page_title: Gashapon
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Gashapon / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Row of gashapon machines in Hong Kong.中文（繁體）‎: 轉蛋機（扭蛋機），可以用八達通付款。
context_page_description: Gashapon, also called gachapon, are a variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys popular in Japan and elsewhere. "Gashapon" is onomatopoeic from the two sounds "gasha" for the hand-cranking action of a toy-vending machine, and "pon" for the toy capsule landing in the collection tray. "Gashapon" is used for both the machines themselves and the toys obtained from them. Popular gashapon manufacturers include Tomy, which uses the shortened term gacha for their capsule machines, and Kaiyodo. In the United States, "Gashapon" is a registered trademark of the Bandai Company, and gashapon are referred to as blind box sets due to packaging requirements by retailers prior to official distribution of the actual gashapon machines. The gashapon model has been adapted digitally into numerous gacha video games such as mobile phone games and massively multiplayer online games.
context_section_description: Gashapon machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside grocery stores and other retailers in other countries. While American coin-operated vending toys are usually cheap, low-quality products sold for a few quarters (US$1 or less), Japanese gashapon can cost anywhere from ¥100–500 (US$1–5) and are normally a much higher-quality product. They are often constructed from high-grade PVC plastic, and contain more molding detail and intricately painted features. Many gashapon are considered collector's items, with rare ones fetching extremely high prices in secondhand markets.
  Gashapon toys are often licensed from popular characters in Japanese manga, video games or anime, or from the American entertainment industry. These highly detailed toys have found a large following among all generations in Japan, and the trend is filtering to the world, especially among adult collectors. It is not uncommon for sets marketed specifically for adults to feature risqué female figurines.
  Virtually all gashapon are released in sets—each series will have a number of figures to collect. They are, by nature, a "blind purchase"; people insert coins and hope to get the toy or figure they desire. Such an amusement element may become frustrating, as one risks obtaining the same item repeatedly.
  Enthusiastic collectors will buy sets from gashapon stores in places such as Tokyo's Akihabara or Osaka's Nipponbashi (Den-Den Town). Depending on the store, the sets are usually cheaper than buying them randomly out of a machine.
caption: Gashapon machines in Hong Kong
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