6417

Sankyo Co., Ltd.

A maker of pachinko and pachislot machines, Sankyo is one of Japan's three major manufacturers of the pinball-like games played in the country's ubiquitous parlors. Founded in 1966 in Nagoya by Kunio Busujima as Chuo Seisakusho and renamed Sankyo the same year, its 1980 "Fever" machine turned pachinko from a game of skill into one of chance. The name combines characters meaning "three" and "cooperation," and "Fever" is a trademark so exclusive that rivals can't use the word for their jackpots.