Taito of Brazil (Portuguese: Taito do Brasil) was a pinball and arcade manufacturer located in São Paulo, Brazil.
History
The company originally started out as Clover Electronic Amusement in 1968, then became Taito of Brazil in 1972 by Abraham "Abba" Kogan, the son of the founder of the parent company Taito located in Japan.[1][2] This subsidiary was originally an importer of existing U.S. and Japanese machine components to be assembled within the country. However, the taxation on imports had been growing steadily, and the government's belief that pinball is a game of chance and considered a gambling machine, led to strict import rules. By 1976, within rules created by the Electronic Processing Activities Coordinating Committee (CAPRE), it became illegal to import pinball machines. This created a problem, since the popularity of arcade games in Brazil had been growing exponentially for many years.[3]
In 1978, with an influx of cash from the parent company, Taito of Brazil was able to build new facilities to accommodate the new standard of electronic solid state games being produced by other manufacturers.