Next-Gen Amusement Electronic Payment Gateway

TCAP Binary · TLAM · Better Auth

Real contactless e-payment gateway for arcade cabinets

Unified electronic money gateway settling contactless IC payments from SEGA ALLS, Nu, and RingEdge arcade hardware. Multi-tenant architecture with per-organization ledgers, cross-network card identities, and frictionless Relax Mode.

Operator Login Test Bench Simulator

Multi-Tenancy

1 Org = 1 Chain

Isolated ledgers & balances

Cabinet Fleet

ACAXXXX Fleet

Superadmin assigns to org

Cross-Network

Global Cards

Balances never leak

Relax Mode

Ephemeral Play

Auto-settles, zero DB write

TCAP + TLAM + HTTP Settlement Engine

How Electronic Payment Settlement Works

thincaStart acts as the central electronic money gateway between arcade cabinet card readers and multi-tenant ledger accounts.

Cabinet Connects

TCAP binary handshake

Cabinets initiate communication over binary TCAP packets. Unassigned cabinets enter the global pool, ready for operation.

Fleet Assignment

Network Superadmin ownership

The Network Superadmin assigns each cabinet serial (e.g. ACAE01A9999) to exactly one organization.

Card Tap & Route

Cross-network resolution

Customer taps an Amusement IC or FeliCa card. The gateway resolves the card identity and queries the owning organization's balance.

Immutable Ledger

Audited settlement

Payment is deducted, VFD shows PAYMENT OK, LED glows green, and the immutable transaction is committed to the org ledger.

Brand Compatibility

Full Amusement & Transportation IC Matrix

Supports the full spectrum of Japanese contactless electronic money systems used in modern arcades.

Konami PASELIActive

Amusement e-money standard

Native amusement currency used on BEMANI, CHUNITHM, maimai, and Ongeki cabinets for standard and premium play.

Transit ICActive

Suica, Pasmo, ICOCA, TOICA

Nationwide Japanese public transit contactless smart cards, supported seamlessly on compatible cabinet readers.

AEON WAONActive

Retail contactless electronic money

AEON Group smart card money system widely accepted across commercial Japanese amusement centers.

Seven & i nanacoActive

FeliCa RFID contactless system

Pre-paid contactless payment system by Seven & i Holdings, fully recognized by the TCAP protocol stack.

Enterprise Multitenancy

Arcade Chains, Roles & Isolated Ledgers

Engineered for multi-location arcade operators. Users can join many organizations, while network superadmins manage global fleet distribution.

Network Superadmin

Global fleet & ledger authority

• Assigns and reassigns cabinet serials (ACAXXXX) to arcade organizations.

• Has a dedicated Network Admin dashboard with global ledger visibility across all tenants.

• Manages organizations and invites owners via Better Auth admin & organization plugins.

Organization Admin

Arcade chain owner / manager

• Strictly sees only their organization's assigned cabinets and ledger.

• Can toggle Free Play on individual cabinets, always logged to their ledger.

• Issues virtual cards and manages card balances within their organization.

Single & Multi-Tenant Modes

Graduate as your arcade grows

• Single-tenant mode: Defaults to one organization for standalone private setups.

• Graduate to multi-tenant: Set THINCA_SINGLE_TENANT=false to support multiple independent arcade chains.

• Stored in the exact same database as Better Auth. Zero separate databases.

Relax Mode & Free Play

Zero-Setup Ephemeral Play & Audited Free Play

Relax mode is completely ephemeral. Unassigned cabinets auto-settle without saving card data to the database, while assigned cabinets settle real balances.

Ephemeral Relax Mode (Unassigned Pool)

When cabinet is not assigned to any organization

When THINCA_RELAX_MODE=true and an unassigned cabinet connects:

Any cabinet and any contactless card settles instantly

Ephemeral: card data & balances are never stored in DB

VFD emulator & cabinet displays PAYMENT OK

*If a cabinet is assigned to an organization, Relax Mode is completely IGNORED.

Cabinet Free Play (Assigned Organization)

Controlled per-cabinet by organization admins

Organizations can set individual cabinets to Free Play mode from their dashboard:

Transactions settle without deducting customer card balance

Every event is logged to the organization's ledger as free_play

Auditable play counts and financial tracking maintained

Ideal for arcade tournaments, events, or free-to-play promotions.

Get Started

Quickstart & Operator Commands

Run locally or deploy in production. Promote your first network admin with a single command.

Create Superadmin (CLI)

Create first admin or promote existing users

Create the first Network Superadmin directly, or promote any registered user:

# First superadmin (create + promote)

pnpm run setup

# Promote an existing user

pnpm make-superadmin operator1

Point Cabinets at Gateway

Standard SEGA ALLS configuration

Configure the cabinet endpoints in env.json and resource.xml:

// env.json

"tasms.root_endpoint": "http://<IP>:3000/thinca"

// resource.xml

<commonPrimaryUri>http://<IP>:3000/thinca/common-shop/</commonPrimaryUri>