JP5429711B2 - Amusement machine island - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an amusement machine island in a game store, and more particularly, to an improvement in a ball collection path unit that collects a ball that has passed through each gaming machine and a ball that has passed through a counting device unit.

  In a gaming store, a plurality of gaming machines are arranged to form a so-called gaming machine island, which is one management unit. In other words, the gaming machine island has an upper tank part for storing balls for replenishing to each of the arranged gaming machines, a ball replenishment path part for replenishing the balls from the upper tank part to each gaming machine, It has a ball collection path section that collects the balls that have passed through each gaming machine, and a ball lifting device section that lifts the balls in the ball collection path section to the upper tank section, thereby forming a circulation path for the balls. ing. In addition, the gaming machine island is provided with a ball counting device unit that counts the balls (prize balls) acquired by the player, and the balls thrown into the ball counting device unit are counted and then the ball collection path. Join the department.

  On the other hand, the number of award balls that can be obtained in recent gaming machines has increased, and players have earned a large amount of award balls. Therefore, when a player ends a game, Are introduced into the ball counter unit.

  However, there is a big difference between the ability of the ball counting unit to receive and count the balls and the ability of the ball lifting unit to lift the balls to the upper tank, and the lifting capacity of the ball lifting unit is The current situation is that it is considerably lower than the counting ability of the ball counter unit.

  For this reason, if a large number of players concentrate and throw a large number of balls into the ball counting device unit, the ball lifting device unit may not be able to advance in time, and a situation may occur in which the ball stays in the ball collection path unit. is there. Since the ball counter is set so that the ball reception is reduced to a small amount or stopped when this stagnation occurs, it takes a considerable time to count the balls. Therefore, the player who wants to count the balls has to wait until the stay is resolved, and there is a concern that the service of the game store will be lowered.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses a pachinko island stand provided with two collection / pumping routes in order to eliminate the retention phenomenon.

  In addition, a storage tank for storing the balls that have flowed down the counting ball collection basket is provided, and an out ball collection basket that collects the out balls discharged from the gaming machine is provided, and the ball that has flowed down the counting ball collection basket is Patent Document 2 discloses a counting ball diversion structure on an amusement machine island that normally flows preferentially to a storage tank, and flows to an out-ball collecting bowl when it does not flow to the storage tank.

JP 2001-149628 A JP 2007-151876 A

  However, the conventional pachinko island stand configured to cope with a case where a large number of balls are temporarily inserted into the ball counter has two independent collection and transportation routes, and one of the collection and transportation routes is The first recovery path and the first ball lifting device are configured, and the other recovery and lifting path is configured of the second recovery path and the second ball lifting device, and both the recovery and lifting paths have the same function. Yes. In addition, the conventional counting ball diversion structure on the gaming machine island, which can continue the counting operation even when the gaming ball from the ball counting device stops flowing to the storage tank, is the counting ball discharged from the ball counting device. The upper flow path and lower flow path for receiving and flowing downstream are provided in two upper and lower stages, and the spheres discharged from the ball counter flow down into the flow paths in five and a half and flow into the flow dividing section. When the sphere stays in a large amount in the lower storage tank, it flows out to the out sphere collection tank through the discharge port. For this reason, both of the conventional devices have a problem that both the structure is complicated and a large installation space is required, so that it takes time to manufacture and install.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a gaming machine island with a simple structure and capable of effectively preventing stagnation of balls. It is another object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine island that is capable of smoothly counting balls and is suitable for service improvement without causing a player to wait.

The invention according to claim 1 is an upper tank portion for storing balls for replenishing the respective gaming machines arranged in a row, and a ball replenishment path portion for replenishing the balls from the upper tank portion to each gaming machine. A ball counting device unit that counts the balls acquired by the player, a ball collection path unit that collects a ball that has passed through each gaming machine and a ball that has passed through the ball counting device unit, and a ball in the ball collection path unit. A game machine island in which a circulation path of a sphere is formed, the sphere recovery path section passing through the sphere counting apparatus section. An accelerating rod for accelerating the flow velocity of the game, an out ball collecting rod for conveying the out ball discharged from each gaming machine to the ball lifting device unit, and a ball discharged from the ball counting device unit temporarily From the first ball collection basket to be transported to the temporary storage tank, and the ball counting device section The issued spheres second to convey to the ball pumped device portion and the ball recovery gutter has a said first sphere collecting trough, the acceleration trough portions of the second sphere passing through A diversion fountain for forming a diversion portion to divert to the ball collection basin, and a rolling fountain for causing the sphere that has passed through the diversion basin to roll down in the direction of the ball lifting device and store in the temporary storage tank And the width of the diversion rod is narrower than the width of the acceleration rod .

The invention according to claim 2, in addition to the configuration of the gaming machine island according to claim 1, the downstream end of the first ball collecting trough is provided with a changing plate for changing the flow-down direction of the sphere, The sphere is temporarily stored from the vicinity of the change plate, the downstream end of the second sphere collection rod is positioned downstream of the position of the change plate of the first sphere collection rod, and the second sphere collection It is characterized in that the ball transported with the scissors is transported preferentially to the ball lifting device section.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the gaming machine island according to the first or second aspect , the out-ball collection basket is positioned on the side of the first ball collection basket, and the second A ball collection basket is positioned on the side of the first ball collection basket and below the out-ball collection basket, and the first ball collection basket and the second ball collection basket are communicated with each other in the flow dividing section. In the case where a stagnation occurs in the transportation of the sphere in the first sphere collection basket, the sphere that has flowed into the second sphere collection basket is given priority over the sphere lifting device unit without being affected by the stagnation. It is possible to carry it.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the gaming machine island according to any one of the first to third aspects, the rolling trowel is rolled in a direction in which a plurality of balls are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the flow-down direction. It has a flow-down bottom portion having a possible lateral width, and is provided with steps on both side edges of the flow-down bottom portion so that a ball can ride over, and temporarily drops the ball that has fallen into the temporary storage tank over the step. To do.

According to the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention, it is possible to provide a gaming machine island in which stagnation of balls hardly occurs with a simple configuration. In other words, the structure that does not impair the counting ability of the ball counting device unit and enables smooth ball counting, so that even if a large number of balls are thrown into the ball counting device unit, the player does not have to wait. , Service will not be degraded.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, a ball | bowl can be reliably diverted by a diversion part. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a stable operation.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, a priority can be provided in the ball | bowl lifted by a ball | bowl lifting apparatus part. In other words, the ball transported with priority through the second ball collecting rod to the ball lifting device can be lifted first in the ball lifting device.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even if the stagnation occurs in the conveyance of the first sphere collection basket, the second sphere collection basket can convey the sphere without being affected by the stagnation. Therefore, it is not necessary to stop the introduction of the spheres into the sphere counter unit.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, a ball | bowl can be conveyed to a flow lower end, and the desired storage amount can be ensured.

It is a front view which shows the outline of the gaming machine island according to the present invention. It is a longitudinal section showing an outline of a gaming machine island according to the present invention. The ball collection | recovery path | route part and ball | bowl counter device part in a game machine island are shown, (a) is a top view, (b) is a front view, (c) is an enlarged view of the C section in (b). FIG. 6 is a plan view of the vicinity of a diversion part of a ball collection path part. It is a front view of the vicinity of the diversion part of a ball | bowl collection | recovery path | route part. The cross section of a ball | bowl collection | recovery path | route part is shown, (a) is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. 5, (b) is the sectional view on the BB line of FIG. It is CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. 5 which shows the cross section of a ball | bowl collection | recovery path | route part. FIG. 3 shows a diversion ridge that forms a diversion part, where (a) is a plan view, (b) is a left side view, (c) is a front view, (d) is a sectional view taken along the line DD, and (e) is an EE line. It is line sectional drawing.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the circulation route of the ball in the entire gaming machine island of the present invention will be described using FIG. 1 and FIG. In the following. Note that FIG. 1 shows a state in which a gaming machine, a curtain board, a waist board, and the like are removed.

<The circulation route of the ball in the entire machine machine island>
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the gaming machine island 100 generally includes an upper tank unit 300 for storing balls for replenishing the gaming machines 200 arranged in a row, Passed through a ball supply path unit 400 for supplying balls to the gaming machine 200, a ball counter unit 500 that counts the balls acquired by the player, and a ball that passed through each gaming machine 200 and the ball counter unit 500. A sphere collection path unit 600 that collects the spheres, and a ball lifting device unit 700 that lifts the spheres of the sphere collection path unit 600 to the upper tank unit 300 are provided. These members form a ball circulation path so that the balls can be replenished to each gaming machine 200 without excess or deficiency.

  That is, the gaming machine island 100 has an upper tank member 310 that forms the upper tank unit 300, a ball supply basket member 410 that forms the ball supply path unit 400, or a ball collection path unit 600 on the frame 120 installed on the floor 110. Various members such as a ball collecting rod member that forms the shape are attached. The ball replenishing gutter member 410 and the upper tank member 310 are attached to the upper part of the frame 120, and the ball collection gutter member is attached to the lower part of the frame 120. A curtain plate 130 is provided at the upper part of the frame 120 so as to be openable and closable. The curtain plate 130 is closed to cover the ball supply rod member 410, and the curtain plate 130 is opened during maintenance and inspection. In addition, a lower part of the frame 120 is provided with a base plate 140 on which the gaming machine 200 is placed and a waist plate 150 that covers the ball recovery base member. Furthermore, the end plate 160 is provided at the left and right ends of the frame 120.

  The ball lifting device unit 700 is configured by arranging a ball lifting device 710 in the central portion of the gaming machine island 100. The ball lifting device 710 lifts a lower ball to the upper tank unit 300 by a belt or a screw using a motor as a drive source. Some have a cleaning function to clean the ball while being lifted.

  An upper tank unit 300 is formed above the ball lifting device 700 to store the lifted ball. Connected to the upper tank portion 300 is a ball replenishment rod member 410 for replenishing and distributing balls to each gaming machine 200. The ball replenishing gutter member 410 is installed with an appropriate inclination, and distributes the flowing down ball to each gaming machine 200 via a ball replenishment chute (not shown).

  On the other hand, a downstream end of a ball collection path unit 600 to be described later faces below the ball lifting device unit 700. Then, the balls returned to the ball counting unit 500 and the balls that have passed through the gaming machine 200 are pumped to the upper tank unit 300 by using the ball lifting unit 700 and stored in the upper tank unit 300. .

<Configuration of ball collection path>
Next, an outline of the ball collection path unit 600 will be described with reference to FIGS. The ball collection path unit 600 includes an acceleration rod 610 (see FIGS. 3, 4, and 5) for accelerating the flow speed of the ball that has passed through the ball counting unit 500, and the out ball discharged from the gaming machine 200. Out ball collection basket 620 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) to be transported to the ball lifting device unit 700 and transported to a temporary storage tank 630 for temporarily storing the balls discharged from the ball counting device unit 500 And a second ball collection basket 900 that conveys the balls discharged from the ball counting device unit 500 to the ball lifting device unit 700. In addition, the out ball collection basket 620 is positioned on the side of the first ball collection basket 800, and the second ball collection basket 900 is placed on the side of the first ball collection basket 800 and below the out ball collection basket 620. It is located.

  The acceleration basket 610 that constitutes a part of the ball collection path unit 600 vigorously guides the balls that have passed through the ball counting unit 500 to a first ball collection basket 800 and a second ball collection basket 900 described later. This is a member for connecting the ball outlet of the ball counter 500 and a diverter 810 described later. Therefore, the acceleration rod 610 is an acceleration rod member having a U-shaped cross-section in which the upper surface of the bottom plate 611 (see FIG. 4) and a pair of side plates 612 and 612 rising from both side edges of the bottom plate 611 is open. The accelerating anchor fixing member 613 is attached to the anchor board 140 of the gaming machine island 100 so as to have a predetermined inclination angle (see FIG. 5).

  Further, the inclination angle of the acceleration rod member is larger than the inclination angle of the other rod members. For this reason, the sphere flowing down the acceleration rod 610 has a large flow velocity, and vigorously flows into the downstream branch rod 810.

  The out ball collection basket 620 constituting a part of the ball collection path unit 600 is a ball that has passed through the gaming machine 200, that is, a player that is launched toward the game unit by a hitting ball launcher, but a prize placed in the game unit. The ball is taken into the gaming machine 200 from the out port without entering the mouth, and then discharged through the out box 621 to the ball lifting device unit 700. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the out-ball collecting basket 620 receives the sphere falling from the out-box 621 with the upper surface opened, and conveys the out-ball to the ball lifting device unit 700 by inclination.

  The other part of the ball collection path unit 600 is constituted by a first ball collection basket 800 and a second ball collection basket 900. That is, the first ball collection basket 800 has a role of transporting the balls discharged from the ball counting unit 500 to the temporary storage tank 630 for temporarily storing the balls. In addition, the second ball collection basket 900 has a role of transporting the balls discharged from the ball counting device unit 500 to the ball lifting device unit 700. That is, the balls thrown into the ball counting unit 500 are finally incorporated into the ball circulation path in the gaming machine island 100 through the first ball collection basket 800 and the second ball collection basket 900. It is done.

  Here, the configuration of the first ball collecting basket 800 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5. The first ball collecting rod 800 includes a diverting rod 810 that forms a diverting portion that diverts a part of the sphere that has passed through the acceleration rod 610 to the second ball collecting rod 900, and a sphere that has passed through the diverting rod 810. , And a rolling down rod 820 for rolling down in the direction of the ball lifting device 700 and storing it in the temporary storage tank 630.

  The temporary storage tank 630 is a part for temporarily storing a sphere, and is formed around the ball lifting device 700 (see FIGS. 1 and 3). In addition, this temporary storage tank 630 may be called a lower tank. Further, the spilled balls from the out-ball collection basket 620 are also stored in the temporary storage tank 630.

<Composition of shunt>
Next, a specific structure of the diverter 810 will be described. The diversion rod 810 forming the diversion portion has a shape as shown in FIG. 8 and has a flat plate-like bottom plate portion 811 on which a ball rolls, and inclined pieces upward from both side edges of the bottom plate portion 811 and A downwardly inclined piece extends. That is, the branch half pieces 812 extending downward at an angle of approximately 45 degrees are provided on both side edges of the bottom plate portion 811 in the half portion on the upstream side. On the other hand, on one half of the downstream side, drop prevention pieces 813 extending upward at an angle of about 45 degrees are provided obliquely upward from both side edges of the bottom plate portion 811.

  Further, the lateral width LB of the diversion rod 810 is narrower than the lateral width LK of the acceleration rod 610 described above (see FIG. 4). Specifically, the lateral width LB of the bottom plate portion 811 of the diversion rod 810 is narrower by about two balls than the lateral width LK of the bottom plate 611 of the acceleration rod 610. For this reason, the sphere flowing down near both ends of the bottom plate 611 of the acceleration rod 610 falls from both ends of the bottom plate portion 811 of the diversion rod 810 and flows into the second ball collection rod 900. In this way, the number of spheres diverted to the second sphere collection bowl 900 is about 10 to 20% of the spheres discharged from the sphere counter unit 500. The flow of the sphere conveyed by the second sphere collection rod 900 is indicated by an arrow with a symbol b in FIGS. 4 and 5, and the flow of the sphere conveyed by the first sphere collection rod 800 is also the same. This is indicated by an arrow with a symbol a.

  8 has a connecting piece 814 extending at the upstream end portion of the bottom plate portion 811, and a fixed mounting piece 815 at the downstream end portion of the bottom plate portion 811. It extends and is fixed to the frame 120 of the gaming machine island 100 by the connection piece 814 and the attachment fixing piece 815. In addition, the diversion rod 810 has an upstream corner portion of a fall prevention piece 813 extending downstream to be inclined. Therefore, since the structure as described above is formed, the sphere flowing in from the acceleration rod 610 can be smoothly divided into the first ball collection rod 800 and the second ball collection rod 900.

  On the other hand, the sphere flowing down from the acceleration rod 610 collides with the diversion rod 810 with a considerable momentum. Therefore, in this embodiment, a synthetic resin plate PC (see FIG. 6) having excellent wear resistance, such as polycarbonate, is pasted inside the shunt 810 by a pasting means such as double-sided tape. For this reason, the diversion rod 810 is scraped to form a groove, or wear and shavings are hardly generated.

  Further, the spheres dropped from both ends of the bottom plate portion 811 of the diversion rod 810 and diverted by the diversion rod 810 are received by the second ball collection rod 900, and the balls are lifted through the second ball collection rod 900. It is conveyed to the device unit 700. For this reason, the second ball collection basket 900 is positioned on the side of the first ball collection basket 800 and below the out-ball collection basket 620 (see FIGS. 6 and 7). Further, the second ball collecting rod 900 and the first ball collecting rod 800 described above are communicated with each other only at the branch portion formed by the above-described branch rod 810.

  Therefore, the sphere flow a by the first sphere collection rod 800 and the sphere flow b by the second sphere collection rod 900 do not intersect on the way (see FIGS. 4 and 5). For this reason, even if stagnation occurs in the transportation of the spheres in the first sphere collection basket 800, the second sphere collection basket 900 is not affected by this stagnation. Therefore, the second ball collection basket 900 can transport the ball to the ball lifting device 700 in preference to the first ball collection basket 800.

  On the other hand, the first ball collection basket 800 is for rolling the sphere that has passed through the flow dividing pipe 810 downstream of the flow dividing pipe 810 in the direction of the ball lifting device 700 and storing it in the temporary storage tank 630. A rolling flow lower rod 820 is provided (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

  The rolling down rod 820 is a member extending in the longitudinal direction of the gaming machine island 100 and is fixed to the frame 120 with a predetermined inclination angle. The rolling falling rod 820 includes a flowing-down bottom portion 821 having a lateral width in which a plurality of balls can roll side by side in a direction orthogonal to the flowing-down direction. The horizontal width T of the flowing-down bottom portion 821 is, for example, about 90 mm that allows eight balls to roll side by side (see FIG. 7).

  Further, a step 822 on which the ball can get over is provided on both side edges of the flow-down bottom 821, and the ball over the step 822 falls into the temporary storage tank 630 and is temporarily stored. The height of the step 822 is equal to or less than the radius of the sphere, for example, about 3.5 to 5.0 mm.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, a change plate 830 for changing the flow direction of the sphere is provided at the downstream end of the first ball collecting rod 800, that is, the downstream end of the rolling flow lower rod 820. For this reason, the balls conveyed by the first ball collection basket 800 are closed by the change plate 830 and stored in the temporary storage tank 630 from the vicinity of the change plate 830.

  Further, the downstream end of the second ball collection basket 900 is positioned downstream of the position of the change plate 830 of the first ball collection basket 800 (see FIG. 3C). For this reason, the sphere conveyed by the second sphere collection basket 900 is stored in a position closer to the ball lifting device 700 than the sphere conveyed and stored by the first sphere collection basket 800. Become. Therefore, the spheres conveyed by the second sphere collecting rod 900 are conveyed with priority over the spheres conveyed by the first sphere collecting device, and are lifted by the ball lifting device unit 700. .

  By the way, when the ball rolls down while rolling, it generally flows down while colliding with each other. For this reason, it sometimes jumps out of the basket and starts to be stored in the middle. If the storage is started in the middle of the basket, the desired storage amount cannot be secured. In addition, if the basket is tilted to one side, it is stored only on the tilted side, and in this case, the desired storage amount cannot be secured.

  Therefore, as described above, if a step 822 that can lock the ball is provided in the flow bottom portion 821 of the rolling flow rod 820, the ball can be reliably conveyed to the flow bottom, and the desired storage amount can be secured. Is possible.

  In the illustrated embodiment, a synthetic resin plate PC is also attached to the rolling flow lower rod 820 and the second ball recovery rod 900 in the first ball collection rod 800 to prevent wear (FIG. 6). FIG. 7).

  Although the present invention has been described with respect to the illustrated embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately implemented without changing the configuration described in the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Game machine island 110 Floor part 120 Frame 130 Curtain board 140 Saddle board 150 Waist board 160 Tail board 200 Gaming machine 300 Upper tank part 310 Upper tank member 400 Ball replenishment path part 410 Ball replenishment gutter member 500 Ball counter apparatus part 600 Ball collection path part 610 Acceleration rod 611 Bottom plate 612 Side plate 613 Acceleration rod fixing member 620 Out ball collection rod 621 Out box 630 Temporary storage tank 700 Ball lifting device section 710 Ball lifting device 800 First ball collection rod 810 Dividing rod 811 Bottom plate portion 812 Branch Inclined piece 813 Fall prevention piece 814 Connection piece 815 Fixed attachment piece 820 Rolling flow lower rod 821 Flowing bottom portion 822 Step 830 Change plate 900 Second ball collection rod

Claims (4)

An upper tank section for storing balls to be replenished to each of the arranged gaming machines, a ball supply path section for replenishing the balls from the upper tank section to each gaming machine, and a ball acquired by the player A ball counting device unit for counting, a ball collection path unit for collecting a ball that has passed through each gaming machine and a ball that has passed through the ball counting device unit, and a ball in the ball collection path unit is transported to the upper tank unit A game machine island in which a ball circulation path including a ball lifting device unit is formed,
The ball collection path part
An accelerating rod for accelerating the descending speed of the sphere that has passed through the sphere counter unit;
An out ball collection basket for conveying the out ball discharged from each gaming machine to the ball lifting device unit;
A first ball collection basket for transporting a ball discharged from the ball counting unit to a temporary storage tank for temporarily storing the ball,
A second ball collection basket for conveying the balls discharged from the ball counting device unit to the ball lifting device unit;
Have,
The first ball collecting basket is
A diversion rod that forms a diverting portion for diverting a part of the sphere that has passed through the acceleration rod to the second ball collecting rod;
A rolling slag for rolling down the sphere that has passed through the diversion basin in the direction of the ball lifting device and storing it in the temporary storage tank;
Have
The gaming machine island is characterized in that the width of the diversion rod is narrower than the width of the acceleration rod . At the downstream end of the first sphere recovery rod, a change plate for changing the flow direction of the sphere is provided, and the sphere is temporarily stored from the vicinity of the change plate,
A ball lifting device in which the downstream end of the second ball collecting rod is positioned downstream of the position of the change plate of the first ball collecting rod, and the ball conveyed by the second ball collecting rod is prioritized. 2. The gaming machine island according to claim 1, wherein the gaming machine island is conveyed to a part . The out ball collection basket is positioned on the side of the first ball collection basket, and the second ball collection basket is positioned on the side of the first ball collection basket and below the out ball collection basket. ,
The first ball collection basket and the second ball collection basket are communicated with each other in the flow dividing section,
When a stagnation occurs in the transportation of the sphere in the first sphere collection basket, the sphere that has flowed into the second sphere collection basket is preferentially conveyed to the sphere lifting device unit without being affected by the stagnation. The gaming machine island according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by being made possible . The rolling sluice is
A plurality of spheres are provided with a falling bottom portion having a lateral width capable of rolling in a direction perpendicular to the flowing direction, and provided with steps on both side edges of the flowing bottom portion so that the balls can get over the temporary storage tank. The gaming machine island according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , characterized in that a ball that has fallen into the ground is temporarily stored .

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