GB2320443A

GB2320443A - Coin pusher machines

Info

Publication number: GB2320443A
Application number: GB9725655A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Takashi Kumabe; Hideaki Fukutome; Tetsuo Ishimaru
Original assignee: Konami Corp
Current assignee: Konami Group Corp
Priority date: 1996-12-20
Filing date: 1997-12-03
Publication date: 1998-06-24
Anticipated expiration: 2017-12-03
Also published as: CN1187108C; CN1205906A; TW367257B; GB9725655D0; GB2320443B

Abstract

A coin-pusher machine is characterised in that each game station comprises an aimable trough-like guiding device for feeding coins to the playing surface and the playing surface comprises a wall which is movable with respect to the playing surface and which comprises at least one target area which is provided with a sensor activation of which causes immediate payout of a jackpot. A plurality of machines can be linked so that coins may be released to the playing field of a first machine as a result of game results at other game stations. The machines can also be linked so that coins from a first machine can be recycled to other machines by switching means. A coin pusher machine may also provide means to adjust the number of coins being added to a playing surface according to the prize that has been selected. Each game station in the plurality of stations may comprise a VDU which displays indicia, matching of which causes prizes to be delivered.

Description

GAME MACHINE AND METHOD OF DISPLAYING PATTERNS ON DISPLAY UNIT OF GAME MACHINE The present invention broadly relates to a game machine and, more particularly but not exclusively to a medal game machine of the type in which medals thrown into the machine by a game player are piled on a table and are forced out of the table by means of a force-out member, the medals thus forced out being then paid back to the game player. The present invention also is concerned with a method of displaying patterns on a display unit of a game machine.

In general, a medal game machine of the type stated above is constructed such that medals are put into the machine through a medal inlet which is on the exterior surface of the game machine and fall onto a game field via a guide inside the machine. The game field contains a stationary platen which provides a bottom of the game field and a movable table which reciprocally moves towards and away from the game player over a stroke which is not greater than the dimension of the stationary platen as measured from the proximal end to the distal end of the stationary platen. A wall having a slit formed at the lower end thereof stands up at the distal end of the stationary platen. The movable table is movable into and out of the slit, so that medals which have fallen onto the movable table are pushed by the portion of the wall above the slit so as to fall onto the stationary platen as the movable table moves into the slit during its reciprocal stroking.

The medals which have fallen onto the stationary platen are then pushed forward towards the proximal end of the stationary platen by the proximal end of the movable table as the latter moves back towards the game player. Since a number of medals have been already piled on the stationary platen, medals are successively forced out one-by-one in a manner like billiard, as the medals newly dropped onto the stationary platen are pushed forward by the movable table. If the pile of medals which is already on the stationary platen is coarse, the forward movement of the newly dropped medals is not transmitted to the most leading medal, because the movement serves only to fill up the gaps between adjacent medals of the pile. Conversely, if the medals existing on the stationary platen are densely piled, the forward movement of the newly dropped medals is transmitted to the medals on the leading end, so that the medals successively drop over the proximal end edge of the stationary platen. The medals thus dropped are paid back to the game player through a chute.

The game player loses when the quantity of the medals paid back is exceeded by the quantity of the medals put into the game machine. With the game machine of the type described, the game player cannot enjoy any big win, though he has no risk of suffering a big loss.

That is to say, the known game machine of the type described is not so much amusing and does not so much stir up gambling spirit. Recently, therefore, game machines having awarding system have been proposed in which enhance fun of the game by awarding a large quantity of additional medals when a medal newly thrown into the machine or forced to move by the trailing medals has happened to fall in a prize zone which is set up at a predetermined position in the game field. Thus, the game player can enjoy a big win when a medal has been put into a prize zone.

In this awarding system, the prize zone is constructed in the form of a sensor which moves in a wide guide defined by a number of nails or pins, or in the form of a metal sensor embedded in the movable table or in the surface of the stationary platen.

The chance of winning the award is purely a matter of occurrence or event when the prize zone is provided by a sensor which moves in a wide guide defined by a number of nails or pins. Thus, the game player has no opportunity to make use of his skill. Consequently, the game player is not tempted to lot a large quantity of medals repeatedly for the purpose of brushing up his skill.

In contrast, when the prize zone is given by a metal sensor embedded in the movable table or in the surface of the stationary platen, it is possible to realize some degree of dependency of the prizing on the level of skill of the game player, provided that means are provided for enabling the game player to control a guide.

A prize zone which is merely fixed on the stationary platen or the movable table, however, enables the game player to easily learn the technique for winning the prize. This excessively enhances the chance of win, so that the administrator of the game machine is obliged to frequently change or reduce the number of medals to be awarded to the game player. The number of medals to be awarded may be excessively decreased as a result of the change. In such a case, the game player cannot expect any remarkable increase of the medals paid back to and possessed by the game player. This tremendously discourages the game player, failing to stir up his gambling mind.

Thus, the known awarding systems are still far from enhancing the fun of the medal game.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a medal game machine in which the change of win has a dependency on the skill level of the game player and in which the game player can hardly become familiar with the way of obtaining a win, so that the game player is encouraged and tempted to spend medals more and more.

To this end, according to the present invention, there is provided a medal game machine, comprising: a table having an edge at one end thereof; a trough-like guiding device operable by a game player, such that a medal rolls along the guiding device onto the upper surface of the table; a wall member having a slit formed therein, such that only a medal rolling on the upper surface of the table can pass through the slit; a first moving mechanism for causing a reciprocal relative movement between the table and the wall member such that the wall member moves along the upper surface of the table relative to the table towards and away from the edge of the table; a second moving mechanism for causing a reciprocal movement of the wall member along the upper surface of the table in the directions perpendicular to the direction of the reciprocal relative movement; a medal force-out member which forces medals piled on the upper surface of the table out of the table in accordance with the relative movement of the wall member towards the edge of the table; a detecting device for detecting a medal which has passed through the slit in the wall member; and a game phase changing device for changing the phase of the game when a medal has been detected by the detecting device.

In the operation of the game machine having the featues set forth above, a game player operates the guide device at a timing with an aim to enable the medal to pass through the slit formed in the wall member. If the direction and timing of aim are proper, the medal can pass through the slit. The medal which has passed through teh slit is detected by the detecting device.

In response to a detection signal derived from the detecting device, the game phase changing device operates to change the phase of the game. In order that the game player wins a prize, he must properly operate the guide member and to put the medal at a proper timing. Thus, the chance of win has a dependency on the level of the skill of the game player, so that the game player is tempted to sped medals more and more in order to improve his skill. In addition, it is not easy for the game player to learn the technique of obtaining win, because the slit as the prize zone moves in the direction which is different from the direction of rolling of the medal. The probability of win, therefore, does not increase drastically, so that it is possible to maintain the gambling spirit of the player for a long time, without requiring frequent change of setting which hitherto has been necessarily conducted by the administrator of the game machine.

In this game machine, the wall member may be kept stationary and the first moving mechanism may operate to move the table relative to the wall member. This arrangement requires the game player to properly determine the timing at which the medal is put into the game machine. Thus, the game player finds difficulty in determining the timing.

The game machine may further comprise a stationary platen, arranged such that the table slides on the upper surface of the stationary platen.

At the same time, the table may have a wall surface which continues from the edge and which forces medals out of the stationary platen as the edge moves away from the wall member.

The stationary platen may have an edge over which the medals forced by the wall surface of the table are made to drop from the stationary platen.

In any form of the game machine of the invention set forth above, the game phase changing device may arranged to perform, under a predetermined condition and in response to a detection of a medal by the detecting device, a prize selecting operation, and to conduct supply of medals onto the upper surface of the table when a prize has been selected.

When the game machine has the stationary platen, the game phase changing device may be arranged to perform, under a predetermined condition and in response to a detection of a medal by the detecting device, a prize selecting operation, and to conduct supply of medals onto the upper surface of the stationary platen when a prize has been selected.

The game machine of the first aspect of the invention may be constructed such that the medal forceout member is provided at the opposite side of the wall member to the guide device, and wherein the first moving mechanism causes the table to move relative to the wall member to a position where the edge of the table is positioned substantially in close proximity of the medal force-out member.

In the game machine of the first aspect of the invention, the direction in which the medal is guided by the guiding device may be slanted with respect to the direction of the relative movement between the table and the wall member caused by the first moving mechanism.

According to this feature, the locus of the medal rolling on the table relative to the wall member varies in accordance with the relative movement between the table and the wall member. The difficulty in winning the prize, therefore, is enhanced.

The game machine of the first aspect may also be constructed such that the movement caused by saiudfirst moving mechanism and the movement caused by the second moving mechanism are performed asynchronously. This makes it much more difficult to properly select the timing at which the medal is put by the game player into the game machine.

The known medal game machine composed of a plurality of game stations has suffered from the following deficiencies. Namely, in this type of game machine, the game in each game station proceeds independently regardless of other stations, so that the prizing operation also is performed individually in each station, without being related to prizing operation in other stations. Thus, the number of the medals expected to be paid back as a prize in each station does never increase unless a medal is actually put into the game machine. Therefore, assuming that there is a person who is merely standing by and observing an unoccupied game station without actually participating in the game, there is no motive power which would hasten the person to actually start the game, because the chance of win for that person has no dependency on the time at which he starts the game. It is also to be understood that, once the game has been started and the number of medals expected to be paid back as a prize has grown large as a result of the proceeding of the game, there is no fear for the game player that this number is reduced unless he actually further proceeds with the game. Thus, the game player is not at all hastened and is allowed to slow down the pace at which he spends medals. Thus, the conventional game machine of the type described, due to the fact that the games proceed in different stations independently of one another, could not produce such mental effects in a way to hasten the observing person to participate in the game or to tempt the game player who is actually occupying a game station and enjoying the medal game to spend the medals more speedily.

In view of the above, it is also an object of the present invention to provide a game machine having a plurality of game stations, wherein the amount expected to be paid back in each station is varied in accordance with proceeding of the game in another station, so as to produce a mental motivation which would hasten the observing person to actually participate in the game.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a medal game machine which produces a mental motivation on a game player to tempt the player to spend the medals more speedily.

To these ends, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medal game machine of the type having a plurality of game stations.

wherein each of the game stations comprises: a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof; a medal force-out member arranged for a relative movement with respect to the table along the upper surface of the table, so as to force the medals to drop from the table; a guide device operable by a game player for guiding the medal onto the upper surface of the table; a storage unit for storing a numerical value; supplying means for supplying medals of a number corresponding to the numerical value when a first condition has been met; numerical value increment informing means for delivering to each of other game stations numerical value increment request information which requests increment of the numerical value in each of other game stations when a second condition has been met; and numerical value incrementing means for incrementing the numerical value when the second condition has been met and when the numerical value increment request information has been received from another game station.

In operation of the medal game machine of the second aspect having the features set forth above, a medal is put onto the surface of the table of each game station while being guided by the guide device under the control of the game player of each game station. The medal is forced by the fore-out member so that the medals which have already been piled on the table are pushed to drop from the table. The medals thus dropped from the table are, for example, paid back to the game player. When the second condition is satisfied during the proceeding of the game, the numerical value incrementing means increments the numerical value stored in the storage unit. At this moment, the numerical value increment informing means sends to other game stations the numerical value increment request information. In the game station which has received this numerical value increment request information, the numerical value incrementing means serves to increment the numerical value stored in the storage unit of this game station. Thus, in accordance with the proceeding of the game in one of the game stations, i.e., in response to satisfaction of the second condition, the numerical values which have been stored in the storage units of the respective game stations are incremented simultaneously. Thus, the number of medals expectable to be payable increments progressively even in an unoccupied game station. When the first condition is satisfied in any of the game stations, medals of a number corresponding to the numerical value of the storage unit of this game station are supplied onto the upper surface of the table by the action of the supplying means. A mental effect is thus produced to hasten any person who is merely standing by and observing the game field to take part in the game.

The relative movement between the table and the medal force-out member may be effected by moving both the table and the medal, or by moving either one of the table and the medal while keeping the other stationary.

The table may have a double-deck structure composed of a lower stationary table and an upper slidable table. In such a case, the forward end of the upper movable table serves as the medal force-out member for forcing medals out of the lower stationary table, and a stationary wall member or the like may be used to serve as the medal force-out member for forcing medals out of the upper movable table.

The guide device is a device which guides a medal onto the table in accordance with the manipulation of the game player. Thus, the guide device may be a chutetype guide along which the medal put by the game player rolls or slides onto the table, or may be of the type in which medals which have been stocked are made to drop by the operation of an actuator responsive to manipulation of switched by the game player.

In order to achieve also the aforesaid object to provide a medal game machine which produces a mental motivation on a game player to tempt the player to spend the medals more speedily. each game station of the medal game machine in accordance with the second aspect may further comprise numerical value initialization informing means for delivering, when the supply of medals by the supplying means has been finished, numerical value initialization request information to each of other game stations to request initialization of numerical value in each of other game stations; and numerical value initializing means for initializing the numerical value when the supply of medals by the supplying means has been finished and when the numerical value initialization request information has been received from another game station.

In the medal game machine of the second aspect having such features, when the first condition is satisfied in any of the game stations, the numerical value initializing means of this game station initializes the numerical value which has been stored in the storage unit of this game station. At the same time, the numerical value initialization informing means delivers numerical value initializing request information to other game stations. Upon receipt of this numerical value initializing request information, the numerical value initializing means of each game station operates to initialize the numerical value which has been stored in the storage unit of this game station. Thus, when the second condition is met in any of the game stations, initialization of the stored numerical value is effected not only in the game station in which the second condition is met but also in other game stations which have not yet met the second condition. Thus, the amount of medals expected to be payable is reset to the initial value, i.e., drastically reduced, in all thee game stations. Consequently, the game players who are occupying different game stations of the medal game machine compete with one another for the satisfaction of the second condition. Consequently, a mental motivation power is produced such that all the game players spend the medals speedily more and more in order to surpass the competitors.

In the medal game machine in accordance with the second aspect of the present invention, each game station may further comprise selecting means for selecting a prize from among a plurality of prizes when a third condition has been met.

The third condition required by the selecting means may be the fact that the medal has passed through a predetermined position in the guide device, or may be a condition specifying a period of time. The third condition also may be that the medals which have rolled out of the guide device has rolled into a predetermined position.

The first condition required by the supplying means may be that a predetermined prize has been selected by the selecting means, and the second condition required by the numerical value increment informing means and the numerical value incrementing means may be that a prize other than the predetermined prize has been selected by the selecting means.

The third condition required by the selecting means may be that a medal has been detected by a detecting device disposed at a predetermined position in the game station.

The medal game machine in accordance with the second aspect of the present invention may further comprise distributing means which, upon receipt of numerical value increment request information from the numerical value increment informing means of any one of the game stations, distributes the request to the numerical value incrementing means of all other game stations.

When the medal game machine in accordance with the second aspect has the numerical value initialization informing means and the numerical value initializing means, the game machine may further comprise distributing means which, upon receipt of numerical value initialization request information from the numerical value initialization informing means of any one of the game stations, distributes the numerical value initialization request information to the numerical value initializing means of all other game stations.

The known medal game machine composed of a plurality of game stations each can be occupied by a game player also has suffered from the following deficiency, in regard to the aforementioned awarding system.

More specifically, the awarding system requires the use of a mechanism in which part of the medals which have dropped from the stationary table are stocked in a lower collecting section without being paid back to the game player, and the medals thus stocked are taken up as necessary by a hopper. Namely, when the game payer has won a prize, the hopper takes up the medals and stores the taken-up medal in an upper collecting section which is opened when the game player has won a prize, or medals are taken up by the hopper and directly supplied onto the table in response to a win.

In known medal game machines having a plurality of game stations, each of the game stations is equipped with such a hopper.

In the event of a failure of operation of the hopper of any game station, the game can no more be executed in such a station, even if hoppers of other game stations can operate safely.

In the conventional medal game machine in which each game station is equipped with its own hopper, it is very rare that all the hoppers simultaneously operate to take up medals, because the medal take-up event takes place only seldom in each game station. Thus, rate of working of each hopper is very low, which is quite inconvenient from the view point of effective use of hardware resources of the whole game machine.

Thus, it is also an object of the present invention to provide a medal game machine in which hoppers of different game stations of the medal game machine can operate complementally so as to be backed up by one another.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a medal game machine in which supply of medals to a plurality of game stations is performed by a single common hopper, thus enhancing the rate of working of the hopper.

To these ends, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medal game machine having a plurality of game stations each having a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof, a medal force-out member which makes a relative movement with respect to the table along the upper surface of the table, so as to force medals on the upper surface of the table in such a direction as to drop the medals from the upper surface of the table, and a collecting portion for collecting part of the medals which have dropped from the upper surface of the table, the medal game machine comprising: a plurality of hoppers for taking up medals from the collecting portions of the associated game stations; and a medal supplying mechanism for collectively receiving medals taken up by the hoppers and for switching the medal flow path so as to deliver the medals to the table of a desired game station.

In the medal game machine in accordance with the third aspect, with the features set forth above, the medal supplying mechanism receive medals collectively from the hopper of any game station and delivers the received medals to the table of any desired game station by suitably changing over the flow path of the medals.

Therefore, even when the hopper of one of the game stations has failed to operate, the game player can proceed with the game without problem, because medals are taken up by the hopper of another station which is functioning safely and are supplied to the table of the game station in which the hopper has failed to operate.

In the medal game machine of the third aspect of the present invention, each of the game station may further comprise supply decision means which decides that medals are to be supplied to the table of the game station; flow-path change-over requesting means for giving to the medal supplying mechanism a request to change-over the medal flow path so that the medals are delivered to the table of the game station, when the supply decision means has decided that the medals are to be supplied to the table of the game station; detecting means for checking whether or not the hopper for taking up medals from the collecting portion is functioning safely; medal take-up requesting means which, when the detecting means has detected that the hopper is not functioning safely after the supply decision means has decided that the medals are to be supplied to the table of the game station, deliver to another game station a medal take-up request for taking up medals from the another game station; and hopper controlling means which, when the supply decision means has decided that medals are to be supplied to the table of the game station and when the request for taking up medals has been received from another game station, controls the hopper so as to take up medals from the collecting portion of the game station.

The medal game machine of the third aspect may further comprise a medal take-up assignment means which, upon receipt of a medal take-up request from the medal take-up requesting means of any of the game stations, assigns the medal take-up request to the hopper controlling means of a game station other than that from which the medal take-up request has been received.

Preferably but not exclusively, the plurality of game stations and the associated hoppers are arranged in an annular form, and the medal supplying mechanism is disposed at the center of the annular arrangement of the game stations.

The medal supplying mechanism may comprise a medal collecting mechanism for collecting the medals taken up by the plurality of hoppers at a position above the center of the plurality of game stations; and a medal slide-down mechanism which allows the medals collected by the collecting mechanism to slide down towards the table of a desired game station.

The medal collecting mechanism may be of the type which includes a vertical pipe disposed above the center of the plurality of game stations, and a plurality of troughs extended between the ends of the hoppers and the pipe and inclined downward toward the pipe..

The medal slide-down mechanism may be of the type which includes a vessel having an opened upper end, for receiving the medals dropping from the pipe of the medal collecting mechanism, a tilting mechanism for tilting the vessel, and a turning mechanism for turning the vessel within a horizontal plane.

The vessel may a beak portion for guiding the medals sliding outward from the vessel provided at the edge of the vessel which forms the lowermost end of the vessel when the vessel has been tilted by the tilting mechanism.

The medal slide-down mechanism may include chutes associated with respective game stations so as to guide the medals sliding down from the vessel towards the tables of the respective game stations.

In accordance with the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided also a medal game machine having a plurality of game stations each having a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof, a medal force-out member which makes a relative movement with respect to the table along the upper surface of the table, so as to force medals on the upper surface of the table in such a direction as to drop the medals from the upper surface of the table, and a collecting portion for collecting part of the medals which have dropped from the upper surface of the table, the medal game machine comprising: a hopper for taking up medals from the collecting portions of the plurality of game stations; and a medal supplying mechanism for receiving medals taken up by the hopper and changing over the flow path of the medals so as to supply the received medals to the table of a desired game station.

In this medal game machine, the single common hopper can take up medals from any of the game stations of the game machine. The medals thus taken up are directed to the table of any desired game station, by means of the medal supplying mechanism which performs change-over of the medal flow path. Thus, the rate of working of the hopper is enhanced, thus enabling efficient use of the hardware resources of the whole game machine.

The awarding system of the known medal game machine is constructed as follows. Assuming here that prize selecting operation is being executed in response to a winning of a prize by a medal. If another medal wins a prize during the executio predetermined limit number of wins, and any further wins are ignored.

In the latter case in which wins of a number beyond a predetermined number are ignored, the game player restrains himself from spending medals until all the prize selecting operations which have been reserved are executed, because any win after the limit number of wins has been reached will not award the game player. A problem is encountered also when no limit is posed on the number of prizing operations. Namely, in such a case, thee is no need at all for the game player to make haste in spending the medals, so that he tends to spend the medals slowly in phase with the execution of the prize selecting operations. Thus, the awarding system in the known medal game machine do not produce sufficiently large tempting effect which would motivate the game player to spend the medals one after another.

Therefore, it is also an object of the present invention to provide a medal game machine in which the number of reservations of the prize selecting operation is limited to a predetermined limit number and, in the event that the game player wins when the number of reservations has been reached the upper limit number, the game player is awarded by an increased number of medals supplied into the game field in response to a specific type of prize. Thus, the game player can expect a big award even after the upper limit of reservation has been reached, which tempts the game player to spend medals more and more.

To this end, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medal game machine, comprising: a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof; a medal force-out member arranged for a relative movement with respect to the table along the upper surface of the table, so as to force the medals to drop from the table; a guide device operable by a game player for guiding the medal onto the upper surface of the table; a first storage unit for storing a first numerical value; a second storage unit for storing a second numerical value; incrementing means for incrementing the first numerical value within a predetermined range having an upper limit value each time a predetermined triggering condition is met; selecting means for executing any one of a plurality of prizes when the first numerical value is not less than 1; decrementing means for decrementing the first numerical value each time the selecting means performs the selecting operation; numerical value adding means for increasing the second numerical value when the predetermined triggering condition is met while the first numerical value has reached the upper limit value; and supplying means for supplying to the upper surface of the table medals of a number corresponding to the second numerical value when a specific prize has been selected by the selecting means.

In the medal game machine in accordance with the fourth aspect of the invention having the features set forth above, the first numerical value stored in the first storage unit is incremented each time the predetermined triggering condition is satisfied. When the first numerical value stored in the first storage unit has become 1 or greater as a result of the increment, the selecting means executes the selecting operation. The first numerical value stored in the first storage unit is decremented in response to the execution of the selecting operation. Since a certain period of time is required for the selecting means to complete the selecting operation, it is possible that the triggering condition is satisfied many times at intervals shorter than the period of execution of the selecting operation. In such a case, the firs numerical value is successively incremented to reach the upper limit value. When satisfaction of the triggering condition occurs while the first numerical value is held at the upper limit, increment of the first numerical value is not executed but, instead, a predetermined number is added to the second numerical value stored in the second storage unit. The second numerical value corresponds to the number of medals to be supplied by the supplying means onto the upper surface of the table in the event that a preselected prize has been selected by the selecting means. Consequently, the increase of the second numerical value causes the game player to expect a grater number of medals to be awarded and, hence, is tempted to spend medals more and more.

In the medal game machine of the fourth aspect, the selecting means comprise a detecting device for detecting a medal at a preselected position. In such a case, the arrangement may be such that the predetermined triggering condition is met by detection of a medal by the detecting means.

The first storage unit and the second storage unit may be constructed by a common memory device.

The medal game machine of the first aspect may further comprise initializing means for initializing the second numerical value when medals have been supplied onto the upper surface of the table by the supplying means.

The medal game machine also may comprise one or both of first displaying means for displaying the first numerical value and second displaying means for displaying the second numerical value.

A typical conventional medal game machine has a display unit arranged on a wall of the game field, for displaying an image or scene similar to that of a slot machine. The image displayed on the display unit has three display regions arranged side-by-side, each being adapted for displaying a vertical row of patterns formed of numerals, symbols or patterns. When a predetermined triggering condition is met, the display unit operates such that the patterns sequentially move in each display region to emerge from the upper side and to be hidden behind the lower side of each display region. Each display region has its own sequence of appearance of the patterns. Thus, the displayed image gives to the game player an impression which is similar to that produced by three rotating reels arranged side-by-side as on an actual slot machine.

After lapse of a predetermined period of time, the movements of the patterns on the display regions are stopped in a predetermined sequence. For instance, the movement is stopped in the left display region first, then in the right display region and finally in the center display region. A triplet display of a pattern, i.e., the fact that all the three display regions display an identical pattern after the stop of the movements of the displayed patterns, is regarded as being a "win", so that the game proceeds to a phase which is advantageous for the game player. For instance, when the medal game machine is of the type in which medals piled on a table in the game field are forced to drop from the table by a force-out member movable relative to the table, a large quantity of medals are supplied at once onto the table, so as to increase the chance that the medals are forced out from the table so as to be paid back to the game player, thus enhancing the expectation of the game player for award.

This known awarding system, however, has the following shortcoming, attributable to the fact that the stopping of motion of the patterns takes place in the three display regions in a predetermined sequence.

Therefore, the chance of obtaining a win by a triplet display, i.e., display of an identical pattern on all the three display regions, is nullified at the moment at which the motion of the display is ceased in a second display region, if the pattern stationarily displayed on the second display region does not coincide with the pattern stationarily displayed on a first display region which has stopped the motion first of all, although the third display region is still continuing the motion of the display. Thus, the game payer is obliged to wait for the stopping of the motion in the third display, without giving any chance or expectation of achieving the triplet display. The display system in the conventional medal game machine thus failed to attract the game player by maintaining the expectation of the game player.

Therefore, it is also an object of the present invention to provide a method of displaying a pattern on a game machine, as well as a game machine employing such a displaying method, in which the chance of win, i.e., the possibility of achieving a triplet display, is maintained until the motion of display of patterns is stopped in all the three display regions which arranged side-by-side and adapted to stop the motion of the display successively.

To these ends, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying patterns on a display unit of a game machine of the type in which the display unit has three display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions, the method comprising the steps of: causing the display regions to variably display the patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met; causing the display regions to successively stop the variation of the patterns displayed thereon; causing, when an identical pattern is displayed stationarily on two out of the three display regions after the stop of variation of the display on all the display regions, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own; and causing the remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon.

According to this displaying method, even when coincidence has not been obtained between the pattern displayed on the display region which has stopped the variation first and the pattern displayed on the display region which has stopped the variation second, not to mention the case where a coincidence has been obtained, there still is a hope that a win by a triplet display is obtainable, until the variation is stopped on the remainder display region. This is because, if a coincidence of pattern is obtained between two out of the three display regions after the variations have been ceased on all the display regions, the rest display region starts again to vary the pattern displayed thereon. It is therefore possible to attract the attention of the game player to the end of the game, by maintaining the hope of obtaining a win. The patterns displayed on each display region may be numerals, characters, symbols, pictures or a combination thereof.

The fifth aspect of the present invention also provides a method of displaying patterns on a display unit of a game machine of the type in which the display unit has first, second and third display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions, the method comprising the steps of: causing the display regions to variably display the patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met; causing the first display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; causing the second display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; causing the third display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; causing, when coincidence is obtained after the stop of variations on all the display regions only between the pattern displayed on the first display region and on the third display region or only between the pattern displayed on the second display region and the pattern displayed on the third display region, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own; and causing the remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon.

The sequence may be a sequence in accordance with which a plurality of patterns are put on display in each of the display region, or a sequence in accordance with which a plurality of patterns move to appear on and pass each of the display regions.

As stated above, the patterns may include characters, numerals, symbols. pictures or a combination thereof.

The fifth aspect of the present invention also provides a game machine comprising: a display unit having three display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions: controlling means for causing the display regions to variably display the patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met, causing the display regions to successively stop the variation of the patterns displayed thereon causing, when an identical pattern is displayed stationarily on two out of the three display regions after the stop of variation of the display on all the display regions, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own, and causing the remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; and game phase changing means for changing the phase of the game when an identical pattern is displayed in all the display regions after the stop of the variation in all the display regions.

The game machine in accordance with the present invention also may be constructed to comprise: a display unit having first, second and third display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions: controlling means for causing the display regions to variably display the patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met, causing the first, second and third display regions to stop the variations of the pattern displayed thereon, causing, when coincidence is obtained after the stop of variations on all the display regions only between the pattern displayed on the first display region and on the third display region or only between the pattern displayed on the second display region and the pattern displayed on the third display region, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own, and causing the remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; and game phase changing means for changing the phase of the game when an identical pattern is displayed in all the display regions after the stop of the variation in all the display regions.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description of the preferred embodiments when the same is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a medal game machine embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevationAl view of the medal game machine as viewed in the direction of arrow II of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the medal game machine taken along the line III-III of Fig.

2; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the medal game machine taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a game field; Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the game field; Fig. 7 is a partly-sectioned side elevational view of a center; Fig. 8 is an enlarged plan view of the center, showing particularly individual game fields and part of a substantially conical portion; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a lower treasure box, a movable table and a medal chute; Fig. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line X-X of Fig. 8; Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view of the game machine in a state in which a saucer has been fully tilted and the movable table has been fully retracted; Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line XII-XII of Fig. 8; Fig. 13 is an illustration of the content of a display on a display unit; Fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram showing the manners in which component circuits of the medal game machine are mutually connected; Fig. 15 is a block diagram showing the circuitry of each station shown in Fig. 14; Fig. 16 is a block diagram showing a host circuit shown in Fig. 14; Fig. 17 is a flowchart showing the contents of a control processing performed by a CPU of Fig. 15 in response to turn-on of the power supply; Fig. 18 is a flowchart illustrative of a slotrotation sub-routine executed in Step S 0006 of the process shown in Fig. 17; Fig. 19 is a flowchart illustrative of a slotrotation sub-routine executed in Step S 0006 of the process shown in Fig. 17; Fig. 20 is a flowchart illustrative of a medal suck-up processing sub-routine executed in Step S 0204 of the process shown in Fig. 19, Step S0506 of a process shown in Fig. 22, and Step S0702 of a process shown in Fig. 24; Fig. 21 is a flowchart illustrative of a win subroutine executed in Step S0015 of the process shown in Fig. 17; Fig. 22 is a flowchart illustrative of a jackpot processing executed in Step S0016 of the process shown in Fig. 17; Fig. 23 is a flowchart illustrative of the content of a sensor interruption processing executed by the CPU shown in Fig. 15; Fig. 24 is a flowchart illustrative of the content of a medal suck-up request receipt interruption processing performed by the CPU shown in Fig. 15; Fig. 25 is a flowchart illustrative of the content of a j-reset information receipt interruption processing performed by the CPU shown in Fig. 15; Fig. 26 is a flowchart illustrative of a addition information receipt interruption processing; Fig. 27 is a flowchart illustrative of the content of a control processing performed by a CPU of Fig. 16 in response to turning on of the power supply; and Fig. 28 is a flowchart illustrative of the content of a periodical monitoring interruption processing executed by a periodical interruption by the CPU shown in Fig. 16.

A description will now be given of a game machine embodying the present invention.

< Overall structure of a medal game machine > As will be seen from Figs. 1 to 4, the medal game machine has a substantially columnar or cylindrical form and is composed of a medal supply section U, a game execution section M and a medal collecting section D, as mentioned from the top to the bottom.

As will be seen from Figs. 3 and 4, a game executing section M and the medal collecting section D are separated from each other by means of an annular partition plate 1. The medal collecting section D is built up in a cylindrical space which is defined between the partition plate 1 and a bottom plate 5 which also has an annular shape. The medal collecting section D are divided into 10 sector compartments arranged around the axis thereof. Each of these sector compartments constitutes an individual medal game station S which has, as will be described later, a collecting chute 17 and a pay-back chute 18. A pair of stations S form a group. A medal collecting box 19 is disposed between the pair of stations S, S of each group, for the purpose of receiving and collecting medals coming from the chutes 17, 17 of the stations S, S.

The outer end of each station S is covered y a sector-shaped cover 6 which can be opened to enable a game machine administrator to take out the medals which have been collected in the collecting box 19. Medals which have been guided by a pay-back chute 18 are paidback to the game player through a pay-back wicket 16 which is formed in the cover 6 at a position slightly above the center of the cover 6.

A pillar 2 is provided so as to stand upright from a peripheral edge portion of the partition plate 1 at the boundary between each two adjacent stations S, S.

Thus, there are 10 equi-spaced pillars 2 standing upright from the peripheral edge of the medal collecting section D. A curved plate in the form of a part of a cylinder, which is made of a transparent acrylic resin and which has the same radius of curvature as the cover 6, fits in the space between each two adjacent pillars 2. The plate 3 made of transparent acrylic resin plate 3 defines the outer peripheral surface of the game execution section M. A substantially conical game field region with a central top portion is formed in the game execution section M. This game field region provides a field section for each station S on which the game proceeds under the control of individual game player.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the game fields, while Fig. 6 is a plan view of the game field which actually is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of Fig. 1. As will be seen from Figs. 5 and 6, the entire game field region is formed of portions each having an angular span of 36' and arranged successively in the circumferential direction in symmetry with respect to the axis of the medal collecting section D.

The entire game field region has a central portion 4 having a substantially frusto-conical form and a peripheral annular portion.

The central frusto-conical portion 4 is built-up on a center base plate 8 supported by a stand 7 disposed in the central space of the medal collecting section D.

An upper treasure box driving mechanism 9, which drives an upper treasure box 10 protruding from the top of the frusto-conical portion 4, is set up on the central portion of the center base plate 8. The center base plate 8 also carries a host circuit which will be mentioned later. The stand 7, center base plate 8, frusto-conical portion 4, upper treasure box 10, upper treasure box driving mechanism 9 and the host circuit will be collectively referred to as a "center C".

The annular peripheral portion of the game field region is divided into 10 sector-shaped individual game fields corresponding to the 10 stations S of the medal collecting section D. A step is formed between the radially inner end of each game field and the lower end of the frusto-conical portion. A display unit 11 is attached to the surface of the wall of the step so as to face radially outward of the game execution section M.

A later-mentioned station circuit is attached to the rear side of the display unit 11. A lower treasure box 12 is disposed in front of the display unit 11. A movable table 13 is disposed beneath the treasure box 12 so as to be movable radially inward and outward, i.e., towards and away from the peripheral edge of the game execution section M. A decorative member 14 is disposed along the boundary between adjacent game fields, so as to fill the space between the components of these two game fields, i.e., between the display units 11, between the lower treasure boxes 12 and between the movable tables 13 of the game fields. The distance between two adjacent decorative members 14 is constant over the portions of these decorative members contacting the display units 11, lower treasure boxes 12 and the movable tables 13. The distance, however, progressively increases towards the peripheral end in a diverging manner at a region extending radially outward beyond the stroke of the movable table 13. Each game station S and the associated game field will be collectively referred to as a "station", hereinafter.

Referring back to Fig. 1, a medal chute 15 through which the game player throws medals open at both lower corner portions of the transparent acrylic resin plate 3 of each station.

A hopper 20 for taking up medals from the abovementioned medal collecting box 19 is disposed in every other ones of the ten pillars 2. Thus, there are five hoppers 20 in total.

The medal supply section U is supported by the ten pillars 2. The medal supply section U has five slanted troughs 21 along which the medals taken up through the hopper 20 roll towards the central portion where a down pipe 22 is provided through which medals collected through the slant troughs 21 drop into the upper treasure box 10.

A detailed description will now be given of the details of each section and portion.

< Game field > Details of the game field of each station will be described first. Fig. 8 is a plan view of a portion, more specifically a part of the frusto-conical portion 11, of the game field, with the decorative member 14 removed therefrom. In this Figure, the movable table 13 is shown in a state in which it has been fully projected forward. Fig. 9 shows in perspective view a lower treasure box 12, a movable table 13 and a medal chute 15. Fig. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line X-X of Fig. 8.

As will be seen from Fig. 8, the game field has such a configuration that is symmetrical with respect a radial line which extends in a vertical direction as viewed in Fig. 8, i.e., a line which extends in the radial direction. This radial line therefore will be referred to as a "center line", hereinafter. (Display) The display unit 11 is disposed in the vicinity of the radially inner or central end of the game field, i.e., the upper end as viewed in Fig. 8 (referred to as "center end", hereinafter). The display unit 11 is fixed to the partition plate 1 by means of a pair of stays 23, 23 attached to both sides thereof, such that the display unit 11 is perpendicular to the partition plate 1 and spaced greatly from the partition plate 1.

The display 11 is a liquid crystal display unit which is illuminated by a back light disposed behind the display unit, and performs a display operation under the control of the station circuit.

Fig. 13 shows the content of the display on the display unit 11. As will be seen from Fig. 13, there are three reel display regions lla to llc arranged side by side at the center of the display area. In a "slot rotation" phase of the operation, numerals 1 to 7 and a predetermined pattern which is in this case a word reading SUPER successively appear in the reel display region as if they move from the lower side to the upper side of the reel display region. In a "slot stop" phase of the operation, one of the numerals 1 to 7 or the word SUPER fixedly appears in each reel display region. That is to say, the predetermined pattern appears in various manners in accordance with a predetermined sequence.

Four reservation lamp regions lld to llg indicative of the number of reservations of slot rotation are displayed on the upper side of each of the reel display regions lla to llc. At the same time, a data region llo is displayed under each of the reel display regions lla to llc. The peripheral region around the reel display regions lia to lIc, reservation lamp regions lld to llg and the data region llo is divided into 7 parcheesi lamp regions llh to lln. One of the parcheesi lamps llh to lln is lit each time of "win", i.e., each time the same numeral stops in the center of all the three reel display regions lla to llc. More specifically, the lighting of the parcheesi lamp regions llh to lln moved clockwise starting from the lamp region which is at the right upper corner. Therefore, the upper central parcheesi lamp region llm is lit on in response to the seventh "win". The data region llo displays, for example, a value of a variable j, e.g., a numeral indicative of "SUPER JACKPOT".

[Lower treasure box] The pair of stays 23, 23 which serve to fix the display unit 11 extend in parallel with the center line towards the radially outer end or peripheral end of the game field, i.e., towards the lower end as viewed on Fig. 8 (referred to simply as "peripheral end", hereinafter. The portion of each stay 23 which extends towards the peripheral side beyond the display 11 supports a box-shaped drive unit case 121 which encases a driving mechanism for driving the lower treasure box 12. The lower surface of the driving unit case 121 thus supported and fixed is slightly spaced from the top face of the partition plate 1.

The driving unit case 121 is opened at its top end. A pair of booms 122, 122 in the form of pillars of a polygonal cross-section are attached to both end brims defining the top opening of the case 121 so as to slightly project from the peripheral side surfaces of the driving unit case 121 towards the peripheral end.

An angle stay 123 having an L-shaped cross-section extends between the ends of the booms 122, 122. The portion of the of the angle stay 123 adjacent to the peripheral side end constitutes a vertically suspending portion 123a which faces the partition plate 1.

A rectangular saucer 125 which constitutes the top of medals. The center end of the rectangular saucer 125 is slightly bent upward so as to form a small gap between this end and the display unit 11. Other three sides of the rectangular saucer 125 are bent towards the partition plate 1 so as to form vertically suspending ribs. The rib 125 on the peripheral side end of the saucer 125 covers the outer surface of the suspending portion 123a of the angle stay 123. The rib 125a of the rectangular saucer 125 and the suspending portion 123a of the angle stay 123 are hinged together by means of a hinge 124 with a hinge pin whose axis extends perpendicularly to the center line. The rectangular saucer 125 therefore is rotatable about the lower end edge of the rib 125a of the peripheral side, within the plane of Fig. 10. The state shown in Fig. 10 in which the rectangular saucer 125 rests on the booms 122, 122 and the angle stay 123 will be referred to as "accommodating state", hereinafter.

A rectangular tabular follower 125b is fixed to the central portion of the lower face of the rectangular saucer 125 so as to suspend therefrom and to extend in parallel with the center line. A pair of rectangular brackets 121a, 121a are fixed to the peripheral side inner face of the driving unit case 121 in parallel with the follower 125b so as to sandwich the follower 125b therebetween. At the same time, a lower treasure box driving motor 126 is fixed to the surface adjacent to the follower 125b of one of the brackets 121a, 121b. A freely rotatable roller 126b which has an axis parallel to the axis of the shaft of the lower treasure box driving motor 126 is fixed to this shaft through a crank arm 126b. The roller 126b is disposed right below the follower 125b, so as to be spaced from the lower end edge of the follower 125b only when it has been brought to the lowermost position of its stroke as a result of operation of the lower treasure box driving motor 126.

A further rotation of the crank arm 126a as a result of further operation of the lower treasure box driving motor 126 causes the roller 126b to push up the follower 125b, so that the angular saucer 125 is tilted counterclockwise within the plane of Fig. 10. In Fig.

11, the angular saucer 125 is shown in a state in which it has been tilted fully to a maximum tilt angle by the roller 126b which has been moved to the upper end of its stroke. In this state, medals placed on the top face of the angular saucer 125 slide down along the top face of the rectangular saucer 125 onto the movable table 13 or the partition plate 1.

The side surfaces of the stays 23, 23, driving unit case 121 and the angle stay 123, except for the surfaces facing the center of the station, are covered by a decorative plate 127 which is flush with the surfaces of the ribs of the angular saucer 125. The lower end edge of the decorative plate 127 is positioned at a level which is almost the same as the level of the lower surface of the driving unit case 121. A central portion of the peripheral end of the decorative plate 127 is cut-out from the lower end edge thereof so as to provide a substantially rectangular horizontal opening.

The upper end edge of the cutout 127a is at a level which is below the lower end edge of the suspending portion 123a of the angle stay 123. Therefore, the suspending portion 123a of the angle stay 123 can never be exposed through the cutout 127a. A slide rail 241 is attached to the center of the angle stay 123, so as to extend substantially perpendicularly to the center line A slider 242 slidably engages with the slide rail 241 in such a manner that it does never come off the slide rail 241. A hanger member 243 having an inverse-L-shaped cross-section is fixed to one surface of the slider 242 which is the right-hand side surface as viewed on Fig.

10. The hanger member 243 has an end which extends downward to a level below the suspending portion 123a of the angle stay 123. A rectangular gate plate 24 serving as a wall member is hung from and fixed to the end of the hunger member 243 so as to contact the reverse side of the decorative plate 127. Thus, the gate plate 124 is slidable along the top face of the movable table 13 in lateral directions, i.e., in the directions perpendicular to the direction of movement of the movable table 13, by means of the slide rail 241 and the slider 242.

As will be seen from Fig. 10, the gate plate 24 has a vertical height which is slightly greater than the depth of the cutout 127 of the decorative plate 127, and the lower end of the gate plate 24 overlaps the lower end of the decorative plate 127. Referring now to Fig.

8, the lateral breadth of the gate plate 24 is smaller than the inner breadth of the decorative plate 127 by an amount which corresponds to the stroke over which the gate plate 24 is slidable, and is greater than the breadth of the cutout 127a of the decorative plate 127 by an amount corresponding to the above-mentioned stroke of the sliding motion. Consequently, the cutout 127a is closed by the gate plate 124 regardless of the position of the gate plate 24 the stroke of its sliding motion.

As will be seen from Fig. 9, the gate plate 24 has a pair of elongated slits 24a, 24a formed at positions spaced inward from both lateral ends thereof by a distance equal to the stroke of sliding motion of the cover plate 24. Each slot has a width which is about 4 times as large the thickness of the medal, and a length or vertical height which is almost equal to the diameter of the medal. Thus, the slits 24a, 24a constitutes the slits which permit only the medals rolling on the movable table 13 to pass therethrough.

Referring now to Fig. 12 which is a sectional view taken along the line XII-XII of Fig. 8, it will be seen that a slide follower 244 having a substantially Ushaped cross-section is attached to the surface of the hanging member 243 which is opposite to the slider 242, in such a manner that the opening of the U-shape faces the driving unit case 121 and that the axis of the slide follower 244 extends in the up and down directions. A checker driving motor 128 is secured to the other bracket 121d in the driving unit case 121, such that the shaft of this motor 128 serving as a driving shaft extends in parallel with the center line of the game field. The driving shaft extends through the driving unit case 121. A crank pin 128b is fixed to the end of the driving shaft through a crank arm 128a. The crank pin 128 has a free end which is received in the slide follower 244. The length or distance between the driving shaft of the checker driving motor 128 to the crank pin 128b is 1/2 the stroke of the gate plate 24.

The length of the slider follower 244 is greater than the stroke of the gate plate 24. Therefore, as the crank arm 128a is rotationally driven by the checker driving motor 128, the crank pin 128b causes the gate plate 24 to reciprocally slide to the left and right while it reciprocates up and down within the slide follower 244. The slide rail 241, slider 242, hanger member 243, slide follower 244, checker driving motor 128, crank arm 128a and the crank pin 128b in cooperation form a second movement mechanism.

A wiper member 129 formed of a rubber elongated plate and serving as a medal push-out member is attached to the lower end edge of the peripheral surface of the driving unit case 121. The lower edge of the wiper member 129, i.e., the longitudinal side surface of the wiper member 129, projects from the lower surface of the driving unit case 121 by an amount which corresponds to the total thickness of six medals.

Stays 245, 245 are secured to left and right end portions of the lower part of the peripheral surface of the driving unit case 121, so as to extend through the wiper member 129 in the same direction as the center line of the game field. Sensor unit elements 126, 126, one of which is a light-emitting element while the other is a light sensor element, are secured to the opposing surfaces of the stays 245, 245 at positions near the ends of the stays, thus forming a light-interruption type photo-sensor unit. The photo-sensor composed of the elements 246, 246 is situated at a level which is higher than the level of the lower edge of the wiper member 129 by an amount which is almost equal to the radius of the medal. Consequently, medals rolling on the movable table 13 and having passed through any one of the slits 24a formed in the gate plate 24 are detected by the sensor unit 246, 246.

[Movable table] The portion of the upper surface of the partition plate 1 between the stays 23 and 23 is slightly recessed as at la from the level of other portions. The recessed portion la further extends towards the peripheral end over a length which is the same as the length of the movable table 13 as measured from the proximal to the distal end of this table 13. Thus, the side walls of the recess la extend straight in parallel with the center line of the game field. A four-wheeled truck 131, with the wheel axes extending perpendicularly to the center line of the game field, is disposed in the recess la. The width of the truck 131 is slightly smaller than the width of the recess la, so that the truck 13 can run along the recess la in the direction of the center line of the field without any jolt.

The movable table 13 is disposed on the truck 131.

The movable table 13 has such a height that its upper surface lightly contact the wiper member 129 of the lower treasure box 12. Therefore, the movable table 13 is movable from the fully advanced position shown in Fig. 10 into the space under the lower treasure box 12 to the fully retracted position shown in Fig. 11, while keeping a clearance of a size corresponding to the total thickness of six medals between itself and the lower ends of the decorative plate 127 and the gate plate 24.

(In other words, the gate plate 24 relatively moves along the upper surface of the recess la towards and away from the proximal end of the movable table 13.

Therefore, any medal which rests on the movable table 13 at the fully advanced position is scraped by the wiper member 129 so as to move through the space beneath the decorative plate 127 and the gate plate 24 and to fall onto the partition plate 1, i.e., onto the bottom of the recess la, during the movement of the movable table 13 towards the fully retracted position.

Another wiper member 133 is attached to the peripheral end of the movable table 13, by means of a stay 132. The wiper member 133 is made of a rubber elongated plate as is the case of the aforementioned wiper member 129. The wiper member 133 is fixed by the stay 132 such that the longitudinal edge of the wiper member 133 lightly contacts the partition plate 1, i.e., the bottom of the recess la. Therefore, medals which are in the recess la, inclusive of the medals scraped off the upper surface of the movable table 13, can be scraped off the recess la. The upper edge of the peripheral end of the stay 132 merges in the front or peripheral end edge of the table 13. The surface between the above-mentioned upper edge and the lower edge of the stay 132 constitutes a peripheral end wall surface of the movable table 13.

A slide follower 134 having a substantially Ushaped cross-section is attached to the center end of the movable table 13, such that the back surface of the slide follower 134 is flush with the upper surface of the movable table 13 and such that the longitudinal axis of the slide follower 134 extends perpendicularly to the center line of the game field. A slit lb is formed in a portion of the recess la below the driving unit case 121, so as to extend along the center line of the recess la. A reduction gear box 26 is fixed to the partition plate 1 by means of a stay 25 so as to be received in the slit lb. An input shaft of the reduction gear box 26 is fixed to a table driving motor 27 secured to the underside of the reduction gear box 26. An output shaft of the reduction gear box 26 extends into the recess la and is connected to the base end of a crank arm 28. A roller 29 rotatably carried by the other end of the crank arm 28 is received in the slide follower 134. The distance between the axis of the output shaft of the reduction gear box 26 and the axis of rotation of the roller 29 is 1/2 the stroke of the movable table 13 which is the length obtained by subtracting, from the distance between the peripheral end of the stay 132 and the adjacent end of the slide follower 134, a certain length of overlap. The reduction gear box 26 is so located that the wiper member 129 is contacted by a portion of the slide follower 134 near the front end of the latter, when the crank arm 28 has been swung to the most advanced position. With this arrangement, when the crank arm is rotated by the operation of the table driving motor 27, the roller 29 reciprocates within the slide follower 134 to the left and right as viewed on Figs. 10 and 11, so that the movable table 13 reciprocally moves between the fully advanced position as shown in Fig. 10 and the fully retracted position as shown in Fig. 11. The truck 131, slide follower 134, roller 29, crank arm 28, reduction gear box 26 and the table driving motor 27 constitute a first movement mechanism.

The reciprocal movement of the gate plate 24 and the reciprocal movement of the movable table 13 are performed completely independently of each other in an asynchronous manner.

[Medal chute] As will be sen from Figs. 1 and 8, bases 151, 151 for mounting the medal chute 15 are provided on both sides of the base portion of each pillar 2. A support member 152, which can swivel within a predetermined angular range, is secured to each base 151. The level at which the support member 152 is secured is slightly above the level of the upper surface of the movable table 13. The medal chute 15, which has a trough-like shape, has a width somewhat greater than the thickness of the medal is secured to the support member 152. The medal chute 15 is secured to the support member 152 in such a manner as to extend through the support member 152. The base end of the medal chute 15 projects outside the base 151, while the free end of the medal chute 15 projects onto a position above the recess la of the partition plate 1. The medal chute 15 is so inclined downward that its free end does not contact the movable table 12.

Therefore, the game player can swing the medal chute 15 to the left and right by pinching the base end of the medal chute 15. A medal put by the game player into the medal chute 15 rolls in and along the medal chute 15 and then rolls off the medal chute. The game player, if he puts the medal into the medal chute 15 in timing with the reciprocal motion of the movable table 13, can cause the medal to roll from the medal chute 15 onto the movable table 13 and then to roll on the movable table 13. In addition, if the game player properly directs the medal in an appropriate direction by adjusting the angular position of the medal chute 15 within the horizontal plane, the rolling medal can roll through the slit 24a in the gate plate 24. Thus, the medal chute 15, base support 151 and the support member 152 constitute a guide means.

The point about which the medal chute swivels is positioned outside the extension line of the adjacent side wall of the recess la. Therefore, insofar as the game payer aims to direct the rolling medal towards the movable table 13, the medal chute 15 is necessarily slanted with respect to the center line of the game field within the horizontal plane.

[Medal pool] The portion of the partition plate 1 between the recess la and the peripheral end lc serves as a medal pool ld which is flush with the bottom surface of the recess la. The medal pool 1d has a planar form which diverge towards the peripheral end lc from both side walls of the recess la. The land portions of the partition plate 1 which are on both lateral sides of the medal pool ld extend into the space below the decorative plate 14 while preserving a clearance therebetween.

Medal collecting holes le, le in the form of slits are formed along both side walls defining the medal pool ld.

A gap is formed between the peripheral end lc of the partition plate 1 and the transparent acrylic resin plate 3. When new medals are pushed by the movable table 13 out of the recess la while medals are pooled on the medal pool ld without any gap between adjacent medals, the medals stagnant on the medal pool ld are pushed out in a manner like billiard. Thus, medals which have been on the peripheral end lc of the partition plate 1 are caused to drop into the gap between the peripheral end lc and the transparent acrylic resin plate 3 and the medals which have been resting on the edges of the medal collecting holes le, le are caused to fall into these collecting holes.

Thus, the bottom surface of the recess la and the medal pool 1d constitute the stationary platen.

A description will now be given of the components of the medal collecting section D.

< Pay-back chute > Medals which have dropped into the gap between the peripheral end lc of the partition plate 1 and the transparent acrylic resin plate 3 are guided to the payback wicket 16 through the pay-back chute 18. The medals which have been guided to the wicket 16 are taken up by the game player from the wicket 16.

< Collecting chute > Medals which have fallen into the medal collecting holes le, le are guided to the medal collecting box 19 via the collecting chutes 17. At a left lower portion of Fig. 4, there is shown the collecting chute 17 which is on the left portion of the station S which is located, when viewed from the exterior of the game machine, on the right side of the hopper 20. Although not shown in this Figure, the other collecting chute 17 on the right portion of the station S also is arranged to guide the medals to the same medal collecting box 19.

< Hopper > A medal take-up disk, which is not shown and which constitutes a lower mechanism of the hopper 20, is secured to the lower side of the medal collecting box 59. The medal take-up disk is adapted to be driven by a hopper driving motor 201 (see Fig. 15). Medal receiving holes are formed in the take-up disk at a plurality of circumferential positions, so as to receive medals in accordance with the rotation of the take-up disk. The medals which have been received in the medal receiving holes are forced into a take-up trough which is built in the pillar 2 and which constitutes an intermediate mechanism of the hopper 20. More specifically, the take-up trough is constituted by an angular pipe having a width substantially equal to the diameter of the medal and a thickness almost the same as the thickness of the medal, and extends into the medal supply section U. As medals are successively forced into the take-up trough by the take-up disk of the hopper 20, the most leading medal which was pushed into the take-up trough first reaches the end of the take-up trough. A hopper medal counter 202 (see Fig. 15) provided on the end of the take-up trough delivers the medal from the end of the take-up trough to a slant trough 21 and produces a count signal in the form of pulses indicative of the number of medals.

< Slant trough > The slant trough 21 extends in a downward slanting manner towards the center of the medal supply section U, from the end of the take-up trough of each of the five hoppers 20 to a position above the down pipe 22. The medals which have been delivered from the medal hopper counter 202 rolls along the slant trough 21 into the down pipe 22.

< Down pipe > The down pipe 22 is disposed vertically along the axis of the medal game machine, i.e., above the common center of the plurality of centers, so as to cause the medals to drop freely therethrough after suppressing the kinematic energy of the medals which have jumped thereto from the ends of the slant troughs 21.

The slant troughs 21 and the down pipe 22 in cooperation constitute a medal collecting mechanism which collects the medals at a position above the common center of the plurality of centers.

< Center > A description will now be given of the center which receives medals dropping from the down pipe 22 and supplies these medals to the game field of any one of the stations. The mechanism of the center constitutes a medal slide-down mechanism along which the medals which have been collected by the collecting mechanism constituted by the slant troughs 21 and the down pipe 22 are made to slide down onto the movable table of a desired center. The mechanism of the center, in cooperation with the above-mentioned medal collecting mechanism, constitutes a medal supplying mechanism which receives a batch of medals taken up from the hopper 20 and conducts change-over of the path of the medals so as to direct and deliver the medals to any desired station.

[Upper treasure box and upper treasure box driving mechanism] Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the game machine showing particularly the upper treasure box 10 and the upper treasure box driving mechanism 9 shown in Fig. 3.

As will be seen from Figs. 7 and 4, a pair of square frames 901, 901 stand upright from the center of the center base plate 8, leaving a small gap therebetween.

A disk-shaped upper substrate 902 is fixed to the top ends of the vertical frames 901, 901. A bearing member 903 made of a low friction member fits in a hole formed in the upper base plate 902. The bearing member 903 has a central through bore which receives a shaft 904 provided at its upper end with a disk-shaped head 904a, in such a manner that the shaft 904 is axially movable in the through bore.

An upper treasure box tilting motor 907 is secured to the outer surface of either one of the vertical frame 901 at a portion which is close to the lower end and at the center of the vertical frame 901. The output shaft of this motor 907 serving as a driving shaft extends through the vertical frame 901 perpendicularly thereto.

The end of the driving shaft 907a is connected to a rotary shaft 909a of the first joint member 909 through a crank arm 908. A length-adjustable link arm 906 is connected to the first joint member 909. The end of the link arm 906 is flexibly connected to the abovementioned shaft 904 through a second joint member 905.

Therefore, as the treasure box tilting motor 907 operates, the rotation of the drive shaft 907a is converted into a linear motion of the shaft 904, through operations of the crank arm 908, first joint member 909, link arm 906 and the second joint member 905.

The position of the head 904a on the shaft 904 is adjustable by adjusting the amount of the margin of connection between the first joint member 909 and the link arm 908. A light shutter member 910 is attached to the driving shaft 907a of the upper treasure box tilting motor 907 so as to extend radially therefrom. A pair of photo-interrupters 911a and 911b are secured to the inner surfaces of the vertical frames 901, so as to detect the shutter member 910 when it has been brought to the top end of its stroke and when it has been brought to the bottom end of its stroke.

The bearing member 903 has an end portion of a diameter smaller than that of other portions of the same. A driven pulley 912 is rotatably fitted on the small-diameter end portion of the bearing member 903. A disk-shaped rotary table 913 has a central bore which fits on the portion of the shaft 904 above the bearing member 903. The rotary table 913 has a diameter slightly smaller than that of the upper base plate 902.

The rotary table 913 has a peripheral end which is supported by an annular slider rail 914 laid on the upper surface of the upper base plate 902. Thus, the rotary table 913 has a strength high enough to sustain a heavy weight.

The driven pulley 912 and the rotary table 913 are bonded together by means of an adhesive, so that they rotate as a unit. An upper treasure box turning motor 915 embedded in the upper base plate 902 has an output shaft carrying a driving pulley 916. A driving belt is stretched between the driving pulley 916 and the driven pulley 912. Thus, the rotary table 913 is driven to rotate by the upper treasure box turning motor 915, through the driving pulley 916, driving belt 917 and the driven pulley 912.

A portion of the radially outer end of the rotary table 913 is bent orthogonally so as to provide a lightshielding tab 918 directed towards the upper base plate 902. There are ten photo-interrupters 919 which are provided on the upper base plate 902 at a constant angular interval along a circle centered at the axis of the shaft 904. Therefore, a host circuit for controlling the upper treasure box turning motor 915 can control this motor such that the upper treasure box built-up on the rotary table 913 is correctly oriented towards a desired station.

In Fig. 7, numeral 920 designates a decorative plate which covers the rotary table 913. A decorative sleeve 921 fits on a portion of the shaft 904 above the upper surface of the rotary table 913 so as to hide the shaft 904 and, hence, the head 904a.

Three posts 101a, 101a and 101b are provided to protrude from the upper surface of the rotary table 913, at a constant angular interval and at an equal radial distance from the center of the shaft 904. Two posts 101a, 101a are shorter than the other post 101b and are pivotally secured to the lower surface of the upper treasure box 10 through hinges 102, 102 which are coaxial with each other. The rest one 101b of the posts contacts the lower surface of the upper treasure box 10 so as to support the upper treasure box such that the upper surface of the upper treAsure box is maintained horizontal.

As will be seen from Fig. 6, the upper treasure box 10 has a circular saucer-like form recessed at its center, so that it can receive without fail the medals which have been dropped from the down pipe 22. The portion of the upper treasure box 10 diametrically opposing to the post 101b is largely expanded radially outward to form a beak portion as at 10a. The side edge portions of this radially expanding portion are turned up largely so that the expanded portion generally presents a V-shaped cross-section.

A caster 103 having an axle parallel to the axes of the hinges 102, 102 is attached to the center of the lower surface of the upper treasure box 10. When the head 104a of the shaft 904 is at its lower stroke end, the caster 103 is received in the decorative sleeve 921 so as to be spaced from the head 904a. As the head 904a is moved upward by the operation of the upper treasure box tilting motor 907, the head 904a is brought into contact with the caster 103 and pushes it upward while progressively changing the position at which the caster 103 contacts the head 904a. As a result of this push-up operation, the upper treasure box 10 is inclined such that the beak portion 10a is lowered, so that the medals which have been piled on the upper treasure box and which fall from the down pipe 22 onto the thus tilted treasure box 10 are caused to slide down along the beak portion 10a, so as to be guided to the game field of a selected station. Namely, the medals are supplied onto the movable table 13 of this station via the lower treasure box 12. The turned-up side edges of the beak portion 10a prevents the medals from falling over these side edges.

Thus, the upper treasure box 10 corresponds to a vessel having an open upper end, for receiving medals falling from the down pipe 22. A tilting mechanism for tilting the vessel is constituted by the rotary table 913, posts 101a, 101a, 101b, hinges 102,102, caster 103, upper treasure box tilting motor 907, crank arm 908, first joint member 909, link arm 906, second joint member 905 and the shaft 904. A rotary mechanism for rotating the vessel within the horizontal plane includes the hinges 102, 102, posts 101a, 101a, 101b, rotary table 913, driven pulley 912, upper treasure box turning motor 915, driving pulley 916, driving belt 917, driven pulley 912 and the bearing member 903. [Frusto-conical portion] The substantially frusto-conical portion 4 is set up by installing 10 pieces of trapezoidal plates 401 each of which is symmetrical. Each trapezoidal plate 401 is pivotally supported on the center base plate 8 by means of a supporting plate 402. A chute 402 is provided on the center of the surface of each trapezoidal plate 401 so as to extend perpendicularly to the upper end lower end edges. Therefore, the medals which have slid down from the upper treasure box 10 are received by the chute 402 and are guided into the lower treAsure box 12 along the chute 402. Both side edges of the chute 402 are provided with side walls 403 which serve to prevent medals from scattering. A medal flow settling plate 404 is provided on the lower end of the chute 402 so as to suppress the energy of the medals sliding down t numbers 1 to 10 are assigned to the stations S in clockwise direction as viewed from the upper side of the game machine. Similarly, serial numbers 1 to 5 are assigned to five hoppers 20 in the clockwise direction as viewed from the upper side of the game machine. The station circuits T of the No. 1 station and No. 2 station form a group which performs control of the No. 1 hopper 20, e.g., driving of the hopper driving motor 201 and the counting of the signals from the hopper medal counter 202. Similarly, the station circuits T of the No. 3 station S and the No. 4 station S form a group which performs the control of the No. 2 hopper 20.

Likewise, the station circuits T of the No. 5 station S and the No. 6 station S form a group which performs the control of the No. 3 hopper 20, the station circuits T of the No. 7 station S and the No. 8 station S form a group which performs the control of the No. 4 hopper 20, and the station circuits T of the No. 9 station S and the No. 10 station S form a group which performs the control of the No. 5 hopper 20.

A detailed description will now be given of the station circuits T and the host circuit H.

[Station circuit] Referring to Fig. 15 which is a block diagram showing the construction of each station circuit T, connected to a CPU 30 are the hopper driving motor 201, hopper medal counter 202, table driving motor 27, checker driving motor 128, lower treasure box driving motor 126 and the light-transmitting photo-sensor unit (light sensor) 246. Connected also to the CPU 30 are a communication interface 31, the display driving circuit 32 and a memory 33.

The CPU 30 is a central processing unit which serves as a control unit for overall control of the game machine and also as a device for varying the game mode.

The display driving circuit 32 is a driving circuit which operates under the control of the CPU 30 so as to display an image on the display unit 11.

The memory 33 is a work memory which is used by the CPU 30 in executing various control tasks. The memory 33 serves also as first and second storage units which store various variables (numerals) i to 1.

The light-transmission sensor unit (light sensor) 246 is the light-receiving element of the sensor units 246 provided inside the lower treasure box 12, and delivers to the CPU 30 an output signal indicative of whether the quantity of the received light has exceeded a predetermined threshold level.

[Host circuit] Fig. 16 is a block diagram showing the construction of the host circuit H. The host circuit H has a CPU 36 to which are connected the upper treasure box turning motor 915 and the upper treasure box tilting motor 907. Connected also to the CPU 30 is a communication interface through the buffer 35.

The CPU 36 conducts overall control of the center C and also a communication control such that it transmits information received from a terminal circuit T to all station circuits T at once or only to a station circuit T.

The communication interface 34 receives commands and data from each station circuit T and writes such commands and data in the buffer 35 in the order of the receipt. The communication interface 34 receives data and commands directly from the CPU and sends such commands and data to the destination station circuit T.

Data and commands written in the buffer 35 are read by the CPU 36.

< Control processing > A description will now be given of the processing executed by the CPU 30 of each station circuit T, with reference to flowcharts shown in Figs. 17 to 26. More specifically, Fig. 17 is a flow chart showing the main routine which is triggered by turning on of the power supply, while Figs. 18 to 22 show sub-routines. Figs.

23 to 26 show flowcharts illustrative of interruption processings executed preferentially by interrupting the processing under execution, in response to occurrence of triggering conditions. A description will be given of each of these routine, sub-routines and processings.

Referring to Fig. 17, the main routine is started in response to turning on of the power supply. In the first step S0001, the CPU 30 initializes variables i to 1 which are used in execution of the process. More specifically, variables "i", "k" and "1" are set to "0", while the variable "j" is set to "100".

In the next step S0002, the CPU operates to start the table driving motors 27, so that the movable tables 13 start to reciprocate at their own strokes and periods of reciprocation.

In Step S0003, the CPU 30 operates to start the operation of the checker driving motors 128, so that the gate plates 24 and the slits 24a, 24b perform reciprocatory motions at their own strokes and periods of reciprocation.

In Step S0004, the CPU checks whether the variable "k" as the first one of the values indicative of the number of reservations of the slot rotation has become 1 or greater. The variable "k" is incremented in response to execution of the interruption processing shown in Fig. 23. This check is repeated as long as the variable "k" is zero.

Conversely, when the variable "k" is 1 or greater, i.e., when a predetermined triggering condition (a third condition) is satisfied, the process proceeds to Step S0005 in which the CPU 30 performs decrement of the value of the variable "k" by 1 (one). (Thus, the CPU 30 serves as a decrement means.) At this moment, the same number of reservation lamp regions out of the lamp regions lld to llg as the value of the variable "k" as checked by the CPU 30 in Step S0004 are lit on (see Step S0603 of the flow shown in Fig. 23).

In Step S0006, the CPU 30 conducts a slot rotation processing which is a processing for enabling the game player to play the slot game on the screen of the display unit 11. (Thus, the CPU 30 conducts "win" selecting operation and serves as "win" selecting means and game phase changing means.) The slot rotation processing is executed in Step S0006 in accordance with the sub-routine which is shown in Fig. 18.

In the first step S0101 of this sub-routine, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so that numerals 1 to 7 and the word "SUPER", which are arranged in a predetermined sequence, successively appear on each of the reel display regions Ila to llc displayed on the display unit 11, as if the numerals move from the upper side to the lower side of the reel display region. It is to be noted that different reel display regions Ila to 11c have different sequences of display of the numerals and word.

In Step S0102, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to stop the movement of the numerals and the word in the left reel display region (left reel) lla which also will be referred to as a first display region.

* In Step S0103, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to stop the movement of the numerals and the word in the right reel display region (right reel) 11c which also will be referred to as a second display region.

In Step S0104, the CPU 30 checks whether or not the numeral or the word stationarily displayed at the center of the left reel lla coincides with the numeral or word stationarily shown in the right reel llc. If they coincide with each other, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 in Step S0105 so as to start a RI-I-ICHI operation of the center reel display region (center reel) llb which also will be referred to as a third display region. The RI-I-CHI operation is such an operation that the movement of the numerals and the word displayed in the display region is once retarded and, after a while, stopped. Thus, the RI-I-CHI operation is completed when the movement of the numerals and the word on the center reel 11b is stopped. The CPU 30 then operates to proceed the process to Step S0113.

In contrast, when the check conducted in Step S0104 has proved that the numeral or word displayed at the center of the left reel lla does not coincide with that shown at the center of the right reel llc, the process skips to Step S0106 in which the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to stop the movement of the numerals and the word moving in the center eel llb.

In Step S0107, the CPU 30 checks whether or not the numeral stationarily displayed at the center of the left reel ila coincides with that stationarily displayed at the center of the center reel llb. If they coincide with each other, the process proceeds to Step S0108 in which the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to start the movement of display of the numerals and the word on the right reel llc.

In Step S0109, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to start a RI-I-CHI operation on the right reel llc. When the movement of the numerals and the word displayed on the right reel llc is stopped to terminate the RI-I-CHI operation, the CPU 30 proceeds the process to Step S0113.

In contrast, if the check performed in Step S0107 has proved that the numeral or word stationarily displayed at the center of the left reel lla and that shown at the center of the center reel llb does not coincide with each other, the process skips to Step S0110 in which CPU 30 checks whether or not the numeral or word stationarily displayed on the center of the right reel llc coincides with that stationarily shown on the center of the center reel llb. If they coincide with each other, the process proceeds to Step S0111 in which the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to restart the movement of numerals and the word on the left reel lla.

In Step S0112, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to start a RI-I-CHI operation of the left reel lla. When the movement of the numerals and the word displayed on the left reel lla is stopped to terminate the RI-I-CHI operation, the CPU proceeds the process to Step S0113.

Conversely, if the check performed in Step S0110 has proved that the numeral or the word displayed at the center of the right reel llc does not coincide with that displayed at the center of the center reel llb, the CPU 30 proceeds the process to Step S0113.

In Step S0113, CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to turn of one of the reservation lamp display regions 11d to llg. This is actually done by darkening the color of display in one reservation lamp display region. The sub-routine is completed when the operation of Step S0113 is finished, so that the CPU 30 operates to return the process to the main routine shown in Fig. 17.

Upon completion of the operation of Step S0006 in the main routine of Fig. 17, the process advances to Step S0007 in which the CPU 30 determines whether or not an identical numeral (one of 1 to 7) are displayed at the centers of the all reel display regions 11a to llc.

If this condition is not met, the CPU 30 proceeds the process to Step S0008.

In Step S0008, the CPU 30 checks whether or not all the reel display regions lla to llc show the same word "SUPER" at their centers. If the word "SUPER" fails to appear in one or more of the reel display regions, i.e., when any prize other than a specific prize has been selected to satisfy the second condition, the process advances to Step S0010 on which the CPU 30 executes an increment of the second variable "j" by one.

The second variable "j" indicates the number of the medals accommodated in an imaginary super jackpot.

Thus, the CPU serves as numerical value adding means, In Step S0011, the CPU 30 operates to inform the host circuit H of the addition of the value of "j" (information which requests increment of the value), through the communication interface 31. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as numerical value increment informing means.

The "j" addition information is to inform that the value of the variable "j" is to be incremented by one. The process for one time of slot rotation reservation corresponding to a value "one" of the variable "k" is completed when Step S0011 has been finished. The process is therefore returned to Step S0004.

Conversely, when the check performed in Step S0008 has proved that the same word "SUPER" appear in all the reel display regions, i.e., when the specific prize has been selected to satisfy the first condition, the CPU 30 proceeds the process to Step S0009 to execute a superjackpot processing. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the supply determination means which determines that the medals are to be supplied to the table, as well as a game phase changing means which changes the phase of the game. The super jackpot processing is a medal supplying operation in which the medals stored in the form of the value of the variable "j" (at least 100 medals) are made to drop from the medal down pipe 22 so as to be supplied through the upper treasure box 10 to the lower treasure box 12, i.e., to the game field under the control of the game player. Fig. 19 shows the super jackpot processing sub-routine executed in Step S0009.

In the first step S0201 of this sub-routine, the CPU 30 transmits a request for turning and intermittently tilting the upper treasure box 10 to the host circuit H through the communication interface 31.

Thus, the CPU 30 serves as a medal flow path change-over requesting means which requests the medal supplying mechanism to supply medals to the table of the associated station. The request for turning the upper treasure box 10 is to request that the beak portion 10a of the upper treasure box is directed to the associated station. The request for intermittent tilting of the upper treasure box 10 is to request that the operation for keeping the upper treasure box horizontally to receive and carry the medals and the operation for tilting the upper treasure box 10 to drop the medals are repeated alternately.

In Step S0202, the CPU 30 waits for receipt of a take-up permission which is to be sent from the host circuit H through the communication interface 31. The take-up permission is an information which permits the control of the hopper 20.

Upon receipt of the take-up information from the host circuit H, the CPU 30 operates in Step S0203 so as to substitute the instant value of the variable "j" for the value of the variable "i" which indicates the number of medals to be taken up.

In Step S0204, the CPu 30 executes a medal take-up processing based on the value of the variable "it.

Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the hopper controlling means.

Fig. 20 shows a medal take-up processing sub-routine which is executed in Step S0204.

In the first step S0301 of this sub-routine, the CPU 30 operates to start the hopper driving motor 201 so as to cause the hopper 20 under the control of this CPU 30 to take-up the medals.

In Step S0302, the CPU 30 operates to start or restart a failure detecting timer. The CPU 30 serves as detecting means which checks whether or not the hopper for taking up the medals from the medal collecting portion under the control of this CPU 30 functions safely.

In Step S0303, the CPU 30 checks whether or not the count signal (pulses) have been received from the hopper medal counter 202. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as detecting means which checks whether or not the hopper for taking up the medals from the medal collecting portion under the control of this CPU 30 functions safely. When the cont signal has been safely received, the CPU 30 proceeds the process to Step S0304 in which the CPU 30 decrements the value of the variable "i" by one.

In Step S0305, the CPU 30 checks whether or not the value of the variable "i" has been reduced to zero.

If the value of the variable "i" is still 1 or greater, the CPU 30 returns the process to Step S0302 to re-start the timer to wait for the additional supply of the medals. In contrast, when the value of the variable "i" has been reduced to "0", the CPU 30 delivers a completion information to the host circuit H through the communication interface 31, in Step S0306. The completion information is to inform that the medals of the same number as the value of the variable "i" which was set at the time when the medal take-up sub-routine has been triggered have been put into the game field of the station to which this CPU 30 belongs. When this step S0306 has been finished, the CPU 30 returns the process to the routine of Fig. 19, thus completing the sub-routine shown in Fig. 20.

Conversely, if the CPU 30 has determined in Step S0303 that the count signal has not been received, the process skips to Step S0307 in which the CPU 30 checks whether or not a predetermined time has lapsed after the starting of the timer in Step S0303. If the set time has not been expired, the CPU 30 returns the process to Step S0303 in order to check again for the count signal.

However, if the set time has been expired, the CPU 30 determines that a trouble has occurred in the hopper 20 under the control of this CPU 30, and proceeds the process to Step S0308. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the detecting means which checks whether the hopper for taking up medals from the collecting portion under the control of this CPU 30 functions safely.

In Step S0308, the CPU 30 informs the host circuit H that there is a shortage of "i" pieces of medals, based on the instant value of the variable "i", through the interface 31. This is to request to take-up medals from other game station. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the medal take-up requesting means.

In Step S0309, the CPU 30 resets the variable "i" to zero. When the operation of Step S0309 is finished, the CPU 30 completes this sub-routine and returns the process to the routine of Fig. 19.

Referring again to the routine shown in Fig. 19, the CPU 30 upon completion of the Step S0204 proceeds the process to Step S0205 in which it resets the variable j N to 100 (one hundred). Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the numeral initializing means.

In Step S0206, the CPU 30 delivers a j-reset report (information requesting resetting of variables for other game stations) to the host circuit H through the communication interface 31. The CPU 30 thus serves as the numeral initialization informing means. The jreset report is to report that the variable "j" has been reset. When the operation of Step S0206 is finished, the CPU 30 completes this sub-routine and returns the process to the main routine shown in Fig. 17.

In the main routine shown in Fig. 17, processing for one time of slot rotation reservation corresponding to one in terms of the variable "k" is completed when the operation of Step S0009 is finished. The process therefore is returned to Step S0004.

If the determination in Step S0007 has proved that an identical numeral (one of numerals 1 to 7) is displayed at the centers of all the reel display regions lla to llc, the CPU increments the variable "1" indicative of the number of wins by one, in Step S0012.

In Step S0013, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 to cause lighting of the selected parcheesi lamp display regions llh to llm corresponding to the instant value of the variable "1". This is performed by brightening these parcheesi lamp display regions. Thus, the parcheesi lamp display regions of the number corresponding to the value of the variable "1", counting clockwise starting from the right upper corner region llh on the screen, are lit on.

In Step S0014, the CPU 30 determines whether or not the instant value of the variable "1" has reached "7". If not, the CPU 30 executes a "win" processing in Step S0015. Thus, the CPU 30 in this case serves as a supply decision means which decides that medals are to be supplied to the table of the station under the control of this CPU 30. The "win" processing is an operation in which 10 (ten) medals are made to drop from the down pipe 22 into the game field, more specifically into the lower treasure box, of the game field under the control of this CPU 30, via the upper treasure box 10.

Fig. 21 shows the sub-routine for the win processing executed in Step S0015.

In the first step S0401 of this sub-routine, the CPU 30 delivers to the host circuit H via the communication interface 31 a request for turning the upper treasure box 10. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the medal flow path change-over requesting means which requests the medal supplying mechanism to conduct change-over of the medal flow passage such that medals are supplied to the table of the station under the control of this CPU 30.

In Step S0402, the CPU 30 waits for a take-up permission which are to be delivered by the host circuit H through the communication interface 31. Upon receipt of the take-up permission from the host circuit 11, the CPU 30 operates in Step S0403 so as to substitute a value 10 (ten) for the variable "i".

In Step S0404, the CPU 30 executes medal take-up processing based on the value of the variable "i".

Thus, the CPU 30 executes the medal take-up processing described before with reference to Fig. 20, thus serving as the hopper controlling means. Execution of this medal take-up processing causes 10 medals to fall onto the lower treasure box 12. If a large quantity of medals have already been pileed on the lower treasure box 12, some of the medals may slide down onto the movable table 13 or the bottom surface of the recess la in accordance with the fall of the 10 medals. The medals which have slid down, however, are finally forced into the medal pool ld, as a result of the reciprocal motion of the movable table 13.

Upon completion of the operation of Step S0404, the CPU 30 terminates the win processing sub-routine to return the process to the main routine shown in Fig. 17.

In the main routine shown in Fig. 17, processing for one time of slot rotation reservation corresponding to one in terms of the variable "k" is completed when the operation of Step S0015 is finished. The process therefore is returned to Step S0004.

On the other hand, when the determination in Step S0014 is that the value of the variable "1" has reached 7, the CPU 30 executes a jackpot processing in Step S0016. The jackpot processing is an operation in which medals piled on the rectangular saucer 125 of the lower treasure box 12 (at least 200 medals) are caused to drop onto the movable table 13 or the bottom surface of the recess la, by a tilting motion of the angular saucer 125. Fig. 22 shows the content of the jackpot processing sub-routine executed in Step S0016.

In the first step S0501 of this sub-routine, the CPU 30 controls the lower treasure box driving motor 126 to cause a 90 rotation of the motor output shaft so as to move the roller 126b to the upper end of its stroke.

As a consequence, the rectangular saucer 125 is fully tilted to the maximum tilting angle, so that all the medals piled on this saucer 125 are caused to fall onto the movable table 13 or the bottom surface of the recess la. All these medals are forced into the medal pool ld as a result of the reciprocal movement of the movable table 13.

In Step S0502, the CPU 30 reverses the lower treasure box driving motor 126 to rotate the output shaft 90 backward, so that the lower the roller 126b is returned to the lower end of its stroke. Consequently, the rectangular saucer 125 is reset to the posture as shown in Fig. 10 so as to permit piling of the medals thereon.

In Step S0503, the CPU 30 delivers to the host circuit H a request for turning the upper treasure box 10, through the communication interface 31. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the supply deciding means for deciding that the medals are to be supplied to the table of the station under the control of this CPU 30, and also as the medal flow path change-over requesting means which requests the medal supplying mechanism to conduct change-over of the medal flow passage such that medals are supplied to the table of the station under the control of this CPU 30.

In Step S0504, the CPU 30 waits for a take-up permission to be received from the host circuit H through the communication interface 31. Upon receipt of the take-up permission, the CPU 30 operates to substitute "200" for the variable "i", in the subsequent Step S0505.

In Step S0506, the CPU 30 executes the medal takeup processing based on the value of the variable "i".

Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the hopper controlling means.

More specifically, the CPU 30 executes the medal take-up sub-routine described before in connection with Fig. 20.

As a result of the medal take-up processing, 200 pieces of medals drop onto the lower treasure box 12.

Upon completion of the operation of Step S0506, the CPU 30 terminates the jackpot processing sub-routine and returns the process to the main routine shown in Fig.

17.

When Step S0016 of the main routine shown in Fig.

17 is completed, the CPU resets the variable "1" to zero, in Step S0017.

In Step S0018, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to turn off all the parcheesi lamp regions 11h to lim, i.e., to darken all these display regions. The processing for one time of slot rotation reservation corresponding to one in terms of the variable "k" is completed when the operation of Step S0018 is finished. The process therefore is returned to Step S0004.

Fig. 23 shows a sensor detection interruption processing which is triggered by a medal detection signal derived from the light-transmitting photo-sensor unit (light sensor) 246, indicative the level of the received light quantity having come down below a predetermined threshold level. Namely, when such a medal detection signal has been received, the CPU 30 determines that a predetermined triggering condition or the third condition has been satisfied, and starts the interruption processing. In the first step S0601 of this interruption processing, the CPU 30 checks whether or not the value of the variable "k" as the first value has reached its upper limit value which is 4 (four). If this upper limit value has not been reached yet, the CPU 30 performs increment of the variable "k" by one in Step S0602. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the incrementing means.

In Step S0603, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to light up or brightens one of the reservation lamp display regions lld to llg. Upon completion of the operation of Step S0603, the CPU 30 terminates this interruption and re-starts the processing which was being conducted at the time of the interruption.

Conversely, when the instant value of the variable "k" has reached 4, the CPU 30 executes an operation in Step S0604 an operation for adding 10 (ten) to the value of the variable "j" as the second value. Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the value adding means. Upon completion of the operation of Step S0604, the CPU 30 terminates this interruption and re-starts the processing which was being conducted at the time of the interruption.

Therefore, the value of the variable "j" is incremented by 10 each time a medal is detected by the lighttransmitting type photo-sensor unit 246, as long as the value of the variable "k" remains 4.

Fig. 24 shows a medal take-up request receipt interruption processing which is triggered by a medal take-up request received from the host circuit H through the communication interface 31. This request corresponds to the medal shortage report given in Step S0308 of the sub-routine shown in Fig. 20 by the CPU of the station circuit T of another station, as will be understood when ref In Step S0702, the CPU 30 executes the medal takeup processing based on the value of the variable "i".

Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the hopper controlling means.

More specifically, the CPU 30 executes the medal take-up processing sub-routine described before with reference to Fig. 20. As a result of this medal take-up processing, medals of the number corresponding to the value of the variable "i" are supplied to the game field of the station from which shortage of the medals has been reported. Upon completion of the operation of Step S0702, the CPU 30 terminates this interruption processing so as to re-start the processing which has been interrupted.

Fig. 25 shows a j-reset information receipt interruption processing which is triggered by a j-reset information received from the host circuit H through the communication interface 31. This information corresponds to the j-reset information, i.e., the information requesting initialization of the value given in Step S0206 of the sub-routine shown in Fig. 19 by the CPU of the station circuit T of another station, as will be understood when reference is made to Step S1106 of the flow shown in Fig. 28 which will be described later. Thus, the CPU 30 commences the interruption processing upon receipt of this triggering request. In the first step 50801 of this interruption processing, the CPU 30 resets the value of the variable "j" to 100 (one hundred). Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the numerical value initializing means. As a consequence, the variable "j" is reset in the station circuit T under the control of this CPU 30, if a super jackpot processing is executed in another station, even when the super jackpot processing is not conducted in the station under the control of this CPU 30. Upon completion of the operation of Step S0801, the CPU 30 terminates this interruption processing so as to re-start the processing which has been interrupted.

Fig. 26 shows a j-addition information receipt interruption processing which is triggered by a addition information received from the host circuit H through the communication interface 31. This information corresponds to the j-addition report, i.e., the information requesting increment of the value given in Step S0011 of the routine shown in Fig. 17 by the CPU of the station circuit T of another station, as will be understood when reference is made to Step S1104 of the flow shown in Fig. 28 which will be described later.

Thus, the CPU 30 commences the interruption processing upon receipt of this triggering information. In the first step S0901 of this interruption processing, the CPU 30 increments the value of the variable t jn by one.

Thus, the CPU 30 serves as the numerical value addding means. As a result, the value of the variable u j n is incremented when a game player playing the game in another station has defeated, even if no game is being executed in the station under the control of this CPU 30. Upon completion of the operation of Step S0901, the CPU 30 terminates this interruption processing so as to re-start the processing which has been interrupted.

[Processing performed by the host circuit] A description will now be given of the processing executed by the CPU 36 of the host circuit H, with reference to Fig. 27 which is a flowchart illustrative of a main routine started in response to turning on of the main power supply, while Fig. 28 is a flowchart illustrative of an interruption processing which is periodically triggered. The main routine shown in Fig.

27 and the interruption processing shown in Fig. 28 will be described in this order.

The main routine shown in Fig. 27 is started as the main power supply is turned on. In the first step S1001, the CPU 36 checks the buffer 35 for presence of a turning request for turning the upper treasure box 10.

This corresponds to operations of Steps S0201 of the flow shown in Fig. 19, Step S0401 of the flow shown in Fig. 21 and Step S0503 of the flow shown in Fig. 22.

If at least one request exists for the turning of the upper treasure box, the CPU proceeds the process to Step S1002 in which it picks up the oldest one form among the turning requests existing in the buffer 35.

In Step S1003, the CPU 36 starts the upper treasure box turning motor 915 to commence turning of the upper treasure box 10, such that the beak portion 10a of the upper treasure box 10 directs towards the station from which the turning request picked up in Step S1002 has been given.

In Step S1004, the CPU 36 waits for the completion of turning of the upper treasure ox 10 to the position where the beak portion 10a of the upper treasure box directs towards the station from which the turning request has been given.

After the upper treasure box has been turned to the position where it directs its beak portion 10a towards the requesting station, the CPU 36 delivers a take-up permission (corresponds to Step S0202 of the flow shown in Fig. 19, Step S0402 of the flow shown in Fig. 21 and Step S0504 of the flow shown in Fig. 22) to the station from which the turning request has been given, through the communication interface 34.

In Step S1006, the CPU 36 checks whether or not an intermittent tilting request (corresponds to S0201 of the flow shown in Fig. 19) has been annexed to the turning request picked up in Step S1002. If no intermittent tilting request is annexed to the turning request, i.e., if the turning request has been made in response to a win processing or jackpot processing, the CPU 36 operates in Step S1007 so as to cause a 90 rotation of the shaft of the upper treasure box tilting motor 907, thus moving the head 904a of the shaft 904 to the fully projected position, thereby tilting the upper treasure box 10.

In Step S1008, the CPU 36 waits for a completion information (corresponds to Step S0306 of the flow shown in Fig. 20) to be delivered from a station which is the requesting station or another station for which the medal take-up request has been made.

Upon receipt of the completion information, the CPU 36 operates in Step S1009 so as to cause a 90 reversing of the upper treasure box tilting motor 907, so that the head 904a of the shaft 904 is fully retracted to reset the upper treasure box 10 to the horizontal posture. Upon completion of the operation of Step 51009, the CPU 36 returns the process to Step S1001, in order to cope with the next request for turning.

In contrast, if the determination executed in Step S1006 has proved that an intermittent tilting request has been annexed to the turning request, the CPU 36 performs an operation in Step S1010 for identifying the station from which the completion information has been sent. If the completion information has not been received yet, the CPU 36 starts (or re-starts) a timer in Step S1011.

In Step S1012, the CPU 36 waits for expiration of the time set on the timer executed in Step S1011. When the set time has lapsed, the CPU 36 operates in Step S1013 to cause 90 operation of the upper treasure box tilting motor 907 so as to move the head 904a of the shaft 904 to the fully projected position, thereby tilting the upper treasure box 10.

In Step S1014, the CPU 36 operates so as to cause 90 reversing of the upper treasure box 907, thereby fully retracting the head 904a of the shaft 904, thereby resetting the upper treasure box 10 to the horizontal position. Upon completion of the operation of Step S1014, the CPU 36 operates to return the process to Step S1010.

As a result of repetition of Steps S1010 to S1014, filling of the upper treasure box 10 with medals and discharging of the medals therefrom are alternately conducted and repeated. When a completion information is received from any station during the execution of the above-described loop processing, the CPU 36 leaves this loop processing and returns the process to Step S1001, in order to cope with the next turning request.

The periodical monitoring interruption processing shown in Fig. 28 is executed at a predetermined time interval, e.g., 60 seconds. In the first step S1101 of this processing, the CPU 36 checks the buffer 35 for any medal shortage report (corresponding to Step S0308 of the flow shown in Fig. 20). If there is no medal shortage information, the CPU 36 proceeds the process to Step S1103.

However, if there is any metal shortage report written in the buffer 35, the CPU 36 proceeds the process to Step S1102 in which it produces a request for taking up s pieces of medals specified by the medal shortage report. The CPU 36 delivers this request to a station which is second behind the station from which the medal shortage report has been given. Thus, if the serial No. of the station from which the shortage report has been given is n, the request is given to the No. (n + 2) station. Thus, the CPU 36 serves as a metal takeup assignment means. As stated before, the CPU 30 of the station which has received this request executes the medal take-up request receipt interruption processing of Fig. 24. Upon completion of the operation of Step S1102, the CPU 36 operates to proceed the process to Step S1103.

In Step S1103, the CPU 36 checks the buffer 35 for J-addition report (corresponds to Step SO 011 of the flow shown in Fig. 17). If there is any j-addition report written in the buffer 35, the CPU 36 operates in Step S1104 so as to transmit the j-addition report to all the stations other than the station from which the report has been sent, through the communication interface 34.

Thus, the CPU 36 serves as the distribution means. The CPU 30 of each station which has received this jaddition information executes the aforesaid j-addition information receipt interruption processing of Fig. 26.

There is a possibility that the j-addition information is given simultaneously from a plurality of stations.

Therefore, the CPU 36 returns the process to Step S1103, upon each completion of the operation of Step S1104.

If the determination made in Step S1103 has proved that there is no j-addition information remaining in the buffer 35, the CPU 36 proceeds the process to Step S1105.

In Step s1105, the CPU 36 checks the buffer 35 for any j-reset report (corresponds to Step S0206 of Fig.

19) written in the buffer 35. If there is no j-reset report, the CPU terminates this interruption processing and re-starts the processing which has been interrupted.

In contrast, if there is any j-reset report, the CPU 36 proceeds the process to Step S1106 in which is operates to transmit the j-reset information to all the stations other than the station from which the report has been made, through the communication interface 34.

Thus, the CPU 36 serves as the distribution means. Upon receipt of this j-reset information, the CPU 30 of each station executes the j-reset information receipt interruption processing of Fig. 25 as described before.

The CPU 36 terminates this interruption processing by finishing the operation of Step S1106, so that the processing which has been interrupted is started again.

operation of the described embodiment > A description will now be given of the operation of the medal game machine having the described construction. For the purpose of simplification of the explanation, an assumption is made here that all the stations of the medal game machine have been initialized. Namely, it is assumed that medals have been laid on the medal pool ld without any vacancy, and that a batch of medals, e.g., 200 medals or so, have been piled on the rectangular saucer 125 of the lower treasure box 12. It is also assumed that the medal collecting box 19 of each station has been charged with a large number of medals.

As the administrator of the game machine turns the main power supply on, forward and backward movement of the movable table 13, as well as reciprocatory motion of the gate member 24, is commenced (Steps S0002 and S0003).

Then, a game player is seated on a seat of a station and puts medals into the game machine by operating the medal chutes 15. If the timing at which the medal is put into the machine is inappropriate, the medal rolls onto the bottom surface of the recess la which appears after the movable table 13 has been retracted into the space beneath the lower treasure box 12. This medal is then pushed towards the peripheral end by the wiper member 133 as a result of the next forward stroking of the movable table 13. The pushed medal in turn pushes other medals which have already been stagnant on the medal pool ld. If the pile of the medals stagnant on the medal pool ld is coarse, the medals will not drop from the medal pool because the movement of the medals newly pushed into the medal pool ld is absorbed by movements of the medals which fill up the vacancies existing in the pile. However, if the pile on the medal pool 1d is dense, the movement of the newly pushed medal is transmitted to the medals on the leading end of the pile, so that one or more medals drop into the gap between the peripheral end lc of the partition plate 1 and the transparent acrylic resin plate 3 or into the collecting holes le. The medals which have been dropped into the gap between the peripheral end lc and the transparent acrylic resin plate 3 are guided to the medal pay-back wicket 16 through the pay-back chute 18, so that the game player can take up the medals. However, the medals which have been dropped through one or both medal collecting holes le are collected in the medal collecting box 19, through the medal collecting chute 17.

Conversely, if the medal is put into the game machine at a proper timing, the medal which has rolled out the medal chute 15 roll on the upper surface of the movable table 13. The medal, if it has fallen down before reaching the gate plate 24 or the decorative plate 127 or fallen down due to collision with the gate plate 24 or the decorative plate 127, is made to pass through the clearance beneath the lower end of the gate plate 24 or the decorative plate 127 in accordance with the backward movement of the movable table 13 towards the retracted position, so as to be scraped off the movable table 13 by the action of the wiper member 129.

In this case, the height of the medal is below the level at which the light-transmission type photo-sensor unit 246 is situated, the medal is never detected by the sensor unit 246. The medal is then pushed out by the wiper member 133 as described before.

If the medal is put at a proper timing or proper angle of the medal chute 15, the medal which has rolled out of the medal chute 15 can roll through one of the slits 24a, 24a formed in the gate member 24. The medal which has passed through the slit 24a is detected by the light-transmission type photo-sensor unit 246.

Thereafter, the medal falls down upon collision with the surface of the wiper member 129, and is scraped off the movable table 13 by the wiper member 129 during backward stroking of the movable table 13 towards the retracted position.

As stated before, each medal chute 15 is slanted with respect to the center line of the game field within the horizontal plane. Therefore, even if the game player has put the medal into the game machine with a certain aim, the absolute locus of the medal is essentially curved due to the movement of the movable table 13. In addition, the gate plate 24 in which the slits 24a, 24a are formed is moved in the direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the movable table 13. Moreover, the period of the reciprocal movement of the gate plate 24 is asynchronous with that of the movable table 13. It is therefore extremely difficult to aim the medal at the slits 24a, 24a, although the medals can pass these slits at a certain credibility. Therefore, it is expected that the game player spends medals one after another, in order to learn the technique of aiming at the slits 24a, 24a to enable the medals to pass through these slits 24a, 24a.

The CPU 30 of the station circuit T of each station increments the value of the variable "k" by one, each time the medal is detected by the sensor unit 246 of the station (Step S0602).

Thus, when the variable "k has been incremented to 1 or greater, the CPU 30 controls the display driving circuit 32 so as to start the slot game on the display unit 11 (S0006) , while decrementing the value of the variable k by one (Step S0005). In this slot game, the movement of the numerals and word is stopped first in the left reel display region 11a (Step S0102), followed by stopping in the right reel display region llc (Step S0103). If both the left and right reel display regions lla and 11c show at their centers an identical numeral or the word SUPER, the RI-I-CHI operation is performed by the center reel display region llb (Step S0105). Therefore, the game player can maintain expectation that an identical numeral or the word SUPER are displayed at the centers of all the reel display regions lla to llc, until the movement of the numerals and word in the center reel display region lb is stopped. Even if the left and right reel display regions Ila and llc have failed to display an identical numeral or the word SUPER after the stopping of the movement of the numerals and the word, there is a possibility that, after the stop of the movement of the numerals and the word displayed on the center reel display region llb, the numeral stationarily displayed at the center of the center reel display region lb coincides with the numeral displayed either on the left or right reel display region lla, llc or the word SUPER is stationarily displayed at the center of the center reel display region lb while the word SUPER has been displayed either in the right or left display region.

When such a coincidence of the display content is obtained, the movement of the numerals and the word on display is re-started on the rest or third reel display region (Step S0108, Step SOlll). There still is a possibility that all the three reel display regions lla, llb and llc stationarily display an identical numeral or the word SUPER, after the stop of the motion of display of the numerals and the word on the above-mentioned third reel display region. Thus, the game player can maintain the expectation that all the three reel display regions la, lb and ic commonly display an identical numeral or the word SUPER, until the motion of the display of the numerals and the word is stopped in the above-mentioned third reel display region.

If the slot game has come to an end without achieving coincidence of the displayed numeral or the word SUPER, the value of the variable "j" is incremented by one from the initial value of 100. At this moment a j-addition report is transmitted from this station to the host circuit H. Upon receipt of this j-addition report, the host circuit H sends the j-addition information to all the stations other than the station from which the report has been given (Step S1104). Upon receipt of this information, the CPU of each station performs increment of the variable "j" by one (Step S1901). Thus, when the slot game executed in any station has failed to obtain coincidence of the numeral or the word, values of the variable "j" is incremented in all the stations. Therefore, even if there is a vacant game station occupied by no game player, the value of the variable \6 j N is incremented progressively as the game proceeds in another station. This produces an effect to tempt the persons who are merely observing the game field to be seated on and enjoy the game.

If all the three reel display regions la to lc have happened to commonly display at their centers the word SUPER in any of the game stations during the progressive increments of the numerals, the CPU of that station delivers to the host circuit H a request for directing the beak portion 10a of the upper treasure box 10 to this station and for intermittently tilting the upper treasure box 10 (Step S0009, Step S0201). Upon receipt of this request, the CPU 36 of the host circuit H transmits a medal take-up permission (Step S1005) to the station from which the request has been sent, immediately after the receipt of the request if the medal supply is not being conducted for another station and, if the medal supply is being conducted to another station, after the completion of such supply of the medal to another station. As a consequence, the upper treasure box is turned to direct its beak portion 10a towards the station as the requester (Step S1003, S1004) and repeats the tilting and resetting of the upper treasure box 10 (Steps S1010 to S1014). Meanwhile, the CPU 30 of the station which has received the take-up permission takes up the medals of a number corresponding to the value of the variable "i" from the medal collecting box 19, by means of the hopper 20 which is under the control of this CPU 30 (STeps S0204 and S0301). The medals thus taken up are guided to the upper treasure box 10, via the light-shielding trough 21 and the down pipe 22 and are then intermittently supplied to the station from which the request has been sent, by sliding along the chute 402 directed to this station, as a result of the intermittent tilting of the upper treasure box 10. The medals thus sliding down fall onto the lower treasure box 12. However, since medals have been piled on the lower treasure box 12, the medals overflow the lower treasure box 12 so as to drop from this box 12 onto the movable table 13 or onto the bottom surface of the recess la. The medals are forced out to the medal pool ld anyway. Consequently, a large quantity of the medals are paid back to the game player.

At this moment, the CPU 30 of this station resets the variable "j" (Step S0205) and, at the same time, delivers a j-reset report to the host circuit H (S0206).

Upon receipt of this report, the CPU 36 of the host circuit H delivers a j-reset information to all the stations other than the station from which the report has been received (S1106). In response to the j-reset information, the CPU of each station resets the variable "j" to 100 (S0801). Thus, when the word SUPER are displayed on all of the three reel display regions lla to llc during playing of the game in a station, resetting of the variable "3" is executed in all other stations. This means that all the medals accumulated in the imaginary super jackpot as a result of the proceeding of the game in all stations are supplied only to the station which accomplished the triplet display of the word SUPER first among all the stations. The game players, therefore, are motivated to spend the medals more and more in order to accomplish the triplet display of the word SUPER.

There is a risk that the output of the count pulses from the medal hopper counter 202 is suspended during taking up of the medals in the station which has requested take-up of the medals, for any reason such as an operation failure of the hopper or exhaustion of the medals in the medal collecting box 19. In such a case, the CPU 30 of this station informs the host circuit H of the shortage of "i" pieces of medals (S0308). The CPU 36 of the host circuit H which has received this information produces a medal take-up request for taking up "i" pieces of medals and delivers this request to the station which is second behind the station from which the metal shortage information has been given to the host circuit H (S1102). The station which has received this request takes up "i" pieces of medals in compliance with the request (S0702). In this state, the upper treasure box 10 is not turned, so that the medals taken up in compliance with the request are guided to the station from which the medal shortage information has been received. Therefore, even if the operation of the hopper has been failed or the medals in the medal collecting box have been exhausted in one station, the game player commanding such a station can continue the game without interruption, since the hopper of another station can serve in place of the hopper which has failed to operate.

In the event that a triplet display of a certain numeral has ben accomplished during the slot game, the variable "1" is incremented by one (S0012) and parcheesi lamp regions llh to lln of the same number as the value of the variable "1" are lit on (S0013). Each time a triplet display of an identical numeral is achieved, 10 pieces of medals are supplied from the upper treasure box 10 onto the lower treasure box 12 of this station as described before (S0015), until the value of the variable "1" reaches 7 (seven).

When the value of the variable "i" has reached 7, the rectangular saucer 125 of the lower treasure box 12 is tilted (S0501), so that the medals which have been accumulated on this saucer are discharged at once onto the movable table 13 or onto the bottom surface of the recess la. These medals are forced into the medal pool ld anyway. As a result, a large quantity of medals are paid back to the game player. After completion of the discharge of medals from the lower treasure box 12, 200 pieces of medals are guided from the upper treasure box 10 to the lower treasure box 12 of this station (S0503 to S0506) so as to recover the initial number of medals on the lower treasure box 12.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that it takes a certain period of time until the series of operation is completed after the moment at which a medal is detected by the light-transmission type photo-sensor unit 246. This involves a risk that another medal passes through the slit 24a and detected by the photo-sensor 246 during this period. In such a case, the value of the variable "k", which is indicative of the number of times of reservation of slot game execution, is incremented (S0602), and the reservation lamp regions of the number corresponding to the value of the variable "k" are lit on among the lamp regions lld to llg (S0603). The upper limit value of the variable "k" is 4 (four). If the number of medals detected by the photo-sensor unit 246 exceeds this upper limit value, the value of the variable "j" is incremented by 10 for each of the medals exceeding 4. Such an increment of the value of the variable "j" is executed only in the station in which the upper limit of the value of the variable "k" has been exceeded, and is never informed to other stations. Therefore, temptation for spending more medals to increase the value of the variable "j" is never suppressed in other stations.

Althogh the present invention has been described through its preferred forms, it is to be understood that the described embodiment is only illustrative and various changes and modifications may be imparted thereto without departing from the scope of the invention which is limited solely by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A medal game machine, comprising: a table having an edge at one end thereof; a trough-like guiding device operable by a game player, such that a medal rolls along said guiding device onto the upper surface of said table; a wall member having a slit formed therein, such that only a medal rolling on the upper surface of said table can pass through said slit; a first moving mechanism for causing a reciprocal relative movement between said table and said wall member such that said wall member moves along the upper surface of said table relative to said table towards and away from said edge of said table; a second moving mechanism for causing a reciprocal movement of said wall member along the upper surface of said table in the directions perpendicular to the direction of said reciprocal relative movement; a medal force-out member which forces medals piled on the upper surface of said table out of said table in accordance with the relative movement of said wall member towards said edge of said table; a detecting device for detecting a medal which has passed through said slit in said wall member; and a game phase changing device for changing the phase of the game when a medal has been detected by said detecting device.

2. A medal game machine according to Claim 1, wherein said wall member is stationary, and said first moving mechanism moves said table relative to said wall member.

3. A medal game machine according to Claim 2, further comprising a stationary platen, wherein said table slides on the upper surface of said stationary platen.

4. A medal game machine according to Claim 3, wherein said table has a wall surface which continues from said edge and which forces medals out of said stationary platen as said edge moves away from said wall member.

5. A medal game machine according to Claim 4, wherein said stationary platen has an edge over which the medals forced by said wall surface of said table are made to drop from said stationary platen.

6. A medal game machine according to one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein said game phase changing device performs, under a predetermined condition and in response to a detection of a medal by said detecting device, a prize selecting operation, and conducts supply of medals onto the upper surface of said table when a prize has been selected.

7. A medal game machine according to one of Claims 3 to 5, wherein said game phase changing device performs, under a predetermined condition and in response to a detection of a medal by said detecting device, a prize selecting operation, and conducts supply of medals onto the upper surface of said stationary platen when a prize has been selected.

8. A medal game machine according to Claim 1, wherein said medal force-out member is provided at the opposite side of said wall member to said guide device, and wherein said first moving mechanism causes said table to move relative to said wall member to a position where said edge of said table is positioned substantially in close proximity of said medal forceout member.

9. A medal game machine according to Claim 1, wherein the direction in which the medal is guided by said guiding device is slanted with respect to the direction of the relative movement between said table and said wall member caused by said first moving mechanism.

10. A medal game machine according to Claim 1, wherein the movement caused by saiudfirst moving mechanism and the movement caused by said second moving mechanism are performed asynchronously.

11. A medal game machine of the type having a plurality of game stations. wherein each of said game stations comprises: a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof; a medal force-out member arranged for a relative movement with respect to said table along the upper surface of said table, so as to force the medals to drop from said table; a guide device operable by a game player for guiding the medal onto the upper surface of said table; a storage unit for storing a numerical value; supplying means for supplying medals of a number corresponding to said numerical value when a first condition has been met; numerical value increment informing means for delivering to each of other game stations numerical value increment request information which requests increment of the numerical value in each of other game stations when a second condition has been met; and numerical value incrementing means for incrementing said numerical value when said second condition has been met and when said numerical value increment request information has been received from another game station.

12. A medal game machine according to Claim 11, wherein each said game station further comprises: numerical value initialization informing means for delivering, when the supply of medals by said supplying means has been finished, numerical value initialization request information to each of other game stations to request initialization of numerical value in each of other game stations; and numerical value initializing means for initializing the numerical value when the supply of medals by said supplying means has been finished and when said numerical value initialization request information has been received from another game station.

13. A medal game machine according to Claim 12, wherein each said game station further comprises: selecting means for selecting a prize from among a plurality of prizes when a third condition has been met.

14. A medal game machine according to Claim 13, wherein said first condition required by said supplying means is that a predetermined prize has been selected by said selecting means, and said second condition required by said numerical value increment informing means and said numerical value incrementing means is that a prize other than said predetermined prize has been selected by said selecting means.

15. A medal game machine according to Claim 13, wherein said third condition required by said selecting means is that a medal has been detected by a detecting device disposed at a predetermined position in the game station.

16. A medal game machine according to Claim 11, further comprising distributing means which, upon receipt of numerical value increment request information from said numerical value increment informing means of any one of the game stations, distributes said request to said numerical value incrementing means of all other game stations.

17. A medal game machine according to Claim 12, further comprising distributing means which, upon receipt of numerical value initialization request information from said numerical value initialization informing means of any one of the game stations, distributes said numerical value initialization request information to said numerical value initializing means of all other game stations.

18. A medal game machine having a plurality of game stations each having a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof, a medal force-out member which makes a relative movement with respect to said table along the upper surface of said table, so as to force medals on the upper surface of said table in such a direction as to drop said medals from the upper surface of said table, and a collecting portion for collecting part of the medals which have dropped from the upper surface of said table, said medal game machine comprising: a plurality of hoppers for taking up medals from the collecting portions of the associated game stations; and a medal supplying mechanism for collectively receiving medals taken up by said hoppers and for switching the medal flow path so as to deliver the medals to the table of a desired game station.

19. A medal game machine according to Claim 18, wherein each of said game stations further comprises: supply decision means which decides that medals are to be supplied to the table of said game station; flow-path change-over requesting means for giving to said medal supplying mechanism a request to changeover the medal flow path so that the medals are delivered to the table of said game station, when said supply decision means has decided that the medals are to be supplied to said table of said game station; detecting means for checking whether or not the hopper for taking up medals from the collecting portion is functioning safely; medal take-up requesting means which, when said detecting means has detected that said hopper is not functioning safely after said supply decision means has decided that the medals are to be supplied to said table of said game station, deliver to another game station a medal take-up request for taking up medals from said another game station; and hopper controlling means which, when said supply decision means has decided that medals are to be supplied to said table of said game station and when said request for taking up medals has been received from another game station, controls said hopper so as to take up medals from said collecting portion of said game station.

20. A medal game machine according to Claim 19, further comprising a medal take-up assignment means which, upon receipt of a medal take-up request from the medal take-up requesting means of any of said game stations, assigns said medal take-up request to said hopper controlling means of a game station other than that from which said medal take-up request has been received.

21. A medal game machine according to one of Claims 18 to 20, wherein said plurality of game stations and the associated hoppers are arranged in an annular form, and said medal supplying mechanism is disposed at the center of the annular arrangement of the game stations.

22. A medal game machine according to Claim 21, wherein said medal supplying mechanism comprises: a medal collecting mechanism for collecting the medals taken up by said plurality of hoppers at a position above the center of said plurality of game stations; and a medal slide-down mechanism which allows the medals collected by said collecting mechanism to slide down towards the table of a desired game station.

23. A medal game machine according to Claim 22, wherein said medal collecting mechanism includes: a vertical pipe disposed above the center of said plurality of game stations; and a plurality of troughs extended between the ends of said hoppers and said pipe and inclined downward toward said pipe.

24. A medal game machine according to Claim 22, wherein said medal slide-down mechanism includes: a vessel having an opened upper end, for receiving the medals dropping from said pipe of said medal collecting mechanism; a tilting mechanism for tilting said vessel; and a turning mechanism for turning said vessel within a horizontal plane.

25. A medal game machine according to Claim 24, wherein a beak portion for guiding said medals sliding outward from said vessel is provided at the edge of said vessel which forms the lowermost end of said vessel when said vessel has been tilted by said tilting mechanism.

26. A medal game machine according to Claim 24 or 25, wherein said medal slide-down mechanism includes chutes associated with respective game stations so as to guide the medals sliding down from said vessel towards the tables of the respective game stations.

27. A medal game machine having a plurality of game stations each having a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof, a medal force-out member which makes a relative movement with respect to said table along the upper surface of said table, so as to force medals on the upper surface of said table in such a direction as to drop said medals from the upper surface of said table, and a collecting portion for collecting part of the medals which have dropped from the upper surface of said table, said medal game machine comprising: a hopper for taking up medals from the collecting portions of said plurality of game stations; and a medal supplying mechanism for receiving medals taken up by said hopper and changing over the flow path of the medals so as to supply the received medals to the table of a desired game station.

28. A medal game machine, comprising: a table for carrying medals on the upper surface thereof; a medal force-out member arranged for a relative movement with respect to said table along the upper surface of said table, so as to force the medals to drop from said table; a guide device operable by a game player for guiding the medal onto the upper surface of said table; a first storage unit for storing a first numerical value; a second storage unit for storing a second numerical value; incrementing means for incrementing said first numerical value within a predetermined range having an upper limit value each time a predetermined triggering condition is met; selecting means for executing any one of a plurality of prizes when said first numerical value is not less than 1; decrementing means for decrementing said first numerical value each time said selecting means performs the selecting operation; numerical value adding means for increasing said second numerical value when said predetermined triggering condition is met while said first numerical value has reached said upper limit value; and supplying means for supplying to the upper surface of said table medals of a number corresponding to said second numerical value when a specific prize has been selected by said selecting means.

29. A medal game machine according to Claim 28, wherein said selecting means comprises a detecting device for detecting a medal at a preselected position, and wherein said predetermined triggering condition is met by detection of a medal by said detecting means.

30. A medal game machine according to Claim 28, wherein said first storage unit and said second storage unit are constructed by a common memory device.

31. A medal game machine according to Claim 28, further comprising initializing means for initializing said second numerical value when medals have been supplied onto the upper surface of said table by said supplying means.

32. A medal game machine according to Claim 28, further comprising first displaying means for displaying said first numerical value.

33. A medal game machine according to Claim 28, further comprising second displaying means for displaying said second numerical value.

34. A method of displaying patterns on a display unit of a game machine of the type in which the display unit has three display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions, said method comprising the steps of: causing said display regions to variably display said patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met; causing said display regions to successively stop the variation of the patterns displayed thereon; causing, when an identical pattern is displayed stationarily on two out of the three display regions after the stop of variation of the display on all said display regions, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own; and causing said remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon.

35. A method of displaying patterns on a display unit of a game machine of the type in which the display unit has first, second and third display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions, said method comprising the steps of: causing said display regions to variably display said patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met; causing said first display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; causing said second display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; causing said third display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; causing, when coincidence is obtained after the stop of variations on all said display regions only between the pattern displayed on said first display region and on said third display region or only between the pattern displayed on said second display region and the pattern displayed on said third display region, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own; and causing said remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon.

36. A method of displaying patterns on a display unit of a game machine according to Claim 34, wherein said sequence is a sequence in accordance with which a plurality of patterns are put on display in each of said display region.

37. A method of displaying patterns on a display unit of a game machine according to Claim 34, wherein said sequence is a sequence in accordance with which a plurality of patterns move to appear on and pass each of said display regions.

38. A method of displaying patterns on a display unit for a game machine according to Claim 34, wherein said patterns include characters, numerals, symbols or a combination thereof.

39. A game machine comprising: a display unit having three display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions: controlling means for causing said display regions to variably display said patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met, causing said display regions to successively stop the variation of the patterns displayed thereon, causing, when an identical pattern is displayed stationarily on two out of the three display regions after the stop of variation of the display on all said display regions, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own, and causing said remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; and game phase changing means for changing the phase of the game when an identical pattern is displayed in all said display regions after the stop of the variation in all said display regions.

40. A game machine, comprising: a display unit having first, second and third display regions each of which variably displays predetermined patterns in a predetermined sequence which is different from the sequences of display of patterns on other display regions: controlling means for causing said display regions to variably display said patterns in accordance with their own sequences when a predetermined triggering condition is met, causing said first, second and third display regions to stop the variations of the pattern displayed thereon, causing, when coincidence is obtained after the stop of variations on all said display regions only between the pattern displayed on said first display region and on said third display region or only between the pattern displayed on said second display region and the pattern displayed on said third display region, the remainder display region to vary the pattern displayed thereon in accordance with the sequence of its own, and causing said remainder display region to stop the variation of the pattern displayed thereon; and game phase changing means for changing the phase of the game when an identical pattern is displayed in all said display regions after the stop of the variation in all said display regions.

41. A game machine substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.