t/5886646/i-remember |
| 1994-1997-2001 | Sega Headquarter (JAPAN) then Seattle (Hideki's daughter) | ArchFeyuk writing a documentary about Junji's work. "There were three Junji Ito pinball machines made. Well four but we will get to that." Hideki Watanabe, senior dvpmnt manager for SEGA worked on the machine, became OBSESSED. Release should have been in 1997 Hideki had a mock up of the machine; a re-skinned cabinet from another game with Ito style graphics, due to financial problem, the project is canceled. Watanabe CHANGED according to his daughter (AYUMI WATANABE). He started his company to build the machines himself, he was "HAUNTED". could only afford to make 3 machine, then he never came back : WATANABE DISAPPEARED. They received from him (in english???) a letter talking about how the machine made people who worked on it ill ___ After that, the name "Hideki Watanabe" was still used after his disappearance in 2001, maybe a nickname or an homonimy __ Archfreyuk says he can contact the daughter again, but has to be carefull because she is fragile since this trumatic experience. not contacted her yet (09 Feb) | https://itch.io/t/5889447/ito-documentary-research |
| January 2025 | HUDSON - craigslist | someone on craigslist selling a japanese SEGA pinball with "a twisted man" as an inllustration. Twisted man was also one of the creation of "Pinball Mike" (see the post above about weird classmate : https://itch.io/t/5886065/classmates-weird-art | https://itch.io/t/5885541/boston-craiglist-lol |
| very short bit of summer 2010 | The Video Saloon - Bloomington - INDIANA (USA) | A pinball machine was stored in a cave of a bar "the Video Saloon", under stairs, then taken off Photo taken of the place seems to be altered with spirals !!! | https://itch.io/t/5889327/ugly-pinball-machine-at-the-vid-in-bloomington-in |
| 2026 | MagFest National Harbor , MARYLAND (USA) | An "Uncanny" X-men machine with artwork hidden underside of the table, dark/swirly -> Maybe one of Ito's pinball recycled ?? mail to MAGFest arcade to be send (has it been done ? 09Feb?) (video of the fest with the x men machine at 2:00) | https://itch.io/t/5889522/uncanny-x-men-conversion-at-magfest |
| someone suspicously claiming there is no Junji ito Pinball machine called "Boxman214", could be related to "pablo_in_blood" (see the third row of this table) https://itch.io/t/5885966/there-is-no-junji-ito-pinball-machine | |||
| I picked the most usefull keywords about JIP (Junji Ito Pinball) : (according to me) Tokyo Joypolis Stern LSuperSonicQ upload Arcaiders Zine Mr Gray Stern promotionnal video 2000's VR experience Nortwest pinball show sighting Background easter egg in Uzumaki anime Thaiboy digitals favorite pinball cabinet Dead cosplayer 2008 Tie in manga Ai Chat replies Plushies Sonic cameo Nekojiru pinball conversion Cleverbot American pickers episode 2012/09/07 Zen pinball 2 Wii U DLC Note : HOW DOES "calcium_chan" KNOWS SO MUCH ?? Some theories seems to be evoked even before people post about it here /.... | https://itch.io/t/5882724/iceberg-image-thread | ||
| 2000 | Omega Micott Inc produced two Uzumaki computer games in 2000 Uzumaki: Denshi Kaikihen (2000) Uzumaki: Noroi Simulation (2000) maybe produced also a pinball machine to accompany these games ? a link between Sega > Stern > Bandai Namco Joe Blackwell was lead developper, and became Customer Service Director, was he took away from creative project ?? note : Uzumaki: Denshi Kaikihen OST seems to provoke VIOLENT SIDE EFFECT - ask friendly ghost if more information needed | https://itch.io/t/5888320/i-found-two-uzumaki-console-games-circa-2000 | |
| 1973 | JAPAN | Pinball by Haruki Murakami -cautionnary tale about being trapped playing pinball forever | https://itch.io/t/5896708/murakami |
| 2007 | interview between Cai Remrod pinball collector and developer for Metroid Prime and Teasaki/ When asked about inspiring pinball games, Remrod answers : "The addam's family, medieval madness, black night 2000, but a special place for lesser know ones, like orbitor 1, Uzumaki and Dominoes Pizza" (email sent by HELLSCAPE PRESS, no answer yet 09 Feb) | https://itch.io/t/5897799/possible-proof-of-the-machines-existance-in-old-interv... | |
| artist "Zornow Must Be Destroyed" an expert in japanese horror comic pinball. (emalil sent by BenyDanette, no answer yet 09 Feb) | https://itch.io/t/5889979/the-person-you-need-to-talk-to- | ||
| 1999-2001 | Japan | Ema Acosta's father played in a Cuban band, and went on tour in japan picture of him in an arcade show -> unable to contact her father due to personnal reason, but the photo may be a clue Still waiting for the band name one thin clue : The Orquesta de La Luz was one of the most famous japanese band playing Cuban music, if they went on tour they probably met each other. | https://itch.io/t/5894350/so-about-my-dad |
| 2018-2019 | Hot Toys Japan publish an annoucement about becoming the main importer of Stern in japan in 2018. No reference to mangas. Wayback machine available until sept 2019 ?? Some informations may have been deleted ?? WHO WAS the original importer before Hot Toys | https://itch.io/t/5900459/stern-japan-importer | |
| a pinball was found in Joyland by poster AdamRoy
seems like there is more pinball appearing ?? maybe a member of his family pranking him ? (need more information to find a rationnal explanation about it) Asked about the weird pinball's Size to compare with traditionnal pinball's size UPDATE ON 10 FEB : Pinballs are not a normal size (30mm instead of 26.5mm) / and the reflection in the ball is "spiralling" Side effect after watching "Weid pinball" (hypnotic, mesmerizing) another poster (friendly ghost) seems to have VIOLENT effects too : seeing shiny balls coverd in spirals, strong headaches, feeling "CURSED" | https://itch.io/t/5892593/keep-finding-weird-pinballs | ||
| 2026 | Strange corrupted PNG file found in the Steam folder of the Game "JUNJI ITO MANIAC AN INFINITE GAOL"
maybe it's just an easter egg ? user Gorgon Glam claims to have side effects watching the image for too long (hallucination, troubles with his muscle) (BenyDanette still waiting for someone to try to open the corrupted file 09Feb) | https://itch.io/t/5900650/png-in-a-steams-game-folder | |
| mid-late 1990's | rumour : SEGA allegedly used yakuza to kidnap a game developer’s sister to prevent them from working for Nintendo. Based on interviews from The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. In unreleased Volume 4, author John Szczepaniak admits the developer was actually Junji Ito (profession and alias altered in earlier volumes). (manuscript of the 4th volume is available thanks to Alex Wiltshire, editor of John Szczepaniak and user in this forum) Ito was reportedly working on a flagship pinball machine for Nintendo’s entry into the yakuza-controlled pinball/pachinko industry. SEGA objected, leading to a turf conflict. corrupted zip file and a filename called "Toshio Iida" mentionning "a deal with another company had gone wrong. My company had made the digital part for a pinball machine with animations and planning for scoring, 2 employees who worked on it had gone missing" "It sounded different to the usual sceen where you see the score and various animations. It sounded like something that displayed in front of your eyes" (note : seems to have a connection with the VR theory !! See the post below.) VIOLENT SIDE EFFECT WHILE WATCHING THE ANIMATION : "the employee would pass out watching them" "because of numbers, the score, and the way they would count up and sometimes down. He started seeing spirals every time he closed his eyes" this employee "is a powerful man now" | https://itch.io/t/5889811/the-untold-history-of-japanese-game-developers-vol-4-h... | |
| What if it was a VR prototype displaying a pinball machine, but not a physicial pinball machine ? Sega tried VR around 1991, but was never released: terminated the project in 1994 because the virtual reality effet was too realistic // warning about "the hazards of prolonged use" gogooze post (the first one on reddit) doesn't mention that Joypolis used VR in VR1 Ride A 90's marketing photo about a VR set seems to be distorded by a spiral that wasn't here originally (rumour about Alfred Valley modifying posts without users permission, but he denies it) Joe Blackwell main designer has a patent for an "interconnected pinball tournament system" (sorry, there are so many elements that I can't summarize everything. Go to the post to learn more about the discussions and theories currently circulating about VR!) | https://itch.io/t/5882163/all-just-vr | ||
| Side effect after too much time thinking/investigating about the junji ito Pinball : seeing spirals all the time (at least 9 users claim to be affected 09Feb) | https://itch.io/t/5890806/anyone-else-seeing-spirals-all-the-time-now | ||
| 2014 | Shark Club - Howell MICHIGAN (USA) | ebay seller has listed a Stern manual, Hounskull (user), bought from the shark club (pinball club), shut down around 2014. The video "walking tour" of the place is suddenly unavailable !! | https://itch.io/t/5885341/stern-manual |
| 2010 (first season of American picker) | New Orlean ? | an episode of American Picker may have been edited : " there was a panshot across a row of old pinball machines that ending on the Junji Ito pinball machine. I remember first thinking, "oh shit, Junji Ito, that's fun." But what stood out to me was that shot stayed on the Junji Ito machine for a really long time." only 1 time in New Orlean for the first season : 1 min difference between imdb and tvdb listing ? or maybe even 1 episode missing ? (American Pickers Collection with 13 episodes, then released with 12) a guy had a copy but sold it in 2021. When asked why he would seel it : "IT WAS BETTER THAT I DIDN'T OWN IT" the missing episode may have been found by user Hounskull (season 1 episode 8), screenshot of a pinball with the spiral !!! Hounskull will try to contact the former owners (not done on Feb09) | https://itch.io/t/5882405/missing-american-pickers-episode |