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This game asks you to speculate about a fictional pinball machine

What is Junji Ito pinball and does it matter if it doesn't really exist?

Alfred Valley

Alfred Valley

— 2 min read
This game asks you to speculate about a fictional pinball machine
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A year on from the VALLEY 100, the mass scale gauntlet run entirely on Bluesky, Alfred Valley returns with another experiment in large scale play-by-post. This time, itch.io is the platform of choice and 'play' is much less structured.

'Play' is in inverted commas because JUNJI ITO PINBALL takes as much inspiration from conceptual art as it does tabletop RPGs.

Attention: you are now playing the game JUNJI ITO PINBALL. In this game you will play someone interacting with a message board about the existence or non-existence of a Junji Ito-themed pinball machine.

Players are instructed to interact with the game by leaving comments or starting threads on the itch.io page, and to maintain the 'fiction' throughout. This means not referring to their actions or those of the other players as being part of a game.

Valley presents a single creepypasta style post to kick things off and players are invited to select one of three different roles: sleuth, speculator or spreader. Creating new media and rumours is encouraged.

A Reddit post by user gozooze99 entitled: Did I imagine a Junji Ito pinball machine? "Sorry for my english. In 2001, a friend of mine won a Sega contest. I think it was a promotion for a magazine or something, but it was the kind of prize he never thought he'd win. He was invited to Tokyo Joypolis and allowed to bring his friend (me) along. It was amazing. We played all the arcade machines and rode all the rides. It was all for free. A man in a suit showed us around. His name was "Mr. Gray." He had a very earnest, serious look, a typical salaryman vibe, which was funny. Mr. Gray bought us anything we wanted. He also gave us lots of merchandise, food, and drinks. At one point, we had to sign some paperwork. To be honest, I can't remember what it said. Looking back, I probably should have given it to my parents, but I didn't mind. It was just us, our parents weren't there. After we finished the paperwork, Mr. Gray took us to a back room. The interior of the store was also completely gray, with an industrial feel (at least that's how I remember it). There were several screens, including one displaying security footage from inside Joypolis. We also had the opportunity to try out a cool VR headset, which they said was a prototype. Mr. Gray then told us that he had something special from Stern. We had no idea what Stern was, but later we looked it up and found out it was a pinball machine manufacturer. They mentioned something about a canceled project and a Playboy pinball machine. You can imagine how excited we were. But what he showed us was something completely different. The pinball machine's graphics were all black and white, and it had a somewhat eerie feel to it. I hadn't heard of Junji Ito back then. We were only 11 years old. But I still remember the feeling. There were creepy graphics, and I remember a face clearly visible with a spiral hole in it, like in Uzumaki. I couldn't play it. My friend did, but only for about five minutes. The sound of the machine... it was chilling. Eventually, someone came into the back room and Mr. Gray hurried us away from the machine. I was left to wait alone in Joypolis. Meanwhile, Mr. Gray took my friend somewhere to talk. Looking back on the memory (it was a long time ago now), I’m sure it was a Junji Ito themed pinball machine. Does anyone have information about it? EDIT: I lost contact with my friend years ago. I don't know what happened to him, but he refused to talk about the pinball at all. I think he was upset, but I'm not sure why. Yeah, it sounds weird, but..."

Anyone can participate in JUNJI ITO PINBALL and it runs throughout February 2026.

a very glitchy black and white photo of an unidentified pinball machine

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