"Section Chief Satō, this is the game developed by our company — Hong Kong Blocks. It's already selling very well in Hong Kong and other regions. Let me give you a quick demo — I guarantee you won't be disappointed."
After moving the arcade machine to the designated spot and connecting the cables, Yamada Hideyoshi inserted a 100-yen coin and began to play.
"I hope so," murmured Satō Ishihara, nodding lightly. He'd seen plenty of small game companies come in trying to pitch their titles for distribution — in the end, it always came down to the quality of the game itself.
Yamada didn't say much more and focused on playing. Although he'd only started practicing the day before, he had several years of gaming experience. Once he got used to the mechanics, his skill level wasn't bad at all.
"Different combinations of blocks will randomly fall from above," he explained as he played. "We have to arrange them into straight lines — only then can we clear a line and earn points.
"The more lines you clear at once, the higher your score. So if you're confident in your skill, you can leave gaps intentionally and wait for the right block to appear — that way you can clear multiple lines at once for a massive bonus.
"As time passes, the falling speed of the blocks increases, testing the player's reflexes and coordination.
"In short, it's a puzzle game."
Satō nodded silently. Looks pretty good, he thought, though he didn't show it on his face.
After Yamada finished his demo, Satō tried a few rounds himself — and found it genuinely fun. He even felt a little addicted.
Still, despite liking the game, Satō didn't immediately give an answer. He explained that he didn't have the authority to decide and would need to report to his superiors. He asked Yamada to leave one arcade unit and his contact information — the company would get back to him soon.
Yamada hesitated briefly but agreed. Although he was leaving an arcade cabinet behind, he trusted that Taito Corporation — such a large and reputable company — wouldn't simply keep the machine without authorization.
After leaving Taito, Yamada didn't head back right away. Instead, he continued visiting the next company on his pre-planned list.
Meanwhile, back at Taito, after Yamada left, Satō immediately reported the game to his division manager, who then brought it to the attention of the department head. The head of the Marketing and Sales Division had the authority to decide whether to publish and distribute a new title.
But having authority didn't mean making an instant decision.
By the end of the day, Yamada had visited three companies of varying sizes, leaving one arcade machine at each — yet none had made an immediate commitment.
That evening, he nervously contacted Factory Director Liu Yihui at the Hong Kong headquarters. He was worried: not only had he failed to sell any machines, but he'd also left three cabinets behind for free. He wasn't sure if HQ would approve of that.
Although he contacted Liu, the actual work report went to Lin Baicheng, who was very interested in how Japan's promotion was progressing.
The conversation took place through a translator.
"President Lin, today I…"
Lin listened carefully without interrupting until Yamada finished.
"Hmm, Yamada, you did well today," Lin said with approval. "Keep up the effort and maintain contact with those companies. I believe someone will take interest in our game soon."
He wasn't upset about the lack of sales — after all, this was only the first day, and they weren't trying to sell directly to arcade shop owners, but to secure a distributor. It was normal that companies needed time to evaluate before making decisions.
If Lin were in their position, he wouldn't make a snap decision either — proper discussions and meetings were to be expected.
"Yes, President!" Yamada exhaled in relief.
After a few more encouraging words, Lin hung up the phone.
In recent days, Galaxy Games (Xinghe Games) had signed two massive orders — each for 500 arcade machines: one from Taiwan and one from a Southeast Asian distributor.
The Taiwan order was worth 2.5 million HKD, netting over 1 million in profit. The Southeast Asia order was even larger — 1,500 USD per unit, a total of 750,000 USD, equivalent to over 3 million HKD, with Galaxy Games earning more than half in profit.
After receiving those two big orders, the company immediately placed raw material purchases, bought another production line, and began hiring new workers.
This time, Lin hired over 100 new employees, expanding the company to around 200 staff in total. His goal wasn't just to fulfill the current 1,000-unit production run — he was also preparing for international markets like the U.S. and Japan.
Once the overseas markets opened and orders increased, they'd need more manpower anyway — better to prepare early.
Of course, more employees meant higher salary expenses, but average wages were about 500 HKD per month per worker (excluding management). Two hundred workers meant a payroll of only around 100,000 HKD per month — insignificant compared to their profits.
In the following days, Yamada visited several more companies, leaving behind another four arcade units, keeping the remaining ones for himself. With only ten machines sent from Hong Kong, he had already placed seven with different companies — if he gave away the remaining three, there would be none left for further visits.
After days of effort, Yamada faced both rejections and offers he turned down.
Some companies simply weren't interested in Hong Kong Blocks — not everyone saw its potential. Others offered to buy out all rights for Japan, but at prices far too low.
Per headquarters' instructions, Yamada was told that while arcade rights could be sold, rights for home console or other formats were not for sale — and any price below the set minimum wasn't even worth discussing or reporting.
After several days without progress, Yamada couldn't help feeling disappointed. He began to doubt his own abilities — Why was the game selling so well in Hong Kong, yet getting no response in Japan?
Still, after some thought, he decided that if no distributors agreed in the next few days, he would give up on finding a publishing partner and start visiting arcade shops directly — selling one unit at a time if he had to.
Whatever it took, he was determined to open up the market.