JP2006000501A - Drum type game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a game fair by executing control for not making a game result by automatic stoppage depend on stop patterns before starting the game. <P>SOLUTION: A drum type game machine which forcibly stops a drum when a drum stopping operation is not performed for fixed time after a game starting operation is performed is constituted of stop variable time setting/monitoring parts (206 and 209) for setting a value for which randomly selected and decided variable time α is added to fixed time T as the fixed time and monitoring the set fixed time and drum automatic stoppage control means (200 and 204) for forcibly stopping the drum after the lapse of the fixed time. In this case, the variable time is decided by randomly drawing a value every time of the game starting operation or drawing a value defined in a table beforehand. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a swivel type gaming machine that displays symbols in a variable manner by rotating a reel and presents a game result in accordance with a combination of stop symbols.

  Conventionally, a slot machine is known as a revolving game machine. In a general slot machine, three rows of reels in a housing are visually observed through a transparent display window formed in a front door. A plurality of types of symbols are arranged and drawn on the peripheral surface of each reel, and the symbols related to winning or losing a game are variably displayed by rotating the reels. In addition, the slot machine is provided with a start lever for rotating the reels all at once and a stop button for individually stopping the rotating reels. In response to the pressing operation, the brake is applied and the operation stops. When the combination of symbols displayed on each reel is aligned on the effective line, the winning is confirmed, and a number of game media (medals) corresponding to the combination of winning symbols are paid out.

  When the above-mentioned start lever is tilted, a winning combination lottery using a random number called an internal lottery is performed. That is, when a slot machine wins a winning combination by an internal lottery, the slot machine stores the symbol related to the winning combination, and the symbol is displayed within a predetermined time (for example, 190 milliseconds) from the time when the stop button is pressed. When it is possible to stop on the effective line, the rotation of the reel is controlled to stop the symbol related to the winning on the effective line (such reel control is referred to as “pull-in control”). As a result, the factors that determine the winning or losing of the slot machine largely depend on the internal lottery using random numbers, and it becomes possible to perform fair games by eliminating technical intervention of games by skilled players. ing.

  On the other hand, from the time when the start lever is tilted, a stop operation is not performed by a stop button for a certain period of time (for example, 40 seconds), and automatic stop control is performed on a rotating reel (for example, see Patent Document 1). That is, in the conventional slot machine, when the reels are automatically stopped, the stop operation by the above-described stop button is considered to be performed when a certain time has elapsed from the start of the reel rotation, and the reel stop control is performed. That is, when the game has been internally won for a certain winning combination by the internal lottery, the above-described pull-in control is performed, and the winning of the winning combination may be confirmed.

JP 2002-153596 A

  By the way, according to the above-described conventional slot machine, the acceleration at the time of starting the rotation of the reel and the rotation speed at the constant speed are controlled under the same conditions in each game. When the automatic stop is activated, the display symbol in the game depends on the display symbol before the game starts. In other words, if the automatic stop is intentionally activated based on the display pattern before the game starts, there is a problem that the probability of winning is higher and the game is not fair compared to the stop operation by the stop button. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of these conventional problems, and eliminates the effect depending on the display pattern before the game starts, or eliminates the advantage of intentional automatic stop, thereby improving the fairness of the game. The purpose is to provide a spinning-reel game machine that is secured.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that the rotating cylinder forcibly stops the rotating cylinder when the rotating cylinder is not stopped for a certain time after the start operation of the game is performed. As the fixed time, a value obtained by adding a variable time that is randomly selected and determined with respect to the fixed time is set as the fixed time, and the stop variable time setting / monitoring for performing time monitoring of the set value And a rotating cylinder automatic stop control means for forcibly stopping the rotating cylinder after the predetermined time has elapsed.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in the revolving game machine according to claim 1, the variation time is determined by randomly drawing a value at each game start operation. To do.

  Further, in the invention described in claim 3, in the revolving game machine according to claim 1, the variable time is determined by drawing a value defined in advance in a table every time the game start operation is performed. It is characterized by that.

  According to the rotating type gaming machine of the present invention, since the automatic stop time is made variable, the game result by the automatic stop does not depend on the stop pattern before the start of the game, for example, a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the reel rotation by the start lever. By deliberately displaying a lost symbol for a reel that is automatically stopped later, there is no chance of winning. Therefore, the advantage of appropriately operating the automatic stop according to the display pattern before the game starts and increasing the chance of winning a prize is eliminated, and a fair game can be provided.

  Hereinafter, a slot machine will be described as an example of a preferred embodiment of a gaming machine according to the present invention with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view showing the external structure of the slot machine 1, FIG. 2 is a view showing the internal structure of the slot machine 1 with the front door 3 opened, and FIG. 3 is a control system configuration diagram. is there.

In FIG. 1, a slot machine 1 includes a housing 2 that is a substantially rectangular box, and a front door 3 that is attached to the housing 2 and can be opened and closed by a hinge mechanism.
The front side of the front door 3 is roughly divided into an upper panel portion 4 and a lower panel portion 5, which are integrally formed of hard plastic as a so-called decorative board designed to enhance the visual effect. Further, below the lower panel portion 5, there is provided a tray unit 6 in which a tray portion 6a for storing medals (game media) to be paid out at the time of winning is integrally formed.
In addition, an operation console 7 is integrally formed between the upper panel portion 4 and the lower panel portion 5 so as to protrude toward the player side and in which switches for performing a game operation are arranged. In addition, the upper panel part 4, the console 7, the lower panel part 5, and the saucer unit 6 face the player side, and these constitute a "front panel part".

A panel surface 41 formed of a hard plastic plate or the like is provided at the center of the upper panel portion 4. A substantially rectangular transparent display window 42 is formed substantially at the center of the panel surface 41, and the three reels 101a, 101b, 101c of the reel unit 100 provided in the housing 2 are viewed through the display window 42. .
Here, in the reel unit 100 installed in the housing 2, cylindrical reels 101a, 101b, and 101c are arranged in the rotation axis direction, respectively, and the outer circumferential surfaces of the reels 101a, 101b, and 101c are arranged in the circumferential direction. A variety of patterns are drawn along the line. The player can visually recognize three symbols in the vertical direction drawn on three rows of reels through the display window 42.

In addition, on the panel surface 41, a lamp (not shown) provided on the back side is turned on, for example, a game state display unit 43 that displays information related to a game state such as an internal winning for a winning combination, and a plurality of light emitting diodes The dot matrix display unit 44 that displays a dot image by lighting up, information on the number of medals credited (stored) in the slot machine 1, the number of medals earned by winning, or the number of winning winning combinations Numerical information display sections 45 to be displayed are provided around the display window 42, respectively.
On the upper part of the upper panel part 4, there are arranged an effect lighting part 46 incorporating lamps such as high-intensity light emitting diodes and an effect sound emitting part 47a, 47b containing a speaker for generating sound effects relating to the game. Has been.
In addition, a liquid crystal display unit 48 is disposed between the production sound emitting units 47a and 47b so as to face a display window formed by fitting a transparent hard plastic plate or the like. Note that the liquid crystal display unit 48 mainly displays images related to game effects.

On the side of the upper panel portion 4 are provided lighting units 49a and 49b for production made of fluorescent lamps or high-intensity light emitting diodes. The plurality of effect lighting units 46, 49a, 49b and the like described above are turned on or blinking in accordance with the progress of the game, so that the visual effect in the game is enhanced.
On the upper right side of the console 7, a medal insertion part 71 having an insertion slot for inserting medals is provided. Further, on the left side of the upper surface, three bet buttons 72, 73, 74 which are push button switches are provided.
The bet buttons 72, 73, and 74 are button switches for presenting the number of medals to bet on one game of the slot machine. When the game is started, the bet button 72 is pressed, so that one medal is bet on the game from the stored medals. Similarly, when the bet button 73 is pressed, two medals are bet, and when the bet button 74 is pressed, three medals are bet. The bet button 74 is particularly called a “max bet button” because it bets the maximum number of medals.

On the left side of the front surface of the console 7, a start lever 75 for instructing the start of rotation of the reels 101a, 101b, and 101c is provided. The start lever 75 is provided with a swingable operation rod having a spherical operation knob at the tip, and is turned on when the operation rod is tilted, and automatically when the hand is released from the operation rod by the biasing force of the spring. It is formed of a switch unit that returns to a position and is turned off.
In the center of the console 7, stop buttons 76a, 76b, and 76c for instructing to stop the rotation of the reels 101a, 101b, and 101c are arranged in parallel corresponding to the arrangement of the reels.
A key hole 77 into which a key for unlocking the front door 3 is inserted is provided on the right side of the front surface of the console 7. When an administrator or the like of the slot machine 1 inserts a predetermined key into the key hole 77 and performs an unlocking operation, the front door 3 attached to the housing 2 can be opened forward by a hinge mechanism, and the front door 3 can be opened. These are automatically locked when closed to the housing 2 side.

  The lower panel 5 is provided with a panel 51 for displaying a picture of an appearing character and the like so that the player can recognize the model type of the slot machine 1. The saucer unit 6 disposed below the lower panel part 5 includes a medal payout opening 61 for discharging medals at the time of winning a prize, a saucer part 6a for storing the paid-out medals, and a speaker for generating an effect sound. Built-in production sound emitting units 62 are respectively arranged.

Next, the internal structure of the housing 2 and the back surface structure of the front door 3 will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, a main control board 20 having a CPU (microcomputer) for centrally controlling the entire operation of the slot machine 1 and housed in a hard plastic case is attached to the upper part of the housing 2.
A reel unit 100 including reels 101a, 101b, and 101c is provided in the center of the housing 2. The reel unit 100 is positioned and attached to a predetermined frame so that the reels 101a, 101b, and 101c face the display window 42 of the front door 3 when the front door 3 is closed to the housing 2 side. Note that each of the reels 101a, 101b, and 101c is rotationally driven by a built-in stepping motor.

Further, on the upper part of the reel unit 100, a spinning device board for sending a four-phase drive pulse signal to the stepping motor that rotationally drives each reel is attached, and the main control board 20 is rotated to the spinning device board. By sending drum drive (excitation) pulse data, each reel is controlled to rotate, brake and stop.
Below the reel unit 100, a hopper device 21, an auxiliary storage unit 22 for storing medals overflowing from the hopper device 21, and a main power supply device 23 are provided. On the side surface of the main power supply device 23, a power supply device substrate 24 corresponding to a so-called switchboard is provided. Further, an external concentration terminal board 25 that can be connected to a management computer called a “hall computer” installed in the game hall is attached to the inner wall on the upper right side of the housing 2.

Next, a plurality of high-intensity light-emitting diodes 31 that are light sources of the effect illumination unit 46 are arranged on the upper surface on the back side of the front door 3, and the speaker faces the effect sound emission units 47a and 47b. 32a and 32b are attached. Although not shown in FIG. 2, a liquid crystal display unit 48 is attached between the speakers 32a and 32b. Further, a sub-control board 30 formed of an electric circuit board is attached to the back side of the liquid crystal display unit 48.
Note that the overall operation of the slot machine 1 is comprehensively controlled by the main control board 20 provided on the housing 2 side, and the sub control board 30 controls the display of effect video by the liquid crystal display unit 48 and effect lighting. Control mainly related to game effects, such as illumination control using the parts 46, 49a, 49b, and effect sound effect control using the effect sound emitting parts 47a, 47b, 62, is performed.

Below the sub-control board 30, a panel plate having a transparent display window 42 for visually observing the reels 101a, 101b, 101c is disposed. Below the display window 42, a start lever 75 on the front side and A central display board 33 that functions as a relay board for transferring output signals of operation switches such as stop buttons 76a, 76b, 76c to the main control board 20 is provided.
A medal sorting device 34 is attached below the central display substrate 33. The medal sorting device 34 is a device that determines and distributes the suitability of medals inserted into the medal insertion unit 71. Further, the medal sorting device 34 has a built-in medal sensor, and when a normal medal is inserted in a standby state of the game or the like, and the medal sensor detects this medal, a signal indicating acceptance of medal insertion is sent to the main control board. 20 to send.

  Below the medal sorting device 34, a guide member 35 that guides the regular medals sorted by the medal sorting device 34 to the hopper device 21 provided in the housing 2, and medals removed by the medal sorting device 34. A guide member 36 for guiding (or foreign matter) to the medal discharge port 61 is provided. In addition, a guide member 37 that guides medals discharged from the hopper device 21 to the medal discharge port 61 is provided at the lower part on the back side of the front door 3. Further, a speaker 38 is attached adjacent to the medal discharge port 61 so as to face the above-described effect sound emitting unit 62.

Next, a control system provided in the slot machine 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system provided in the slot machine 1.
First, the rotating device substrate 130, the sub control substrate 30, the central display substrate 40, the power supply device substrate 50, and the external concentrated terminal substrate 70 are connected to the main control substrate 20 by wiring cables. In addition, a video display control board 60 is connected to the sub control board 30 by wiring.

The main control board 20 is equipped with a semiconductor memory (ROM) and a microprocessor (MPU), and the microprocessor (MPU) executes a system program and a slot machine game program stored in advance in the ROM. Then, the entire slot machine 1 is centrally controlled by giving predetermined commands to the respective boards 30, 40, 50 and 70 to perform distributed control.
Stepping motors (MR1, MR2, MR3) for rotationally driving the rotating reels R1, R2, R3 are connected to the spinning device substrate 130. When a control signal indicating that the rotary reels R1, R2, and R3 should be rotated or stopped is supplied from the main control board 20, the rotator apparatus board 130 supplies power to the stepping motors (MR1, MR2, and MR3). To control the operation of the rotating reels R1, R2, and R3.

Further, when a control signal for stopping each of the rotating reels R1, R2, and R3 is supplied from the main control board 20, the rotating device board 130 performs braking control on the stepping motors (MR1, MR2, and MR3), respectively. The rotary reels (R1, R2, R3) are stopped within the stop time.
When the sub-control board 30 is connected with an upper lamp 46, side lamps 49a and 49b for presentation, and speakers 47a and 47b. By driving the upper lamp 46 and the side lamps 49a and 49b and the speakers 47a and 47b, an effect appealing to the visual and auditory sense of the player is performed.
Further, a video display control board 60 is connected to the sub control board 30. When the video display control board 60 is supplied with a control signal suggesting the start of the above-mentioned effect from the main control board 20, the corresponding moving image is displayed. Is generated and output to the video display unit 300. The video display unit 300 displays a moving image based on the supplied video signal, thereby performing an effect appealing to the player's vision.

Connected to the central display board 40 are bet buttons 72, 73, 74 and start (ST) lever 75 and stop (STP) buttons 76a, 76b, 76c. These switches 72, 73, 74, 75, 76a, It functions as a relay board that takes in the output signals output from 76b and 76c and transfers them to the main control board 20.
When the bet buttons 72, 73, 74 are turned on, the main control board 20 detects the number of bets per game, and when the ST lever 74 is turned on, an instruction to start the game is given. When the STP buttons 76a, 76b, and 76c are stopped in any order, it is detected that an instruction to stop the rotating reels R1, R2, and R3 is issued in that order.

  When the STP buttons 76a, 76b, and 76c are operated in an arbitrary order, the main control board 20 stops the rotating reels R1, R2, and R3 in the operated order. Further, the main control board 20 instructs the sub control board 30 to produce various effects by the lamps 46, 49a, 49b and the speakers 47a, 47b each time the STP buttons 76a, 76b, 76c are operated. By changing it, the player is notified of the progress of the game.

A power distribution board is formed with a power distribution circuit, and system power necessary for the operation of the slot machine 1 is supplied from the power distribution circuit.
The external centralized terminal board 70 is a hall computer that centrally monitors and manages a plurality of slot machines installed in the hall for signals indicating the progress of the game in the slot machine 1 output from the main control board 20. (Not shown).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional development of the configuration of the spinning cylinder game machine according to the embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the functions of each block shown below are, specifically, a microprocessor (MPU) mounted on the main control board 20 sequentially reads a system program recorded in a semiconductor memory (ROM) and is connected to the periphery. This is realized by executing in cooperation with the rotating device substrate 130 and the central display substrate 40.
Here, the rotating type gaming machine according to the embodiment of the present invention has an ST processing unit 200, an STP button operation detection unit 202, an interrupt generation unit 203, a reel rotation control unit 204, an internal processing unit 200 as a core. A lottery processing unit 205, a stop variation time lottery processing unit 206, a reference position detection unit 207, a pull-in / kick-up control unit 208, and a timer setting monitoring unit 209 are configured.

The ST lever operation detection unit 201 detects an operation of the ST lever 75 by the player, and notifies the arithmetic processing unit 200 and the reel rotation control unit 204 of an interrupt signal generated by the interrupt generation unit 203. The STP button operation detection unit 202 detects the operation of the STP buttons 76a, 76b, and 76c by the player, and generates an interrupt signal sequentially generated by the interrupt generation unit 203 in accordance with the operation order. 204 is notified.
The internal lottery processing unit 205 performs a role lottery under the control of the arithmetic processing unit 200 when the operation of the ST lever 201 is detected by the ST lever operation detecting unit 201, and the result is sent to the arithmetic processing unit 200. Notice.

On the other hand, the stop variation time lottery processing unit 206 performs lottery of the automatic stop time (fixed time) when the operation of the ST lever 201 is detected by the ST lever operation detection unit 201, and the result is displayed as a timer setting monitoring unit. Set to 209. The timer setting monitoring unit 209 performs time monitoring based on the set value. Here, the stop variation time lottery processing unit 206 sets a value corresponding to the variation time α added to the fixed time T as the fixed time (t) in the timer setting monitoring unit 209. The reel rotation control unit 204 performs braking control of the reels R1, R2, and R3 after a predetermined time under the control of the arithmetic processing unit 200 according to the time monitoring by the stop variation time setting / monitoring unit 206, and forcibly stops. Therefore, the arithmetic processing unit 200 and the reel rotation control unit 204 function as a rotating cylinder automatic stop control means for forcibly stopping the rotating cylinder after a lapse of a certain time, which is a constituent element of the present invention.
The variation time α is determined by randomly drawing a value every time a game start operation is performed or by drawing a value defined in advance in a table. Therefore, the stop variation time lottery processing unit 206 and the timer setting monitoring unit 209 function as a stop variation time setting / monitoring unit, which is a configuration requirement of the present invention.

The reference position detection unit 207 has a function of detecting initials attached to the reels R1, R2, and R2, and receives operation of the STP buttons 76a, 76b, and 76c based on the detected reference position detection signal, and The stop symbol is controlled.
In addition, the pull-in / kick-up controller 208 controls the stop symbols for a predetermined number of frames in response to the result of the winning lottery by the internal lottery processor 205 under the control of the arithmetic processor 200, and each reel (R1, R2 , R3) is controlled to stop on the effective line. At the time of automatic stop, the pull-in / kick-up control unit 208 does not function.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, prior to starting the game, the ST lever 75 is operated by the player. The swivel type gaming machine of the present invention detects this by the ST lever detection unit 201 (S501), and the arithmetic processing unit 200 can know this from the interrupt signal generated by the interrupt generation unit 203. Next, the arithmetic processing unit 200 controls the reel rotation control unit 204 to start the rotation of the reels, instructs the internal lottery processing unit 205 to perform the lottery, and draws the stop variation time (α). Is also instructed (S502). If there is a winning combination, the arithmetic processing unit 200 can know the lottery result of the internal lottery processing unit 205 by turning on the flag corresponding to the winning combination. Further, the stop variation time (α) is determined by randomly drawing a value or by drawing a value defined in advance in a table. The stop variation time lottery processing unit 206 sets a value obtained by adding the fixed time T to the stop variation time α determined here in the timer setting monitoring unit 209 to instruct time monitoring.

Subsequently, the STP buttons 76a, 76b, and 76c are operated by the player. The swivel type gaming machine of the present invention detects this by the STP button detection unit 202, the arithmetic processing unit 200 knows this from the interrupt signal generated by the interrupt generation unit 203, and the reference plate detection unit 207 receives the initial. This can be taken in when detected (S503).
If the flag has been turned ON in the previous internal lottery, the arithmetic processing unit 200 pulls in the winning symbol combination to stop the effective line, and performs braking control of the kick control unit 208 and the reel rotation control unit 204 (S511). ).
That is, the reel rotation control unit 204 controls braking of the stepping motors (MR1, MR2, MR3) in the order of stop operation, and satisfies the conditions of the maximum slip control piece count by the pull-in / kicking control unit 208. Each winning symbol is stopped on the active line.

  On the other hand, the timer setting monitoring unit 209 measures and monitors the stop variation time (T + α) set in advance by the stop variation time lottery processing unit 206 (S504). Here, after the ST lever 75 is operated, when the STP buttons 76a, 76b, 76c are not operated during the above-described stop variation time, it is detected by the time over output from the timer setting monitoring unit 209 ( In S505, the arithmetic processing unit 200 brakes the reel rotation control unit 204 to forcibly stop the reels R1, R2, and R3 (S506). Here, the symbol corresponding to the lottery symbol stops on the active line (S507). Then, after the stop symbol is displayed, whether or not there is a prize is checked (S508, S509). If a prize is won, it is determined which combination has been won, and an effect display according to the combination is displayed on the sub-control board 30. At the same time, the hopper device 21 (not shown) is controlled to instruct the payout of a predetermined number of medals (S511).

  As described above, according to the present invention, by automatically setting the automatic stop time, the game result by the automatic stop does not depend on the stop pattern before the game starts, for example, a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of the reel rotation by the start lever. By deliberately displaying a lost symbol for a reel that is automatically stopped later, there is no chance of winning. Therefore, the advantage of appropriately operating the automatic stop according to the display pattern before the game starts and increasing the chance of winning a prize is eliminated, and a fair game can be provided.

It is the figure which showed the external appearance structure concerning embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the internal structure concerning embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the control system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which expanded and showed the structure of the structure of embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the operation | movement of this invention embodiment with the flowchart.

Explanation of symbols

Reference Signs List 20 Main control board 40 Cylinder device board 130 Central display board 200 Arithmetic processing unit 201 ST lever operation detection unit 202 STP button operation detection unit 203 Interrupt generation unit 204 Reel rotation control unit 205 Internal lottery processing unit 206 Stop variation time lottery processing unit 207 Reference position detector 208 Pull-in / kick controller 209 Timer setting monitor

Claims (3)

A spinning machine that forcibly stops the spinning cylinder when the spinning cylinder is not stopped for a certain period of time after the game start operation is performed,
As the fixed time, a value obtained by adding a variable time randomly selected and determined with respect to the fixed time is set, and a stop variable time setting / monitoring unit that performs time monitoring of the set value;
A rotating cylinder automatic stop control means for forcibly stopping the rotating cylinder after the elapse of the predetermined time;
It is characterized in that it is a swivel-type game machine. The variation time is
The spinning machine according to claim 1, wherein the game machine is determined by randomly drawing a value each time the game start operation is performed. The variation time is
2. The revolving game machine according to claim 1, wherein each time the game start operation is performed, a value defined in a table in advance is determined by lottery.

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