JP2750334B2 - Method and apparatus for controlling rotation of a torso of a slot machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slot machine, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling the rotation of a reel in a slot machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a slot machine includes three basic drums, a starter, and a stop button corresponding to each rotary drum. The player activates the starter after inserting the coin into the slot machine, and simultaneously rotates the rotating body by pressing and pressing the stop button corresponding to each rotating body to sequentially stop the rotating of the rotating body, The symbols arranged around the three winding drums are intended to stop in a predetermined combination on the stop line of the symbol display window provided in the front of the slot machine. When a predetermined combination of pictures is generated on the stop line due to the stop of the torso, the number of coins corresponding to the combination is discharged. The time required for one game, which is started by the activation of the starter and ended by stopping all the torso, is relatively short, and the player usually plays many games repeatedly and continuously.

[0003] As a player becomes proficient in the game mode of the slot machine, the game time used for one game is shortened, and the progress of each game is accelerated.
Many games tend to repeat in a short time,
As a result, the gambling and ejaculation of the slot machine are enhanced.

[0004] Various measures have been studied for suppressing this tendency. For example, in the device described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-33173, a predetermined allotted time is set for each execution of a game, and even if the starter is energized within the allotted time, the rotating body does not rotate all at once. The rotation after the lapse of the predetermined time is merely reserved in advance, so to speak, and the rotation drum automatically starts rotating only after the lapse of the predetermined time,
Is adopted. In addition, utility model registration 3
The registered publication No. 009697 states that if the time allotted to each game has not elapsed, the starter will not be activated and the rotating body will not start rotating at all, or the stop button will not be activated even if the rotating body is rotated all at once. A configuration is disclosed that is not activated and does not stop the torso. In the latter utility model, while the starter or the stop button is not activated, a configuration in which each state is visually or audibly notified to the player by a blinking lamp or an audio output device is also adopted. I have.

[0005] With these conventional arrangements, however, the player may be bored. Or at least it can be mentally frustrating. In the first prior art example described above, even for a few seconds, the turning drum does not rotate despite the urging of the starter, and the machine is in a standby state in which it is stopped. . In a game using a slot machine, which can be said to be relatively simple, a sense of speed is an important factor, and the presence of a waiting time in which the torso does not rotate during each game may lose interest in the game. . Also, in the above-described second prior art example, in the embodiment in which the starter is invalidated when the allocation time has not elapsed, the standby time still occurs, and the stop button is invalidated. Also in the embodiment of the present invention, the waiting state is relaxed in the sense that the torso is always rotated, but since it is disabled, there is no response to the activation of the stop button, and the player also tends to be psychologically distracted. I can't escape.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to control a game progress speed of a slot machine,
A method and apparatus for controlling the rotation of a torso that prevents the gambling and ejaculation of the game from being transient, but at the same time, for the player, controlling the speed does not significantly diminish the gaming appeal of the slot machine. It is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to maintain the interest of the player in the slot machine and increase the interest in the game by changing the mode of the machine in the conventional waiting time.

[0008]

Specifically, according to the control device of the present invention, when the player urges the starter, the torso always starts rotating regardless of the lapse of time. However, the torso starts to rotate and gradually accelerates.However, through-up control is performed for the degree of acceleration, and the rotation from the start of rotation to the constant rotation at which the pressing of the stop button is enabled The required time is variously controlled by the time factor as described later.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to the invention. Each time the barrel 20 ₁ to 20 _k, the stepping motor 18 ₁ ~ 18 _k is a motor for rotating the reel, respectively
Rotated by the stepper motor 18 ₁
To 18 _k are driven by an excitation pulse signal via a stepping motor drive circuit 16. By operating the starter S of the slot machine,
Pulse generator in the motor drive circuit 16 (not shown) generates an excitation pulse signal, but until arresting its generated by depression of the stop button 10 ₁ to 10 _k, the exciting pulse signal is stepping continuously It continues to be supplied to the motor 18 ₁ ~ 18 _k, thus each time the barrel 20 ₁ to 20 _k continues to rotate.

[0010] stop button 10 ₁ to 10 _k, one for each stepper motor 18 ₁ ~ 18 _k, i.e. provided one for each time cylinder 20 ₁ to 20 _k, the player be stopped The game is executed by sequentially pressing the stop buttons corresponding to the torso intended to be played.

In the present invention, a plurality of games of the slot machine are rapidly and continuously repeated in a short time, and in order to prevent the game from having a transitional gambling property and a gambling property, 1 The shortest allocation time for one game is set in advance, and the CPU 12 controls the slot machine so that two or more games are not executed within this allocation time. According to the administrative rules based on the current law as of the end of June 1993, the game time allotted to one game cannot be less than 4.1 seconds. The reference point for measuring this one game time is from the time when the rotation speed of the torso becomes constant to the time when the rotation speed of the torso becomes constant in the next game. In addition, the stop button corresponding to each turning drum in the slot machine turns on the turning drum stop lamp after the simultaneous rotation of the turning drum has reached a constant speed, and after the origin mark of the turning drum has passed the turning drum sensor. Will be activated when The set predetermined allocation time is stored in the memory 14.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the stop buttons 10 ₁ to 10 ₁
10 _k is invalidated until the rotation of the rotating drum reaches a constant speed. Further, the starter S has no invalidating means, and if the starter S is operated at an arbitrary time, the stepping motor drive circuit 16
A pulse generator (not shown) generates an excitation pulse signal, and the excitation pulse signal is continuously supplied to the stepping motors 18 ₁ to 18 _k so that each turn cylinder 20 ₁
２０20 _k rotate.

The player advances the game by sequentially pressing the stop buttons corresponding to the torso to be stopped. At that time, the time from when the constant rotation of the torso in the previous game is achieved is reached. The progress is monitored by the CPU 12,
In this game, the stop button is activated after the rotation of the torso is accelerated to a certain speed.

In other words, regarding the execution of this game,
The stop buttons 10 ₁ to 10 _k are disabled during the allotted time starting from the rotation start time of the rotating body at a constant speed in the previous game, but when the rotating of the rotating body becomes constant, It enabled, functions to stop the rotation of the reel 20 ₁ to 20 _k by blocking the excitation pulse to the stepping motor 18 ₁ ~ 18 _k in response to the depression.

A flashing lamp for notifying the player that the stop button is disabled while the stop button is disabled, or notifying the player of the fact when the stop button is enabled, It is also possible to provide visual or audible notification means by voice or the like.

FIG. 2 shows a graph in which time is set on the horizontal axis, and the rotation speed of the rotary drum is plotted on the vertical axis, with the point of time when the starter S for rotating the rotary drum is energized. In the embodiment of the present invention, in the interval from (A) to (B) on the horizontal axis in FIG.
The PU 12 controls the acceleration of the rotation of the torso in 297 ways in units of about 0.02 seconds. As shown in this figure, if the predetermined game time of 4.1 seconds has elapsed at the time of the starter S being energized, the torso is accelerated to a constant rotational speed in the shortest time. In only 20 milliseconds, the rotation of the torso accelerates to reach a certain speed at which the stop button is activated.

On the other hand, when 4.1 seconds have not yet elapsed, the rotating drum motor gradually accelerates the rotation of the rotating drum and achieves a constant rotation speed after a certain time. The rotating body motor consumes the remaining time of 4.1 seconds, which is a predetermined game time for one game, when accelerating the rotation of the rotating body to a certain rotation speed. 3 and 4 according to the non-digestion time in FIG.
Is changed as shown in FIG.

First, the remaining time that has not been consumed within the predetermined game time of 4.1 seconds for one game is 18.
If the time is less than 944 milliseconds, the CPU 12 controls the CPU 12 by stepping the drum motor at the time intervals shown in FIG.
Controls the rotation of the torso. As shown in this table, the sixth
After the step, the rotation speed of the torso becomes constant, the torso stop lamp indicating that the stop button has been activated is lit, and the player knows that the stop button has been activated.

Secondly, the remaining unconsumed time within 4.1 seconds, which is a predetermined game time for one game, is 18.
If it is greater than 944 milliseconds, the rotation of the torso is started by stepping the torso motor using the middle to the end of the step time interval table of the torso motor shown in FIG. . However, FIG.
If it is described in the same way as in FIG.
Here, only the time intervals on the right are listed. Further, in FIG. 4, there are some places where the time interval is slightly increased without being monotonously reduced. However, this is due to a restriction in a program. No effect. The starting position of the table in FIG. 4 is determined by adding step times in order from the end of the table and searching for a position in 4.1 seconds at which unconsumed time can be consumed. Since the sum of all the step time intervals in this table is set to be sufficiently large so as to be longer than one game time (total is 4148.360 milliseconds), this table can be used no matter how much time is not consumed. It can be started using the values of

For example, when starting the rotation of the rotating drum,
The remaining time is 2.0004864 seconds (steady interrupt 105
If there are (for six times), the following processing is performed. First, step time intervals are added in order from the end of the numerical values in FIG. That is, 2.0992 milliseconds (No. 365)
+2.0992 ms (No. 364) +2.1504 ms (No. 363) + 2.2016 ms (No. 362) +
The addition is continued in the order of 2.2528 milliseconds (No. 361) +2.4576 milliseconds (No. 360) +. When the numbers 365 to 123 are added, the result is 2003.488 ms, which exceeds the above-mentioned remaining time of 2.0004864 seconds. This total value of 2003.1488 ms is 1057 + 15/37 times of the regular interrupt, and since there is a fraction, the time (1.12
64 milliseconds) to obtain a time that is an integral multiple of the regular interrupt (1058 regular interrupts = 2004.2752 milliseconds). Finally, by putting the address of the table and the initial count value into the work area, the rotating body is started, but the above fraction adjustment (1.1264 milliseconds) is added to the first time. Therefore, the initial time, which is the time from the next steady interruption to the first step of the rotary motor, is 14.40508 milliseconds (123rd time) +1.
1264 milliseconds (fraction adjustment) = 15.6672 milliseconds, and the time from the first step of the rotary motor to the second step, which is the next time, is 14.2848 milliseconds (time 124). Yes, followed by 14.360
Steps like milliseconds (125th time)
The step after the last 365 times is the first step of rotation at a constant rotation speed.

If the remaining time is short (for example, 30 milliseconds), the above-mentioned method may cause the stepping time interval of the first rotating drum motor to be too short, causing a step-out, and a failure to start normally. Therefore, in the above-described method, if the start position is after the 297th position, that is, if the remaining time is 261.4272 milliseconds or less,
Start from number 297. Therefore, one game time is extended up to about 242 milliseconds.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure according to the method for controlling the rotation of the rotating drum of the present invention. As described above, the elapsed time is compared with the predetermined allocated time at the time when the starter is activated (step 103) (step 10).
4) Based on the difference, the CPU 12 controls the rotation of the turning drum in two ways (steps 105 and 106). When the rotation of the torso reaches a certain speed, the stop button is activated (step 107), and the player knows in response to this that the notification means has been activated.

[0023]

According to the above-described control method, the winding drum motor appropriately accelerates according to the remaining time of the game time at the time when the starter is energized, and after a desired time elapses, the predetermined speed is maintained. Leads to rotation. This eliminates the need for the player to experience a standby time in which the torso does not rotate even when the starter is urged, while keeping the game time short, and the continuity of the game with the slot machine is maintained, thereby increasing the interest. Is not lost.

In addition, since the rotation of the torso is gradually accelerated from the stationary state, the player can easily identify the pattern around the torso as compared with the normal case where the rotation speed reaches a certain value.
This also gives the player time to determine which pattern to stop and how to stop it, rather than waiting for the stationary torso that occurs with the prior art slot machine, It is thought that you will be attracted to games using slot machines.

[0025]

[Brief description of the drawings]

[0026]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a game progress speed control device of a slot machine according to the present invention.

[0027]

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a change in the rotation speed of the rotating drum, with the time taken on the horizontal axis and the rotation speed of the rotating drum taken on the vertical axis, with the time point at which the starter for rotating the rotating drum is energized as the origin. .

[0028]

FIG. 3 shows an example of a starting method according to a non-extinguishing time at the time of starter activation.

[0029]

FIG. 4 is a step time interval table of a rotating drum motor.

[0030]

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the operation of the rotating body rotation control device according to the present invention.

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for controlling a plurality of turning drums of a slot machine having a plurality of turning drums, a starter, and a stop button corresponding to each of the plurality of turning drums, wherein the starter is biased. When starting simultaneous rotation of the plurality of torso, measuring the elapsed time from the time when the constant rotation of the plurality of torso is achieved in the previous game, and comparing the elapsed time with a predetermined game time. When the elapsed time is equal to or longer than the predetermined game time, the rotation of the plurality of rotating drums is started by the bias of the starter, and the shortest time possible for the rotating drum motor that rotates the rotating drums. Increasing the rotation speed to a predetermined constant rotation speed, and when the elapsed time is less than the predetermined game time, start the rotation of the plurality of winding drums by urging the starter, A step of gradually increasing the rotation speeds of the plurality of winding drums to reach the predetermined constant rotation speed in accordance with a difference between the elapsed time and the predetermined game time. . 2. The control method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of notifying a player of the fact that the stop button has been activated and the stop button has been activated and the stop button has been activated. Characteristic control method. 3. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined game time is substantially 4.1 seconds. 4. An apparatus for controlling a plurality of turning drums of a slot machine having a plurality of turning drums, a starter, and a stop button corresponding to each of the plurality of turning drums, wherein the starter is biased. When starting simultaneous rotation of the plurality of torso, a means for measuring an elapsed time from the time when the constant rotation of the plurality of torso in the previous game is achieved, and comparing the elapsed time with a predetermined game time. When the elapsed time is equal to or longer than the predetermined game time, the rotation of the plurality of rotating drums is started by the bias of the starter, and the shortest time possible for the rotating drum motor that rotates the rotating drums. Means for increasing the rotation speed to a predetermined constant rotation speed, and when the elapsed time is less than the predetermined game time, the rotation of the plurality of winding drums is started by urging the starter, Means for gradually increasing the rotation speeds of the plurality of winding drums up to the predetermined constant rotation speed in accordance with a difference between time and the predetermined game time. . 5. The control device according to claim 4, further comprising: a notifying unit for notifying a player of the fact that the stop button is activated when the rotating drum rotates at a constant speed. A control device characterized in that: 6. The control device according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined game time is substantially 4.1 seconds.