In the previous article, I explained in detail that the glory days of Fuji Enterprise were now a thing of the past. No more triumphalism. No more ambitious projects. From now on, Fuji Enterprise would struggle for survival. Needless to say, this was a particularly dark period. So we’ll try to piece together the company’s activities from 1977 until the end of the adventure.
A More Modest Company
Fuji Enterprise used to advertise its games in every issue of the biweekly magazine Game Machine. In addition, there were ads placed by its partner Tsumura, and sometimes by other distributors. Altogether, Fuji Enterprise’s products appeared in Game Machine over forty times a year.
That changed quite drastically in 1977: Fuji Enterprise advertised its games exactly twice that year. In 1978, there were no ads at all.
To understand what eventually became of Fuji Enterprise, let’s take a look at these two ads.
Happy New Year 1977!
The first ad appeared in the January 15, 1977 issue of Game Machine (link, page 9).
There we see Fuji Televi-Five and Fuji Raceway Deluxe, both already introduced earlier.
We also see Fuji Electro Derby, now with a new look but still essentially the same game.
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One can assume that Fuji Enterprise was still trying to capitalize on a game it had already invested heavily in.
None of these games would be mentioned again, making it difficult to know whether they were still being sold.
The final game presented in the ad is Piccadilly Deluxe (ピカデリー・デラックス).
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| https://ameblo.jp/yukiyuki-wagon/entry-12693826535.html |
Piccadilly Deluxe wasn’t an original Fuji Enterprise game. By tracing the “inspiration” behind it, we can get a clearer picture of the new “economic ecosystem” in which Fuji Enterprise was trying to find its place. To do so, we’ll look at Piccadilly Circus and Piccadilly Circuit, two near-identical counterparts to Piccadilly Deluxe. We'll try to keep it simple (or maybe not—sorry!).
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus by Leijac (レジャック) was released sometime in 1976.1 It didn’t invent the derby/lottery game concept, but it inspired a visual style that many later games adopted.
As is traditional for derby/lottery games, the goal is to place a bet on a number and hope the light stops on that number.
Leijac, which marketed Piccadilly Circus, was purely a sales company. The company responsible for the design and manufacturing of Piccadilly Circus was Konami Kōgyō (コナミ工業), later known simply as Konami. The game was very successful, so Konami Kōgyō went on to develop several different versions over time.
And with success comes imitation.
Piccadilly Circuit
Piccadilly Circuit was released at the very end of 1976.
Piccadilly Circuit and Piccadilly Circus are so similar that Nihon Vending used a photo of Piccadilly Circus in the first ad for Piccadilly Circuit. (Game Machine Dec 1, 1976, page 6)
Close-up of Piccadilly Circuit: |
| https://thetastates.com/eremeka/1976piccadillycircuitnihonbussannichibutsujapanvending.jpg |
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Close-up of Piccadilly Circus, with the name Circuit crudely scribbled over (with felt-tip pen?)
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| Game Machine Dec 1, 1976, page 6 |
Piccadilly Deluxe
Back to Piccadilly Deluxe, produced by Fuji Enterprise in early 1977. The game is completely identical to Piccadilly Circus and Piccadilly Circuit.
A flyer for Piccadilly Deluxe does exist, but Fuji Enterprise’s name is nowhere to be found on it. This kind of modesty is highly uncharacteristic of Fuji Enterprise. A first, in fact.
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| https://x.com/onionsoftware/status/1677305987299164160 |
We’ll now look at Fuji Enterprise’s second ad. Then I’ll try to explain why I’m putting forward this hypothesis.
Fuji Enterprise’s Last Advertisement
This would turn out to be Fuji Enterprise’s final advertisement in Game Machine.. It dates from August 1st, 1977 (link, page 13).
It features only one game (The Super Car), which may not be a sign of great vitality on the part of Fuji Enterprise.
The Super Car
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| https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/x1097693953/ |
The Super Car (ザ・スパーカー) follows the concept of all derby/lottery-style games in the tradition of Piccadilly Circus, i.e., pick a number and cross your fingers.
Many such games were released in a very short time during this period, whether by Nichibutsu/Nihon Vending, Leijac/Konami, or other companies. To stand out from the crowd, each game needed a small unique twist — subtle changes in gameplay, design, prize structure, etc.
In the case of The Super Car, when the player wins, the car image in the center lights up and triggers a bonus game. Surrounding the central image are three cars in three different colors. The goal of the bonus game is to choose one of them.
If the light stops on the chosen car, the player wins a photo negative (カーラーネガ). This negative could later be developed at a specialized shop into a poster of a Super Car.
The “Supercar Boom”
A brief aside: in the second half of the 1970s, a number of games appeared (link) with supercars — powerful and of course very expensive sports cars — as their theme. This was no coincidence. It was part of a broader trend known as the “Supercar Boom” (link).
This short-lived craze swept across Japan. Japanese elementary school kids became obsessed with these cars, to the point where supercars were used in all kinds of products, including arcade games.
The first supercar was the Lamborghini Miura (1966) (video).
But the car that launched the “Supercar Boom” was the Lamborghini Countach LP400 (1974) (video).
The trend was driven in part by the manga The Circuit Wolf (サーキットの狼) (source).
The “Supercar Boom” faded suddenly in 1979.
Fuji Enterprise and Nihon Vending — An Unequal Relationship?
Now that we’ve looked at the two Fuji Enterprise ads, here are the reasons why I suspect the company may have been “working” for Nihon Vending—though this remains only a hypothesis.
① Nichibutsu and Nihon Vending were among Fuji Enterprise’s main business partners
In the AM Yearbook '78 (link, page 138), published at the end of 1977, Fuji Enterprise lists its major business partners:
- Sega Enterprises- Nihon Vending
- Nihon Bussan (Nichibutsu)
- Japan Leisure
Sega Enterprises was pretty much everyone's business partner at the time, so we’ll skip them.
Japan Leisure had already bought — or was in the process of buying — all or part of Fuji Enterprise’s business (yes, that’s vague). We’ll discuss the unclear relationship between those two companies later.
That leaves Nihon Vending and Nichibutsu. We know (or think we know...) that they were collaborating on a series of Piccadilly Circus-type games, with identical cabinets where only the center panel changed.
Given they were partners, could Nichibutsu have helped Fuji Enterprise design Piccadilly Deluxe and The Super Car? And could Nihon Vending have helped manufacture and distribute them?
What seems clear is that Fuji Enterprise wasn’t pirating their games, but rather working with them.
② Nihon Vending was the exclusive official distributor of The Super Car
If you look at The Super Car flyer, you’ll see that the game is not distributed by Fuji Enterprise, but by Nihon Vending.
The term 総発売元 (sō-hanbai-moto) means “general distributor.” It implies exclusive or primary distribution rights.
Distribution of The Super Car was handled by Nihon Vending, which could either sell it directly to arcade operators or through smaller sub-distributors.
In any case, Fuji Enterprise was dependent on Nihon Vending for the game’s sales.
③ Nihon Vending controlled Fuji Enterprise’s messaging
Another oddity in the flyer: Fuji Enterprise uses identical wording to what Nihon Vending had been using for months in its own ads:
◎ Our company works day and night to offer original amusement machines as a core principle.
◎ Please be careful: certain counterfeit or copied products distributed by other companies are of poor quality.
◎ Please note: this machine is an entertainment device and should be used only for recreational purposes.
Fuji Enterprise was clearly reusing Nihon Vending’s text.
So… could it go even further? Could the flyer itself have been made by Nihon Vending?
④ Nihon Vending released an identical game under a different name
This game is called Dead Heat (デッドヒート).
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| Dead Heat is on the left |
Here’s the text from Dead Heat’s ad (link, page 13):
Bonus game: the supercar attack…
Enhanced fun with the chance to receive a color plate (カラープレート).
Match supercars from around the world, their brands and logos.
If the images match, you win a payout.
Then, if the central supercar lights up,
you get a color chance: pick one of 3 colored cars.
If your initial color choice matches,
you win a bonus color plate of a supercar — one of 100 possible models.
Maximum payout: 120 medals.
The concept is completely identical to The Super Car.
The only difference seems to be in the reward: The Super Car gives out photo negatives (カーラーネガ), while Dead Heat gives out “color plates” (カラープレート), which could be interpreted in several ways.
Luckily, the A Foreigner’s Guide to Eremeka Arcades database provides a photo of Dead Heat (link) confirming that the prizes are indeed Supercar photo negatives (スーパーカーネガ).
So The Super Car and Dead Heat are the same game — only the central design panel differs.
In other words, we can assume that Fuji Enterprise was manufacturing games designed by Nichibutsu, just like those made for Nihon Vending. It’s possible that only the central panels were being built by Fuji Enterprise, with Nihon Vending handling final production and all distribution.
For these reasons — though it remains speculative — I wonder if Fuji Enterprise was trying to survive by working under Nihon Vending.
We saw that by the end of 1976, Fuji Enterprise had probably ceased working with its original network of official resellers. Nihon Vending may have appeared as a better opportunity — or even a lifeline.
Regarding Dead Heat, Nihon Vending stated in an ad (link, page 10) that demand was so high they couldn’t keep up with production.
In such a situation, Fuji Enterprise may have been brought in as a supplementary manufacturer.
It’s also worth noting that in early 1977 (link, page 2), Fuji Enterprise opened a branch office in Matsuyama (松山), in Ehime Prefecture (愛媛県) on the island of Shikoku (四国).
This branch is never mentioned again. The region isn’t exactly a strategic market.
So maybe the purpose of the Matsuyama branch wasn’t to expand sales, but rather to restart small-scale manufacturing (possibly after Japan Leisure took over Fuji’s main facilities?).
This could explain why Fuji Enterprise released only one game at a time.
Again — just a hypothesis (I know, it's frustrating!).
For all these reasons, I suggest that the relationship between Fuji Enterprise and Nihon Vending was unequal, perhaps even one of dependence.
It’s time to wrap up this chapter (in which we’ve probably gone way too far already!).
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Is the Fuji Enterprise Group Expanding?
This is a minor point, but in the advertisement for The Super Car in Game Machine, a branch in Kawasaki (川崎), in Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川県), is mentioned. This branch had not been previously announced.
According to the ad, the group consists of its main branch in Tokyo, a branch in Hokkaidō, and a branch in Kanagawa.
There is no mention of the branch in Ehime.
Nor is there any mention of Fuji Lease, the subsidiary responsible for managing game centers. Fuji Lease still exists, but is it still part of the Fuji Enterprise group?
The AM Show ’77
As always, the Amusement Machine Show presents itself as the most important event of the year. The 1977 edition was held from October 5 to 7.
Here is the list of games announced by Fuji Enterprise (Game Machine, October 15, 1977, p.9):
- Block Cut (ブロックカット)
- Blue Impulse (ブルーインパルス)
- Super Car (スーパーカー)
Alongside the titles officially announced, several other games were also showcased at the booth. (Game Machine, November 1, 1977, p.9):
- Mars Trek
- Butterfly
- Monster (モンスター)
Super Car is clearly the game The Super Car we’ve already talked about. Game Machine mentions that the game exists in three versions. It’s confusing. Does that mean the format of the game changes? The payment system? The payout distribution?
Blue Impulse is a game distributed by Nihon Vending, in the same family as derby/lottery games. Given everything we’ve previously discussed, no one will be surprised to see Fuji Enterprise showcasing a Nihon Vending game on its stand.
Block Cut, Breakout, and the Industry’s Impunity
Block Cut is a video game. This is, of course, a Breakout clone—one among countless others.
Breakout was released by Atari in May 1976. In Japan, it was published shortly afterward by Namco (President: Masaya Nakamura).
However, a flood of clones quickly overwhelmed the market. This fact is mentioned in The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent:
“Nakamura met with the leader of the group that was manufacturing the counterfeit Breakout machines and asked him to stop. The man responded by offering to forge a partnership with Namco. According to Nakamura, the man offered to ‘suppress’ Namco’s competitors and make Namco the biggest company in the industry. Nakamura declined, fearing that the offer would lead to a takeover of his company and possibly the entire industry.”
I’m not saying this group is related to the one Tokuzō Uragami (浦上徳三), chairman of Fuji Enterprise (of the Himon'ya Family / 碑文谷一家), is associated with. I have no idea. But I thought the quote was worth sharing.
Also, I believe there was way more than just one group making Breakout copies.
When I research the Japanese arcade industry of the 1970s and 1980s, I always pay attention to the connections this industry may have had with the underground economy. Hopefully, we’ll explore this in future articles. What can be said is that the underground economy was dominated by two major criminal syndicates (yakuza), each composed of numerous smaller groups. My feeling is that all companies producing illegal copies of hit games were tied to one of these two larger groups. In fact, these companies often seem to cooperate with one another.
In the case of Breakout, things were a bit particular. At the time, intellectual property rights were not protected in the arcade sector. Companies seeking legal protection from cloning could only argue under the lens of unfair competition—and such lawsuits either failed in court or took far too long to succeed.
In short, if you wanted to release your own version of Breakout without Namco’s permission, there was little risk involved. Very quickly, nearly every player in the industry began releasing their own versions of the now-famous brick-breaker. Things would only begin to change soon thereafter, driven by a few major companies—most notably Namco.
As for Block Cut, Game Machine indicates that the game is made in Japan. It comes in two versions (possibly an upright and a cocktail version?). In the photo, the cocktail cabinet has an unusual format. At least, I’ve never seen it anywhere else.
Most cabinets of the time had a distinctive shape that made it easy to identify the manufacturer at a glance. Can we associate these cocktail cabinets of that particular shape with Fuji Enterprise (meaning they were manufacturing them themselves in-house)? Or should we instead attribute them to a third-party contractor?
Sega S.A.
We still need to discuss Butterfly, Mars Trek, and Monster. Game Machine mentions that these games were imported from Spain. A bit of digging reveals that the company behind them is Sega.
But not Sega Enterprises, the globally recognized company based in Tokyo — rather, this is Sega S.A., based in Madrid. "S.A." stands for "Sociedad Anónima" in Spanish, which is equivalent to "Incorporated" in the U.S. or "Kabushiki Kaisha" (株式会社) in Japan.
Sega S.A. is often referred to simply as Segasa for convenience.
Segasa's story begins in 1968, and it’s truly fascinating.2
I won’t go over the entire history of Sega Enterprises here, but here is the context in 1968:
Sega Enterprises was then a Japanese company whose operations were primarily focused on the domestic market. It manufactured and sold arcade machines and slot machines nationwide and operated many game corners across Japan.
Historically, Sega Enterprises was also active in the Pacific, selling slot machines wherever there were American military bases (Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, etc.).
However, this slot machine business was increasingly under scrutiny. Sega Enterprises was often accused of shady practices like illegal imports, bribing officers, and tax evasion. As a result, the company began shifting toward less controversial products like jukeboxes, pinball machines, and arcade machines.
In 1968, Sega Enterprises was owned by Martin Bromley, Richard Stewart, Raymond Lemaire, Scott Dotterer, David Rosen, and his wife Masako Rosen.
Importantly, Sega Enterprises did not export its machines directly. All international business was handled through a distributor called Club Specialty Overseas, a company based in Panama — presumably for tax reasons.
Club Specialty Overseas had no formal legal ties to Sega Enterprises, but its shareholders were nearly identical. In the case of Club Specialty Overseas, the shareholders were Martin Bromley, Raymond Lemaire, Richard Stewart, Gunther Wolff (12.5% each), and a certain Peter Alther (holding 50%!).
Club Specialty Overseas, in turn, worked with smaller local distributors, technically independent but often sharing the same shareholders — or at least the same circle of business partners.
This is where we find Segasa, based in Madrid and whose shareholders included Martin Bromley, Raymond Lemaire, Richard Stewart, and Scott Dotterer.
Initially, they were minority shareholders (on paper), as Franco’s Spain did not allow foreign nationals to own a majority stake in Spanish companies. The situation changed after Franco’s death in 1975.
The company president was American Bert Siegel, assisted by Spaniard Eduardo Morales Hermo, who would later become president himself.
Martin Bromley described Segasa as “a small assembly plant in Spain” (page 1923).
Spanish law required Segasa to market products manufactured in Spain. The company would thus assemble machines locally from parts imported from Japan or the U.S.
In 1969, seeking international growth, Sega Enterprises was sold to the American conglomerate Gulf & Western Industries.
Raymond Lemaire chose to keep his shares in Sega Enterprises, while David Rosen traded his for Gulf & Western stock. He retained his role as president of Sega Enterprises and also became vice-president of Gulf & Western.
Even though the ownership changed, Club Specialty Overseas remained a key link in the export chain.
"In purchasing control of Sega Enterprises, Ltd., Gulf & Western Industries, Inc., granted exclusive distribution rights to Sega products to Club Specialty Overseas, Inc., of Panama, in all countries of the world excepting Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and Okinawa."
"While Gulf & Western may own Sega Enterprises, almost all the sales and distribution of Sega machines outside Japan seem to be in the complete control of Bromley and his associates." (page 1889)
As for Segasa, it initially worked with Club Specialty Overseas but soon became truly independent and started collaborating with other arcade industry players such as Taito, Williams, and of course, Fuji Enterprise.
Segasa even began developing its own games, which brings us to the AM Show '77.
Butterfly & Mars Trek
Butterfly and Mars Trek are pinball machines manufactured by Segasa.
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| https://www.recreativas.org/butterfly-1820-sega-sonic |
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| https://www.recreativas.org/mars-trek-1824-sega-sonic |
Eduardo Morales Hermo noted that the design of Segasa’s early pinball machines was done by Sam Stern, a legendary figure in the pinball industry.
The Monsters
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| https://www.recreativas.org/the-monster-855-sega-sonic |
The Monsters is a video game by Segasa — or maybe not!
According to the excellent site Recreativas , The Monsters is likely just a rebranded version of Death Race by Exidy, the controversial game that caused a scandal in the U.S.
The cabinet design is different from Death Race, but the PCB is identical.
In Japan, Bonanza Enterprises obtained the rights to Death Race and even showcased it at the AM Show ’77.
If I'm not mistaken, complications arose later because Death Race lacked a Type Approval Number (TAN).
The theme of The Monsters cabinet appears to be inspired by the U.S. TV series The Munsters (1965–1966):
So, by importing a single game, Fuji Enterprise managed to violate two sets of IP rights:
those of Death Race (Exidy) and those of The Munsters (Universal Studios).
Fuji Enterprise – A Longer History With Segasa?
I suspect that Fuji Enterprise had already been working with Segasa for two main reasons:
① The Alca Electronics Booth
Alca Electronics is another company orbiting around Club Specialty Overseas.
It was founded in 1967 by a man named Alan Carter.
In 1972, it was acquired by Martin Bromley (and possibly other partners?).
Fuji Enterprise had a booth at the ATE’75 show in London under the Alca Electronics banner.
Tokuzō Uragami, CEO of Fuji Enterprise, previously explained (see the article on Blondie) that he had been working with Sega even before Fuji Enterprise was established.
So we might ask: was Fuji Enterprise already trading with Europe (via Alca Electronics and Segasa) before 1977?
② The Utility Model for Autopista de Carreras
In Spain, importing arcade machines was illegal — they had to be produced locally.
Before launching a product, manufacturers were required to submit a utility model describing the technical characteristics of the machine.
The site Recreativas has many of these utility models.
One of them is titled Autopista de Carreras.
Utility models always use fictitious names for their games — in this case, it’s actually Speed Race by Taito.
The utility model is dated February 20, 1975, right when Speed Race and Fuji Speed Race were hitting the market.
Interestingly, at the top of the document, there is a handwritten note indicating the document was updated.
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Among all the utility models on the site, this is the only one with such a note.
The annotation "F.E. 20 7-1976" is especially intriguing.
"20 7-1976" appears to be a date. "F.E." could very well stand for Fuji Enterprise.
So it might read: "Fuji Enterprise, July 20, 1976."
This lines up with the period when Fuji Enterprise began marketing Fuji Raceway Deluxe, their version of Speed Race Deluxe by Taito.
Maybe this is a stretch — but I think the timeline and clues line up surprisingly well.
Could Segasa and Fuji Enterprise have collaborated in some way to manufacture Fuji Speed Race and Fuji Raceway Deluxe?
Or even export them afterward?
For all these reasons, I believe Fuji Enterprise and Segasa had already been working together for several years.
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A few remarks to conclude
Fuji Lease in trouble?
Fuji Lease’s mission is to operate game centers. The presence of game centers within the Fuji Enterprise group is certainly convenient. If Fuji Enterprise produces too many machines and struggles to sell its stock, it's not a major concern. These surplus machines can always be used in the group’s own game centers, and this will never be considered a loss. Back in 1975, the former president of Fuji Enterprise expressed the hope that Fuji Lease would be operating around forty game centers by the end of the year. All these game centers were branded Casino Plaza (カジノプラザ).
In the course of 1977, however, we observe that some of these game centers are no longer being run by Fuji Lease.
For example:
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| Casino Plaza in Ueno (Tôkyô) |
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In Ueno (Tôkyô), the two game centers called Casino Plaza (see source, page 6) are operated by Tōkyō Kikaku (東京企画), a company unrelated to Fuji Enterprise.
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In Hakata (Fukuoka Prefecture, on the island of Kyūshū), Casino Plaza was recently purchased by a neighboring game center called Casino Nakasu (カジノ・ナカス).
Another move? Again?
For the year 1977, the last piece of information regarding Fuji Enterprise is that the company moved again around October. The new address is: 2-35-1 Higashi-Yukigaya, Ōta-ku, Tokyo (東京都大田区東雪ヶ谷二の三十五の一). This address is close to the previous one. Fuji Enterprise kept the same phone number. The reasons for the move are unknown. No mention is made of Fuji Lease.
Conclusion?
As usual, we’ve done a lot of thinking and made many unverifiable assumptions. But in the end, we haven’t actually talked much about Fuji Enterprise, have we? That’s to be expected, as the company is now only a shadow of its former self. If we had to sum up the year, Fuji Enterprise released two or three new games, and we’re not even sure they’re actually “Fuji Enterprise” games.
That wraps up the year 1977…
…but not this article!
Let’s continue with 1978! And even a bit beyond.
Still One More Year (1978) !
Unfortunately, I’m not sure there’s all that much left to say.
The Sapporo branch becomes independent?
The former Sapporo branch of Fuji Enterprise became an independent company in January 1978 (?), now incorporated as a Yūgen Kaisha (有限会社), also named Fuji Enterprise (フジ・エンタープライズ).
(See source, page 2.)
Technically, this doesn't necessarily mean the company left the group. But creating a new company while the main branch is struggling is a classic move in this industry. You salvage what can be saved while the ship is sinking. And that is precisely what’s going to happen (we’ll see more on that later).
Note that Fuji Enterprise of Sapporo manages its own game centers, without going through Fuji Lease.
The Yamada presidents
Now’s the time to bring up a pebble that’s been stuck in my shoe for a while. What is the name of the president of Fuji Enterprise?
There are two names that bother me. One is Masateru Yamada (山田昌照), the other Masaaki Yamada (山田正晃).
Reading Japanese given names is always an uncertain adventure—even if you are Japanese. In Japanese, the same kanji can have multiple possible readings. And when it comes to given names, it gets even worse, as people can choose unconventional readings just on a whim. In Japan, the only sure way to know the reading of someone’s given name is to ask them directly.
In our case, the reading of the family name is easy: both individuals are called Yamada. No debate there. Yamada is a very common surname. These two could be related, or not at all.
As for the given names:
- For 正晃, I use the reading “Masaaki,” which is the most common, so I’ll stick with that.
- For 昌照, I use “Masateru,” which is also a common reading. However, it can also be read “Masaaki”—a reading that’s equally common.As for their positions, here is a summary:
Becomes president of the Sapporo branch of Fuji Enterprise at its opening in March 1975, until an unknown date between July 1976 and January 1978.
Becomes president of Fuji Enterprise at an unknown date between January 1 and April 1, 1978, and holds the position thereafter.
Becomes president of Fuji Enterprise sometime between July and September 1976, until an unknown date between January 1 and April 1, 1978.
Becomes president of the Sapporo branch of Fuji Enterprise sometime between July 1976 and January 1978.
In other words, they switched positions at some unknown point. To me, the most likely time is when the Sapporo branch changed its legal status.
There’s probably an interesting story behind all of this, but we’ll never know more.
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The Last Hope : The Magic Box
On February 7, 1978 (source, page 2), a meeting of the JOU (Japanese Operators Union) was held, during which several game manufacturers were invited to present their new products. Fuji Enterprise was present and showcased a prototype machine called Magic Box (マジックボックス).
We get more details in an article from Game Machine magazine in April (source, page 7):
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"Fuji Enterprise has released the much-discussed cartridge-based TV game machines, Magic Box and Magic Flipper.
These are upright, coin-operated game cabinets that incorporate home TV game consoles from the American company Atari (imported by Tōyō Bussan (東洋物産)), such as the Video Computer System and Video Pinball.
The visual display section of the cabinet uses either a color or black-and-white TV, and the games themselves are compatible with both types.
A key feature of these machines is their ability to switch between multiple game cartridges, and even within a single cartridge, multiple games can be selected.
Depending on the content of the games, there are several types:
— Type A, which uses lever-based controls and a color TV (retail price: ¥610,000),
— Type B, which uses steering wheel-based controls (also with a color TV, same price),
— Type C, which features Video Pinball (including flipper gameplay and "block breaker"-style games), with a color TV (retail price: ¥590,000),
— and Type D, a more compact version of Type C, also with a color TV (retail price: ¥390,000)."
From what I understand of this article, the Magic Box is an Atari VCS console (also known as the Atari 2600) operating in a token-operated arcade cabinet. It appears to correspond to Types A and B. Meanwhile, Types C and D seem to correspond to Video Pinball (example).
The Magic Box / Magic Flipper is the only machine officially marketed by Fuji Enterprise during the entire year of 1978.
It's hard to believe that Atari or Tōyō Bussan gave their approval for Fuji Enterprise to sell modified versions of their machines.
Fuji Enterprise was taking a major risk by putting all its eggs in one basket — and quite a fragile basket at that.
The 1978 AM Show
During the AM Show held on October 18–20, 1978, and surprisingly enough, Fuji Enterprise once again managed to secure a booth.
Here are the games announced at that event (source, page 9):
① Magic Box
- Version A: lever-based controls② Table Block (テーブルブロック)
- Version A: black & white with 7 types of games- Version C: countertop version
- Version D: standard version, with the UFO mode
③ Block Shinkishu (ブロック新機種)
"A cassette-type machine with 10 selected games built-in, picked from a lineup of 150 types, including driving games, territory-capturing games, and more"
The description of these machines is confusing. Are they really different machines?
Here’s what we can say:
① Versions C and D of the Magic Box are not mentioned. The Magic Flipper is also absent.
②
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The game Table Block contains 7 different games. Atari’s Video Pinball contains the same number. Could it be that Magic Flipper became Table Block?
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Another possibility is that Table Block is a game by World Vending (ワールドベンディング).
Nihon Vending went bankrupt on October 18, 1978, and immediately restarted operations under the name World Vending. The company would later become known for being involved in a major lawsuit over Space Invaders intellectual property rights. Overall, it had a shady reputation. Eventually, it would go bankrupt again, only to repeatedly reincarnate under different names to continue producing bootleg games, conversion kits (Hungryman, notably), etc.
In the meantime, it marketed a game called Table Block UFO, which could very well be this one.
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| https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/m218810465/ |
Table Block is quite a generic name. Other companies sold games under this name, but the World Vending version seems like the most likely candidate.
③ Block Shinkishu literally means “Block – New – Machine – Type.” It sounds like a generic name for a block-breaking game. But the description states that the machine contains a cassette with 10 games, or more realistically, 10 cassettes each with one game.
The mention of 150 different games clearly refers to the Atari VCS library. That’s nice, but… isn’t this just a description of the Magic Box?
If we consider that this description refers to the Magic Box rather than Block Shinkishu, then the most logical conclusion is that Block Shinkishu is an upright version of Table Block.
So once again, it might be a game by World Vending. But we’re still only making hypotheses...
The Fall
All these assumptions would turn out to be pointless, because Fuji Enterprise never showed up to its own booth (source, page 10), even though this was the most important event of the year.
Other companies took over the booth and used it to showcase their own products.
This marked the point of no return for Fuji Enterprise.
After reaching great heights, the company collapsed dramatically. It was now definitively inactive.
The Final Blow
On February 5, 1979, Fuji Enterprise officially went bankrupt (source, page 3).
This time, it was truly the end. The company had accumulated massive debt: 550 million yen.
The Game Machine article mentions that the Magic Box proved to be “fatal.”
Maybe sales didn’t live up to expectations? Maybe Fuji Enterprise incurred Atari’s wrath?
In any case, Magic Box could only have been the final straw.
Fuji Enterprise had already been seriously weakened since early 1977, ready to collapse like a house of cards — even though the reasons behind its struggles remain unclear.
This time, we are truly done with Fuji Enterprise.
It’s a shame. I had grown attached to it.
But let’s talk about its legacy, shall we?
Fuji Lease
We’ve seen that Fuji Lease was faring no better than the Fuji Enterprise group. It was also unclear whether it still belonged to the Fuji Enterprise group. As it turns out, Fuji Lease outlived Fuji Enterprise by a few months. It eventually went bankrupt on May 7, 1979 (Game Machine, June 15, 1979, p. 4). (The article mentions that Fuji Lease was founded in June 1975. I had forgotten about that.)
Fuji Lease’s total debt amounted to 50 million yen.
However, that wasn’t the end for Fuji Lease or its president, Takeshi Miyaoka (宮岡武司), who reappeared the following year as the head of a new company called TM Planning (ティーエムプランニング)—presumably named after his initials? (Game Machine, May 15, 1980, p. 3). Once again, it was an arcade operator.
Fuji Enterprise (Sapporo)
The bankruptcy of the Fuji Enterprise group did not affect the company Fuji Enterprise based in Sapporo. It continued operating, whatever its business may have been. I’m not sure what that business was, except that it ran a game center called Game Plaza Stardust (ゲームプラザスターダスト).
In 1980 (Game Machine, September 1, 1980, p. 3), Fuji Enterprise changed both its name and address. The company was now called Yamashô (or possibly Sanshô) (山商). 山商 is supposedly short for 山田商事 (Yamada Trading). The president was still Masateru Yamada (山田昌照).
The announcement was published in September, but Yamashô had already been operating the Game Plaza Stardust under that name as early as January 1980 (Game Machine, February 1, 1980, p. 6).
The name change likely dates back to 1979.
Yamashô was still managing the Game Plaza Stardust in 1982 (Game Machine, July 1, 1982, p. 6). By 1986 (Game Machine, July 15, 1986, p. 5), the game center was being operated by a company called Goa (ゴア), but the manager was named Keiko Yamada.
I imagine Yamashô had become a local family-run business (Yamada family, I mean)—nothing like what the Fuji Enterprise group had once been.
The Liquidation of Fuji Enterprise by Japan Leisure
As mentioned in the previous article, the book Jaleco’s Archives notes the bankruptcy of Fuji Enterprise:
“After Fuji Enterprise went bankrupt around 1977, Japan Leisure bought the company. The Shôei company (ショウエイ), which had been developing video games for Fuji Enterprise, then began developing them for Japan Leisure.”
I’m not quite sure what to say about Shôei at this point. But I believe there was a company within the Fuji Enterprise group that manufactured or imported video games. That company was later transferred to Japan Leisure.
It’s a bit complicated, but there is another strong clue pointing to that transfer. In 1979, Japan Leisure released a Space Invaders clone called Space Combat (Game Machine, June 15, 1979, p. 8).
The game carried Type Approval Number (TAN) 91-13646. This TAN (source) was issued on August 16, 1976, and corresponds to the company T.E.U Shôji (or Teiyû Shôji, テイユー商事).
The address of T.E.U Shôji was 東京都大田区東雪谷一の一の五 (5-1-1 Higashi-Yukigaya, Ōta-ku, Tokyo), the same address Fuji Lease moved into a few months later.
This suggests that a company from the Fuji Enterprise group that manufactured or imported cocktail-style video games in 1976 continued doing so a few years later for Japan Leisure—after Fuji Enterprise had ceased to exist.
Just a wild guess, but could “T.E.U.” possibly stand for Tokuzô E. Uragami, the group’s president?
Another thing: Japan Leisure also released a game clearly inspired by Speed Race, under the name Pit Stop.
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| https://www.yomogi2017.xyz/entry/2019/03/10/181941 |
Most notably, the cabinet of this game is identical to that of Speed Race (Taito) and Fuji Speed Race, suggesting the same manufacturer.
Whether it was Shôei or another company, it seems likely that Fuji Enterprise’s activities continued through Japan Leisure.
In the image, we also see Piccadilly Deluxe and The Super Car (source).
And Tokuzô Uragami?
After the collapse of Fuji Enterprise, there’s no further news about its president, Tokuzô Uragami. I have absolutely no information. But if I had to make a guess based on his background, I wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually turned up in the pachinko industry.
Final Conclusion
I’m not sure we can say that Fuji Enterprise was an innovative company, but it was certainly dynamic and quick to seize the many opportunities that came its way. In the end, it’s typical of the “old world” companies—those that operated across murky boundaries and took full advantage of the ambiguity that surrounded the industry at the time.
Fuji Enterprise’s activities came to a definitive end in early 1979. The company collapsed just before a major event that might have revived it: the Invader Boom. Every company in the sector jumped on the opportunity to grow. Fuji Enterprise missed it by a hair.
That’s a shame, because some of its quieter partners did manage to keep pace with the changing stages of the arcade industry: riding the Space Invader wave, diversifying before the end of the boom, shifting toward legality before it was too late, and so on.
Yes, Japan Leisure—I’m thinking of you when I say this.
In the next article, I’d like to trace (in a single part, hopefully—Fuji Enterprise turned out a bit long...) the career of a former Fuji Enterprise president after he left the company: Takeo Ueyama (上山武夫). Unfortunately for him, he too didn’t keep up with all the stages…
1. Blogger Nazox2016 traces its inspiration back even further to Faro by Sega (link).↑
2. You can read more about it on Ken Horowitz’s website:
History of Sega Pinball – Part 2
For additional background on Sega Enterprises and the historical context at the time Segasa was created, I highly recommend this remarkable document from a U.S. Senate investigation committee (starting from page 1840):
1969 U.S. Government report on fraud and corruption in military club systems↑
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