ガチャ
Meanings
capsule toy; vending machine toy
Physical toy sold in a plastic capsule from a vending machine. Originally a trademark, now widely used generically.
See also: カプセルトイ
There are many capsule toy machines lined up in front of the station.
The child turned the capsule toy machine and got a small figure.
gacha; loot box; random in-game item system
In video games, a system where players spend currency to receive random virtual items, similar to capsule toy machines.
It's hard to pull a rare character from this game's gacha.
I spent too much money on gacha.
Usage patterns
- ガチャを回すto turn/play the gacha (capsule toy machine or in-game loot draw)
I tried spinning the gacha machine by the station and got a winning item.
- ガチャに課金するto spend real money on gacha pulls in a game
I spend too much real money on gacha every month and regret it.
- 〈事〉ガチャcolloquial suffix meaning 'the luck of the draw' regarding something outside one's control
Which department you get assigned to is basically a lottery.
- ガチャで〈物〉が当たるto get a particular item from a gacha draw
I got a limited-edition character from the gacha.