JP2008289534A - Prize ball device and game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remove all balls without leaving the balls inside a prize ball device, and a game machine provided with the prize ball device consequently, in a relatively simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: When a ball removal slide 3 is located at a position illustrated in Fig.11, by rotating an impeller 4, prize balls are discharged to a discharge route L4. When the ball removal slide 3 is slid and brought to a position illustrated in Fig.12, the ball removal slide 3 at the part facing the impeller 4 is turned to a bottomless state, the balls inside the prize ball device are discharged to a ball removal route L5 and the balls are removed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a prize ball apparatus comprising a ball path member for configuring a path of a winning ball, a path switching member for switching between a winning ball available state and a ball removal state, and an impeller for feeding the ball, and The present invention relates to a gaming machine, and in particular, with a relatively simple structure, it is possible to remove all the balls without leaving any balls in the prize ball device, and thus in the gaming machine including the prize ball device. The present invention relates to a prize ball apparatus that can be used, and a gaming machine including the same.

  In a conventional prize ball device of a pachinko gaming machine, the ball removal mechanism switches the prize ball path and the ball removal path by rotating or sliding the path switching member. Such rotation and slide operations include those that are electrically controlled and driven, and those that are manually performed.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a prize ball device in which a path switching member that switches between a winning ball enabled state and a ball removal state is provided in a winning ball path, and the switching is performed by a slide manual operation of the path switching member. In this sliding manual operation, the pachinko machine door must be opened and the engagement piece must be removed from the engagement portion in the prize ball device, thereby preventing unauthorized ball removal. It has become.

JP 2001-327711 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, a spherical path exists between a path switching member that switches to a ball-extracted state and an impeller that performs ball feeding. When the path switching member is slid to switch to the ball removal state, the ball on the upstream side of the path switching member can be extracted. However, there is a problem that even if this ball removal is performed, the ball on the downstream side of the route switching member or between the route switching member and the impeller cannot be removed, and the ball remains in the aircraft. is there.

  In addition, since the operation from the front of the gaming machine cannot be performed, the door such as the plastic frame unit of the gaming machine must be opened and operated in order to perform the ball removing operation. If the ball is removed with the door open, the ball that has been removed cannot be returned directly to the pachinko hall island facility, but it must be collected in a separate container and then returned to the island facility. The workability is very bad.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has a relatively simple structure, so that all the balls are left in the prize ball device, and thus without leaving the ball inside the gaming machine equipped with the prize ball device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a prize ball apparatus and a gaming machine that can be used to remove a ball.

  The present invention relates to a prize ball apparatus constituted by a ball path member for configuring a path of a ball to be awarded, a path switching member for switching a prize ball possible state and a ball removal state, and an impeller for sending out the ball. The above-described problem is solved by configuring a part of the ball path member in a state where a winning ball is possible and holding the ball on the impeller by at least a part of the path switching member.

  Further, in the prize ball device, the path switching member, which is a part of the ball path member in a state where a prize ball is possible, is configured to be attachable / detachable, and when the partial path switching member is attached, elasticity is obtained. By providing a lock claw for embracing the shaft by deformation on the side of the ball path member, and providing a lock pin on the partial path switching member that serves as a shaft to be embraced by the lock claw. Is a solution.

  The present invention also provides a gaming machine equipped with the above-described prize ball device.

  According to the present invention, in a prize ball apparatus provided with a manually operated ball removal mechanism, all the balls can be drawn without leaving the balls inside the gaming machine using the prize ball apparatus. Further, the structure for switching from the winning ball possible state to the ball removing state by a manual operation of pushing in one direction can be configured with a small number of parts.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a front view of a gaming machine 100 according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a rear view of the main body frame of the gaming machine 100.

  In the present embodiment, a parrot is taken as an example of a gaming machine that uses game balls. However, the prize ball device of the present invention is not limited to such a gaming machine. First, in FIG. 1, the tray 110 is configured so that a player can freely put in and out game balls. When the player presses the bet button 114, the game ball placed in the tray 110 is taken into the game machine 100 by the ball transport device.

  Then, when the start lever 116 is operated, the reels 112a, 112b, and 112c on which some pictures are written respectively rotate, and the pictures are switched. In addition, when the stop switches 118a, 118b, and 118c provided corresponding to the reels 112a, 112b, and 112c are pressed, the rotation of the corresponding reels 112a, 112b, and 112c is stopped, and the change of the picture is stopped. . When all the reels 112a, 112b, and 112c are stopped, a prize game ball is paid out to the tray 110 in accordance with the combination of the patterns of the reels 112a, 112b, and 112c. Note that the reel device 140 shown in FIG. 2 incorporates the aforementioned reels 112a, 112b, and 112c.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper ball tank 133 is supplied with game balls from a so-called island facility. The prize ball device 135 pays out the game balls stored in the ball tank 133 supplied via the prize ball path 134 to the tray 110 as prize balls and pays them to the player.

  Further, the above-described ball transport device includes a game ball supply path 122, a lifting device 125, a game ball take-in path 127, and a take-in mechanism device 130. In the game ball supply path 122, an entrance game ball sensor 123 is provided on the lifting device 125 side. In the game ball take-in route 127, a take-in route game ball sensor 128 is provided on the lifting device 125 side.

  The game balls placed in the tray 110 roll in the ball supply path 122 and are guided to the carry-in port at the lower end of the lifting device 125. The entrance game ball sensor 123 provided immediately before the carry-in entrance detects whether or not there is a game ball to be lifted by the lifting device 125. The lifting device 125 sequentially takes in and lifts the game balls from the carry-in port, and feeds the game balls to the game ball take-in path 127 from the carry-out port on the upper side.

  Such lifting and feeding are performed until the intake ball game ball sensor 128 detects that a predetermined number of game balls are filled in the game ball intake route 127. Then, the game balls in the game ball take-in path 127 are taken into the gaming machine 100 by the take-in mechanism device 130 according to the operation of the player using the bet button 114 as described above.

  Next, FIG. 3 is a perspective view seen from the front side of the prize ball device 135 used in the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the prize ball device 135 viewed from the back side. FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the prize ball device 135. FIG. 6 is a front view of the prize ball device 135 with the prize ball base 1 removed.

  In the following description, left and right, up and down, and front and rear are expressed with reference to FIG. The vertical direction of the paper surface of FIG. 6 is the front-back direction, and the front side of the paper surface is the front side. In FIG. 6, the left, right, up, down, and front and back are the same as those viewed from the player with the prize ball device 135 shown attached to the gaming machine 100.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, when the cover 12 is screwed to the prize ball base 1 with a screw (not shown), the prize ball base 1 and the cover 12 have a housing structure. Further, the middle path 2 has two positioning pins on both the front and back surfaces, and the prize ball base 1 is positioned on the front side and the motor base 7 is positioned on the back side.

  In such a housing structure, the members are fixed and restricted in the front-rear direction by screwing the cover 12 as described above. The ball slide 3 is positioned so that the guide rail right 3e and the guide rail left 3f are positioned left and right and up and down by the guide groove right 2a and the guide groove left 2b of the middle path 2, and can slide in the front-rear direction. The slide amount in the front-rear direction is set by providing stopper balls for the ball removal slide 3 on the winning ball base 1 and the motor base 7, respectively.

  Further, in the housing structure, an impeller shaft 6 serving as a rotation shaft of the impeller 4 that sends out the sphere is fixed to the prize ball base 1 in a structure in which the rotation is restricted, and the impeller 4 includes an impeller gear 8. And can rotate around the impeller shaft 6. The motor gear 10 is fixed to the rotating shaft of the motor 9 so that it can rotate integrally therewith. The motor 9 is positioned at two pins of the motor base 7 and attached to the motor base 7 so that the impeller gear 8 and the motor gear 10 are engaged with each other.

  The driving of the motor 9 and other controls of the prize ball device 135 of the present embodiment are mainly performed by a control circuit configured on the payout control board 136. The prize ball device control board 11 is provided with a sensor for detecting the rotational position of the impeller 4 by detecting the rotational position of the impeller gear 8. The impeller gear 8 is provided with a mark for detection, and when the prize ball device 135 is assembled, the sensor is disposed at a position where the mark can be read.

  Next, FIG. 7 is a front view of the prize ball device 135 in a state where the prize ball base 1 is attached. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ZZ in FIG. FIG. 9 is a perspective view as seen from the front side of the prize ball device 135 in a state where the prize ball base 1 is removed and the ball slide is manually operable.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in these drawings, “front path L1”, “rear path L2”, “joining path L3”, “discharge path L4”, and “sphere extraction path L5” that guides the extracted ball. ”Is composed of a prize ball base 1, a middle path 2, a ball slide 3, and a motor base 7. The front path L1 and the rear path L2 are formed by using the middle path 2 and the ball removal slide 3 as the ball path member of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the path switching member of the present invention is a ball removal slide 3.

  FIG. 10 is a front view of the prize ball device 135 of the present embodiment for illustrating the cross-sectional positions of the subsequent FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing the ZZ cross section in FIG. 10 of the prize ball device 135 when the ball removal slide 3 is at the slide position where the prize ball is ready. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing the ZZ cross section in FIG. 10 of the prize ball device 135 when the ball slide 3 is at the slide position in the ball removal state.

  In the present embodiment, the ball removal slide 3 is slid, and depending on the slide position of the ball removal slide 3, a “prize ball ready state” as shown in FIG. 11 and a “ball removal state” as shown in FIG. Switch.

  FIGS. 13 and 14 are perspective views of the ball removal slide 3 as seen from the front side or the back side. FIGS. 15 and 16 are perspective views of the middle path 2 to which the ball slide 3 is attached, as seen from the front side or the back side.

  The ball removal slide 3 is slid in order to switch between the winning ball ready state and the ball removal state. Then, the position of the front path bottom plate 3a of the ball slide 3 shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 with respect to the front path in the middle path 2 shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 is switched. The position of the path bottom plate 3b with respect to the rear path inside the middle path 2 is switched, and thereby, the winning ball enabling state and the ball removing state are switched.

  First, the “awardable ball status” will be described.

  The winning ball ready state is a state in which the ball removing slide 3 is moved forward and the ball removing slide 3 is in contact with the stopper of the winning ball base 1, and is the position shown in FIG. Further, in this winning ball possible state, the centers of the front path bottom plate 3a and the rear path bottom plate 3b of the ball slide 3 shown in FIG. 13 coincide with the centers of the front path and the rear path, respectively. Sphere can be held between.

  Next, FIG. 17 is a front view of the prize ball device 135 of the present embodiment for showing the cross-sectional positions of the subsequent FIGS. 18 and 19. FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view showing the ZZ cross section in FIG. 17 of the prize ball device 135 when the ball removal slide 3 is at the slide position where the prize ball is ready. FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view showing the ZZ cross section in FIG. 17 of the prize ball device 135 when the ball slide 3 is at the slide position in the ball removal state.

  When the prize ball is ready, as shown in FIG. 18, the lock pin 3c of the ball slide slide 3 pushes and spreads the "four-pronged" claw of the lock claw 1a of the prize ball base 1, and the lock claw 1a is the lock pin. Elastic force is generated so as to embrace 3c. By this elastic force, the lock pin 3c is locked, and the front and rear positions of the ball removal slide 3 are fixed.

  When the winning ball is ready, the impeller 4 is rotated by driving the motor 9, and the winning ball is discharged from the front path and from the rear path to the discharge path L4 through the above-described joining path L3. can do. The prize balls that are discharged in this way are counted one by one by the ball passage sensor 5 when passing through the merging path L3 for both the front path and the rear path.

  Here, FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 are perspective views of the impellers arranged around the ball slides attached to the middle path as seen from the front side or the back side.

  As shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, the impeller 4 includes two wings 4 a and 4 b whose rotational positions are shifted from each other. The wings 4a and 4b are 90 ° out of phase in order to send out the spheres in the two-row path at equal intervals. Accordingly, the winning balls are alternately performed one by one from the front path and from the rear path. That is, each time the impeller 4 is rotated by 90 °, one prize ball can be performed.

  FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view showing a path on the front side of the prize ball device 135 showing the rotation stop position of the impeller in a standby state where no ball is being sent out in the prize ball device 135. FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view showing a back side path of the prize ball device 135 showing the rotation stop position.

  In a standby state in which the rotation of the impeller 4 is stopped and the prize ball is stopped, the rotation stop position of the impeller 4 is the position shown in FIGS. 22 and 23. In this standby state, the sphere on the front path is sandwiched and held by the front path bottom plate 3 a formed on the top surface of the ball slide 3 and the impeller 4. The ball of the rear path is sandwiched and held by the rear path bottom plate 3b formed on the upper surface of the ball slide 3 and the impeller 4.

  Next, the “ball-out state” will be described.

  When the ball slide 3 is slid to switch to the ball removal state, as shown in FIG. 12, the front path bottom plate 3a is disengaged from the front path, and the rear path bottom plate 3b is disengaged from the rear path. The path is in a state where the bottom is missing.

  In the winning ball ready state, the lock pin 3c of the ball removing slide 3 is locked by the elastic force of the lock claw 1a of the winning ball base 1 as described above. In FIG. 18, the lock pin 3c is pushed from the front side of the gaming machine 100 to the back side in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. By pushing in like this, the lock pin 3c is in a state as shown in FIG.

  In general, the ball removing operation is performed by inserting an operation rod (such as a wire with a diameter of about φ2) from an operation hole formed on the front side of the front frame. Is assumed to be difficult. When the lock pin 3c is pushed from the front side to the back side with an operating rod or the like, the lock claw 1a is unlocked, and the ball slide 3 slides to the back side and abuts against the stopper surface of the motor base 7.

  When the ball is removed in this way, the state shown in FIG. 12 is obtained. As shown in FIG. 12, the front path bottom plate 3a and the rear path bottom plate 3b of the ball removal slide 3 are shifted from the front path and the rear path, respectively, and the front path and the rear path are in a state where the bottom is removed. It communicates with a ball removal path L5 provided on the lower side of the slide 3, and this is in a “ball removal state”. In other words, the part facing the impeller 4 is in a state where the bottom is removed in both the front path and the rear path. Thus, when the ball removal slide 3 is slid in a ball removal state, a ball removal path L5 having a sufficiently large space with respect to the diameter of the ball of 11 mm is formed.

  By communicating with the ball removal path L5 in this way, the sphere held by the impeller 4 and the ball removal slide 3 flows to the ball removal path L5 by its own weight, so that all the balls are guided to the ball removal path. can do.

  Here, as described above, the rotation of the impeller 4 is in a standby state, and as described above, the positions of the spheres held and held by the impeller 4 are also in a state where the bottom of both the front path and the rear path is removed. Become. Therefore, in the ball removal state, all the balls in the prize ball device 135 are discharged to the ball removal path L5, whereby all the balls in the gaming machine 100 can be discharged to the island facility.

  Note that if the balls are continuously discharged to the ball removal path L5 in the ball removal state, momentum may be generated in the balls flowing in the prize ball device 135. In the ball-extracted state, the communicating portion from the front path and the rear path to the ball-extracted path L5 formed by sliding the ball-extracting slide 3 and the bottom is removed, The size is large enough to prevent the ball from jumping over to the discharge path L4 side.

  In addition, in order to return to the winning ball ready state again from such a ball-out state, in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 19, that is, from the right to the left in the figure, the rearmost surface of the ball-out slide 3 The push pin 3d located at is pushed in, and the ball slide 3 is locked. When pushed and locked in this way, the lock pin 3c is as shown in FIG.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the winning ball enabling state and the ball removing state can be switched by sliding the ball removing slide 3. In the ball removal state, the ball in the prize ball device 135 can also be discharged to the ball removal path L5 and discharged to the island facility.

Front view of a gaming machine according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied Rear view of the main frame of the above gaming machine The perspective view seen from the front side of the prize ball device used for the embodiment The perspective view seen from the back side of the above-mentioned prize ball device Exploded view of the prize ball device Front view of the prize ball device with the prize ball base removed. Front view of the award ball apparatus with the award ball base attached Sectional view of ZZ cross section in FIG. The perspective view seen from the front side of the prize ball device in a state where the prize ball base is removed and the ball slide can be manually operated. Front view of the prize ball device of the embodiment Sectional view of the above-mentioned prize ball device when the ball removal slide is at the slide position where the prize ball is ready Sectional drawing of the prize ball device when the ball slide is at the slide position in the ball cut state The perspective view seen from the front side of the ball slide of the embodiment The perspective view seen from the back side of the above ball slide The perspective view seen from the front side of the middle path of the embodiment Perspective view seen from the back side of the middle path Front view of the prize ball device of the embodiment Sectional drawing of the lock pin of the above-mentioned prize ball device when the ball removal slide is in the slide position where the prize ball is ready Sectional drawing of the said lock pin when the said ball removal slide exists in the slide position of a ball removal state The perspective view seen from the front side of the impeller of the embodiment The perspective view seen from the back side of the impeller Sectional drawing which shows the front side path | route of this prize ball apparatus which shows the rotation stop position of the impeller in the standby state which has not sent out the ball in the said prize ball apparatus Sectional drawing which shows the back surface side path | route of this prize ball apparatus which shows this rotation stop position

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Prize ball base 2 ... Middle path | route 3 ... Ball removal slide 4 ... Impeller 5 ... Ball passage sensor 6 ... Impeller wheel shaft 7 ... Motor base 8 ... Impeller gear 9 ... Motor 10 ... Motor gear 11 ... Prize ball apparatus control board 12 ... Cover L1 ... Front path L2 ... Rear path L3 ... Junction path L4 ... Discharge path L5 ... Ball removal path 100 ... Gaming machine 110 ... Dish 112a, 112b, 112c ... Reel 114 ... Bet button 116 ... Start lever 118a, 118b, 118c ... Stop switch 122 ... Game ball supply path 123 ... Entrance game ball sensor 125 ... Lifting device 127 ... Game ball take-in path 128 ... Take-in path game ball sensor 130 ... Take-in mechanism device 133 ... Ball tank 134 ... Prize ball path 135 ... Prize ball device

Claims (3)

In a prize ball apparatus composed of a ball path member for configuring a path of a ball to be awarded, a path switching member for switching a prize ball enabled state and a ball removal state, and an impeller that sends out the ball,
A prize ball apparatus characterized in that a part that becomes a part of the ball path member in a state where a prize ball is possible and that holds the ball by the impeller is constituted by at least a part of the path switching member. The path switching member, which is a part of the ball path member in a state where a winning ball is possible, has a structure that can be attached and detached,
When the partial path switching member is attached, a lock claw that acts to embrace the shaft by elastic deformation is provided on the spherical path member side,
2. The prize ball device according to claim 1, wherein the partial path switching member is provided with a lock pin serving as an axis to be held by the lock claw.   A gaming machine comprising the prize ball device according to claim 1.

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