Japanese gamers have noticed an amusing pattern in some of the titles of pachinko-inspired indie games coming out of the West – and while English speakers may not suspect anything, those who can speak Japanese probably already get where this story is heading.
“We need to stop the trend of using the format ‘something + chinko’ to name pachinko-like games,” a Japanese X user posted upon discovering a couple of recently announced pachinko-like titles. The two games they raised as examples were Rochinko, a pachinko-inspired roguelike (possibly a portmanteau of roguelike and pachinko), and Splatchinko, another pachinko roguelike with psychedelic visuals and eyeball-throwing splat action. Though not mentioned in the original tweet, there’s also Ballchinko, a mobile take on the genre, and Pokerchinko, which blends pachinko with the mechanics of poker.
If you’re familiar with the Japanese language even a little bit, you’ll know that Japanese users are finding these types of titles amusing because – to put it succinctly – the word chinko in Japanese means dick. It is important to mention that the word pachinko itself has nothing to do with penises, as the name originates from the onomatopoeic word pachin, describing the sound of the machines, with the diminutive suffix -ko to round it up. So, what may look like just a harmless pachinko reference in the title of your game looks a bit different to the average Japanese-speaking gamer. Instead of sounding associative of pachinko, they just come across as combinations of random words and “dick.”
“This is kind of like a reverse situation of Calpis being renamed to Calpico overseas” – the X user commented, suggesting that this could be the result of the word pachinko being adopted into English, with the chinko part ending up in game titles without an intention of a risqué meaning behind it. (Calpis, a refreshing drink from the Japan, got intentionally renamed into Calpico when exported to the West due to its original name sounding too similar to “cow piss”). However, as Splatchinko’s logo puts the word right in your face, with a puddle of gooey white “splat” behind it, users speculate it may not be all that unintentional. “I wonder if it’s just a clueless “chinko” or a strategically placed “chinko” meant to grab your attention,” they comment.
While we probably won’t get to find out whether these are an accident or intentional, what’s certain is that Japanese users are having a blast discovering all of the game titles lost in translation. Hopefully the chinko doesn’t impact the games in the long run if their devs ever decide to promote them more actively in Japan.
Related article: Developer accidentally names game “Crap Dungeon” on Japanese Steam store in apparent localization mishap
