“Is this parlour foreigner-friendly?” sounds like a simple question. The honest answer is usually “it depends what you need”, so instead of a single star rating we record evidence for every parlour in our directory. This page explains what we record today and the score we’re building on top of it.
What we record for every parlour
| Field | What it means | Possible values |
|---|---|---|
| Status | How well documented the visitor support is | verified · verified-limited · weak · reported · location-only · ended |
| English support | Strength of the evidence for help in English specifically | strong · medium · weak · (none recorded) |
| Languages | Languages with documented help | e.g. English, Chinese, Korean |
| Guide material | Printed or digital how-to guides in other languages | yes · not-confirmed · no |
| Staff help | Staff who can explain play in another language | yes · not-confirmed · no |
| Translation device | A device such as Pocketalk at the counter | yes · not-confirmed · no |
| Last verified | The date we last re-checked the sources | date |
| Verification method | How we checked (desk check, operator page, visit) | free text |
Status levels
- Verified: an official operator page, or an independent verification, confirms foreign-language help in the hall. Example: MARUHAN’s visitor page names its halls and the languages its staff teach in (MARUHAN).
- Verified-limited: some support is confirmed (for example, manuals or a translator), but staff help isn’t.
- Weak: only an English website or corporate list; in-hall help not confirmed.
- Reported: a third party mentions support; we haven’t verified it.
- Location-only: the venue exists at the address, with no language support documented.
- Ended: a time-limited programme that has finished, kept so old articles don’t mislead you.
English-support levels
- Strong: an official operator source describes English help in the hall, plus corroboration or a recent date.
- Medium: official English web pages or guides only, an inbound programme, a tour naming the hall, or trade press.
- Weak: third-party claims or reviews only.
Halls with only Korean or Chinese support have no English level; their languages field says what’s documented. Fukuoka’s Venus Gallery Kiyokawa is an example.
The proposed score
The idea is to turn those fields into a simple 0–100 “readiness” figure, so you can compare halls at a glance. The draft approach:
- Evidence first. Only documented facts count. “Not confirmed” scores the same as “no” until we confirm it.
- Weighted components. Status, English-support level, staff help, guide material, translation device and number of languages each contribute. The weights are not yet set; we’ll publish them with the first scores.
- Freshness. Evidence older than a set period will lose weight, so a 2019 article doesn’t count as much as a 2026 operator page. The period is not yet set.
- Visits beat desk checks. A confirmed in-person visit will be able to raise or lower a score.
- No pay-to-rank. Sponsored placement will never affect the score.
Separate: hall self-assessments
PachiPass also runs a members area for parlour operators (in Japanese), with a short training course and a 100-question self-assessment of how well a hall serves foreign visitors. It’s a different thing from the evidence-based score above:
- The hall answers the questions itself. We don’t inspect the hall, and it isn’t a certification.
- A result can appear on a parlour page only if the operator opts in, has verified that it runs the hall, and we approve it for display. It’s labelled “PachiPass inbound readiness score (self-assessed)”, shows the date, and disappears after 12 months.
- It never changes a parlour’s status or English-support level. In lists, a self-assessed score only reorders halls that already share the same status and English-support level.
As of this page’s date, no self-assessed score is shown on any parlour page.
Help us improve it
Visited a parlour and found the information out of date? Tell us. We especially want to know whether staff could help in English, Chinese or Korean on the day.
Related: parlour chains explained · MARUHAN for visitors · first visit, step by step.
Quick answers
Does PachiPass give parlours a score?
Not yet. The evidence-based readiness score is in development. Today each parlour page shows a status label and the evidence behind it. Separately, halls can complete a self-assessment; if approved for display it is labelled as self-assessed.
Are parlours paying to be listed or rated?
No. Listings are based on public evidence. If we ever publish sponsored content, it will be labelled; the parlour record has a separate 'sponsored' flag for exactly this reason.
What's the difference between 'verified' and 'reported'?
Verified means an official operator source (or an independent verification) confirms foreign-language help. Reported means a third party mentions it and we haven't been able to confirm it.
Sources
- MARUHAN – Play Pachinko (example of an official operator source)
- Q-Bang! inbound site (example of an official inbound programme)
Facts on this page were last checked against these sources on 4 October 2026. Rules, prices and venues change, so always follow the signs and staff at the venue.
