JP2004113678A - Game machine, rewriting device of pattern on reel tape used therein, and method for reusing reel tape - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game machine capable of reusing a reel tape and contributing to energy saving and reduction of wastes. <P>SOLUTION: The game machine has a rotary reel with the reel tape on which a plurality of patterns can be displayed, and the reel tape is formed with a reversible recordable recording medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a gaming machine having a rotating reel, such as a slot machine.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a rotary reel used in a gaming machine such as a slot machine has a tape formed by printing a pattern on a plastic film or the like and forming a belt-shaped reel tape on a drum. When it is necessary to change the arrangement of symbols in accordance with a change in game content due to a so-called table exchange, the operation of reusing the rotating reel body and replacing only the reel tape has been performed. However, since the conventional reel tape described above cannot be reprinted once the pattern is printed, it has to be replaced with a new one and discarded. This is a huge waste of resources in view of the current state of the gaming machine industry, such as slot machines, in which models are exchanged relatively frequently.
[0003]
On the other hand, a technique for rewriting data recorded on a special medium by using a reversible recording apparatus has been devised conventionally, and in recent years, its practical use has been advanced.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, the inventions described in the respective claims have been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technology, and the objects thereof are as follows.
(Claim 1)
That is, the invention described in claim 1 aims to provide a gaming machine that makes it possible to reuse a reel tape, contributes to resource saving, and contributes to the reduction of waste.
[0005]
(Claim 2)
The invention described in claim 2 aims at the following points.
That is, the second aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that enables reuse of a reel tape.
(Claim 3)
The third object of the present invention is as follows.
[0006]
That is, the invention described in claim 3 aims to provide a suitable reel tape recycling method.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
(Feature point)
Each invention described in each claim is made to achieve each of the above-mentioned objects, and the features of each invention will be described below using the embodiments of the invention shown in the drawings. .
[0008]
In addition, the code | symbol shows the code | symbol used in embodiment of this invention, and does not limit the technical scope of this invention.
(Claim 1)
The invention according to claim 1 is characterized by the following points.
That is, the invention according to claim 1 is a gaming machine having a rotating reel (23) provided with a reel tape (25) capable of displaying a plurality of symbols, wherein the reel tape (25) is a recording medium capable of reversibly recording. It is characterized by having been formed.
[0009]
The present invention is suitable for a gaming machine having a rotating reel, for example, a slot machine.
The "reversible recording medium" used in the present invention is a so-called rewritable thermosensitive recording medium, and is formed of a material having a property of developing a color or disappearing by heating to a predetermined temperature. ing. For example, those using a cholesteric liquid crystal compound or a leuco dye are already known. Then, the reel tape (25) is formed using the recording medium.
[0010]
The reel tape (25) is designed such that a predetermined reversible recording device can erase a symbol displayed on the surface and display a new symbol.
(Action)
According to the present invention, when it is necessary to change the symbol displayed on the rotating reel (23) due to a model change or the like, the reel tape (25) is removed, the symbol is rewritten, and then the tape is again attached to the rotating reel (23). Can be used with Therefore, the same reel tape can be reused many times.
[0011]
(Claim 2)
The second aspect of the invention is characterized by the following points.
That is, the invention according to claim 2 operates the reversible recording device (60) for rewriting the design of the reel tape (25) for a game machine formed of a reversible recording medium and the operation of the reversible recording device (60). A symbol rewriting device for a reel tape for a gaming machine, comprising at least a control unit (66) for controlling and an input unit (65) capable of receiving symbol data.
[0012]
The present invention relates to a symbol rewriting device for rewriting a symbol on a reel tape (25) for the gaming machine described in claim 1.
The reversible recording device (60) is for rewriting the design of the reel tape (25). For example, a rewritable head (63) composed of a heat roller, or an erasing head (62) and a recording head (61) as the rewritable head (63), and the display is performed by heating the reel tape (25) at a predetermined temperature. It is possible to erase a symbol that has been erased and to record a new symbol in the portion where the symbol has been erased.
[0013]
(Action)
In the symbol rewriting device according to the present invention, symbol data is input from the input unit (65), and the control unit (66) rewrites the symbol based on the data.
(Claim 3)
The invention according to claim 3 is characterized by the following points.
[0014]
That is, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in a gaming machine having a rotating reel provided with a reel tape (25) formed of a reversible recording medium, the reel tape (25) is removed from the rotating reel (23); A gaming machine having at least a reversible recording device (60) for rewriting symbols, a control unit (66) for controlling the operation of the reversible recording device (60), and an input unit (65) capable of receiving symbol data. A method of reusing a reel tape, comprising rewriting a displayed symbol using a symbol reel rewriting device (30) for use, attaching the symbol to a rotating reel (23), and reusing the reel tape.
[0015]
The present invention relates to a method of reusing a reel tape using the symbol rewriting device according to the second aspect, with respect to the reel tape (25) used in the gaming machine according to the first aspect.
[0016]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described using a slot machine as a gaming machine. In this slot machine, a replacement unit on which at least the reel unit 20 and the board unit 24 are mounted is detachably formed inside the housing.
(Description of drawings)
1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention.
[0017]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a slot machine, and FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing a symbol rewriting device.
(Slot machine S)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the slot machine S.
As shown in FIG. 1, a slot machine S according to the present embodiment is roughly divided into a housing unit 1 having an opening 11 on the front side, an upper unit 2 detachably provided inside the housing unit 1, and a housing unit. And a front door 3 that opens and closes the opening 11 of the body unit 1.
[0018]
(Housing unit 1)
As shown in FIG. 1, the housing unit 1 is a housing including a bottom plate and a side plate 16 and a top plate and a back plate, and opened on the front side. A middle plate 12 that divides the opening 11 into an upper opening 13 and a lower opening 14 is provided at a substantially central portion in the height direction in a horizontal direction.
The power supply unit 4 is attached to the lower surface of the middle plate 12. The power supply unit 4 includes a power supply device (not shown) and a power switch for turning on the main power supply of the slot machine S on the front side. A hopper unit 5 is placed on the bottom plate. The hopper unit 5 has a tank for storing medals and has a built-in medal discharge device for paying out medals when winning.
[0019]
On the front left side of the side plate 16, two engaging portions 6 for engaging the front door 3 and rotatably supporting the front door 3 are provided at intervals in the vertical direction. Further, on the side plate 16 on the side opposite to the engaging portion 6, two projecting pieces (lock mechanisms 7) are provided at intervals in the vertical direction. Further, a fixing member 10 which is a clip for fixing the upper unit 2 is provided above the inner side surface of the side plate 16.
[0020]
(Upper unit 2)
As shown in FIG. 1, the upper unit 2 controls a support 21 for installing or fixing various components, a reel unit 20 attached to the support 21, and the operation of the game and slot machine S. And a board unit 24 including a sub-board for performing various effects.
[0021]
The support 21 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped frame structure, a partition is provided at the top, the reel unit 20 is fixed to the bottom, and a substrate unit 24 is installed at the top of the partition. I have. The main board and the sub-board incorporated in the board unit 24 function as a control device of the slot machine S.
The upper unit 2 is placed on the middle plate 12 and housed in the upper opening 13. Then, it is fixed to the housing unit 1 by the fixing device 10.
[0022]
The reason that the reel unit 20 and the board unit 24 are attached to the upper unit 2 and can be taken out at the same time is that the reel unit 20 and the board unit 24 are often replaced as a set at the time of model exchange. This is in view of the convenience of work in which both can be removed simply by removing the upper unit 2.
(Reel unit 20)
As shown in FIG. 1, the reel unit 20 has three rotating reels 23 and three drive motors (not shown) for rotating the respective rotating reels 23. This drive motor is fixed to a partition plate 20 a of a frame constituting the reel unit 20.
[0023]
The rotating reel 23 is attached to a driving shaft of a motor, and has a cylindrical drum around which a reel tape 25 is attached. The rotating reel 23 is formed so as to be detachable from the drive shaft of the motor, and can be taken out of the reel unit 20 when the operation of replacing the reel tape accompanying the model change is performed.
[0024]
Here, the reel tape 25 is formed of a reversible recording medium. Examples of recording media capable of reversible recording, so-called rewritable recording media, include those using a cholesteric liquid crystal compound (JP-A-2000-313172, JP-A-2001-31930, JP-A-2002-103815, etc.), leuco dyes, and the like. There are those using a color former and a developer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-79970). These are materials that can be formed as a multilayer film covered with a protective layer by forming a recording layer on a base material, and an image is displayed on the recording layer by heating at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time. If the heating time is different, the displayed image can be erased. This rewriting can be repeated several hundred times. Rewriting of the symbols on the reel tape 25 is performed by a symbol rewriting device 30 described later.
[0025]
(Front door 3)
The front door 3 is a plate-like door that is rotatably attached to the side plate 16 of the housing unit 1 via the engaging portion 6 and is formed so as to be lockable by the lock mechanism 7. At the center, there is a design display window through which the design of the rotating reel 23 can be viewed from the front side, and a display device for performing various displays is provided. An operation unit for operating the slot machine is formed below the symbol display window, and a start switch for starting rotation of the rotating reel 23 and a stop switch for stopping rotation of the rotating reel 23 are provided. A switch, a bet switch for replacing credit with medal insertion, a settlement switch for canceling credit, and the like are provided. Further, a medal insertion slot for inserting a medal is provided on the right side of the operation unit.
[0026]
Further, a medal discharge port for paying out medals and a medal tray for storing the paid-out medals are formed at a lower portion of the front door 3, and a medal tray is provided between the operation unit and the medal tray. And a display panel for displaying game contents and the like. On the back side of the front door 3, a medal selector for properly sending out the medals inserted from the medal insertion slot to the hopper unit 5 and a speaker for outputting various sounds are provided.
[0027]
By the way, the front door 3 can be easily detached from the housing unit 1 when the engagement portion 6 is disengaged. With such a configuration, when the model is changed, the upper unit 2 and the front door 3 described above are removed from the hall and only the new upper unit 2 and the front door 3 are replaced, and the slot machine is replaced with a new slot machine. This has the same effect as. At this time, the housing unit 1 does not need to be removed from the hall, and the relatively durable power supply unit 4 and hopper unit 5 do not need to be replaced. Therefore, the resources can be effectively used, and the operation of changing the model can be easily performed.
[0028]
(Symbol rewriting device 30)
Here, the symbol rewriting device 30 for rewriting the symbol on the reel tape 25 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 2, the symbol rewriting device 30 has a reversible recording device 60 and a control unit 66 inside the exterior frame, and has a slit-shaped insertion port 67 and a discharge port 68 into which the reel tape 25 is inserted. I have.
[0029]
The reversible recording device 60 has a rewritable head 63 protruding into a tape passage extending from the insertion port 67 to the discharge port 68. The rewriting head 63 includes a recording head 61 and an erasing head 62, and performs rewriting by sandwiching the reel tape 25 between the rewriting head 63 and a feed roller 64 provided at a position opposite to the tape path. is there. The recording head 61 is for writing a predetermined symbol on the reel tape 25, and is located on the ejection port 68 side. The erasing head 62 is for erasing the symbol written on the reel tape 25, and is located on the insertion opening 67 side.
[0030]
Here, the recording head 61 and the erasing head 62 are heating rollers, and include a heating element (not shown) that generates heat when energized. Then, by contacting the reel tape 25 and heating the reel tape 25 to a predetermined temperature, the symbol recorded on the recording layer of the reel tape 25 is erased, and a new symbol is recorded. For example, by heating the recording layer at 120 degrees to 160 degrees, the developer separates from the dye and becomes unemployed, the pattern disappears, and by heating the recording layer at 180 degrees, the developer melts with the dye. The color is developed and then rapidly cooled to fix the color development state, and a predetermined pattern appears on the tape surface.
[0031]
The control unit 66 operates the reversible recording device 60 based on predetermined symbol data input from the input unit 65. The design data input to the input unit 65 may be data directly transmitted from, for example, a host computer, or may be read by attaching a recording medium on which the data is recorded. Upon receiving the symbol data, the control unit 66 operates the rewriting head 63 and the feed roller 64 to rewrite a predetermined symbol.
[0032]
(Rewriting of the reel tape 25)
When performing a model change, the upper unit 2 removed from the housing unit 1 is usually transported to a regeneration factory, where it is rebuilt as a new upper unit 2.
Therefore, when rewriting the symbol on the reel tape 25 using the symbol rewriting device 30 having the above configuration, first, the reel unit 20 is removed from the upper unit 2. Then, the rotating reel 23 is removed from the reel unit 20, and the reel tape 25 is peeled off. In the past, the used reel tape 25 had to be discarded, but by rewriting the symbol using the symbol rewriting device 30 according to the present invention, the reel tape 25 corresponding to a new model can be obtained.
[0033]
That is, predetermined symbol data is input to the input unit 65 of the symbol rewriting device 30, and the reel tape 25 is inserted from the insertion slot 67. When the reel tape 25 reaches the position of the rewriting head 63, first, the erasing head 62 erases the symbol data recorded on the recording layer of the reel tape 25. Next, new symbol data is output from the recording head 61, and the new symbol is displayed by recording the data on the recording layer.
[0034]
When the reel tape 25 rewritten in this manner is mounted on the rotating reel 23, a new game reel unit 20 is completed with almost no discarded items.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
The present invention is configured as described above, and has the following effects.
(Claim 1)
According to the first aspect of the invention, the following effects can be obtained.
[0036]
That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a gaming machine that enables the reel tape to be reused, contributes to resource saving, and contributes to the reduction of waste.
(Claim 2)
According to the second aspect of the invention, the following effects can be obtained.
That is, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a device that enables the reuse of the reel tape.
[0037]
(Claim 3)
According to the third aspect of the invention, the following effects can be obtained.
That is, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a suitable reel tape recycling method.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an embodiment of the present invention and is an exploded perspective view of a slot machine.
FIG. 2 is an embodiment of the present invention and is a view schematically showing a symbol rewriting device.
[Explanation of symbols]
S Slot machine 1 Housing unit 2 Upper unit 3 Front door 4 Power supply unit 5 Hopper unit 6 Engagement unit 7 Lock mechanism 10 Fixing member 11 Opening 12 Middle plate 13 Upper opening 14 Lower opening 16 Side plate 20 Reel unit 21 Supporter 23 Rotating reel 24 substrate unit 25 reel tape 30 symbol rewriting device 60 reversible recording device 61 recording head 62 erasing head 63 rewriting head 64 feed roller 65 input unit 66 control unit 67 insertion port 68 discharge port

Claims (3)

In a gaming machine having a rotating reel with a reel tape for displaying a plurality of symbols on a drum,
A gaming machine wherein the reel tape is formed of a reversible recording medium. A reversible recording device for rewriting the design of a game machine reel tape formed of a reversible recordable recording medium;
A control unit for controlling the operation of the reversible recording device;
A symbol rewriting device for a gaming machine reel tape, comprising at least an input unit capable of receiving symbol data. In a gaming machine having a rotating reel provided with a reel tape formed of a reversible recording medium,
Remove the reel tape from the rotating reel,
A reversible recording device for rewriting the symbol, a control unit for controlling the operation of the reversible recording device, and a reel rewriting device for a gaming machine reel tape having at least an input unit capable of receiving symbol data, A method for reusing a reel tape, comprising rewriting a symbol displayed on a tape, pasting the symbol on a rotating reel, and reusing the reel tape.

Images