JP3818022B2 - Game machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine or an arrangement ball, and more particularly, to a gaming machine that focuses on the display contents of a variable display device and further improves the gaming properties.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In this type of gaming apparatus, a predetermined display pattern is displayed in each column of the divided display unit divided into a plurality of columns, and the display pattern is re-displayed by slightly shifting in the vertical direction within the same column. The player is made to recognize as if the display pattern is rotating in the vertical direction, thereby improving the game playability. For example, by imitating a slot machine and controlling the display of a liquid crystal panel or LED as if three drums on which display patterns such as numbers and pictures are drawn rotate, a certain display pattern When it is displayed in the same manner on the divided display portions of all the rows, a specific game situation such as “big hit” is created. In other words, enhancing the visual display function for the player plays a major role in enhancing the gameability of the gaming device.
[0003]
Therefore, in this type of gaming device, it is required to mount various visual display functions that the player will never get tired of, and along with this requirement, the display capability of the gaming device is improved year by year.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, if it is intended to express a wide variety of display patterns on the display device, the load on the control device for overall management of the gaming situation increases. In order to solve this problem, it has also been proposed to reduce the load on the main control device by providing display control means separately from the main control device.
[0005]
An object of the present invention is to increase the value of the display control means in a gaming machine provided with a separate display control means for reducing the load on the main control device, and to further reduce the load on the main control device. Is.
[0006]
[Means for solving the problems and effects thereof]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control device for overall management of gaming status and a display control device for controlling display of the display separately, and connects them. A command for variably displaying a predetermined display pattern on the display device is transmitted to a display control device. The display control device includes a display control means, a display control program and display control data read by the display control means. Storage means for storing, and when receiving the command, the analysis is performed according to the display control program, and the driver is read based on reading the necessary data from the display control data based on the analysis result. A gaming machine that displays an image on the display by driving, and the command generated by the control device is a predetermined rule. And the display control means includes the start information including start information, while the start byte includes start information notifying the start of the command but does not include stop information indicating the end of the command. It is determined whether or not the specified number of bytes including the byte is received, and when the specified number of bytes is received, the analysis is shifted to the analysis, and the display control means has a time measurement function, When a predetermined time is measured by the time measurement function, the display control data is read from the storage means without driving the command and the driver is driven.
[0007]
In the gaming machine of the present invention configured as described above, the control device that generally manages the gaming situation transmits a command for variably displaying a predetermined display pattern on the display device to the display control device , and displays it. control means performs analysis in accordance with the display control program stored storage means for receiving the command to read out the data necessary in the display control data, wherein the storage means stores based on the analysis result. When the driver drives based on the display control data , an image is displayed on the display .
Here, the display control means includes a time measuring function, under the time management by the time measurement function, it is possible to drive the driver reads the display control data from the storage means, according to the command The display contents such as the display pattern switching of the display pattern can be determined actively on the display control means side while performing the display. Therefore, a display pattern such as a symbol can be left to the display control means only by command transmission from the control device, and the load on the control device can be further reduced. In addition, display diversification is performed while further reducing the load on the control device by executing processing for display diversification such as display direction switching as appropriate under the time management of the display control means. Can be promoted.
In addition, the command generated by the control device has a predetermined number of fixed bytes as a fixed unit, the start byte includes start information notifying the start of the command, and the display control means includes the start byte having the start information. If it is determined whether or not the specified number of bytes has been received, and if the specified number of bytes is received and the process proceeds to the analysis, the command does not include stop information indicating the end of the command. Increase in the number of transmitted bytes can be suppressed, further reducing the load on the control device and avoiding lengthy communication time.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In order to further clarify the configuration and operation of the present invention described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pachinko gaming apparatus 1 as an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the gaming part DP, and FIG. 3 is a back view of the pachinko gaming apparatus.
[0009]
As shown in the figure, this pachinko gaming apparatus 1 has a front frame 4 mounted on the front surface of a machine frame 2 so as to be freely opened and closed. A glass door frame 6 and a front plate 8 are mounted on the front surface of the front frame 4 so as to be freely opened and closed. The game board 10 is detachably mounted on the back surface of the front frame 4 via a mounting frame (not shown).
[0010]
A guide rail 11 is provided on the surface of the game board 10 on the extension of the launch position. As shown in FIG. A seed start port 13 and a prize winning port 14 are provided, and an out port 15 is provided at the bottom of the game board 10. The first type start port 13 is provided with a normal winning sensor 13A for detecting a winning situation of a pachinko ball. The jackpot 14 is provided with a jackpot drive unit 14B that creates a state in which a movable piece is opened when a jackpot condition is satisfied, and a pachinko ball can easily enter. 14C for continuing the game (so-called V prize) and a ten-count sensor 14A for detecting that ten pachinko balls have entered here and the condition for stopping the jackpot situation has been established.
[0011]
A liquid crystal display panel 16 as a variable display device configured using a 3-inch color TV liquid crystal display is provided in a substantially central portion of the game board 10. That is, the liquid crystal display panel 16 has a 2: 1 interlaced scan (interlaced scan) as in a normal TV display.
scanning), and has a function of inputting an image signal of 60 frames per second and displaying it. That is, the liquid crystal display panel 16 of the present embodiment uses a normal liquid crystal television unit as it is. Accordingly, if a signal for one frame is transmitted to the liquid crystal display panel 16 within 16.67 msec, a clear color image equivalent to that of a normal TV can be dynamically displayed.
[0012]
The configuration of the liquid crystal display panel 16 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the display content of the liquid crystal display panel 16 of this embodiment is roughly divided into three areas in the normal gaming state, the upper part is a message line 16A, and the center is a special function that plays the central role of the variable display device. The symbol display part 16B and the lower part are the number-of-holds display part 16C. The upper message line 16A is displayed so that a message corresponding to the current gaming situation flows. Further, the special symbol display section 16B in the center shows a jackpot indicating the occurrence of a special gaming state that is a first state advantageous to the player and maintenance of a normal gaming state that is a second state disadvantageous to the player over three rows. A special symbol is displayed as identification information indicating a gaming situation such as losing. Further, the number of the pachinko balls that have won the first type start port 13 and have not yet been used for the rotation of the special symbol display unit 16B, the so-called number of reservations, is left in the lower display number display section 16C. Up to four images can be displayed by sequentially reversing the display.
[0013]
In the present embodiment, a 3-inch liquid crystal television unit is used as the liquid crystal display panel 16, but instead of the liquid crystal display panel 16, in order to share with the conventional three-row display components, It is good also as a structure which arranges the display part by the dot matrix system of * 16, and arranges the message display part and reservation number display part which were comprised separately in the upper and lower sides.
[0014]
As other display devices, the pachinko gaming apparatus 1 is provided with a jackpot lamp 17A for displaying a jackpot and a gaming operation lamp 17B for displaying that a game is in progress (see FIG. 1).
[0015]
A hitting ball supply tray 19 for guiding the inserted pachinko balls one by one to the firing position (not shown) is attached to the front surface of the front plate 8. In addition, an operation handle 20 for launching a pachinko ball at a launch position to the game unit and a lower ball receiving tray 21 for collecting surplus prize balls of the hitting ball supply tray 19 are provided below the front frame 4. The operation handle 20 controls the resilience by the ball hitting motor 26.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 3, a game board control device 30 is attached to the center of the back surface of the game board 10. This gaming board control device 30 generally manages the gaming situation of the pachinko gaming device 1 in general. That is, the gaming status of the pachinko gaming machine 1 is determined from the detection outputs of the winning sensor 13A and the tencount sensor 14A, and the jackpot driving unit 14B, the liquid crystal display panel 16, the jackpot lamp 17A, and the gaming operation lamp are determined according to the judgment results. 17B, controls the operation of a speaker (not shown). The game board control device 30 constitutes a change control means together with a display unit 50 described later.
[0017]
In addition to these devices, the pachinko gaming device 1 includes a winning ball detecting device that collectively detects pachinko balls that have won the winning ports 12, 14 or the starting port 13, a mechanism for conveying the winning balls and the out balls, and the game situation Are provided with general equipment such as various other lamps, speakers, or fraud detection devices, but detailed descriptions of these general device configurations are omitted.
[0018]
Next, the configuration and operation of the game board control device 30 will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the game board control device 30 is mainly composed of a one-chip microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 31 incorporating an arithmetic logic unit, ROM, RAM, etc. And an output interface 35C and the like. In addition, a crystal oscillator Xtal is externally attached to the MPU 31, which makes it possible to measure the elapsed time with high accuracy, and interrupt control using an interval timer using this is performed.
[0019]
The power supply unit 33 is a circuit for generating three types of power supplies VE, VD, and VCC by inputting 24 volt AC from the outside. The power supply unit 33 is a diode stack 41 that generates a power supply VE by full-wave rectification of 24 volt AC, and further smoothes the stack to generate a DC high-voltage power supply VD, and electrolytic capacitors C1, C2 and a diode D1, The regulator 43 is configured to generate a stabilized power supply VCC of 5 volts stabilized from the high voltage power supply VD. Various voltage sources obtained by the power supply unit 33 are used as electric power of the electrical components of the game board of the pachinko gaming apparatus 1.
[0020]
The input / output interfaces 35A and 35B and the output interface 35C are configured by normal interface circuits for enabling input / output of signals between the MPU 31 disposed in the game board control device 30 and various electrical components disposed separately. . Therefore, the electrical circuit is determined according to the electrical characteristics of the MPU 31 and various other electrical components that perform signal input / output, and a known chattering prevention circuit, waveform shaping circuit, level shift circuit, hold circuit, etc. are appropriately combined. Consists of.
[0021]
The gaming board control device 30 configured as described above can be easily connected to the jackpot driving unit 14B, the ball hitting motor 26, etc., including the lamps such as the jackpot lamp 17A and the game operation lamp 17B provided separately. For this purpose, a connector CN1 is prepared.
[0022]
The 9 bits (P20 to P28) of the output port of the MPU 31 are connected to the display unit 50 by the flat cable FC via the open collector type output interface 35C and the connector CN2, and are used for controlling the liquid crystal display panel 16. Used for display command output (data 8 bits and strobe 1 bit). Further, in order to supply power to the display unit 50 side via the connector CN2, a direct current high voltage power supply VD generated by the power supply unit 33 and a stabilized power supply VCC of 5 volts are connected to the connector CN2. The cable FC is also used as a power line.
[0023]
In the display unit 50, in addition to a normal liquid crystal panel driver 52 for driving the liquid crystal display panel 16, a sub CPU 54 and a display ROM 56 for storing information in a nonvolatile manner are arranged. Here, the sub CPU 54 is a microcomputer that appropriately reads and executes the display control program stored in the 128 Kbyte area of the display ROM and the display control data stored in the 256 Kbyte area. A display command input in units of 7 bytes input from the panel control device 30 is interpreted based on a display control program stored in the display ROM 56, and necessary display control data is obtained from the display ROM 56 based on the interpretation result. Is output to the liquid crystal panel driver 52.
[0024]
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the data format of a display command sent from the MPU 31 of the game board control device 30 to the sub CPU 54. As shown in the figure, the display command is information on a gaming situation consisting of a total of 7 bytes. The first byte is start information ST informing the start of the display command, and 1 byte (8 bits) of unused information in the following 6 bytes of information, for example, 8 bits are all “1”. It consists of a bit string “11111111”.
[0025]
The second to fourth bytes are symbol 1 information Z1, symbol 2 information Z2, symbol 3 information Z3. As described above with reference to FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the special symbol display section 16B of the liquid crystal display panel 16 has three rows of special symbols (in this embodiment, a total of 10 types of numbers from 0 to 9 and 5 other symbols). 15 types) are displayed as if they were rotating. The combination information of the special symbols in these three columns has a meaning of determining the occurrence of the jackpot and becomes one of the important game rules of the pachinko gaming apparatus 1. Therefore, the main management is left to the MPU 31 of the game board control device 30, and the sub CPU 54 adopts a configuration in which only the display faithful to the command from the MPU 31 is executed.
[0026]
Therefore, 3 bytes from the 2nd byte to the 4th byte are used, and the symbol information of the special symbol to be displayed in each column of the special symbol display unit 16B is used for the upper 4 bits, and the special information is displayed for the lower 4 bits. The offset information of the display position is sent out to make it appear as if the symbol is rotating in the vertical direction or the diagonal direction. In this embodiment, 15 types of special symbols and 16 levels of display for rotation display can be displayed, so the upper 4 bits represent 0 to 14 and the lower 4 bits represent 0 to 15 information. To do.
[0027]
The fifth byte is information representing the big prize information C / R. In the present embodiment, the game rule of the pachinko gaming apparatus 1 is as follows: “When the 10 winning pachinko balls enter the big winning opening 14 at the time of the big winning, the situation of the big hit is stopped. However, a predetermined point before the stop condition occurs When a pachinko ball passes through, the jackpot situation will continue for up to 16 rounds (V prize). " In order to detect such conditions, the tencount sensor 14A and the big prize sensor 14C are provided as described above, and the detection signals are input to the MPU 31. Further, since this type of game situation has a great significance for the player, it is preferable to visually display it on the liquid crystal display panel 16. Therefore, ten count information 0 to 10, which is the detection status of the ten count sensor, is transmitted using the upper 4 bits of the fifth byte, and round numbers 0 to 15 are transmitted using the lower 4 bits.
[0028]
The sixth byte is holding information RZ. The hold information RZ is any information from 0 to 4 in the game rules, and the amount of information may be small. Therefore, the upper 4 bits are not used, and the hold numbers 0 to 4 are transmitted using the lower 4 bits.
[0029]
The final seventh byte is scene information SC, which represents the current game scene. As is clear from the above description, the pachinko gaming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is roughly divided into two scenes, that is, a normal game scene and a jackpot scene. In addition, each scene includes a game scene at a finer level, such as a special symbol changing, a so-called V prize that promises continuation of the jackpot. The player of the pachinko gaming apparatus 1 enjoys the game by enjoying such various scenes, and it is preferable that a visual display corresponding to each scene is made.
[0030]
In addition, although a variety of scenes are prepared as game rules in this way, special symbols are displayed in rotation, and it is expected that these special symbols will match and stop and shift to a jackpot scene. The symbol variation state to occur occurs most frequently during the game. When this scene period is long, the player feels aroused by the monotonous changes in the design. Therefore, when this symbol variation state continues for a predetermined period, this scene information SC is also used to notify the sub CPU 54 how much the elapsed time has been reached.
[0031]
For this reason, the MPU 31 transmits the current game scene determined from the detection signals of the various sensors and the internal clock and the elapsed time in the same scene to the sub CPU 54 as the last byte of the display command.
[0032]
FIG. 7 is a scene information explanatory diagram for explaining the details of the scene information SC transmitted as the information of the seventh byte. As shown in the figure, the upper 4 bits of the scene information SC are information indicating whether it is a normal game scene or a jackpot scene, the most significant bit is not used, and the lower 3 bits are “101”. Represents a normal game scene, and “010” represents a jackpot scene.
[0033]
The lower 4 bits are information for specifying more detailed game scenes of the game scenes roughly classified by the upper 4 bits. When all of them are “0”, the standby display that does not require the special symbols to be rotated is displayed. Indicates the state. When only the least significant bit is “1”, a winning of a pachinko ball is generated at the first type start port 13 and a special symbol must be rotated and displayed, and the elapsed time is 0 to 2 sec. (Less than 2 seconds from immediately after). When only the second bit is “1”, the symbol variation state is also present, but the elapsed time is 2 to 4 sec (2 sec to less than 4 sec). Similarly, when the lower 4 bits are “0011”, the symbol variation state is indicated. In this case, the elapsed time is 4 sec or more. In this way, in this embodiment, when a specific gaming state continues to occur, the scene information SC is also transmitted until the elapsed time.
[0034]
In addition, when only the third bit of the lower 4 bits is “1”, two columns of the special symbol have the same numerical value (for example, “7”), and the possibility of occurrence of jackpot has occurred ( Hereinafter, it is referred to as a reach state). When the lower 4 bits are “0101”, this indicates a state where a hit determination is being made to determine whether or not the three columns of the special symbol are “7”.
[0035]
Of the lower 4 bits, when the most significant 4 bit is “1”, it is used as information for further specifying the jackpot gaming scene whose upper 4 bits are “X010”. When the lower 4 bits are “1000”, a fanfare is flowing from a speaker (not shown) immediately after the occurrence of the jackpot. When the lower 4 bits are “1001”, it indicates a state in which a big prize release is being executed. When the lower 4 bits are “1010”, this indicates a state in which a V prize is generated in which the jackpot is continuously executed. When the lower 4 bits are “1011”, it is stored that the V winning has occurred and the next big winning release is reserved. When the lower 4 bits are “1100”, this indicates an interval state between the big prize release and the next round big prize release. When the low-order bit is “1101”, it indicates a state in which all the big winning open rounds have been executed, that is, a so-called normal end (referred to as final effect 1). When the lower 4 is “1110”, it indicates the so-called puncture end (referred to as final effect 2) in which all the big winning open rounds have not been executed, although it is the end state of the big winning open.
[0036]
Note that stop information (the so-called stop bit) indicating the end of communication information is provided for communication between ordinary computers, but in this embodiment, start information ST and information of the second byte to the seventh byte following the start information ST are provided. The end of the display command information can be clearly determined from the code system to be expressed, and such special stop information is omitted.
[0037]
Next, in the pachinko gaming machine 1 configured as described above, a game situation reading program, a display command transmission program, and a display control program processed by the MPU 31 and the sub CPU 54 will be described.
[0038]
8 and 9 are flowcharts of a game situation reading program and a display command transmission program executed by the MPU 31. FIG. The MPU 31 starts processing of various programs described herein after executing a predetermined hard check when power supply is started and initial setting such as setting predetermined information in a storage area described later. .
[0039]
First, the game situation reading program will be described with reference to FIG. This program is an interrupt program repeatedly executed by the MPU 31 every 1 msec. When the MPU 31 enters the processing of this program, the detection signals of various sensors such as the winning sensor 13A and the big winning sensor 14C and the internal clock are read. The current game scene and the game situation PJ that is the elapsed time of the scene are recognized from the current jackpot situation or the like (step 100). Then, the game situation PJ is stored in the game situation storage area of the RAM (step 110), and this program is terminated. By this program, the stored contents of the game status storage area of the internal RAM, that is, the latest game status PJ of the pachinko gaming machine 1 is updated prior to transmission of a series of data to the display unit 50.
[0040]
When the MPU 31 is started up, the game status PJ0 indicating that there is no special change such as winning or jackpot is set in the game status storage area of the internal RAM by the above-described initial setting process. .
[0041]
The display command transmission program shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 creates the above-described display command from the game situation PJ stored in the game situation storage area of the internal RAM by the process shown in FIG. 8, and transmits this to the sub CPU 54. It is processed every 2 msec by the MPU 31. Upon entering the processing of this program, the MPU 31 increments the transmission byte counter CB (step 200), and determines whether or not the value of the transmission byte counter CB is 7 or less (step 210). This is because a display command consisting of all 7 bytes is transmitted one byte every 2 msec. When an affirmative determination is made in step 210, the display command CB indicated by the contents of the transmission byte counter CB is displayed. The second information is transmitted to the sub CPU 54 (step 220), and this program is terminated.
[0042]
On the other hand, when a negative determination is made in step 210, that is, when it is determined that transmission of all 7-byte display commands has already been completed, the latest game stored in the game situation storage area is accessed. The situation PJ is read (step 240), and the latest display command is created from the game situation PJ based on the rules described in FIGS. 6 and 7 (step 250). Since the display command transmission timing this time is the first transmission timing of the newly created display command, the start information ST, which is the first byte information of the display command, is output to the sub CPU 54 (step 260). ) The content of the transmission byte counter CB is set to “1” (step 270), and this program is terminated.
[0043]
As described above, the display command is transmitted from the MPU 31 in units of 1 byte every 2 msec. The sub CPU 54 that inputs the transmitted display command executes the display control program shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10, and thereby the liquid crystal display panel corresponding to the game situation PJ of the pachinko gaming machine 1 ascertained by the display command. 16 drive controls are executed.
[0044]
When a display command divided by 1 byte is input from the MPU 31, the sub CPU 54 starts processing of the display control program and stores the received display command (step 300). Then, it is determined whether or not all the 7-byte display commands starting from the start information ST have been prepared (step 310), and when the input of all the display commands has not been completed yet, the processing of this program is terminated. .
[0045]
On the other hand, if the start information ST is input, it can be determined that a display command of all 7 bytes has been input. Therefore, when it is determined in step 310 that the input of the display command of all 7 bytes has been completed, the display is continued. The display control data corresponding to the command is read from the display ROM 56 (step 320), the display control data is output to the liquid crystal panel driver 52 (step 330), and the stored display command is erased (step 330). 340), the processing of this program is terminated. That is, the sub CPU 54 reads the display control data stored in the display control data storage area of the display ROM 56 specified by the display command, and outputs this to the liquid crystal panel driver 52. The display ROM 56 It is possible to change the contents displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16 in any way by replacing.
[0046]
The most characteristic part of the display control data stored in the display ROM 56 of this embodiment is the display read out when “00010” to “0011” are transmitted as the scene information SC of the display command seventh byte. Control data.
[0047]
When “0001” is transmitted as the lower 4 bits of the scene information SC, the special symbol to be displayed and its offset position are the symbols 1 to 3 transmitted from the second byte to the fourth byte of the display command. A scanning signal imitating normal vertical rotation is created while following the information Z1 to Z3, and this is output to the liquid crystal panel driver 52. Accordingly, the special symbol display unit 16B of the liquid crystal display panel 16 performs a display as if the band on which the three special symbols are drawn rotates in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. The
[0048]
If such a display imitating the vertical rotation is continuously executed for 2 seconds or more, the content of the lower 4 bits of the scene information SC changes to “0010”. At this time, the display control data stored in the display ROM 56 read from the sub CPU 54 is diagonally scanned so that the scanning direction of the special symbol is oblique, that is, the offset display position is executed on the display unit in the adjacent column of the special symbol display unit 16B. Switch. Therefore, in this gaming state, the display content of the special symbol display unit 16B of the liquid crystal display panel 16 moves to the upper or lower corner of the adjacent display unit as shown in FIG. A display with a different taste is performed.
[0049]
As the method of such an oblique scanning, the offset amount in the vertical direction to be input as a display command, it is easily realized only'll by adding a certain lateral direction offset amount.
[0050]
Further, when this symbol variation state continues and the duration becomes 4 sec or more, the sub CPU 54 automatically selects display control data read from the display ROM 56 every predetermined time (for example, 30 sec), and displays an offset display. The position is sequentially changed from the diagonal direction to the vertical direction or from the vertical direction to the diagonal direction. As a result, the display content of the special symbol display unit 16B is automatically switched to the display state shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 at regular time intervals to prevent the player from getting used to the eyes.
[0051]
According to the pachinko gaming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment described above, it is possible to display a complicated color moving image on the liquid crystal display panel 16 only by outputting a display command divided into 1 byte every 2 msec from the MPU 31. In addition, the liquid crystal display panel 16 has the same specifications as a normal liquid crystal television, and can display a dynamic screen similar to that of a television. While it is impossible to directly output the image information of 60 frames per second required for the same moving image display as the television to the liquid crystal display panel 16 from the game board control device 30, the image information is displayed on the display unit. 50, the limitation of the memory space of the game board control device 30 and the restriction of data transfer between the game board control device 30 and the display unit 50 are eliminated, and dynamic image display is possible. It can be realized.
[0052]
In this way, the pachinko gaming machine 1 according to the present embodiment changes the content of the display command according to the duration of the same game scene, and is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16 by using the system that is rich in flexibility and mobility. The scanning direction of the special symbol is switched up and down or diagonally. Therefore, it is possible to completely prevent the display content from being executed continuously and to prevent the player's eyes from getting used to the display content and losing interest in the game.
[0053]
In addition, since the pachinko gaming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment repeatedly transmits data for display from the gaming board control device 30 to the display unit 50, the gaming state recognized by the gaming board control device 30, and There is no problem that the display unit 50 displays differently. The display contents such as actual display symbols, movement and rotation are determined by the display control data stored in the display ROM 56. Accordingly, the MPU 31 is used in common for a plurality of types of pachinko gaming machines, and by replacing only the display ROM 56, it is possible to cause the liquid crystal display panel 16 to execute completely different graphic expressions. In other words, it is easy to separate the user interface graphic display part that is likely to wake up by familiarity and the basic functional part required as a pachinko gaming device, for example, changing the angle of oblique rotation Various modes can be easily selected for the display of the oblique rotation such as the oblique rotation from the upper right to the lower left or the oblique rotation from the upper left to the lower right.
[0054]
Furthermore, when a simple 7-byte display command is output from the MPU 31, graphic display corresponding to the display command is executed by the sub CPU 54 and the display ROM 56, so the load for graphic display of the MPU 31 is greatly reduced. The Therefore, it is possible to allocate much time of the MPU 31 to other program processing, or to adopt an inexpensive microcomputer as the MPU 31.
[0055]
The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and can be applied not only to pachinko gaming machines but also to slot machines and other game machines, and the oblique rotation is performed in the normal gaming state. For example, when a V prize is generated, the game may be rotated obliquely to cause a large change in display content that matches the player's psychological situation.
[0056]
As described above, the gaming apparatus of the present invention is displayed so as to rotate in such a manner that the display pattern displayed according to the gaming situation intersects at an angle other than a right angle with the column or row direction. Therefore, the display content on the divided display portion is different from the conventional one, and it is novel for the player, and the interest in the game can be continued, so that the gameability can be improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a gaming device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the gaming unit DP.
FIG. 3 is a rear view of the same.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a display example of the liquid crystal display panel 16;
FIG. 5 is an electric circuit diagram of a gaming device centered on the gaming board control device 30;
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a data format of a display command.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a code system of the scene information.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a game situation reading program executed by the MPU 31;
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a display command transmission program executed by the MPU 31;
FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a display control program executed by a sub CPU.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a concept of display on a special symbol display unit 16B during vertical rotation.
FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a concept of display on a special symbol display unit 16B during oblique rotation.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Pachinko game machine as a gaming machine, 10 ... Game board, 12 ... Normal prize opening, 13 ... First kind start opening, 14 ... Grand prize opening, 15 ... Out opening, 13A ... Winning sensor, 14A ... Ten count sensor , 14B: jackpot drive unit, 14C: grand prize sensor, 16 ... liquid crystal display panel as a variable display device, 20 ... operation handle, 30 ... game board control device, 31 ... MPU, 33 ... power supply unit, 35A, 35B ... input Output interface 35C ... Output interface 50 ... Display unit 52 ... Liquid crystal panel driver 54 ... Sub CPU 56 ... Display ROM

Claims (3)

A control device for overall management of the game situation;
A display control device for controlling the display is provided separately and connected to each other,
The control device transmits a command for variably displaying a predetermined display pattern on the display to the display control device,
The display control device includes display control means and storage means for storing a display control program and display control data read by the display control means,
When the command is received, analysis is performed according to the display control program, and based on the analysis result, the driver is driven based on reading out necessary data from the display control data. A gaming machine that displays an image,
The command generated by the control device is configured with a predetermined number of predetermined bytes as a fixed unit, and the start byte includes start information notifying the start of the command but does not include stop information indicating the end of the command. With configuration,
The display control means determines whether or not the specified number of bytes including the first byte having start information is received, and shifts to the analysis when the specified number of bytes is received.
Further, the display control means has a time measurement function, and when the predetermined time is measured by the time measurement function, reads the display control data from the storage means without driving the command and drives the driver. A gaming machine characterized by The display pattern is a pattern such as predetermined characters, numbers, symbols, etc., and the display pattern is variably displayed in a predetermined direction based on the command,
The gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the display control means switches the variable display direction of the display pattern when a predetermined time is measured by the time measuring function. The time measurement function performs time measurement based on reception of a predetermined command from the control device,
3. The driver is driven based on reading display control data from the storage means without receiving a new command when a predetermined time is measured by the time measuring function. The gaming machine described.

Images