JP2001112925A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems that a sufficient storage amount is not obtained and a discharge speed is slot since a conventional game machine is provided with a single payout device for storing and paying out game media. SOLUTION: By providing two hoppers 27 and 28 for paying out medals which are the game media, the storage amount of the medals becomes about twice as much as before. Also, since the medals are paid out by the two hoppers 27 and 28, time until payout completion is shortened. Also, even when a failure occurs in one of the two hoppers 27 and 28, since payout is performed by the other, there is the case that the interruption of a game is not required.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game machine in which a game medium is inserted to play a game, and when a prize is generated, an amount of the game medium is paid out according to the type of the prize.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of gaming machine, there is, for example, a slot machine. FIG. 1 is a front view of the inside of a conventional general slot machine 1 'with a front door opened.

Inside the cabinet 24, symbols are drawn on the outer peripheral surface, and the reels 3, 4, 5, and
A power supply box unit 25 provided with a switch for supplying power and a switch for setting a lottery probability, a hopper 26 for paying out a number of medals to the medal tray 20 according to a winning, and the like are accommodated. Generally, before starting a slot machine game, a player pays a game shop and borrows a medal as a game medium. Then, the player inserts a medal into the slot machine 1 'and operates the start lever, whereby the reels 3, 4, and 5 start rotating, and the game is started.

[0004] One game is performed by operating a start lever following the insertion of a medal, and operating each stop button after the rotation of the reels 3, 4, 5 is performed.
5 stops and ends. When a predetermined combination of winning symbols is aligned on the activated winning line by stopping the reels 3, 4, and 5 according to the operation of each stop button, a winning according to the type of the symbol is generated. When a prize is generated, medals corresponding to the type of the prize are paid out to the medal tray 20 from the hopper 26.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional gaming machine, since there is only one hopper 26 for paying out medals, it takes a relatively long time to complete the payout of medals. In addition, since the amount of stored medals is limited, if the payout of medals is concentrated in a short time, the medals stored in the hopper 26 alone cannot be paid out, and the medals may need to be replenished on the way. In this case, the payout of the medals is temporarily interrupted, and it takes time to complete the payout. Further, if the hopper 26 is single, if a malfunction occurs in the hopper 26, the medal payout function is lost, and the game must be stopped.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a game is performed by inserting a game medium, and when a prize is generated, the amount of the game corresponding to the type of the prize is determined. In a gaming machine for paying out a medium, a plurality of payout devices for paying out a game medium are provided.

According to this configuration, a large amount of game media can be stored by the plurality of payout devices. Also,
When paying out the game media, the payout is performed by a plurality of payout devices, so that the payout is completed in a short time. Furthermore,
If one of the dispensing devices fails,
The game can be continued without interruption.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment in which a gaming machine according to the present invention is applied to a slot machine will be described.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the slot machine 1 according to the present embodiment. Note that the same parts as those in FIG.

In the cabinet 24 behind the front panel 2 of the slot machine 1, three reels 3, 4, and 5 are rotatably provided. On the outer peripheral surface of each of the reels 3, 4, and 5, a symbol row including a plurality of types of symbols (hereinafter, referred to as symbols) is drawn. Three of these symbols are observed through the display windows 6, 7, 8 on the front of the slot machine 1, respectively. A medal insertion slot 9 for a player to insert medals is provided on the lower right side of the display windows 6, 7, and 8.

In the display windows 6 to 8, three horizontal (central L1 and upper and lower L2A, L2B) and two diagonal (obliquely upward L3A, obliquely downward L3B) winning lines are described. When the player inserts one medal into the medal insertion slot 9 prior to the start of the game, only the central pay line L1 on each of the reels 3 to 5 is activated. Also, 2
When two medals are inserted into the slot 9, upper and lower pay lines L2A and L2B are added to the medal, and three horizontal pay lines L1, L2A and L2B are activated. When three medals are inserted into the medal insertion slot 9, all the pay lines L1, L2A, L2B, L3A and L3B are activated. The activation of the pay line is displayed to the player by turning on the activated line display lamp 23 arranged at the end of each pay line.

On the lower left side of the display windows 6 to 8, 1B
An ET switch 10, a 2BET switch 11, and a MAX BET switch 12 are provided. When a medal is credited in the credit amount display unit 13,
Instead of inserting medals into the medal slot 9, these 1 BET
Switch 10, 2BET switch 11 and Max B
By operating each push button of the ET switch 12, one, two, and three medals are bet in one game, respectively. The number-of-credits display unit 13 is composed of 7-segment LEDs (light-emitting diodes) of a number corresponding to the number of digits of the numerical value to be displayed, and displays the number of medals currently credited.

A credit / payment changeover switch (C / P switch) 1 is provided below these BET switches 10 to 12.
4 and a start lever 15 are provided, and a stop button 16,
17 and 18 are provided. The credit / payout (PLAY CREDIT / PAY OUT) of the medal can be switched by operating the push button of the C / P switch 14.

By operating the start lever 15, the reels 3, 4 and 5 start rotating simultaneously. The stop buttons 16, 17, and 18 are arranged corresponding to the respective reels 3, 4, and 5. When the rotation of each of the reels 3 to 5 reaches a certain speed, the operation is activated, and the player pushes the buttons. The rotation of each reel is stopped according to the button operation.

A waist panel 19 is provided below the stop buttons 16 to 18, and a picture (not shown) of a character or the like is drawn on the waist panel 19. Further, a medal tray 20 is provided below the waist panel 19, and medals paid out from the medal payout opening 21 are stored in the medal tray 20. In addition, a payout display unit 22 is provided on the front upper portion of the slot machine 1 to indicate how many medals are paid out for each winning.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the inside of the cabinet 24 with the front door removed from the slot machine 1 according to the present embodiment. Two hoppers 27 and 28 are provided inside the cabinet 24, and the two hoppers 27 and 28 pay out medals in a number corresponding to the type of winning in parallel.

FIG. 4 shows a circuit configuration including a control unit for controlling a game processing operation in the slot machine 1 of the present embodiment and a peripheral device (actuator) electrically connected to the control unit.

The control unit has a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a microcomputer) 40 as a main component, and further includes a circuit for sampling random numbers. The microcomputer 40 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 41 for performing a control operation according to a preset program, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 42 as a storage means, and a RAM.
(Readable / writable memory) 43.
The CPU 41 includes a clock pulse generation circuit 44 and a frequency divider 45 for generating a reference clock pulse, a random number generator 46 for generating a random number within a certain range, and a random number sampling circuit 47 for extracting an arbitrary random number from the generated random numbers.
Is connected.

As main actuators whose operations are controlled by control signals from the microcomputer 40, there are two hoppers 27 and 28 which store and pay out medals. Each of the hoppers 27 and 28 is composed of a bucket for storing medals and a disk which is driven to rotate by a motor and ejects medals. The first and second hoppers 27 and 28 have a first medal detection unit 63 described later.
And a first sensor and a second sensor that constitute the second medal detection unit 64. The first and second hoppers 27 and 28 are driven by the first and second hopper drive circuits 52 and 53, respectively, and two machines pay out medals in parallel. The paid-out medals are detected by the first and second sensors, respectively.

Other actuators controlled by the microcomputer 40 include various stepping motors 56, 57, 58 for rotatingly driving the reels 3, 4, 5, a speaker 49, and various lamps 50 including a reel back lamp. These are respectively driven by a motor drive circuit 51, a speaker drive circuit 54, and various lamp drive circuits 55. These drive circuits 51 to 55 are connected to the CPU 41 via an I / O port of the microcomputer 40. Each of the stepping motors 56 to 58 is excited in a 1-2 phase by the motor drive circuit 51, and rotates once when a drive signal of 400 pulses is supplied.

The main input signal generating means for generating an input signal required for the microcomputer 40 to generate a control signal includes a start switch 15S for detecting operation of the start lever 15 and a medal insertion port 9 The inserted medal sensor 9S for detecting the inserted medal, and the C /
There is a P switch 14. There is also a photo sensor 59 and a reel position detecting circuit 60 that receives the output pulse signal from the photo sensor 59 and detects the rotational position of each of the reels 3, 4, and 5.

The photo sensor 59 generates a reset pulse each time the reels 3, 4, and 5 make one revolution. This reset pulse is given to the CPU 41 via the reel position detection circuit 60. In the RAM 43, a count value corresponding to a rotation position within one rotation range is stored for each of the reels 3 to 5. When the CPU 41 receives the reset pulse, the CPU 41 reads the count value formed in the RAM 43 as " 0 "
To clear. By this clearing process, a shift generated between the movement display of each symbol and the rotation of each of the stepping motors 56 to 58 is eliminated for each rotation.

Further, as the above-mentioned input signal generating means,
Reel stop signal circuit 61 and payout completion signal generation circuit 6
There are two. The reel stop signal circuit 61 includes a stop button 1
When 6, 17, 18 are pressed, the corresponding reel 3,
Generate a signal to stop 4,5. Further, the first medal detection unit 63 and the second medal detection unit 64
The number of medals paid out from the hopper 27 and the second hopper 28 are counted, and the payout completion signal generating circuit 62 generates the first medal detecting unit 63 and the second medal detecting unit 64.
When the total of the medal count values actually paid out input from the CPU reaches predetermined payout number data, a signal notifying the completion of the medal payout is output to the CPU 41.

In the ROM 42, a procedure of the game processing executed in the slot machine 1 is stored as a sequence program, and a winning probability table, a symbol table, a winning symbol combination table, and the like are separately stored. I have.

Next, the operation of the gaming machine controlled by the microcomputer 40 in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of this game processing.

First, the CPU 41 determines whether or not a medal BET has been placed (step 101). This determination is “YES” when a medal is inserted into the medal insertion slot 9 and a detection signal is input from the medal sensor 9S or a signal is input from the BET switches 10, 11, and 12. Next, start lever 15
It is determined whether or not a start signal has been input from the start switch 15S by the operation (step 10).
2).

If the determination is "YES", a winning determination (probability lottery process) is performed (step 103). The winning determination is generated by the random number generator 46 and the sampling circuit 4
The determination is made by determining which random number value specified by 7 belongs to which winning group in the winning probability table. The winning mode determined by the winning determination is represented by the type of the winning flag,
"Lost", "Replay", "Two Cherry", "Four Cherry", "Bell", "Watermelon", "R"
One of the winning flags of the eight types “B” and “BB” is set in a predetermined area of the RAM 43.

Here, RB means a regular bonus game, and in this RB game, a bonus game in which a plurality of high payout games are combined can be performed once.
BB means a big bonus game. In this BB game, a set of a general game and the above-mentioned bonus game can be performed a plurality of times.

Next, the first reel 3, the second reel 4, the third reel
The reels 5 are rotated (step 104), and the reels 3, 4, and 5 start rotating simultaneously. Thereafter, stop control of each of the reels 3, 4, and 5 is performed in accordance with the operation of each of the stop buttons 16, 17, and 18 by the player (step 105).

Next, it is determined whether or not the display when all reels are stopped is a predetermined winning symbol combination by referring to a winning symbol combination table (step 106). When no prize is obtained, the determination in step 106 is “N”.
O ", and the process returns to the initial step 101. If the result of the winning determination is a replay game (replay), the process returns to the operation waiting process of the start lever 15 in step 102 (step 107). When a prize is not a game, the CPU 41 controls the first hopper drive circuit 52 and the second hopper drive circuit 53, and a predetermined number of medals are paid out to the coin tray 20 by the first hopper 27 and the second hopper 28. (Step 108).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an outline of the payout process in step 108. In the payout process, first, it is determined whether or not there is a winning with a payout (step 117). If there is a payout with a payout, the payline is displayed by turning on the activation line display lamp 23 (step 118), and the payout number is set in the payout completion signal generation circuit 62 (step 119).

For example, the number of payouts of two medals is set in the case of a small hit prize of "2 cherries", and the number of payouts of four medals in the case of a small prize of "4 cherries". In the case of the "Bell" small hit prize, 6 pieces, in the case of "watermelon" small hit prize, 8 pieces, and in the case of "BB" big hit prize and "RB" medium hit prize, respectively 15 medal payout numbers are set.

Next, a control signal is output from the CPU 41 to the first and second hopper drive circuits 52 and 53, and the first and second hoppers 27 and 28 are driven (step 12).
0,121). When medals are paid out from the first and second hoppers 27 and 28, the first and second medal detection units 6
The number of paid out medals is counted (step 122), and the payout completion signal generating circuit 62 accumulates the total of the number of paid out medals. The payout completion signal generating circuit 62 determines whether or not the cumulative number has reached the set number of payouts (step 123), and outputs a payout completion signal to the CPU 41 when the cumulative number of payouts reaches the set number. When the CPU 41 receives this signal,
The first and second hopper drive circuits 52 and 53 are controlled to stop the first and second hoppers 27 and 28 (step 1).
24, 125), and ends the payout processing.

Next, it is determined whether or not a BB game has occurred (step 109). If a BB game has occurred, the BB game is executed (step 110). If the BB game has not occurred, it is determined whether the RB game has occurred next (step 111).
If an RB game has occurred, the RB game is executed (step 112). Thereafter, the above processing is repeated, and a slot machine game is performed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the two hoppers 27 and 28 are provided as the medal payout device, the medal payout speed is simply about twice as fast as that of the related art. In addition, since the payout speed of medals is faster, the speed of counting the number of payouts is also about twice as fast as that of the related art. Therefore, the time until the medal payout process is completed can be greatly reduced.

Further, since two hoppers 27 and 28 are installed, a large amount of medals can be stored, and even if payouts are concentrated in a short time, the remaining amount does not become insufficient. Further, if there are two hoppers 27 and 28, even if a failure occurs in one of the hoppers 27 and 28, the payout action can be continued on the other, so that the game is not interrupted.

In this embodiment, the number of medals to be paid out by the two hoppers 27 and 28 is counted separately, and these numbers are totaled. However, the two hoppers 27 and 28 pay out. Collect the medals to be issued in one path,
The same effect can be obtained even if the number of medals is counted at one place. Further, a payout process may be performed by adding one hopper and using three hoppers. in this case,
The payout speed of medals is about three times faster than the conventional case in which the single hopper is used. Other functions and effects are provided in the same manner as in the above embodiment.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, since a plurality of payout devices for paying out game media are provided, the speed of paying out game media is high. In addition, since a large amount of game media can be stored, a large amount of payout can be processed without interruption due to a shortage of the remaining amount on the way. Also, since there are a plurality of payout devices, even if one of them has a problem, the game can be continued without interrupting the game if the other payout device is working.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventional general slot machine with a front door opened.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the slot machine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the inside of the cabinet of the slot machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main control circuit configuration of the slot machine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of a game process of the slot machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a payout process of the slot machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Slot machine 2 ... Front panel 3, 4, 5 ... 1st, 2nd, 3rd reel 6, 7, 8 ... Window 9 ... Medal slot 10, 11, 12 ... BET switch 13 ... Credit number display part 14 ... Credit / payment changeover switch 15... Start lever 16, 17, 18. Stop button 19. Hopper L1, L2A, L2B, L3A, L3B ... winning line

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A gaming machine in which a game medium is inserted and a game is played, and when a prize is generated, a plurality of payout devices for paying out the game medium are provided. A gaming machine characterized by the following. 2. The payout device comprises a hopper comprising a bucket for storing medals as the game media and a disk which is driven to rotate by a motor and ejects the medals, and a sensor for detecting the medals paid out from the hopper. The gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the game is performed. 3. The gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the gaming machine is a slot machine.