JP2016182483A - Pinball game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible in a pinball game machine to reliably detect that a lower tray becomes a full state with game balls including foul balls and overflown balls.SOLUTION: Foul balls B2 which were shot by a shooting device 9 but returned without reaching a game area 51 are guided by a foul ball passage 18 and further guided to a junction position at an upstream of a full state detection switch 23 in an overflown passage 17, then lead along a same route as overflown balls B1 to be guided out to a lower tray 14. The junction position is covered with a transparent cover 24. In this way, when the lower tray 14 becomes a full state with game balls B including the overflown balls B1 and the foul balls B2, the state can be reliably detected by a full state detection switch 23, and also a visual observation at the time of inspections becomes possible.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to a ball game machine in which a predetermined game is played by firing a game ball in a game area.

In a ball game machine (pachinko machine), a player operates a launching handle by operating a launching handle to drive a game ball into the game area of the game board, and the game ball that has been placed is provided in the game area. A predetermined amount of game balls are paid out to an upper plate provided on the front surface by winning a prize at a mouth, a big prize opening, or the like. When a large amount of game balls are paid out and the upper plate becomes full, the overflow balls overflowing from the upper plate out of the discharged game balls pass through the overflow ball passage to the lower part of the upper plate. It is led out to the lower plate provided. In addition to the overflow ball, a foul ball that has been returned by the launching device without reaching the game area is also led to the lower plate through the foul ball passage.
When the lower plate is full of game balls, the full detection is provided by the full detection switch provided in the overflow ball passage, and the player is notified by voice or the like that the game balls are full ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-198191 A

  However, the bullet ball game machine described in Patent Document 1 has a structure in which the foul balls are joined to the overflow ball passage at the joining position on the downstream side of the full detection switch. If the foul ball is irregularly piled up at the confluence position of the ball passage and the overflow ball passage and a clogged state occurs, the foul ball cannot be detected by the full detection switch after the occurrence, and the foul ball is not detected. There is a problem that it becomes impossible to detect that the ball is clogged in the passage and that the lower plate is filled with game balls including overflow balls and foul balls.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a ball game machine that can reliably detect that the lower plate is full of game balls including foul balls and overflow balls. And

According to the present invention, the above problem is solved as follows.
In a ball game machine in which a predetermined game is performed by launching a game ball into the game area, a payout device for paying out the game ball, and an upper plate for storing the game ball paid out from the payout device, A launcher that launches a game ball supplied from the upper plate toward the game area, a lower plate that receives the overflow ball when the upper plate is full of game balls, and a lower plate that lowers the overflow ball to the lower side. An overflow ball passage for guiding to a plate, a full detection switch provided in the overflow ball passage for detecting that the game ball is full in the lower plate, and the game area in spite of being launched by the launch device A foul sphere passage capable of guiding the foul sphere returned without reaching to a merging position upstream of the full detection switch in the overflow sphere passage, and at least the merging position is covered by a transparent cover. It is characterized in.

  With the above configuration, the foul sphere is guided to the merging position on the upstream side of the full detection switch by the foul sphere passage, and then guided to the lower plate along the same path as the overflow ball. As a result, it can be reliably detected by the full detection switch that the lower plate is filled with the game balls including the overflow ball and the foul ball.

  According to the present invention, by allowing the foul ball to be guided to the merging position upstream of the full detection switch in the overflow ball passage, the lower plate is filled with the game ball including the overflow ball and the foul ball. The full detection switch can surely detect and prevent the foul ball passage from being clogged.

It is the perspective view which looked at the bullet ball game machine to which the embodiment in the present invention is applied from the diagonally left front. It is the perspective view of the outer frame and the inner frame similarly seen from the diagonally right front. Similarly it is a front view of a game board. It is the perspective view of the lower part of the outer frame similarly seen from the diagonally right front, and an inner frame. It is a front view of the lower part of an outer frame and an inner frame similarly. It is an enlarged front view of the principal part. It is the perspective view of the principal part similarly seen from the diagonally right front. It is a VIII-VIII line cross-sectional view in FIG. It is the IX-IX line transverse cross section in FIG. It is an enlarged front view of the X section in FIG.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the ball game machine 1 includes a rectangular frame-shaped outer frame 2 that forms an outer shell and is installed in an island facility of a pachinko hall, and upper and lower hinges 3, 3 at the left upper and lower parts of the outer frame 2. The inner frame 4 shown in FIG. 2 formed of synthetic resin or metal that is pivotally supported around the vertical axis and can be opened and closed in the front-rear direction, and the game board 5 shown in FIG. 3 detachably attached to the inner frame 4, A glass plate 71 is pivotally supported around the vertical axis by upper and lower hinges 6, 6 at the left upper and lower portions of the inner frame 4 and can be opened and closed in the front-rear direction, and covers the board surface (front face) of the game board 5 so as to be seen through from the front side. And a front door 7 fitted therein.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a substantially circular game area 51 surrounded by an inner guide rail 52 and an outer guide rail 53 is formed on the surface of the game board 5. In the game area 51, a number of game nails 58 that change the flow direction of game balls that are driven into the game area 51 by a launching device 9, which will be described later, attached to the lower front surface of the inner frame 4, and games that are driven into the game area 51 A start opening 54 through which a ball can be won, an effect display unit 55 made up of, for example, a liquid crystal display capable of variably displaying a plurality of rows of symbols, a first state (a closed state in which a game ball cannot be won) and a game A winning hole 56 that can be changed to a second state (open state in which a game ball can win a prize), and a starting ball 54, a winning hole 56, etc. among the game balls that are driven into the game area 51. An out port 57 for sending out the out ball that has not been sent to the back side of the game board 5 is provided.

  The left and right sides of the front door 7 are provided with illumination units 11L and 11R that incorporate a plurality of light sources that perform lighting by turning on, turning off, and flashing according to the situation of the game. Speakers 12L and 12R that output sound effects according to the game situation are provided. Furthermore, in the lower part of the front surface of the front door 7, an upper plate 13 that can store the game balls paid out from the ball paying device 10 and supply them to the launching device 9, and an upper plate 13 that is directly below the upper plate 13 is a game. A lower tray 14 is provided for receiving and storing the overflow ball when it is full.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the upper plate 13 has a bottom surface inclined downward from the left side to the right side so that a stored game ball rolls in the right direction when viewed from the front. An alignment passage 132 is provided for aligning the game balls stored in the upper plate 13 in a line and guiding them to the firing path 26 provided in the vicinity of the launching device 9. Furthermore, an introduction port 131 for introducing game balls such as rental balls and prize balls to be paid out from the ball payout device 10 is provided on the left side of the back surface of the upper plate 13.

  On the inner surface of the lower plate 14, an introduction port 141 for introducing an overflow ball when the upper plate 13 is filled with game balls is provided. Furthermore, a ball release hole 143 for discharging a game ball stored in the lower plate 14 by opening a slide lever 142 provided on the front surface of the lower plate 14 and opening the slide lever 142 is provided on the bottom surface of the lower plate 14. Provided.

  A handle ring 151 that is electrically connected to the launching device 9 and adjusts the firing force of the hit ball is provided at the lower right part of the front surface of the front door 7. Provided possible.

  In the lower part of the inner frame 4, as shown in a cross-sectional view in FIG. 8, a gaming ball B such as a rental ball or a prize ball paid out from the ball dispensing device 10 disposed on the left side of the inner frame 4 is placed on the upper plate 13. The upper plate passage 16 that leads to the upper plate passage 16 and the overflow ball B1 that overflows the game ball B when the upper plate 13 and the upper plate passage 16 are filled with the game ball B temporarily. As shown in FIG. 6 mainly in front view, an overflow portion 20 capable of staying in a small amount, an overflow passage 17 on the right side of the overflow portion 20 and guiding the overflow ball B1 to the lower plate 14, Reaching the game area 51 of the game balls B launched by the launch device 9 and the launch path 26 facing diagonally upward to the left so as to guide the game balls B launched from the launch apparatus 9 toward the game area 51 The foul ball B2 that has returned without any trouble is located upstream of the overflow ball passage 17 (above described later). The foul ball passage 18 that can be guided toward the passage 172), the start opening 54, the big winning opening 56, etc., win the winning ball (game ball) guided to the back of the game board 5 and the out opening 56. A recovery passageway 19 shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 for receiving the out ball (game ball) guided to the back of the game board 5 and leading it out of the ball game machine 1 is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the upper dish passage 16 is slightly inclined forward and downward so that the game balls B such as rental balls and prize balls to be paid out from the ball payout device 10 can be guided forward, and the front door 7 is closed. In this state, the lead-out port 161 at the front end communicates with the introduction port 131 of the upper plate 13 to allow the game ball B to be led out to the upper plate 13.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the overflow passage 17 is connected to the overflow portion 20 at the upper end of the introduction portion 174 as shown in FIG. An outlet port that is connected to the lower portion of the upstream passage 172 and has a downstream passage 173 that is inclined to the right to guide the overflow ball B1 to the right, and is provided at the lower right end of the downstream passage 173 when the front door 7 is closed. 171 communicates with the inlet 141 of the lower plate 14 to allow the overflow ball B1 to be led out to the lower plate 14.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the left end of the downstream passage 173 of the overflow bulb passage 17, that is, the downstream side of the upstream passage 172, is pivotally supported by the front-rear shaft 21 so as to be swingable in the left-right direction. A lever 22 and a contact-type full detection switch 23 that is disposed on the left side of the detection lever 22 and that can detect the swing of the detection lever 22 are provided.

  The upper plate passage 16, the overflow ball passage 17, the foul ball passage 18, the detection lever 22 and the front of the full detection switch 22 are connected to the outlet 161 of the upper plate passage 16 and the overflow as shown in FIGS. The ball passage 17 is covered with a transparent cover 24 leaving the outlet 171. Therefore, the upper dish passage 16, the overflow ball passage 17, the foul ball passage 18, the detection lever 22 and the full detection switch 22 are not clearly shown in FIGS. This is clearly shown by omitting the covers 24 and 25.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the downstream passage 173 (downstream side of the full detection switch 23) of the lower plate 14 and the overflow ball passage 17 is filled with the game ball B including the overflow ball B1 and the foul ball B2, the downstream passage 173 is provided. The game ball B staying in contact with the right side surface of the detection lever 22 causes the detection lever 22 to be pushed to the left by a predetermined angle. As a result, the fullness detection switch 23 switches from the OFF state to the ON state, and transmits an ON signal indicating the switching to the control unit. When the control unit continuously receives the ON signal from the full detection switch 23 for a predetermined time, the control unit determines that the game ball B is full in the lower plate 14, and indicates that the lower plate 14 is full. Is notified by voice or the like.

  As shown in FIGS. 6, 7, 9, and 10, the foul sphere passage 18 is located in front of the launching passage 26, and the front and lower side of the foul sphere passage upper step 181 and the lower front side of the foul sphere passage upper step 181. In order to guide the foul sphere B2 to the right, the foul sphere introduction passage 182 inclined downward to the right and the foul sphere B2 guided to the right by the foul sphere introduction passage 182 are folded back leftward in a U-turn shape. The foul ball B2 that is located behind the ball U-turn passage 183 and the foul ball introduction passage 182 and passes through the foul ball U-turn passage 183 is moved to the right side of the upstream passage 172 in the overflow bulb passage 17, that is, the full detection switch 23. And a foul sphere lead-out passage 184 (particularly shown in FIG. 9) having a left-downward slope that guides to the junction 185 located on the upstream side. The opening width of the junction 185 is set to a size that allows the foul balls B2 to be led out to the upstream passage 172 of the overflow bulb passage 17 one by one.

  By configuring the foul ball passage 18 as described above, the foul ball B2 is guided to the upstream side of the full detection switch 22 in the overflow ball passage 17. As a result, the foul sphere B2 can be detected by the full detection switch 22. Furthermore, since the foul ball passage 18 has a foul ball U-turn passage 183 and is bent, for example, an illegal thin rod such as a wire is inserted into the inlet 141 of the lower plate 14 and the like through the foul ball passage 18. It is possible to prevent fraudulent acts that illegally enter the game area 51.

  A blocking portion 27 is provided on the foul ball passage upper step portion 181 in the foul ball passage 18 so as to protrude from the bottom surface of the foul ball passage upper step portion 181 and to form a left-side steep inclined surface 271 on the left side surface. The blocking unit 27 collides with the inclined surface 271 the foul sphere B2 that has fallen on the foul ball passage upper step 181 despite being launched from the launching device 9, so that the right side of the foul sphere B2, that is, the launch path 26. Is prevented from flowing into the firing path 26 of the foul ball B2.

  The foul ball B2 that has fallen into the foul ball passage upper stage 181 falls into the foul ball introduction passage 182 and is guided to the foul ball U-turn passage 183 by the foul ball introduction passage 182. The foul sphere B2 guided to the foul sphere U-turn passage 183 is folded back into a U-turn shape as shown in FIG. 9 and guided toward the junction 185 by the foul sphere lead-out passage 184. The foul sphere B2 guided to the joining part 185 is led out from the joining part 185 located upstream of the fullness detection switch 23 to the upstream passage 172 having a steep forward and downward slope in the overflow bulb passage 17, that is, the joining position. The foul sphere B2 led out to the upstream passage 172 is guided to the downstream passage 173 of the overflow bulb passage 17 in a state where it can merge with the overflow bulb B1 flowing down from the overflow portion 20, and the lower plate 14 from the outlet 171. To be derived.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
By operating the handle ring 151, the game ball B driven into the game area 51 wins the start opening 54, and this is triggered by a control unit (not shown) attached to the back side of the inner frame 4 at a predetermined probability. As a result of the lottery executed based on the result, when a plurality of columns of symbols that are variably displayed on the effect display 55 are stopped in a predetermined combination and are confirmed and displayed on the jackpot (for example, the same for a plurality of columns) When the symbols are aligned), the big hit state is caused to change the big winning opening 56 from the first state to the second state. In the big hit state, a large number of game balls B can be awarded to the big winning opening 56 in the second state, and a large number of game balls B are paid out as prize balls from the ball payout device 10.

  The game ball B paid out from the ball payout device 10 rolls in the direction indicated by the arrow a in FIG. 8 if the upper plate 13 is not full, and the overflow portion 20, the upper plate passage 16, and the outlet port 161 are moved. It passes through the inlet 131 of the upper plate 13 to the upper plate 13. Then, when the upper plate 13 and the upper plate passage 16 are filled with the game balls B, the overflow ball B2 overflowing the overflow portion 20 enters the upstream passage 172 from the introduction portion 174 of the overflow ball passage 17 and is shown in FIGS. Then, it flows down in the direction indicated by the arrow b and is guided to the downstream passage 173. The overflow ball B2 guided to the downstream passage 173 rolls to the right as shown by an arrow c in FIG.

  Furthermore, when the game ball B is paid out from the ball dispensing device 10 and the downstream passage 173 of the lower plate 14 and the overflow ball passage 17 is filled with the game ball B including the overflow ball B1, as shown in FIG. The sphere B1 contacts the right side surface of the detection lever 22 so as to push the detection lever 22 leftward. The full tank detection switch 23 is turned on upon detecting that the detection lever 22 has been pushed leftward. Then, when the ON state of the full tank detection switch 23 continues for a predetermined time, the control unit, based on the fact that the ON signal of the full tank detection switch 23 has continued for the predetermined time, causes the game ball B including the overflow ball B1 in the lower plate 14. And the player is notified by voice or the like that the lower plate 14 is full.

  When the player slides the slide lever 142 based on the notification of ball removal and opens the ball removal hole 143, the game ball B stored in the lower plate 14 is discharged from the ball removal hole 143.

  When the game ball B in the lower plate 14 is discharged, the game ball B staying in the downstream passage 173 of the overflow ball passage 17 is reduced accordingly, so that the game ball B is separated from the detection lever 22. Then, the detection lever 22 returns from the detection position to the non-detection position with elasticity, and the full tank detection switch 23 switches from the ON state to the OFF state, and the control unit stops the control of the ball removal notification in response to this. .

  Next, the foul ball B2 will be described. Although the game ball B is fired by the launching device 9, the foul ball B <b> 2 that has returned without reaching the game area 51 due to a weak firing force or the like is the upper stage of the foul ball passage 18 of the foul ball passage 18. 181 or foul ball introduction passage 182 falls.

  The foul ball B2 that has fallen on the upper part 181 of the foul ball passage collides with the inclined surface 271 of the blocking portion 27 and bounces back to the left as indicated by an arrow d in FIG. It falls and is guided toward the foul ball U-turn passage 183. This makes it possible to reliably prevent the foul ball B2 from entering the launch path 26.

  The foul sphere B2 guided toward the foul sphere U-turn passage 183 is folded back into a U-turn shape by the foul sphere U-turn passage 183 as shown by an arrow e in FIG. And is led out to the side surface that is the confluence position of the upstream passage 172 with a steeply descending forward slope of the overflow bulb passage 17. In this case, even if a large number of foul balls B2 are generated, the foul balls B2 pass through the foul ball U-turn passage 183 and the foul ball lead-out passage 184 in a state of being aligned in a line by the foul ball introduction passage 182. Since 185 is led out one by one to the upstream passage 172 of the overflow ball passage 17, ball clogging at the merging position can be suppressed. Furthermore, since the foul sphere B2 is led out to the upstream passage 172 having a steep forward and downward slope in the overflow bulb passage 17, the overflow bulb B1 and the foul bulb B2 that have flowed down to the merging position are forcibly guided downstream. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the clogging of the balls such that the overflow ball B1 and the foul ball B2 are irregularly stacked.

  The foul sphere B2 led out from the merging portion 185 to the upstream passage 172 of the overflow bulb passage 17 flows down toward the downstream passage 173, passes through the detection lever 22 and the side of the full detection switch 23, and flows down the overflow bulb B1. It follows the same route as the route and is led to the lower plate 14. Thereby, for example, even when many foul balls B2 are generated in the state where the lower plate 14 is almost full of the game balls B including the overflow balls B2, the foul balls B2 are detected by the detection lever 22 and the full detection switch 23. Therefore, the fullness detection switch 23 can detect that the downstream passage 173 of the overflow ball passage 17 is filled with the foul ball B2.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the following modifications and changes can be made to the above embodiment within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention.
(I) The full tank detection switch 16 is replaced with a contact type switch, and is a contactless type switch.
(Ii) When the full detection switch 22 detects that the downstream passage 173 of the overflow ball passage 17 is full of the game balls B including the overflow ball B1 and the foul ball B2, the control unit Control to stop the firing operation of B is executed. In this way, even if many foul balls B2 are generated, it is possible to reliably prevent the foul balls B2 from clogging the foul ball passage 18.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ball game machine 2 Outer frame 3 Hinge 4 Inner frame 5 Game board 6 Hinge 7 Front door 9 Launching device 10 Ball delivery device 11L, 11R Illumination part 12L, 12R Speaker 13 Upper plate 14 Lower plate 15 Launch handle 16 Upper plate passage 17 overflow ball passage 18 foul ball passage 19 collection passage 20 overflow portion 21 shaft 22 detection lever 23 full detection switch 24 cover 26 launching passage 27 blocking portion 51 game area 52, 53 guide rail 54 start opening 55 effect indicator 56 big prize opening 57 Out port 58 Game nail 71 Glass plate 131 Inlet port 132 Alignment path 141 Inlet port 142 Slide lever 143 Ball extraction hole 151 Handle ring 161 Outlet port 171 Outlet port 172 Upstream channel 173 Downstream channel 174 Introducing section 181 Far ball path upper stage 182 Foul ball introduction passage 183 Foul Sphere U-turn passage 184 Foul sphere lead-out passage 185 Junction 271 Inclined surface

Claims (1)

In a ball game machine in which a predetermined game is performed by firing a game ball in the game area,
A payout device for paying out game balls;
An upper plate for storing game balls paid out from the payout device;
A launching device for launching a game ball supplied from the upper plate toward the game area;
A lower plate that receives the overflow ball when the upper plate is full of game balls;
An overflow passage for guiding the overflow ball to the lower plate;
A fullness detection switch that is provided in the overflow passage and detects that the game ball is full in the lower plate;
A foul ball path capable of guiding a foul ball returned by the launcher without reaching the game area to the joining position upstream of the full detection switch in the overflow path. A ball game machine comprising: at least the joining position is covered with a transparent cover.

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