JP2000000345A - Winning ball dispencer in game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize a device and to quickly and reliably dispense winning balls by controlling driving of a driving means by a pattern combination of the display part, and constituting so that the winning balls housed in the housing part are supplied to a supply port. SOLUTION: A winning ball dispencer 1 is composed of a winning ball supply mechanism 2 and a storage tank 3 for storing a prescribed quantity of wining balls from a winning ball replenishing device 4. The winning ball supply mechanism 2 is composed of a rotary drum 21 and a driving means 25 having a motor 62. The recessed part 221 is arranged on the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 21 to form the winning ball housing part 22 so as to face its part to the bottom part of the storage tank 3. A winning ball confirming sensor 6, a flap 7, the opening/closing control flap control part 61 and an integrated controller 63 are also provided. A big hit is made, and when hit patterns become complete, a hit signal is sent to the motor 62 through the integrated controller 63, and the rotary drum 21 rotates in response to a score so that the housing part 22 receives/delivers winning balls from the storage tank 3. Thus, even a large quantity of winning balls can be accurately dispensed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a prize ball payout device for a game machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a slot machine type game machine installed in a game arcade or the like is operated by operating a control lever by inserting a medal, according to a score determined by a combination of pictures displayed on a display unit. Medals are paid out.

[0003] The medal payout device in the above-mentioned amusement machine includes a storage unit for storing medals, and a medal transfer device for transferring medals in the storage unit to outside the storage unit. The storage unit is a hopper for a slot machine having a large opening at an upper part to facilitate an operation of refilling medals. In addition, the medal transport device includes a disk having a storage unit for storing a predetermined number of medals, and a rotation drive unit for rotating the disk, and stores the medals in the storage unit in the storage unit. A transport mechanism is provided for transporting the storage section in the stored state to a discharge port communicating with the outside of the storage section. When the combination of pictures is displayed on the display unit, the medal transport mechanism activates the transport mechanism according to the score of the combination to selectively store the medals in the storage unit, and the payout opening to the outside of the storage unit. To be transported to

However, in the above-mentioned amusement machine, the operation of replenishing medals into the medal storage tank has to be performed manually on a regular basis. As described above, in the conventional amusement machine, the operation of replenishing the medals for payout must be performed manually, which is extremely time-consuming and requires labor costs.

[0005] Further, at the time of adding a payout medal, it is necessary to open a part of the front or side surface of the game machine. Therefore, there is a problem that a person playing with the amusement machine is forced to stop the game. On the other hand, in order to discharge medals accurately and quickly, the above-mentioned gaming machine must have a large transport mechanism for transporting medals, and a gaming machine containing a storage unit having such a transport mechanism is also a large device. As a result, there is a problem that the installation space of the game hall cannot be used effectively.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, there has been proposed a slot machine-type amusement machine for playing using a steel ball (a so-called pachinko ball) used in a pachinko machine instead of a medal. Amusement machines using the above-mentioned steel balls include an existing automatic replenishing device for automatically refilling prize balls used in pachinko machines into pachinko machines, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-277078. Existing equipment installed in pachinko parlors, such as advantages that can be used, for example, a counting device that counts the number of awarded balls acquired, or a centralized management device that manages the flow of awarded balls and used steel balls There is an advantage that can be shared.

[0007]

However, in amusement machines using steel balls according to the above proposal, one conventional medal corresponds to five steel balls. Therefore, for example, when a pattern in which 15 medals are paid out is completed, the number of prize balls to be paid out at once becomes too large as 15 × 5 = 75, and the prize balls are correctly paid out in a short time. It becomes difficult.

[0008] As described above, a slot machine type game machine in which a game is played using steel balls instead of medals cannot be quickly and reliably paid out at once, and a large number of prize balls cannot be paid out. Has not reached. Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above problems,
Even if a large number of prize balls are paid out at once,
In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a prize ball payout device in a game machine which can reliably pay out and can reduce the size of the device itself.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a prize ball payout apparatus in a game machine according to the present invention comprises: an operation section; a display section for displaying a plurality of pictures by operating the operation section; In a prize ball dispensing device in a game machine comprising a prize ball supply mechanism that pays out a predetermined amount of prize balls by a combination of pictures on the display unit, the prize ball supply mechanism stores a predetermined number of prize balls, A driving unit for supplying the prize ball of the storage unit to the supply port, wherein the driving unit is driven and controlled by a combination of pictures on the display unit to pay out a predetermined prize ball.

In the above configuration, the prize ball supply mechanism may be configured to store a predetermined number of prize balls in the storage section directly from the prize ball supply device for supplying prize balls into the game machine from outside the game machine. Alternatively, a configuration may be adopted in which the prize balls supplied from the prize ball supply device are stored in the storage unit via a storage tank that temporarily stores the prize balls, and the present invention is not particularly limited. Further, as a form of the storage portion of the prize ball replenishing device, in addition to the configuration in which the concave portion capable of storing the prize ball is formed on the peripheral surface of the rotating drum, a predetermined number of A storage pipe in the form of a single pipe or a plurality of pipes capable of storing a prize ball is provided so that one end faces the supply port, and a portion of the storage pipe facing the supply port has an internal prize ball. Although there is a configuration provided with an opening / closing means for switching between a state in which is discharged to the supply port and a state in which the is not discharged, there is no particular limitation.
In this case, the opening / closing means is not particularly limited, in addition to the flap as described in claim 3, may be a configuration in which a sliding door, a claw, a flow prevention fence, and the like are provided so as to open and close the supply port. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a prize ball dispensing device in a game machine, wherein the storage section stores a prize ball on a peripheral surface of a rotary drum driven to rotate by a control device. The rotation which stores the prize ball which is formed in a possible concave portion, supplies the prize ball stored in the concave portion from the upper side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum, and opens a supply port for paying out the prize ball on the lower side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum. The number of encounters between the concave portion of the drum and the supply port is controlled to the number of times determined by the combination of the patterns on the display unit. In the above configuration, the shape of the concave portion that can store the prize ball may be a size that can store only one prize ball, or a size that can store a plurality of prize balls, and is not particularly limited. The depth of the concave portion is not particularly limited, either a depth into which one prize ball enters or a depth into which a plurality of prize balls overlap. Further, a single recess or a plurality of recesses may be provided on the peripheral surface of the rotating drum, and are not particularly limited.

A sensor is provided for detecting whether or not a predetermined amount of prize balls are in the recess, and an opening / closing means is provided so that a contact portion between the recess and the supply port can be opened and closed according to the detection result of this sensor. It does not matter. The number of prize balls stored in the concave portion as the storage portion is not particularly limited as long as it is one or more in the width direction of the rotating drum, but the thickness of the game machine and the efficiency of the number of payout balls are taken into consideration. Then, it is desirable that the number is about 4 to 6.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a prize ball payout device for a game machine, wherein the storage portion is provided on a peripheral surface of a rotary drum driven to rotate by a control device. The prize ball is formed by a concave portion capable of storing the prize ball, the prize ball stored in the concave portion is supplied from the upper side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum, and a supply port for paying out the prize ball is opened to the lower side in the rotational direction of the rotary drum. A flap for opening and closing the mouth is provided, and the opening time of the supply port of the flap is controlled by a combination of pictures on the display unit.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a prize ball payout apparatus in a game machine according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a prize ball payout device in a game machine according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing how the prize ball payout device in the game machine shown in FIG. 1 pays out prize balls. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a game machine having a prize ball payout device in the game machine shown in FIG. 1 therein. FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of the amusement machine shown in FIG.

[0015] A prize ball payout device (hereinafter, referred to as a game machine)
Only described as "prize ball payout device". 1) As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a prize ball supply mechanism 2 capable of supplying prize balls quantitatively, and a storage tank for storing a predetermined amount of prize balls 5 supplied from the prize ball supply device 4. 3 is provided.

The prize ball supply mechanism 2 includes a rotary drum 21, a storage section 22, a cover section 23, a supply port 24,
5 is provided. The rotating drum 21 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 7, the peripheral surface is a storage portion 22 for storing the prize ball 5, and the rotating shaft 25 a is horizontally positioned so that the storage portion 22 of the rotating drum 21 partially faces the bottom of the storage tank 3. In this state, it is pivoted below the storage tank 3 and is rotationally driven by the driving means 25 including the motor 62.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the storage section 22 stores the prize ball 5.
Are formed on the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 21 in a state where five concave portions 221 having a size capable of storing only one are arranged in parallel in the width direction of the rotary drum 21. The prize balls 5 stored in the storage tank 3 are stored in the storage unit 22 in the storage tank 3 by driving the rotating drum 21 by the driving unit 25 as shown in FIG. After passing by, it is discharged from the supply port 24 which is open.

As shown in FIG. 1, the prize ball supply mechanism 2 has a prize ball confirmation sensor (hereinafter, referred to simply as a "sensor") 6 and a flap controller 61 for controlling opening and closing of the flap 7. And a motor 6 for controlling the driving of the driving means 25
2 and the signal of the result of the combination of the detection result by the sensor 6 and the picture on the display unit described later are transmitted to the flap control unit 6
1 and a general control device 63 for transmitting to the motor 62 are attached. The sensor 6 includes a rotating drum 21
Is provided in correspondence with the rotation locus of the storage section 22 provided on the peripheral surface of the storage section 22, and detects whether or not the prize ball 5 is stored in all the five concave sections 221 of the storage section 22. When it is detected that No. 5 is not stored, the detection result is transmitted to the flap control unit 61 via the general control device 63, the flap 7 is closed with the supply port 24, and instead, all the recesses 221 are awarded. The number of prize balls 5 that are opened and supplied at the portion where the ball is contained is accurately maintained.

Next, a description will be given of a gaming machine 10 having the prize ball payout device 1 configured as described above. Amusement machine 10
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the display unit 13 for displaying a plurality of patterns, the ball tray 14 serving as a tray for the paid-out prize balls 5, and the prize ball payout device 1. A prize ball supply path 15 serving as a path for supplying the prize balls 5 to the ball tray 14 and a prize ball supply device 16 for supplying the prize balls 5 into the game machine 10 are provided. A steel ball input switch (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "switch") 11 for inputting a predetermined number of stored steel balls into the game machine 10 to bring the game machine 10 into a playable state, and play the game. An operation unit is formed by a game start lever (hereinafter, simply referred to as “lever”) 12 operated when starting.

As is clear from FIG. 3, the game machine 10 has a slot in which a plurality of (three in this embodiment) reels 30 around which a pattern displayed on the display unit 13 is displayed are provided. It is a machine-type amusement machine, and a switch 11
When a is pressed, a predetermined number of steel balls (prize balls 5) are thrown into the amusement machine 10, and the game machine becomes ready to play. When you can play,
When the lever 12 is moved, the reel 30 rotates, and the display unit 1
3 are changed, and the reel 30 is changed.
When the rotation of is stopped, three pictures are displayed on the display unit 13. The stop operation of the reel 30 is performed by a button a, a button b,
It can also be performed by pressing the button c. If the above operation is performed and the stopped pattern combination is determined to be a hit, a prize ball is paid out according to the score determined by the pattern combination. This payout is performed by the prize ball payout device 1.

Hereinafter, the operation of the prize ball payout device 1 in the game machine 10 will be described. Note that FIG. 1 does not show a state in which the prize balls 5 are stored in the storage tank 3, but actually, the prize balls 5 supplied from the prize ball supply device 4, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. , And is stored in the storage tank 3. As described above, when the winning patterns are aligned, a hit signal is sent from the display unit 13 to the motor 62 of the driving means 25 via the general control device 63 shown in FIG. 1, and the driving means 25 is determined by the combination of the pictures. The rotating drum 21 is rotated by an amount corresponding to the obtained score, and the prize balls 5 stored in the storage tank 3 are stored in the concave portions 221 of the storage portion 22, and then the prize balls 5 stored in the concave portions 221 are supplied. Discharge from the mouth 24. To further explain the payout of the prize ball 5,
The prize balls 5 are stored in the recesses 221 of the storage section 22 from the bottom of the storage tank 3 as shown in FIGS. Thereafter, when the rotary drum 21 storing the prize ball 5 rotates, the prize ball 5 is moved to the concave portion 221 while passing through the portion covered by the cover portion 23.
Is transported to the supply port 24 and discharged from the supply port 24 to the outside of the prize ball payout apparatus 1. Then, the ball is paid out to the ball tray 14 shown in FIG. 3 through the prize ball supply path 15 shown in FIG.

Although the flap 7 is normally opened, a storage portion (hereinafter, referred to as a storage portion) in which the prize balls 5 are not stored in all of the five concave portions 221 arranged in parallel.
It is described as "Incomplete prize ball storage line". ), The sensor 6 detects an incomplete prize ball storage row, and sends a signal to the flap control unit 61 via the general control device 63. Then, the flap control unit 61 controls the flap so that the supply port 24 is closed by the flap 6 when the imperfect prize ball storage row reaches a position facing the supply port 24.
The incomplete prize ball storage line is returned to the storage tank 3 after the prize ball stored in the concave portion 221 is not discharged and passed through the cover portion 23, and is returned to the concave portion 221 in which the prize ball 5 is not stored. 5 is stored and sent to the supply port 24 again.

In the prize ball payout apparatus 1 in the amusement machine 10 having the above-described configuration, the drive means 25 continuously rotates the rotary drum 21 to accurately pay out a large amount of prize balls 5 at a time. be able to. In addition, the prize ball payout device 1
Since the rotary drum 21 supplies a large amount of the prize balls 5 to the supply port 24, it is sufficient if there is a space for accommodating the rotary drum 21, the installation space can be small, and the thickness of the game machine 10 can be reduced.

The award ball payout device in the amusement machine according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the prize ball payout apparatus 1 has a configuration in which the storage unit 22 is provided on the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 21, but as shown in FIG. A structure in which the belt 8 provided with 80 is rotated by the driving means 9 may be employed.

Further, in the prize ball dispensing apparatus 1, the storage section 22 includes the five concave portions 221 arranged in parallel with the rotating drum 21.
However, the number of the recesses 221 arranged in parallel as the leader 22 may be four or less, or may be six or more.
Instead of arranging the 1s in parallel, a series of grooves may be provided as a storage section.

In the prize ball payout apparatus 1, the display unit 1
Drive means 2 according to the combination of pictures displayed on
5, the motor 62 controls the driving of the rotary drum 21,
The number of award balls to be paid out is adjusted by changing the number of rotations of the rotating drum 21. Instead of performing such adjustment, the rotating drum 21 is rotated at a constant speed, and the supply port is adjusted according to the number of awarded balls to be paid out. The number of prize balls may be adjusted by controlling the opening time of the flap 7 so that 24 is opened.

The prize ball payout device includes a sensor 6,
A structure in which the flap 7 or the flap control unit 61 is not provided may be adopted. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the prize balls 5 are stored in the storage portion 22 in the storage tank 3, but a configuration in which the storage tank 3 is not provided may be adopted. The prize ball 5 may be stored in the storage unit.

[0027]

As described above, the prize ball dispensing device in the amusement machine according to the first aspect of the present invention is a game machine of the slot machine type, in which the prize ball for paying out is manually set in the amusement machine. Prize balls can be paid out automatically without replenishment, which contributes to a reduction in labor costs,
There is no need for the player to stop playing when replenishing prize balls. In addition, even when paying out a large amount of prize balls at once, not only can the prize balls be paid out quickly and reliably, but also the thickness of the device itself can be reduced, and the size of the amusement machine can be reduced. The installation space of the amusement machine in the playground can be effectively utilized.

Further, the prize ball payout device in the amusement machine according to claim 2 can perform the payout of prize balls more efficiently and smoothly, in addition to the effect described in claim 1, and obtain the prize ball score. However, even when a different number of payouts are successively performed, the payout can be easily performed.
Further, the prize ball payout device in the amusement machine according to the third aspect has the effects described in the first and second aspects.
Since the payout amount of the prize ball can be adjusted only by controlling the opening and closing of the flap, the structure of the device can be simply suppressed, and the prize ball payout device can be provided at lower cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a prize ball payout device in a game machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view showing how a prize ball payout device in the amusement machine shown in FIG. 1 pays out prize balls.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a game machine provided with a prize ball payout device in the game machine shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a vertical side view of the amusement machine shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing another embodiment of the prize ball payout device in the amusement machine according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 prize ball payout device 10 amusement machine 11 steel ball input switch (operation unit) 12 lever (operation unit) 13 display unit 2 prize ball supply mechanism 21 rotating drum 22 storage unit 221 recess 24 supply port 25 driving means 4 prize ball supply device 5 prize ball 61 flap control unit (control unit) 62 motor (control unit) 63 general control device (control unit) 7 flap

Claims (3)

[Claims] An operation unit, a display unit for displaying a plurality of patterns by operating the operation unit, and a prize ball supply mechanism for paying out a predetermined amount of prize balls by a combination of the patterns on the display unit. In the prize ball payout device of the amusement machine, the prize ball supply mechanism has a storage unit for storing a predetermined number of prize balls, and a driving unit for supplying the prize balls of the storage unit to a supply port, and the driving unit is a display unit. A prize ball payout device for a game machine, wherein a predetermined prize ball is paid out by controlling the driving in accordance with the combination of the patterns. A storage section formed on the peripheral surface of the rotary drum driven to rotate by the control device with a concave portion capable of storing a prize ball, and the prize ball stored in the concave portion is supplied from the upper side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum; The supply port for paying out prize balls is opened to the lower side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum, and the number of encounters between the supply port and the concave portion of the rotary drum storing the prize ball is set to the number of times determined by the combination of the pattern on the display unit. 2. The prize ball payout device in a game machine according to claim 1, wherein the number of rotations is controlled. 3. The storage section is formed with a concave portion capable of storing a prize ball on a peripheral surface of a rotary drum driven to rotate by a control device, and the prize ball stored in the concave portion is supplied from the upper side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum.
A supply port for paying out prize balls is opened on the lower side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum, a flap for opening and closing the supply port is provided, and the opening time of the supply port of the flap is controlled by a combination of pictures on the display unit. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A prize ball payout device in the game machine according to claim 2.