JP2006051264A - Video display device for game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video display device for a game machine capable of increasing the size of video images to be actually viewed by a player and improving a seasoning to be given to the player without making a liquid crystal display large in size. <P>SOLUTION: The video display device for the game machine is provided with: the liquid crystal display 21 for which an image display surface 21a is provided in a direction roughly orthogonal to a game board 11 on the back side of the game board 11; and a concave cylindrical mirror 22 for forming the enlarged and reflected video image of an image displayed on the image display surface 21a of the liquid crystal display 21 within a visual field that the player positioned on the front surface side of the game board 11 views through an opening 12 formed on the game board 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a video display device provided in a pachinko machine, a slot machine, or the like.

  Gaming machines such as pachinko machines and slot machines are mounted almost upright on indoor facilities called “amusement islands”, and there are various types of game board front areas (game areas) that can be seen through the glass plate on the front. Game parts. For example, in a pachinko machine, a prize opening, a liquid crystal display, etc. are arranged in the game area. By entering, a predetermined number of prize balls can be obtained. In addition, when the game ball enters the winning opening, the liquid crystal display performs a predetermined change operation according to a predetermined program, so that the player is greatly interested and can enjoy the game visually. The slot machine is also provided with such a liquid crystal display so that the player can obtain a predetermined number of medals according to the combination of symbols displayed on the liquid crystal display.

The image display by the liquid crystal display provided in such a gaming machine is one of the parts that the player is most interested in, and the image size greatly affects the interest of the player. For this reason, the size of a liquid crystal display mounted on a gaming machine has been increasing in recent years.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-282430

  However, a liquid crystal display is very expensive although it consumes less power, and as the screen size increases, the price increases dramatically.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and it is possible to increase the interest given to the player by enlarging the video size that the player actually sees without increasing the size of the liquid crystal display. An object of the present invention is to provide a video display device for a gaming machine having a different configuration.

  A video display device of a gaming machine according to the present invention is a video display device of a gaming machine configured by arranging a game board on the front surface of a frame body that is mounted substantially upright, and an image is displayed on the back side of the game board. A liquid crystal display provided in a direction substantially orthogonal to the game board, and a player located on the front side of the game board within the field of view seen through the opening formed in the game board, on the image display surface of the liquid crystal display And a concave cylindrical mirror that displays an enlarged reflected image of the displayed image.

  In the video display device of the gaming machine according to the present invention, an enlargement magnification between the image on the image display surface of the liquid crystal display and the reflected image of the image projected by the concave cylindrical mirror is set to an appropriate value. As a result, it is possible to make the liquid crystal display parallel to the game board and display the image displayed on the image display surface in an enlarged state in the vertical or horizontal direction as compared with the case where the player directly views the image. is there. For this reason, according to the video display device according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the interest given to the player by enlarging the video size that the player actually sees without increasing the size of the expensive liquid crystal display. Alternatively, if the video size that the player actually sees is kept as it is, the size of the liquid crystal display can be reduced, so the cost (the cost required for manufacturing the liquid crystal display and the liquid crystal display during the game) (Cost required for operating the device) can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows a pachinko machine 1 equipped with a video display device for a gaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. This pachinko machine 1 is installed on an indoor installation table TB called “amusement island” in a substantially upright state, and its outer shape is configured in accordance with a rectangular frame-like outer frame 2a and a front opening area of the outer frame 2a. A rectangular frame-shaped front frame 2b, a frame body 2 including a storage frame (not shown) provided in the front frame 2b, and a rectangular frame shape configured in accordance with a front region (of the front frame 2b) of the frame body 2 Glass door 4 and an upper ball tray 5 provided below the glass door 4. The front frame 2b is attached to the outer frame 2a through a hinge (not shown) provided on the left side of the front face so that it can be opened and closed. The glass door 4 and the upper ball tray 5 are also provided with separate hinges (the front left side). It is attached to the front frame 2b through an opening (not shown). The fixing of the front frame 2b to the outer frame 2a and the fixing of the glass door 4 to the front frame 2b can be performed by the locking operation of the locking device 3 having a key insertion port on the front right side of the glass door 4, and the upper ball tray 5 When the glass door 4 is fixed to the front frame 2b, the glass door 4 is sandwiched and fixed between the glass door 4 and the front frame 2b.

  A game board 11 is housed and held in the housing frame so as to be detachable (exchangeable). A rectangular opening 4a is formed at the center of the glass door 4, and a transparent glass plate 6 is attached thereto. The upper ball tray 5 is provided with a ball storage portion 5a capable of storing game balls, and a lower ball tray 7 is provided extending in the left-right direction in a lower region of the upper ball tray 5 in the front frame 2b. In addition, a back set board 10 is installed on the back side of the storage frame for holding the game board 11, and other components (not shown) such as a prize ball storage tank 9 and a game ball payout mechanism are predetermined. It is attached to the position.

  A hitting ball launching handle 8 which is a twisting operation component is provided on the right side of the front of the lower ball tray 7. A hitting ball launching mechanism (not shown) for hitting a game ball according to the twisting motion of the hitting ball launching handle 8 is provided in the internal area of the pachinko machine 1, and a player sitting on the front side of the pachinko machine 1 When the hitting ball launching handle 8 is twisted, game balls are launched and supplied one after another into the front area (game area) of the game board 11 with the hitting force according to the twisting operation angle (twisting operation amount). Yes.

  A video display device 20 as a symbol display device is provided at the center of the game board 11, and a large number of game nails, windmills, winning holes, and the like are disposed around and below the image display device 20. When a game ball that has been launched into the game area by the operation of the ball launch handle 8 performed by the player falls into the prize opening and wins, a predetermined number of game balls according to the winning situation are stored as prize balls. It is paid out from the tank 9 into the ball storage portion 5a of the upper ball tray 5.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the video display device 20 includes a liquid crystal display 21 installed on the back side of the game board 11 and a concave cylindrical mirror 22 having a concave reflecting surface 22a. As shown in FIG. 2A, the game board 11 is provided with a rectangular opening 12 as viewed from the front, and upper and lower decorative members 13a and 13b are provided at the upper edge 12a and the lower edge 12b, respectively. Is provided. At a position facing the opening 12 from the front side of the game board 11, a transparent plate 14 whose upper and lower edges are supported by both decorative members 13 a and 13 b is provided so as to be parallel to the game board 11. A display support plate 24 is provided in a lower region of the opening 12 so as to be substantially perpendicular to the game board 11.

  A display fixture 25 is provided on the upper surface side of the display support plate 24, and the liquid crystal display 21 is fixed to the display fixture 25 so that the image display surface 21a faces upward. The concave cylindrical mirror 22 is supported by the upper decorative member 13a at its upper edge so that the generatrix of the concave reflecting surface 22a faces the lateral direction of the game board 11 (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 1). The edge is supported by a cylindrical mirror support member 26 provided on the display fixture 25 so as to extend in the vertical direction. Thereby, the concave reflecting surface 22a is in a state of facing diagonally both the player (front) and the liquid crystal display 21 (downward). The liquid crystal display 21 is provided so as to be located within the focal length of the concave cylindrical mirror 22.

  When a player located on the front side of the game board 11 looks inside the pachinko machine 1 through the opening 12 opened in the game board 11 (the player's eyes e are shown in FIG. 1), A reflected image P′Q ′ of the image PQ displayed on the image display surface 21 a of the liquid crystal display 21 by the concave cylindrical mirror 22 is displayed as shown in FIG. 1. Here, according to the optical property of the concave mirror, the image of the object within the focal length of the concave mirror becomes an enlarged virtual image, and therefore the reflected image P′Q ′ of the image PQ projected by the concave cylindrical mirror 22 is the original image. It becomes an enlarged image of PQ. However, the horizontal dimension of the image PQ is not enlarged, but only the vertical dimension is enlarged. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, if the horizontal dimension × vertical dimension of the image PQ is w × h, the horizontal dimension × vertical dimension of the reflected image P′Q ′ seen by the player is w. × H (H = h × α). Α is a magnification, and α> 1 here.

  Here, like a conventional pachinko machine, the liquid crystal display 21 is arranged vertically (in parallel with the game board 11) and the image display surface 21a is within the player's field of view (the game board 11 shown in FIG. 1). In this pachinko machine 1, assuming that the viewing angle of the image (height h) that is likely to be visible in the field of view is θ, Although the reflected image P′Q ′ of the image PQ on the display surface 21 a appears to be located behind the concave cylindrical mirror 22, the viewing angle θ ′ of the reflected image P′Q ′ (height H) is set to θ depending on the magnification α. (Θ ′> θ). At this time, the player positioned on the front side of the game board 11 has an image in which the vertical dimension is enlarged in the visual field viewed through the opening 12 formed in the game board 11 than when the liquid crystal display 21 is placed vertically. You will see P'Q '.

  Here, the enlargement ratio of the image P′Q ′ with respect to the image PQ increases as the value of the magnification α increases. However, for this purpose, it is necessary to increase the curvature of the concave reflecting surface 22a (decrease the radius of curvature). At this time, the distance between the image P'Q 'and the player's eye e is long, so that image is not necessarily required. The viewing angle θ ′ when viewing P′Q ′ is not always greater than θ. In addition, the image P′Q ′ viewed through the concave reflecting surface 22a of the concave cylindrical mirror 22 is not strictly flat (curved) and not parallel to the game board 11 (shown in FIG. 1). As the curvature of the concave reflecting surface 22a increases, the tilt also increases, so that the substantial height (projection component on the plane parallel to the game board 11) is increased. Note that in FIG. 1, the height H of the image P′Q ′ is not a distance between P′Q ′ but a projection component on a plane parallel to the game board 11 in FIG.

  Thus, in the video display device according to the present embodiment, on the back side of the game board 11, the liquid crystal display 21 in which the image display surface 21 a is provided in a direction substantially orthogonal to the back side of the game board 11, and the front side of the game board 11 An enlarged reflected image for forming an enlarged reflected image P′Q ′ of the image PQ displayed on the image display surface 21 a of the liquid crystal display 21 in the field of view viewed through the opening 12 formed in the game board 11 by the player located in the game board 11 Forming means. Here, the enlarged reflection image forming means corresponds to the concave cylindrical mirror 22 having the concave reflection surface 22a in the present embodiment. In such a configuration, the magnification between the image on the image display surface 21a of the liquid crystal display 21 and the reflected image of the image formed by the magnified reflected image forming means (concave cylindrical mirror 22) becomes an appropriate value. By doing so, the liquid crystal display 21 is provided in parallel with the game board 11 as in the prior art, and the size in the vertical direction is made larger than when the player directly views the image displayed on the image display surface 21a. It is possible to show. For this reason, according to the present video display device 20, it is possible to increase the interest given to the player by increasing the video size that the player actually sees without increasing the size of the expensive liquid crystal display 21. Alternatively, if the video size that the player actually sees is kept as it is, the size of the liquid crystal display 21 can be reduced, so that the cost (the cost required for manufacturing the liquid crystal display 21 and during the game) (Cost required to operate the liquid crystal display 21) can be reduced.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described so far, the scope of the present invention is not limited to those shown in the above-described embodiments. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an image obtained by enlarging the vertical dimension of an image displayed on the image display surface 21a of the liquid crystal display 21 with the image display surface 21a of the liquid crystal display 21 facing upward is seen by the player. However, the image in which the horizontal dimension of the image displayed on the image display surface 21a of the liquid crystal liquid crystal display 21 is enlarged with the image display surface 21a of the liquid crystal display 21 facing the left and right direction of the game board 11 is a game. It can also be reflected in the eyes of the person. That is, if the image display surface 21a is provided in a direction substantially orthogonal to the game board game board 11, the liquid crystal display 21 can be attached in any manner.

  In the above-described embodiment, the liquid crystal display 21 is provided so that the image display surface 21a is substantially perpendicular to the game board 11. However, the normal line of the image display surface 21a faces the game board 11 from the front. The degree of “falling” by changing the mounting position of the game board 11 while maintaining a state where it is positioned in a plane (upper plane in FIG. 1) perpendicular to the game board 11 when viewed. Can be reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the gaming machine to which the present invention is applied is a pachinko machine has been described as an example. However, the present invention is similarly applied to other gaming machines (for example, an arrangement ball machine or a slot machine). It is possible to apply to.

It is a side view (figure seen from arrow II in FIG. 2) which shows the structure of the video display apparatus concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is the pachinko machine provided with the video display device concerning the above-mentioned embodiment, (A) is a front view, and (B) is a side view. (A) is an image projected on the image display surface of the liquid crystal display, and (B) is an image projected on the player's eyes by the mirror member of this image.

Explanation of symbols

1 Pachinko machine (game machine)
2 Frame 2a Outer frame 2b Front frame 3 Locking device 4 Glass door 4a Opening 5 Upper ball dish 5a Ball storage part 6 Glass plate 7 Lower ball dish 8 Hitting ball launch handle 9 Prize ball storage tank 10 Back set board 11 Game board 12 Opening 12a Upper edge portion of opening 12b Lower edge portion of opening 13a Upper decoration member 13b Lower decoration member 14 Transparent plate 20 Video display device 21 Liquid crystal display 21a Image display surface 22 Concave cylindrical mirror 22a Concave reflection surface 24 Display support plate 25 Display fixture 26 Cylindrical mirror support member e Player's eyes PQ image P'Q 'image P "Q" image θ, θ' viewing angle IS virtual surface TB indoor installation table

Claims (1)

A video display device for a gaming machine configured by arranging a game board on the front surface of a frame attached in a substantially standing state,
A liquid crystal display provided with an image display surface in a direction substantially orthogonal to the game board on the back side of the game board;
A concave cylindrical mirror that projects an enlarged reflected image of an image displayed on the image display surface of the liquid crystal display in a field of view viewed through an opening formed in the game board by a player located on the front side of the game board; A video display device for a gaming machine, comprising:

Images