Medal Game Photography

Over the last few years I have been researching, drawing and photographing medal games, a form of lottery game unique to Japan. In these games, players exchange money for tokens called medals, funnelling them into machines that use exuberant mechanical and digital interfaces in their lottery draws. My research into these games has been published in my piece A Pachinko Game on Anabolic Steroids, commissioned for Disegno magazine, where I discuss their history, the unique legal status as mechanised lotteries that do not offer cash rewards, and the future of such games in the face of Japan’s recent legalisation of American style resort casinos.

You can find the article and purchase the issue here.