JP2001246063A - Shooting device for pachinko game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optimal hold-releasing means in a pachinko game machine equipped with a constitution wherein a shooting lever 44 is temporarily held by a lever holding means. SOLUTION: A timer which starts counting time by an off-motion of a touch sensor is provided. Also, the holding motion of the lever holding means is released by the digestion of the set time period t0 of the timer. By this constitution, even when a game player removes his hand from a shooting handle, the lever-holding means is not immediately released, and after a specified period of time has passed, the lever-holding means is released. Therefore, even when the game player digests a memory ball during a game, or removes his hand in order to smoke or the like, if it is within the specified period of time, the holding location of the shooting lever is not released. Thus, the game is resumed by simply gripping the shooting handle again, and game balls are shot out to specified locations on the game panel, which are selected by the game player in advance. Therefore, a re-adjustment of the shooting lever 44 is not required every time hand is removed, and the pachinko game can be performed smoothly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the control of a firing handle provided at a lower portion of the front of a gaming machine so as to project a game ball on a gaming board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A pachinko gaming machine is provided with a launching device for launching a game ball onto a game board. In this launcher, a launch lever is pivotally supported by a launch handle protruding from a lower portion of the front of the gaming machine so as to be manually rotatable. This firing lever adjusts the strength of the hit ball by turning operation, and the player adjusts the turning of the firing lever so as to be able to launch the game ball at an optimal position on the board, and The firing lever is held by hand at a supposed position, and the hitting operation is continued. Further, when the player releases his / her hand from the firing lever during the game, the firing lever is urged to return to the home position by the urging force of the firing coil spring, and the above operation is repeated when the game is restarted. Become.

As described above, in the conventional pachinko game machine, it is necessary to hold the firing handle by hand and fix the position of the firing lever for a long time against the urging force of the firing coil spring during the continuation of the hitting operation. , Imposing a heavy burden on the player. In addition, the hand swings left and right due to hand fatigue and the like, and the firing lever pivots slightly in the left-right direction, causing a variation in the launching position, making it impossible to perform a stable firing operation. Further, during the continuation of the game, the player releases his / her hand from the firing handle for recovery from fatigue or, in the case of the first-class pachinko machine, for digestion of the reserved ball stored in the special starting storage device by winning in the starting opening. The urging causes the firing lever to return to the origin, restart the firing operation again, and often waste several game balls until the optimal position is obtained.

[0004] In order to cope with such a problem, many players fix a game ball on the back surface of the firing lever or fix the game ball by sandwiching a coin or the like. For this reason, the firing handle may be damaged, or many players may end the game without any change, so that the next player will be forced to start the game in a state not desired by the player, You will have very unpleasant feelings.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To solve the above-mentioned problems, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 7-42459 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 14154, there has been proposed a firing device having a configuration in which a firing lever is held at a predetermined rotation position by an electromagnetic brake. This Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-114154
In the configuration of the above, the touch sensor for turning on and off the firing motor is provided, and when the firing handle is grasped by hand, the firing motor is activated by the ON operation of the touch sensor, and when the operation switch is pressed, the electromagnetic brake is pressed. Is driven, the firing lever is held at the position, the hand is released, and the touch sensor is turned off, and at the same time, the holding of the firing lever is released.

[0006] By the way, the release of the firing handle may be released in order to consume the holding ball stored in the special starting storage device. In the memory digestion of this reserved ball, in order to reduce the number of remaining balls or reduce the number of hit balls,
The variable prize device is fluctuated by the number of stored times to check whether a big hit has occurred, and thereafter, it is performed to start a hit ball. In addition, there is a case where the user releases his / her hand from the firing handle instantaneously due to necessity such as dropping ash of cigarettes.

As described above, during a game, the player often releases his / her hand from the firing handle momentarily or for a short time for a specific purpose.
With each such operation, the firing lever returns to the origin, and the player has to perform the position adjustment and holding operation of the firing handle again each time, which is troublesome. An object of the present invention is to eliminate such a conventional problem.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a firing lever protruding from a lower part of the front of a gaming machine is provided with a firing lever for adjusting a launching position on a game board surface by a rotation position thereof, which can be manually rotated. In the firing device further provided with a lever holding means for temporarily fixing the firing lever at an arbitrary rotation position, the firing device detects contact of a shooting handle of a player, and the on operation is performed for hitting a ball. A pachinko gaming machine comprising: a touch sensor as a driving condition of a motor; a timer that advances in time by an OFF operation of the touch sensor; and a control unit that releases the holding operation of the lever holding unit by expiring the set time of the timer. Launching device.

In this configuration, even if the player releases his / her hand from the firing handle, the holding means is not immediately released,
For example, it is released after a set time such as 30 seconds to 3 minutes has elapsed. Therefore, even if the player releases his hand for the purpose of digesting a memory ball or smoking a cigarette during the game, the holding position of the firing lever is not released within a predetermined time. Absent. In a state where the hand is released, the firing motor is turned off by the off operation of the touch sensor, so that the hit ball does not occur. Therefore, the game is resumed only by holding the firing handle again, and the game ball is hit at a predetermined position on the game board surface selected by the player in advance. Further, when the player has finished the game, the firing lever returns to the original position after a predetermined time has elapsed, so that no inconvenience is given to the next player.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, a front frame 2 is attached to the outer frame of the gaming machine 1 so as to be freely opened and opened. The upper receiving tray 4 is attached to the lower part of the game board 3, and the lower receiving tray 5 is attached to the lowermost part of the front surface of the front frame 2 below the lower receiving tray 4. The firing handle 40 projects to the right of the lower receiving tray 5. Is provided.

The gaming board 3 is provided with a variable display device 6 including a liquid crystal display device, a dot matrix, a CRT, and the like. When a ball enters the special operation area 7, the variable display device 6 changes. When the balls continuously pass through the special operation area 7, winning storage can be performed up to a predetermined number, and the fluctuation display device also fluctuates even when the winning memory is consumed. Then, when a predetermined symbol combination is achieved, the special winning opening 8 is opened, and a big hit operation is generated. The firing handle 40 constitutes a part of the firing device of the present invention, and the configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The game balls are successively supplied by the upper tray 4 for storing the game balls and the like.
It is guided to the launch position via (see FIG. 3), and is intermittently sent out onto the game board by operating the launch handle 40 of the launch device. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the firing handle 40 comprises a handle base 41 covering the base side and a handle head 42 covering the front side, and a firing handle body is formed. As shown in FIG. 5, between the portions 42, the firing levers 4 are sequentially arranged from the base side.
4, the touch sensor _{S t} is interposed. The firing lever 44 is supported by the firing handle 40 so as to be reversibly rotatable in the circumferential direction by a connection shaft 46 fitted at the center.
It is continuously urged to the standby position by being linked to a firing coil spring 21 described later. The handle head 42 is formed of a transparent or translucent material, and incorporates a light emitting means such as a light emitting diode and a light bulb.

On the back side of the front frame 2 corresponding to the mounting position of the firing handle 40, a support substrate 48 having a firing motor 20, a firing motor control board 50, a firing hammer 51 and the like is disposed. As shown in FIG. 3, the firing hammer 51 is rotatably supported in the front-rear direction and is urged forward by the firing coil spring 21. The movement position is specified. The forward turning position is a pressing position at which the shooting hammer 51 presses the game ball. Launch hammer 51
, A cam follower 24 is attached to a support arm 23 projecting rearward from the shaft support.
The rotation of the cam follower 2
A wing cam 26 that can engage with the wing cam 4 is mounted.

[0014] When the player touch the firing lever 44 (not shown) emitted motor switch from firing the motor control board 50 through the ON operation of the touch sensor S _t
When the firing lever 44 is turned clockwise from the standby position against the urging force in this state, the firing motor switch is turned on.
Activate and launch motor 20 is activated. That is, on actuation of the touch sensor S _t is a driving condition of the firing motor 20. When the wing cam 26 is rotated by the driving of the firing motor 20, the wing cam 26 is engaged with the cam follower 24, and as shown in FIG.
Is rotated backward against the urging of the firing coil spring 21,
When the wing cam 26 further rotates and disengages from the cam follower 24, the firing hammer 51 is momentarily pulled back to the pressing position by the urging force of the firing coil spring 21. By repeating this operation, the firing hammer 51 continuously performs a pressing operation at regular intervals. This allows
A launching device that presses a game ball with a launching hammer 51 by a rotation operation of a firing handle 40 by a rotation of a launch lever 44, and launches a game ball from a launch position, which will be described later, to a game board surface through a guide action of a launch rail 28. Is configured.

Here, since the firing lever 44 is connected to the firing coil spring 21, the tension of the firing coil spring 21 changes depending on the rotation position of the firing lever 44. That is, the more the firing lever 44 is rotated to the right,
Fire hammer 51 generated by disengagement with wing cam 26
The force of the restoring reaction force becomes stronger, and the hitting pressure increases,
The game ball is strongly hit and is launched to the right of the game board surface. As described above, the launch position of the game ball on the game board surface is adjusted by the rotation position of the firing lever 44.

On the other hand, as described above, as shown in FIG. 3, the rectifier 27 is mounted on the back side of the upper receiving panel, and when the firing motor 20 is driven, the ball feed member (see FIG. (Not shown), the firing rail 2
The balls 8 are supplied one by one from the communication holes 30 of the rectifier 27. Then, the firing hammer 51 operates, and the game ball is fired. Subsequently, the ball is supplied again from the communication hole 30 to the firing position. In this way, by rotating the firing handle 40, the game balls are intermittently sent to the firing position at intervals of about 0.6 seconds.

Next, the main part of the present invention will be described. The firing handle 40 protruding from the lower front of the gaming machine as described above
Is provided with a firing lever 44 for adjusting the launch position on the game board surface according to its rotational position. The firing lever 44 is used to release a game ball to an optimum position on a game board as described above. However, the firing lever 44 is always provided with an urging force to the original position by the firing coil spring 21, and the position is easily changed by loosening the hand, and a large load is applied to the player. In order to solve such a problem, the present invention includes a lever holding means for temporarily fixing the firing lever 44. The release of the lever holding means is performed not only when the hand is released from the firing handle main body and the touch sensor _St is turned off, but also when the preset time limit of the timer T expires.

Next, the lever holding means will be described. On the back of the firing lever 44, a metal connecting disc 60 is provided.
An electromagnetic brake 61 made of an electromagnet is disposed on the handle base 41 at a position facing the connecting disk 60. When the electromagnetic brake 61 is energized, the connecting disk 60 is sucked, and the firing lever 44 is held against the urging force of the firing coil spring 21. Here, the magnetic force of the electromagnetic brake 61 is set to be equal to or greater than the urging force of the firing coil spring 21. This allows
Even if the firing lever 44 is not gripped, the firing lever 44 is held at the position set by the player. Since the firing lever 44 is merely held by suction by the magnetic force of the electromagnetic brake 61, the firing lever 44 can be turned against the magnetic force. The position of 44 can be finely adjusted. Meanwhile, as means for turning on operating the electromagnetic brake 61, the holding operation switch S ₁ which is provided on the handle base 41 can be used. This allows
Player, the firing lever 44 to pivot adjustment, after so as to be launched game balls consumable position of the game surface plate, by turning on the holding operation switch S _1, the electromagnetic brake 61 is driven Then, the connecting disk 60 is sucked,
The firing lever 44 is held in that position.

Further, such a holding operation switch S ₁
The electromagnetic brake 61 may be automatically driven when the firing lever 44 is held at a fixed position for a predetermined time in addition to the lever holding means for driving the electromagnetic brake 61 by the manual operation of.

As the lever holding means, as shown in FIG. 6, a slot row 64 formed by engraving a large number of slots 65 around a connecting disk 60 is formed. , by detecting the presence or absence of free portion, and oppositely arranged a proximity sensor S ₂ which converts on-off, close to the predetermined time sensor S
₂ is not turned on and off, the firing lever 44
Is considered to be in a stationary state, the electromagnetic brake 61 is operated to maintain the position, and the like is proposed. In the above configuration, without requiring the operation of holding the operation switch S _1, therefore, even a player who does not know the function of holding the firing lever 44, so that the can enjoy its benefits.

Meanwhile, fixed by the lever holding means such firing lever 44, a touch sensor S _t Release the firing handle 40 after turning off operation, set timed t ₀ of the timer T is released after being digested . The holding control means of the firing lever is constituted by a central control unit CPU or the like, and the holding control mode will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the player holds the firing handle 40, the touch sensor _St is turned on,
While the firing motor 20 is driven like a step,
A flag F is set at a predetermined address of a storage device connected to the central control device, and F = 1. Then, holding the operation switch S ₁ in this state when in the ON state, the electromagnetic brake 61 is driven starting or continuing driving, the firing lever 44 is held in this position. To release the position of the firing lever 44,
It is also possible to forcibly release by turning off operated by operation again holding the operation switch S _1.

When the player removes his / her hand from the firing handle 40 and the touch sensor _St is turned off, it is determined whether or not the timer T is operating. , F, and if F = 0, it is determined that there is no player. If F = 1, it means that the firing handle 40 has been held up to immediately before in the above-described steps, so the timer T is set to "0" at the current time, and the timer T is turned on.

Furthermore, if the timer T is turned on in step, the timer digestion time t to determine if previously less than the set time t ₀ to the timer T, less than the traveling directly control routine when (firing lever 44
If the holding operation is performed, this is continuously maintained). If the timer digestion time t is equal to or longer than the time t ₀ set in advance in the timer T, the energization of the electromagnetic brake 61 is immediately stopped and the firing lever 44 is turned off.
Is released and returns to the home position. Then, the driving of the timer T is stopped, and F = 0 is set.

When the player releases his / her hand from the firing handle 40 and t ₀ seconds elapse, the holding of the firing lever 44 is released. If the player holds the firing handle 40 within this time, the firing lever 44 is released. The game can be resumed while the game is held. Here the set time t ₀ is selected appropriately, for example, it is obtained considered appropriate 30 seconds to 3 minutes. This time is from the time when you can operate cigarettes,
It is appropriately determined within the range of the expected replacement time for the next customer.

Although the above-mentioned holding control means is constituted by the control of the central control unit, it can also be constituted by a control circuit.

Thus, in a so-called first-class pachinko machine, the ball that has entered the starting port is in a state of being stored and stopped, and the hit ball is stopped in order to exhaust the stored number.
In the case where the fluctuation display device fluctuates and the symbol is waited for, the shot lever 44 may be stopped depending on the short stoppage of the ball.
Is not canceled. Further, even if it is necessary to release the hand from the firing handle 40 due to ashes of cigarettes or the like, the temporary holding of the firing lever 44 is not canceled. When the hand is opened, the touch sensor _St
Since the firing motor 20 is turned off by the off operation, the ball is not hit. Therefore, the game is resumed only by holding the firing handle 40 again, and the game ball is
The player is hit at a predetermined position on the game board surface selected in advance by the player. In addition, if the player has the game ended, after the lapse of the predetermined time t _o, firing lever 44
Returns to its original position, so that there is no inconvenience to the next player.

[0028]

As described above, the present invention includes the lever holding means for temporarily fixing the firing lever to an arbitrary rotational position, and the touch sensor for detecting the contact of the player, and the ON operation of the touch sensor. In the launching device that drives the hit ball launching motor, a timer that progresses in time by the OFF operation of the touch sensor is provided, and the holding operation of the lever holding unit is released by expiration of the set time of the timer. Therefore, even if the player releases his / her hand from the firing handle, the lever holding means is not immediately released and is released after a predetermined time has elapsed. The holding position of the firing lever is not released within a predetermined time period even if the user releases his / her hand for the purpose of digesting or smoking cigarettes. For this reason, the game is resumed only by grasping the firing handle again, the game ball is hit at a predetermined position on the game board surface selected by the player in advance, and it is necessary to readjust the firing lever each time the player releases his hand. Without pachinko, pachinko games can be played smoothly. In addition, when the player has finished the game, the firing lever returns to its original position after a predetermined time has elapsed, so that the next player can start the game smoothly and reduce the interest of the player. There are excellent effects such as no.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a pachinko gaming machine 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a lower portion of the pachinko gaming machine 1.

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing the launching device.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the launching device.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the launching device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a connecting disk 60 showing another configuration of the lever holding means.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for controlling a big hit operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 pachinko gaming machine 20 firing motor 40 firing handle 44 firing lever 60 coupling disc 61 electromagnetic brake 64 ratchet S _t touch sensor S ₁ holding operation switch S ₂ proximity sensors

Claims (1)

[Claims] A firing lever, which is provided at a lower portion of a front face of a gaming machine, is provided with a firing lever for adjusting a launching position on a game board surface according to its rotation position, and is rotatably supported by a hand. A launching device comprising a lever holding means for temporarily fixing at an arbitrary rotational position, wherein a touch sensor for detecting a contact of a launching handle of a player with an ON operation as a driving condition of a hit ball launching motor; A launching device for a pachinko game machine, comprising: a timer that advances in time by an OFF operation of a sensor; and a holding control unit that releases a holding operation of a lever holding unit by expiring a set time of the timer.