Industry-leading pachinko and pachislot machine manufacturer SAMMY was founded as Sammy Industry Co., Ltd. on November 1, 1975, after Satomi Corporation spun-off its amusement machine manufacturing and marketing divisions. Its business since has been the development, manufacture and sale of pachinko, pachislot, arrange-ball¹ and jankyu² machines, while in recent years it has expanded into poker and other new business areas. With its motto of “Always Proactive, Always Pioneering,” SAMMY has changed industry trends repeatedly by introducing pachinko and pachislot machines with numerous industry-first technologies and features, as well as overturned preconceived notions countless times.

Its best-known products include Pachislot Hokuto No Ken, the best-selling machine in pachislot history with over 620,000 units sold in total, and Jyuo (The King of Animals) the spark that lit the pachislot AT machine³ boom. With its approach to development based on “Sammy… the wellspring of new ideas as an innovator in the industry,” the company has made countless pachinko and pachislot machines that have had major impacts on the market. SAMMY has been a SEGA SAMMY Group company since its management integration with SEGA in 2004.

In 2025, SAMMY welcomed its 50th anniversary, a significant milestone since its founding. To commemorate this, a 50th anniversary celebration was held in December of that year. The project itself kicked off a year before, in the summer of 2024, led by Noriyuki Aramaki, Public Relations Department, President’s Office.

Aramaki
We started out thinking about how we could celebrate SAMMY’s 50th in a way that fit the company together with what kind of message we wanted to communicate about the next 50 years.

Mr.Aramaki and the rest of the project team gradually began to give careful shape to the celebration in coordination with partner companies and relevant departments within the company. SAMMY’s 50th anniversary celebration was held over two days, with each event being based on a different theme. The first day was a formal platform for expressing appreciation to those who had accompanied SAMMY along its 50-year journey, with around 900 guests invited mostly from business partners who had supported the company over the decades. The second day was the “SAMMY Big Thanks Event” that welcomed around 1,200 employees from the SAMMY Group.

Upon entering the venue at Tokyo International Forum, attendees were greeted by three amusement machines—which included Sonar Attack, a shooting game released by Satomi Corporation, SAMMY’s predecessor—and photographs from the company’s early years. Their attention was also drawn to a large information panel in the corridor entitled “SAMMY’s 50-year Journey” that presented the company’s history from 1975 to 2025.

The opening of the celebration on both days was enlivened with performances by a big band. An electric atmosphere swept through the venue as music was played from past hit pachinko and pachislot machines, such as Jyuo (The King of Animals) and Pachislot Hokuto no Ken.

On the first day, Honorary Chairman of the Board and SAMMY founder Hajime Satomi presented the organizer’s greetings following the big band performance. Chairman, CEO and Representative Director Haruki Satomi, who leads the entire SEGA SAMMY Group and carries on in the Honorary Chairman’s spirit, followed with the toast. Finally, President, COO and Representative Director Ayumu Hoshino talked about the company’s future commitment. SAMMY’s founder, Honorary Chairman of the Board Hajime Satomi, expressed his gratitude for the past 50 years in this way.

Hajime Satomi

Looking back over the past 50 years, we as a company faced many struggles in the beginning, and only after 20 years had passed did circumstances finally allow us to take on new challenges. It’s thanks to the support of you our business partners, as well as our employees, that I’m able to stand before you here today. I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to you all for making it possible for SAMMY to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The SAMMY Big Thanks Event on the second day saw around 1,200 Group employees participate in what turned out to be an extremely exciting day, and even included a SAMMY quiz contest.

Aramaki
Honestly, the first thing I felt was relief that it all ended without a hitch. With the 50th anniversary celebration, we didn’t just look back at the company’s past but were also conscious of how we conveyed both our gratitude to everyone who’s supported SAMMY up to this point and our hopes for the next 50 years. I believe there’s a spirit of trying things out first at our company that comes from our motto of “Always Proactive, Always Pioneering,” and we have an enthusiasm that enables us to come together as one and be passionate about what we do. We incorporated the opening performance by the big band in the hope it would step that enthusiasm up a notch. For the “SAMMY Big Thanks Event” on the second day, we also carefully discussed among ourselves what kind of project aimed at Group employees would evoke SAMMY’s character. Seeing the smiles on the faces of the guests and Group employees at the venue on both days gave us the sense that we’d been able to get across what we’d planned to, if even a little, for which I’m truly glad.

One item in particular at the celebration’s venue that many attendees stopped to see was an exhibit featuring a wall lined with SAMMY’s past pachinko and pachislot machines: 45 pachislot machines, 36 pachinko machines, 9 arrange-ball and arrange-pachinko machines, and one each of a special pachinko and pachislot machine made exclusively to commemorate SAMMY’s 50th anniversary. The 92 machines in total were displayed in order of release, from SAMMY’s early years to its most recent model, starting with those from the Sammy Industry era. Included in the exhibit were SAMMY’s first type 0 pachislot machine, EMPIRE, released in 1982, along with the company’s first type 1 pachislot machine, NIAGARA. Among the pachinko machines were Pachinko CR Kudamono-batake, released in 1995, and Pachinko CR Gao Gao Kids 4 released in 1996.

Koji Okuda of the President’s Office’s Public Relations Department was responsible for the exhibit.

According to him, his team began putting together the list of machines to include around four to six months ahead of the celebration. The main criteria used in selecting the candidates were machines that “contributed to the company’s performance,” “were well-received or had an impact on the market” and “included industry-first features & specifications.”

Okuda
We gave priority to machines that made major contributions to our company or that changed industry trends, such as Pachislot Hokuto No Ken, and Jyuo (The King of Animals), which was responsible for sparking the pachislot AT machine boom. We had a tough time reaching consensus in narrowing down the selection because everyone involved had their own favorite machines and we could all understand one another’s sentiments.

Manufacturing of pachinko and pachislot machines at SAMMY is mainly done at the SAMMY Kawagoe Factory in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, and many of the machines it has made are also stored in the factory’s warehouse. 90% of the 92 machines exhibited at the anniversary celebration were those stored at the Kawagoe Factory’s warehouse. However, many of them would not turn on, and so the development team was scrambling to get them in working order, which made the exhibit a truly company-wide effort. He most difficult part of the preparation, however, was getting hold of MIRACLE, SAMMY’s first arrange-ball machine released in 1973, and its first pachislot machine, EMPIRE, released in 1982.

MIRACLE in particular was from SAMMY’s early years, manufactured when the company was called Satomi Corporation, and it could even be said to be the company’s foundation stone.

Mr.Okuda says he came to learn about this early machine, for which internal records were almost non-existent, through his examination of old trade journals as part of creating a 50th anniversary timeline. Investigating further, he discovered that an actual copy of the machine was nowhere to be found, including in the Kawagoe Factory warehouse. So, he decided to put out a call through a post from SAMMY’s official X account (@sammy_corp).

“We’re looking for the pachislot machine EMPIRE and the arrange-ball machine MIRACLE.”

While Okuda attempt to gather information using a social media post got a large reaction, he says that there was almost no response from anyone who actually had a machine in their possession. However, a turning point came in a most unexpected way. Having also continued his search for information through routes other than social media posts, he found an employee at the SEGA SAMMY Group who had been collecting retro games as a hobby for many years. Relying on that person’s connections, Okuda-san arrived at a network of pachinko and pachislot collectors. One of them told him that an acquaintance of theirs had a MIRACLE machine. This was the moment when he had finally found MIRACLE, after following a collectors grapevine and also leveraging connections inside the Group.

Okuda
I was able to contact MIRACLE’s owner after asking one of the collectors to put us in touch. When I asked the owner if they’d be willing to part with it, they said that if we intended to carefully preserve it, they’d be gratified to do so. And so, they agreed to pass it on to us.

Following Okuda interaction with the owner, MIRACLE was delivered to SAMMY. What arrived was a complete machine in surprisingly good condition, with a price list from 1973, its box, manual, coins and even keys. Okuda says he immediately took MIRACLE to show to SAMMY’s executives who were in a meeting at that moment.

Okuda
It was the first time for all the executives there to see an actual MIRACLE machine. They were all extremely excited to be able see up close the machine from SAMMY’s early years that you could say was the foundation stone of the company.

During the celebration, attendees were seen exclaiming surprise or stopping in front of MIRACLE, which was lined up with the other machines in the exhibit, to reminisce. Scenes played out here and there of attendees gazing upon other machines for which they held their own memories, such as having been involved in their sale or development.

Takaponta-san (their X handle), a pachinko and pachislot collector living in the Kansai region, was the individual who provided SAMMY with MIRACLE. Their collection includes nearly 200 pachislot machines and 30 pachinko machines. For nearly 40 years they have been captivated by the world of pachinko and pachislot machines after their first encounter with them in 1988 at the age of 18.

Takaponta-san came into possession of MIRACLE around 15 years ago.

Takaponta
MIRACLE was originally in the possession of an owner of an arrange-ball machine hall in Hokkaido. It was the very first arrange-ball machine in that hall when it opened. They turned over one to me that they’d carefully set aside for many years until the hall closed. The MIRACLE that arrived was in really good shape, and it still had the original supply FAX order form from Satomi Corporation, the original vendor at the time. It was really as if the atmosphere and vibe of back then had been boxed up…. It wasn’t something I could easily part with, having known the sentiment of the original owner who’d preserved with care the machine that symbolized the history of their store. However, I knew I had to find someone who’d take care of it and pass it on to them before I got so old that I was no longer able to continue collecting and maintaining these machines.

The catalyst for Takaponta-san to decide to part with such an important machine was the information that SAMMY was looking for MIRACLE. They say a fellow pachinko and pachislot machine collector had contacted them well before SAMMY’s official call went out on social media.

Takaponta
I got a message from a fellow pachinko and pachislot machine collector: “Didn’t you have MIRACLE? SAMMY’s apparently looking for one.” Following that a notice also appeared on SAMMY’s official X account. I parted with the machine not because I needed money, but because I thought having SAMMY take it would be the best thing.

More than anything, the most important thing to Takaponta-san was that the story of how well MIRACLE had been taken care of would continue to be told.

Takaponta
I’d been thinking that in the future it’d be best if the original manufacturer had the machine. So, my feeling on the matter was that if they were going to take care of it, then nothing would make me happier than to pass it on to them.

This is how MIRACLE, made it to SAMMY. The night before they sent it out, Takaponta-san played MIRACLE in their garage and made a post to X about it: “This is really the last play. It’ll be going back where it belongs. What a happy machine.” (See the actual post here)

Takaponta
In my youth I played pachislot like it was serious business every day. However, doing that all the time would get tiring. So, I’d play arrange-ball and jankyu just for fun, which was really therapeutic. One day I’d play MIRACLE, then the next I’d be back battling it out on pachislot. Even back then, MIRACLE gave me a happiness that wasn’t money.

Takaponta-san finished the interview with their thoughts about the pachinko and pachislot industry.

Takaponta
I spent my youth with pachislot. It was a lot of fun, and I have many good memories. I hope SAMMY continues to create things that are engaging and entertaining for many. I also hope that pachinko and pachislot manufacturers will take the lead to start an initiative to preserve these machines as Japan’s cultural treasures. If in the future SAMMY announced that it was going to create a pachinko and pachislot museum, I’m sure collectors from all over Japan would happily donate their collections.

A decision by one collector helped make the exhibit at SAMMY’s 50th anniversary celebration complete. The span of time when MIRACLE made its journey from its manufacture in 1973, to its original owner in Hokkaido, to Takaponta-san and then finally SAMMY is also the history of how pachinko and pachislot machines have been a part of so many people’s lives.

Aramaki was reminded of something after the celebration ended.

Aramaki
Through this 50th anniversary project, I was reminded that not only does SAMMY the company have a long history built by the many people who’ve come before me here, but that it’s also supported by so many fans and business partners. I’d like to continue to carefully convey this to the outside world, and I hope everyone will look forward our next 50 years.

Aramaki says that they received comments from SAMMY employees on a survey after the event saying they were glad to be a part of the company. Together with Takaponta-san’s message about returning to where one belongs, these all could be said to be evidence of the trust that SAMMY has spent 50 years building and the fondness that exists for the brand. SAMMY’s anticipation for the future is founded on the spirit of “Always Proactive, Always Pioneering” handed down over the years and its development policy of “Sammy… the wellspring of new ideas as an innovator in the industry.” The 50th anniversary celebration of SAMMY’s founding served as an opportunity to express appreciation to a variety of stakeholders, as well as reaffirm its identity as a company that has accumulated a half-century of history and to take the first step towards the next 50 years. With “Bet On! Sammy” as the theme for this 50-year-old company, expectations are high for the stories it will weave in the coming decades.

・Visit SAMMY’s official website here