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I recently had my first capsule machine experience here in Japan. Capsule machines contain little toys (in plastic capsules) for 100 yen (about $0.80) or so. The machines are very similar to the ones you find in the US, except they are much more popular here and have a much greater variety of products.

I was looking for a keychain and wanted something video game related, but mostly all I could find were Gundam type items and other things I wasn't really interested in. After looking at Yodobashi Camera through what seemed like endless rows of capsule machines, I finally found one that caught my eye.

This machine contained 7 different Namco related items including the ships from Xevious and Galaxian, Dig-Dug and one of his enemies, Mappy and one of his enemies, and the flag from Rally X (wtf?).

I'm thinking to myself, "as long as I don't get Mappy or the Rally X flag, I'm golden". So I put in 100 yen and I get the the bad guy from Dig-Dug. Not bad, but it would be cool if I could score Dig-Dug himself to complete the set.
I drop in another 100 yen and of course I get Mappy.

I begin to walk away, but then think I should try again for Dig-Dug. I change up a 500 yen coin and try again.

I think you probably see where this is heading...Of course I get two more Mappys in a row and walk away with head hung low, freely muttering, "ing Mappy" aloud, knowing nobody will understand me anyway.

Hahahaha! I agree that Dig-Dug would have been awesome.

The Mappy is a peaceful creature, his primary means of attack was a cat tail which made the enemies do a dance. Be proud to own a mappy.

Hey, I love Mappy! I always wanted a house full of trampolines...

I'm glad I'm not in Japan because I would probably waste all my money on ramen and capsule toys.

But I liked Mappy.

Poor CheapyD. (never seen this smiley used, sorry Cheapy. )

Too bad we don't have cool stuff like that here in the states, oh well, guess it's just time for a trip to Japan

I know how you feel. I was trying to get a full set of Simpson's capsules here, I got 7/8 with with 10 tries, then kept getting a ing Tod Flanders when I needed a Rod Flanders. 8 more tries and a few people in between I finally got it, and was satisfied.

It is like Shenmue but this time, it's for reals! Anyways you should start buying at least one capsule each time you see a game related one. Then when you got around 30 start a "Win Cheapy's capsule toys."

MAPPY!! i used to love that game back in the day...

I hear there are some sort of bear type figurines that come from those capsule machines and each bear is the same model, but just different design and color. When my friend came back from Japan he had a bunch of them. Have you seen any of these Cheapy?

Originally Posted by thorbahn3 It is like Shenmue but this time, it's for reals! Anyways you should start buying at least one capsule each time you see a game related one. Then when you got around 30 start a "Win Cheapy's capsule toys."

Yea but in shenmue a capsules toy was 500 ing yen and that was in the late 80's wtf.

Originally Posted by CheapyD I think you probably see where this is heading...

Damn straight. My friends, when they studied abroad in Japan, ended up spending way too much time at various gatchapon machines all over the place. Some of their finds were absolutely amazing, especially considering that some of what they picked up were exquisite for less than the required $1 a shot.

But damn, are the odds ever against you when you work those. Supposedly NOT thinking about nailing a particular prize (or the ones you wish to avoid) works well, but I think that's just psychological bull.

Hey, on the other hand, if you ever get a stockpile of ones you don't want you can just offer it up to people on the board and we'll jump on those as if they were made out of gold!

Yea Capsule machines would be my crack if I was there. I've seen Takara Transformer capsules. If you spot any of those please make another thread with pics. Or if you even happen to wander upon a Transformer Mega Happy Super Store, I'd love to see pics. I'm curious how readily available old Gen1 Japanese Transformers are in stores or if they have flea market collectible type stores there that would even have that stuff.

Originally Posted by Graystone Yea but in shenmue a capsules toy was 500 ing yen and that was in the late 80's wtf.

Nope, they were 100 yen. Hell I just beat the damn game yesterday. I bought so many of those damn things and I still didn't get all the toys.

Hmm, make a win Cheapy's Capsule Love contest?

Thats what they changed them to? When I was in Hong Kong last January, I picked up some of these, but they only had one of each game.

Who the is Mappy?

A mouse cop, duh.

What? No green, fire breathing dinosaur from DigDug?