JP2008212534A - Management system for game parlor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a management system for game parlors which can enhance players' desires for participation in a set notice event. <P>SOLUTION: When a membership card is taken off with 200 games or less left up to the set notice, a game machine terminal corresponding to the game machine involved pops up and displays a message for alarming caution. This enables the players to recognize that the set notice is closer at hand, thereby inducing them to continuously take part in the set notice event. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a game hall management system for notifying a player of setting information of a jackpot probability of a gaming machine when a notification condition is achieved.

In recent game halls, so-called setting notification events are held to attract players and attract customers. This setting notification event is to notify the player of the setting value of the gaming machine when a preset notification condition is satisfied, as described in Patent Document 1, for example.
JP 2002-126170 A

Since such a setting notification event is performed for the purpose of increasing the operating rate of the gaming machine, in order to make the setting notification event successful, how to increase the player's willingness to participate in the setting notification event. It was an important issue.
In addition, there is a tendency for a large difference in game results (balance of payments) to appear between players who understand the details of the event and actively use them, and those who do not understand the details of the event. There is also a problem that it is not preferable that only a specific player benefits from an event for a game store that wants to provide services to all players equally.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a game hall management system capable of increasing the player's willingness to participate in a setting notification event.

The game hall management system of the present invention is provided corresponding to a gaming machine, and a setting notification means for notifying a player of setting information of a jackpot probability of the gaming machine, and whether to notify the player of the setting information A notification condition setting means for setting a notification condition for determining whether or not, and when the operation data of the gaming machine achieves the notification condition, the setting notification means is operated to notify the setting information to the player In a game hall management system provided with notification control means and a player specifying means provided for each gaming machine and for specifying a player who is playing with the gaming machine, A game end detection means for detecting the end of the game is provided, and when the notification end condition is not achieved and the game end detection means detects the end of the game, the operation data at that time achieves a predetermined warning condition. Whether or not The warning determination means for determining is provided, the warning judging means when it is determined that achieves a warning condition, is provided with a warning means for issuing a warning to the player customer (claim 1)
In the above configuration, there is provided a management means for managing a history of setting notifications of a player, and a warning necessity determining means for determining whether or not the warning means issues a warning based on a setting notification history managed by the management means. It may be provided (claim 2).

  According to the invention of claim 1, since a warning is issued to a player who tries to stop the game when the achievement of the notification condition is approaching, the player who does not fully understand the purpose of the set notification event However, there will be no chance of missing the setting announcement in a little more. Accordingly, the player who is trying to stop the game is more motivated to participate in the setting notification event. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a large difference in game results (balance) between a player who fully understands the event content and actively uses it and a player who does not understand the event content. Therefore, the service can be provided equally to all the players.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since it is determined whether or not a warning is issued based on the history of setting notification of the player, the warning considering the history of setting notification for each player is possible.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 schematically shows the overall configuration of a game hall management system. In FIG. 1, a plurality of slot machines (corresponding to gaming machines) 1 installed in a game hall are configured to borrow a medal from an inter-unit medal lending machine 2 adjacent to the right side and play a game. Is provided with a member terminal (corresponding to game end detection means, warning determination means, warning means) 3. Each slot machine 1 is assigned a unique machine number.

  Management device (corresponding to notification condition setting means, notification control means, and player identification means) 4 is a management function for totaling management functions such as game data related to the slot machine 1 and lending amount by inter-unit medal lending machine 2, and operation data management function And a function for controlling the operation of the member terminal 3. In addition, the management device 4 manages history data in which operation data of each member (player who has registered as a member of the game hall) is collected in association with member data that is personal data of the member. The management device 4 is a known gaming machine terminal (corresponding to a setting notification means) having a LAN 5 and a data relay function to exchange data signals with the slot machine 1, the inter-unit medal lending machine 2, and the member terminal 3. 6 is performed.

  In FIG. 1, each component of the slot machine 1 is not given a specific reference. However, in this slot machine 1, a predetermined game start operation, that is, a state where a medal is inserted into the medal insertion slot, or When the start lever is operated in a state where the credit medal is inserted through the insertion button, the game is started by operating the variable display device composed of a plurality of rows (three rows) of reels. One game ends when the rotation of the reels is stopped by operating the stop button corresponding to the reels in the row.

  When the stop symbol displayed on the variable display device becomes a predetermined winning symbol at the end of the game, a winning combination (big bonus, regular bonus, small bonus) determined by the winning symbol is generated. The number of medals according to the type of the combination is paid out to the tray.

  The stop symbol displayed on the variable display device is determined according to the result of the internal lottery performed at the timing when the start lever is operated (game start timing). In the slot machine 1, the winning symbol is won by the internal lottery. Flags corresponding to winning combinations (big bonus flag, regular bonus flag, small role flag) are set, and on the basis of the flags, stop control of variable display devices including so-called slip control (reel each reel according to the type of flag) (A control to stop at a symbol or off symbol).

  In this case, each probability (corresponding to the jackpot probability) of winning the big bonus and the regular bonus as a jackpot by the internal lottery is a set value (corresponding to the setting information) corresponding to “setting 1” to “setting 6”. ) In advance. Each probability of winning the big bonus and regular bonus is set so that the internal lottery probability increases as the setting value increases, and the setting value that is the most advantageous for the player is the highest probability of jackpot of “Setting 6” It has become.

The slot machine 1 is configured to output at least signals as shown in (1) to (5) below in accordance with the game being played.
(1) Out signal (1 pulse output every time one medal is inserted or one credit medal is consumed)
(2) Safe signal (1 pulse output for every medal paid out)
(3) Game signal (1 pulse output for each game start)
(4) BIG signal (level signal output during the big bonus period)
(5) REG signal (level signal output during regular bonus period)
These signals are transmitted to the management apparatus 4 through the gaming machine terminal 6 having the data relay function shown in FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows a front view of the gaming machine terminal 6. The gaming machine terminal 6 is provided with a lamp portion 7 in which a lamp that is lit / flashed according to an output signal from the slot machine 1 or the management device 4 is covered with a cover member. A calling button 8 that is pressed and used when the player calls the store clerk is provided in the right direction when viewed from the player of the lamp unit 7, and a slot machine is provided at the center of the gaming machine terminal 6. 1 is provided with a data display unit 9 for displaying the operation data of the slot machine 1 based on the signal output from 1.

  FIG. 3 shows a display example of the data display unit 9 at the normal time, which will be described below. That is, in FIG. 3, the operation data is divided and displayed in the display areas (1) to (5) below in the data display unit 9.

(1) Number-of-games display area 9a: The number of games between bonuses (after the start of business when the bonus is zero) and the number of games between cumulative bonuses after the business start are digitally displayed. In the following description, the expression “number of games” means the number of games between bonuses (period in which no bonus is generated).
(2) Big hit count display area 9b: The number of big bonuses and regular bonuses one day before, two days ago, and the number of big bonuses, which are the highest ever, are digitally displayed.
(3) Number-of-games history display area 9c: The history of the number of games between bonuses for the latest 10 games and the current number of games between bonuses are displayed in a bar graph.
(4) Type display area 9d: The type of bonus (big bonus = ★, regular bonus = none) is displayed in association with the game number history.
(5) Message display area 9e: Displays various messages according to a display command from the management device 4, and notification conditions for setting values such as “4, 8000 game arrival set 5 and 6 notifications!” As will be described later. In addition, when the corresponding slot machine 1 is a notification target, the setting value notification message is scroll-displayed when the notification condition of the setting value such as “This stand is setting 6. Congratulations!” Is achieved.

  In the management device 4, the number of times the setting value notification is set in a predetermined period based on the operation data signal transmitted from the slot machine 1 via the gaming machine terminal 6 (the target in the setting notification event). The number of times the set value notification is actually made is counted for each slot machine 1 and for each set value.

Returning to FIG. 1, the member terminal 3 will be described. The member terminal 3 has a liquid crystal display unit 10 for displaying game data and various information as operation information related to the corresponding slot machine 1, and a status display for displaying the operation status and error status of the slot machine 1. The lamp 11 has a card insertion slot 13 into which a membership card 12 issued by a game hall is inserted, and a card discharge button 14. A touch panel switch 15 is provided on the screen of the liquid crystal display unit 10.
The member terminal 3 can display TV, member history information, etc., and accept services such as drink ordering in response to an operation from the touch panel switch 15.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
When the setting notification event is held, the administrator selects any one notification condition type for each slot machine 1 or each model on the notification condition type selection screen of the management device 4 as shown in FIG. The following notification condition types are set.

Notification condition 1: Do not notify (do not notify the set value)
Notification condition 2: Cumulative number of games (when the cumulative number of games reaches a predetermined number of games, a set value is announced)
Notification condition 3: difference number (medal payout number-medal insertion number = when the difference number reaches a predetermined number, the set value is notified)
Notification condition 4: Number of BIGs (notifies the set value when the number of big bonus winnings (winnings) reaches a predetermined number)

  When the setting notification event is held, the notification condition 1 is set for the slot machine 1 that is not the target of the setting notification event, and the setting value is not notified. Also, the notification conditions 2 to 4 are selected for the slot machine 1 that is the target of the setting notification event, so that the setting value can be notified when a predetermined notification condition is satisfied. When the notification condition types from the notification conditions 2 to 4 are selected, it is necessary to set a condition numerical value as a predetermined notification condition.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a condition numerical value input screen corresponding to each slot machine 1. First, the game hall administrator inputs any one of the setting values 1 to 6 set in each slot machine 1 in the “setting value” input field of the condition numerical value setting screen shown in FIG. When a set value is input in the “set value” input field, the management device 4 counts the number of times set to notify the set value for each set number and set value statistics of the slot machine 1. Record and update as data.

  Next, a condition numerical value corresponding to the notification condition type is input. The example shown in FIG. 5 shows a condition numerical value setting screen for condition numerical values when the notification condition 2 (total number of games) on the notification condition type selection screen shown in FIG. 4 is selected as the notification condition for the slot machine 1 of a specific model. In this case, the total number of games as a condition for the notification of the set value is entered in the “conditional numerical value” input field. For example, in the slot machine 1 with the machine number 1, when the cumulative number of games reaches 8000 games, the set value notification is performed.

  Here, when a condition numerical value is entered in the “condition numerical value” input field, the predicted notification time is automatically calculated from the condition numerical value and displayed in the “notified predicted time” field. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the predicted notification time is calculated on the precondition that the game hall opening time is 9:00 am and 600 games are played per hour. These preconditions can be changed on a precondition setting screen (not shown). Information on the notification condition type and condition value set in the management device 4 is transmitted to each gaming machine terminal 6 and each member terminal 3 through the LAN 5.

Then, when the game hall is opened, the message display area 9e of the gaming machine terminal 6 corresponding to the slot machine 1 of the event target model shows “Set to 56 notifications when reaching 4000 to 8000 games!” As shown in FIG. Display is performed. This is because, as described above, the notification condition depends on the cumulative number of games, and the slot machine 1 in which the setting values of the settings 5 and 6 are set may be notified of the set value when 4000 to 8000 games have elapsed. A notice message is displayed so that the player is informed of the expectations of the player by telling the player that there is.
Actually, not only the slot machines 1 with the setting values of 5 and 6, but also the condition numerical values are set for the slot machines 1 with the setting values of 1 to 4, and when the condition numerical values are satisfied, the setting value notification is made. Is done.

On the other hand, when the member card 12 is not inserted, the member terminal 3 displays a screen when the member card is not inserted.
FIG. 6 shows a screen of the member terminal 3 when the member card is not inserted. In FIG. 6, a message prompting insertion of a membership card is always scrolled on the screen when no membership card is inserted.

  Now, when a player who is a member who visits the store uses the member card 12, the member card 12 is inserted into the card insertion slot 13 of the member terminal 3. When the member card 12 is inserted into the card insertion slot 13 of the member terminal 3, the member terminal 3 reads the member data recorded on the member card 12 and transmits it to the management device 4, and the management device 4 accordingly. The member card insertion screen showing the operation data received from is displayed, and an operation for the touch panel switch 15 can be accepted.

  FIG. 7 shows a member card insertion screen of the member terminal 3. In FIG. 7, the member card insertion screen shows the operation data of the corresponding slot machine 1 (the number of games now, the total number of games, the number of today's BIG, and the number of REG today) and the member of the operation data. The operation data (the number of games now, the total number of games, the number of BIGs today, the number of BIGs today, and the right column for the number of REGs today) are displayed and the “setting notification history” for displaying the setting notification history information screen is displayed. An “information” button 16 is displayed. Also, messages such as new stand replacement information are scrolled and displayed in real time.

  When the player inserts a medal into the slot machine 1 and operates the start lever, an out signal is output from the slot machine 1 and a game signal is output. And the total number of G is counted. When a winning combination occurs in the slot machine 1, a safe signal is output according to the payout of medals, and a BIG signal or a REG signal is output when the winning combination is a big bonus or a regular bonus. Therefore, the management device 4 counts the BIG number and the REG number corresponding to the machine number and calculates the difference number of medals (out-safe). In this way, game data of each slot machine 1 from the start of business is managed by the management device 4.

  Then, in the notification condition set in advance before the opening of the game hall, that is, in the example shown in FIG. 5, when the cumulative number of games satisfies the condition value, a message is displayed on the gaming machine terminal 6 as shown in FIG. In the area 9e, a set value notification message such as “This stand is setting 6. Congratulations!” Is scrolled for 1 minute, followed by characters such as “Setting 6 confirmed!” And the lamp section. 7 is blinking continuously.

  Therefore, the player knows that the set value of the slot machine 1 in which he / she plays is 6, and becomes enthusiastic about the game. As described above, the setting value notification may be performed even in the slot machine 1 having the setting values of 1 to 4, but in such a case, a message congratulating the player is not displayed.

  When the gaming machine terminal 6 displays the setting value notification message as described above, the gaming machine terminal 6 transmits information indicating that the setting value notification message has been displayed to the management device 4. When the management device 4 receives information indicating that the setting value notification message has been displayed from the gaming machine terminal 6, the management device 4 indicates the number of notifications for each setting value corresponding to the machine number of the slot machine 1 in which the setting value notification has been performed. The set value notification management data is updated by incrementing the notified number of notifications by one.

  When the management device 4 receives information indicating that the setting value notification message has been displayed from the gaming machine terminal 6, the management device 4 associates various data related to the setting value notification with the member data received from the member terminal 3. The setting notification history data is managed by storing.

When the member wants to know his / her setting notification history, the member performs a touch operation on the “setting notification history information” button 16 displayed on the member card insertion screen shown in FIG.
When the “setting notification history information” button 16 is touched, the member terminal 3 displays a member-specific setting notification history screen.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the member-specific setting notification history screen of the member terminal 3. In FIG. 8, the setting notification history for this month is displayed on the member-specific setting notification history screen. In other words, when the setting notification is made to the member in the setting notification event, “Date”, “Visit”, “Self-number”, “Model”, “Setting value”, “Notification time”, “Type”, “Condition” is displayed, and the number of days visited, the number of notifications, and the notification rate for this month are displayed. In addition, a “previous month” button 17 for displaying the setting notification history of the previous month is displayed, and a “return” button 18 for returning to the previous screen is displayed.

  Now, the manager of the amusement hall, after the end of the business, the setting value notification is performed for each slot machine 1 at an appropriate frequency, or the setting value notification is not performed biased toward the slot machine 1 of a specific machine number. In order to determine whether or not, a predetermined period of time to be confirmed is arbitrarily set, and the management apparatus 4 is instructed to create a form. Upon receiving the form creation instruction, the management device 4 creates and displays set value notification statistical data based on the set notification management data.

  When the administrator wants to know whether or not the players who are benefiting from the setting notification event are biased, the member to be confirmed and a predetermined period are arbitrarily set, and the setting notification history data classified by member in the management device 4 Is output. Upon receiving the instruction, the management device 4 creates member-specific setting notification history data based on the setting value notification history data, and displays the created member-specific setting notification history data.

FIG. 11 shows an example of member-specific setting notification history data displayed on the management device 4. In the example shown in FIG. 11, “member No.” and “member name” selected by the administrator as the title of the member-specific setting notification history data, and “period” which is a predetermined period arbitrarily set by the administrator. , May 1, 2006 to May 31, 2006 are displayed.
In the data display section, “Visitor”, “Notification number”, “Model”, “Setting value”, “Notification time”, “Notification type”, “Conditional value” are set corresponding to “Date” Has been. In this example, the dates are May 1-5, May 8-12, May 22-26.

  “Visit” indicates whether or not the member has played a game in the slot machine 1. When the game is played, “◯” is shown, and when the game is not played, “-” is shown. The “notification table number” indicates the number of the slot machine 1 on which the setting value notification has been given to the member in the setting notification event. “Model” indicates the model of the slot machine 1. “Set value” indicates the set value notified in the set value notification. “Notification time” indicates the time when the set value notification is performed. “Notification type” indicates the notification condition type set on the notification condition type selection screen shown in FIG. 4 as a condition for setting value notification. The “conditional numerical value” indicates a conditional numerical value set on the conditional numerical value setting screen shown in FIG. 5 as a setting value notification condition. In addition, regarding the “date” when the member has not visited the store, or the “date” when the set value notification has not been performed even though the member has visited the store, “notification number”, “model”, “set value” "-" Is displayed in the display columns of "notification time", "notification type", and "condition numerical value".

  On the other hand, below the data, “the number of days held”, “the number of days visited”, “the number of notifications”, and “notification rate” are set. “The number of days” indicates the total number of days of “the date” of the setting notification event in the “period” arbitrarily set by the administrator. “Number of visits” indicates the total number of days of “visit”. “Number of notifications” indicates the total number of times the set value notification is performed. The “notification rate” indicates the ratio of the “number of notifications” in which the setting information is notified to the player with respect to the “number of days to visit” that the specific player has visited. In the example shown in FIG. 11, focusing on “the number of days held” and “the number of days visited”, the setting notification event is held for 15 days, of which 13 days are participating in the setting notification event. Member no. 1234 members are quite regular customers. Further, focusing on the “notification rate”, since the “notification rate” is 31%, it can be determined that although it is a regular customer, it is difficult to say that the set notification event is being used well. Therefore, member no. For 1234 members, it can be seen that it would be desirable to benefit more from the setting announcement event.

  By the way, as one of the factors that the player does not benefit from the setting notification event, a player who does not fully understand the purpose of the setting notification event may end the game just before the setting notification event.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, when the member terminal 3 is removed, the member terminal 3 determines whether or not the notification condition is almost achieved (whether or not the predetermined warning condition is achieved), and the notification condition If it is determined that the achievement of is coming soon, a setting notification warning screen is displayed. Specifically, when the cumulative number of games selected as the notification condition type in this embodiment is less than a predetermined value (for example, 200 games) with respect to the cumulative number of games set as the condition numerical value, the notification condition is almost achieved. I am trying to judge.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of the setting notification warning screen of the member terminal 3. In FIG. 9, a warning message pops up on the current display screen on the setting notification warning screen. In this warning message, when the number of games up to the setting notification is 100 to 199 games, “1 more? Setting notification in game” is displayed, and when the number of games up to the setting notification is 1 to 99 games, “ “Announcement of setting in game” is displayed. The reason why the number of games up to the setting notification is displayed in an ambiguous manner is to prevent the player who wants to know the number of games up to the setting notification from taking out the membership card during the game. Of course, the number of games until notification may be displayed.

  According to such an embodiment, when the player pulls out the member card, the member terminal 3 warns the member when the number of games until the setting notification is made becomes less than the predetermined number of games. Since the message prompting the user is displayed in a pop-up, unlike the configuration in which the setting value is simply notified to the player, the setting notification event will be continued. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a large difference in game results (balance) between a player who fully understands the event content and actively uses it and a player who does not understand the event content. Therefore, the service can be provided equally to all the players.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be modified or expanded as follows.
The gaming machine terminal may issue a warning when the member notification rate calculated based on the member-specific setting notification data shown in FIG. 11 is a predetermined value or less (for example, 50%). In this case, the management device corresponds to management means, and the gaming machine terminal corresponds to warning necessity determination means.

It is desirable to actively appeal the contents of the setting notification event to the player whose notification rate is not more than a predetermined value in the member-specific setting notification history data via the member terminal 3. Specifically, when the member card 12 is inserted, a screen describing the details of the setting notification event may be displayed.
It is also possible to provide a service in which the notification condition of the set value notification can be changed during the course of business, and for the player having a low notification rate in the member-specific setting notification history data, the notification condition can be changed to a condition that can easily be achieved.

Although the gaming machine terminal 6 is used as the notification means, the member terminal 3 may be provided with a function as notification means. Alternatively, the slot machine 1 itself can be provided with notification means.
Although the notification condition is set on the management device 4 side, the notification condition may be set on the gaming machine terminal 6 side. In this case, the notification condition set on the gaming machine terminal 6 side is transmitted to the management device 4 side.
Although the player is specified using the membership card 12 as a medium, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the player may be specified based on the player's biological information (fingerprint, voiceprint, etc.).

Although the situation where it is easy to receive the benefits of the setting notification event is made for members who do not receive much of the benefits of the setting notification event, the management device 4 manages the data of all the players without being limited to the members. A situation may be created in which a player who does not receive much of the benefit of the setting notification event is likely to benefit from the setting notification event.
Although the setting value is manually input to the management device 4, if the slot machine 1 is configured to output the setting value, the setting value is directly input from the slot machine 1 to the management device 4 without manual intervention. Can be entered.

Although the gaming machine terminal 6 is provided separately from the slot machine 1, it may be provided integrally with the slot machine 1.
In addition to the slot machine 1, the present invention can be applied to any gaming machine such as a pachinko gaming machine or a parrot gaming machine that can change the payout rate by a predetermined setting for each gaming machine. In this case, the setting information when applied to a pachinko gaming machine may include not only the setting information of the so-called seven machine type jackpot probability but also information on the state of nail adjustment (the nail adjustment is sweet or painful).

Schematic showing the entire system in one embodiment of the present invention Front view of gaming machine terminal Front view of data display unit of gaming machine terminal The figure which shows the notification condition classification selection screen of the management device Figure showing the condition value setting screen Figure showing the screen when the member card is not inserted in the member terminal Figure showing the member card insertion screen on the member terminal The figure which shows the member setting announcement history screen of the member terminal The figure which shows the setting notice warning screen of the member terminal The figure which shows the setting notification screen of the gaming machine terminal The figure which shows the setting notification history data classified by member of the management device

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a slot machine (game machine), 3 is a member terminal (game end detection means, warning determination means, warning means), 4 is a management device (notification condition setting means, notification control means, player identification means), Reference numeral 6 denotes a gaming machine terminal (setting notification means).

Claims (2)

A setting notification means provided corresponding to the gaming machine, for notifying the player of the setting information of the jackpot probability of the gaming machine;
Notification condition setting means for setting a notification condition for determining whether or not to notify the player of setting information;
Notification control means for operating the setting notification means to notify the player of setting information when the operation data of the gaming machine has achieved the notification condition;
In the game hall management system provided for each of the gaming machines, and provided with a player specifying means for specifying a player playing a game on the gaming machine,
Game end detection means for detecting the end of the game by the player;
Warning determination means for determining whether or not the operation data at that time has achieved a predetermined warning condition when the game end detection means detects the end of the game in a state where the notification condition is not achieved;
A game hall management system comprising: warning means for issuing a warning to a player when the warning determination means determines that the warning condition is achieved. A management means for managing the history of player setting notifications;
2. The game room management system according to claim 1, further comprising a warning necessity determination unit that determines whether or not the warning unit issues a warning based on a setting notification history managed by the management unit.

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