EP1624419A1 - Game machine and media inserting apparatus - Google Patents

Game machine and media inserting apparatus Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1624419A1
EP1624419A1 EP05016966A EP05016966A EP1624419A1 EP 1624419 A1 EP1624419 A1 EP 1624419A1 EP 05016966 A EP05016966 A EP 05016966A EP 05016966 A EP05016966 A EP 05016966A EP 1624419 A1 EP1624419 A1 EP 1624419A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
game
media
medium
medal
guide face
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP05016966A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Takao Nireki
Katsunari Nishimura
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Universal Entertainment Corp
Original Assignee
Aruze Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Aruze Corp filed Critical Aruze Corp
Publication of EP1624419A1 publication Critical patent/EP1624419A1/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/32—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for games, toys, sports, or amusements
    • G07F17/3286—Type of games
    • G07F17/3297—Fairground games, e.g. Tivoli, coin pusher machines, cranes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F1/00—Coin inlet arrangements; Coins specially adapted to operate coin-freed mechanisms
    • G07F1/02—Coin slots

Definitions

  • Japan Patent Application No.2004-229350 filed on August 5,2004 which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entireties.
  • the present invention relates to a game machine to play a game using game media such as medals and coins, and more particularly, to a game machine incorporating a game media inserting apparatus that handles the game media.
  • a game machine such as, for example, a slot machine, roulette machine and pusher game machine
  • a game media inserting apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a “medal inserting apparatus”) is incorporated to enable a player to insert medals smoothly.
  • JP 2003-79927 discloses a pusher game machine incorporating a medal inserting apparatus.
  • the medal inserting apparatus is configured to enable a player to pick a medal up and insert it in a slot one by one, and the inserted medal is released to a predetermined target.
  • the medal inserting apparatus incorporated into the pusher game machine as described above has the need for a player to guide the medal to the slot, and thereby causes bother and tiredness.
  • machines are becoming mainstream which have game characteristics that a player is encouraged to use a large number of medals within a predetermined time and can acquire a large number of medals when a predetermined condition holds. Therefore, inserting a large number of medals is burdensome in the structure where a player guides medals to a slot to insert on a one-by-one basis. Further, a back portion (contact portion with a medal) of the slot may sustain damage by friction, and there arise problems of causing disfigurement of the contact portion and the like.
  • FIG.1 is a view illustrating an embodiment of the game machine according to the invention, and shows one example of a structure of a pusher game machine that is one example of game machines.
  • a pusher game machine 1 is provided with a housing 2, and inside the housing 2 is provided a game area 3 visible from outside.
  • a horizontal plane 3a is formed, while a pusher 3b is disposed that reciprocates in the direction of the arrow on the horizontal plane 3a.
  • a plurality of media (medals) is stored on the horizontal plane 3a, and the medals stored on the horizontal plane 3a are inserted from a front cliff (not shown) by the pusher 3b reciprocating in the direction of the arrow, and discharged as a reward.
  • a player releases held medals toward the horizontal plane 3a and pusher 3b, and acquires a large number of medals beforehand stored on the horizontal plane 3a by the operation of the pusher 3b.
  • the pusher game machine of this embodiment is provided with a specific game mode allowing a player to acquire a large number of medals more than released medals when a predetermined condition holds.
  • targets 6 are arranged in an area where medals are released, and when a predetermined number of (for example, ten) medals are inserted in the targets 6 within a predetermined time (for example, 60 seconds), many medals are released (a medal releasing portion is omitted) to the horizontal plane 3a that is a medal mount area.
  • a base portion 7 to protrude to the player side, and on the base portion 7 is provided a rotation lever 8 that is rotated by a player.
  • the rotation lever 8 is connected at its base end with a slope (not shown) which feeds a medal inserted from a medal inserting apparatus described later toward the horizontal plane 3a, while being converted in direction by operation of rotating the rotation lever 8. Then, by a player operating the rotation of rotation lever 8, an inserted medal is released in the direction of a desired target.
  • the driving mechanism that couples the rotation lever 8 and slope to rotate the slope the mechanism that feeds a medal into the slope from the medal inserting apparatus and the like, these mechanisms are not of the principal constitution of the invention, and descriptions thereof are omitted.
  • the base portion 7 is provided with a media inserting apparatus (medal inserting apparatus) 10 to perform operation of inserting medals in playing the game.
  • the medal inserting apparatus 10 enables a player to insert many medals successively with ease, as specifically described later.
  • the medal inserting apparatus 10 is provided with a flat-shaped medal mount 11 incorporated, into a panel 7a constituting the base portion 7.
  • the medal mount 11 is configured to only enable a predetermined number of medals to be mounted thereon stably, and a concave portion 11a is provided on the game area side of the central portion of the medal mount 11.
  • a bottom 11b of the concave potion 11a is provided with a medal guide portion (media guide portion) 12 having a guide face 12a that guides a medal, and a slit-shaped slot 13 to insert the medal guided along the guide face 12a inside the housing.
  • the guide face 12a is formed to descend toward the slot 13 from the player side, and has a length to the extent that allows a number of medals to stand to be mounted.
  • the face 12a is only required to incline with respect to the horizontal plane to cause a medal to slide smoothly, and the angle is not limited particularly:
  • the guide face 12a preferably has a length to some extent to enable a large number of medals to be inserted successively. More specifically, the face 12a preferably has a length at least more than or equal to the diameter of a medal, and more preferably, has a length more than two or three times the diameter of a medal to enable smoother successive inserting operation with ease.
  • the medal mount 11 is integrally formed with the concave portion 11a and medal guide portion 12, for example, by die-casting of zinc (zinc alloy), and the surface of the mount 11 is chrome plated to enhance the appearance. In this case, to improve integration characteristics, it may be possible forming the flat-shaped medal mount 11, and then forming the concave portion 11a and medal guide portion 12 by press molding.
  • the medal mount 11 and medal guide portion 12 may be configured to be detachable with respect to the panel 7a.
  • the medal mount 11 is provided in the vicinity of the medal guide portion 12 so that a medal is easily inserted in the guide face 12a of the medal guide portion 12. For example, by forming the mount 11 to extend toward the player side, i.e. frontward from the medal guide portion 12, a player is capable of inserting medals in the guide face 12a of the medal guide portion 12 only by pushing a large number of medals mounted on the mount 11 backward.
  • the medal mount 11 of this embodiment is formed on each side of the extending medal guide portion 12, and it is thereby possible to insert medals from the side.
  • the medal guide portion 12 is formed on the bottom 11b of the concave portion 11a, medals are thereby inserted in the medal guide portion 12 from the medal mount 11, and it is thus possible to regulate a number of inserted medals to some extent (constituting regulating means). In other words, since medals are inserted in such a manner, even when a large number of medals are inserted once, the medals are guided to the slot 13 while being scattered by contact of medal-to-medal, bounce by the bottom 11b and the like.
  • a frame inside the panel 7a is provided with a selector device (not shown) to discriminate medals inserted from the slot 13.
  • the selector device measures predetermined parameters (such as a weight and diameter) , and guides a medal determined to be proper to the slope.
  • the guide face 12a of the medal guide portion 12 is configured to come into contact in two points with the outer circumference of a medal when the medal is mounted, where a distance between the two points is preferably smaller than the diameter of the medal. More specifically, the guide face 12a of this embodiment is formed to have a U-shaped cross section, and as shown in FIG. 6, has contact portions P1 such that the outer circumference of a medal M comes into contact with the face 12a in two points when the medal is kept stand substantially vertical to the guide face (when the medal is mounted at any states except the horizontal state with respect to the inclination angle of the guide face), and that a distance of the contact portions. P1 is preferably smaller than the diameter of the medal M. Therefore, a gap is generated between the deepest portion P of the U-shaped cross-section guide face 12a and the lowest edge M1 of the medal, while the contact portions P1 exist under the central position C of the medal, and the medal M is thus unstable in holding itself.
  • a rectangle opening 11d is formed on a rear wall 11c of the concave portion 11a of the panel 7a to expose the outer circumference surface of a rotation roller 30.
  • the rear wall 11c is not provided with the opening 11d, and is configured as a wall portion (rear wall) situated at the back of the slot 13.
  • Such a rear wall without the opening acts as a guide to guide a medal to the slot 13 when the medal sliding downward along the guide face 12a comes into contact with the wall.
  • the rotation roller 30 is supported so that the position of the rotation center E (support position) is higher than an edge position (end position of the opening of the slot 13) P2 between the deepest portion P of the guide face 12a and the slot 13.
  • the rotation roller 30 By supporting the rotation roller 30 in such a positional relationship with the guide face 12a of the medal guide portion 12, it is possible to make a contact position of a medal lower than a virtual line X which is passed through the center E of the rotation roller and parallel to the extending direction of the guide face 12a, and it is thus possible to drive and rotate the rotation roller downward reliably.
  • the contact position of the medal with the rotation roller becomes lower than a position E1 at which the virtual line X intersects the roller outer circumference, and when a medal slides down near the slot and comes into contact at its end face with the rotation roller 30, the rotation roller 30 can be driven to rotate downward with reliability (when a medal contacts a position higher than the position E1, the roller becomes hard to rotate downward).
  • the medal contacting the roller converts its position downward with ease by assistance of the weight of the medal as well as the rotation of the rotation roller 30, and is inserted inside the slot 13 smoothly.
  • a height H from the deepest portion P to the position E1 is larger than a height h from the deepest portion P when a number of medals (herein, assuming five or six medals) that can generally be picked up the easiest are mounted on the guide face 12a while lying (h ⁇ H).
  • a number of medals herein, assuming five or six medals
  • the rotation roller 30 is driven to rotate down ward with reliability (in FIG. 7, the virtual line X' is positions where the medal contacts the guide face 12a when the medal is mounted on the guide face 12a while lying).
  • the rotation roller 30 is preferably formed of, for example, urethane rubber to be low in cost. Further, it is preferable to form means for enhancing friction, for example, knurling 30a on the surface to cause the rotation roller 30 to rotate more easily when coming into contact with a medal. In other words, as the rotation roller 30 rotates more easily, friction is more reduced that interferes with a medal inserted in-the slot 13.
  • a cover 32 is disposed around the exposed rotation roller.
  • the cover 32 of this embodiment is formed of PA based resin with particle-shapedglassmixedtherein, attached around the opening 11d formed in the rear wall 11c, and configured to expose the surface portion.
  • a player can make preparations to start the game by beforehand mounting manymedals on the medal mount 11. Then, by the manymedals mounted in the vicinity of the medal guide portion 12, the player is capable of performing the operation of inserting medals with ease (the operation of inserting is carried out by simply pushing medals mounted on the medal mount 11 to insert successively the medals in the medal guide portion 12, by the player picking up medals mounted on the medal mount 11 and inserting the medal in the medal guide portion 12, or the like, as described below).
  • each of the medals slides downward along the inclined guide face 12a. Then, eventually, each of the medals comes into contact at its end face with the rotation roller 30 sequentially, undergoes downward conversion of its position due to the action of rotation (action of downward rotation) of the rotation roller and the weight of the medal, and is inserted successively without clogging the slot 13.
  • the medals are sliding while being stacked, when the stacked medals contact the rotation roller 30 and undergo position conversion by the rotation of rotation roller 30, a rear end region toward the player side of an uppermost medal of the stacked medals is able to rotate in the direction of the arrow D1 (second and subsequent medals are not able to rotate in the direction of the arrow D1 due to the medal (s) thereon).
  • the medals are inserted in the slot 13 sequentially from an upper medal while undergoing the position conversion.
  • medals sliding on a one-by-one basis successively come into contact with the rotation roller 30 sequentially to undergo the position conversion, and are inserted in the slot 13.
  • the guide face 12a is formed to have the U-shaped cross section, in the case of inserting a medal from the medal mount 11 to the side of the medal guide portion 12, of pushing a large number of medals once to insert or the like, as shown by the arrow in FIG.3, a medal located to the side of the central area of the guide face 12a slides toward the center of the extending direction along the surface of the guide face 12a.
  • the medal thus sliding down is acted upon by rolling moment, and gradually shifts to a horizontal state with respect to the inclination of the medal guide portion as nearer the slot 13, as shown by the arrow in FIG.4.
  • the medal immediately before being inserted in the slot 13, the medal eventually becomes a substantially horizontal state, contacts the rotation roller 30, undergoes position conversion, and is inserted in the slot without change.
  • a medal located to the side of the guide face 12a ultimately becomes a substantially horizontal state that causes the easiest insertion and contacts the rotation roller 30 immediately before being inserted in the slot 13, and is inserted in the slot 13 smoothly.
  • the player When a player handles a relatively small number of medals, for example, the player picks up a single medal M from the medal mount 11 and stands the medal substantially vertically to the guide face 12a on the front side of the medal guide portion 12, as shown in FIG.10, the medal contacts the U-shaped medal guide portion 12 in the position P1 (see FIG.6) lower than its center C, and is kept unstable with the lower end floated.
  • the center position of gravity of the medal M center position C of the medal
  • the inclination face 12a inclines downward, and therefore, an upper portion of the medal M allowed to stand is acted upon by the moment due to its weight of the medal M to fall forward as shown by the arrow in the figure.
  • the medal M falls down to be along the surface of the guide face 12a as shown by chain double-dashed lines, and is naturally guided toward the slot 13 without change.
  • the fallen medal contacts the rotation roller 30 in an end face M2 opposed to the rotation roller 30 or in a surface portion M3 outward in the diameter direction by momentum caused by falling down, is converted in position perpendicularly toward the slot 13 due to the action of the rotation (action of the downward rotation) and the weight of the medal, and inserted in the slot 13 smoothly.
  • the player is capable of performing successive inserting (successive release) of medals with ease.
  • the medal M falls down to be along the surface of the guide face 12a as shown by chain double-dashed lines, and is naturally guided toward the slot 13 without change.
  • the fallen medal contacts the rotation roller 30 in an end face M4 opposed to the rotation roller, is converted in position perpendicularly toward the slot 13 due to the action of the rotation (action of the downward rotation) and the weight of the medal, and inserted in the slot 13 smoothly.
  • the medals removed from the fingers fall down from an upper portion in a standing state toward the slot side or toward the player side, eventually contact the rotation roller 30 in an end face area opposed to the rotation roller 30 or an outer surface area in the diameter direction, undergo the position conversion due to the action of the rotation, and are inserted in the slot 13.
  • the rotation roller 30 is disposed, and a medal is thereby easily converted in position to the vertical direction, and thus assisted to be inserted in the slot 13. Therefore, such inconvenience is resolved that inserting of medals in the slot 13 cannot catch up with the operation of inserting .medals, and smooth inserting operation is achieved.
  • the medal guide portion 12 is formed on the bottom 11b inside the concave portion 11a of the medal mount 11, and it is designed inserting a medal from the medal mount 11.
  • the inserting operation to provide scattered medals can be performed successively. Further, it is possible to prevent a large number of medals from being inserted once into the medal guide portion 12 while exceeding the speed of insertion from the slot 13, and clogging with medals and the like can be suppressed effectively.
  • the back of the slot 13 may be configured as a vertical wall portion (rear wall 11c) without being provided with a rotation roller to guide a medal in contact therewith directly to the slot 13.
  • the medal guide portion 12 needs only to incline toward the slot, is not limited in the form of a cross section to the shape as shown in FIG.6, and may have a flat-plane-shaped cross section.
  • the guide face 12a is configured to have the curve portion with the U-shaped cross section so that a medal comes into contact with two points.
  • the guide face 12a needs only to have a contact portion such that the outer circumference of a portion smaller than the diameter of a medal comes into contact with the face 12a in at least two points when the medal is mounted, and be in the form of having a gap between the lowest edge of the medal and the contact portion.
  • the guide face 12a may be modified as appropriate to have a V-shaped cross section (having straight line portions) as shown in FIG.14A, a generally U-shaped cross section (having curve portions and straight line portions) as shown in FIG.14B, or asperities on the surface of the guide face 12a.
  • the medal guide portion 12 in the medal inserting apparatus 10 may extend from the game machine leftward and rightward with respect to a player, extend obliquely, or have a configuration for a medal to be inserted from the game area side to the player side, opposite to this embodiment.
  • the medal mount 11 may be provided with regulating walls 45 to regulate the number of medals inserted in the medal guide portion 12.
  • the regulating walls 45 are formed on both sides of the medal guide portion 12 at an opening position on the inserting side, have an opening width W to the extent allowing a single medal to pass through, and are configured so that the medal guide portion 12 is situated within a range of the opening width W.
  • the regulating means needs only to have a structure enabling regulation of the number of medals inserted in the medal guide portion 12, and is not limited to the aforementioned structure.
  • the medal inserting apparatus 10 may have a structure such that the structural members such as the medal mount 11, rotation roller 30 and the like are configured as units in advance and incorporated into the game machine body.
  • the medal mount 11 allowed to mount a large number of medals may be formed to incline toward the medal guide portion 12 to some extent, or configured to have a combination of a horizontal plane and incline plane.
  • the medal guide portion 12 is formed inside the concave portion so that a medal is inserted from the medal mount 11, but it may be possible to configure an end portion of the medal guide portion 12 and the medal mount 11 on the substantially same plane.
  • the present invention is applicable to various game machines such as, for example, a slot machine and a machine as shown in FIG.16.
  • a game machine 200 as shown in the figure is configured so that a card game is carried out in a game area 203, where a medal inserting apparatus 10 having the medal mount 11 as described above is provided in a front plate (base) 12 of a front door 202 that is part of the housing.
  • the above-mentioned medal inserting apparatus in the present invention is applicable to various apparatuses in which a medium such as a coin or medal is inserted, other than the above-described game machines, such as, for example, a vending machine and ticket dispenser that issues various tickets.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Slot Machines And Peripheral Devices (AREA)
EP05016966A 2004-08-05 2005-08-04 Game machine and media inserting apparatus Withdrawn EP1624419A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP2004229350A JP2006043195A (ja) 2004-08-05 2004-08-05 遊技機

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1624419A1 true EP1624419A1 (en) 2006-02-08

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP05016966A Withdrawn EP1624419A1 (en) 2004-08-05 2005-08-04 Game machine and media inserting apparatus

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US (1) US20060027973A1 (ja)
EP (1) EP1624419A1 (ja)
JP (1) JP2006043195A (ja)
AU (1) AU2005203387A1 (ja)
ZA (1) ZA200506168B (ja)

Families Citing this family (9)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP4570671B2 (ja) * 2004-06-25 2010-10-27 株式会社ユニバーサルエンターテインメント 遊技機
JP4167211B2 (ja) * 2004-06-25 2008-10-15 アルゼ株式会社 遊技機
JP4551342B2 (ja) * 2006-02-15 2010-09-29 株式会社バンダイナムコゲームス 景品払出機構及び遊戯装置
WO2007119659A1 (ja) * 2006-04-05 2007-10-25 Kabushiki Kaisha Sega Doing Business As Sega Corporation メダルゲーム装置
JP2008136600A (ja) * 2006-11-30 2008-06-19 Aruze Corp 遊技機
JP2008136599A (ja) * 2006-11-30 2008-06-19 Aruze Corp 遊技機
JP4741556B2 (ja) * 2007-08-03 2011-08-03 株式会社バンダイナムコゲームス メダルゲーム装置
US7845645B1 (en) * 2009-10-20 2010-12-07 Saint-Fun International Ltd. Weight-controlled coin-bearing board device for coin-throwing game machine
AU2011221364B1 (en) * 2011-09-07 2012-01-19 Konami Gaming, Incorporated Game machine, control method for use in the game machine, and computer program

Citations (2)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH0737142A (ja) * 1993-07-16 1995-02-07 Sanden Corp 硬貨メダル投入機構
JP2001340529A (ja) * 2000-06-01 2001-12-11 Eipekkusu:Kk 遊技機およびそのコイン投入装置

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JPH08123987A (ja) * 1994-10-28 1996-05-17 Tec Corp 硬貨収納払出し装置
KR100600420B1 (ko) * 1999-08-06 2006-07-13 아사히 세이코 가부시키가이샤 코인 호퍼 장치
JP4261877B2 (ja) * 2002-11-11 2009-04-30 株式会社高見沢サイバネティックス 硬貨処理装置

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH0737142A (ja) * 1993-07-16 1995-02-07 Sanden Corp 硬貨メダル投入機構
JP2001340529A (ja) * 2000-06-01 2001-12-11 Eipekkusu:Kk 遊技機およびそのコイン投入装置

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PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1995, no. 05 30 June 1995 (1995-06-30) *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 2002, no. 04 4 August 2002 (2002-08-04) *

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JP2006043195A (ja) 2006-02-16
ZA200506168B (en) 2006-04-26
AU2005203387A1 (en) 2006-02-23
US20060027973A1 (en) 2006-02-09

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