JP2024058800A - Gaming Machines - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a gaming machine that can improve the entertainment value of preview performances. [Solution] One dialogue image is displayed for each of steps 1 to 3 of step-up preview performance 1. This makes it easier for the player to grasp the degree of step progress in one step-up preview performance 1, and therefore makes it easier to recognize the degree of reliability of a jackpot from the degree of step progress. Moreover, the type of dialogue image for each of steps 1 to 3 also suggests the degree of reliability to the player. This allows the player to enjoy comprehensively interpreting the degree of reliability from two types of conditions in step-up preview performance 1, improving the entertainment value of step-up preview performance 1. [Selected Figure] Figure 19

Description

The present invention relates to gaming machines such as pachinko machines.

Some of the gaming machines are configured to display a symbol game image when the gaming ball has validly landed in a specified starting area. This symbol game image is displayed when the identification symbol is displayed in a changing state and then in a stopped state, and the player is notified of the result of the winning or losing decision based on the state of the identification symbol in the stopped state.

JP2016-073869A

Some of the gaming machines mentioned above are designed to suggest to the player the reliability of the winning notification by displaying a preview image during symbol play. In the case of this gaming machine, a numerical value is displayed as the preview image, and there is still room for improvement in terms of entertainment value.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a gaming machine that can improve the entertainment value of preview performances.

The gaming machine described in claim 1 includes a game control means (main control circuit 40) for determining whether a game ball has entered a predetermined starting area (first starting hole 18/second starting hole 23) and for playing a special game (big win game) in which a predetermined ball entry area (big winning hole 19) is opened when the game ball has entered a predetermined starting area (big winning hole 23) and a symbol game means (sub-control circuit 60) for displaying an image of a symbol game (performance symbol game) informing a player of the result of the determination of whether the game ball has entered a predetermined starting area (big winning hole 23), and a one-time variable number of unit performances (steps) in which one of two or more preview images (dialogue images) is displayed in one preview performance (step). This can be performed as a pop-up preview performance 1) and is equipped with a preview performance means (sub-control circuit 60) which suggests to the player the degree of reliability that a specific event (jackpot) will occur in the image of the pattern game depending on the number of unit performances executed in one preview performance, and is characterized in that when multiple unit performances are executed in one preview performance, the preview performance means suggests to the player the degree of reliability that an event different from the specific event (reach state, special reach performance, etc.) will occur in each of two or more unit performances depending on the type of preview image.
According to the above means, one preview image is displayed for one unit performance. Therefore, it becomes easier for the player to grasp the number of unit performances occurring in one preview performance, and it becomes easier to recognize the degree of reliability of a specific event from the number of unit performances occurring. Moreover, the degree of reliability of the occurrence of an event other than a specific event, such as the occurrence of a reach state, the occurrence of a special reach performance, or a confirmed win, is suggested to the player for each of two or more unit performances, improving the entertainment value of the preview performance.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention (a perspective view showing the exterior of a pachinko game machine); A diagram showing a game board Diagram showing the front frame Block diagram showing electrical configuration (a) is a diagram showing a list of random number counters, (b) is a diagram showing a normal winning judgment table, (c) is a diagram showing a normal winning display time table, (d) is a diagram showing a normal winning pattern table, (e) is a diagram showing a jackpot judgment table, (f) is a diagram showing a fall judgment table, (g) is a diagram showing a special winning type table for special winning 1, (h) is a diagram showing a special winning type table for special winning 2, (i) is a diagram showing a special winning 1 area, and (j) is a diagram showing a special winning area. (a) is a diagram showing a special chart 1 variation pattern table, (b) is a diagram showing a special chart 2 variation pattern table 1, and (c) is a diagram showing a special chart 2 variation pattern table 2. FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a jackpot game pattern table, and FIG. 1B is a flowchart showing the main processing of the main control circuit. Flowchart showing timer interrupt processing of the main control circuit Flowchart showing special diagram 2 processing of the main control circuit 1A is a flowchart showing a time-saving count update process of a main control circuit, and FIG. 1B is a flowchart showing a variation pattern selection process. Flowchart showing the fall determination process of the main control circuit Flowchart showing the process of FIG. 1 of the main control circuit FIG. 1A is a diagram for explaining the transition of game modes, and FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C are diagrams for explaining the transition of presentation modes. (a) to (d) are diagrams showing background images of the effect pattern game, and (e) is a diagram showing a list of the effect contents of the effect pattern game. A diagram to explain normal effects and simultaneous stop effects for all figures A diagram to explain the normal reach performance A diagram to explain the special reach performance (a) and (b) are diagrams for explaining the super time-saving effect, and (c) is a diagram for explaining the big win game effect. FIG. 1A is a diagram for explaining the timing of step-up preview performance 1, and FIG. 1B to FIG. 1D are diagrams showing a list of the performance contents of step-up preview performance 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining step 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining step 2. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining step 3. A flowchart showing step-up notice performance process 1 of the sub-control circuit. A diagram showing a list of dialogue images FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining advance notice information presentation 1. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining step-up notice performance 2. 1A is a diagram showing a special chart 2 pre-reading reception area, and FIG. 1B is a flowchart showing step-up notice performance processing 2 of a sub-control circuit. 1A is a flowchart showing the main processing of the sub-control circuit, and FIG. 1B is a flowchart showing the timer interrupt processing. 1A is a flowchart showing a received command analysis process of a sub-control circuit, and FIG. 1B is a flowchart showing a symbol game performance start process. FIG. 2 shows the second embodiment (a to f are diagrams for explaining the big win notice performance, and g is a flowchart showing the big win notice performance processing of the sub-control circuit). A diagram to explain the consecutive big win notice performances (a) is a flowchart showing the process of the big win notice continuous performance of the sub-control circuit, and (b) is a diagram showing the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area of the sub-control circuit. (a) and (b) are diagrams for explaining the consecutive performances of the big win notice, and (c) is a flowchart showing the notice determination process of the sub-control circuit. FIG. 13 shows Example 3 (a diagram showing an image of a reach notice performance) A diagram showing an image of a special jackpot announcement A flowchart showing the reach notice performance processing of the sub-control circuit FIG. 6 shows the sixth embodiment (a to d are diagrams for explaining the reach notice performance, and e is a flowchart showing the reach notice performance processing). (a) to (e) are diagrams for explaining the special reach revival performance, and f is a flowchart showing the special reach revival performance processing) FIG. 13 shows Example 7 (a diagram for explaining the revival notice performance) FIG. 13 shows Example 8 (a diagram for explaining the latter half of the special reach revival performance) FIG. 9 shows an embodiment 9 (a diagram for explaining the latter half of the special reach revival performance) FIG. 10 shows an embodiment (a shows the reliability of a cloud image, and b shows an image of a performance pattern game). FIG. 11 shows an eleventh embodiment (a preview image).

[Example 1]
1. Mechanical configuration of the gaming machine The outer frame 1 in Fig. 1 is installed on the table island of a pachinko parlor. The outer frame 1 is a vertically long rectangular frame with openings on the front and back, and an inner frame 3 is attached to the left end of the outer frame 1 via a hinge metal fitting 2. The inner frame 3 is a rectangular container with an opening on the front, and can be rotated relative to the outer frame 1 around the vertical axis of the hinge metal fitting 2 between a storage position stored in the outer frame 1 and a pull-out position pulled out forward from within the outer frame 1. A vertical, flat game board 4 is attached to the inner frame 3 as shown in Fig. 2. The game board 4 is made of a colorless, transparent synthetic resin, and covers the front opening of the inner frame 3 from the front.

As shown in FIG. 1, a front frame 5 is attached to the hinge metal fitting 2. This front frame 5 is a rectangular frame having an opening 6, and a colorless transparent window plate 7 that covers the opening 6 is fixed to the front frame 5. This front frame 5 can be rotated around the vertical axis of the hinge metal fitting 2 between a closed state in which the game board 4 is covered from the front and an open state in which the game board 4 is opened, and the window plate 7 faces the game board 4 from the front with a gap in between when the front frame 5 is in the closed state. As shown in FIG. 3, an upper tray 8 and a lower tray 9 are fixed to the front frame 5 in two layers, one above the other. The upper tray 8 is for storing game balls, and the lower tray 9 is for storing game balls that cannot be stored in the upper tray 8, and the upper tray 8 is equipped with an operation button 10 that can be operated by the player.

A launching device (not shown) is attached to the front frame 5. This launching device has a striking hammer that strikes the game balls and a launching motor that operates the striking hammer, and game balls are supplied to the striking hammer one by one from within the upper tray 8. This launching device supplies a new game ball to the striking hammer every time the striking hammer strikes a game ball, and a launching handle 11 is connected to the launching device, as shown in Figure 3. This launching handle 11 is attached to the lower right corner of the front frame 5 so that it can be rotated around an axis oriented in the front-to-rear direction, and the force with which the striking hammer strikes the game ball is adjusted according to the amount of operation (rotation angle) of the launching handle 11 in the clockwise direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, an outer rail 12 and an inner rail 13 are fixed to the front of the game board 4. An arc-shaped launch passage 14 is formed between the outer rail 12 and the inner rail 13, and game balls hit by the battering mallet rise from bottom to top within the launch passage 14. The outer rail 12 and the inner rail 13 define a game area 15 on the front of the game board 4. This game area 15 is a circular area connected to the exit at the top end of the launch passage 14, and game balls rising within the launch passage 14 are released into the game area 15 from the exit of the launch passage 14. A number of game nails (not shown) are driven into the game area 15, and game balls released into the game area 15 fall within the game area 15 while colliding with the game nails.

As shown in FIG. 2, a left-hand hitting area 16 and a right-hand hitting area 17 are set within the game area 15. The left-hand hitting area 16 is the area to the left of the center line of the game area 15, and when the amount of operation of the launch handle 11 in the clockwise direction is small, the game ball is released from the exit of the launch passage 14 into the left-hand hitting area 16. This hitting style in which the game ball is released into the left-hand hitting area 16 is called a left hit. The right-hand hitting area 17 is the area to the right of the center line of the game area 15, and when the amount of operation of the launch handle 11 in the clockwise direction is large, the game ball is released from the exit of the launch passage 14 through the left-hand hitting area 16 into the right-hand hitting area 17. This hitting style in which the game ball is released into the right-hand hitting area 17 is called a right hit.

As shown in FIG. 2, a first starting hole 18 is fixed within the game area 15. This first starting hole 18 is pocket-shaped with an open top, allowing game balls to enter from the top. This first starting hole 18 is located across the left hitting area 16 and the right hitting area 17, allowing game balls to easily enter the first starting hole 18 from the entrance at the top when playing from the left, but making it difficult for the ball to enter when playing from the right. This first starting hole 18 corresponds to a specified starting area.

As shown in FIG. 2, the large prize opening 19 is fixed in the right-hand hitting area 17. The large prize opening 19 is in the shape of a horizontally long box with an open front, and is equipped with a door panel 20. The door panel 20 is rotatable about a horizontal axis (not shown) at the lower end between a vertically closed state and a horizontally open state, and closes the front entrance of the large prize opening 19 in the closed state so that game balls cannot enter. When the door panel 20 is open and a game ball is hit from the right, the game ball falls onto the door panel 20 and enters the entrance of the large prize opening 19 as it rolls from front to back along the door panel 20. In other words, the large prize opening 19 is designed to allow game balls to enter when the game ball is hit from the right. The large prize opening 19 corresponds to a specified ball entry area.

In the right-hand hitting area 17, as shown in FIG. 2, a guide plate 21 is fixed below the big prize opening 19. This guide plate 21 slopes downward from right to left, and when the game ball is hit from the right, the game ball falls onto the guide plate 21 and then rolls from right to left along the guide plate 21. In the right-hand hitting area 17, a regular starting opening 22 is fixed above the big prize opening 19. This regular starting opening 22 is a U-shaped frame with openings on the top and bottom, and when the game ball is hit from the right, the game ball can pass through from the top to the bottom.

As shown in FIG. 2, the second starting hole 23 is fixed in the game area 15 below the first starting hole 18. The second starting hole 23 has an open top and is equipped with an opening/closing member 24. The opening/closing member 24 is movable between a projected state in which it projects forward from the front of the game board 4 and a recessed state in which it recesses backward, and the entrance on the top of the second starting hole 23 is closed when the opening/closing member 24 is in the projected state so that the game ball cannot enter. The entrance of the second starting hole 23 is opened when the opening/closing member 24 is in the recessed state, and when the game ball is hit to the right while the second starting hole 23 is open, it enters the entrance of the second starting hole 23 as it rolls from right to left along the guide plate 21. The second starting hole 23 corresponds to a specified starting area.

As shown in FIG. 2, an LED display 25 is fixed to the game board 4. This LED display 25 is disposed outside the game area 15, and the LED display 25 displays the result of the judgment of whether the player has won or lost. A decorative frame 26 is fixed to the game board 4. This decorative frame 26 is colored and opaque, and has an opening 27. This decorative frame 26 is frame-shaped when viewed from the front, surrounding the display area E of the performance pattern display 28. As shown in FIG. 1, this performance pattern display 28 is made of a color LCD display fixed within the inner frame 3, and the display area E is set to be a horizontally long rectangle. This performance pattern display 28 corresponds to a display, and the display area E of the performance pattern display 28 is visible to the player through the window panel 7, the opening 27 of the decorative frame 26, and the game board 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, an electric light 29 is fixed to the front frame 5. This electric light 29 is disposed at the upper end of the front frame 5 and has a number of semi-spherical LED covers 30. Each of these LED covers 30 is set to a translucent white color, and an LED 31 is housed inside each LED cover 30. Each of these LEDs 31 is a full-color LED whose color and brightness can be controlled, and each LED cover 30 is illuminated in a manner according to the color and brightness of the LED 31 as the internal LED 31 emits light. Two speakers 32 are fixed to the front frame 5. These speakers 32 face each other in the left-right direction with the electric light 29 in between, and each speaker 32 outputs sound forward.

As shown in FIG. 2, the notice effect device 33 is housed in the inner frame 3. The notice effect device 33 has a colored and transparent movable member 34, and is movable in the vertical direction between an upper limit position (see two-dot chain line) and a lower limit position (see solid line). The upper limit position of the notice effect device 33 is set above the display area E of the performance pattern display device 28, and the notice effect device 33 is not visible to the player at the upper limit position. The lower limit position of the notice effect device 33 is set to a position overlapping the display area E of the performance pattern display device 28 from the front, and the notice effect device 33 is visible to the player at the lower limit position. The movable member 34 of the notice effect device 33 houses a full-color LED 35 (see FIG. 4) whose color and brightness can be controlled, and the movable member 34 emits light in a color corresponding to the lighting color of the LED 35 when the LED 35 is turned on. This movable member 34 is connected to a pulse motor 36 (see FIG. 4) via an elevation mechanism (not shown), and is moved between an upper limit position and a lower limit position in response to the pulse motor 36 being driven in the forward and reverse directions.

2. Electrical configuration of the gaming machine The main control circuit 40 in Fig. 4 is mainly a microcomputer, and has a ROM, a RAM, a CPU, and an I/O. This main control circuit 40 controls the game contents such as special drawing 1, special drawing 2, special drawing variable display, big win game, game state setting, normal drawing, normal drawing, normal drawing variable display, and normal game, and corresponds to a game control means. The ROM of this main control circuit 40 stores a main processing program, a timer interrupt processing program, a normal drawing hit judgment table, a normal drawing variable display time table, a normal drawing game pattern table, a big win judgment table, a special drawing 1 big win type table, a special drawing 2 big win type table, a special drawing 1 variable pattern table, a special drawing 2 variable pattern table, a big win game pattern table, a normal drawing hit judgment table, a normal drawing game pattern table, etc., and the RAM of the main control circuit 40 has a special drawing 1 area and a special drawing 2 area set. This main control circuit 40 corresponds to a judgment means, a special game means, and a game control means.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first start port sensor 41, the second start port sensor 42, the normal map sensor 43, and the large prize port sensor 44 are connected to the main control circuit 40. The first start port sensor 41 detects a game ball that has entered the first start port 18, the second start port sensor 42 detects a game ball that has entered the second start port 23, the normal map sensor 43 detects a game ball that has passed through the normal start port 22, and the large prize port sensor 44 detects a game ball that has entered the large prize port 19. The start port solenoid 45 and the large prize port solenoid 46 are connected to the main control circuit 40. The start port solenoid 45 operates the opening and closing member 24 of the second start port 23, and the large prize port solenoid 46 operates the door panel 20 of the large prize port 19. The LED display 25 is connected to this main control circuit 40, and the main control circuit 40 performs variable special display by controlling the display content of the LED display 25.

The payout control circuit 50 in FIG. 4 is mainly a microcomputer. This payout control circuit 50 has ROM, RAM, and a CPU, and when the main control circuit 40 detects signals from the first start hole sensor 41, the second start hole sensor 42, and the large prize hole sensor 44, it sends a payout command to the payout control circuit 50. A prize ball payout device 51 is connected to this payout control circuit 50, and when the payout control circuit 40 detects a payout command from the main control circuit 40, it drives and controls the prize ball payout device 51 to pay out a unit number of game balls as prize balls into the upper tray 8.

The sub-control circuit 60 in FIG. 4 is mainly a microcomputer, and the main control circuit 40 sends commands to the sub-control circuit 60 according to the progress of the game, and the sub-control circuit 60 sets the display contents of the performance pattern display 28, the illumination contents of the illumination device 29, the sound contents of the speaker 32, and the operation contents of the notice performance device 33 in response to commands from the main control circuit 40. This sub-control circuit 60 has ROM, RAM, CPU, I/O, RTC, drive circuit, PWM circuit, speaker circuit, and motor circuit, and the ROM stores programs for main processing, reception interrupt processing, and timer interrupt processing. The RAM functions as a work memory, and the CPU executes the programs for main processing to timer interrupt processing in the ROM in response to commands from the main control circuit 40. The operation button 10 is connected to this sub-control circuit 60, and the sub-control circuit 60 detects the operation contents of the operation button 10 in response to electrical signals from the operation button 10. This sub-control circuit 60 corresponds to a pattern play means, a notice performance means, a performance information display means, and a performance play means.

The drive circuit in FIG. 4 is mainly a microcomputer. This drive circuit controls the performance pattern display 28 according to the display content setting results of the sub-control circuit 60, and has ROM, RAM, CPU, CGROM, CGRAM, and VDP. The ROM stores an image control program for specifying image data, the RAM functions as a work memory, and the CPU executes the program in the ROM. The CGROM stores image data for displaying images on the performance pattern display 28, and the VDP reads image data from the CGROM in response to commands from the CPU. The VDP expands the results of the image data read into the CGRAM, synthesizes the results of the image data expansion, draws them in the CGRAM frame buffer, and outputs the image drawing results to the performance pattern display 28 as RGB signals, and the performance pattern display 28 displays the image in color in response to the RGB signals from the VDP.

The PWM circuit in FIG. 4 is based on a microcomputer, and PWM controls the color and brightness of the LEDs 31 in the light fixture 29 to make the LED covers 30 in the light fixture 29 light up according to the settings of the lighting content, and PWM controls the color and brightness of the LEDs 35 in the notice display 33 to make the movable member 34 in the notice display 33 light up according to the settings of the lighting content. The speaker circuit in FIG. 4 is based on a microcomputer, and controls both speakers 32 to output sounds with a scale, volume, and tone according to the settings of the sound content from both speakers 32. The motor circuit in FIG. 4 is based on a microcomputer, and drives and controls the pulse motor 36 in the forward and reverse directions to move the notice display 33 between the upper and lower limit positions.

3. Game Functions 3-1. Regular Game 3-1-1. Regular Lottery When the game ball passes through the regular start hole 22, the value of the regular random number for determining whether or not the regular pattern is a hit is obtained from the regular hit determination table in FIG. 5(a), and the result of the regular hit determination is obtained according to the result of obtaining the value of the random number for determining whether or not the regular pattern is a hit. This regular hit determination table has non-electric support and electric support states set, and in the electric support state, the hit determination result is obtained with a higher probability than in the non-electric support state.

3-1-2. Ordinary map fluctuation display When the result of the judgment of whether the ordinary map is a hit or a miss is obtained, the ordinary map fluctuation display is started. This ordinary map fluctuation display starts flashing a predetermined number of LEDs of the LED display 25 in a predetermined pattern, and then stops flashing in either the "ordinary map hit" or "ordinary map miss" mode. If the predetermined number of LEDs are judged to be a "ordinary map hit", they stop flashing in the "ordinary map hit mode", and if they are judged to be a "ordinary map miss", they stop flashing in the "ordinary map miss mode". The required time for this ordinary map fluctuation display is obtained from the ordinary map fluctuation display time table in FIG. 5(c). This ordinary map fluctuation display time table assigns ordinary map fluctuation times to each of the "electric support state" and the "non-electric support state", and in the "electric support state", a shorter ordinary map fluctuation display time is obtained compared to the "non-electric support state".

3-1-3. Ordinary map play When the ordinary map variation display is stopped in the "ordinary map hit" mode, an ordinary map play pattern corresponding to the current game state is selected from the ordinary map play pattern table in Fig. 5 (d), and an ordinary map play is started with the selection result of the ordinary map play pattern. This ordinary map play is performed with the second start hole 23 in an open state, and in the "electric support state", the second start hole 23 is opened once for a long time (6 seconds) as an ordinary map play, and in the "non-electric support state", the second start hole 23 is opened once for a short time (1 second) as an ordinary map play.

3-2. Special figure 1 game 3-2-1. Acquisition of special figure 1 game data When the game ball enters the first starting hole 18 effectively, the value of the random number for determining whether or not the special pattern is hit, the value of the random number for determining the type of big win, the value of the random number for determining whether or not the ball is hit, and the value of the random number for the change pattern are acquired and stored in the RAM as a set of special figure 1 game data. As shown in FIG. 5(i), special figure 1 reserve areas 1 to 4 are set in this RAM, and the special figure 1 game data is stored in the order of acquisition in the order of "special figure 1 reserve area 4", "special figure 1 reserve area 3", "special figure 1 reserve area 2", and "special figure 1 reserve area 1". In other words, when special figure 1 game data is stored in all of the special figure 1 reserve areas 1 to 4, the special figure 1 game data in "special figure 1 reserve area 4" is the oldest, and the special figure 1 game data in "special figure 1 reserve area 1" is the newest. A state in which special chart 1 game data is stored in all of special chart 1 holding areas 1 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 1 reserved number being "4", a state in which special chart 1 game data is stored in three of special chart 1 holding areas 2 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 1 reserved number being "3", a state in which special chart 1 game data is stored in two of special chart 1 holding areas 3 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 1 reserved number being "2", a state in which special chart 1 game data is stored in one of special chart 1 holding areas 4 is referred to as the special chart 1 reserved number being "1", and a state in which special chart 1 game data is not stored in any of special chart 1 holding areas 1 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 1 reserved number being "0".

3-2-2. Special drawing 1 lottery When special drawing 1 game data is stored in the "special drawing 1 reserve area 4", the special drawing 1 lottery is performed on the condition that the current game is stopped. This game stop state refers to a state in which special drawing 1 game, special drawing 2 game, and jackpot game are all stopped, and the special drawing 1 lottery is allowed during normal game. This game stop state corresponds to a playable state, and a state in which any one of special drawing 1 game, special drawing 2 game, and jackpot game is being played corresponds to a non-playable state.

When special symbol 1 game data is stored in the "special symbol 1 reserve area 4" in the game stopped state, the stored value of the random number for determining whether the special symbol is a hit or a miss is detected from the "special symbol 1 reserve area 4", and in the "high probability state", a judgment result of either "hit" or "miss" is obtained from the jackpot judgment table for the high probability state in Figure 5 (e) depending on the detection result of the value of the random number for determining whether the special symbol is a hit or a miss, and in the "normal probability state", a judgment result of either "hit" or "miss" is obtained from the jackpot judgment table for the normal probability state depending on the detection result of the value of the random number for determining whether the special symbol is a hit or a miss. The probability of determining a hit in this "normal probability state" is set lower than the probability of determining a hit in the "high probability state".

When a "jackpot" determination result is obtained from the jackpot determination table, the storage result of the value of the random number for determining the jackpot type is detected from the "Special chart 1 reserved area 4", and the jackpot type according to the detection result of the value of the random number for determining the jackpot type is obtained from the Special chart 1 jackpot type table in Figure 5 (g). Two types of jackpot types, "jackpot pattern 1" and "jackpot pattern 2", are set in this Special chart 1 jackpot type table, and when "jackpot pattern 1" is obtained, "electric support state 1" and "high probability state" are set, and when "jackpot pattern 2" is obtained, "electric support state 2" and "normal probability state" are set.

When the type of jackpot is determined in response to the determination result of "jackpot", the storage result of the value of the fluctuation pattern random number is detected from the "Special Chart 1 Reserve Area 4", and the special chart fluctuation pattern and special chart fluctuation display time according to the detection result of the value of the fluctuation pattern random number are selected from the special chart 1 fluctuation pattern table of FIG. 6(a). When the determination result of "miss" is obtained, the storage result of the value of the fluctuation pattern random number is detected from the "Special Chart 1 Reserve Area 4", and the special chart fluctuation pattern and special chart fluctuation display time according to the detection result of the value of the fluctuation pattern random number are selected from the special chart 1 fluctuation pattern table of FIG. 6(a).

3-2-3. Falling lottery When the special chart change pattern and the special chart change display time are selected, the storage result of the value of the random number for fall judgment is detected from the "special chart 1 reserve area 4", and one of the judgment results of "falling" and "not falling" is selected from the fall judgment table in Fig. 5 (f) according to the detection result of the value of the random number for fall judgment. If "falling" is selected as the judgment result, if the current game state is a "high probability state", the "high probability state" is released, and the "normal probability state" is set instead of the "high probability state".

3-2-4. Special chart 1 variation display When the special chart variation pattern and special chart variation display time are selected, the special chart 1 variation display starts. This special chart 1 variation display is performed by making a predetermined number of LEDs of the LED display 25 start flashing in a predetermined pattern and then stopping the flashing. If the predetermined number of LEDs are determined to be a miss, they stop flashing in the form of "special chart 1 miss", and if they are determined to be a jackpot, they stop flashing in the form of "jackpot" according to the judgment result of the jackpot type. This flashing from start to stop takes a required time according to the selection result of the special chart variation display time.

3-2-5. Big Win Game When the predetermined LEDs of the LED display 25 stop flashing in a manner corresponding to the judgment result of the big win type, a big win game pattern corresponding to the judgment result of the big win type is selected from the big win game pattern table of FIG. 7(a), and the big win game starts with the selection result of the big win game pattern. This big win game allows the game ball to enter the big win opening 19 by opening and closing the big win opening 19, and corresponds to a special game. In this big win game pattern, an opening period is set before the start of the first round, and an ending period is set after the end of the final round. The opening period is a period in which the big win opening 19 is in a closed state, and is a waiting period for the big win opening 19 to change from a state in which the game ball cannot enter to a state in which the game ball can enter. The ending period is a period in which the big win opening 19 is in a closed state, and is a period in which the player is made aware of the end of the big win game. The period from the start of the opening period to the end of the ending period is called a big win game. This big win game corresponds to a special game.

In the jackpot game pattern table in FIG. 7(a), two types of patterns are set: "jackpot game pattern L" and "jackpot game pattern S". Each of these "jackpot game pattern L" and "jackpot game pattern S" consists of multiple rounds. In each round, the large prize entrance 19 is continuously opened until the time limit has elapsed, and then closed for a certain period of time. If the maximum number of game balls enter before the time limit has elapsed, the large prize entrance 19 is closed for a certain period of time without waiting for the time limit to elapse, and then the game ends. In other words, each of the "jackpot game pattern L" and "jackpot game pattern S" consists of multiple unit games, and the first round starts in response to the end of the opening period, and the ending period starts after the closing time has elapsed after the end of the final round. The jackpot game pattern L consists of 16 rounds, and is capable of paying out a large number of prize balls to the player. This jackpot game pattern L is performed when "jackpot pattern 1" or "jackpot pattern 2" is selected. The jackpot game pattern S consists of five rounds, and can pay out a small number of prize balls to the player. This jackpot game pattern S is played when "jackpot pattern 3" or "jackpot pattern 3" is selected in response to a jackpot being determined in the special drawing 2 lottery, but is not played if a jackpot is determined in the special drawing 1 lottery.

3-2-6. Updating the game state 3-2-6-1. High probability state and normal probability state When "jackpot symbol 2" is selected, the "normal probability state" is set when the jackpot game ends, as shown in Fig. 5(g), and when "jackpot symbol 1" is selected, the "high probability state" is set when the jackpot game ends. There is no limit set for the number of times this "high probability state" can continue, and the "high probability state" continues until "falling" is selected by lottery.

3-2-6-2. Electric support state and non-electric support state When "jackpot pattern 1" is selected, "electric support state 1" is set when the jackpot game ends. This "electric support state 1" is set to a limit of "100 times", and "electric support state 1" continues until the total of special chart 1 game and special chart 2 game reaches the limit number of times "100 times" when the "high probability state" falls to the "normal probability state" in response to "falling" being drawn before the total of special chart 1 game and special chart 2 game reaches the limit number of times "100 times", and when the total of special chart 1 game and special chart 2 game reaches the limit number of times "100 times", the "high probability state" falls to the "normal probability state" in response to "falling" being drawn, and is switched to the "non-electric support state". When "jackpot pattern 2" is selected, "electric support state 2" is set when the jackpot game ends. This "electric support state 2" has a limit of "100 times," and "electric support state 2" is switched to a "non-electric support state" when the total number of times that special chart 1 play and special chart 2 play reaches the limit.

3-2-6-3. Special chart 1 pre-reading When the acquisition result of the special chart 1 game data is stored in one of the special chart 1 reserve areas 1 to 4 in response to the game ball entering the first starting hole 18, a pre-determination of the win/loss, the pre-determination of the fluctuation pattern, the pre-determination of the fluctuation display time, and the pre-determination of the presence or absence of a fall are performed according to the acquisition result of the special chart 1 game data, and if the pre-determination result of the win/loss is a jackpot, a pre-determination of the jackpot type and a pre-determination of the game state are performed. These pre-determinations of the win/loss and the pre-determination of the jackpot type are performed in the above-mentioned procedure, and the pre-determination of the game state is performed according to the pre-determination result of the jackpot type when the pre-determination result of the win/loss is a jackpot. In other words, if the pre-determination result of the jackpot type is "jackpot pattern 1", "electric support state 1" and "high probability state" are pre-determined, and if it is "jackpot pattern 2", "electric support state 2" and "normal probability state" are pre-determined.

When a pre-determination of win/lose and a pre-determination of the game state are performed, the pre-determination result of win/lose and the pre-determination result of the game state are stored in the RAM as a set of special chart 1 look-ahead data. As shown in FIG. 5(i), special chart 1 look-ahead areas 1 to 4 are set in this RAM, and special chart 1 look-ahead data corresponding to the special chart 1 game data in the "special chart 1 reserved area 4" is stored in the "special chart 1 look-ahead area 4," special chart 1 look-ahead data corresponding to the special chart 1 game data in the "special chart 1 reserved area 3" is stored in the "special chart 1 look-ahead area 3," special chart 1 look-ahead data corresponding to the special chart 1 game data in the "special chart 1 reserved area 2" is stored in the "special chart 1 look-ahead area 2," and special chart 1 look-ahead data corresponding to the special chart 1 game data in the "special chart 1 reserved area 1" is stored in the "special chart 1 look-ahead area 1."

3-3. Special symbol 2 game 3-3-1. Acquisition of special symbol 2 game data When the game ball enters the second starting hole 23, the value of the random number for determining whether or not the special symbol is hit, the value of the random number for determining the type of big win, the value of the random number for determining whether or not the ball is hit, and the value of the random number for the change pattern are acquired and stored in RAM as a set of special symbol 2 game data. As shown in FIG. 5(j), special symbol 2 reserve areas 1 to 4 are set in this RAM, and the special symbol 2 game data is stored in the order of acquisition in the order of "special symbol 2 reserve area 4", "special symbol 2 reserve area 3", "special symbol 2 reserve area 2", and "special symbol 2 reserve area 1". A state in which special chart 2 game data is stored in all of these special chart 2 reserve areas 1 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 2 reserve number being "4", a state in which special chart 2 game data is stored in three of the special chart 2 reserve areas 2 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 2 reserve number being "3", a state in which special chart 2 game data is stored in two of the special chart 2 reserve areas 3 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 2 reserve number being "2", a state in which special chart 2 game data is stored in one of the special chart 2 reserve areas 4 is referred to as the special chart 2 reserve number being "1", and a state in which special chart 2 game data is not stored in any of the special chart 2 reserve areas 1 to 4 is referred to as the special chart 2 reserve number being "0".

3-3-2. Special drawing 2 lottery The special drawing 2 lottery is performed with priority over the special drawing 1 lottery, and when the special drawing 2 game data is stored in the "special drawing 2 reserve area 4", the special drawing 2 lottery is performed on the condition that the game is currently stopped. In other words, when both the special drawing 1 game data and the special drawing 2 game data exist, the special drawing 2 lottery is started according to the special drawing 2 game data, and the special drawing 1 lottery is started after all the special drawing 2 game data has been selected. This special drawing 2 lottery is performed by detecting the special drawing 2 game data from the "special drawing 2 reserve area 4" and according to the detection result of the special drawing 2 game data, and the big win judgment table in FIG. 5 (e) is used to judge whether or not the winning is won.

The special chart 2 jackpot type table in FIG. 5(h) is used to determine the jackpot type of special chart 2. This special chart 2 jackpot type table has "jackpot pattern 1", "jackpot pattern 3", and "jackpot pattern 4" set, and when either "jackpot pattern 1" or "jackpot pattern 3" is obtained, "electric support state 1" or "high probability state" is set, and when "jackpot pattern 4" is obtained, "electric support state 2" or "normal probability state" is set.

The special chart 2 variation pattern table 1 in FIG. 6(b) or the special chart 2 variation pattern table 2 in FIG. 6(c) is used to determine the special chart variation pattern and the special chart variation display time for the special chart 2. The special chart 2 variation pattern table 1 is used when the current game state is "electric support state 2" and when the number of continuations is 200 or less, and is different from the special chart 1 variation pattern table in that the special chart variation pattern "PH07" for time-saving and the special chart variation display time for time-saving "1000 msec" are given when a miss is determined. The special chart 2 variation pattern table 2 is used when the current game state is "electric support state 1" with the number of continuations being 201 or more, and is different from the special chart 2 variation pattern table 1 in that the special chart variation pattern "PH08" for super time-saving and the special chart variation display time for super time-saving "500 msec" are given when a miss is determined. The state in which the special chart fluctuation pattern is obtained from this special chart 2 fluctuation pattern table 2 is called the "super electric support state."

3-3-3. Falling lottery When the special chart change pattern and the special chart change display time are selected, the storage result of the value of the random number for fall judgment is detected from the "special chart 2 reserve area 4", and one of the judgment results of "falling" and "not falling" is selected from the fall judgment table in Fig. 5 (f) according to the detection result of the value of the random number for fall judgment. If "falling" is selected as the judgment result, if the current game state is a "high probability state", the "high probability state" is released, and the "normal probability state" is set instead of the "high probability state".

3-3-4. Special chart 2 variation display When the special chart variation pattern and special chart variation display time for special chart 2 are selected, the special chart 2 variation display is performed for the required time according to the selection result of the special chart variation display time. This special chart 2 variation display is performed by making the multiple LEDs for special chart 2 of the LED display 25 start flashing in a predetermined pattern and then stopping the flashing, and when it is determined that there is a miss, the LEDs for special chart 2 stop flashing in the form of "special chart 2 miss", and when it is determined that there is a jackpot, the flashing stops in the form according to the judgment result of the jackpot type.

When the LED for the special chart 2 of the LED display 25 stops flashing in a manner corresponding to the judgment result of the jackpot type, a jackpot game pattern corresponding to the judgment result of the jackpot type is selected from the jackpot game pattern table of FIG. 7(a), and the jackpot game is started with the selection result of the jackpot game pattern.
3-3-6. Updating the game state When either "jackpot pattern 1" or "jackpot pattern 3" is selected, "electric support state 1" and "high probability state" are set when the jackpot game ends, and when "jackpot pattern 4" is selected, "electric support state 2" and "normal probability state" are set when the jackpot game ends.

3-3-7. Special chart 2 pre-reading When the acquisition result of the special chart 2 game data is stored in one of the special chart 2 reserve areas 1-4 in response to the game ball entering the second starting hole 23, a pre-determination of the win/loss, the pre-determination of the fluctuation pattern, the pre-determination of the fluctuation display time, and the pre-determination of the presence or absence of a fall are performed according to the acquisition result of the special chart 2 game data, and if the pre-determination result of the win/loss is a jackpot, a pre-determination of the jackpot type and a pre-determination of the game state are performed. These pre-determinations of the win/loss and the game state are performed in the above-mentioned procedure, and the pre-determination result of the win/loss and the pre-determination result of the game state are stored in the RAM as a set of special chart 2 pre-reading data. As shown in Figure 5 (j), special chart 2 pre-reading areas 1 to 4 are set in this RAM, and special chart 2 pre-reading data corresponding to the special chart 2 game data in "special chart 2 reserve area 4" is stored in "special chart 2 pre-reading area 4", special chart 2 pre-reading data corresponding to the special chart 2 game data in "special chart 2 reserve area 3" is stored in "special chart 2 pre-reading area 3", special chart 2 pre-reading data corresponding to the special chart 2 game data in "special chart 2 reserve area 2" is stored in "special chart 2 pre-reading area 2", and special chart 2 pre-reading data corresponding to the special chart 2 game data in "special chart 2 reserve area 1" is stored in "special chart 2 pre-reading area 1".

4. Processing Functions of the Main Control Circuit 40 4-1. Main Processing When the power is turned on, the main control circuit 40 detects the main processing program in Fig. 7(b) from the ROM, and sets interrupt prohibition in S1. Then, in S2, it updates the values of the random numbers in Fig. 5(a), and sets interrupt permission in S3. The value of each of these random numbers is the current value to which "1" is added, and when it is added to the upper limit value, it is reset to "0" and added again.

4-2. Timer interrupt processing When the main control circuit 40 sets interrupt permission in S3, it allows the timer interrupt processing in S4 to start. This timer interrupt processing is executed at a fixed cycle, and the random number update processing in S3 is repeated during the waiting time from the end of the current timer interrupt processing to the start of the next timer interrupt processing.

Figure 8 shows the timer interrupt processing of the main control circuit 40, in which the main control circuit 40 sends the commands etc. set in the output buffer of the RAM in the previous timer interrupt processing to the sub-control circuit 60 in the output processing of S11 of the current timer interrupt processing. Then, in the random number update processing of S12, the values of the random numbers in Figure 5 (a) are updated, and in the sensor detection processing of S13, the presence or absence of signals from the first start hole sensor 41, the second start hole sensor 42, the normal map sensor 43, and the large prize hole sensor 44 is detected.

When the main control circuit 40 completes the sensor detection process in S13, it determines in S14 whether or not a signal from the regular symbol sensor 44 has been detected in the sensor detection process in S13. If it determines that a signal from the regular symbol sensor 44 has not been detected, it moves to S16, and if it determines that a signal from the regular symbol sensor 44 has been detected, it acquires the value of the random number for determining whether or not the regular symbol is a hit in the regular symbol game data acquisition process in S15, and moves to S16.

When the main control circuit 40 moves to S16, it judges whether or not the signal from the second start hole sensor 42 is detected in the sensor detection process of S13. If it judges that the signal from the second start hole sensor 42 is not detected, it moves to S19, and if it judges that the signal from the second start hole sensor 42 is detected, it compares the special chart 2 reserved number with "4". If it judges that the special chart 2 reserved number is "4", it moves to S19, and if it judges that the special chart 2 reserved number is less than "4", it acquires the special chart 2 game data in S17. Here, the acquisition result of the special chart 2 game data is stored in one of the special chart 2 reservation areas 1 to 4 according to the storage order, a special chart 2 reservation command is set in the output buffer, and it moves to S18. This special chart 2 reservation command notifies the sub control circuit 60 of the special chart 2 reserved number, and is sent to the sub control circuit 60 in the next timer interrupt process.

When the main control circuit 40 proceeds to S18, it performs a pre-determination of win/loss, pre-determination of the fluctuation pattern, pre-determination of the fluctuation display time, pre-determination of the type of jackpot, pre-determination of whether or not the ball will fall, and pre-determination of the game status on the results of the acquisition of the special chart 2 game data, and stores the pre-determination results of win/loss and game status as special chart 2 pre-read data in one of the special chart 2 pre-read areas 1 to 4 according to the storage order. Next, it sets the stored result of the special chart 2 pre-read data in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 81 in the next timer interrupt process, and proceeds to S19.

When the main control circuit 40 moves to S19, it judges whether or not the signal from the first start hole sensor 41 is detected in the sensor detection process of S13. If it judges that the signal from the first start hole sensor 41 is not detected, it moves to the normal drawing process of S22, the special drawing 2 process of S23, and the special drawing 1 process of S24 in order, and if it judges that the signal from the first start hole sensor 41 is detected, it compares the special drawing 1 reserved number with "4". If it judges that the special drawing 1 reserved number is "4", it moves to S22 to S24 in order, and if it judges that the special drawing 1 reserved number is less than "4", it acquires the special drawing 1 game data in S20. Here, the acquisition result of the special drawing 1 game data is stored in one of the special drawing 1 reserved areas 1 to 4 according to the storage order, and a special drawing 1 reserved command is set in the output buffer. This special drawing 1 reserved command notifies the sub control circuit 60 of the special drawing 1 reserved number, and is sent to the sub control circuit 60 in the next timer interrupt process.

When the main control circuit 40 stores the acquisition result of the special chart 1 game data in S20, it performs a pre-determination of win/loss, pre-determination of the fluctuation pattern, pre-determination of the fluctuation display time, pre-determination of the type of big win, pre-determination of the presence or absence of a fall, and pre-determination of the game state on the acquisition result of the special chart 1 game data in S21, and stores the pre-determination results of win/loss and game state as special chart 1 pre-read data in one of the special chart 1 pre-read areas 1 to 4 according to the storage order. Next, the storage result of the special chart 1 pre-read data is set in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60 in the next timer interrupt processing, and proceeds to S22 to S24 in order.
4-3. General map processing

The main control circuit 40 performs a win/loss determination based on the result of obtaining the value of the random number for determining whether the normal symbol is a hit or not in the normal symbol processing of S22, and selects a normal symbol change display time corresponding to the current game state from the normal symbol change display time table of FIG. 5 (c). Then, the result of the determination of whether the normal symbol is a hit or not is announced in response to executing the normal symbol change display based on the result of the selection of the normal symbol change display time. Here, when the result of the determination of "normal symbol hit" is announced, a normal symbol play pattern corresponding to the current game state is selected from the normal symbol play pattern table of FIG. 5 (d), and the game ball is allowed to enter the second starting hole 23 in response to playing a normal symbol game based on the result of the selection of the normal symbol play pattern.

4-4. Special chart 2 processing Figure 9 shows the special chart 2 processing of S23, in which the main control circuit 40 selectively executes the special chart 2 lottery processing of S31, the time reduction count update processing of S32, the fall judgment processing of S33, the special chart 2 fluctuation stop processing of S34, the jackpot game start processing of S35, the jackpot game in progress processing of S36, and the jackpot game stop processing of S37 according to the setting result of the value of the second pointer P2 of the RAM. The value of this second pointer P2 is initially set to "1" when the power is turned on.

4-4-1. Special chart 2 lottery processing When the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "1", the main control circuit 40 transitions to the special chart 2 lottery processing of S31. The value of this second pointer P2 is set to "1" in the game stop state, and the main control circuit 40 judges whether or not the special chart 2 game data is stored in the "special chart 2 reserve area 4" in the special chart 2 lottery processing of S31. If it is determined that the special chart 2 game data is not stored in the "special chart 2 reserve area 4", the special chart 2 lottery processing is terminated, and if it is determined that the special chart 2 game data is stored in the "special chart 2 reserve area 4", a hit/miss judgment, a fluctuation pattern judgment, and a fluctuation display time judgment are performed based on the special chart 2 game data in the "special chart 2 reserve area 4", and if the hit/miss judgment result is a jackpot, a jackpot type judgment is performed. Then, the results of the hit/miss determination, the results of the fluctuation pattern determination, and the results of the jackpot type determination are set in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60 as special chart 2 game data, and a fluctuation start command 2 is set in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60.

Figure 10 (b) shows the variation pattern selection process executed by the main control circuit 40 in S31, and the main control circuit 40 sets the results of the determination of the special chart variation pattern and the determination of the special chart variation display time in the variation pattern selection process in Figure 10 (b) in the output buffer of the RAM. This main control circuit 40 judges whether the current game state is a "super electric support state" or not in S31a. If it judges that the current game state is a "super electric support state", it selects the special chart variation pattern and the special chart variation display time from special chart 2 variation pattern table 2 in Figure 6 (c) in S31b, and if it judges that it is "electric support state 1" or "electric support state 2", it selects the special chart variation pattern and the special chart variation display time from special chart 2 variation pattern table 1 in Figure 6 (b) in S31c.

When the main control circuit 40 sets the output buffer of the RAM in S31 of FIG. 9(a), it starts the special chart variable display and organizes "special chart 2 reserve area 1" to "special chart 2 reserve area 4". This process erases the special chart 2 game data from "special chart 2 reserve area 4". When the special chart 2 game data is stored in "special chart 2 reserve area 3", the special chart 2 game data is shifted to "special chart 2 reserve area 4", when the special chart 2 game data is stored in "special chart 2 reserve area 2", the special chart 2 game data is shifted to "special chart 2 reserve area 3", when the special chart 2 game data is stored in "special chart 2 reserve area 1", the special chart 2 game data is shifted to "special chart 2 reserve area 2". When the main control circuit 40 organizes "special chart 2 reserve areas 1 to 4", it organizes "special chart 2 pre-reading area 1" to "special chart 2 pre-reading area 4" in the same procedure and sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "2".

4-4-2. Time-saving count update process When the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "2", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the time-saving count update process of S32. FIG. 10(a) shows the time-saving count update process, in which the main control circuit 40 judges whether the current game state is "electric support state 1", "electric support state 2", "super electric support state", or "non-electric support state" in S41. If it is determined that the current game state is "non-electric support state", the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "3" in S48, and if it is determined that the current game state is "electric support state 1", "electric support state 2", or "super electric support state", "1" is added to the value of the time-saving count counter in S42. The value of this time-saving count counter measures the number of times the electric support state continues, and when the main control circuit 40 adds the time-saving count counter, it sets a time-saving count command. This time-saving count command notifies the sub-control circuit 60 of the addition result of the value of the time-saving count counter as the number of times the electric support state continues, and when the main control circuit 40 sets the time-saving count command, in S43, it sets the setting result of the time-saving count command in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60, and then proceeds to S44.

When the main control circuit 40 proceeds to S44 in FIG. 10(a), it judges whether the current game state is "electric support state 1". If it judges that the current game state is "electric support state 1", it proceeds to S45 and compares the added result of the time-saving count counter with "201". If it judges that the value of the time-saving count counter is "201", it changes the current game state from "electric support state 1" to "super electric support state" in S46, and sets a super electric support command in the output buffer of the RAM in S47. This super electric support command notifies the sub control circuit 60 that the "super electric support state" has been set, and if the main control circuit 40 sets the super electric support command in S47, it sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "3" in S48.

When the main control circuit 40 determines in S44 of FIG. 10(a) that the current game state is not "electric support state 1," it determines in S49 whether the current game state is "electric support state 2." If it determines that the current game state is not "electric support state 2," it sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "3" in S48, and if it determines that the current game state is "electric support state 2," it compares the value of the time-saving count counter with the upper limit value "100" in S50. If it determines that the value of the time-saving count counter is not the upper limit value "100," it proceeds to S48 and sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "3."

When the main control circuit 40 determines in S50 of FIG. 10(a) that the value of the time-saving counter is the upper limit "100", it changes the current game state from "electric support state 2" to "non-electric support state" in S51, and sets an electric support cancel command in the output buffer of the RAM in S52. This electric support cancel command notifies the sub-control circuit 60 that the state has switched from "electric support state 2" to "non-electric support state", and when the main control circuit 40 sets the electric support cancel command in S52, it sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "3" in S48.

4-4-3. Fall judgment process When the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "3", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the fall judgment process of S33. Figure 11 shows the fall judgment process of S33, and the main control circuit 40 judges whether the current game state is a "high probability state" or not in S61. If it is determined that the current game state is a "normal probability state", the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "4" in S72, and if it is determined that the current game state is a "high probability state", it proceeds to S62. Here, the value of the fall judgment random number is detected from the "special chart 2 reserved area 4", and the judgment result according to the detection result of the value of the fall judgment random number is detected from the fall judgment table of Figure 5 (f).

When the main control circuit 40 detects the result of the judgment of whether or not a fall has occurred in S62, it judges whether or not the detection result is "fall has occurred" in S63. If it judges that the detection result is "no fall", it sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "4" in S72, and if it judges that the detection result is "fall has occurred", it sets the "normal probability state" in place of the "high probability state" in S64, and sets the fall command in the output buffer of the RAM to send to the sub-control circuit 60 in S65. This fall command notifies the sub-control circuit 60 that the "high probability state" has fallen to the "normal probability state", and is sent to the sub-control circuit 60 in the next timer interrupt process.

When the main control circuit 40 sets a fall command in the output buffer in S65, it determines whether the current game state is "electric support state 1" in S66. If it determines that the current game state is "electric support state 1", it compares the value of the time-saving count counter with "100" in S67. If it determines that the value of the time-saving count counter is less than "100", it changes "electric support state 1" to "electric support state 2" in S68, sets the electric support change command in the output buffer of the RAM to send it to the sub-control circuit 60 in S69, and sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "4" in S72. This electric support change command notifies the sub-control circuit 60 that "electric support state 1" has been switched to "electric support state 2", and is sent to the sub-control circuit 60 in the next timer interrupt process.

When the main control circuit 40 determines in S67 that the value of the time-saving counter is equal to or greater than "101", it changes the current game state from "electric support state 1" to "non-electric support state" in S70. Then, in S71, it sets an electric support change command in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60, and in S72 sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "4". This electric support cancellation command notifies the sub-control circuit 60 that "electric support state 1" has been switched to "non-electric support state", and is sent to the sub-control circuit 60 in the next timer interrupt process.

If the current game state is the "super electric support state", the main control circuit 40 determines in S66 that the current game state is not the "electric support state 1", and changes the current game state from "electric support state 1" to the "non-electric support state" in S70. Then, in S71, the electric support change command is set in the output buffer of the RAM, and in S72, the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "4". In other words, if it is determined that a fall has occurred in the "high probability state" or "electric support state 1" where the value of the time-saving count counter is "100" or less, the low probability state is set, but the electric support state continues, and if it is determined that a fall has occurred in the "high probability state" or "electric support state 1" where the value of the time-saving count counter is "101" or more, the "low probability state" or "non-electric support state" is set.

4-4-4. Special chart 2 variation stop processing When the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "4", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the special chart 2 variation stop processing of S34 in FIG. 9. Here, the timer value is added, and the addition result of the timer value is compared with the judgment result of the special chart variation display time. Here, if the addition result of the timer value has not reached the judgment result of the special chart variation display time, the special chart 2 variation stop processing is terminated, and if the addition result of the timer value has reached the judgment result of the special chart variation display time, the special chart variation display is stopped in a manner according to the judgment result of the hit or miss, and the variation stop command 2 is set to the output buffer to send to the sub-control circuit 60. Then, if the judgment result of the hit or miss is "miss", the value of the second pointer P2 is initially set to "1", and if the judgment result of the hit or miss is "jackpot", the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "5".

4-4-5. Big Win Game Start Processing When the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "5", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the big win game start processing of S35 in Fig. 9. Here, the big win game is started with a big win game pattern according to the result of the big win type determination, a big win game start command is set in the output buffer to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60, and the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "6".

4-4-6. Processing during jackpot game When the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "6", the main control circuit 40 moves to the processing during jackpot game of S36 in FIG. 9, and proceeds with the jackpot game according to the set result of the jackpot game pattern. The main control circuit 40 sets a round start command in the output buffer every time a round is started in the jackpot game, and transmits it to the sub-control circuit 60. This round start command notifies which round the current round is, and the main control circuit 40 sets a round stop command in the output buffer every time a round is stopped in the jackpot game, and transmits it to the sub-control circuit 60. When the main control circuit 40 has proceeded to the end of the jackpot game pattern, it ends the jackpot game, sets a jackpot game end command in the output buffer to be transmitted to the sub-control circuit 60, and sets the value of the second pointer P2 to "7".

4-4-7. Big Win Game Stop Processing When the value of the second pointer P2 is set to "7", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the big win game stop processing of S37 and detects the result of the judgment of the big win type. Here, if the judgment result of the big win type is "Big Win Pattern 1" or "Big Win Pattern 3", the game state is set to "High Probability State" and "Electric Support State 1", the value of the time-saving count update counter is reset to "0", and the value of the second pointer P2 is initially set to "1". Then, the "high probability command", "electric support command 1", and the time-saving count command 0 are set in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60. This time-saving count command 0 notifies the sub-control circuit 60 that the number of times the electric support state continues is "0 times", the "high probability command" notifies the sub-control circuit 60 of the setting of the "high probability state", and the "electric support command 1" notifies the setting of the electric support state 1, which may continue beyond "100 times".

When the result of the jackpot type determination is "jackpot pattern 4", the main control circuit 40 sets the game state to "normal probability state" and "electric support state 2", resets the value of the time-saving count update counter to "0", and initializes the value of the second pointer P2 to "1". Then, it sets the "normal probability command", "electric support command 2", and time-saving count command 0 in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60. This "normal probability command" notifies the sub-control circuit 60 of the setting of the "normal probability state", and the "electric support command 2" notifies the setting of electric support state 2 with a limit of "100 times".

4-5. Special chart 1 processing Figure 12 shows the special chart 1 processing of S24, in which the main control circuit 40 selectively executes the special chart 1 lottery processing of S81, the time reduction count update processing of S82, the fall judgment processing of S83, the special chart 1 fluctuation stop processing of S84, the jackpot game start processing of S85, the jackpot game in progress processing of S86, and the jackpot game stop processing of S87 according to the setting result of the value of the first pointer P1 of the RAM. The value of this first pointer P1 is initially set to "1" when the power is turned on.

4-5-1. Special drawing 1 lottery processing When the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "1", the main control circuit 40 transitions to the special drawing 1 lottery processing of S81. The value of this first pointer P1 is set to "1" in the game stop state, and the main control circuit 40 judges whether or not the special drawing 1 game data is stored in the "special drawing 1 reserve area 4" in the special drawing 1 lottery processing of S71. If it is determined that the special drawing 1 game data is not stored in the "special drawing 1 reserve area 4", the special drawing 1 lottery processing is terminated, and if it is determined that the special drawing 1 game data is stored in the "special drawing 1 reserve area 4", it is determined whether or not the special drawing 2 game data is stored in the "special drawing 2 reserve area 4".

When the main control circuit 40 determines that the special chart 2 game data is stored in the "special chart 2 reserve area 4", it ends the special chart 1 lottery process, and when it determines that the special chart 2 game data is not stored in the "special chart 2 reserve area 4", it performs a win/lose judgment, a fluctuation pattern judgment, and a fluctuation display time judgment based on the special chart 1 game data in the "special chart 1 reserve area 4" in S81, and if the win/lose judgment result is a jackpot, it performs a jackpot type judgment. These fluctuation pattern judgments and fluctuation display time judgments are performed according to the special chart 1 fluctuation pattern table in FIG. 6 (a), and the main control circuit 40 sets the win/lose judgment result, the fluctuation pattern judgment result, and the jackpot type judgment result to the output buffer of the RAM to send them to the sub-control circuit 60 as special chart 1 game data, sets the fluctuation start command 1 to the output buffer of the RAM to send it to the sub-control circuit 60, and sets the special chart 1 reserve command to the output buffer of the RAM to send it to the sub-control circuit 60. This special chart 1 reserve command notifies the sub-control circuit 60 of the number of reserved special charts 1.

When the main control circuit 40 sets the change start command 1, etc., it starts the special chart change display and then organizes "Special Chart 1 Reserve Area 1" to "Special Chart 1 Reserve Area 4". This process is performed in the same manner as "Special Chart 2 Reserve Areas 1 to 4", and the main control circuit 40 also organizes "Special Chart 1 Preview Areas 1 to 4" in the same manner, and then sets the value of the first pointer P1 to "2". In other words, the special chart 1 lottery process is given a lower priority than the special chart lottery 2 process, and if the special chart 2 reserved number is not "0", the special chart 2 lottery process is performed with priority over the special chart 1 lottery process, and when the special chart 2 reserved number becomes "0", the special chart 1 lottery process starts.

4-5-2. Time-saving count update process When the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "2", the main control circuit 40 executes the time-saving count update process of FIG. 10(a) in S82 and sets the value of the first pointer P1 to "3".
4-5-3. Fall Determination Processing When the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "3", the main control circuit 40 executes the fall determination processing of Fig. 11 in S83 and sets the value of the first pointer P1 to "4".
4-5-4. Special chart 1 variation stop processing When the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "4", the main control circuit 40 transitions to the special chart 1 variation stop processing of S84 in Fig. 12, and when the sum of the timer value reaches the judgment result of the special chart variation display time, the special chart 1 variation display is stopped in a manner according to the result of the hit/miss judgment, and the output buffer is set to send the variation stop command 1 to the sub-control circuit 60. Then, when the hit/miss judgment result is "miss", the value of the first pointer P1 is initially set to "1", and when the hit/miss judgment result is "jackpot", the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "5".

4-5-5. Big Win Game Start Processing When the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "5", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the big win game start processing of S85. Here, the big win game is started with a big win game pattern according to the result of the big win type determination, a big win game start command is set in the output buffer to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60, and the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "6".
4-5-6. Processing during jackpot game When the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "6", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the processing during jackpot game of S86, and proceeds with the jackpot game according to the set result of the jackpot game pattern. The main control circuit 40 sets a round start command in the output buffer every time a round is started in the jackpot game, and transmits it to the sub-control circuit 60. The main control circuit 40 sets a round stop command in the output buffer every time a round is stopped in the jackpot game, and transmits it to the sub-control circuit 60. When the final round is stopped in the jackpot game, the main control circuit 40 sets a final round stop command in the output buffer and transmits it to the sub-control circuit 60. When the main control circuit 40 proceeds with the jackpot game to the end of the jackpot game pattern, it ends the jackpot game, sets a jackpot game end command in the output buffer to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60, and sets the value of the first pointer P1 to "7".

4-5-7. Jackpot Game Stop Processing When the value of the first pointer P1 is set to "7", the main control circuit 40 proceeds to the jackpot game stop processing of S87 and detects the jackpot type judgment result. If the jackpot type judgment result is "jackpot pattern 1", the game state is set to "high probability state" and "electric support state 1", the time-saving count update counter value is reset to "0", and the first pointer P1 value is initially set to "1". Then, the "high probability command", "electric support command 1", and the time-saving count command 0 are set in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60. If the jackpot type judgment result is "jackpot pattern 2", the main control circuit 40 sets the game state to "normal probability state" and "electric support state 2", resets the time-saving count update counter value to "0", and initially sets the second pointer P1 value to "1". Then, the "normal probability command", "electric support command 2", and time-saving count command 0 are set in the output buffer of the RAM to be sent to the sub-control circuit 60.

5. Explanation of the Game Mode The game flow in FIG. 13(a) shows the transition of the game state, and FIG. 13(b) and (c) show the relationship between the game mode and the presentation mode. When the power is turned on, the normal game mode is set. This normal game mode is a "low probability state" and a "non-electric support state", and in the normal game mode, a left-hitting image that encourages the player to hit the game ball to the left is displayed on the presentation pattern display 28. When the player hits the game ball to the left according to this left-hitting image, the game ball enters the first start hole 18, and when it is determined that a jackpot has been hit in response to the game ball entering the first start hole 18, a low-probability time-saving mode or a high-probability time-saving mode is set.

The low-probability time-saving mode is a state in which the "low probability state" and "electric support state 2" are set, and is set when the "jackpot pattern 2" is selected in response to a jackpot being determined in the normal play mode. The high-probability time-saving mode is a state in which the "high probability state" and "electric support state 1" are set, and is set when the "jackpot pattern 1" is selected in response to a jackpot being determined in the normal play mode. In each of these low-probability time-saving mode and high-probability time-saving mode, a right-hit image that encourages the player to hit the game ball to the right is displayed on the performance pattern display 28. When the player hits the game ball to the right in accordance with this right-hit image, the game ball passes through the normal game start hole 22, and the second start hole 23 is frequently opened for a long time in response to a high probability of hitting being determined. For this reason, the special chart 2 reserved number is generated to be in the "3 to 4" state for a long period of time in response to the game balls entering the second starting hole 23 at short time intervals, and the special chart variable display time for time saving of "1000 msec" is frequently obtained from the special chart 2 variable pattern table 1 in FIG. 6(b). Therefore, in each of the low-probability time-saving mode and the high-probability time-saving mode, the process of determining whether or not a jackpot has been won is repeated at short time intervals compared to the normal game mode, increasing the probability of winning the next jackpot with fewer game balls consumed. In other words, each of the low-probability time-saving mode and the high-probability time-saving mode is in a state that is more advantageous to the player than the normal game mode.

In the low-probability time-saving mode, the game ball is hit from the right, and if the total number of times that the special drawing number 1 and the special drawing number 2 (actually, only the special drawing number 2) reaches the limit number of times "100 times" without being judged as a jackpot in the low-probability time-saving mode, the "non-electric support state" is set instead of the "electric support state 2", and the game mode transitions to the normal game mode. If the "jackpot pattern 4" is selected in response to the fact that the total number of times that the special drawing number 1 and the special drawing number 2 are judged as a jackpot before reaching the limit number of times "100 times" in this low-probability time-saving mode, the low-probability time-saving mode is repeated, and if the "jackpot pattern 1" or "jackpot pattern 3" is selected, the game transitions to the high-probability time-saving mode. In this high-probability time-saving mode, the game ball is hit from the right, and if the "jackpot pattern 4" is selected in response to the fact that the jackpot is judged as a jackpot, the low-probability time-saving mode is set, and if the "jackpot pattern 1" or "jackpot pattern 3" is selected, the high-probability time-saving mode is set. This high-probability time-saving mode is a state that is determined to be a jackpot with a higher probability than the low-probability time-saving mode, and is a state that is more advantageous to the player than the low-probability time-saving mode, and the degree of advantage to the player is higher in the "high probability state" than in the "electric support state."

In high probability time-saving mode, the presence or absence of a fall is judged each time a special chart 1 drawing and a special chart 2 drawing are performed, and if it is judged that a fall has occurred when the total number of special chart 1 drawing and special chart 2 drawing does not exceed the limit number of times "100 times", a "low probability state" and "electric support state 2" are set, and the game moves from high probability time-saving mode to low probability time-saving mode. In this high probability time-saving mode, if it is judged that a fall has occurred when the total number of times of special chart 1 drawing and special chart 2 drawing exceeds the limit number of times "100 times", a "low probability state" and "non-electric support state" are set, and the game falls from high probability time-saving mode to normal play mode all at once.

When the total number of times the special chart 1 and special chart 2 are drawn reaches the limit of 201 times without being judged as "falling" in the high probability time-saving mode, the "high probability state" and "super electric support state" are set. In this high probability super time-saving mode, the shortest special chart change display time for super time-saving "500 msec" is frequently obtained from the special chart 2 change pattern table 2 in Figure 6 (c). Therefore, in the high probability super time-saving mode, the process of determining whether or not a jackpot has been won is repeated at shorter time intervals than in the high probability time-saving mode, so the probability of winning the next jackpot with fewer game balls consumed is increased. In other words, the high probability super time-saving mode is a state that is more advantageous to the player than the high probability time-saving mode, and when it is judged as "falling" in the high probability time-saving mode, the player falls from the high probability super time-saving mode to the normal game mode in one go. This super electric support state corresponds to the time-saving state.

6. Description of the Presentation Mode The presentation mode is a mode in which a background image is specified as the presentation content when the image of the presentation pattern game is displayed, and the presentation modes include a normal mode, a chance mode, a speed mode, and a super speed mode. The normal mode is a presentation mode when the normal game mode is set, and in the normal mode, as shown in FIG. 14(a), a normal background image imitating a cityscape is displayed in the display area E of the presentation pattern display 28. The chance mode is a common presentation mode when the low probability time-saving mode and the high probability time-saving mode are set, and in the chance mode, as shown in FIG. 14(b), a chance background image imitating four women is displayed in the display area E of the presentation pattern display 28. The speed mode is a mode that is shifted from the chance mode when the total number of times of drawing the special pattern 1 and the special pattern 2 exceeds the limit number of times "100 times" in the setting state of the high probability time-saving mode, and in the speed mode, as shown in FIG. 14(c), a speed background image imitating an ancient land is displayed in the display area E of the presentation pattern display 28. The super speed mode is entered from the speed mode when the high probability time-saving mode is set and the total number of times that the special chart 1 and special chart 2 are drawn exceeds the limit of 200 times. In the super speed mode, as shown in Figure 14 (d), an image in which a "Rush" caption image is superimposed on a speed background image is displayed in the display area E of the performance pattern display 28 as a super speed background image.

6-1. Behavior of the Presentation Mode Figure 13 (b) shows the behavior of the presentation mode when the jackpot pattern 2 or jackpot pattern 4 is selected in response to a jackpot determination. In this case, the chance mode is set in response to the low probability time-saving mode being set at the end of the jackpot game, and the chance background image is displayed from the first presentation pattern game. In this state, if a total of 100 special chart 1 and special chart 2 lotteries are performed without a jackpot being determined, the normal game mode is set, and the normal mode is set in response to the setting of the normal game mode, and the normal background image is displayed from the 101st presentation pattern game.

Figure 13(c) shows the behavior of the presentation mode when jackpot pattern 1 or jackpot pattern 3 is selected in response to a judgement of a jackpot. In this case, the chance mode is set in response to the high probability time-saving mode being set at the end of the jackpot play, and the chance background image is displayed from the first presentation pattern play. In this state, if it is judged that a fall has occurred before a total of 100 special pattern 1 and special pattern 2 draws have been performed, the low probability time-saving mode is set as the play mode, but as shown in the upper part of Figure 13(c), the chance background image continues to be displayed in response to the continuation of the chance mode as the presentation mode. Then, the normal mode is set from the 101st presentation pattern play, and the normal background image is displayed.

The lower part of Figure 13(c) shows the behavior of the presentation mode when a total of 100 or more special chart 1 and special chart 2 drawings are performed without a fall being determined while the chance mode is set according to the high probability time-saving mode. In this case, the speed mode is set from the 101st presentation pattern play, and a speed background image is displayed, giving the player the impression that they have been promoted to the high probability time-saving mode. If this determination of no fall continues for more than 200 times, the super speed mode is set according to the setting of the high probability super time-saving mode, and the super speed background image is displayed from the next 201st play. If a fall is determined to have occurred while the super speed mode or speed mode is set, the normal mode is set according to the setting of the normal play mode, and the normal background image is displayed from the next play.

6-2. Performance symbol game The performance symbol game image is started by the sub-control circuit 60 in synchronization with the start of the special symbol 1 variable display or the special symbol 2 variable display, and ends in synchronization with the end of the special symbol 1 variable display or the special symbol 2 variable display. This performance symbol game image is displayed superimposed on the background image corresponding to the performance mode, and in normal mode, it is displayed superimposed on the normal background image. This performance symbol game image is displayed superimposed on the chance background image in chance mode, superimposed on the speed background image in speed mode, and super speed background image in super speed mode. This performance symbol game image corresponds to the image of the pattern game.

The image of the effect pattern game is a scrolling and stopped state of three horizontal rows of effect patterns consisting of the numbers "1" to "9", from the left, middle, and right columns, and the scrolling display of each row is performed in ascending order from "1" to "2" ... "9", and then it repeats by returning from "9" to "1". The scrolling display of each column stops at one of "1" to "9", and the odd numbers "1, 3, 5, 7, 9" of each column are set to the color red, and the even numbers "2, 4, 6, 8" of each column are set to the color blue. Each of the effect patterns of the left column, the middle column, and the right column corresponds to a pattern element, the effect patterns of the three columns correspond to identification patterns, the scrolling state corresponds to a changing state, the stopped scrolling state corresponds to a changing stopped state, and the effect pattern game corresponds to a pattern game.

There are three types of combinations when the three-column scroll display is stopped: "jackpot combination," "miss reach combination," and "complete miss combination." A jackpot combination is a combination in which the three columns are identical to each other, and is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits a special chart variation pattern for a jackpot (PO01-PO05). A miss reach combination is a combination in which the left and right columns are identical to each other and the middle column is different, and is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits a special chart variation pattern for a miss (PH01-PH05). A complete miss combination is a combination in which the left and right columns are different, and is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits a special chart variation pattern for a miss (PH06-PH08). This jackpot combination corresponds to a winning mode, and the miss reach combination and the complete miss combination each correspond to a missing mode. This miss reach combination corresponds to a missing mode, and the jackpot combination corresponds to a winning mode.

Figure 14 (e) is a list of the effects of the effect symbol game, and there are five types of effects set for the effect symbol game: "normal effect", "all symbols stop at the same time effect", "normal reach effect", "special reach effect", and "ultra-time-saving effect". The normal effect is started by "start of the three-column scrolling display", and "stop of the scrolling display" is set in the order of "left column", "right column", and "middle column". This normal effect is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits the special symbol variation pattern PH06 for a miss, and as shown in Figures 15 (a) (b) (c) (d), in the normal effect, the three-column scrolling display stops in the order of "left column", "right column", and "middle column", completing a "complete miss combination".

As shown in FIG. 14(e), the simultaneous stop of all charts is started by "start of three-column scroll display", and "stop of scroll display" is set for three columns at the same time. This "simultaneous stop of all charts" is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits the special chart change pattern PH07 for misses in response to the number of reserved special charts 1 or reserved special charts 2 being "3 to 4". In the "simultaneous stop of all charts" performance, as shown in FIG. 15(a)(d), the three columns of scroll display stop at the same time, completing a "complete miss combination". This simultaneous stop of all charts performance ends in the shortest time (1000 msec) of the special chart change display time for the low probability time-saving mode and the high probability time-saving mode, and the change display time is shortened in response to the high probability of selecting "special chart change pattern PH07" in the low probability time-saving mode and the high probability time-saving mode.

As shown in FIG. 14(e), the normal reach effect begins with the "start of three-column scrolling display," and is set to "slow scrolling speed" before "stopping scrolling display" for the "middle column." This normal reach effect is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits the special chart change pattern PH05 for a miss and the special chart change pattern PO05 for a jackpot. As shown in FIG. 16(a), (b), and (c), in the "normal reach effect," when the "stopping of scrolling display" is performed in the order of the "left column" and "right column," the "left column" and "right column" are in the same reach state, and the scrolling display of the "middle column" is switched from normal speed to low speed in the reach state.

In the "normal reach presentation" for a miss, the scrolling display of the "middle row" stops with a different presentation pattern than the "left row" and "right row", and in the "normal reach presentation" for a miss, the miss-reach combination is completed when the scrolling display of the final "middle row" stops, as shown in FIG. 16(e). In the "normal reach presentation" for a jackpot, the scrolling display of the "middle row" stops with the same presentation pattern as the "left row" and "right row", and in the "normal reach presentation" for a jackpot, the jackpot combination is completed when the scrolling display of the final "middle row" stops, as shown in FIG. 16(d).

As shown in FIG. 14(e), the special reach effect begins with the "start of three-column scrolling display," and is set with a "decrease in scrolling speed" before the "stop of scrolling display" for the "middle column." This special reach effect is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits special chart change patterns PH01-PH04 for misses and special chart change patterns PO01-PO04 for big wins. In the "special reach effect," a reach state occurs when the "stop of scrolling display" is performed in the order of the "left column" and then the "right column," and the scrolling display of the "middle column" is switched from normal speed to low speed in the reach state. This special reach effect corresponds to a specific effect.

As shown in Figure 14 (e), the special reach effect is set by "reducing the scroll speed" for the "middle row" followed by "removing three rows," and in this special reach effect, three rows of performance symbols are removed in the reach state. This special reach effect is set by "removing three rows" followed by "displaying a battle image." Figure 17 shows battle images BL1 to BL4. Each of these battle images BL1 to BL4 begins with the three rows of performance symbols removed, and is set to show the silhouette of a woman fighting an enemy dinosaur.

As shown in FIG. 17(a), the enemy in battle image BL1 is set to "dinosaur D1." This battle image BL1 is set to show dinosaur D1 fighting with a female silhouette W, and is displayed when the main control circuit 40 transmits "special chart fluctuation pattern PO01" for a jackpot and "special chart fluctuation pattern PH01" for a miss. As shown in FIG. 17(b), the enemy in battle image BL2 is set to "dinosaur D2," and is displayed when the main control circuit 40 transmits "special chart fluctuation pattern PO02" for a jackpot and "special chart fluctuation pattern PH02" for a miss.

As shown in FIG. 17(c), the enemy in the battle image BL3 is set to "Dinosaur D3", and is displayed when the main control circuit 40 transmits the "Special chart fluctuation pattern PO03" for a jackpot and when the main control circuit 40 transmits the "Special chart fluctuation pattern PH03" for a miss. As shown in FIG. 17(d), the enemy in the battle image BL4 is set to "Dinosaur D4", and is displayed when the main control circuit 40 transmits the "Special chart fluctuation pattern PO04" for a jackpot and when the main control circuit 40 transmits the "Special chart fluctuation pattern PH04" for a miss. The reliability of a jackpot for these battle images BL1 to BL4 is set in the order of "Battle image BL4", "Battle background BL3", "Battle image BL2", and "Battle image BL1" (see FIG. 6).

Each of the battle images BL1 to BL4 has two possible endings: a winning ending and a losing ending. As shown in FIG. 17(e), a winning ending suggests that the female protagonist's silhouette W has won, and is displayed when the "special chart fluctuation pattern PO01 to PO04" for a jackpot is sent. As shown in FIG. 17(f), a losing ending suggests that the female protagonist's silhouette W has lost, and is displayed when the "special chart fluctuation pattern PH01 to PH04" for a miss is sent.

As shown in Figure 14 (e), the special reach performance is set to "display of a battle image" followed by "three rows of still images." As shown in Figure 17 (e), in the special reach performance for a jackpot, after the protagonist wins a fight in each of the battle images BL1 to BL4, three rows of performance symbols are displayed in a jackpot combination after a victory ending, and in the special reach performance for a loss, as shown in Figure 17 (f), after the protagonist loses a fight in each of the battle images L1 to BL4, three rows of performance symbols are displayed in a loss ending combination.

The super time-saving effect is a special effect that is only displayed in the high probability super time-saving mode, and is set by the sub-control circuit 60 when the main control circuit 40 transmits the special chart fluctuation pattern PH08 for misses in the high probability super time-saving mode. This super time-saving effect ends in the shortest time (500 msec) compared to the all charts simultaneous stop effect, and in the high probability super time-saving mode, the fluctuation display time is further shortened in response to the high probability of the selection of "special chart fluctuation pattern PH08". As shown in Figure 14 (e), this super time-saving effect begins with the "start of three-column scrolling display", and the stopping order of the scrolling display is set to "left column", "middle column", and "right column", which are different from all other effects.

Figure 18 shows an image of the super time-saving effect. The super time-saving effect starts with an image in which the left column effect pattern, the middle column effect pattern, and the right column effect pattern simultaneously move downward from the initial position at the top of the liquid crystal screen of the effect pattern display 28 at the same speed, as shown in Figure 18 (a). These three columns of effect patterns are displayed in the order of left column → middle column → right column, and in the stopped state, they form a completely wrong combination with an upward inclination from right to left. This super time-saving effect displays the three columns of effect patterns in a diagonal arrangement different from all the remaining effects in a scrolling stopped state. The image of this super time-saving effect is displayed superimposed in front of the super speed background image, and has an announcement image A1 of "right hit" and an announcement image A2 of time-saving information. The announcement image A1 encourages the player to hit right, and the announcement image A2 notifies the player of the number of times that the electric support state 1 has continued in numerical value.

6-3. Reserve performance The reserve performance is a performance that displays the reserved number of special chart 1 or the reserved number of special chart 2. The reserved number of special chart 1 is displayed in normal mode, and the reserved number of special chart 2 is displayed in chance mode, speed mode, and super speed mode, and the reserved number of special chart 1 and the reserved number of special chart 2 are notified to the player as the number of cloud images C as shown in FIG.

6-4. Jackpot Game Presentation The jackpot game presentation displays a background image for the jackpot game presentation within the display area E of the presentation symbol display 28, and begins when the jackpot game starts and ends when the jackpot game ends. Figure 18(c) shows a background image for the jackpot game presentation. This background image consists of an image of two dancing female silhouettes, and a "hit right" announcement image A1 is displayed superimposed in front of the background image for the jackpot game presentation, encouraging the player to hit right.

6-5. Prize ball acquisition presentation During the jackpot game presentation, a prize ball acquisition presentation is performed. This prize ball acquisition presentation displays prize ball acquisition information superimposed on the background image for the jackpot game presentation, and is performed in presentation pattern 1 in a 5-round jackpot game and in presentation pattern 2 in a 16-round jackpot game. This prize ball acquisition information counts up the number of prize balls that the player can acquire in the currently ongoing jackpot game from an initial value to an end value. The initial value of this prize ball acquisition information is set to "0" in each of presentation patterns 1 and 2, and the end value of the prize ball acquisition information is set to "400" in presentation pattern 1 and to "1280" in presentation pattern 2.

The count-up display of the prize ball acquisition information is performed as the rounds progress. The update unit of this prize ball acquisition information is set to "80/1 round", and in presentation pattern 1, the prize ball acquisition information is displayed as a count-up of "80" per round from the initial value "0" to the final value "400", and in presentation pattern 2, the prize ball acquisition information is displayed as a count-up of "80" per round from the initial value "0" to the final value "1280". During this jackpot game, a display area E1 is set on the presentation pattern display 28, and the prize ball acquisition information is displayed as a count-up in the display area E1, as shown in FIG. 18(c).

6-6. Step-up preview performance 1
Step-up notice performance 1 is executed when the normal mode is set as the performance mode. This step-up notice performance 1 suggests to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be a big hit combination in the current performance symbol game, and as shown in Figure 19 (a), it has three steps, step 1, step 2, and step 3. This step-up notice performance 1 corresponds to a notice performance, and each of steps 1 to 3 corresponds to a unit performance.

Step 1 begins after the scrolling display of three rows of effect symbols has begun in the current effect symbol game, and ends in the three-row scrolling state before the left row of effect symbols stops scrolling in the current effect symbol game. This step 1 indicates to the player that a reach state has occurred, and as shown in FIG. 19(b), three types of dialogue images 11 to 13 are set in step 1. As shown in FIG. 20, each of the dialogue images 11 to 13 is displayed superimposed in front of the three rows of effect symbols, and the three rows of effect symbols become invisible to the player in response to the display of each of the dialogue images 11 to 13. Each of these dialogue images 11 to 13 is displayed with step information 1 of "step 1" attached, and step information 1 corresponds to an identification image.

As shown in FIG. 20, the dialogue image 11 is set to include the text image "Reach!!" (see b), the dialogue image 12 is set to include the text image "Reach??" (see c), and the dialogue image 13 is set to include the text image "Oh???" (see d). These dialogue images 11 to 13 are assigned different reliability levels for the occurrence of a reach state, and as shown in FIG. 19(b), the reliability level of the reach of the dialogue image 11 is set to the highest among the dialogue images 11 to 13, the reliability level of the reach of the dialogue image 12 is set to the second highest among the dialogue images 11 to 13, and the reliability level of the reach of the dialogue image 13 is set to the lowest among the dialogue images 11 to 13.

Step 2 of step-up preview performance 1 starts immediately after step 1, and as shown in Figures 21(a) and (e), if step-up preview performance 1 ends at step 1 without progressing from step 1 to step 2, then dialogue images 11 to 13 are erased from performance pattern display 28, and the player can once again see the scrolling display of three rows of performance patterns. This scrolling display of three rows of performance patterns corresponds to an image that is different from all of the preview images. This step 2 indicates to the player that a special reach performance will occur, and three types of dialogue images, dialogue images 21 to 23, are set for step 2.

Each of the dialogue images 21 to 23 is displayed superimposed in front of the three rows of effect symbols as shown in FIG. 21, and the three rows of effect symbols become invisible to the player as each of the dialogue images 21 to 23 is displayed. Each of these dialogue images 21 to 23 is displayed with step information 2 of "Step 2" attached, and step information 2 corresponds to an identification image. Dialogue image 21 is set to include the text image "Dinosaur arrival!!" (see b), dialogue image 22 is set to include the text image "Dinosaur standby?" (see c), and dialogue image 23 is set to include the text image "Dinosaur???" (see d). These dialogue images 21 to 23 are assigned different degrees of reliability for the occurrence of the special reach effect, and as shown in FIG. 19(c), the reliability of the special reach effect of dialogue image 21 is set to the highest among dialogue images 21 to 23, the reliability of the special reach effect of dialogue image 22 is set to the second highest among dialogue images 21 to 23, and the reliability of the special reach effect of dialogue image 23 is set to the lowest among dialogue images 21 to 23.

Step 3 of step-up preview performance 1 starts immediately after step 2, and as shown in Figures 22(a) and (e), if step-up preview performance 1 ends at step 2 without progressing from step 2 to step 3, the dialogue images 21 to 23 are erased from the performance pattern display 28, and the scrolling display of the three columns of performance patterns becomes visible to the player again. This step 3 indicates to the player that a jackpot has occurred, and three types of dialogue images, dialogue images 31 to 33, are set for step 3.

Each of the dialogue images 31 to 33 is displayed superimposed in front of the three rows of effect symbols as shown in FIG. 22, and the three rows of effect symbols become invisible to the player as each of the dialogue images 31 to 33 is displayed. Each of these dialogue images 31 to 33 is displayed with step information 3 of "Step 3" attached, and step information 3 corresponds to an identification image. Dialogue image 31 is set to include the text image "Jackpot!!" (see b), dialogue image 32 is set to include the text image "Jackpot?" (see c), and dialogue image 33 is set to include the text image "Jackpot???" (see d). These dialogue images 31 to 33 are assigned different reliability levels for the three rows of effect symbols forming a winning combination, and as shown in FIG. 19(d), the jackpot reliability of dialogue image 31 is set to the highest among dialogue images 31 to 33, the jackpot reliability of dialogue image 32 is set to the second highest among dialogue images 31 to 33, and the jackpot reliability of dialogue image 33 is set to the lowest among dialogue images 31 to 33. Each of these dialogue images 31 to 33, 21 to 23, and 11 to 13 corresponds to a preview image.

The step-up notice performance process 1 in FIG. 23 is started each time the sub-control circuit 60 receives special pattern 1 game data or special pattern 2 game data from the main control circuit 40, and the sub-control circuit 60 sets the performance content in step-up notice performance 1 in response to performing step-up notice performance process 1 in FIG. 23, and executes step-up notice performance 1 in the current performance pattern game according to the setting result of the performance content.

The sub-control circuit 60 determines whether or not the current presentation mode is normal mode in S201 of FIG. 23. If it determines that the current presentation mode is not normal mode, it ends the process, and if it determines that it is normal mode, it determines in S202 whether or not to perform step-up preview presentation 1. This process is performed according to the result of obtaining a random number value, and the sub-control circuit 60 determines that step-up preview presentation 1 will be performed with a set probability of "5%".

After completing S202, the sub-control circuit 60 detects the result of the determination of step-up preview performance 1 in S203. If it detects that there is no step-up preview performance 1 here, it ends the process, and if it detects that there is a step-up preview performance 1, it moves to S204. Here, it detects the setting result of the combination of three rows of performance patterns for this performance pattern game, and compares the combination detection result with a complete miss. If it is determined that the setting result of the combination of three rows of performance patterns here is a jackpot or a miss reach, it moves to step setting process 1-1 in S205, and if it is determined that the setting result of the combination of three rows of performance patterns is a complete miss, it moves to step setting process 1-2 in S210.

Step setting process 1-1 and step setting process 1-2 each set the performance content of step 1, and in step setting process 1-1 in S205, the sub-control circuit 60 selects dialogue images 11 to 13 in the order of dialogue image 13 → dialogue image 12 → dialogue image 11 with high probability (see FIG. 24(a)). In step setting process 1-2 in S210, the sub-control circuit 60 selects dialogue images 11 to 13 in the order of dialogue image 11 → dialogue image 12 → dialogue image 13 with high probability (see FIG. 24(b)). That is, in step setting process 1-1 and step setting process 1-2, one of dialogue images 11 to 13 is selected so that the reliability of reach is highest when dialogue image 11 is displayed, the reliability of reach is second highest when dialogue image 12 is displayed, and the reliability of reach is lowest when dialogue image 13 is displayed.

When the sub-control circuit 60 completes step setting process 1-2 in S210, it completes step-up preview performance process 1. In this case, step 2 and step 3 are not set, and step-up preview performance 1 ends at step 1. In other words, if step-up preview performance 1 ends with a single step 1, the reliability of the reach, the reliability of the special reach, and the reliability of the jackpot are the lowest.

After completing step setting process 1-1 in S205, the sub-control circuit 60 determines in S206 whether or not a special reach effect image (battle images BL1 to BL4) will be displayed in the current effect symbol game from the reception result of the special symbol variation pattern. If it is determined that a special reach effect image will be displayed, it proceeds to step setting process 2-1 in S207, and if it is determined that a special reach effect image will not be displayed, it proceeds to step setting process 2-2 in S211. Each of these step setting processes 2-1 and 2-2 sets the effect content of step 2, and in step setting process 2-1 in S207, the sub-control circuit 60 selects dialogue images 21 to 23 in the order of dialogue image 23, dialogue image 22, and dialogue image 21 with a high probability (see Figure 24 (c)). In step setting process 2-2 of S211, this sub-control circuit 60 selects dialogue images 21 to 23 in the order of dialogue image 21 → dialogue image 22 → dialogue image 23 with high probability (see FIG. 24(d)). That is, in step setting process 2-1 and step setting process 2-2, one of dialogue images 21 to 23 is selected so that the reliability of the special reach performance is highest when dialogue image 21 is displayed, the reliability of the special reach performance is second highest when dialogue image 22 is displayed, and the reliability of the special reach performance is lowest when dialogue image 23 is displayed.

When the sub-control circuit 60 finishes step setting process 2-2 in S211, it ends step-up preview performance process 1. In this case, step 3 is not set, and step-up preview performance 1 ends at step 2. In other words, if step-up preview performance 1 ends twice at steps 1 and 2, the reliability of the reach, the reliability of the special reach, and the reliability of the jackpot are the second lowest.

When the sub-control circuit 60 completes step setting process 2-1 in S207, it determines in S208 whether the three rows of effect symbols will be set as a jackpot combination in this effect symbol game based on the win/loss result received. If it determines that the three rows of effect symbols will be set as a jackpot combination, it moves to step setting process 3-1 in S209, and if it determines that the three rows of effect symbols will not be set as a jackpot combination, it moves to step setting process 3-2 in S212. Each of these step setting processes 3-1 and 3-2 sets the performance content of step 3, and in step setting process 3-1 in S209, the sub-control circuit 60 selects dialogue images 31 to 33 with a high probability in the order of dialogue image 33 → dialogue image 32 → dialogue image 31 (see Figure 24 (e)), and in step setting process 3-2 in S212, it selects dialogue images 31 to 33 with a high probability in the order of dialogue image 31 → dialogue image 32 → dialogue image 33 (see Figure 24 (f)). That is, in step setting process 3-1 and step setting process 3-2, one of dialogue images 31-33 is selected so that the reliability of a jackpot is highest when dialogue image 31 is displayed, the reliability of a jackpot is the second highest when dialogue image 32 is displayed, and the reliability of a jackpot is low when dialogue image 33 is displayed; when step-up preview performance 1 ends three times from step 1 to step 3, the reliability of the reach, the reliability of the special reach, and the reliability of a jackpot are the highest.

6-7. Advance notice announcement 1
25 shows an image of the advance notice information notification performance 1. In this advance notice information notification performance 1, step information areas ES1, ES2, and ES3 are set on the performance symbol display 28, and when the step-up advance notice performance 1 progresses to step 1, the performance contents in step 1 are displayed in the step information area ES1 (see a), when it progresses to step 2, the performance contents in step 2 are displayed in the step notification area ES2 (see b), and when it progresses to step 3, the performance contents in step 3 are displayed in the step notification area ES3 (see c). These performance contents in step 1, step 2, and step 3 are all erased when the combination of three rows of performance symbols is confirmed in the current performance symbol game, and are continuously displayed until the step-up advance notice performance 1 ends.

Figure 25(d) is a list of preview information displayed in step information area ES1, where if dialogue image 11 is displayed in step 1, the number image "11" is displayed in step information area ES1 as preview information, if dialogue image 12 is displayed, the number image "12" is displayed in step information area ES1, and if dialogue image 13 is displayed, the number image "13" is displayed in step information area ES1. Figure 25(e) is a list of preview information displayed in step information area ES2, where if dialogue image 21 is displayed in step 2, the number image "21" is displayed in step information area ES2 as preview information, if dialogue image 22 is displayed, the number image "22" is displayed in step information area ES2, and if dialogue image 23 is displayed, the number image "23" is displayed in step information area ES2. FIG. 25(f) is a list of preview information displayed in step information area ES3, where if dialogue image 31 is displayed in step 3, the number image "31" is displayed in step information area ES3 as preview information, if dialogue image 32 is displayed, the number image "32" is displayed in step information area ES3, and if dialogue image 33 is displayed, the number image "33" is displayed in step information area ES3. Each of these number images "11-13", "21-23", and "31-33" corresponds to performance information.

6-8. Step-up preview performance 2
Step-up notice performance 2 is executed when the speed mode is set as the performance mode. This step-up notice performance 2 suggests to the player that the combination of three rows of performance symbols will be a big hit in the fourth performance symbol play corresponding to the special symbol 2 reservation area 1 when the number of reserved symbols of the special symbol 2 is "4", and has three stages, step 1, step 2, and step 3, as shown in FIG. 26(a). Step 1 suggests to the player that a reach state will occur in the fourth performance symbol play, and is performed instead of the first performance symbol play corresponding to the special symbol 2 reservation area 4. Three types of dialogue images 11 to 13 in FIG. 20 are set in this step 1, and the reliability of the reach of the dialogue image 11 is set to the highest among the dialogue images 11 to 13, the reliability of the reach of the dialogue image 12 is set to the second highest among the dialogue images 11 to 13, and the reliability of the reach of the dialogue image 13 is set to the lowest among the dialogue images 11 to 13.

Step 2 indicates to the player that a special reach effect will occur on the fourth play of the effect symbol, and is performed in place of the second play of the effect symbol corresponding to the special symbol 2 reserve area 3. Three types of dialogue images 21 to 23 in FIG. 21 are set in this step 2, and the reliability of the special reach of dialogue image 21 is set to the highest among dialogue images 21 to 23, the reliability of the special reach of dialogue image 22 is set to the second highest among dialogue images 21 to 23, and the reliability of the special reach of dialogue image 23 is set to the lowest among dialogue images 21 to 23.

Step 3 suggests to the player that the fourth play of the effect symbols will result in a jackpot combination of three rows of effect symbols, and is performed in place of the third play of the effect symbols corresponding to the special symbol 2 reserved area 2. Three types of dialogue images 31 to 33 in FIG. 22 are set in this step 3, and the jackpot reliability of dialogue image 31 is set to the highest among dialogue images 31 to 33, the jackpot reliability of dialogue image 32 is set to the second highest among dialogue images 31 to 33, and the jackpot reliability of dialogue image 33 is set to the lowest among dialogue images 31 to 33.

27(a), the RAM of the sub-control circuit 60 is set with special chart 2 pre-reading receiving areas 1 to 4. These special chart 2 pre-reading receiving areas 1 to 4 are areas in which the results of receiving special chart 2 pre-reading data from the main control circuit 40 are stored, with the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 4 being set with the highest priority for storing special chart 2 pre-reading data, the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 3 being set with the second highest priority, the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 2 being set with the third highest priority, and the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 1 being set with the lowest priority. These special chart 2 pre-reading receiving areas 1-4 are organized in the same procedure as the special chart 2 pre-reading areas 1-4 of the main control circuit 40, and the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 1 always stores the same special chart 2 pre-reading data as the special chart 2 pre-reading area 1, the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 2 always stores the same special chart 2 pre-reading data as the special chart 2 pre-reading area 2, the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 3 always stores the same special chart 2 pre-reading data as the special chart 2 pre-reading area 3, and the special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 4 always stores the same special chart 2 pre-reading data as the special chart 2 pre-reading area 4.

The step-up notice performance process 2 in FIG. 27(b) is started each time the sub-control circuit 60 receives special pattern 2 pre-read data from the main control circuit 40 while the step-up notice performance 2 is stopped, and the sub-control circuit 60 sets the performance content in the step-up notice performance 2 in response to performing the step-up notice performance process 2 in FIG. 27(b), and executes the step-up notice performance 2 based on the performance content setting result for the fourth performance pattern play among the first to third performance pattern plays.

The sub-control circuit 60 judges whether or not the current presentation mode is speed in S221 of FIG. 27(b). If it is determined that the current presentation mode is not speed mode, it ends the processing, and if it is speed mode, it judges whether or not the number of reserved special charts 2 is "4" in S222. If it is determined that the number of reserved special charts 2 is not "4", it ends the processing, and if it is determined that the number of reserved special charts 2 is "4", it moves to S223.

When the sub-control circuit 60 moves to S223, it detects the result of the special chart change pattern read-ahead from the special chart 2 read-ahead receiving area 1 corresponding to the fourth performance pattern play, and compares the detection result of the special chart change pattern with "PH07" for the all-chart simultaneous stop performance. If it is determined that the detection result of the special chart change pattern is for the all-chart simultaneous stop performance, the process ends. If it is determined that the detection result of the special chart change pattern is not for the all-chart simultaneous submission performance, the process detects the results of the special chart change pattern read-ahead from the special chart 2 read-ahead receiving area 4 corresponding to the first performance pattern play, the special chart 2 read-ahead receiving area 3 corresponding to the second performance pattern play, and the special chart 2 read-ahead receiving area 2 corresponding to the third performance pattern play in S224, and compares each of the detection results of the three special chart change patterns with "PH07" for the all-chart simultaneous stop performance. If it is determined that at least one of the detection results of the three special chart change patterns is not for the all-chart simultaneous stop performance, the process ends. If it is determined that all of the detection results of the three special chart change patterns are for the all-chart simultaneous stop performance, the process moves to S225.

When the sub-control circuit 60 transitions to S225, it determines whether or not to perform step-up notice performance 2. This process is performed according to the result of obtaining a random number value, and the sub-control circuit 60 determines that step-up notice performance 2 will be performed with a set probability of "5%". In other words, step-up notice performance 2 is started on the condition that the simultaneous stop of all symbols performance is predicted in advance for all of the first to third performance symbol plays, and that either a normal performance, a normal reach performance, or a special reach performance is predicted in advance for the fourth performance symbol play.

After completing S225, the sub-control circuit 60 detects the result of the determination of step-up preview performance 2 in S226. If the determination result of the absence of step-up preview performance 2 is detected here, the processing ends, and if the determination result of the presence of step-up preview performance 2 is detected, the result of the pre-reading of the special chart fluctuation pattern in special chart 2 pre-reading receiving area 1 is compared with "PH06" for normal performance in S227. This normal effect creates a complete miss combination when the three rows of effect symbols stop scrolling in the order of left column → right column → center column, and if the sub-control circuit 60 determines in S227 that the three rows of effect symbols will be a complete miss combination in a normal effect in the fourth effect pattern play, it selects dialogue images 11 to 13 with the probability shown in Figure 24 (b) in step setting process 1-2 of S233, and if it determines that the three rows of effect symbols will be either a miss reach combination or a jackpot combination in a normal reach effect or special reach effect, it selects dialogue images 11 to 13 with the probability shown in Figure 24 (a) in step setting process 1-1 of S228.

Figure 20 shows an image of the first play of the effect symbols in step-up preview effect 2, and in the first play of the effect symbols, one of the dialogue images 11 to 13 is displayed after the scrolling display of three rows of effect symbols begins. If dialogue image 11 is displayed in this first play of the effect symbols, the reliability of the reach in the fourth play of the effect symbols is the highest, if dialogue image 12 is displayed, the reliability of the reach is the second highest, and if dialogue image 13 is displayed, the reliability of the reach is the lowest.

The sub-control circuit 60 ends the process when it has finished S233 in FIG. 27(b). In this case, step 2 and step 3 are not set, and step-up preview performance 2 ends at step 1. In other words, when step-up preview performance 2 ends with a single step 1, the reliability of the reach, the reliability of the special reach, and the reliability of the jackpot are the lowest. FIG. 21(e) is an image of the second performance symbol play when steps 2 and 3 are not set in step-up preview performance 2, and the second performance symbol play results in a simultaneous stop of all symbols.

After completing S228 in FIG. 27(b), the sub-control circuit 60 determines in S229 whether or not a special reach effect will be performed in the fourth play of the effect symbol. This process is performed by comparing the special symbol variation pattern in the special symbol 2 pre-read data receiving area 1 with "PO01-PO04" and "PH01-PH04" for the special reach effect. If the sub-control circuit 60 determines that a special reach effect will be performed in the fourth play of the effect symbol, it selects the dialogue images 21-23 with the probability shown in FIG. 24(c) in step setting process 2-1 in S230, and if it determines that a special reach effect will not be performed, it selects the dialogue images 21-23 with the probability shown in FIG. 24(d) in step setting process 2-2 in S234.

The sub-control circuit 60 ends the process when S234 in FIG. 27(b) is completed. In this case, step 3 is not set, and step-up notice performance 2 ends with two steps, 1 and 2. In other words, when step-up notice performance 2 ends with two steps, the reliability of reach, the reliability of special reach, and the reliability of the big win are the second lowest. FIG. 22(e) is an image of the third performance pattern game when step 3 is not set in step-up notice performance 2, and the third performance pattern game is a simultaneous stop performance of all symbols. FIG. 21(b) to (d) are images of the second performance pattern game when step 2 is set in step-up notice performance 2, and one of the dialogue images 21 to 23 is continuously displayed in the second performance pattern game. If dialogue image 21 is displayed in this second performance symbol play, the reliability of the special reach effect in the fourth performance symbol play is the highest, if dialogue image 22 is displayed, the reliability of the special reach effect is the second highest, and if dialogue image 23 is displayed, the reliability of the special reach effect is the lowest.

After completing S230 in FIG. 27(b), the sub-control circuit 60 judges in S231 whether or not the three rows of effect symbols will be a jackpot combination in the fourth effect symbol play. This process is performed by comparing the special symbol variation pattern in the special symbol 2 pre-read data receiving area 1 with the jackpot combination "PO01-PO05". If the sub-control circuit 60 judges that the three rows of effect symbols will be a jackpot combination in the fourth effect symbol play, it selects the dialogue images 31-33 with the probability shown in FIG. 24(e) in step setting process 3-1 in S232, and if it judges that the three rows of effect symbols will not be a jackpot combination, it selects the dialogue images 31-33 with the probability shown in FIG. 24(f) in step setting process 3-2 in S235.

Figures 22 (b) to (d) show images of the third play of the effect symbol when step 3 is set in step-up preview effect 2, and one of the dialogue images 31 to 33 is continuously displayed during the third play of the effect symbol. When dialogue image 31 is displayed during this third play of the effect symbol, the reliability of a jackpot during the fourth play of the effect symbol is the highest, when dialogue image 32 is displayed the reliability of a jackpot is the second highest, and when dialogue image 33 is displayed the reliability of a jackpot is the lowest.

6-9. Advance notice announcement 2
The preview information notification performance 2 is the same as the preview information notification performance 1, and as shown in FIG. 25, when the step-up preview performance 2 progresses to step 1, the performance content in step 1 is displayed in the step information area ES1 (see a), when it progresses to step 2, the performance content in step 2 is displayed in the step notification area ES2 (see b), and when it progresses to step 3, the performance content in step 3 is displayed in the step notification area ES3 (see c). FIG. 25(d) is a list of preview information displayed in the step information area ES1, FIG. 25(e) is a list of preview information displayed in the step information area ES2, and FIG. 25(f) is a list of preview information displayed in the step information area ES3. The performance content in step 1, the performance content in step 2, and the performance content in step 3 are all erased when a combination of three rows of performance symbols is confirmed in the fourth performance symbol game, and are continuously displayed until the step-up preview performance 2 ends.

7-1. Main Processing When the power is turned on, the sub-control circuit 60 detects the main processing program shown in Fig. 28(a) from the ROM, sets access permission to the RAM in S101, and sets interrupt prohibition in S102. Then, in the random number update process in S103, the values of multiple random numbers in the RAM are updated, and after interrupts are permitted in S104, S102 to S104 are repeated. During this interrupt permission, the start of the reception interrupt process in S105 and the timer interrupt process in S106 is permitted.

7-2. Reception interrupt processing The sub-control circuit 60 starts the reception interrupt processing of S105 every time the STB signal from the main control circuit 40 is input to the INT terminal. This reception interrupt processing is executed in priority to the timer interrupt processing of S106, and the sub-control circuit 60 stores the command etc. transmitted by the main control circuit 40 in the output processing of S11 in Fig. 8 in the reception buffer of the RAM by the reception interrupt processing.

7-3. Timer interrupt processing The sub-control circuit 60 starts the timer interrupt processing of S106 every time a timer interrupt signal is input at a fixed cycle. Figure 28 (b) shows the timer interrupt processing of S106, in which the sub-control circuit 60 performs the received command analysis processing of S111 and the prize ball acquisition presentation processing of S112 in the timer interrupt processing. This prize ball acquisition presentation processing judges whether a 5-round jackpot game or a 16-round jackpot game will be played based on the result of the judgment of the jackpot type from the main control circuit 40, and if it is judged that a 5-round jackpot game will be played, it performs the prize ball acquisition presentation with presentation pattern 1, and if it is judged that a 16-round jackpot game will be played, it performs the prize ball acquisition presentation with presentation pattern 2.

7-3-1. Received command analysis process Figure 29 (a) is the received command analysis process of S111, and the sub-control circuit 60 judges whether the special chart 1 pre-read data or the special chart 2 pre-read data from the main control circuit 40 is stored in the receive buffer in S121. If it is judged that the special chart 1 pre-read data or the special chart 2 pre-read data is stored here, the step-up notice performance process 2 of S122 is executed. The step-up notice performance process 2 of Figure 27 (b) is executed in S122.

The sub-control circuit 60 judges whether the special game data 1 or special game data 2 from the main control circuit 40 is stored in the reception buffer at S123 in FIG. 29(a). If it is judged that the special game data 1 or special game data 2 is stored, it executes the pattern game presentation start process at S124. FIG. 29(b) shows the pattern game presentation start process at S124, and the sub-control circuit 60 detects the reception result of the special game data 1 (the result of the judgment of whether or not it is a hit, the result of the judgment of the type of the big hit, the result of the judgment of the special game pattern, and the result of the judgment of the presence or absence of a fall) or the reception result of the special game data 2 (the result of the judgment of whether or not it is a hit, the result of the judgment of the type of the big hit, the result of the judgment of the special game pattern, and the result of the judgment of the presence or absence of a fall) from the reception buffer at S141.

When the sub-control circuit 60 finishes S141 in FIG. 29(b), it sets a combination of three columns of performance symbols in S142. These three columns of performance symbols are set as a "jackpot combination" when the hit/miss detection result is a "jackpot", and when the hit/miss detection result is a "miss reach combination" when the hit/miss detection result is "PH01-PH05", they are set as a "miss reach combination", and when the hit/miss detection result is "PH06, PH07, PH08", they are set as a "complete miss combination". When the sub-control circuit 60 finishes S142, it executes step-up notice performance process 1 in FIG. 23 in S143. Then, in S144, it detects video data corresponding to the detection result of the fluctuation pattern from the CGROM, and starts displaying the image of the performance symbol game on the performance symbol display 28 in response to starting playback of the detection result of the video data.

The sub-control circuit 60 determines whether or not the fluctuation stop command 1 or the fluctuation stop command 2 from the main control circuit 40 is stored in the receive buffer at S125 in FIG. 29(a), and if it determines that the fluctuation stop command 1 or the fluctuation stop command 2 is stored, it performs the pattern game performance stop process at S125 to display the three rows of performance patterns determined based on the combination setting result at S124.

The sub-control circuit 60 determines whether or not a jackpot game start command from the main control circuit 40 is stored in the receiving buffer at S127 in FIG. 29(a), and if it determines that a jackpot game start command is stored, it starts displaying a background image for the jackpot game presentation on the presentation pattern display 28 in response to starting playback of video data for the jackpot game presentation in the jackpot game presentation start process of S128. This sub-control circuit 60 determines whether or not a jackpot game stop command from the main control circuit 40 is stored in the receiving buffer at S129, and if it determines that a jackpot game stop command is stored, it erases the background image for the jackpot game presentation in response to stopping playback of video data for the jackpot game presentation in the jackpot game presentation stop process of S130.

According to the above-mentioned first embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
One dialogue image is displayed in each of steps 1 to 3 of the step-up notice performance 1. This makes it easier for the player to grasp the degree of progress of the steps in one step-up notice performance 1, and therefore makes it easier to recognize the high reliability of the big win from the degree of progress of the steps. Moreover, the high reliability is suggested to the player by the type of dialogue image displayed in each of steps 1 to 3. This allows the player to enjoy comprehensively interpreting the high reliability from the two types of conditions in the step-up notice performance 1, improving the entertainment value of the step-up notice performance 1. Moreover, the reliability of the occurrence of a reach state is suggested in step 1, and the reliability of the occurrence of a special reach performance is suggested in step 2, thereby suggesting the high reliability of the occurrence of an event other than a big win to the player, thereby further improving the entertainment value of the notice performance. This effect is similar to that of the step-up notice performance 2.
When the step-up notice performance 1 continues, the dialogue image of the current step is followed by the dialogue image of the next step, eliminating the frustration of the player waiting for the display of new dialogue images. Moreover, when the step-up notice performance 1 ends at the current step, the dialogue image of the current step is followed by a scroll image of three rows of performance patterns that are different from all the dialogue images, making it easier for the player to grasp that the step-up notice performance 1 has ended. This effect is the same for the step-up notice performance 2.

In the preview information notification performance 1, a number image is displayed as preview information each time steps 1 to 3 are executed, and the number image display is continued until the step-up preview performance 1 ends. Therefore, the player can know the degree of progress of the step and the type of dialogue image by looking at the number image, making it easier for the player to recognize the reliability. This effect is the same for the preview information notification performance 2.
The high reliability that the three rows of performance patterns will be in a reach state is suggested to the player in step 1, the high reliability that the image of the special reach performance will be displayed is suggested to the player in step 2, and the high reliability of the big win is suggested to the player in step 3, so that the player can easily grasp the high reliability that the three rows of performance patterns will be a big win combination.
Since step information is displayed together with a dialogue image for each of steps 1 to 3, the player is prevented from confusing steps 1 to 3 with each other.

In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the dialogue image 11, the dialogue image 21, and the dialogue image 31 may each be displayed in gold, the dialogue image 12, the dialogue image 22, and the dialogue image 32 may each be displayed in red, and the dialogue image 13, the dialogue image 23, and the dialogue image 33 may each be displayed in green. In other words, in each of steps 1 to 3 of the step-up notice performance 1 and steps 1 to 3 of the step-up notice performance 2, the high degree of reliability may be suggested to the player by the color in addition to the content of the dialogue image.
In the above-described first embodiment, when the dialogue images 11 to 13, the dialogue images 21 to 23, and the dialogue images 31 to 33 are displayed, the speaker 32 may output a voice message corresponding to the dialogue image being displayed.
In the above-mentioned Example 1, if an image different from dialogue images 11 to 13, dialogue images 21 to 23, and dialogue images 31 to 33 is displayed in any of steps 1 to 3, a jackpot may be determined regardless of the number of steps executed in the step-up preview performance and the type of dialogue image.

[Example 2]
8. Big win notice 1
30(a)-(f) are images of the big win notice performance 1. This big win notice performance 1 suggests to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be a big win combination in the current performance symbol game, and is performed by displaying a notice image W of a woman superimposed in front of the three rows of performance symbols while the three rows of performance symbols are in a scrolling state (see b). When this big win notice performance 1 is performed, a reach state always occurs (see d), and the three rows of performance symbols become either a big win combination (see e) or a miss reach combination (see f). The reliability of this big win notice performance 1 is set to "3%", and when the big win notice performance 1 is performed in "100" performance symbol games, the three rows of performance symbols become a big win combination "3 times" out of "100 times", and the three rows of performance symbols become a miss reach combination "97 times". This big win notice performance 1 corresponds to a unit performance, and the notice image W corresponds to the first image.

The big win notice presentation process in FIG. 30(g) is started each time the sub-control circuit 60 receives special chart 1 game data from the main control circuit 40, and big win notice presentation 1 is set in the big win notice presentation process in FIG. 30(g). The sub-control circuit 60 compares the value of counter N with "0" in S321. If it determines that "N>0", it subtracts "1" from the value of counter N in S325, and if it determines that "N=0", it moves to S322. This counter N measures the remaining number of presentation symbol plays until the notice allowable period in which big win notice presentation 1 can be set is reached, and is set to an initial value of "8" depending on whether the notice image W was displayed last time.

When the sub-control circuit 60 transitions to S322, it compares the current presentation mode with normal mode. If it determines that the current presentation mode is normal mode, then in S323 it detects the result of the special chart change pattern determination from the reception result of the special chart 1 game data, and compares the detection result of the special chart change pattern with "PH05" and "PO05" for normal reach presentation. If it determines that the detection result of the special chart change pattern is for normal reach presentation, then it determines whether or not to perform jackpot notice presentation 1 in the jackpot notice presentation determination process of S324. This process detects the result of the hit/miss determination from the reception result of the special chart 1 game data, and is performed according to the hit/miss detection result so that the reliability of the jackpot for this presentation pattern play is "3%".

9-1. Big hit announcement continuous performance 11
The jackpot notice continuous performance 11 is performed for the fourth performance pattern play when the reserved number of special chart 1 is "4", and suggests to the player that the three rows of performance patterns will be a jackpot combination in the fourth performance pattern play. Figures 31 (b) and (c) are images of the jackpot notice continuous performance 11. This jackpot notice continuous performance 11 is performed during the first performance pattern play (see b), by superimposing the same notice image W as the jackpot notice performance 1 in front of the three rows of performance patterns in the scroll state of the three rows of performance patterns. The reliability of this jackpot notice continuous performance 11 for a jackpot is set to "1%" which is lower than that of the jackpot notice performance 1, and the player can identify the display of the notice image W as the jackpot notice performance 1 according to the fact that the three rows of performance patterns are in a reach state after the display of the notice image W, and can identify the display of the notice image W as the jackpot notice continuous performance 11 according to the fact that the three rows of performance patterns are not in a reach state.

9-2. Big hit announcement continuous performance 12
The jackpot notice continuous performance 12 is performed for the fourth performance pattern play when the number of reserved symbols in the special chart 1 is "4", and suggests to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be a jackpot combination in the fourth performance pattern play. Figures 31(b) to (e) are images of the jackpot notice continuous performance 12. This jackpot notice continuous performance 12 is performed during the first and second performance pattern play by superimposing a notice image W in front of the three rows of performance symbols in the scroll state of the three rows of performance symbols. The reliability of this jackpot notice continuous performance 12 for a jackpot is set to "5%," which is higher than both the jackpot notice continuous performance 1 (3%) and the jackpot notice continuous performance 11 (1%).

9-3. Big hit announcement continuous performance 13
The jackpot notice continuous performance 13 is performed for the fourth performance pattern play when the number of reserved special symbols is "4", and suggests to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be a jackpot combination in the fourth performance pattern play. Figures 31 (b) to (g) are images of the jackpot notice continuous performance 13. This jackpot notice continuous performance 13 is performed by superimposing a notice image W in front of the three rows of performance symbols in the scroll state of the three rows of performance symbols, during the first performance pattern play, the second performance pattern play, and the third performance pattern play. The reliability of this jackpot notice continuous performance 13 for a jackpot is set to "10%", which is higher than that of the jackpot notice continuous performance 12 (5%), and the reliability of the jackpot notice continuous performance 13 for the occurrence of a special reach performance is set to "100%".

9-4. Big hit announcement continuous performance 14
The jackpot notice continuous performance 14 is performed for the fourth performance pattern play when the number of reserved special symbols is "4", and suggests to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be a jackpot combination in the fourth performance pattern play. Figures 31 (b) to (h) are images of the jackpot notice continuous performance 14. This jackpot notice continuous performance 14 is performed by superimposing a notice image W in front of the three rows of performance symbols in the scroll state of the three rows of performance symbols, during the first performance pattern play, the second performance pattern play, the third performance pattern play, and the fourth performance pattern play. The reliability of this jackpot notice continuous performance 14 for a jackpot is set to "100%", which is higher than that of the jackpot notice continuous performance 13 (10%), and the reliability of the jackpot notice continuous performance 14 for the occurrence of the special reach performance is set to "100%", the same as that of the jackpot notice continuous performance 13. These jackpot notice continuous performances 11 to 14 correspond to notice performances.

The big win notice continuous performance process in FIG. 32(a) is started by the sub-control circuit 60 every time it detects the special chart 1 pre-read data from the main control circuit 40 in S121 in FIG. 29(a), and the sub-control circuit 60 sets the big win notice continuous performances 11 to 14 in response to the big win notice continuous performance process. The sub-control circuit 60 compares the current performance mode with the normal mode in S301. If it is determined that the current performance mode is the normal mode, it proceeds to S302 and compares the value of the counter N with "0". This counter N is subtracted to "0" when eight performance pattern games have been completed in normal mode based on the performance pattern game in which the female image W was last displayed in each of the big win notice continuous performances 11 to 14, and if the sub-control circuit 60 determines that "N=0" in S302, it determines in S303 whether the special chart 1 reserved number is "4". If it is determined that the special chart 1 reserved number is the maximum value "4", it proceeds to S304.

As shown in Fig. 32(b), special chart 1 pre-reading receiving areas 1 to 4 are set in the RAM of the sub-control circuit 60. These special chart 1 pre-reading receiving areas 1 to 4 are areas in which the results of receiving special chart 1 pre-reading data from the main control circuit 40 are stored, with the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 4 being set to the highest priority for storing special chart 1 pre-reading data, the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 3 being set to the second highest priority, the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 2 being set to the third highest priority, and the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 being set to the lowest priority. These special chart 1 pre-reading receiving areas 1-4 are organized in the same procedure as the special chart 1 pre-reading areas 1-4 of the main control circuit 40, and the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 always stores the same special chart 1 pre-reading data as the special chart 1 pre-reading area 1, the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 2 always stores the same special chart 1 pre-reading data as the special chart 1 pre-reading area 2, the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 3 always stores the same special chart 1 pre-reading data as the special chart 1 pre-reading area 3, and the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 4 always stores the same special chart 1 pre-reading data as the special chart 1 pre-reading area 4.

When the sub-control circuit 60 proceeds to S304 in FIG. 32(a), it judges whether or not "PH06" for complete miss is stored in all of the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving areas 2 to 4 as a result of advance judgment of the special chart change pattern. If it is judged that the advance judgment result of the special chart change pattern different from the complete miss is stored in at least one of the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving areas 2 to 4, the process ends, and if it is judged that the advance judgment result of the special chart change pattern for complete miss is stored in all of the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving areas 2 to 4, it proceeds to S305. That is, the big win notice continuous performances 11 to 14 are all set when the advance judgment result of the special chart change pattern for normal performance is stored in all of the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 4 corresponding to the first performance pattern play, the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 3 corresponding to the second performance pattern play, and the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 2 corresponding to the third performance pattern play, and the three columns of performance patterns become a combination of complete miss through normal performance in each of the first performance pattern play to the third performance pattern play.

When the sub-control circuit 60 moves to S305, it judges whether the pre-determination result of the special chart change pattern for the special reach performance, "PH01~04" or "PO01~04", is stored in the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 corresponding to the fourth performance pattern play. If it judges that the pre-determination result of the special chart change pattern for the special reach performance is stored in the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1, it moves to the big win notice continuous performance judgment process 3 in S306, and if it judges that the pre-determination result of the special chart change pattern for the special reach performance is not stored in the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1, it moves to the big win notice continuous performance judgment process 2 in S311.

When the sub-control circuit 60 transitions to S306, it determines whether or not to perform the jackpot prediction continuous performance 13. This process detects the result of the advance judgment of whether or not it will be a hit from the special chart 1 pre-reading reception area 1, and is performed according to the detection result of whether or not it will be a hit so that the reliability of the jackpot for the fourth performance pattern play is "10%". When the jackpot prediction continuous performance 13 is performed, the image of the special reach performance is displayed after the three rows of performance patterns reach a reach state in the fourth performance pattern play, and after the conclusion of the special reach performance is displayed, the three rows of performance patterns are displayed in a jackpot combination or a reach-miss combination.

After the sub-control circuit 60 finishes S306, it judges whether the judgment result of the big win notice continuous performance 13 is a notice in S307. If it judges that there is a notice, it sets the value of the counter N to the initial value "8" in S310, and if it judges that there is no notice, it judges whether to perform the big win notice continuous performance 14 in S308. This process is performed by judging whether the pre-judgment result of a hit is stored in the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1, and the sub-control circuit 60 judges that the big win notice continuous performance 14 will be performed if the pre-judgment result of a hit is stored in the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1, and judges that the big win notice continuous performance 14 will not be performed if the pre-judgment result of a miss is stored. After the sub-control circuit 60 finishes S308, it detects the judgment result of the big win notice continuous performance 14 in S309. If it detects no notice here, it ends the process, and if it detects that there is a notice, it sets the value of the counter N to "8" in S310 and ends the process. In other words, when the consecutive big win notice performance 14 is performed, the three rows of performance symbols will reach a reach state with a probability of 100% on the fourth performance symbol play, and then an image of the special reach performance will be displayed, and after the conclusion of the special reach performance is displayed, the three rows of performance symbols will be displayed in a big win combination with a probability of 100%.

When the sub-control circuit 60 transitions to S311, it determines whether or not to perform the consecutive big win notice performance 12. This process detects the result of the advance judgment of whether or not it will be a hit from the special chart 1 pre-reading reception area 1, and is performed according to the detection result of whether or not it will be a hit so that the reliability of the big win for the fourth performance pattern play is "5%". When the consecutive big win notice performance 12 is performed, an image of a normal reach performance or an image of a normal performance is displayed in the fourth performance pattern play, and the three rows of performance patterns will be either a big win combination, a miss reach combination, or a complete miss combination.

After the sub-control circuit 60 finishes S311, it judges in S312 whether the result of the judgment of the big win notice continuous performance 12 is no notice. If it judges that there is a notice, it sets the value of the counter N to "8" in S310 and ends the process, and if it judges that there is no notice, it judges whether to perform the big win notice continuous performance 11 in S313. This process detects the advance judgment result of the hit or the miss from the special chart 1 pre-reading reception area 1, and is performed according to the detection result of the hit or the miss so that the reliability of the big win for the fourth performance pattern play is "1%". When the big win notice continuous performance 11 is performed, an image of a normal reach performance or an image of a normal performance is displayed in the fourth performance pattern play, and the three rows of performance patterns are either a combination of a big win, a combination of a miss reach, or a combination of a complete miss. When this sub-control circuit 60 finishes S313, it moves to S314 and judges whether the judgment result of the big win notice continuous performance 11 is no notice. If it is determined here that there is no advance notice, the process ends; if there is an advance notice, the value of S310 counter N is set to "8" and the process ends.

According to the above-mentioned second embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
On the condition that the start of display of the four performance symbol games is reserved, one of the consecutive big win notice performances 11 to 14 is started. These consecutive big win notice performances 11 to 14 are performed by using the same notice image W as the big win notice performance 1 to suggest to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be displayed in a big win combination in the fourth performance symbol game, and are performed in one or more variable number of performance symbol games among the four performance symbol games. If the number of executions of the big win notice performance 1 in these consecutive big win notice performances 11 to 14 has not reached four, the three rows of performance symbols are made into a big win combination in the fourth performance symbol game with a probability according to the number of executions of the big win notice performance 1, so that the player can enjoy waiting for the next big win notice performance 1 to occur after the end of the current big win notice performance 1. Moreover, if the number of executions of the big win notice performance 1 has reached four, the three rows of performance symbols are always displayed in a big win combination in the fourth performance symbol game. As a result, the player can enjoy waiting for the next big win notice consecutive performances 11 to 14 to occur with the goal of reaching four executions of the big win notice performance 1, improving the entertainment value of the big win notice consecutive performances 11 to 14 as a whole.

When the start of display of four performance symbol games is reserved and the big win notice performance 1 is performed for each of the first to fourth performance symbol games, three rows of performance symbols are always displayed in a combination of red odd numbers for a big win in the fourth performance symbol game, and it is announced that a high probability state and an electric support state 1 are set. Therefore, the player can enjoy waiting for the big win notice performance 1 to continue from the first performance symbol game to the fourth performance symbol game, and the entertainment value of the big win notice continuous performances 11 to 14 is further improved.
When the big win notice performance 1 is performed as a one-off notice performance in the current performance pattern game, the player is informed that the subject of the notice of the big win notice performance 1 is only the current performance pattern game in response to the three rows of performance patterns being brought into a reach state in the current performance pattern game, so that the player can be kept away from the useless act of looking forward to the occurrence of the next big win notice performance 1.

When the consecutive big win notice performances 11 to 14 are performed, the execution of the single big win notice performance 1 is restricted until eight performance pattern games are completed based on the performance pattern game in which the notice image W was last displayed. Therefore, the player will not mistakenly recognize the single big win notice performance 1 as a part of the consecutive big win notice performances 11 to 14, and therefore it is prevented that the player will mistakenly grasp the reliability of the notice image W as being high.
In the above-mentioned embodiment 2, the jackpot notice performance 1 may be performed during the first and third performance symbol play in the jackpot notice continuous performance 12. In other words, the jackpot notice performance 1 may be performed intermittently during the first to fourth performance symbol plays. In this configuration, the jackpot notice performance 1 is performed again after the player feels that the repetition of the jackpot notice performance 1 has stopped, so the entertainment value of the jackpot notice continuous performance 12 is improved.

In the above-mentioned embodiment 2, it may be configured to allow the big win notice performance 1 to be performed when the game stop state continues for a certain period of time after the last notice image W is displayed in each of the big win notice consecutive performances 11 to 14. This game stop state is a state in which the special chart 1 game, the special chart 2 game, and the big win game are all stopped, and the special chart 1 reserved number is "0".
In the above-mentioned embodiment 2, when the jackpot notice consecutive performance 14 is performed, an image of the special reach performance of the jackpot is always displayed in the fourth performance pattern play, when the jackpot notice consecutive performance 13 is performed, an image of the special reach performance of the jackpot or miss is always displayed in the fourth performance pattern play, and when the jackpot notice consecutive performance 11 or 12 is performed, an image of the special reach performance of the jackpot or miss is displayed in the fourth performance pattern play with a high probability in the order of the jackpot notice consecutive performance 11 → the jackpot notice performance 12. That is, instead of the jackpot occurring in the fourth performance pattern play, it is also possible to notify the occurrence of the special reach performance of the jackpot or miss. In this case, three consecutive jackpot notice performances 1 are notices that suggest the special reach performance to the player with 100% reliability, and four consecutive jackpot notice performances 1 are notices that suggest both the special reach performance and the probability of a jackpot to the player with 100% reliability.

[Example 3]
10. Big win notice 2
FIG. 33 is an image of the big win notice performance 2. This big win notice performance 2 suggests to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be a big win combination in the current performance symbol game, and is performed by displaying a notice image W1 of a woman different from the big win notice performance 1 superimposed in front of the three rows of performance symbols while the three rows of performance symbols are scrolled (see b). When this big win notice performance 2 is performed, a reach state always occurs, and the three rows of performance symbols become either a big win combination or a miss reach combination. This big win notice performance 2 is performed according to the hit/miss detection result, in which the sub-control circuit 60 detects the hit/miss judgment result from the reception result of the special chart 1 game data at S324 in FIG. 30(g), so that the reliability of the big win for the current performance symbol game is "2%, and the reliability of the big win notice performance 2 is set to "2%" lower than that of the big win notice performance 1. This big win notice performance 2 corresponds to a unit performance, the notice image W corresponds to the first image, and the notice image W1 corresponds to the second image.

10-1. Big hit announcement continuous performance 21
As shown in Fig. 34, the big win notice continuous performance 21 displays a woman image W1 for the big win notice performance 2 in place of the woman image W in the first performance pattern game (see bc). This big win notice continuous performance 21 is performed according to the detection result of the hit or miss when the sub-control circuit 60 detects the advance judgment result of the hit or miss from the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 in S313 of Fig. 32, so that the reliability of the big win for the fourth performance pattern game is "0%". The reliability of the big win notice continuous performance 21 is set to "0%" which is lower than that of the big win notice performance 2. This big win notice continuous performance 21 is identifiable because the three rows of performance patterns do not reach the reach state in the first performance pattern game.

10-2. Big hit announcement continuous performance 22
The jackpot notice continuous performance 22 is performed for the fourth performance pattern play when the number of reserved symbols for special symbol 1 is "4", and suggests to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will be a jackpot combination in the fourth performance pattern play. As shown in FIG. 34, this jackpot notice continuous performance 22 displays a female image W1 instead of a female image W in the first performance pattern play (see bc) and the second performance pattern play (see de), and the sub-control circuit 60 detects the pre-judgment result of the hit or miss from the special symbol 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 in S311 of FIG. 32, and performs the hit or miss detection result so that the reliability of the jackpot for the fourth performance pattern play is "3%". The reliability of the jackpot notice continuous performance 22 for the jackpot is set higher than the jackpot notice continuous performance 2 (2%) and the jackpot notice continuous performance 21 (0%), and lower than the jackpot notice continuous performance 12 (5%).

10-3. Big hit announcement continuous performance 23
The big win notice continuous performance 23 is performed for the fourth performance pattern play when the number of reserved special pattern 1 is "4", and suggests to the player that the three rows of performance patterns will be a big win combination in the fourth performance pattern play. As shown in FIG. 34, this big win notice continuous performance 23 displays a woman image W1 instead of a woman image W in the first performance pattern play (see bc), the second performance pattern play (see de), and the third performance pattern play (see fg), and the sub-control circuit 60 detects the advance judgment result of the hit or miss from the special pattern 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 in S306 of FIG. 32, and performs it according to the detection result of the hit or miss so that the reliability of the big win for the fourth performance pattern play is "7%". The reliability of the big win notice continuous performance 23 is set higher than that of the big win notice continuous performance 22 and lower than that of the big win notice continuous performance 13.

10-4. Big hit announcement continuous performance 24
The jackpot notice continuous performance 24 is performed for the fourth performance pattern play when the reserved number of the special chart 1 is "4", and suggests to the player that the three rows of performance patterns will be an odd-numbered combination of a jackpot in the fourth performance pattern play. As shown in FIG. 34, this jackpot notice continuous performance 24 displays a woman image W1 instead of a woman image W in the first performance pattern play (see bc), the second performance pattern play (see de), the third performance pattern play (see fg), and the fourth performance pattern play (see h to k), and the sub-control circuit 60 judges whether or not the pre-judgment result of the hit is stored in the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 in S308 of FIG. 32. This jackpot notice continuous performance 24 is set so that the reliability of the jackpot is "90%, and the reliability of the jackpot notice continuous performance 24 is set higher than that of the jackpot notice continuous performance 23 and lower than that of the jackpot notice continuous performance 14. These consecutive big win preview performances 21 to 24 correspond to preview performances.

The notice judgment process in FIG. 33(c) selects one from notice performance group 1 consisting of jackpot notice performance 1 and jackpot notice consecutive performances 11-14, and notice performance group 2 consisting of jackpot notice performance 2 and jackpot notice consecutive performances 21-24. When notice performance group 1 is selected, the sub-control circuit 60 sets jackpot notice performance 1 in accordance with the execution of the jackpot notice performance process in FIG. 30(g), and when notice performance group 2 is selected, the sub-control circuit 60 sets jackpot notice performance 2. When notice performance group 1 is selected, the sub-control circuit 60 sets one from jackpot notice performance 11-14 in accordance with the execution of the jackpot notice consecutive performance process in FIG. 32(a), and when notice performance group 2 is selected, the sub-control circuit 60 sets one from jackpot notice performance consecutive performances 21-24.

The advance notice determination process in FIG. 33(c) is started each time the sub-control circuit 60 starts the timer interrupt process in FIG. 28(b), and the sub-control circuit 60 adds "1" to the value of timer T in S341. This timer T value is incremented from "1" to "99" and then returned to "0" and added cyclically, and the sub-control circuit 60 detects the update result of the timer T value in S342, and judges whether the detection result of the timer T value is within the range of "0 to 49" in S343. If it judges that "0≦T≦49", advance notice performance group 1 is selected, and if it judges that "50≦T≦99", advance notice performance group 2 is selected.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment 3, the following effects are obtained.
On the condition that the start of displaying four performance symbol games is reserved, any one of the jackpot notice consecutive performances 11 to 14 and the jackpot notice consecutive performances 21 to 24 is started. These jackpot notice consecutive performances 11 to 14 and the jackpot notice consecutive performances 21 to 24 suggest to the player in advance that a jackpot will occur in the fourth performance symbol game, and the jackpot notice consecutive performances 11 to 14 are made up of one to four highly reliable jackpot notice performances 1, and the jackpot notice consecutive performances 21 to 24 are made up of one to four low-reliability jackpot notice performances 2. When any one of the jackpot notice consecutive performances 21 to 24 is performed, a jackpot will occur with a probability of less than "100%" depending on the number of times the jackpot notice performance 2 is performed, when any one of the jackpot notice consecutive performances 11 to 13 is performed, a jackpot will occur with a probability depending on the number of times the jackpot notice performance 1 is performed, and when the jackpot notice consecutive performance 14 is performed, a jackpot will always occur. As a result, the player can enjoy waiting for the occurrence of the highly reliable big win notice performance 1, as well as the enjoyment of waiting for the next big win notice performance 1 to occur with the goal of reaching four executions of the big win notice performance 1, improving the entertainment value of the big win notice consecutive performances 11 to 14 and the big win notice consecutive performances 21 to 24 as a whole.

In the above embodiment 3, a common reliability (for example, 7%) is set for each of the jackpot notice consecutive performances 21 to 24, and the three rows of performance symbols may be configured to have a common probability of becoming a jackpot combination in the fourth performance symbol play in all cases where the jackpot notice consecutive performances 21, 22, 23, and 24 are performed. In this configuration, when the jackpot notice consecutive performances 11 to 14 are performed, a jackpot occurs in the fourth performance symbol play with a probability according to the number of times that the jackpot notice performance 1 is performed, and when the jackpot notice consecutive performances 21 to 24 are performed, a jackpot is displayed in the fourth performance symbol play with a fixed probability regardless of the number of times that the jackpot notice performance 2 is performed. For this reason, when the consecutive jackpot notice performances 11-14 are performed, the player can enjoy anticipating a repetition of the jackpot notice performance 1, and when the consecutive jackpot notice performances 21-24 are performed, the player can continue to expect a jackpot even if the repetition of the jackpot notice performance 2 is soon cut off, so that the overall entertainment value of the consecutive jackpot notice performances 11-14 and the consecutive jackpot notice performances 21-24 is improved.

[Example 4]
The probability variable big win notice continuous performance processing of Fig. 35 (a) is executed by the sub-control circuit 60 in each of the probability variable big win notice continuous performance judgment processing 1 of S313, the probability variable big win notice continuous performance judgment processing 2 of S311, the probability variable big win notice continuous performance judgment processing 3 of S306, and the probability variable big win notice continuous performance judgment processing 4 of S308, and the sub-control circuit 60 judges whether or not it is judged that any of the big win notice continuous performances 11 to 14 is to be performed in S351 of the probability variable big win notice continuous performance processing. If the execution of any of the big win notice continuous performances 11 to 14 is detected here, the process proceeds to S352, and it is judged whether or not the advance judgment result of the special chart fluctuation pattern of the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 is for the special reach performance of the big win (PO01 to 04).

If the sub-control circuit 60 determines in S352 that the special reach effect of the jackpot will be executed in the fourth performance pattern play, it proceeds to S353 and determines whether the jackpot type "jackpot pattern 1" for the 16-round probability jackpot is stored in the special pattern 1 pre-reading receiving area 1. If it determines that the jackpot type "jackpot pattern 1" is stored here, it proceeds to S354 and sets the attachment of the dialogue image C1 with a probability of "70%". This dialogue image C1 is attached to the notice image W in the first performance pattern play if it is determined that the jackpot notice continuous performance 11 will be performed, attached to the notice image W in the second performance pattern play if it is determined that the jackpot notice continuous performance 12 will be performed, attached to the notice image W in the third performance pattern play if it is determined that the jackpot notice continuous performance 13 will be performed, and attached to the notice image W in the fourth performance pattern play if it is determined that the jackpot notice continuous performance 14 will be performed.

Figure 35 (b) shows the preview image W with the dialogue image C1 attached, and regardless of the number of times the jackpot preview effect 1 occurs, if the preview image W is displayed with the dialogue image C1 attached during the first, second, or third effect pattern play, then during the fourth effect pattern play there is a 70% probability that a special reach effect will occur, and the three rows of effect patterns will go through the special reach effect to form an odd-numbered combination for a jackpot, and after 16 rounds of jackpot play, the next effect pattern play will be played in chance mode depending on whether the "electric support state 1" and "high probability state" are set.

In the above embodiment 4, if the consecutive jackpot preview performances 11 to 14 are performed with only the preview image W attached and no dialogue image C1 attached, the three rows of performance patterns in the fourth performance pattern play may be considered to be a jackpot combination with the same common probability (for example, 5%), and if the preview image W is displayed with the dialogue image C1 attached in the first performance pattern play of the consecutive jackpot preview performance 11, if the preview image W is displayed with the dialogue image C1 attached in any of the first and second performance pattern plays of the consecutive jackpot preview performance 12, if the preview image W is displayed with the dialogue image C1 attached in any of the first to third performance pattern plays of the consecutive jackpot preview performance 13, and if the preview image W is displayed with the dialogue image C1 attached in any of the first to fourth performance pattern plays of the consecutive jackpot preview performance 14, the three rows of performance patterns in the fourth performance pattern play may be considered to be a jackpot combination with the same common probability (for example, 70%). These consecutive big win notice presentations 11-14 suggest to the player that the three rows of performance symbols will form a big win combination in the fourth performance symbol play, regardless of the number of times that big win notice presentation 1 is executed, with a probability related to the state of big win notice presentation 1, and a big win may occur in the fourth performance symbol play even if the number of times the notice image W is displayed is small. In this case, the player will feel a sense of disappointment and then a great sense of enjoyment, improving the entertainment value of consecutive big win notice presentations 11-14.

[Example 5]
A dedicated notice image is set for each of the first, second, third, and fourth performance symbol games of the big win notice consecutive performances 21 to 24. The notice image W21 in Fig. 36(a) is displayed in place of the notice image W1 in the first performance symbol game of the big win notice consecutive performances 21 to 24, the notice image W22 in Fig. 36(b) is displayed in place of the notice image W1 in the second performance symbol game of the big win notice consecutive performances 22 to 24, the notice image W23 in Fig. 36(c) is displayed in place of the notice image W1 in the third performance symbol game of the big win notice consecutive performances 23 to 24, and the notice image W24 in Fig. 36(d) is displayed in place of the notice image W1 in the fourth performance symbol game of the big win notice consecutive performances 24.

A chance up image U2 is set for each of the big win notice consecutive performances 21 to 24. In the big win notice consecutive performance 21, this chance up image U2 is attached to the notice image W21 in the first performance pattern play, in the big win notice consecutive performance 22, it is attached to the notice image W21 in the first performance pattern play or the notice image W22 in the second performance pattern play, in the big win notice consecutive performance 23, it is attached to one of the notice image W21 in the first performance pattern play, the notice image W22 in the second performance pattern play, and the notice image W23 in the third performance pattern play, and in the big win notice consecutive performance 24, it is attached to one of the notice image W21 in the first performance pattern play, the notice image W22 in the second performance pattern play, the notice image W23 in the third performance pattern play, and the notice image W24 in the fourth performance pattern play.

The chance up image U2 informs the player that the reliability of a jackpot for the fourth play of the effect symbol has been increased by "10%" from the default value. When the chance up image U2 is displayed in the jackpot notice consecutive performance 21, the reliability of a jackpot for the fourth play of the effect symbol becomes "10%" from "0%". When the chance up image U2 is displayed in the jackpot notice consecutive performance 22, the reliability of a jackpot for the fourth play of the effect symbol becomes "13%" from "3%". When the chance up image U2 is displayed in the jackpot notice consecutive performance 23, the reliability of a jackpot for the fourth play of the effect symbol becomes "17%" from "7%". When the chance up image U2 is displayed in the jackpot notice consecutive performance 24, the reliability of a jackpot for the fourth play of the effect symbol becomes "100%" from "90%".

[Example 6]
11. Reach notice performance Figures 37 (a) to (d) explain the reach notice performance. This reach notice performance suggests to the player that an image of a special reach performance will be displayed in the current performance pattern game, and is performed by operating the notice performance device 33. This notice performance device 33 is stationary at the upper limit position in a non-illuminating state before the scroll display of the three rows of performance patterns begins (see a), and is operated to descend from the upper limit position to the lower limit position in a non-illuminating state after the scroll display of the three rows of performance patterns begins (see b). This reach notice performance has a failure ending and a success ending. In the failure ending, the notice performance device 33 rises from the lower limit position to the upper limit position while remaining in a non-illuminating state (see bc). In the success ending, the notice performance device 33 changes from a non-illuminating state at the lower limit position to a red illuminating state, and rises from the lower limit position to the upper limit position while illuminating in red (see bdc), and the notice performance device 33 changes from an illuminating state to a non-illuminating state at the upper limit position. This reach notice performance corresponds to a chance notice performance, the performance in which the notice performance device 33 descends from the upper limit position to the lower limit position corresponds to a common performance, an ending in which the notice performance device 33 lights up at the lower limit position corresponds to a successful ending branching off from the common performance, and an ending in which the notice performance device 33 does not light up at the lower limit position corresponds to a failed ending branching off from the common performance.

The reach notice performance setting process in FIG. 37(e) is started each time the sub-control circuit 60 receives special symbol 1 game data from the main control circuit 40 in S123 in FIG. 29, and the sub-control circuit 60 determines whether or not to execute a reach notice performance in response to executing the reach notice performance process in FIG. 37(e), and if it is determined that a reach notice performance is to be executed, it executes a reach notice performance in the current performance symbol game. The sub-control circuit 60 determines in S301 whether the current performance mode is normal mode or not. If it determines that it is normal mode here, it moves to S302, and determines that the reach notice performance will be executed with a probability of "1/20".

After completing S302, the sub-control circuit 60 detects the result of the reach notice performance in S303. If the result of the reach notice performance is detected, the result of the special chart change pattern is detected from the reception result of the special chart 1 game data in S304, and the detection result of the special chart change pattern is compared with "PH01-04" and "PO01-04" for the special reach performance. If the detection result of the special chart change pattern is determined to be not for the special reach performance, the reach notice performance is set to a failure ending in S306, and if the detection result of the special chart change pattern is determined to be for the special reach performance, the process proceeds to S305. Here, the reach notice performance is set to a successful ending with a probability of "9/10", and to a failure ending with a probability of "1/10". In other words, if the reach notice performance ends with a successful ending, one of the special reach performances BL1-BL4 will always occur, and if the reach notice performance ends with a failure ending, one of the special reach performances BL1-BL4 will occur with a low probability of less than 100%. This special reach effect is called battle images BL1 to BL4, and corresponds to a chance effect.

12. Special Reach Revival Performance Figures 38 (a) to (e) are images of the special reach revival performance. This special reach revival performance starts after the scroll speed of the middle row performance symbols slows down in the reach state of the three rows of performance symbols and the three rows of performance symbols are erased in the slow-changing state of the middle row, and is set to the same content as the battle image BL1 in which the female silhouette W fights the dinosaur D1 (see a). This special reach revival performance differs from the battle image BL1 in that the female silhouette W is always defeated once (see b), and the three rows of performance symbols are displayed in a provisional combination of a missed reach in response to the female silhouette W being defeated once (see b). The image of this provisional ending of defeat develops into a revival performance in which the female silhouette W stands up (see c), and the middle row performance symbols are displayed in a scrolling state again in response to the start of the display of the image of the revival performance (see c). The image of this revival performance develops into an image of the female silhouette W fighting the dinosaur D1 again (see d). The image of this second fight ends with the female silhouette W always winning (see e), and the scroll display of the middle row performance pattern stops with the same pattern as the left and right rows according to the female silhouette W winning (see e). This special reach revival performance corresponds to the chance performance of revival.

The special reach revival performance process of Fig. 38(f) is started by the sub-control circuit 60 following the reach notice performance process of Fig. 37(e), and the sub-control circuit 60 judges whether or not to display an image of the special reach revival performance in response to the special reach revival performance process of Fig. 38(f). The sub-control circuit 60 judges whether or not a successful ending has been set as the reach notice performance in S311. If it is determined that a successful ending reach notice performance has been set, then in S312 the detection result of the special chart change pattern is compared with "PH01" and "PO01" for the battle image BL1. If it is determined that the detection result of the special chart change pattern is for the battle image BL1, then the process proceeds to S313, and the special reach revival performance is set in place of the special reach performance of the battle image BL1. In other words, the special reach revival effect is displayed in place of the special reach effect of battle image BL1, which has the highest reliability, and if the reach preview effect ends with a successful outcome, either the special reach effect of battle images BL2 to BL4 or the special reach revival effect is displayed, and if the special reach effect of battle images BL2 to BL4 is displayed, the three rows of effect symbols will be a jackpot combination or a miss reach combination, and if the special reach revival effect is displayed, the three rows of effect symbols will always be a jackpot combination.

According to the sixth embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
When the reach-up prediction performance of a successful ending is performed, one of the multiple special reach-up performances is surely executed, and the player is suggested that the probability that the three rows of performance symbols will be a jackpot combination is higher than that of the normal reach-up performance, the all-figure simultaneous stop performance, and the normal performance. Therefore, the player will not feel disappointed that nothing happens even though the reach-up prediction performance of a successful ending is performed, and the appeal of the reach-up prediction performance is improved. This reach-up prediction performance has a failure ending in addition to a successful ending, and when the reach-up prediction performance of a failure ending is performed, one of the multiple special reach-up performances is executed or not executed with a probability of less than "100%," so the player can enjoy hoping that the reach-up prediction performance will end with a successful ending. Moreover, when the special reach-up revival performance is executed after the reach-up prediction performance, the first half of the special reach-up revival performance suggests to the player that there will be no jackpot, and the latter half of the special reach-up revival performance suggests to the player that there will be a jackpot, and then the jackpot always occurs. Therefore, the special reach revival performance changes the player's disappointment into great expectations, further improving the entertainment value of the reach advance notice performance.

In the above-mentioned Example 6, the end of the reach notice effect can be set to one type, such as by lowering the notice effect device 33 from the upper limit position to the lower limit position in a non-illuminating state and then illuminating at the lower limit position, and a special reach effect can be always executed when a reach notice effect is executed. In this configuration, it is preferable that when a special reach revival effect is executed as a special reach effect, the three rows of effect symbols are always set to a jackpot combination after the image of fighting again at the winning end.

[Example 7]
13. Revival notice performance Figure 39 is an image of the revival notice performance. This revival notice performance suggests to the player that an image of the revival performance will be displayed if the battle image BL1 following the reach notice performance ends in a defeat, and is started by lowering the notice performance device 33 from the upper limit position to the lower limit position while remaining in a non-illuminating state at the defeat ending of the battle image BL1 (see b). This revival notice performance has a failure ending and a success ending. The failure ending is performed by raising the notice performance device 33 from the lower limit position to the upper limit position while remaining in a non-illuminating state, and if the revival notice performance ends in a failure ending, the image of the revival performance is not always displayed and the combination of the miss reach of the three rows of performance patterns is confirmed. The success ending is performed by making the notice performance device 33 emit white light at the lower limit position, which is different from the reach notice performance (see c). If this revival notice performance ends in a success ending, the image of the revival performance is always displayed (see d), followed by the image of the special reach revival performance (see e), and the three rows of performance patterns are always a combination of the big win (see f). The revival preview of this successful ending corresponds to a specific performance.

The revival preview performance is set in S313 whenever the sub-control circuit 60 determines in S312 of FIG. 38(f) that the battle image BL1 will be displayed, and is always set to a successful ending when the result of the judgment on the hit or miss of the special chart 1 game data is a jackpot, and is always set to a miss ending when the result of the judgment on the hit or miss of the special chart 1 game data is a miss. This sub-control circuit 60 corresponds to a specific performance means.

According to the seventh embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
If the successful ending revival notice performance is executed in the first half of the special reach revival performance, the special reach revival performance progresses from the first half to the second half, and the three rows of performance symbols become a big hit combination. If this successful ending revival notice performance is not executed in the first half of the special reach revival performance, the special reach revival performance ends in the first half (battle image BL1 of a failed ending), and the three rows of performance symbols become a miss reach combination. Therefore, the player can enjoy waiting for the successful ending revival notice performance to be executed during the special reach revival performance, improving the entertainment value of the special reach revival performance.
In the above-mentioned Example 7, the ending of the revival preview performance can be set to one type, such as by lowering the preview performance device 33 from the upper limit position to the lower limit position in a non-illuminating state and then emitting white light at the lower limit position, and when the revival preview performance is executed, the first half of the special reach revival performance will always progress to the second half, resulting in a jackpot.

[Example 8]
The performance member 101 in FIG. 40 is colored and opaque, and is connected to a pulse motor (not shown) via a drive mechanism. This pulse motor moves the performance member 101 between a standby position (see b) below the performance symbol display 28 and a performance position (see c) overlapping the performance symbol display 28 from the front, and the performance member 101 is invisible to the player at the standby position and visible to the player at the performance position. This performance member 101 is located below the symbol display area Ee of the performance symbol display 28 at the performance position. This symbol display area Ee is an area where three rows of performance symbols are displayed in a reach combination after a defeat outcome is displayed in the special reach revival performance, and the behavior of the performance member 101 moving from the standby position to the performance position is a behavior of the performance member 101 moving toward the three rows of performance symbols of the reach.

The sub-control circuit 60 controls the pulse motor to move the performance member 101 between the standby position and the performance position. As shown in FIG. 40(c), the sub-control circuit 60 moves the performance member 101 from the standby position to the performance position instead of displaying an image of the revival performance after displaying three rows of performance symbols in the pattern display area Ee as a combination of a missed reach following a defeat ending in the special reach revival performance, and when the performance member 101 is moved to the performance position, the three rows of performance symbols are made invisible to the player by superimposing a colored opaque smoke screen image simulating a smoke screen in front of the performance symbols of the missed reach combination. The sub-control circuit 60 changes the three rows of performance symbols from the missed reach combination to a big win combination in an invisible state, and makes the three rows of performance symbols visible to the player by erasing the smoke screen image after changing the combination of the three rows of performance symbols to a big win combination. That is, from the player's line of sight, as the performance member 101 moves toward the three rows of performance symbols of the miss-and-win combination, the three rows of performance symbols change from the miss-and-win combination to a jackpot combination.

According to the eighth embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
When the performance member 101 moves toward the three-row performance symbols of the provisional combination of the miss reach in the special reach revival performance, the three-row performance symbols change from the provisional miss reach combination to the definite combination of the big win, improving the entertainment value of the revival chance performance. Moreover, since the three-row performance symbols are made invisible in response to a smoke screen image being displayed in front of the three-row performance symbols before the three-row performance symbols are changed from the miss reach combination to the big win combination, the player can enjoy the series of images in which the three-row performance symbols change from the miss reach combination to the big win combination without feeling strange.

[Example 9]
The upper unit member 111 in FIG. 41 has a right-angled triangular shape when viewed from the front, and is connected to a pulse motor (not shown) via a drive mechanism. This pulse motor moves the upper unit member 111 between a standby position (see b) above the performance pattern display 28 and a performance position (see c) where the upper unit member 111 overlaps the performance pattern display 28 from the front, and the upper unit member 111 is invisible to the player at the standby position and visible to the player at the performance position. The lower unit member 112 in FIG. 41 has a right-angled triangular shape when viewed from the front, and is connected to a pulse motor via a drive mechanism common to the upper unit member 111. This pulse motor moves the lower unit member 112 between a standby position (see b) below the performance pattern display 28 and a performance position (see c) where the lower unit member 112 overlaps the performance pattern display 28 from the front, and the lower unit member 112 is invisible to the player at the standby position and visible to the player at the performance position. The upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 come into contact with each other at the performance position to assume a rectangular completed form, and in the standby position, they assume a spaced apart incomplete form, and in the completed form, they overlap the pattern display area Ee of the performance pattern display device 28 from the front. This pattern display area Ee is an area in which the three rows of performance patterns are displayed as a missed reach combination after the defeat outcome is displayed in the special reach revival performance, and the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 hide the three rows of performance patterns from the front in a manner that makes them unrecognizable when in the completed form at the performance position. The upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 correspond to unit members, and the completed form corresponds to the approaching form, and the incomplete form corresponds to the separated form.

The sub-control circuit 60 controls the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 between the completed form and the non-completed form in response to driving control of the pulse motor. As shown in FIG. 41(c), this sub-control circuit 60 changes the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 from the non-completed form to the completed form instead of displaying an image of the revival performance after displaying the losing outcome in the special reach revival performance, and in response to the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 overlapping the three rows of performance patterns of the missed reach combination from the front in the completed form, the three rows of performance patterns are hidden from and difficult to see by the player.

The sub-control circuit 60 changes the three rows of performance symbols of the miss-reach combination to a jackpot combination when the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 are in a completed form, and after changing the three rows of performance symbols from a miss-reach to a jackpot, the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 are operated from a completed form to an incomplete form, making the three rows of performance symbols of the jackpot combination visible to the player. That is, from the player's line of sight, when the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 are in a completed form, the three rows of performance symbols become invisible as a miss-reach combination, and when the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 are in an incomplete form, the three rows of performance symbols become visible as a jackpot combination.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment 9, the following effects are obtained.
When the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 are in a completed form, the three rows of performance symbols of a missed reach combination become invisible, and when the upper unit member 111 and the lower unit member 112 are in an incomplete form, the three rows of performance symbols appear as a jackpot combination, improving the entertainment value of the special reach revival performance.

[Example 10]
42(a) is a list of types of cloud images C. These four types of cloud images C suggest the degree of expectation for the display of one of the images of the five types of special reach effects, including the special reach revival effect, in place of the reach notice effect by the notice effect device 33, and the color of the leftmost cloud image C corresponding to the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 4 indicates the degree of expectation for the special reach effect in the first performance pattern game, the color of the second cloud image C from the left end corresponding to the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 3 indicates the degree of expectation for the special reach effect in the second performance pattern game, the color of the third cloud image C from the left end corresponding to the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 2 indicates the degree of expectation for the special reach effect in the third performance pattern game, and the color of the rightmost cloud image C corresponding to the special chart 1 pre-reading receiving area 1 indicates the degree of expectation for the special reach effect in the fourth performance pattern game. The white cloud image C, the green cloud image C, and the red cloud image C suggest to the player that one of the five types of special reach effects, including the special reach revival effect, will be executed with a probability of less than "100%", and correspond to another chance notice effect. The gold cloud image C suggests to the player that one of the five types of special reach effects, including the special reach revival effect, will definitely be executed, and corresponds to a chance notice effect. These five types of cloud images C are displayed when the effect symbol game is put on hold, and share the same display timing.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment 10, the following effects are obtained.
When a gold cloud image C is displayed, a special reach performance always occurs, and when a white, green or red cloud image C is displayed, the special reach performance occurs with a probability of less than "100%", so that a player can enjoy expecting the display of the gold cloud image C.

[Example 11]
The display of the preview image W21 in Fig. 43(a) to the display of the preview image W24 in Fig. 43(d) are performed in place of the reach preview performance by the preview performance device 33, and are displayed for a certain period of time superimposed in front of the three rows of performance patterns when the three rows of performance patterns are scrolled in the current performance pattern game. These preview images W21 to W24 are the same type of images that share the same display start timing and display stop timing, and the three rows of performance patterns become invisible to the player when the preview images W21 to W24 are displayed, and become visible in the scroll state as the preview images W21 to W24 are erased. These notice images W21 to W24 suggest to the player that one of the five types of special reach effects will occur with mutually different degrees of reliability, and as shown in Fig. 43 (e), when notice image W21 is displayed while three rows of effect symbols are scrolled in the current effect symbol game, the images of the five types of special reach effects including the special reach revival effect are not necessarily displayed, when notice image W22 is displayed, they are displayed with a high probability, when notice image W23 is displayed, they are displayed with a low probability, and when notice image W24 is displayed, they are displayed with an extremely low probability. The display of this notice image W21 corresponds to a chance notice effect, and the display of notice images W22 to W24 corresponds to another chance notice effect of the same type as the chance notice effect.

In the above-mentioned Examples 6 to 11 (excluding Example 10), when multiple play of a special symbol is reserved, a reach notice performance may be performed as a pre-reading performance for the second and subsequent play of the special symbol.
In the above-mentioned embodiments 1 to 11, the present invention may be applied to one, two or three types of pachinko gaming machines.
The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned Examples 1 to 10, and is not limited to the wording of each claim as long as it does not deviate from the scope of each claim, and also extends to a scope that can be easily substituted by a person skilled in the art, and improvements based on the knowledge that a person skilled in the art would normally have can be appropriately added.

In addition to the inventions described in the claims, the above-mentioned Examples 1 to 11 also describe the following [Reference Inventions 1-1 to 1-5], [Reference Invention 2-1], [Reference Inventions 3-1 to 3-7], [Reference Invention 4-1], [Reference Inventions 5-1 to 5-6], and [Reference Invention 6-1]. Some gaming machines are configured to display an image of a symbol game when a gaming ball enters a predetermined starting area. The image of this symbol game is displayed in a state where the identification symbol is changed and then in a state where the change is stopped, and the player is notified of the result of the judgment of whether or not the game has been won by the state of the identification symbol in the state where the change is stopped (see JP2016-073869A). Some gaming machines are configured to suggest to the player the reliability of the announcement of a win in response to displaying an image of a preview effect during the pattern game. In the case of this gaming machine, a numerical value is displayed as the image of the preview effect, and there is still room for improvement in terms of ingenuity. [Reference Inventions 1-1 to 1-5] and [Reference Invention 2-1] were made in consideration of the above circumstances, and their purpose is to provide a gaming machine that can improve the entertainment value of preview performances.

[Reference Invention 1-1]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for playing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game to inform a player of a winning or losing judgment result;
A preview performance means is provided for performing one or more unit performances, each of which displays one of two or more preview images, in a variable number of times as one preview performance;
The game machine is characterized in that the advance notice performance means indicates to the player the degree of reliability of the winning indication by the image of the pattern game by the number of times the unit performance is executed in one advance notice performance and the type of advance notice image displayed in each unit performance.
According to the above means, one preview image is displayed as one unit performance. Therefore, it becomes easier for the player to grasp the number of unit performances occurring in one preview performance, and it becomes easier to recognize the degree of reliability from the number of unit performances occurring. Moreover, the degree of reliability is also suggested to the player by the type of preview image displayed in each unit performance. Therefore, the player can enjoy comprehensively interpreting the degree of reliability from two types of conditions in the preview performance, improving the entertainment value of the preview performance.

[Reference Invention 1-2]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 1-1] is characterized in that the preview performance means displays a preview image that makes it difficult to see the image of the pattern game in each unit performance, and when the preview performance is continued, the next preview image is displayed consecutively to the current preview image.
According to the above means, when the preview performance continues, the preview image of the current unit performance is followed by the preview image of the next unit performance, so that the player does not feel annoyed waiting for the display of a new preview image. Moreover, when the preview performance ends in the current unit performance, the preview image of the current unit performance is followed by an image of a pattern game different from all the preview images, so that the player can easily grasp that the preview performance has ended.

[Reference Invention 1-3]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 1-1] is characterized in that the preview performance means displays performance information related to the performance content of the unit performance each time the unit performance is executed, and is equipped with a performance information display means that continues to display the performance information until the preview performance ends.
According to the above-mentioned means, the performance information is displayed each time a unit performance is executed, and the display of the performance information continues until the preview performance ends. Therefore, the player can know the number of occurrences of the unit performance and the type of preview image by looking at the performance information, and therefore it becomes easier for the player to recognize the reliability.

[Reference Inventions 1-4]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 1-1] is characterized in that, when multiple unit performances are performed with one advance notice performance, the advance notice performance means indicates a high degree of reliability for mutually different states related to a win for each of the multiple unit performances.
According to the above means, the degree of reliability of different states related to a win, such as the occurrence of a reach state, the occurrence of a special reach effect, or the occurrence of a confirmed win effect, is suggested to the player in each unit effect, making it easier for the player to grasp the degree of reliability of a win.

[Reference Inventions 1-5]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 1-4] is characterized in that the pattern game means is capable of displaying an identified pattern in a pattern game image in a winning or losing state after passing through a reach state, and when an image of a specific performance is displayed in a reach state of the identified pattern, the identified pattern is made to have a high probability of being in a winning state compared to when it is not displayed, and the advance notice performance means performs two or more unit performances in one advance notice performance, including a unit performance that suggests to the player the high reliability that the identified pattern will be in a reach state and a unit performance that suggests to the player the high reliability that an image of a specific performance will be displayed.
According to the above means, the degree of reliability that the identified pattern will be in a reach state is suggested to the player in one unit performance, and the degree of reliability that an image of a specific performance will be displayed is suggested to the player in another unit performance, so that it becomes easier for the player to grasp the degree of reliability that the identified pattern will be in a winning state.

[Reference Inventions 1-6]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 1-1] is characterized in that the preview performance means displays an identification image for identifying each unit performance when multiple unit performances are performed in one preview performance.
According to the above-mentioned means, since an identification image is displayed for each unit performance, it becomes easier for the player to distinguish between a plurality of unit performances.

[Reference Invention 2-1]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for playing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game to inform a player of a winning or losing judgment result;
The game machine is capable of performing one or more variable number of unit performances, each of which displays one of two or more preview images, as one preview performance, and is provided with a preview performance means for suggesting to a player the degree of reliability that a specific event will occur in the image of the symbol game depending on the number of times the unit performances are executed in one preview performance,
The game machine is characterized in that the advance notice performance means, when performing a plurality of unit performances in one advance notice performance, suggests to the player the degree of reliability that an event different from the specific event will occur in each of two or more unit performances by the type of advance notice image.
According to the above means, one preview image is displayed for one unit performance. Therefore, it becomes easier for the player to grasp the number of unit performances that occur in one preview performance, and it becomes easier to recognize the degree of reliability of a specific event from the number of unit performances that occur. Moreover, the degree of reliability of the occurrence of an event other than a specific event, such as the occurrence of a reach state, the occurrence of a special reach performance, or a confirmed win, is suggested to the player for each of two or more unit performances, improving the entertainment value of the preview performance.

[Reference Invention 3-1]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for playing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A display device displays an image of a symbol game that notifies a player of a winning or losing decision;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game on the display device, and suspending the start of displaying the image of the next symbol game until the display of the image of the symbol game is completed while the image of the symbol game is displayed on the display device;
The device performs a preview performance that suggests to a player in advance that a predetermined image will be displayed in a symbol game that is later than the first time and is before the final time, on the condition that the display start of three or more symbol games is pending, and includes a preview performance means that performs a unit performance using a variable number of images one or more times as one preview performance,
The advance notice performance means performs a unit performance in one or more variable number of symbol games among a plurality of symbol games having a display order before the target symbol game,
The gaming machine is characterized in that the symbol game means displays a predetermined image in a target symbol game with a probability according to the number of times the unit performance has been executed in a single preview performance if the number of times the unit performance has been executed has not reached N (N is an integer of 2 or more), and always displays the predetermined image in the target symbol game if N has been reached.
According to the above means, the advance notice performance is started on the condition that the start of display of three or more symbol games is suspended. This advance notice performance is a performance that suggests to the player in advance by an image that a predetermined image will be displayed in the target symbol game for one symbol game that is later in display order than the first game and before the final game among the three or more symbol games, and is composed of unit performances with one or more variable number of images. This unit performance is performed in one or more variable number of symbol games among the multiple symbol games that have a display order before the target symbol game. If the number of executions of this unit performance has not reached N, the predetermined image is displayed in the target symbol game with a probability according to the number of executions of the unit performance, so that the player can enjoy waiting for the next unit performance to occur after the end of this unit performance. Moreover, if the number of executions of the unit performance has reached N, the predetermined image is always displayed in the target symbol game. Therefore, the player can enjoy waiting for the next unit performance to occur with the goal of reaching the number of executions of the unit performance N, so that the entertainment value of the advance notice performance is improved overall.

[Reference Invention 3-2]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 3-1] is characterized in that the game control means is capable of setting a gaming state advantageous to the player on the condition that it has determined a win, and the pattern game means targets the pattern game having the final display order, and when N unit performances have been performed in N consecutive pattern games including the final pattern game, always displays a predetermined image in the final pattern game, and notifies the player with an image that a gaming state advantageous to the player has been set.
According to the above means, when the display start of N symbol games is suspended and unit performance is performed for each symbol game from the first to the final game, a predetermined image is always displayed in the final N symbol games, and the image notifies the player when a game state advantageous to the player is set. Therefore, the player can enjoy waiting for the unit performance to continue from the first symbol game to the final symbol game, which further improves the entertainment value of the preview performance.

[Reference Invention 3-3]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for performing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A display device displays an image of a symbol game that notifies a player of a winning or losing decision;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game on the display device, and suspending the start of displaying the image of the next symbol game until the display of the image of the symbol game is completed while the image of the symbol game is displayed on the display device;
The device performs a preview performance that suggests to a player in advance that a predetermined image will be displayed in a symbol game that is later than the first time and is before the final time, on the condition that the start of display of three or more symbol games is pending, and includes a preview performance means that performs a unit performance using a variable number of images, one or more times, as one preview performance;
The advance notice performance means performs a unit performance in one or more variable number of symbol games among a plurality of symbol games having a display order before the target symbol game, and performs, as a unit performance, displaying a first image suggesting to the player that the reliability of the target symbol game being displayed is high or displaying a second image suggesting to the player that the reliability is low,
The pattern game means displays a predetermined image with a probability corresponding to the number of times a unit performance has been executed in a target pattern game if the number of times a unit performance using a first image in one preview performance has not reached N (N is an integer of 2 or more), and if N has been reached, the predetermined image is always displayed in the target pattern game, and in each of the cases where the number of times a unit performance using a second image in one preview performance has not reached N and where it has reached N, the predetermined image is displayed with a probability of less than 100% corresponding to the number of times a unit performance has been executed in a target pattern game.
According to the above means, the preview performance is started on the condition that the start of displaying three or more symbol games is pending. This preview performance is targeted at one symbol game that is later than the first one and before the final one among the three or more symbol games, and suggests to the player in advance with an image that a predetermined image will be displayed in the target symbol game, and is composed of unit performances with one or more variable number of images. This unit performance is performed in one or more variable number of symbol games among the multiple symbol games that have a display order before the target symbol game, and is performed as a display of a first image that suggests to the player that the reliability of the predetermined image being displayed is high or a display of a second image that suggests to the player that the reliability is low. If the number of executions of the unit performance by this first image has not reached N times, the predetermined image is displayed in the target symbol game with a probability corresponding to the number of executions of the unit performance, and if the number of executions has reached N times, the predetermined image is always displayed in the target symbol game, and if the number of executions of the unit performance by the second image has not reached N times and has reached N times, the predetermined image is displayed with a probability less than "100%" corresponding to the number of executions of the unit performance. Therefore, the player can enjoy waiting for the occurrence of the unit performance based on the first image, as well as the enjoyment of waiting for the next unit performance to occur with the goal of the number of executions of the unit performance based on the first image reaching N, thereby improving the overall entertainment value of the preview performance.

[Reference Invention 3-4]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for performing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A display device displays an image of a symbol game that notifies a player of a winning or losing decision;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game on the display device, and suspending the start of displaying the image of the next symbol game until the display of the image of the symbol game is completed while the image of the symbol game is displayed on the display device;
In a state where the start of display of three or more symbol games is on hold, a preview performance is performed to suggest to a player in advance by an image that a predetermined image will be displayed in one symbol game that is later than the first time and is before the final time, the preview performance is provided with a preview performance means that performs a unit performance by one or more variable number of images as one preview performance,
The advance notice performance means performs an advance notice performance in one or more variable number of symbol games among a plurality of symbol games having a display order before the target symbol game, and is capable of performing a plurality of types of unit performances having different aspects in one advance notice performance,
The symbol game means displays a predetermined image in a target symbol game with a probability related to the mode of a unit performance and not related to the number of times the unit performance is executed.
According to the above means, the advance notice performance is started on the condition that the start of display of three or more symbol games is suspended. This advance notice performance is a performance that suggests to the player in advance with an image that a predetermined image will be displayed in one symbol game that is later than the first one and before the final one among three or more symbol games, and is composed of unit performances with one or more variable number of images. This unit performance is performed in one or more variable number of symbol games among multiple symbol games that have a display order before the target symbol game, and has multiple types of mutually different modes. This advance notice performance suggests to the player that a predetermined image will be displayed in the target symbol game with a probability related to the mode of the unit performance regardless of the number of executions of the unit performance, and a predetermined image may be displayed in the target symbol game regardless of the number of occurrences of the unit performance. In this case, the player feels a great sense of enjoyment after feeling a sense of disappointment, and the entertainment value of the advance notice performance is improved.

[Reference Invention 3-5]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for playing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A display device displays an image of a symbol game that notifies a player of a winning or losing decision;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game on the display device, and suspending the start of displaying the image of the next symbol game until the display of the image of the symbol game is completed while the image of the symbol game is displayed on the display device;
The device performs a preview performance that suggests to a player in advance that a predetermined image will be displayed in a symbol game that is later than the first time and is before the final time, on the condition that the start of display of three or more symbol games is pending, and includes a preview performance means that performs a unit performance using a variable number of images, one or more times, as one preview performance;
The advance notice performance means performs a unit performance in one or more variable number of symbol games among a plurality of symbol games having a display order before the target symbol game, and displays a first image or a second image different from each other as a unit performance in each advance notice performance,
The gaming machine is characterized in that the pattern game means displays a predetermined image in the target pattern game with a probability related to the number of times the unit performance is executed when a unit performance using a first image is performed as a preview performance, and displays a predetermined image in the target pattern game with a probability not related to the number of times the unit performance is executed when a unit performance using a second image is performed as a preview performance.
According to the above means, the preview performance is started on the condition that the start of display of three or more symbol games is pending. This preview performance is a performance that suggests to the player in advance by an image that a predetermined image will be displayed in one symbol game that is later than the first one and before the final one among the three or more symbol games, and is composed of unit performances by one or more variable number of images. This unit performance is performed in one or more variable number of symbol games among the multiple symbol games that have a display order before the target symbol game, and is performed as the display of a first image or a second image. When this preview performance is performed as a unit performance by the first image, the predetermined image is displayed in the target symbol game with a probability that depends on the number of executions of the unit performance, and when the unit performance by the second image is performed as the preview performance, the predetermined image is displayed in the target symbol game with a probability that does not depend on the number of executions of the unit performance. Therefore, when the preview performance is performed as a unit performance using the first image, the player can enjoy anticipating the repetition of the unit performance, and when the preview performance is performed as a unit performance using the second image, the player can continue to feel the expectation that a predetermined image will be displayed even if the repetition of the unit performance is soon discontinued, so that the entertainment value of the preview performance is generally improved.

[Reference Invention 3-6]
A gaming machine described in any one of [Reference Invention 3-1] to [Reference Invention 3-5], characterized in that the advance notice performance means is capable of performing two unit performances in an intermittent manner sandwiched between pattern play in which no unit performance is performed when two or more unit performances are performed in one advance notice performance.
According to the above-mentioned means, the unit performance is carried out again after the player feels that the repetition of the unit performance has been interrupted, thereby improving the entertainment value of the preview performance.

[Reference Invention 3-7]
The advance notice performance means is capable of suggesting to the player that a predetermined image will be displayed in the current symbol game in response to performing the unit performance only in the current symbol game, regardless of whether the start of display of the symbol game is on hold or not,
The gaming machine described in any one of [Reference Invention 3-1] to [Reference Invention 3-5] is characterized in that, when a one-off unit performance is performed in the current pattern game, an image suggesting to the player that the current pattern game is the target pattern game is displayed after the unit performance in the current pattern game.
According to the above means, when the unit performance is performed as a one-off preview performance, the player is notified that the preview of the unit performance only applies to the current symbol play, so that the player can be prevented from the useless act of waiting in anticipation for the occurrence of the next unit performance.

[Reference Invention 3-8]
The gaming machine described in any one of [Reference Invention 3-1] to [Reference Invention 3-5] is characterized in that the advance notice performance means is capable of suggesting to the player that a predetermined image will be displayed in the current symbol game in response to a unit performance being performed one-off only in the current symbol game, regardless of whether the start of display of the symbol game is on hold or not, and when the advance notice performance is performed, the execution of the one-off unit performance is restricted until a predetermined condition is met.
According to the above means, when a preview performance is performed, the execution of a one-off unit performance is restricted until a predetermined condition is satisfied, making it difficult for a one-off unit performance to occur. Therefore, the player will not mistakenly recognize the one-off unit performance as part of the preview performance, and it is prevented from mistakenly grasping the reliability of a predetermined image as being high.

[Reference Invention 4-1]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for playing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A display device displays an image of a symbol game that notifies a player of a winning or losing decision;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game on the display device, and suspending the start of displaying the image of the next symbol game until the display of the image of the symbol game is completed while the image of the symbol game is displayed on the display device;
A notice performance is performed to suggest to a player in advance that a first predetermined image or a second predetermined image different from the first predetermined image will be displayed in a pattern game that is later than the first time and is before the final time, on the condition that the start of display of three or more pattern games is pending, and the notice performance is provided with a notice performance means for performing a unit performance by a variable number of images, the unit performance being one or more times, as one notice performance;
The advance notice performance means performs a unit performance in one or more variable number of symbol games among a plurality of symbol games having a display order before the target symbol game,
The gaming machine is characterized in that the symbol game means displays a first predetermined image in a target symbol game with a probability according to the number of times the unit performance has been executed in a single preview performance if the number of times the unit performance has been executed has not reached N (N is an integer of 2 or more), and always displays the first predetermined image in the target symbol game if N has been reached, and always displays a second predetermined image in the target symbol game if the number of times exceeds N.
According to the above means, the preview performance is started on the condition that the start of display of three or more symbol games is pending. This preview performance is a performance that suggests to the player in advance with an image that the first or second predetermined image will be displayed in one symbol game that is later than the first and before the final one of the three or more symbol games, and is composed of unit performances with one or more variable number of images. This unit performance is performed in one or more variable number of symbol games among the multiple symbol games that have a display order before the target symbol game. If the number of executions of this unit performance has not reached N, the first predetermined image is displayed in the target symbol game with a probability according to the number of executions of the unit performance, so that the player can enjoy waiting for the next unit performance to occur after the end of the current unit performance. Moreover, when the number of executions of the unit performance reaches N times, the first predetermined image is always displayed in the target symbol game, and when it exceeds N times, the second predetermined image is always displayed in the target symbol game, so that the player can enjoy waiting for the next unit performance to occur with the goal of the number of executions of the unit performance reaching or exceeding N times, and the entertainment value of the preview performance is generally improved.

[Reference Invention 5-1]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for performing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
a symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game in a state where a distinguished symbol is displayed in a variable state and then in a state where the distinguished symbol is stopped from varying, on a predetermined display device, and notifying a player of a winning judgment result when the distinguished symbol is in a winning state in the variable stopped state, and notifying a player of a losing judgment result when the distinguished symbol is in a losing state;
a presentation game means for suggesting to a player that the identification symbols will have a higher probability of winning in response to a chance presentation being performed in a state where the identification symbols are changed compared to when the chance presentation is not performed, and having a plurality of options as executable chance presentations;
a chance notice performance means for performing a chance notice performance that suggests to a player that one of a plurality of chance performances will be performed;
The presentation game means has a revival chance presentation as one of a plurality of options, the revival chance presentation having a first half suggesting to the player that the identification symbol will be in a losing state and a second half suggesting to the player that the identification symbol will be in a winning state, and when the chance advance notice presentation is performed, one of the plurality of options including the revival chance presentation is always performed;
The symbol game means is characterized in that, when a revival chance performance is executed after a chance advance notice performance, the identification symbol is always made to have a winning form after the latter half of the revival chance performance is executed.
According to the above means, when the chance notice performance is performed, the player is suggested that there is a high probability that the identification symbol will become a winning pattern in accordance with the fact that one of the multiple chance performances will definitely be performed. Therefore, the player will not feel disappointed that nothing happens even though the chance notice performance is performed, and the entertainment value of the chance notice performance is improved. Moreover, when the revival chance performance is performed after the chance notice performance, the player is suggested in the first half of the revival chance performance that the identification symbol will not become a winning pattern, and the identification symbol will always become a winning pattern after the player is suggested in the second half of the revival chance performance that the identification symbol will become a winning pattern. Therefore, the revival chance performance turns the player's disappointment into great expectations, and the entertainment value of the chance notice performance is further improved.

[Reference Invention 5-2]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 5-1] is characterized in that the pre-notice performance means is capable of performing another chance pre-notice performance that branches off into a different ending from a performance common to the chance pre-notice performance, and the performance game means, when another chance pre-notice performance is performed, performs or does not perform any of a plurality of chance performances including a revival chance performance with a probability of less than "100%."
According to the above means, when another chance notice performance is performed, any one of the plurality of chance performances is performed or not performed with a probability of less than "100%", so that the player can enjoy expecting the chance notice performance to end with a different ending.

[Reference Invention 5-3]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 5-1] is characterized in that it is provided with a movable presentation member, the pattern play means displays the identification pattern in a provisional miss mode when the first half of the revival chance presentation is performed, and displays the identification pattern in a winning mode when the second half of the revival chance presentation is performed, and the presentation play means performs a presentation in which the movable member is operated to move toward the identification pattern in the provisional miss mode in the revival chance presentation, as the second half of the revival chance presentation.
According to the above means, when the performance member moves toward the identification symbol of the provisional losing mode in the revival chance performance, the identification symbol of the winning mode is displayed, thereby improving the entertainment value of the revival chance performance.

[Reference Invention 5-4]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 5-1] is characterized in that it has a plurality of unit members which are operated between a close form in which they are close to each other and a separated form which is farther apart than the close form, the pattern play means displays the identification pattern in a provisional miss form when a first half of a revival chance presentation is performed, and displays the identification pattern in a winning form when a second half of the revival chance presentation is performed, the plurality of unit members make the identification pattern difficult for a player to see when they are in the close form in front of the identification pattern of the provisional miss form in the revival chance presentation, and make the identification pattern easily visible to a player when they are in the separated form in front of the identification pattern of the winning form, and the presentation play means performs a presentation in which the plurality of unit members are in the close form in front of the identification pattern of the provisional miss form in the revival chance presentation and then in the separated form in front of the identification pattern of the winning form, as the second half of the revival chance presentation.
According to the above means, when the multiple unit members are brought into a close form in the revival chance presentation, the identification pattern of the provisional miss form becomes difficult to see, and when they are brought into a separated form, the identification pattern of the jackpot form becomes easily visible, thereby improving the entertainment value of the revival chance presentation.

[Reference Invention 5-5]
The notice performance means is capable of performing another chance notice performance of the same type as the chance notice performance,
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 5-1] is characterized in that when another chance preview performance is executed, the performance game means executes one of a plurality of options including a revival chance performance with a probability of less than "100%."
According to the above means, when a chance notice performance is executed, a reach performance is always performed, and when another chance notice performance is executed, the reach performance is performed with a probability of less than "100%", so that a player can enjoy expecting the occurrence of the reach notice performance.

[Reference Invention 5-6]
The gaming machine described in [Reference Invention 5-1] is characterized in that it is equipped with a specific presentation means for performing a specific presentation that suggests to a player that the revival chance presentation will progress from a first half to a second half, said presentation game means progressing the revival chance presentation from the first half to the second half if the specific presentation is executed in the revival chance presentation before the start of the second half, and ending the revival chance presentation in the first half if the specific presentation is not executed in the revival chance presentation before the start of the second half, and said pattern game means making the identified pattern a winning pattern when the revival chance presentation progresses to the second half, and making the identified pattern a losing pattern when it ends in the first half.
According to the above means, if the specific effect is executed before the start of the second half of the revival chance effect, the revival chance effect progresses from the first half to the second half, and the identification symbol becomes a winning symbol. If this specific effect is not executed before the start of the second half of the revival chance effect, the revival chance effect ends in the first half, and the identification symbol becomes a losing symbol. Therefore, the player can enjoy waiting for the specific effect to be executed during the revival chance effect, improving the entertainment value of the revival chance effect.

[Reference Invention 6-1]
A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when the game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for playing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
a symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game in a state where a distinguished symbol is displayed in a variable state and then in a state where the distinguished symbol is stopped from varying, on a predetermined display device, and notifying a player of a winning judgment result when the distinguished symbol is in a winning state in the variable stopped state, and notifying a player of a losing judgment result when the distinguished symbol is in a losing state;
a presentation game means for suggesting to a player that the identification symbols will have a higher probability of winning in response to a chance presentation being performed in a state where the identification symbols are changed compared to when the chance presentation is not performed, and having a plurality of options as executable chance presentations;
A chance notice performance is performed to suggest to a player that one of a plurality of chance performances will be performed, and the game is provided with a notice performance means having a plurality of options that share an execution timing and have different reliability as executable chance notice performances,
The presentation game means includes:
a chance of revival effect having a first half suggesting to a player that the identification symbol will be in a losing state and a second half suggesting to a player that the identification symbol will be in a winning state as one of a plurality of options, and when the chance advance notice effect is executed, one of the plurality of options including the chance of revival effect is executed with a probability according to the reliability suggested by the chance advance notice effect;
The symbol game means includes:
This game machine is characterized in that, when a revival chance performance is executed after a chance notice performance, the identification pattern is always made to have a winning mode after the latter half of the revival chance performance is executed.
According to the above means, when a chance notice performance is performed, the player is suggested that there is a high probability that the identification symbol will become a winning pattern according to the fact that one of the multiple chance performances is performed with a reliability corresponding to the type of chance notice performance. Moreover, when a revival chance performance is performed after a chance notice performance, the player is suggested in the first half of the revival chance performance that the identification symbol will not become a winning pattern, and after the player is suggested in the second half of the revival chance performance that the identification symbol will become a winning pattern, the identification symbol always becomes a winning pattern. Therefore, the revival chance performance turns the player's disappointment into great expectations, improving the entertainment value of the chance notice performance.

18 is the first start port (start area), 19 is the big prize port (ball entry area), 23 is the second start port (start area), 28 is the performance pattern display (display), 33 is the advance notice performance device (movable member), 40 is the main control circuit (judgment means, special game means, game control means), 60 is the sub-control circuit (pattern game means, advance notice performance means, performance information display means, performance game means, specific performance means), 101 is the performance member, W is the advance notice image (first image), and W1 is the advance notice image (second image).

Claims (1)

A game control means for determining whether or not a game has been won when a game ball has validly entered a predetermined starting area, and for performing a special game in which the predetermined ball entry area is opened when the game ball is determined to be a win;
A symbol game means for displaying an image of a symbol game to inform a player of a winning or losing judgment result;
The game machine is capable of performing one or more variable number of unit performances, each of which displays one of two or more preview images, as one preview performance, and is provided with a preview performance means for suggesting to a player the degree of reliability that a specific event will occur in the image of the symbol game depending on the number of times the unit performances are executed in one preview performance,
The notice production means includes:
This game machine is characterized in that, when a plurality of unit performances are performed in one advance notice performance, the degree of reliability that an event different from the specific event will occur in each of two or more unit performances is suggested to a player by the type of advance notice image.

Images