JP3170524B2 - Pachinko machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pachinko machine capable of electrically detecting that a certain amount of balls have accumulated in a storage section of an upper plate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional pachinko machine, when a ball is filled in a storage portion of an upper plate, the ball overflows to a lower plate, and when the lower plate is also full, it is provided near an outlet of the lower plate or in the middle of an overflow channel. The overflow detector electrically detects the overflow state, and stops the operation of the hit ball firing device and the operation of the ball supply device based on a signal from the overflow detector.

[0003]

However, in the conventional pachinko machine, there is no means for detecting even if the ball is full on the upper plate, and the management of the ball in the upper plate depends only on the judgment of the player. In the near future pachinko machines, which tend to manage everything on the machine side, it is necessary to allow the machine side to manage the balls in the upper plate. In particular, in a pachinko machine of a type in which a ball is lent at the start of a game by a ball discharge device provided inside the pachinko machine, a ball lending operation, that is, an erroneous operation is not performed in a state where the balls are sufficiently accumulated in the upper plate. This is also desirable in protecting the interests of the player.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above, and has an upper plate having a ball storage portion for storing a ball discharged from a ball discharge device on a front surface thereof, and a ball supply device. In a pachinko machine that supplies one ball introduced from the inside of the upper plate to the firing position by operating the device and repels the ball by operating the hitting ball firing device, on the back surface of the plate material constituting the ball storage portion of the upper plate, A flat plate that can electrically detect the stored state of the sphere
Proximity sensor is provided, and the proximity sensor can be moved up and down.
It is provided .

[0005]

[Action] reservoir spheres discharged from the ball discharge unit is a sphere reservoir portion of the upper tray, if these spheres is the height of the proximity sensor, the near
The contact sensor sends a signal. Therefore, this proximity sensor
The control device that has received the signal from the server detects that the ball is full in the ball storage unit, and converts the state to, for example, a state in which the ball cannot be lent, thereby preventing a player from operating erroneously.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment of the pachinko machine shown in FIG. 1, a card insertion slot 2 for inserting a prepaid card into one side of a pachinko machine main body 1, a balance display 3 for displaying the balance of the inserted card, a card return button 4, a ball lending button It has a side box 7 provided with a button 5, a ball lending validity display 6, etc.
When a prepaid card is inserted into the card insertion slot 2 and the ball lending button 5 is operated, the ball discharging device provided inside the pachinko machine main body 1 is operated, and the pachinko ball is lent out.

In the pachinko machine body 1, a frame-shaped front frame 8 is hinged to the machine frame 9 so as to be openable and closable, and a glass frame 10 and an opening and closing panel 11 are vertically opened and closed in a window of the front frame 8. Butterfly is attached, an upper plate 12 is provided on the front surface of the opening / closing panel 11, and a credit indicator 13, a credit return button 14, a switch 15 for removing the upper plate ball, an in-ball indicator 16 and the like are provided. A lower plate 17, a hit ball firing operation unit 18, and the like are provided.

On the back side of the front frame 8, as shown in FIG.
A ball tank 19 is provided at an upper portion, a ball discharge device 21 is provided downstream of a lead-out gutter 20 for drawing a ball from the ball tank 19, and a lower end outlet 22 of a ball flow down gutter extending from the ball discharge device 21 is connected to a game board. The lower end 23 is opened forward, and the outlet 22 can communicate with the entrance of a communication gutter 24 protruding from the back side of the open / close panel 11. In addition, a control box 25 is provided at the lower portion on the back side of the front frame 8, a ball lending control device 26, a discharge control device 27, and a firing control device are provided in the control box 25, and a role provided on the back side of the game board 23. Object control device 28
The control device in the control box 25 receives the winning signal from the player and the ball lending signal from the ball lending button 5 of the side box 7, and based on these signals, the ball discharging device 21.
A ball discharge signal is sent to the controller and the discharge of a predetermined number of balls is controlled by operation of the ball discharge device 21. The ball discharged from the ball discharge device 21 flows down the ball discharge gutter, passes through the communication gutter 24, enters the ball storage unit 29 of the upper plate 12, and is stored.

The upper plate 12 fixes a horizontally long plate-shaped ball storage member 30 having an open upper surface and a rear surface to the front surface of the opening / closing panel 11.
The lower part of the ball storage member 30 is covered and decorated with a lower decorative member, and the decorative plate 31 is stretched on the surface of the open / close panel 11 facing the open back surface of the ball storage member 30. Behind the exit 32 is the connecting gutter 24
Is mounted on the back side of the opening and closing panel 11 in a state of protruding. The ball storage member 30 has a bottom surface whose bottom surface is slightly inclined downward from one side (the left side in FIG. 1) to the other side, and near the lower end of the inclination, a ball alignment unit 3 that allows the balls to flow down while aligning in a line.
3 is formed, the lower end of the ball aligning portion 33 is connected to the ball passage opening formed in the opening / closing panel 11, the balls in the ball storage portion 29 flow down in a line, and the back side of the opening / closing panel 11 from the ball passage opening. Is configured to flow to the ball supply device 34.

As shown in FIG. 5, the connecting gutter 24 is a relatively short cylindrical member made of plastic, and has a flange 35 which is in contact with the lower end outlet 22 of the spherical flow gutter at the opening edge of the inlet in front of the drawing.
An eaves portion 36 is provided on the upper portion of the flange 35 for restricting the outflow direction of the ball flowing out of the outlet 22. A step portion 37 for preventing backflow of the ball is formed on the lower portion of the flange 35,
A glass frame opening switch 38 is provided on the flange side of the upper surface, and a mounting portion 40 is formed outside one of the side plates 39, and the mounting portion 40 serves as a flat plate-shaped proximity detector as an upper ball state detector. The sensor 41 is attached. The wiring of the proximity sensor 41 is electrically connected to the ball lending control device 26 via a relay board 42 provided on the back side of the open / close panel 11.

The mounting portion 40 includes left and right side walls 43, 43,
A bottom wall 44 connecting the lower ends of the side walls 43, 43, and a rear wall 45 connecting the middle of the height of the side walls 43, 43
Is formed integrally with the side plate 39 of the connecting gutter 24, and a set screw 46 is screwed into a screw hole formed in the back wall 45. Note that the space surrounded by the surrounding wall is set to have a width and a thickness on the left and right sides where the proximity sensor 41 can easily enter. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the mounting height can be adjusted by moving the proximity sensor 41 up and down, and when the proximity sensor 41 is pressed by tightening the screw 46 at the adjusted height, the proximity sensor 41 is pressed. 41 is sandwiched between the side plate 39 of the connecting gutter 24 and the tip of the screw 46 and is fixed at a desired height.

The proximity sensor 41 is a sensor 41 for detecting a state in which a magnetic substance such as iron is present nearby and sending out an electric signal. When a pachinko ball made of steel is present in the vicinity, a full signal (for example, " H signal), but does not send a full signal when the sphere is not nearby or the sphere just passes (eg, an "L" signal).

Therefore, when there is no sphere in the sphere storage section 29, the proximity sensor 41 does not send a full signal, the sphere discharge device 21 flows down a predetermined number of spheres, and the sphere flows from the outlet 22 of the sphere downspout. A full signal is not sent when the ball is discharged into the ball storage part 29 after passing through the communication gutter 24. Also, even when the number of balls stored in the ball storage unit 29 is small, a full signal is not transmitted.

However, when a hit ball is won, the ball discharge device 21 discharges a predetermined number of balls as prize balls, and the number of balls in the ball storage unit 29 gradually increases, as shown in FIG. When the balls ejected from the container are full until they stop in the communication gutter 24, the proximity sensor 41 detects
The ball staying in the inside is detected and a full signal is sent to the ball lending control device 26.

As described above, when the proximity sensor 41 is mounted in a state where the height of the proximity sensor 41 is low, as shown in FIG. When the mounting height of the proximity sensor 41 is set high, as shown in FIG. 6, a full signal is transmitted in a state where the balls overlap in the communication gutter 24 by several steps and the upper ball approaches the proximity sensor 41. Can be adjusted as follows. That is,
By adjusting the mounting height of the proximity sensor 41, it is possible to select the amount of stored sphere at the time of transmitting the full signal.

Next, a case where a game is played with a pachinko machine having the above configuration will be described. At the time when the player selects the pachinko machine to start the game, since no ball is in the upper plate 12, the proximity sensor 4
No full signal is sent from 1 (eg, "L" signal). Therefore, the ball lending control device 26 uses the proximity sensor 4
The ball lending validity indicator 6 is turned on based on the "L" signal from 1 to visually display that the ball can be lent to the player. When the player inserts the prepaid card into the card slot 2, the card reader reads the balance of the card and sends a signal to the ball lending control device 26. Based on this signal, the ball lending control device 26 displays the card lending display 3 on the card balance display 3. Displays the balance of the card. When the ball lending button 5 is operated to specify the amount (for example, 100 yen by pressing once), the ball lending control device 26 that has received the signal from the ball lending button 5 sends a signal to the discharge control device 27, and the discharge control is performed. Device 2
7 operates the ball discharging device 21 and the player operates the ball lending button 5
Is operated to discharge the specified number of balls (for example, 50 balls when pressed twice) to the upper plate 12.

The upper plate 12 is set to have a capacity capable of storing about 100 balls. Therefore, even if the 50 balls are lent out as described above, there is still enough room in the ball storage section 29 of the upper plate 12, and the ball does not reach the level where the balls stay in the communication gutter 24. Therefore, the signal sent from the proximity sensor 41 to the ball lending control device 26 remains the “L” signal, and the ball lending validity display 6 also remains lit. Therefore, when the ball lending button 5 is operated again in this state, the ball discharging device 21 is operated, and the lending ball is added to the upper plate 12.

When the player operates the launching operation unit 18, the hitting ball launching device 47 and the ball supply device 34 are activated, so that one ball in the ball storage unit 29 of the upper plate 12 is addressed by the operation of the ball supply device 34. The ball is supplied from the ball supply port 48 to the firing position 49 ′ of the firing rail 49, and the ball is repelled by the firing rod 50 of the hitting ball firing device 47 and enters the game section 51 on the surface of the game board 23. The ball entering the gaming section 51 hits the obstacle nail and flows down while changing the flow path. When entering any of the winning openings, the ball becomes a safe ball. On the other hand, the ball not entering any of the winning openings is the gaming section 51. The ball enters the out opening that opens at the bottom of the inside.

As described above, the balls in the upper plate 12 are fired one after another, and unless hit balls are won, the number of balls in the ball storage section 29 gradually decreases and finally disappears. In such a case, the ball lending button 5 must be operated again to add a lending ball.

However, when the hit ball wins and becomes a safe ball, the discharge control device 27 activates the ball discharge device 21 based on a signal from the safe ball detector, and a predetermined number of balls are set as prize balls on the upper plate 12. Discharge. Therefore, when the percentage of winning balls increases, the number of balls in the ball storage unit 29 gradually increases, and finally the ball storage unit 29 becomes full. In such a state, the prize ball discharged later is stored in the ball storage unit 29.
It cannot stay inside and stays in the communication gutter 24.

When the balls are full in the ball storage section 29 and the balls stay in the communication gutter 24, the proximity sensor 41 detects these balls and sends a full signal ("H" signal) to the ball rental controller 26.
Send to Ball lending controller 26, as well as visual indication to the player that the ball lending by turning off the ball lending effective display 6 receives this full signal is in the state not performed, the signal from the sphere rental button 5 To a state that disables it. Therefore, the ball erroneous button 5 may be erroneously set in a state where the player is full of balls in the ball storage unit 29 and does not need to add a ball.
Is operated, the signal from the ball lending button 5 is processed as an invalid signal in the ball lending control device 26, and the ball lending is not performed. For this reason, it is possible to avoid unnecessary subtraction of the balance of the prepaid card, and the profit of the player is protected.

When a full signal is sent from the proximity sensor 41 to the ball lending control device 26, the ball lending control device 26 starts crediting. That is, when a hit ball is won after the ball is filled in the ball storage unit 29, the ball lending control device 26 does not operate the ball discharging device 21 and stores the number of award balls to be given (for example, “13”). And the number of prize balls is added and displayed on the credit indicator 13.
In this embodiment, the credit indicator 13 has a predetermined number of 250.
The number of pachinko balls held by the player is displayed as credits up to the limit, and is composed of a 7-segment display, a dot LED, a liquid crystal display, and the like.

In the case of winning one after another after the credit is started, for example, in the case where a so-called big hit prize mode is formed and a large number of hit balls are hit in a short time in the variable winning device, the number of hit balls won is determined. The number of prize balls is added to the credit display 13 one after another according to. When the number reaches 250, which is the limit of the credit indicator 13, the ball lending control device 26 activates the ball discharging device 21 by sending a signal to the discharge control device 27 for the amount exceeding the credit limit. And actually eject the ball. For example,
When a ball wins with “250” displayed on the credit indicator 13, the ball discharge device 21 is activated by a signal from the discharge control device 27 and discharges a predetermined number of 13 balls to the upper plate 12.

As described above, when the ball discharging device 21 is operated in a state where the balls are full in the ball storing portion 29 of the upper plate 12 and the number of balls up to the upper limit is displayed on the credit indicator 13, the ball discharging device is operated. The ball flowing down from 21 is sent from the connecting gutter 24 to the upper plate 1
Since the ball cannot enter the second ball storage section 29, it is discharged to the lower plate 17 through an overflow flow path 52 branched from a slightly upstream side of the outlet 22 of the ball flow down gutter. And the ball wins one after another, the prize ball becomes full in the lower plate 17,
When the spheres accumulate halfway through the overflow channel 52, an overflow detector (a flat proximity sensor 53) attached outside the overflow channel 52 detects an overflow state of the sphere and outputs a signal as shown in FIG. Send to controller. Then, the ball lending control device 26 restarts the credit based on this signal. Therefore, when the hit ball wins after the credit is restarted, the number of award balls to be awarded is additionally displayed on the credit display device 13. When the credit display 13 is added and displayed up to the maximum display number (for example, “999”), the ball lending control device 26 sends a signal to, for example, the hit ball firing control device to stop the operation of the hit ball firing device 47. To stop the game.

When the balls are fired one after another after the credit is started, the number of balls in the ball storage section 29 gradually decreases, and the balls staying in the communication gutter 24 flow into the ball storage section 29. Therefore, the proximity sensor 41 stops sending the full signal (“H” signal) and sends out the “L” signal. When converted to this state, the ball lending control device 26 stops the credit. Therefore, when a ball is next won, the ball lending control device 26 sends a signal to the discharge control device 27 to activate the ball discharge device 21 and discharge a predetermined number of balls to the upper plate 12. Therefore, there is no shortage of balls to be actually fired, and the game can be continued.

In this state, if a prize ball is successively won and the ball storage unit 29 is filled with the prize ball, and the prize ball discharged later stays in the communication gutter 24, the same as the above-mentioned case. , The proximity sensor 41 sends a full signal to the ball rental control device 2
6, the credit is resumed, and the number of balls next displayed is added to the number of balls previously displayed.

On the other hand, when the winning ratio decreases due to a slump or the like and the number of balls in the ball storage unit 29 gradually decreases,
Since the ball staying in the communication gutter 24 flows into the ball storage unit 29 and the ball staying in the communication gutter 24 disappears, the output signal of the proximity sensor 41 is converted into, for example, an “L” signal. The ball lending control device 26 stops the credit when the signal from the proximity sensor 41 is converted into the “L” signal. Therefore, when a hit ball is won, the ball discharging device 21 is operated, and a real ball is discharged into the ball storing section 29 of the upper plate 12 as a prize ball. For this reason,
When the hit ball is won, the game can be continued by firing the ejected prize ball. But even this is the upper plate 12
If there is a shortage of balls inside, the contact gutter credit return button 14 is operated. When the credit return button 14 is operated, the ball discharging device 21 is operated with the number of balls corresponding to the number of prize balls stored in the ball lending control device 26 (that is, the number displayed on the credit indicator 13). As a result, it is discharged to the upper plate 12 and the display of the credit indicator 13 is returned to zero. Therefore, the player may end the game by exchanging the ball for which the credit has been made for a prize, or may continue the game.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the balls accumulate until they stay in the communication gutter 24, the proximity sensor 41 attached to the outside of the side plate of the communication gutter 24 detects the balls in the communication gutter 24 and detects the balls. A full signal is sent to the lending control device 26, and the ball lending control device 26
Stops the lending of the ball based on this full signal, and temporarily stops the discharge of the prize ball to start the credit. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a ball loan from being performed due to an erroneous operation by a player. In addition, it is possible to appropriately switch between giving a prize ball and crediting by a real ball in accordance with the storage state of the ball, thereby not only disturbing the game but also increasing the actual number of balls held by the player. Even so, it is possible to save the trouble of transferring the ball from the upper plate 12 or the lower plate 17 into the ball box.

In the above-described embodiment, the proximity sensor 41 is attached to the side surface of the communication gutter 24. However, the attachment position of the detector according to the present invention may be on the back surface of the plate constituting the sphere storing portion 29 of the upper plate 12. . For example, the mounting portion 40 is provided on the back side of the decorative plate 31 of the opening / closing panel 11 forming the ball storage portion 29.
It is also possible to provide a mounting portion similar to that described above and mount the detector in a state where the height can be adjusted by the mounting portion .

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the ball can be moved up and down in a state where the ball is full in the ball storage portion of the upper plate.
It can be electrically detected by the proximity sensor . Therefore, the ball lending is stopped by the signal from the proximity sensor ,
As a result, it is possible to avoid a disadvantage that a player suffers due to an erroneous operation. Also, the mounting position of the proximity sensor
When adjusted vertically, the amount of stored sphere at the time of full detection can be appropriately selected. In addition, it can be moved up and down
When a suitable proximity sensor is attached to the communication gutter, it is possible to detect that the upper plate is full before overflowing to the lower plate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pachinko machine.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the pachinko machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the pachinko machine in a state where a front frame, a glass frame, and an opening / closing panel are opened.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the back side of the opening and closing panel.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a communication gutter in a state where a proximity sensor is lowered.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a communication gutter in a state where a proximity sensor is raised.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the communication gutter in a state where the proximity sensor is lowered.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the communication gutter in a state where the proximity sensor is raised.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram showing connection of a control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pachinko machine body 5 Ball lending button 6 Ball lending validity indicator 11 Open / close panel 12 Upper plate 13 Credit display 14 Credit return button 17 Lower plate 21 Ball discharging device 24 Communication gutter 26 Ball lending control device 27 Discharge control device 29 Ball storage Part 30 Ball storage member 31 Decorative plate material 32 Ball outlet 39 Side plate of connecting gutter 40 Mounting part 41 Proximity sensor 52 Overflow channel 53 Overflow detector

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

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An upper plate having a ball storage portion for storing a ball discharged from a ball discharging device is provided on a front surface, and one ball introduced from the upper plate by the operation of a ball supply device is placed at a firing position. In a pachinko machine that supplies and bounces the ball by the operation of the hitting ball launching device, a flat plate proximity sensor that can electrically detect the storage state of the ball is provided on the back surface of the plate material constituting the ball storage portion of the upper plate , pachinko machines, characterized in that a said proximity sensor in vertically movable condition. 2. A mounting part having an enclosing wall is provided on the back side of a plate material constituting a ball storage part of the upper plate, and the mounting part has a proximity cell.
Pachinko machine according to claim 1, characterized in that fitted with capacitors. 3. An upper plate having a sphere storing portion for storing spheres discharged from the sphere discharging device is provided on a front surface, and one ball introduced from inside the upper plate by the operation of the sphere supply device is brought to a firing position. In a pachinko machine that supplies and bounces the ball by the operation of the hit ball launching device, the outside of the side of the connecting gutter that connects between the outlet of the ball flow down gutter extended from the ball discharging device and the ball storage section of the upper plate Flat proximity
A pachinko machine comprising a sensor , wherein the proximity sensor is provided so as to be vertically movable .