JP3062307B2 - Gaming machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a relates to a gaming machine, which is represented by such as pachinko machines and coin game machine or Surottoma Shin. For more information, has a variable display device capable change the display state, predetermined et on condition that a specific display mode Viewing results predetermined for the variable display device
A gaming machine that can be controlled to a specific game state .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally known game machines of this kind include a variable display device of a rotary drum type, for example, which rotates a rotary drum based on a predetermined variable start condition. Is started, and when the display result of the symbol when the rotating drum is stopped becomes predetermined specific identification information (for example, “777”), for example, the first state in which the variable winning ball device is advantageous to the player Predetermined
In some cases, the specific game state can be controlled .

[0003] The display result when the variable display device is stopped (this is referred to as "roll") is determined when a predetermined variable start condition is satisfied. The results need to be random. Conventionally, the following processing has been performed as a means for determining an outcome in advance in order to obtain such a random result.

A gaming machine is controlled by a microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as "microcomputer"), but it goes without saying that the outcome is determined by a program executed by the microcomputer. This program is, for example, a few milliseconds
It is designed to finish a certain process for controlling the gaming machine within c. The microcomputer is reset once every several msec, and each time it starts executing the above-described program from the beginning. In other words, this program is one every few milliseconds.
Executed several times. As described above, since one process required for controlling the gaming machine is completed within several msec, some time remains until the next reset. Conventionally, by using this time, a predetermined number (for example, 1) is added to the value of the random number counter for determining the hit / miss and the value for determining the outcome for each loop until the next reset signal is input. Had an infinite loop. And, for example,
Simultaneously with the establishment of the variable start condition, the value of the random number counter for determining the hit or miss is taken out, and it is determined whether or not the display result at the time of stop is the specific identification information (hit). When the variable display is started, the value of the random number counter for determining the appearance is taken out simultaneously with the start of the variable display, and the appearance is determined based on the value.

[0005]

However, in this type of conventional gaming machine, the time required to execute a program once (excluding counting up by a random number counter) is reduced.
There was a tendency for a certain bias. For this reason, a certain bias also occurs in the length of time for counting up the random number counter. Since the number of times that the random number counter is counted up in one execution of the program is determined by the time when the count is performed, there is a possibility that the number determined by the random number counter may not be sufficiently random.

In particular, if the variable start condition is satisfied during the variable display of the variable display device, the control is performed such that the satisfaction is temporarily stored, and the variable display is started again after the current variable display is completed. When the satisfaction of the variable start condition is stored a plurality of times, the following problem occurs.

First, the variable display is started based on the first variable start condition being satisfied, and at the same time, the outcome of the first variable display is determined. If the result indicates a miss, the display is stopped after the variable display for a predetermined time. After a certain period of time sufficient for causing the player to visually recognize that the player is off, the variable display is started again based on the storage of the establishment of the second variable start condition, and the outcome of the second variable display is determined. Is done. Hereinafter, the same control as the first time is repeated.

[0008] When such control is performed and none of the rolls become the specific identification information, the cycle of variable display start, roll determination, display stop, and re-variable display start, which are continuously performed during this time, is as follows. It is highly likely that it will be performed at a fixed cycle. As a result, the outcomes are determined at a constant cycle, and the displayed outcomes have a certain bias.
Such a problem of bias may occur not only in determining the outcome but also in determining the hit or miss. Therefore, in such a conventional gaming machine, there was an inconvenience that the interest of the game could not be increased.

An object of the present invention is to provide a gaming machine capable of further improving the randomness of an operation requiring randomness in a gaming machine.

[0010]

The present invention according to claim 1 is provided.
Has a variable display device whose display state can be changed, and the display result of the variable display device has a predetermined specific display mode.
To a predetermined specific game condition on the condition that
A game machine that can be controlled , and is controlled by a control program.
Includes control means for operating I, control means, predetermined based on the establishment of production conditions, numerical information preparing means for preparing Therefore numerical information to calculate <br/> formula that varies according to the playing state And, based on satisfaction of a predetermined condition, including a predetermined determination unit for determining in advance content related to a display result of the variable display device based on the numerical information,
The control means controls all data used to create the numerical information.
Using information supplied from outside the control means.
By the operation according to the control program
It is characterized by acquiring . The invention according to claim 2
Is the numerical information in addition to the configuration of the invention described in claim 1.
The report creation means outputs the numerical information each time the creation condition is satisfied.
The control means is newly created and the variable table is
To determine in advance the content related to the display results of the display device
When it becomes necessary to obtain the numerical information,
Randomly change the timing of acquiring the numerical information
It is characterized by that .

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the formula for determining the numerical information created by the numeric information creating means changes according to the game state. Therefore, unlike the related art, the randomness of the random number does not depend only on the randomness of the reset waiting time and the randomness of the extraction timing, but the randomness itself can be obtained in the process of generating a numerical value, which is a reference for random number generation. In addition, all of the
All data uses information supplied from outside the control means.
Calculation that does not occur in accordance with the control program.
Other data that is dedicated to that data acquisition.
There is no need to provide a load circuit. The invention according to claim 2
According to the invention, in addition to the function of the invention described in claim 1,
Predetermine the contents related to the display results of the variable display device
To obtain the above numerical information
And the acquisition timing of the numerical information changes randomly
Is done.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a pachinko gaming machine will be described as an example of a gaming machine, but the type of gaming machine is not limited to a pachinko gaming machine. For example, the present invention can be applied to coin gaming machines, slot machines, and the like. Also, what kind of gaming machine is provided with a variable display device for displaying identification information (symbol) for displaying a predetermined information to a player, which is composed of numbers, characters, figures or symbols or a combination thereof. May be something.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a game board of a pachinko game machine as an example of a game machine according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, in a gaming area 3 of a gaming board 1 of the gaming machine, a variable display device 4 capable of variably displaying a plurality of types of symbols and decorative images, and a ball receiving member 10 being opened and closed. Thus, a variable winning ball device 5 is provided which changes between a first state in which the hit ball is easy to win and a second state in which the hit ball is difficult to win or does not win. The game area 3 has a section rail 2 around it.
Is divided by Just below the variable display device 4,
In addition, on the left and right of the variable winning ball device 5, the starting winning openings 9a to
9c is provided. The gaming area 3 further includes a normal winning opening 30, shoulder chucks 7a and 7b, and sleeve chuckers 8.
a, 8b, windmill lamps 11a, 11b, shoulder lamps 12
a, 12b, sleeve lamps 13a, 13b, side lamp 1
4a, 14b, decoration LED (C) 15a, 15b, decoration LED (D) 16a, 16b, decoration LED (E) 18
a, 18b and windmills 20a to 20f are provided. An out port 6 for collecting out balls is provided at the bottom of the game area 3. A rail decoration lamp 19 is provided around the game area 3. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a gaming effect lamp 21 is provided on an upper front portion of the pachinko gaming machine.

Referring to FIG. 2, the variable display device 4 is disposed on a mounting substrate 22, a display region 23 formed by a fluorescent display tube (VFD) in the substrate 22, and an upper portion of the display region 23. It includes an upper obstacle frame 32 and a decorative plate 31 provided at the upper center of the upper obstacle frame 32. At the uppermost portion of the upper obstacle frame 32, the above-described normal winning opening 30 is formed. On both front sides of the upper obstacle frame 32, decorative LEDs (A) 29a,
29b are provided. The accessory lamp 27 is provided on the upper part of the front surface of the decoration plate 31, and a start winning storage indicator 28 made of LED is provided on the lower part of the front surface.

The display area 23 has identification information display areas 24a to 24f capable of variably displaying 15 patterns.
24c, a decoration display area 25 in which a decoration image can be displayed, and a start winning storage display area 26.

Referring again to FIG. 1, immediately below the variable prize ball device 5, a large prize formed by the ball receiving member 10 of the variable prize ball device 5 comprising a seven-segment display when the ball receiving member 10 is in the open state. A winning number display 17 for displaying the number of winning game balls in the mouth is provided. In the vicinity of the center of the big winning opening formed in the back of the ball receiving member 10, a decoration LED is provided.
(B) 33 is provided.

Referring to FIG. 3, a solenoid 6 for driving ball receiving member 10 (see FIG. 1) is provided on the back surface of game board 1.
0, normal winning opening 30, chuckers 7a, 7b, 8a,
A prize-ball collecting cover 37 is provided for collecting game balls prize-winning at 8b or the like at predetermined positions. Further, on the back of the game board 1, a start winning ball detector 34a for detecting a game ball winning the starting port 9a, and another starting port 9a.
b, 9c (see FIG. 1), the starting winning ball detectors 34b, 34c for detecting game balls winning, and the ball receiving member 10
(See FIG. 1) A specific winning ball detector 35 for detecting a gaming ball winning a specific winning area in the center portion of the special winning opening among the gaming balls winning in the special winning opening formed when (see FIG. 1) is opened. And prize ball detectors 36a and 36b for detecting game balls prize in the special prize hole. The winning ball detectors 35, 36a and 36b are covered by the guide plate 38.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the center of the board of the gaming board 1 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 4, in front of gaming board 1, transparent glass plates 39, 39 are arranged at a fixed distance. The VFD display unit 43 is attached to the winning ball collection cover 37 so as to be incorporated in an opening formed in the central portion of the game board 1. The lower surface of the opening at the front of the VFD display unit 43 has a ball rolling plate 4 for rolling and guiding the game balls entering the opening downward.
It is 2. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, VFD display unit 43 is provided on printed circuit board 52, grid 59 mounted on one surface of printed circuit board 52 via spacer 54, and grid 59. Cover glasses 44a and 44b.

Referring particularly to FIG. 5, above the grid 59, a filament 55 supported by a filament support 57 and a filament anchor 56 on both sides of the grid 59 is bridged. Then, on the printed circuit board 52 adjacent to the filament support 57,
A NES terminal 58 for preventing static electricity is provided. A getter 53 is provided on the filament support opposite to the side on which the Nesa terminal 58 is provided.

Referring again to FIG. 4, a display tube 45, a VFD driver 46, a capacitor 47, a transformer 48, a transistor 49, a connector 5
0, a transistor 51, and the like, and further, an inverter, a diode, a resistor, and the like (not shown) are mounted. The cover glasses 44a and 44b in the VFD display unit 43 define a vacuum portion. Note that the accessory lamp 27 and the start winning storage display 28 are connected to the printed circuit boards 41 and 40 of the variable display device, respectively.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, this pachinko gaming machine operates as follows. By putting a game ball in an upper tray (not shown) and turning a firing device operation lever (not shown) clockwise, the game balls are fired one by one into the game board surface 3. The fired game ball enters the winning opening or enters the out opening 6. When a game ball wins in the starting ports 9a to 9c, a predetermined number, for example, seven game balls are paid out for one game ball. When a game ball wins at another winning opening, a predetermined number, for example, 15 game balls are paid out.

When a game ball wins in any of the starting ports 9a to 9c, the identification information display areas 24a to 24a in the display area 23 are displayed.
The symbol displayed in 4c starts to change. When a predetermined time elapses from the starting opening prize, the leftmost identification information display area 24a stops first, and then the fluctuations stop after a predetermined time in the order of the display areas 24b and 24c. When a combination in which the symbols displayed in any of the identification information display areas 24a to 24c are the same due to the symbol stop is obtained, the ball receiving member 10 is opened and the special winning opening is set for a predetermined time, for example, about 3 hours.
Released for 0 seconds. While the special winning opening is open, the game ball that has won the special winning opening passes through a specific area and the specific winning ball detector 3
When it is detected by No. 5, after the current opening operation ends, the special winning opening is opened again. The number of releases
It is limited to a predetermined number of times including the first opening, for example, a maximum of 16 times. When 10 gaming balls are won in the special winning opening while the special winning opening is open, the opening operation of the special winning opening ends even within the aforementioned 30 seconds.

When the variable winning ball device 5 is in an open state or when the variable display device is performing variable display, the starting ports 9a to 9a
When a game ball wins at 9c, the winning ball is detected by the corresponding start winning ball detectors 34a to 34c, and the number thereof is stored up to a maximum of four. Then, if the pattern is off after the stop of the fluctuation of the symbol, the operation is immediately continued. If the winning is a success, after the series of opening operations of the special winning opening is completed, the fluctuation of the symbol is started again. The stored number of winning prize balls is displayed by the starting prize storing display area 26 and the starting prize storing display 28. That is, the start winning storage storage display area 26 and the start winning storage display 28 display the number of winning balls that have won the starting openings 9a to 9c in a big hit state or the like by the number of lighting areas from the left side.

In the above description, the case where the change of the identification information display area is normally stopped and the variable display is started when the winning opening is won, The variable display may be performed, and the variable display may be started again when a prize is received in the starting port. In this case, it is desirable that the player can understand that the variable display based on the winning start is performed by changing the luminance of the identification information or changing the fluctuation speed. In addition, when the ball receiving member 10 is closed, generally, no game ball is won in the special winning opening. However, the present invention is not limited to this. May be controlled so as to make it difficult to win a prize.

The symbols displayed in the identification information display areas 24a to 24c are determined in advance as follows. The gaming machine is controlled by a microcomputer program as described later, and the program is configured to repeatedly execute a predetermined program from the top in response to a reset pulse and an NMI interrupt generated at predetermined time intervals. Is configured. Then, in a predetermined step of one process, an operation for generating numerical information serving as a basis of a random number is performed by a predetermined method.

A game ball wins at the starting port and the detectors 34a to 34a.
If it is detected at any one of 34c, the value of the random counter for determining whether or not a big hit is taken out in response to the detection signal. This random counter is 0-2
In the range of 39, one is added for each interruption process. If the value of the random counter at the time of taking out in response to the winning detection signal to the starting port is 0, it is determined that the hit is a big hit, otherwise, it is determined to be off. This random counter is numerical information serving as a basis for random numbers, and is also used to determine an added value for each symbol counter described later. Since each of the symbol counters adds a plurality of types of addition values determined by the random counter, the symbol counter itself has randomness. At the same time, the generation timing of the winning detection signal that determines the extraction timing is also random, so that the randomness of the number of the extracted numbers is further improved.

Further, in the processing program, a 1-byte stop symbol determination random for determining the timing of extracting the value of each symbol counter is created by a predetermined method. Then, when the winning of the game ball to the starting opening is detected, the stop symbol determination random is taken out and temporarily stored. The detection of the winning in the starting opening starts the change of the symbols displayed in the identification information display areas 24a to 24c. And the lower 7 bits of the stop symbol determination random extracted at the time of the start winning, and when both match, the value of each symbol counter for determining the display symbol of each digit is extracted. Each of the symbol counters is always fluctuated in the range of 0 to 14 in a manner described later, and when the symbol counter is out of range, the symbol counter values are sequentially displayed in the identification information display areas 24a to 24c. The value of the left symbol counter determines the content of the same symbol displayed in the three identification information display areas 24a to 24c at the time of a big hit. However, when the symbol determined by the value of the symbol counter is accidentally changed to the combination of the big hits at times other than the big hit, the rightmost symbol is forcibly shifted by one.

That is, when each of the symbol counters is 0-9, the symbol displayed is a corresponding numeral.
In the case of 14, C, F, P, L, and J are displayed in order as identification information (symbol).

Each symbol counter repeatedly fluctuates as follows. Any of 1, 7, 11, and 13 is added to the left symbol counter for each interruption process. The value of this addition changes depending on the result of the lower 2 bits of the value of the random counter extracted at the time of winning the starting opening. That is, the values of the lower two bits are “00”, “0”.
The added value takes one of the values 1, 7, 11, and 13, depending on which value is taken as "1", "10", or "11", whereby the randomness of the left symbol counter is obtained. Is improved.

The middle symbol counter is incremented by one when the left symbol counter carries, that is, when the left symbol counter has a value exceeding 14 as a result of the addition. In such a carry, the left symbol counter becomes a value obtained by subtracting 15 from the result. Similarly, the right symbol counter is incremented by one when the middle symbol counter carries. That is, the right symbol counter is incremented by 1 when the middle symbol counter changes from 14 to 0.

As a result, the type of symbol combination is 15 × 1
There are 5 × 15 = 3375 combinations, of which there are 15 combinations of jackpots. Therefore, the probability of the big hit on the display is 1/225.

On the other hand, the true probability of a jackpot is determined by a random counter. The possible values of the random counter are 240 ways from 0 to 239, and one of the jackpots is (0).
/ 240. Therefore, the probability on software is slightly smaller than the probability on display (about 94%).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a control circuit and peripheral circuits used in a pachinko gaming machine. Referring to FIG. 6, a control circuit of this pachinko gaming machine collects a game state and game information according to a program for controlling various devices, and includes a microcomputer including a microcomputer which operates based on each collected information. Circuit 61 and a basic circuit 61 when power is turned on.
Reset circuit 64 for giving a reset pulse to
The clock signal is reset by the initial reset circuit 64, the clock signal supplied from the basic circuit 61 is frequency-divided, and a reset pulse is supplied to the basic circuit 61 periodically (for example, every 2.048 msec) and periodically (for example, 0.
The NMI interrupt signal is sent to the basic circuit 61 every 512 msec.
An address signal which is connected to a periodical reset circuit 65 comprising a pulse dividing circuit for giving the starting prize ball detectors 34a to 34c, a specific prize ball detector 35, and prize ball detectors 36a and 36b, and which is externally supplied A switch circuit 62 for supplying a signal from the switch selected by the basic circuit 61 to the basic circuit 61, and a switch circuit 62 connected to the basic circuit 61 and the switch circuit 62 for decoding an address signal supplied from the basic circuit 61 and supplying the decoded signal to the switch circuit 62. An address decode circuit 63, an LED circuit 69 as a display means controlled by the basic circuit 61, a solenoid circuit 71, a lamp circuit 72, and a jackpot signal from the basic circuit 61 to output jackpot information to the outside. Jackpot information output circuit 73, basic circuit 61
Circuit 6 for receiving a sound signal from the speaker and driving a speaker (not shown) via an output 67 to generate a sound effect.
6 is included. The basic circuit 61 is further connected to a VFD circuit 70 for driving the VFD display unit 43 according to display information given from the basic circuit 61. Each of these circuits includes a DC 12 V, 30 V from a power supply circuit 68 connected to AC 24 V, and a basic circuit 6.
Power supply voltage Vcc for driving a logic unit such as 1;
A DC voltage for driving the VFD and a DC or AC current for driving a lamp or the like are supplied.

A solenoid 60 (see FIG. 3) for driving the ball receiving member 10 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the solenoid circuit 71. The lamp circuit 72 includes windmill lamps 11a, 11b, shoulder lamps 12a,
2b, sleeve lamps 13a, 13b, side lamps 14a,
14b, rail decoration lamp 19, game effect lamp 21,
The accessory lamp 27 is connected. The LED circuit 69 includes a 7-segment LED 17 for displaying the number, a decorative LED, and the like.
(A) 29a, 29b, storage display LED 28, decoration LED (B) 33, decoration LED (C) 15a, 15b
And decoration LED (D) 16a, 16b and decoration LED
(E) 18a and 18b are connected.

Referring to FIG. 6 again, VFD circuit 70 operates in accordance with the display data transferred from basic circuit 61 to VFD.
The FD display unit 43 is driven. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of the serial data transferred from the VFD circuit 70 to the VFD display unit 43. In FIG. 8, display data is serially transferred from the VFD circuit 70 to bit numbers 1 to 96. The contents of the data represented by each bit include data names S1 to S53, as shown in FIG.
3a to 3n, 2a to 2n, and 1a to 1n are provided. Each data is data for driving each segment of the display unit of the VFD display unit 43 shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, each segment is given a data name for driving the segment. For example, among the transmitted data, the 82nd bit (data name 1i) and the 84th bit (data name 1j) are “1”, bits 73 to 81, bit 83, bit 85
８７87 are “0”. In this case, the identification information displayed on the rightmost side of the three identification information display areas shown in FIG. 7 is “1”. This is because only the segments indicated by the data names 1i and 1j emit light, and the other segments do not emit light.

Similarly, "0" of each data shown in FIG.
According to “1”, each segment in FIG. 7 to which the same data name is assigned is turned off or turned on. Therefore, by setting the contents of 96 bits (94 bits excluding bit 21 and bit 48) shown in FIG. 8 according to the display image, desired identification information can be displayed on the display area shown in FIG. And a desired decoration image can be displayed. Each identification information display area is divided into a frame and a shadow / content portion, and each is individually driven.

FIG. 9 is a timing chart showing timings between signals supplied from the VFD circuit 70 to the VFD display unit 43 based on the display control information supplied from the basic circuit 61 shown in FIG. I have. Referring to FIG. 9, VFD circuit 70 first sets chip select signal CS to high level. Subsequently, the VFD circuit 70 sequentially outputs the serial data DATA shown in FIG. 8 on the data transfer path to the VFD display unit 43. A clock signal CK for data latch is supplied from the VFD circuit 70 to the VFD display unit 43, and the VFD display unit 43 outputs the data DATA at a timing defined by the rising edge of the pulse of the supplied clock signal CK. Latch and store in shift register. As a result, the VFD circuit 70 switches the VFD display unit 43
Data can be transferred serially.

Referring again to FIGS. 8 and 7, what kind of video each segment shown in FIG. 7 represents will be described. In FIG. 8, data S1 to S15 are
Shows the display contents of each segment of the ground surface at the lower left of the area. Data S16 corresponds to a planet half-faced on the horizon. The data S50 to S53 correspond to the balls on the ground in order from the left. This surface ball is used as a starting winning storage display area. Data S17 to S24 starting from the 22nd bit correspond to each segment of the ring around the planet that is facing the ground. Data S34 to S of the 30th to 35th bits
Reference numeral 39 corresponds to each of the three shuttles appearing at the lower right of the screen. The data S30 to 33 and S45 after the 36th bit correspond to five months arranged at the upper left of the screen, the lower right of the screen, and the upper right of the center of the screen. The 56th bit data S29 represents a comet near the center of the left end of the screen, and the 64th bit data S28 represents a comet near the center of the left end of the screen. Further, the 72nd bit data S27, the 80th bit data S26, the eighth
The data S25 in the eighth bit respectively corresponds to three comets extending from the left end of the screen to the lower center of the screen. The data S40 to S44 after the 89th bit correspond to meteors represented at the upper right corner of the screen, slightly upper left corner of the screen, and slightly lower left corner of the screen, respectively. The data S46 to S49 after the 93rd bit correspond to a large number of stars studded on the screen.

Hereinafter, the details of the change of the display mode of the identification information in the gaming machine will be described. Referring to FIG. 10, when the power is turned on, the frame portions of the identification information display areas 24a to 24c display "7", "0", and "7", respectively. Each star in the decorative display area has a period of 2457.6 mse
Lighting movement is occurring at c. When it is detected that a game ball has been won at the starting port, each identification information display area 24a to 24
The frame portion of c fluctuates at a period of 737.28 msec,
The symbols "0" to "j" are displayed one after another. At this time, the stars in the decoration display area are lit and moved in one cycle of 1572.864 msec.

When the left two of the identification information display areas are stopped, so-called "reach" state (the two left identification information have the same symbol), the display is performed as follows. . The symbols on the left side and the center of the identification information display area and the shadow / content portion display the stopped symbols. Both the frame portion and the shadow / content portion of the rightmost identification information display area have a period of 2211.84 msec.
The symbol is variably displayed with c. At this time, the stars in the decorative display area are lit and moved with a cycle of 393.216 msec, and the meteors are lit and moved with a cycle of 294.912 msec. The ground surface portion at the lower left of the decoration display area is turned on and off at a cycle of 368.64 msec. The surface ball portion on the ground surface is displayed by the number lit from the left when a game ball is won at the starting port during variable display.

When the symbol in the leftmost identification information display area stops and the result is other than a big hit, the following display is performed. Identification information display areas 24a to 24c
In the frame portion of, the stopped symbol is lit and displayed. Each star in the decorative display area lights up and moves at a cycle of 1572.864 msec. The ground surface portion at the lower left of the decorative display area is lit and moved at a period of 368.64 msec, as in the case of the reach. And the surface ball indicates the number of winning prizes stored in the starting opening.

Further, when an abnormality occurs, the frame portions of the identification information display areas 24a to 24c are "E" and "-" respectively.
"1" or "2" is displayed. The display content of the rightmost identification information display area 24c is switched according to the type of abnormality. The attendant can quickly know the type of abnormality by looking at the display.

When the stop symbol indicates a big hit, the display is performed as follows. Referring to FIG. 11, it takes about 5 seconds until the special winning opening is opened after the identification information is stopped, and during this time, each identification information display area 24a
枠 24c is, for example, 196.608 msec.
Lighting and extinguishing are repeated every time, a stop symbol is displayed in the first three seconds, and the number of times of opening "1" is displayed in the latter two seconds.
Similarly, the shadow / content portion of each of the identification information display areas 24a to 24c lights up the display of the stopped symbol for about 3 seconds,
The number of times of opening “1” is lit and displayed in seconds. The ground surface portion of the decoration display area is turned on and off at a cycle of 368.64 msec. In the surface ball portion, the number of memories is indicated by the number of lights from the left. The ring of the planet repeats the lighting movement at a period of 1179.648 msec. The planet and the moon light up respectively. The shuttle and the flame behind the shuttle have a period of 1474.56 ms
The light moves at ec. Comets, meteors and stars are
Cycle 614.4 msec, 491.52 msec, 49
The lighting movement is repeated at 1.52 msec.

During the opening of the special winning opening, the symbols of the frames and the shadows / contents of the respective identification information display areas 24a to 24c are stopped and lighted. The ground surface portion of the variable display device is turned on and off at a period of 588.924 msec. Each star repeats the lighting movement at a period of 1179.648 msec. The manner of display of the other parts of the decorative display area is the same as that before opening the special winning opening, and will not be described in detail here.

If the game ball that has won the special winning opening passes through the specific area while the special winning opening is being opened and is detected by the specific winning ball detector 35 shown in FIG. 3, the display is as follows. Done. The frame portions of the identification information display areas 24a to 24c are turned on and off at an interval of 73.728 msec when the game ball passes through the specific area, and after the game ball passes through the specific area, they are set to 19
Blinks at 6.608 msec intervals. Other displays are the same as the display during opening of the special winning opening.

Subsequently, after the opening of the special winning opening, by the next opening,
An interval of about 2 seconds is provided. The display during this time is performed as follows. Display 24 on the left side of the identification information display area
In a and 24b, the number of times of next opening is blinked at intervals of 196.608 msec. The corresponding shadow / content part is lit to indicate the number of times it will be opened next time. Rightmost identification information display area 2
4c displays nothing. The ground surface portion of the decoration display area is turned on and off at a period of 884.736 msec. Planets, rings, shuttles, and shuttle flames all have period 1
The lighting movement is repeated at 966.08 msec. The comet repeats lighting movement at a cycle of 983.04 msec. The other segments are displayed in the same manner as during the opening of the special winning opening.

When the opening of the special winning opening is the last time, the display is performed as follows. Each identification information display area 24
The frame portion of a to 24c has an interval of 196.608 msec.
Then, the stopped symbol blinks. In each of the shadow and content portions of the identification information display area, the stopped symbol is lit and displayed. The surface area of the decoration display area is 589.824 msec.
Lighting movement is repeated in the cycle of. The display of the other portions of the decorative display area is the same as that after the opening of the special winning opening.

For about 5 seconds after the opening of the special winning opening is completed,
The following display is performed. In other words, in each of the frame portions and the shadow / content portions of each of the identification information display regions 24a to 24c, the stopped symbols are lit and displayed. The stars in the decorative display area repeat lighting and movement at a cycle of 294.912 msec. The ground surface ball indicates the number of start winnings by the number of lights from the left side. The other segments of the decoration display area do not display anything.

As described above, in this pachinko gaming machine, the display area of the variable display device is constituted by the VFD, and the display area is divided into the identification information display area and the decorative display area. Then, the display method of the decorative symbols displayed in the decoration display area is finely changed according to the mode of the identification information displayed in the identification information display area (that is, the state of the game). Therefore, the display content of the decoration display area is switched when the identification information is variably displayed, when a reach state is reached, or when a game ball passes through a specific area, and the player visually perceives the state of the game. can do. Therefore, it is possible to further enhance the interest of the game.

In the above description, the display mode of the decorative symbols is switched among three cases of starting, reach, and jackpot of the identification information display area. However, the switching is performed in one or two cases. It may be performed separately, or may be performed in a number of smaller cases. Further, the switching of the decorative symbol display can be performed by switching the speed of the lighting movement or the blinking, or by switching the luminance.

Further, in response to a change in the game state, the sound effect generated by a speaker (not shown) via the sound circuit 66 (see FIG. 6) is switched as follows. When a game ball at the starting opening is won, a sound effect A during variably displaying identification information is generated. When the left side and the center of the symbol stop, the sound effect B is generated. Further, when the vehicle reaches the reach state, the sound effect C is generated during the period in which the rightmost symbol fluctuates, and the sound effect B is generated when the symbol stops. After each symbol stops, a sound effect D is generated in cases other than the jackpot.

When each symbol stops and a big hit occurs, the following sound effects are generated. A sound effect E is generated before opening the special winning opening, and another sound effect F is generated while opening the special winning opening. When the game ball passes through the specific area, a sound effect G is generated at the time of passing, and another sound effect H is generated after passing. A sound effect J is generated during a period from the opening of the special winning opening to the next opening. A sound effect I is generated at the time of opening the last special winning opening, and a sound effect J is generated at the end of opening of the last special winning opening. Further, when an abnormality occurs, a sound effect K that can be distinguished from any of the above sound effects is generated.

FIGS. 12 to 16 are flowcharts of a program executed by the microcomputer of the basic circuit 61 shown in FIG. 6 every time a periodic reset pulse is generated. 17 to 21 are flowcharts of a program executed in response to an NMI interrupt periodically given to the microcomputer at a rate of four times between two reset pulses. The gaming machine according to the present invention is controlled by the programs shown in FIGS.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a main routine of a program repeatedly executed from the beginning in response to a reset pulse. Referring to FIG. 12, in step S (hereinafter simply referred to as S) 1, the contents of an NMI counter prepared for counting the number of NMI interrupts generated during execution of the main routine are cleared. The NMI counter is incremented by one each time an NMI interrupt described later is generated, and the processing performed in response to the NMI interrupt differs depending on the content of the count-up. The control proceeds to S2.

In S2, it is determined whether or not the RAM connected to the microcomputer is normal. This determination is made by reading the contents of a predetermined address in the RAM and checking whether the value is a predetermined value. When the power is turned on or the program runs away, the contents stored in the RAM are undefined, so the read data is also undefined, and the answer to the determination in S2 is NO, and the control proceeds to S3. If the RAM is normal, the control proceeds to S4.

When the control has proceeded to S3, a system initial process and a process of writing an initialization pattern in the RAM are performed. Thereafter, the microcomputer waits for a reset. By performing the process of S3, S3 from the next time is executed.
The answer to the determination in 2 is YES.

When the control proceeds to S4, data is output to VFD circuit 70 (see FIG. 6) in S4. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. The control proceeds to S5.

In S5, the data to the VFD transferred to the storage buffer in S4 is output from the porter. Here, the detailed description is omitted. The control proceeds to S6.

In S6, it is determined whether or not a point count error has occurred. The point count error includes the specific winning ball detector 35, the winning ball detector 36a,
6b, it is determined that there is an abnormality such as disconnection, show, and jamming, or one of the variable winning ball devices 5
Winning ball detector 35, winning ball detector 36 during opening
This indicates a case where no winning ball is detected in a and b. If the answer to the determination in S6 is YES, the control proceeds to S11, but otherwise the control proceeds to S7, and after performing the processing of S7 to S10, proceeds to S11. In S7, it is determined whether or not the contents of the VFD counter for counting the number of sets of data output to the VFD are odd. If the answer to the determination is YES, the control proceeds to S8 and then to S9, otherwise the control proceeds directly to S9.

In S8, a process for performing various control processes according to the state of the game is executed. The details of the process processing are not directly related to the present invention, and thus the details thereof are omitted here. Control is S10
Proceed to.

The reason why the processing in step S7 and S8 is such that the processing S8 is performed only when the VFD counter is an odd number is that the processing S8 does not need to be performed so frequently, and the other processing is performed more frequently. This is because it needs to be executed at a frequency of

In S9, if the condition for starting the symbol change is satisfied, a stopped symbol acquisition process for determining the symbol to be stopped is performed. This processing is shown in FIG.
4 will be described in detail later. The control proceeds to S10.

In S10, a process called a random update process is performed. The random update process is a process of updating the content of the random counter and a process of updating the stop symbol determination random number. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. The control proceeds to S11.

In S11, there is a case where control is transferred from S10 and a case where control is transferred from S6. In S11, a process for generating a sound effect according to the gaming state is performed. Subsequently, in S12, a process of creating data to be displayed on the VFD is performed. Further, in S13, a ramp or L is similarly set according to the game state.
A process of creating lamp / LED data for turning on / off the ED or the like is performed. The details of the processing in S11 to S13 are not directly related to the present invention, and thus the details are omitted here. After S13, the program is in a state of waiting for reset.

FIG. 13 shows a detailed flow of the VFD output processing performed in S4 of FIG. FIG.
, In the VFD output subroutine, S1
At 4, it is determined whether the value of the VFD counter is 0 or not. If the answer to the judgment is YES, the control proceeds to S1
Proceeding to step S5, a process of turning on the chip select signal CS (see FIGS. 6 and 9) is performed. The control proceeds to S16. If the answer to the determination in S14 is NO, the control proceeds directly to S16.

In S16, a process for acquiring data to be output to the VFD is performed. The control proceeds to S17.

In S17, a determination is made as to whether or not the point count error is off, similar to the determination made in S6 of FIG. If the answer to the determination is NO, the control proceeds directly to S19, but if the answer is YES, the control proceeds to S18 and then to S19.

In S18, a process is performed in which data output to the VFD is used as error display data. The error display data is "E-1" and "E-2" as described above.
Is displayed in the identification information display area of the VFD. In the case of this embodiment, the specific winning ball detector 3
5. The winning ball detectors 36a, 36b (see FIG. 6) are disconnected.
If a short circuit or jamming occurs, "E-
If no winning ball is detected during the single opening of the variable winning ball apparatus 5, data for displaying “E-2” is prepared. The control proceeds to S19.

At S19, a process of outputting the data prepared at S16 or S18 to the port of the microcomputer is performed. The control proceeds to S20.

In S20, a process of incrementing the value of the VFD counter by 1 is performed. By thus incrementing the value of the VFD counter by one for each output, a set of data given to the VFD can be counted. The control proceeds to S21.

In S21, it is determined whether the value of the VFD counter is 12 or more. The answer is NO
If so, this subroutine ends, but if YES, control proceeds to S22.

In S22, processing for transferring the output data to the storage buffer is performed. The control proceeds to S23, where processing for turning off the chip select signal CS is performed, and further, processing for clearing the VFD counter is performed in S24. Through these processes, the process of outputting VFD data 13 times is performed while the chip select signal is turned on once. After S24, this subroutine ends.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing details of the subroutine of the stop symbol acquisition process performed in S9 of FIG. With reference to FIG. 14, it is determined in S25 whether or not a stop symbol can be acquired. The answer is YE only at the start of symbol change.
In S, the control proceeds to S26. Otherwise, the subroutine ends.

At S26, the starting winning ports 9a to 9c
Bits 0 to 0 of the reserved data stored in area 0 among the reserved data stored in five areas 0 to 5 prepared for storing that the game ball has won in (see FIG. 1). 6 is removed. Each of the areas 0 to 5 can store at least 8 bits (1 byte) of data. The lower 7 bits 0 to 6 are used for determining a stop symbol, and the most significant bit (bit 7) is used as a jackpot determination flag. The control proceeds to S27.

In S27, bits 0 to 6 of the random number for stop symbol determination calculated in S46 to be described later are extracted, and compared with bits 0 to 6 of the reserved data of area 0 extracted in S26. . Control is S28
Proceed to.

In S28, it is determined whether or not the two match as a result of the processing in S27. If the answer to the determination is YES, the control proceeds to S29, but otherwise, this subroutine ends. For the processing of S26 to S28, each time this subroutine is executed, the lower 7 bits of the stop symbol determining random number and the lower 7 bits of the reserved data in area 0 are compared, and the stop is performed only when the both match. The acquisition of the symbol will be performed.

In S29, the big hit flag is cleared, and the number of right symbol turns is also cleared. The right symbol circumference number is a value indicating the number of times the symbol goes around after the left symbol and the middle symbol stop and before the right symbol stops. The control proceeds to S30.

In S30, it is determined whether or not the fetched reserved data in area 0 indicates a jackpot. This determination is made by checking whether the bit 7 of the taken out reserved data is "1". If the answer to the determination is YES, the control proceeds to S31; otherwise, the control proceeds to S33.

When the control proceeds to S31, since the identification information to be displayed on the variable display device is a so-called alignment, the value of the left symbol counter is taken out and the left, middle and right stops are obtained. Determine the pattern. In other words, a big hit occurs at the assortment of symbols corresponding to the value of the left symbol counter.
The control proceeds to S32.

At S32, the big hit flag and the reach flag are set. The reach flag is a flag for indicating whether or not the left and middle symbols match at least in the identification information at the time of stop. The control proceeds to S37.

When the control advances from S30 to S33,
At 33, a process of setting the value of the right symbol counter to a right stop symbol and a right low-speed start symbol is performed. The right low-speed start symbol is a right symbol when the rotational speed of the right symbol changes to a lower speed than the normal rotational speed. Control is S34
Proceed to.

In S34, the left and middle stop symbols are determined by the values of the left and middle symbol counters. The control proceeds to S35.

In S35, it is determined whether or not the left and middle stop symbols determined in S34 do not match. When the answer to the determination is YES (that is, when the left symbol and the middle symbol do not match), this subroutine ends,
Otherwise, control proceeds to S36. In other words, if the stop symbol is not a uniform pattern, the processing after S36 is not performed.

In S36, the reach flag is set because the left and middle stop symbols match.
The reach flag is the same as the reach flag described above. The control proceeds to S37.

In S37, there are a case where the control shifts from S32 and a case where the control shifts from S36. In both cases, at least the left and middle stop symbols match. S
At 37, the value of the left symbol counter is adopted as the right low-speed start symbol. That is, in this case, after the left and middle symbols stop at the same symbol, the right symbol is controlled so that the changing speed of the right symbol becomes low from when the right symbol becomes the same symbol as these symbols. The operation in which the left and middle symbols have the same symbol and the right symbol has a low variation speed is called a reach operation.
As a result of the processing in S37, when the left and middle symbols in the identification information at the time of stoppage are in a so-called reach state in which the middle symbols match,
The reach operation is started from a state in which the eyes are once (left = middle = right). The control proceeds to S38.

In S38, 1 is added to the number of right symbol turns. The number of right symbol turns has been cleared in S29 described above. In the case where the reach operation is performed by incrementing by one in S38, the right symbol rotates once at least once after it reaches the alignment, and then rotates until it coincides with the right stop symbol. The control proceeds to S39.

In S39, similarly to the determination made in S30, it is determined whether or not the reserved data in area 0 indicates a jackpot, that is, whether bit 7 of the reserved data in area 0 is "1". A decision is made. If the answer to the determination is YES, this subroutine ends; otherwise, control proceeds to S40A.
In S40A, it is determined whether or not the right stop symbol and the left stop symbol determined in S33 and S34 match. If the answer to the determination is YES, the control proceeds to S40B; otherwise, the control proceeds to S41.

When the control proceeds to S40B, the stop symbol is determined to be a crossing even though the hold data is not a big hit. In this state, the display of the identification information when the variable display device is stopped and the big hit control are different from each other. In S40B, 1 is added to the right stop symbol, and the process of forcibly shifting the symbol is performed. The control proceeds to S41.

In S41, it is determined whether or not the symbol added to the left stop symbol 1 is equal to the right stop symbol. If the answer to the determination is YES, this subroutine ends, otherwise the control proceeds to S42.

In S42, one is added to the number of right symbol turns. Then, this subroutine ends.

The processing of S41 and S42 has the following meaning. If there is no processing in S42, consider a case where the right stop symbol is larger than the left stop symbol by one. In this case S
At 38, one is added to the number of times the right symbol circulates, so that the right symbol circulates at least once at a constant speed after it is once aligned, and thereafter, a predetermined right stop symbol and the symbol being displayed are changed. When they match, the right symbol rotation is completed. However, if the right symbol is 1 larger than the left and middle symbols, 1
Immediately after the rotation, the next display symbol coincides with the right stop symbol, so the right symbol stops after one rotation and one symbol rotation.

On the other hand, at the time of a big hit, the following is performed. Since 1 has been added to the number of times the right symbol has been wrapped in S38, the right symbol once circulates only once at a low speed from the alignment state, and then the right symbol circulates until the right symbol coincides with the right stop symbol. Done. In this case, finally, the right symbol stops again in the crossed state, so that the right symbol makes one turn and then makes another turn to stop. Similarly, when the right symbol is smaller than the left symbol by one, the right symbol also goes around twice.

On the other hand, when the right stop symbol is larger than the left stop symbol by one as described above, only one turn and one turn are performed. Even though the variable display is finally stopped in the immediate vicinity of the symbol that will be a big hit, the right symbol will be stopped by about one turn earlier than at the time of the reach. For this reason, the expectation of the jackpot of the player cannot be raised as it is, and there is a possibility that the interest of the game may be reduced. For that, S41,
The process of S42 is provided, and when the right stop symbol is larger than the left symbol by one, the symbol is further rotated once,
Eventually, it stopped when it had gone around twice and one symbol. Thereby, when the variable display is stopped before and after the crossing, the reach operation is performed in the same amount of time in both cases, and it is possible to excite the interest of the game.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a subroutine of the random update process performed in S10 of FIG. In S43, a process of incrementing the content of a random counter for generating a random number for determining a hit or miss by one is performed. This random counter is also used to determine the number to be added to each symbol counter.
The control proceeds to S44.

In S44, as a result of the process of incrementing by one, the added value of the random counter is still 240
A determination is made whether it is less than. If the answer to the determination is YES, the control directly proceeds to S46, but otherwise the control proceeds to S46 after passing through S45.

In S45, the contents of the random counter are cleared, and the random counter becomes 0 again. In other words, the contents of the random counter are incremented by one each time this subroutine is executed by the processing of S43 to S45, and take any value of 0 to 239. As described above, the starting winning ball detectors 34a to 34c
In response to the detection of the winning ball (see FIG. 6), the value of this random counter is taken out. Therefore, the hit probability is 1/240 as described above.

In S46, a process of adding 1 to the stopped symbol determining random number is performed, and the most significant bit (bit 7) of the stopped symbol determining random number after addition is masked. That is, the bit 7 of the random number for stopping symbol determination is set to 0 (out). This bit 7 has a value (1) representing the big hit in S67 when it is determined in S66 of the start winning process described later that the big hit has occurred.
Is set. After S46, the subroutine of the random update process ends.

FIG. 16 shows the relationship between V and V in S12 of FIG.
It is a flowchart of the subroutine of FD display data creation processing. In S47, it is determined whether or not the above-mentioned VFD counter is an odd number. The answer is YE
If S, this subroutine ends immediately; otherwise, control proceeds to S48. The reason why the VFD display data creation processing is performed only when the VFD counter is an even number is that this processing does not need to be performed as frequently as other processing.

In S48, it is determined whether the value of the VFD counter is 0. If the answer to the determination is YES, the control proceeds to S49, otherwise the control proceeds to S51.
Proceed to. That is, the processing of S49 and S50 is performed only when the VFD counter is 0.

In S49, it is determined whether there is a display change request. The display change request is generated when the game state changes and the display state needs to be changed.
If the answer is YES, the control proceeds to S50; otherwise, the control proceeds directly to S51. The change in the game state in the above description refers to, for example, the following change in the game state. First, there is a change from a normal game state to a change in the display of the variable display device. Further, it is determined whether the state is the reach state or the state where only the left and the middle of the symbol are stopped or the symbol is out of contact. When the game state is removed, the game state returns to the normal processing thereafter. In the reach state, there is a case where the right symbol stops and a big hit or a case where the right symbol comes off. When the game state is removed, the game state returns to the normal state thereafter. When a big hit occurs, there is a process of opening the variable winning ball device 5 (see FIG. 1). Open cycles and
There are two cycles: an open state of the variable prize ball device, a jackpot interval state, and a jackpot ending when there is no prize in a specific winning port. In the case of the final opening of the variable prize ball device, the big hit state ends with the completion of the opening of the variable prize ball device, and the game state returns to the normal state again. The change in the game state refers to the change as described above.

In S50, a process for setting the request to the VFD mode and a process for returning the display change request to the state without the request are performed. By returning the display change request to the state of no request in this manner, the answer to the determination in the value S49 until the next game state change becomes NO,
VFD is requested even though there is no display change request
Repetition of the process of setting the mode can be avoided. The control proceeds to S51.

In S51, a process of creating display data according to the state of the VFD mode and the value of the VFD counter is performed. After the process in S51, this subroutine ends.

FIG. 17 shows one-fourth of the periodic reset pulse.
7 is a flowchart of a program executed by the microcomputer in response to an NMI interrupt generated in the cycle of FIG. As described above, the NMI interrupt occurs four times between two reset pulses. In the program shown in FIG. 17, different processing is executed depending on the number of the NMI interrupt. First, in S52, a process of incrementing the content of the NMI counter by 1 is performed. This NMI counter is cleared in S1 of FIG. That is, it is reset to 0 each time the execution of the main routine is started in response to the reset pulse. Since the process of adding 1 to the NMI counter is performed in S52, the content of the NMI counter indicates the number of times an NMI interrupt has occurred after the start of one execution of the main routine. The control proceeds to S53.

In S53, the NMI counter is set to 1 to
4 is determined. And N
After the processes of S54 to S57 are performed according to the contents of the MI counter, this interrupt program ends.
Of the S54 to S57, the 10-count prize monitoring and the 10-count abnormality monitoring processing performed in S57 are the special prize balls for detecting the number of prize winnings in the variable prize ball device 5 (see FIG. 1). Detector 35, winning ball detector 3
By monitoring the outputs of 6a and 36b, it is a process for detecting the number of winning balls to the special winning opening, or for monitoring whether an abnormality has occurred in these switches.
However, since the processing of S57 itself has no direct relation to the present invention, its details are omitted.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a subroutine of the start winning process executed in S54 of FIG. As described above, this start winning process is performed only when the NMI counter is 1. First, in S58, the start winning number storage area for counting the number of game balls winning the starting winning port is cleared. In the start winning number storage area, 1 is added when a starting winning ball is detected in a process described later. Since there are three start winning prize openings, there is a possibility that a maximum of three start winning prizes are detected by executing one start winning process. At S58, the forward-forward flag is simultaneously cleared. This forward flag is
7 is set when the variable display is started, and the content of the start winning storage area is set to 1 when variable display is started.
This is a flag for designating that the document is sequentially forwarded. The control proceeds to S59.

In steps S59 to S61, the starting port switch 1 (starting winning ball detector 34a shown in FIG. 6), the starting port switch 2 (also the starting winning ball detector 34b), and the starting port switch 3 (starting winning ball detection). The signal input from the device 34c) is read. As a result of the processing of S59 to S61, if there is a winning ball in the starting winning ports 9a to 9c, one is added to the starting winning number. The control proceeds to S62.

In S62, it is determined whether or not a 10 count error has occurred. This decision
The special winning ball detector 35 and the winning ball detector 3 shown in FIG.
This is performed by checking the outputs of 6a and 36b to detect whether any abnormality has occurred in these detectors. This abnormality is, for example, that the output of the detector is on or off for a certain time or more. If the answer to the determination is YES, this subroutine ends immediately. Otherwise, the control proceeds to S63.

In S63, it is determined whether or not the start winning number is 0 as a result of the processing in S59 to S61. If the answer to the judgment is YES, control is passed to S72.
Otherwise, control proceeds to S64.

In S64 and subsequent steps, since a winning in the starting winning opening is detected, a process corresponding to the starting winning is performed.

First, in S64, the lower two bits of the above-described random counter are extracted. As described above, the random counter is incremented by one each time S43 of FIG. 15 is executed once. Therefore, the extracted 2-bit values are "00", "01", "10" and "11".
Takes four values. In S64, the extracted 2
According to which of the above-mentioned bit values, any one of 1, 7, 11, and 13 is adopted as an addition value, and a process of storing this as a random addition value for a symbol counter described later is performed. By changing the value to be added to the symbol counter to a plurality of types based on the lower two bits of the random counter in this manner, the randomness of the value of each symbol counter read at the time of determining the stopped symbol is improved. The control proceeds to S65.

In S65, a random number for determining a stopped symbol is read out. This random number for determining the stop symbol is calculated according to the method as described above.
It is used to determine the timing at which the value of the middle and right symbol counters should be extracted. The control proceeds to S66.

In S66, it is determined whether or not the value of the random counter is 0. If this value is 0, a jackpot is determined; otherwise, a miss is determined. That is, the answer to the determination in S66 is YES
If so, the control proceeds to S67, otherwise the control proceeds directly to S68.

When the control proceeds to S67, a value (1) indicating a big hit is set in the seventh bit of the random number for determining a stopped symbol read out in S65. This value is referred to in the determination in S30 and S39 described above with reference to FIG. The control proceeds to S68.

In S68, it is determined whether or not the number of start winnings (the number of holdings) stored in the starting winning storage area is 5 or more. If the answer is YES, the control proceeds directly to S72; otherwise, the control proceeds to S69.

In S69, since there is still room in the starting winning storage area, the value of the random number for stopping symbol determination read out in S65 is stored in the starting winning storage area corresponding to the number of holds. . The seventh bit of the stop symbol determination random is set to 1 in S67 at the time of a big hit, and is set to 0 in S46 of FIG. 15 in other cases. Therefore, when the start winning storage area is later referred to, it is possible to determine whether or not a big hit has occurred by referring to the seventh bit of the stop symbol determination random number stored here. The control proceeds to S70.

In S70, since one of the starting winning storage areas has been used in S69, a process of incrementing the number of suspensions by one is performed. further,
Since one of the detected start winning numbers has been performed in S69, a process of subtracting 1 from the starting winning number is performed. The control proceeds to S71. S71
In, it is determined whether or not the starting winning number detected in S59 to S61 and subtracted in S70 is zero. If the answer to the determination is YES, the processing from S68 to S70 has been performed for all starting winnings, so control proceeds to S72. Otherwise, the same processing is performed for the remaining starting winning numbers. The control returns to S68.

At S72, if the answer to the determination at S63 is YES, the answer to the determination at S68 is YES.
, The control is shifted to each other when the answer to the determination in S71 is YES. In S72,
It is determined whether or not the current gaming state is a normal gaming state (a gaming state in which neither variable display nor jackpot control is being performed). If the answer to the determination is YES, the control proceeds to S73; otherwise, this subroutine ends. If the variable display control or the jackpot control is currently being performed, the determination is made until the variable display start processing corresponding to the start winning stored in the start winning storage area is completed until the currently executing processing ends. It is intended to be. If the number of holds is 0, the subroutine ends without proceeding to S73 even if the gaming state is the normal state.

In S73, since it is determined that the gaming state is normal, the variable display is started based on the random number for stopping symbol determination stored in the starting winning storage area. That is, a process of subtracting 1 from the number of reserves, a process of setting a forward flag indicating that the storage area of the random number for stopping symbol determination stored in the start winning storage area is sequentially moved by one, and a game state is variably displayed. And changing the value to a value indicating the start of fluctuation of the apparatus. After S73, this subroutine ends.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of the starting port switch reading processing subroutine shown in S59 to S61 of FIG. Referring to FIG. 19, first, in S74,
In, it is determined whether or not the signal given from the target start port switch is on. If the answer is YES, the control proceeds to S76, otherwise the control proceeds to S75.

At S76, a process of storing the information indicating that the signal from the start-up switch in step S74 is ON in a buffer prepared for the corresponding start-up switch is performed. The control proceeds to S77.

In S77, based on the fact that the signal from the starting port switch is on, it is determined whether or not this may be determined to be a winning. More specifically, S
Based on the information stored in the buffer at 76, when the start-up switch reading process is performed three times in succession, and if it is determined that the signal of the corresponding start-up switch is ON, the start-up operation is started. It is determined that there is a winning in the winning opening. This process is for preventing a signal from the starting port switch from being temporarily turned on due to noise or the like from being mistaken for the detection of a winning ball. If the answer to the determination is YES, the control proceeds to S78, otherwise the subroutine ends.

In S78, since it is determined that there is a start winning, a process of adding 1 to the starting winning number is performed. The start winning number has been cleared in S58 described above with reference to FIG. After S78, this subroutine ends.

When the answer to the determination in S74 is NO, the control proceeds to S75. In S75, since the signal from the starting port switch is off, the contents stored in the buffer provided corresponding to this starting port switch are cleared. Therefore, even if the signal from the switch is turned on due to noise in the previous execution of the start-up switch reading process, the memory is deleted by the process of S75, and it is avoided that the noise is erroneously determined as a winning. Can be After S75, this subroutine ends.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a subroutine of the symbol counter updating process performed in S55 shown in FIG. As described above, the symbol counter includes three counters, a left symbol counter, a middle symbol counter, and a right symbol counter. Therefore, in the following processing, processing for adding the contents of these three counters is performed.

First, in S79, the random addition value stored in S64 of FIG. 18 is called. This random addition value is used as a value added to the left symbol counter in the following processing. In S79, 3 is set as the number of repetitions for controlling the loop processing included in the following processing. The control proceeds to S80.

In S80, a process of adding a random addition value to a symbol counter corresponding to the number of repetitions is performed. The control proceeds to S81.

In S81, the value of the symbol counter is 1
A determination is made whether it is five or more. If the answer to the determination is NO, it means that no carry has occurred in the symbol counter being processed. Therefore, there is no need to perform the addition process on the symbol counters thereafter, and this subroutine ends as it is. If the answer to the determination in S81 is YES, it means that a carry has occurred in the symbol counter being processed. Therefore, as described above, the addition processing for the other counters is performed in S82 and subsequent steps.

In S82, a process of subtracting 15 from the symbol counter currently being processed and a process of setting the added value to 1 instead of the above-mentioned random added value are performed. Further, a process of subtracting 1 from the repetition number is also performed. The control proceeds to S83. In S83, it is determined whether or not the number of repetitions has become 0 as a result of the processing in S82. If the answer to the judgment is NO, the control returns to S80,
Otherwise, this subroutine ends. That is, if the number of repetitions becomes 0 as a result of the carry process and the addition process to the right symbol counter is completed, even if a carry occurs in the right symbol counter, the additional process to the symbol counter is performed more. Will not be done.

As a result of the processing shown in FIG. 20, when the number of repetitions is 3, the random addition value (1, 2, 3) stored in S64 shown in FIG.
(Any one of 7, 11, 13) is performed. If no carry has occurred in the left symbol counter as a result of this addition processing, the middle symbol counter and the right symbol counter are not changed as described above. If a carry occurs in the left symbol counter, S
By the loop of 82, S83, S80 and S81, the addition process is performed on the middle symbol counter and the right symbol counter. In this case, the added value to the middle symbol counter and the right symbol counter is 1 as shown in S82. If no carry has occurred as a result of the addition to the middle symbol counter, the result of the determination in S81 is NO, so this subroutine ends, and the addition process to the right symbol counter is not performed. Become. That is, according to the subroutine shown in FIG. 20, the updating process of the symbol counter as already described in this specification is realized.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of the pending data forward processing performed in S56 of FIG. Referring to FIG. 21, first, in S84, it is determined whether or not the forward-forward flag is set.
If the answer to the determination is NO, it means that there is no need to sequentially advance the contents stored in the start winning storage area, and this subroutine ends immediately. In other cases, that is, when the forward-forward flag is set, the control proceeds to S
Proceed to 85.

In S85, the starting winning storage areas 1 to
The value of the random number for stop symbol determination stored in 4 is
The process moves to the start winning storage areas 0 to 3 and clears the data in the starting winning storage area 4.
That is, by the processing of S85, the starting winning prize memory is sequentially forwarded in a first-in first-out manner. In this case, the oldest winning prize memory is discarded because it is the data already used for variable display. After S85, this subroutine ends.

When a microcomputer having a control structure as shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 12 to 21 is executed by the microcomputer, a random number is generated by utilizing the time from the end of the processing of the main routine to the wait for reset. A random number can be generated without performing a complicated process.
In this case, the processing time of the main routine and the processing time for random number generation are synchronized, and the danger that the generated random numbers are biased to a certain degree is eliminated. Therefore,
The randomness of the stop symbols of the variable display device is improved as compared with the related art, and the interest of the game can be further enhanced. In the present embodiment, the random update is performed only once each time a reset pulse is generated. However, even when the random update is performed in an infinite loop using the reset waiting time, a conventional one-type addition process is performed. Needless to say, the randomness is improved in comparison.

FIG. 22 is a timing chart showing the timing of determining a hit and a miss in a gaming machine according to the present invention, and the state of variable display stop control based on the determined hit. Referring to FIG. 22A, it is assumed that a pulse indicating the detection of a winning ball is generated from any of the starting winning ball detectors 34a to 34c. The hit or miss is determined by referring to the random number at the time of generation of this pulse, and the random number for determining the timing for determining the stop symbol is extracted and stored. At this time, the random addition number to be added to the symbol counter is determined by referring to the lower two bits of the random number for determining the hit or miss.

Referring to FIGS. 22 (b), (c) and (d), after the detection of the pulse from the starting winning ball detector, the fluctuation is started in the order of the left symbol, the middle symbol, and the right symbol. The fluctuation speed of each symbol at this time is the normal speed at which the fluctuation of the symbol is performed.
Then, it becomes as follows. The left symbol fluctuates at a speed of S / 4 from the start of the left symbol variation until the variation of the middle symbol is started. The left symbol and the middle symbol fluctuate at a speed of S / 3 from the start of the middle symbol change to the start of the right symbol change. Further, the left symbol, the middle symbol, and the right symbol all fluctuate at a fluctuation speed of a predetermined time S / 2 after the right symbol fluctuation starts. Thereafter, all the symbols fluctuate at the normal fluctuation speed S.

As shown in FIG. 22B, a stop symbol is determined at a timing when a certain time has elapsed after the left symbol started to change. This timing is not predetermined. The timing is determined as follows using the random number for determining a stop symbol. FIG.
As described above with reference to (a), in response to the detection pulse of the winning prize ball, a random number for determining a stop symbol is extracted and stored. The random number for determining a stop symbol constantly fluctuates as described above. And
As shown in FIG. 22 (b), when determining the stop symbol, the stop symbol determination random number (lower 7 bits of the random counter) that repeats this change and the stop symbol stored at the time of pulse detection are determined. Compare with the random number for decision,
This is performed by determining a stop symbol when the two match. This makes the roll more random. More specifically, the stop symbol is determined by taking out the symbol counters (left, middle, right) at the above-mentioned timing and considering whether or not a big hit has occurred.

Referring to FIG. 22B, when the left symbol fluctuates by 182 symbols at the normal variation speed S, it is set so as to stop at the left stop symbol determined as described above. Similarly, after the middle symbol fluctuates by 215 symbols at the normal variation speed S, it is controlled so as to stop at the middle stop symbol determined as described above. FIG. 22D shows the timing of the stop control of the right symbol in a state other than the reach state. In this case, when the right symbol fluctuates by 248 symbols at the normal variation speed S, the right symbol is stopped at the right stop symbol. FIG.
In (b) to (d), the set of stopped symbols is performed irrespective of the symbol that is changing.

On the other hand, FIG. 22 (e) shows the timing of stop control of the right symbol when the left symbol and the middle symbol have reached the reach state when the symbol has stopped. FIG. 22 (e)
Referring to FIG. 22, the start of the change of the right symbol in this case is shown in FIG.
This is the same as in the non-reach state shown in FIG. However, after the 248 symbols have been changed at the normal changing speed S, the right low-speed start symbol is first set regardless of the changing symbol. The right low-speed start symbol is the symbol determined in S37 of FIG. 14 and coincides with the left stop symbol. However, the timing of this set is performed irrespective of the symbol being changed in the right symbol. The right low-speed start symbol is set, and the changing speed becomes S / 6 from the time when the changing right symbol matches this low-speed start symbol, and the symbol changes at a slow speed. In this case, S3 in FIG.
8. By the processing of S42, when the final stop symbol is a random pattern and when the right stop symbol is around one of them, the right symbol orbits almost twice, and then the right symbol and the right stop. Stop when the symbols match. On the other hand, in other cases, after the symbol has rotated at least once, the fluctuation of the symbol stops when the right symbol matches the right stop symbol. That is, after the fluctuation of 18 to 32 symbols is performed at the speed S / 6, the operation is stopped when the right symbol coincides with the final right stop symbol.

As described above, even in the reach state, when the final stop symbol is a double pattern and before and after the double pattern, the right symbol is longer than in the other reach states. By making the circuit go around, the interest of the game can be enhanced. In this case, as shown in FIG. 22 (b), the timing for determining the stop symbol is not predetermined, and the stored random number for determining the stop symbol and the random number for determining the stop symbol which are referred to as needed. Is performed at the same time as Therefore, the final stop symbol is less likely to have a certain bias as in the case where the symbol is determined using the reset waiting time as in the past, and the interest of the game can be further enhanced than before. it can. Also, in this case, the symbols taken out at the stop symbol determination timing are generated according to a formula of adding a predetermined number at any time. Selected from That is, the formula for calculation changes depending on the game state. Therefore, the fluctuation of the symbol counter is less likely to follow a certain pattern, and the randomness of the final displayed symbol is further improved.

In the above-described embodiment, the number to be added to the symbol counter is changed in a plurality of ways based on another random number. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and the number of additions to be added to the random counter may be changed. In the above-described embodiment, a random number is generated by the addition processing. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, subtraction and multiplication may be used as long as a plurality of formulas for calculating a random number are prepared in addition to simply changing the number of additions. You may. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the addition number is changed at the timing of the start winning prize. May be any timing.

It is also possible to determine the hit and miss and the stop symbol at the same time. Further, the determination time is not limited to the embodiment, and may be any timing. Further, the stop symbol may be directly determined without separately determining the hit or miss.

As described above, the present invention has been described by taking a pachinko gaming machine as an example, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described example.
The present invention can be applied to general gaming machines using a variable display device capable of displaying a plurality of types of identification information.

Next, specific examples of means for solving the problems will be described.
Are listed below. (1) A pachinko game machine equipped with a game board 1 shown in FIG.
A variable display device whose display state can be changed.
A specific display mode in which the display result of the variable display device is predetermined.
Specific game state predetermined on condition that it has become
A gaming machine that can be controlled in the above manner is configured. Variable display equipment
A variable display device whose display state can be changed by the device 4
Have been. In three identification information display areas 24a to 24c
According to the display result showing the same symbol, the specific display
An embodiment is configured. According to the jackpot status, the above specified
The game state is configured. Controlled by the basic circuit 61
Control means that operates in accordance with the
You. The flow shown in FIG.
-Based on the processing of the chart,
And numerical information according to a formula that changes according to the game state
Is formed.
By the symbol counter value (left, middle, right symbol counter value)
The numerical information is configured. For example, in FIG.
It is determined that the NMI counter value is 2 in 53
Thus, the creation condition is satisfied. In S80 of FIG.
In case of symbol counter, "addition value" is added to the counter value
In the case of the middle symbol counter, the digit of the left symbol counter
1 is added to the counter value when
In the case of, the counter value at the time of carry of the middle symbol counter
Is added to. The “added value” is as described above.
The lower two bits of the random counter for jackpot determination
Different values depending on the value. That is, according to the game state
Numerical information is created according to a formula that changes. FIG.
According to S31, S33 and S34 in the flowchart of FIG.
Based on the fulfillment of certain predetermined conditions,
Then, the contents related to the display result of the variable display device (table
To decide in advance the left middle right symbol
Predetermining means is configured. By S28 in FIG.
The predetermined condition is configured. 15 and FIG.
S64, according to FIG. 20, the control means sets the numerical information
All data used to create the
Control program without using the information supplied from
It is disclosed to obtain by the operation according to the program
I have. (2) The numerical information creating means satisfies the creation condition.
(NMI counter value = 2 in S53)
The control means (basic circuit 6)
1) Content related to the display result of the variable display device
(In order to determine in advance the left middle right symbol as a display result)
It is necessary to acquire the numerical information (symbol counter value)
In the case of the failure (determination of YES in S25 of FIG. 25),
Randomly change the timing of acquiring the numerical information
(S26 to S28 in FIG. 14). That is, FIG.
As described above with reference to FIG.
Random number for stop symbol determination (lower 7 bits of random counter)
), And the symbol for determining the stop symbol that was saved when the pulse was detected.
Compared to the number of random numbers, when both match, stop pattern
Take out the symbol counter (left, middle, right) to decide.
This makes the roll more random.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention described in claim 1, a predetermined formula for creating numerical information by numerical information generating means, variously changes depending on the game status. The randomness of the random numbers is limited to the randomness of the reset wait time and the randomness of the extraction timing, as in the case where the numerical information is created by one type of addition processing using the reset wait time as in the past. It does not depend. Since randomness is obtained in the process of creating numerical information for extracting random numbers, the randomness can be increased as compared with a conventional gaming machine. As a result, randomness is required.
The randomness of the operation performed can be further improved.
In addition, all data used to create numerical information is restricted.
An operation according to your program and is outside the control
Obtained by calculation without using information supplied from
Hardware that is dedicated to improve randomness
There is no need to provide a dedicated circuit, which reduces manufacturing costs.
And improve the randomness of numerical information.
Wear. According to the present invention as set forth in claim 2, according to claim 1,
In addition to the effects of the invention described above,
Acquire numerical information to determine the linked contents in advance
When the need arises,
Because it is changed at random, even more randomness
Can be improved.

[0143]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a board of a pachinko gaming machine which is an example of a gaming machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the variable display device.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the gaming board shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a central portion of the game board and a variable display device.

FIG. 5 is a partially broken perspective view of the VFD display unit.

FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of a control circuit and a peripheral circuit of the pachinko gaming machine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a display area of the variable display device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating data of serial data for driving a VFD, which is transferred from a VFD circuit to a VFD display unit;
It is a schematic diagram which shows a data format.

FIG. 9 is a signal timing chart showing serial transfer of VFD drive data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a display mode by VFD.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a display mode by VFD.

FIG. 12 is a main routine flowchart of a program executed by a microcomputer for controlling the gaming machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a subroutine of VFD output processing.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a subroutine of a stop symbol acquisition process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a subroutine of a random update process.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a subroutine of VFD display data creation processing.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a subroutine of the NMI interrupt processing.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a subroutine of a start winning process.

FIG. 19 is a subroutine of a start switch reading process.
This is a chin flowchart.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a symbol counter updating subroutine.

FIG. 21 is a subroutine of the pending data forward processing;
This is a chin flowchart.

FIG. 22 is a timing chart showing the change timing of variable display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gaming board 3 Gaming area 4 Variable display device 5 Variable winning ball device 9a-9c Starting winning opening 23 Display area 24a-24c Identification information display area 28 Starting winning memory display 34a-34c Starting winning ball detector 35 Specific winning ball detection Instrument 36a, 36b Winning ball detector 43 VFD display unit 61 Basic circuit 65 Periodic reset circuit 70 VFD circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A63F 7/02 A63F 5/04

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A variable display device whose display state can be changed , and a display result of the variable display device is a predetermined specific
Identification specified in advance as a condition of display mode
A gaming machine which can be controlled to a gaming state, including control means operating in accordance with a control program, wherein the control means changes according to the gaming state based on establishment of a predetermined creation condition.
And numerical information preparing means for preparing Therefore numerical information in formula to reduction, based on the establishment of a predetermined pre-determination condition, determines the content related to the display result of the variable display device based on the numerical information in advance Determining means for performing the above-mentioned numerical information.
Uses data supplied from outside the control means.
Calculation that does not occur in accordance with the control program.
Characterized in that to get me, the gaming machine. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the numerical information creating unit is configured to execute the creating condition
Each time is established, the numerical information is newly created, The control means relates to a display result of the variable display device.
To obtain the numerical information in order to determine in advance
When the need arises, the
Claims characterized by randomly changing the imaging
Item 7. The gaming machine according to Item 1.