JP3538224B2 - Slot machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention improves the usability by facilitating the transfer of medals accumulated in a medal tray when a slot machine, particularly medals discharged one after another, cannot fit in the medal tray. It is intended to provide a slot machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, many slot machines of this type have a medal tray provided below a front door.
This is because the medal tray cannot be arranged closer to the upper side due to space restrictions inside the slot machine.
That is, the space inside the slot machine is mainly occupied by the reel unit arranged near the center and the hopper device arranged below the reel unit, of which the hopper device has a large amount inside. It has a large hopper tank to store medals. Then, the medals stored in the hopper tank and fitted into the medal grooves provided on the surface of the rotating disk facing the inclined bottom are paid out from the hopper medal outlet adjacent to the inclined bottom with the rotation of the disk. The medals paid out from the hopper device are discharged into the medal tray through a medal discharge opening opened in the front of the front door by utilizing the fall of the medals themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to position the medal tray below the hopper medal exit, but since the position of the hopper medal exit is limited near the lower part of the hopper tank, the medal tray should be arranged only near the lower part of the front door. Could not. When the payout amount of medals is small, arranging the medal tray at the lower part of the front door itself has not become a particular problem.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional slot machine, when the medals paid out due to the jackpot cannot be accommodated in the medal tray, the medals accumulated in the medal tray are manually handled by the player. It has to be scraped and transferred to a medal storage box or the like, and there is a problem that this transfer operation is difficult and inconvenient.

In order to address this problem, generally,
The medal storage box may be placed below the medal tray, and a shutter may be provided at the bottom of the medal tray, and the shutter may be opened to drop the medals stored in the medal tray into the medal storage box below. Due to the restrictions on the internal space of the slot machine, the medal tray could not be arranged upward, and it was difficult to secure a space for arranging the medal storage box.

Therefore, the invention of claim 1 has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has as its object to lift a medal paid out from a hopper device by a lift. The medal tray is positioned halfway up the height of the front door, and the door is opened and closed at the bottom of the medal tray so that the player does not have to scrape out the medal by hand. It is an object of the present invention to provide a slot machine with improved usability by allowing medals stored in a medal tray to be transferred.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a medal storage box for receiving a medal falling from the medal tray is provided below the medal tray, and a slot in which the medal storage box is placed is prepared in advance. It is intended to provide a machine.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and its contents will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. According to the invention of claim 1, the medal tray (80) is positioned halfway up the height of the front door (30), and the hopper medal exit of the hopper device (60) and the front door (80) for paying out medals to the player. 30) Between the medal discharge port (70) opened to the front, a lifting lift (63) for transferring medals upward from the hopper medal exit to the medal discharge port (70) is provided, and a medal tray ( An opening / closing door (81) is provided at the bottom of the door (80) so as to be able to open and close so that medals accumulated inside fall downward.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mounting portion (41) which is located below a medal tray (80) and has an upper surface of a mounting table (40) of the slot machine extended toward the front. Receiver (4
Placement part (41) and medal tray (80) by being placed on 1)
And a medal storage box (90) for receiving medals falling when the opening / closing door (81) provided at the bottom of the medal tray (80) is open.

[0009]

[Operation] Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
First, when medals are paid out one by one from a hopper medal exit of the hopper device (60), the paid out medals are sent to an upper medal discharge port (70) by a lifting lift (63). Then, the sent medals are discharged to the player side from the medal discharge port (70).

The ejected medals are placed in a lower medal tray.
(80), but falls down from the opening of the opened door (81) when the door (81) provided at the bottom of the medal tray (80) is opened by the operation of the player. . The dropped medals are located below the medal storage box (9) placed on the placing portion (41) of the placing table (40) of the slot machine.
It is received at 0) and stored inside.

[0011]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a slot machine, FIG. 2 is a front view of a slot machine, FIG. 3 is a front view of a hopper device, FIG.
Shows perspective views of the medal tray and the medal storage box, respectively. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a slot machine.
The slot machine 10 includes a housing 20 and a front door 30 which is attached to the front surface of the housing 20 on one side so as to be openable and closable by a hinge or the like. As shown in FIGS. Installed on 40.

As shown in FIG. 1, inside the casing 20,
A reel unit 50 arranged above the center of the reel unit for displaying a symbol outside while rotating, and a reel unit 50
Hopper device, which is fixed to the inner bottom of the housing 20 and pays out medals stored therein one by one.
60 and. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the hopper device 60 includes a hopper tank 61 having a hood shape with an open top surface for storing a large amount of medals therein, And a motor 62 having a shaft fixed to the inside of the tank. Although not shown, a rotating disk having a plurality of medal-sized grooves is attached to the drive shaft of the motor 62, facing the inside of the hopper tank 61, and having a plurality of medal-sized grooves on the surface thereof. A hopper medal outlet is provided on the front door 30 side. And this hopper device 60
Is the CPU that controls the entire slot machine 10.
(Not shown), the player starts to pay out medals to the player, and while rotating the rotating disk by the motor 62, the medals are fitted into the grooves on the front side thereof, and the fitted medals are rotated by the motor 62. To the hopper medal exit, and pays out medals to the outside one by one from here.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a long lifting lift 63 extending upward is attached near the hopper medal outlet of the hopper device 60. As shown in FIGS. In the lifting lift 63, although not shown, a medal passage extends from a passage entrance facing the hopper medal exit to a passage exit 64 which is opened at the tip end of the lifting lift 63 in FIG. The lift 63 is formed along the longitudinal direction. Further, at the tip of the lifting lift 63, as shown in FIGS.
Medal sensor 65 for counting the number of paid out medals
Is provided facing the medal passage. Then, the lifting lift 63 transfers medals upward by pushing up medals paid out from the hopper medal exit into the medal passage of the lifting lift 63 with other medals that are paid out one after another. Then, after counting the medals pushed upward by the lifting lift 63 with the medal sensor 65,
It is pushed out from the passage exit 64.

At the middle of the height of the front door 30, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is provided a medal discharge port 70 which is opened toward the front to pay out medals to a player. As shown in FIG. 1, the medal outlet 70 is connected to a passage outlet 64 of the lifting lift 63 via a communication passage 71. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a medal tray 80 for receiving medals discharged from the medal discharge port 70 is provided below the medal discharge port 70. As shown in FIG. 4, the medal outlet 70 has an upper surface opened and a medal outlet 70.
And is formed to protrude forward from the front of the front door 30 so as to cover the periphery of the lower end of the front door 30.

The bottom of the medal tray 80 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 7, an openable door 81 is provided to allow medals accumulated inside to fall downward. The opening / closing door 81 in the present embodiment is a shutter that slides to one side, and is opened by sliding to one side by operating a lever (not shown) or the like by a player. In addition, as the opening / closing door 81, for example, two shutters are slid to both sides to open at the center, a door fixed to one side by a hinge or the like is opened downward, or one side is fixed to a hinge or the like. Any of two doors that open downward and open at the center may be used.

1 and 2 below the medal tray 80.
As shown in the figure, a mounting section 41 is provided in which the upper surface of the mounting table 40 of the slot machine is horizontally extended toward the near side.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a medal storage box 90 having an open top surface is placed on the mounting portion 41. The medal storage box 90 is for receiving and storing medals falling from the opening / closing door 81 when the opening / closing door 81 provided at the bottom of the medal tray 80 is opened. This storage box 90
As shown in FIG. 4, the upper part has a box shape with an open top, and for example, a plastic molded product is used.

Next, the operation of the slot machine 10 configured as described above will be described. First, a prize is determined by the CPU, and the hopper device 60
When the motor 62 is started, of the medals stored in the hopper tank 61, the medals that fit into the grooves of the rotating disk facing the inclined side wall are rotated together with the rotation of the disk from the hopper medal outlet into the lifting lift 63. It is paid out to the medal passage.

The medals paid out to the medal passage are transported upward by being pushed up by other medals to be paid out one after another, and counted by the medal sensor 65, and then into the communication passage 71 from the passage exit 64. Extruded. The extruded medals go down the communication passage 71 due to the fall of the medals themselves, and then pass through the medal discharge port 70 to receive the medal.
Discharged above 80. Lift the lifted medal
The next medal that was pushed down in 63 is also pushed by other medals that follow, like the ejected medal, and other medals are pushed by further medals, and these successive medals are pushed Accordingly, medals counted by the medal sensor 65 are sequentially discharged from the medal discharge port 70.

When the number of medals counted by the medal sensor 65 reaches a predetermined number, the hopper device is controlled by the CPU.
60 is stopped and the payout of medals ends. On the other hand, the medals already ejected accumulate in the medal tray 80 below, but when the player operates a lever (not shown) or the like and opens the opening / closing door 81 provided at the bottom of the medal tray 80, ,
The accumulated medals fall downward from the opening of the door 81.

The dropped medals are stored in the lower medal storage box 90.
And stored inside. In the above description, the lifting lift 63 is attached to the hopper device 60 and pushes up the medals by pushing the subsequent medals. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It may be a lift.

[0021]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. Claim 1
According to the invention described in the above, the medals paid out from the hopper device are temporarily transferred upward by using a lifting lift, so that the medal tray is positioned at the middle of the height of the front door, and the bottom of the medal tray is positioned at the bottom. By providing the openable door, the player can transfer the medals stored in the medal tray without having to scrape out the medals one by one, thereby providing a slot machine with improved usability.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a medal storage box for receiving medals falling from the medal tray is provided below the medal tray, and a place for placing the medal storage box is prepared in advance. From that
For the player, the medals in the medal tray can be discharged to the medal storage box simply by opening the opening and closing door each time the medal tray is full, so the game is interrupted for a long time until the medal storage box is full. There is no such thing.

Further, even when a large number of medals are paid out and the medal storage box becomes full, it is sufficient to replace the full medal storage box with an empty medal storage box. It is possible to provide a slot machine in which the burden on the player is less than in the case of scraping by hand.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a slot machine.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the slot machine.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the hopper device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a medal tray and a medal storage box.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 slot machine 20 housing 30 Front door 40 Stand 41 Receiver 50 Reel unit 60 Hopper device 61 Hopper tank 62 Motor 63 Lifting lift 64 Passage exit 65 Medal sensor 70 Medal outlet 71 Access passage 80 Medal tray 81 Open / close door 90 medal storage box

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

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A medal discharge port provided at a front door of a slot machine and opened to pay out medals to a player, and a medal discharge port for receiving medals discharged from the medal discharge port. A medal tray with an open top that protrudes forward from the front of the front door so as to cover the periphery of the lower end, and a hopper medal that is fixed to the inner bottom of the slot machine housing and stores the medal stored inside, as an exit. A slot machine provided with a hopper device for paying out one by one from an exit toward the medal discharge port, wherein the slot machine positions the medal tray halfway up the height of a front door; Between the exit and the hopper medal exit, there is a lifting lift that transports medals upward from the medal exit to the medal exit. Slot on the bottom of the plate with an openable door that allows the medals stored inside to fall down
A machine, wherein the slot machine is located below a medal tray, and
And a medal tray that is placed on the receiving part with the upper surface of the
Of the medal tray,
Catches a medal falling when the open / closed door is open
And a medal storage box .