JP6722219B2 - Amusement machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine or slot machine capable of executing a game.

As a gaming machine, a game ball, which is a game medium, is launched into the game area by a launching device, and when a game ball wins a prize area such as a winning opening provided in the game area, a predetermined number of prize balls are paid out to the player. There is something to be done. Further, a variable display area capable of variably displaying identification information (also referred to as “fluctuation”) is provided, and when the display result of the variable display of the identification information is the specific display result in the variable display area, the gaming state (game Therefore, there is a machine configured to give a predetermined game value to a player by changing the state of the machine (specifically, the state in which the game machine is controlled) (so-called pachinko machine).

Also, after setting a predetermined number of bets on a predetermined game medium for one game, the player operates the start lever to start variable display of the identification information in the variable display area, and the player changes each variable. By operating the stop button provided corresponding to the display area, the variable display of the identification information is stopped within the predetermined maximum delay time from the operation timing, and the variable display of all variable display areas is performed. When a prize is generated according to the display result derived when the game is stopped, a predetermined game medium predetermined according to the prize is paid out, and when a specific prize is generated, the game state is given a predetermined game value. There is something that is configured to give to (the so-called slot machine).

Note that the game value is that the payout of prize balls and the state of the variable winning ball device provided in the game area of the gaming machine are advantageous for the player who easily hits the ball, or advantageous for the player. It is to generate a right to become a state, and to be in a state where the conditions for paying out prize balls are easily established.

In the pachinko gaming machine, a predetermined specific display mode is derived and displayed as the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern (identification information) that is started in the variable display area based on the fact that the game ball has won the start winning opening. When it is done, "big hit" occurs. The derivation display means that the symbol (final stop symbol) is finally stopped and displayed. When a big hit occurs, for example, the big winning opening is opened a predetermined number of times, and a big hit game state in which a hit ball is easy to win is entered. Then, in each opening period, when a predetermined number (for example, 10) of winning holes are won, the winning holes are closed. The number of times of opening the special winning opening is fixed to a predetermined number (for example, 15 rounds). Note that the opening time (for example, 29 seconds) is determined for each opening, and even if the number of winnings does not reach the predetermined number, the special winning opening is closed when the opening time elapses. Hereinafter, the opening period of each special winning opening may be referred to as a round. Also, a game in a round may be called a round game.

Further, in the variable display area, the symbols other than the symbol that is the final stop symbol (for example, the middle symbol in the left middle right symbol) continue for a predetermined time, and stop and shake in a state where they match the specific display result. It is possible that a big hit occurs before the final result is displayed, because it is moving, scaling or deforming, or multiple symbols fluctuate in sync with the same symbol, or the positions of the displayed symbols are swapped. The production performed in a state in which the sex continues (hereinafter, these states are referred to as reach states) is referred to as reach production. Further, the reach state and the state thereof are referred to as the reach mode. Further, the variable display including the reach effect is called the reach variable display. Then, when the display result of the symbols variably displayed in the variable display area is not the specific display result, the result is "out", and the variable display state ends. A player plays a game while enjoying how to generate a big hit.

Further, the gaming machine is provided with a game control means for controlling the progress of the game and a performance control means for controlling the execution of the performance based on the information output from the game control means, and the game is performed after power is supplied. There is one that prohibits the output of information to the effect control unit until the time stored in the control unit elapses (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP, 2001-321545, A (paragraph 0012, Drawing 3, Drawing 4)

However, in the gaming machine described above, from the momentary power failure state in which the power supplied to the gaming machine is reduced to a predetermined voltage value and the power is restored to a voltage value higher than the predetermined voltage value before the special period elapses. There is no disclosure about the case where the electric power is restored, and there is a possibility that the effect control means may miss the information output from the game control means when the electric power is restored from the instantaneous power failure state.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine capable of preventing the production control unit from losing information even when power is restored from an instantaneous power failure state.

(Means 1) A game machine according to the present invention is a game machine capable of executing a game, and is output from a game control means (for example, a game control microcomputer 100) for controlling the progress of the game and the game control means. Equipped with effect control means (for example, effect control microcomputer 92IW100) for controlling execution of effect based on the information, and the game control means, the predetermined information after a lapse of a predetermined period from the power being supplied to the gaming machine ( For example, it includes an information output means (for example, a portion of the game control microcomputer 100 that executes steps S7 and S9) for outputting a production control command for instructing recovery from power interruption and a production control command for instructing initialization. , The effect control means, in a specific period in which the information output from the game control means cannot be analyzed (for example, a period in which the timer interrupt process in the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 cannot be executed), is specified ( For example, a specific process execution means capable of executing the initialization process (for example, the part that executes step S71 in the effect control microcomputer 92IW100), and the predetermined information after a specific period has elapsed since the power was supplied to the gaming machine. And information input means capable of inputting (for example, a portion that executes the transfer buffer transfer processing (FIG. 20-10) and the analysis buffer transfer processing (step 92IWS711) in the effect control microcomputer 92IW100), and the game control means Can execute at least a first process (for example, a hardware standby process) and a second process (for example, a software standby process (the process shown in steps 92IWS009 to 92IWS012 by the CPU 103) by the CPU 103) in a predetermined period. , The electric power supplied to the gaming machine is reduced to a predetermined voltage value, and the electric power is restored to a voltage value higher than the predetermined voltage value before the special period elapses. Occasionally, the first process is not executed (for example, a hardware standby process is not performed when power is restored from an instantaneous power failure state), and the second process is executed at least until a specific period has elapsed (for example, the CPU 103 By executing steps 92IWS009 to 92IWS012, a software standby process is executed until the initialization process by the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 is completed (see FIG. 20-3)), and the effect control means receives the received information. Is stored first and the received information is temporarily Bei a second storage area to be stored, and can be executed as a special processing processes related random number before example the second process is performed, characterized in that. According to such a configuration, since the predetermined information is not output until the predetermined period elapses even when the power recovery from the instantaneous power failure occurs, it is possible to prevent the production control unit from dropping the predetermined information. .. Further, it is possible to gain time until the specific process is completed, and to perform the process necessary for the progress of the game first.

(Means 2) In the means 1, the effect control means may be provided with an information storage means (for example, a reception register included in the serial communication circuit 92IW115) capable of storing the information output from the game control means in a specific period. .. According to such a configuration, even when the information is output during the specific period, it is possible to prevent the production control unit from missing the information.

(Means 3) In the means 1 or 2, the special processing executing means for executing the special processing before executing the second processing (for example, executing the steps 92IWS001 to 92IWS006 before the steps 92IWS011 and 92IW012 in the CPU 103). Part) may be provided. With such a configuration, it is possible to gain time until the specific processing by the effect control unit is completed.

(Means 4) In the means 3, the special process execution means may be capable of executing a process related to a random number as a special process (for example, the CPU 103 executes step 92IWS006 before steps 92IWS011 and 92IW012). With such a configuration, it is possible to first perform the processing required for the progress of the game.

(Means 5) In the means 3 or 4, the game control means includes a data storage means (for example, RAM 102) including a stack area for temporarily saving data, and the special processing execution means saves in the stack area. The process of setting the stack pointer indicating the data storage destination address may be executed as a special process (for example, the CPU 103 may execute step 92IWS002 before steps 92IWS011 and 92IWS012). With such a configuration, it is possible to first perform the processing required for the progress of the game.

(Means 6) In any one of the means 1 to 5, a first storage area (for example, a reception register included in the serial communication circuit 92IW115) in which the received information is first stored, and a received information is temporarily stored. Two storage areas (for example, a transfer buffer provided in the built-in RAM 92IW112) and a third storage area (for example, an analysis buffer provided in the external SDRAM 92IW116) where the received information is finally stored are provided. The control means reads the information stored in the first storage area and stores it in the second storage area based on a reception interrupt (for example, a serial reception interrupt) that occurs each time information is received. It is stored in the second storage area based on a control means (for example, a portion of the production control microcomputer 92IW100 that executes steps 92IWS721 to 92IWS723) and a timer interrupt that occurs every predetermined period (for example, 1 ms). Second storage control means for reading out the information and storing it in the third storage area (for example, the portion of the production control microcomputer 92IW100 that executes steps 92IWS741 to 92IWS748) and the information stored in the third storage area. It may be configured to include an analysis unit (for example, a portion of the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 that executes step 92IWS704). With such a configuration, it is possible to reduce omission of information when a large amount of information is received.

It is a front view of a pachinko gaming machine in this embodiment. It is a block diagram showing various control boards and the like mounted on a pachinko gaming machine. It is a flow chart which shows an example of game control main processing. It is the flowchart which shows one example of the timer interruption processing for game control. It is a flow chart which shows an example of special design process processing. It is the flowchart which shows one example of production control main processing. It is the flowchart which shows one example of production control process treatment. It is a figure for explaining a variation pattern and a kind of reach. It is the figure which shows the production operation example. It is the figure which shows the production operation example. It is the figure which shows the production operation example. It is the figure which shows the production operation example. It is the figure which shows the production operation example. It is the figure which shows the production operation example. It is a flow chart which shows an example of notice production decision processing. It is a figure showing a decision rate in notice production decision processing. It is a figure showing an example of production operation of a modification. It is a figure showing an example of production operation of a modification. It is a figure showing an example of production operation of a modification. It is a flow chart which shows an example of game control main processing. It is a flow chart which shows an example of game control main processing. It is a timing chart which shows the timing of the event at the time of power-on and at the time of power recovery from the momentary power failure state. It is the block diagram which shows the constitution example of the production control microcomputer. It is the explanation drawing which shows one example of the address map in the production control microcomputer. It is a figure which shows the structural example of an interrupt control register for serial reception interrupt setting, and an example of the setting content. It is a figure which shows the structural example of an interrupt control register for timer interrupt setting, and an example of a setting content. It is an explanatory view showing an example of 1 composition of a receiving register and each receiving buffer. It is the flowchart which shows the 1ms timer interruption processing in the production control microcomputer. It is a flow chart which shows transfer buffer transfer processing. It is a flow chart which shows analysis buffer transfer processing. It is a flowchart which shows the modification of the transfer buffer transfer process.

(Basic explanation)
First, the basic configuration and control of the pachinko gaming machine 1 (also the configuration and control of a general pachinko gaming machine) will be described.

(Structure of pachinko gaming machine 1)
FIG. 1 is a front view of a pachinko gaming machine 1, showing an arrangement layout of main members. The pachinko gaming machine (gaming machine) 1 is roughly divided into a gaming board (gauge board) 2 that constitutes a gaming board surface, and a gaming machine frame (underframe) 3 that supports and fixes the gaming board 2. A game area is formed on the game board 2, and a game ball as a game medium is shot into the game area by being shot from a predetermined hitting ball launching device.

At a predetermined position of the game board 2 (on the right side of the game area in the example shown in FIG. 1), a variable display (also called a special drawing game) of special symbols (also called a special drawing) as a plurality of types of special identification information. There is provided a first special symbol display device 4A and a second special symbol display device 4B. Each of these consists of a 7-segment LED or the like. The special symbol is represented by a number indicating "0" to "9" or a lighting pattern such as "-". The special pattern may include a pattern in which all the LEDs are turned off.

The “variable display” of the special symbol is, for example, variably displaying a plurality of types of special symbols (the same applies to other symbols described later). The change includes update display of a plurality of symbols, scroll display of a plurality of symbols, deformation of one or more symbols, enlargement/reduction of one or more symbols, and the like. In the variation of the special symbol or a normal symbol described later, a plurality of types of special symbols or normal symbols are updated and displayed. In the variation of the decorative pattern, which will be described later, a plurality of types of decorative patterns are scroll-displayed or updated and one or more decorative patterns are deformed or enlarged/reduced. In addition, the variation includes a mode in which a certain symbol is displayed in a blinking manner. At the end of the variable display, a predetermined special symbol is stopped and displayed (also referred to as derived or derived display) as a display result (the same applies to variable display of other symbols described later). The variable display may be referred to as a variable display or a variation.

The special symbols that are variably displayed on the first special symbol display device 4A are also called "first special symbols", and the special symbols that are variably displayed on the second special symbol display device 4B are also called "second special symbols". Further, a special figure game using the first special figure is called a "first special figure game", and a special figure game using the second special figure is also called a "second special figure game". The special symbol display device that performs variable display of the special symbol may be one type.

An image display device 5 is provided near the center of the game area on the game board 2. The image display device 5 includes, for example, an LCD (liquid crystal display device), an organic EL (Electro Luminescence), and the like, and displays various effect images. The image display device 5 may include a projector and a screen. Various effect images are displayed on the image display device 5.

For example, on the screen of the image display device 5, in synchronization with the first special drawing game and the second special drawing game, a decorative pattern as a plurality of types of decorative identification information different from the special pattern (a pattern showing numbers etc.) Variable display is performed. Here, in synchronization with the first special drawing game or the second special drawing game, the decorative pattern is variably displayed (for example, up and down) in each of the "left", "middle", and "right" decorative pattern display areas 5L, 5C, and 5R. Direction scroll display and update display). The special figure game and the variable display of the decorative design which are executed in synchronization are collectively referred to as simply variable display.

A display area may be provided on the screen of the image display device 5 for displaying a pending display corresponding to a variable display whose execution is suspended and an active display corresponding to a variable display being executed. The hold display and the active display are collectively referred to as a variable display corresponding display corresponding to the variable display.

The number of variable displays that are suspended is also referred to as the suspended storage number. The number of reserved memories corresponding to the first special figure game is also called a first reserved memory number, and the number of reserved memories corresponding to the second special figure game is also called a second reserved memory number. Further, the total of the first reserved storage number and the second reserved storage number is also referred to as the total reserved storage number.

In addition, at a predetermined position of the game board 2, a first hold indicator 25A and a second hold indicator 25B that are configured to include a plurality of LEDs are provided, and the first hold indicator 25A is the number of LEDs that are turned on. The first reserved memory number is displayed by, and the second reserved indicator 25B displays the second reserved memory number according to the number of lit LEDs.

Below the image display device 5, a winning ball device 6A and a variable winning ball device 6B are provided.

The winning ball device 6A forms a first starting winning port which is always kept in a fixed open state through which a game ball can enter by a predetermined ball receiving member, for example. When a game ball enters the first start winning hole, a predetermined number (for example, 3) of prize balls are paid out and the first special figure game can be started.

The variable winning a prize ball device 6B (ordinary electric accessory) forms a second starting winning hole which changes between a closed state and an open state by a solenoid 81 (see FIG. 2). The variable winning ball device 6B includes, for example, an electric tulip type accessory having a pair of movable wing pieces, and when the solenoid 81 is in the off state, the movable wing pieces are in the vertical position, so that the tips of the movable wing pieces are provided. Is close to the prize winning ball device 6A, and the game ball does not enter the second starting prize hole (the second starting prize hole is also closed). On the other hand, when the solenoid 81 is in the ON state, the variable winning ball device 6B is in the open state in which the game ball can enter the second starting winning opening by the tilted position of the movable wing piece (second starting). It is also said that the winning opening is open.) When the game balls enter the second start winning hole, a predetermined number (for example, three) of prize balls can be paid out and the second special figure game can be started. The variable winning ball device 6B is not limited to the device including the electric tulip type accessory as long as it can be changed between the closed state and the open state.

At predetermined positions of the game board 2 (in the example shown in FIG. 1, four places on the lower left and right sides of the game area), there are provided general winning openings 10 which are always kept open by predetermined ball receiving members. In this case, when one of the general winning openings 10 is entered, a predetermined number (for example, 10) of game balls are paid out as prize balls.

A special variable winning ball device 7 having a special winning opening is provided below the winning ball device 6A and the variable winning ball device 6B. The special variable winning ball device 7 is provided with a special winning opening door that is opened and closed by a solenoid 82 (see FIG. 2), and the special winning opening door is a special winning opening as a specific area that changes between an open state and a closed state. Form.

As an example, in the special variable winning ball device 7, when the solenoid 82 for the special winning opening door (for special electric auditors) is in the off state, the big winning opening door closes the big winning opening, and the game ball is large. You will not be able to enter (pass) the winning hole. On the other hand, in the special variable winning ball device 7, when the solenoid 82 for the special winning opening door is in the on state, the special winning opening door opens the special winning opening, and the game ball easily enters the special winning opening. Become.

When a game ball enters the special winning opening, a predetermined number (eg, 14) of game balls are paid out as a prize ball. When the game balls enter the big winning opening, more prize balls are paid out than when the game balls enter the first starting winning opening, the second starting winning opening, and the general winning opening 10, for example.

The entry of a game ball into each prize hole including the general prize hole 10 is also referred to as a "prize". In particular, the winning of the starting opening (first starting winning opening, second starting winning opening starting opening) is also referred to as a starting winning.

A normal symbol display 20 is provided at a predetermined position of the game board 2 (on the left side of the game area in the example shown in FIG. 1). As an example, the normal symbol display 20 is composed of a 7-segment LED or the like, and variably displays the normal symbol as a plurality of types of normal identification information different from the special symbol. Ordinary symbols are represented by numbers indicating "0" to "9" and lighting patterns such as "-". The normal pattern may include a pattern in which all the LEDs are turned off. Such variable display of ordinary symbols is also called a universal symbol game.

On the left side of the image display device 5, a passage gate 41 through which game balls can pass is provided. Based on the fact that the game ball has passed through the passage gate 41, the universal figure game is executed.

Above the normal symbol display device 20, a universal symbol holding display device 25C is provided. The universal figure hold indicator 25C is configured to include, for example, four LEDs, and displays the number of stored universal figure reserves, which is the number of ordinary figure games that are pending to be executed, by the number of LEDs that have been lit.

In addition to the above configuration, the surface of the game board 2 is provided with a windmill that changes the flow direction and speed of the game balls and a large number of obstacle nails. At the lowermost part of the game area, there is provided an outlet for taking in the game balls that have not entered any of the winning openings.

Speakers 8L and 8R for reproducing and outputting a sound effect and the like are provided at upper and left upper positions of the gaming machine frame 3, and a game effect lamp 9 for a game effect is provided in a peripheral portion of the game area. ing. The game effect lamp 9 is configured to include an LED.

At a predetermined position (not shown in FIG. 1) of the game board 2, a movable body 32 that operates according to the effect is provided.

At the lower right position of the gaming machine frame 3, there is provided a hit ball operation handle (operation knob) 30 operated by a player or the like to shoot a game ball toward a game area by a hit ball launching device.

At a predetermined position of the gaming machine frame 3 below the gaming area, a gaming ball paid out as a prize ball or a gaming ball lent out by a predetermined ball lending machine is held (stored) so that it can be supplied to a ball striking device. A ball hitting plate (upper plate) is provided. Below the upper plate, there is provided a hit ball supply plate (lower plate) from which prize balls are paid out when the upper plate is full.

At a predetermined position of the gaming machine frame 3 below the game area, a stick controller 31A that can be held by a player and can be tilted is attached. The stick controller 31A is provided with a trigger button that can be pressed by the player. The operation on the stick controller 31A is detected by the controller sensor unit 35A (see FIG. 2).

At a predetermined position of the gaming machine frame 3 below the game area, there is provided a push button 31B which allows the player to perform a predetermined instruction operation by a pressing operation or the like. The operation on the push button 31B is detected by the push sensor 35B (see FIG. 2).

In the pachinko gaming machine 1, the stick controller 31A and the push button 31B are provided as detection means for detecting the action (operation etc.) of the player, but detection means other than these may be provided.

(Outline of game progression)
The game ball is launched toward the game area by the player's rotation operation on the hitting ball operation handle 30 of the pachinko gaming machine 1. When the game ball passes through the passage gate 41, the normal figure game by the normal symbol display device 20 is started. When the game ball passes through the passage gate 41 during the previous execution period of the general education game (when the game ball passes through the passage gate 41 but cannot immediately execute the general education game based on the passage) , The universal game based on the passage is suspended until a predetermined upper limit number (for example, 4).

In this ordinary figure game, if a specific ordinary symbol (a symbol for a regular symbol) is stopped and displayed, the display result of the ordinary symbol becomes "per ordinary symbol". On the other hand, as a fixed ordinary symbol, if a normal symbol other than the regular symbol (normal symbol loss symbol) is stopped and displayed, the display result of the ordinary symbol becomes "normal symbol defect". When the "universal figure hit" is reached, opening control is performed to open the variable winning ball device 6B for a predetermined period (the second start winning port is opened).

When the game ball enters the first start winning hole formed in the winning ball device 6A, the first special symbol game by the first special symbol display device 4A is started.

When the game ball enters the second start winning hole formed in the variable winning ball device 6B, the second special symbol game by the second special symbol display device 4B is started.

In addition, when the game ball enters into the starting winning opening (winning prize) during the period when the special drawing game is being executed, or during the period when it is controlled to the big hitting game state or the small hitting game state to be described later (starting winning occurs, In the case where the special drawing game based on the starting prize cannot be immediately executed), the special drawing game based on the entry is suspended until a predetermined upper limit number (for example, 4).

In the special figure game, if a specific special symbol (big hit symbol, for example, "7", the actual symbol differs depending on the jackpot type described later.) is displayed as a stop special symbol, it becomes a "big hit" symbol and a big hit symbol. If a predetermined special symbol different from (a small hit symbol, for example, "2") is stopped and displayed, it is a "small hit". Further, if a special symbol different from the big hit symbol or the small hit symbol (missing symbol, for example, "-") is stopped and displayed, "missing" will occur.

After the display result in the special figure game becomes "big hit", the big hit game state is controlled as an advantageous state advantageous to the player. After the display result in the special figure game is "small hit", the small hit game state is controlled.

In the big hit game state, the special winning opening formed by the special variable winning ball device 7 is opened in a predetermined manner. The open state is one of the elapse timing of a predetermined period (for example, 29 seconds or 1.8 seconds) and the timing until the number of game balls entering the special winning opening reaches a predetermined number (for example, 9). It continues until the earlier of the two. The predetermined period is an upper limit period during which the special winning opening can be opened in one round, and is also referred to as an open upper limit period hereinafter. One cycle in which the special winning opening is opened is called a round (round game). In the big hit game state, the round can be repeatedly executed until a predetermined upper limit number (15 times or 2 times) is reached.

In the big hit game state, the player can obtain the prize ball by entering the game ball into the special winning opening. Therefore, the jackpot gaming state is an advantageous state for the player. The larger the number of rounds in the big hit game state, and the longer the open upper limit period, the more advantageous for the player.

The type of big hit is set for "big hit". For example, multiple types of opening modes (number of rounds and maximum open period) of the special winning opening, and game states after the big hit game state (normal state, time saving state, probability variation state, etc., described later) are prepared, and big hits are made accordingly. The type is set. As the big hit type, a big hit type that can obtain many prize balls or a big hit type that has few prize balls or hardly obtain prize balls may be provided.

In the small hit game state, the special winning opening formed by the special variable winning ball device 7 is opened in a predetermined opening manner. For example, in the small hit game state, the same opening mode as in the big hit game state in the case of some big hit types (the number of times of opening the special winning opening is the same as the number of rounds described above, and the closing timing of the special winning opening is also the same. Etc.), the special winning opening is opened. As with the big hit type, a small hit type may be provided for the "small hit".

After the jackpot gaming state is finished, it may be controlled to a time saving state or a probability changing state according to the jackpot type.

In the time-saving state, control (time-saving control) that shortens the average special figure variation time (period during which the special figure varies) compared to the normal state is executed. In the time saving state, by shortening the average figure change time (the period during which figure changes) compared to the normal state, and improving the probability of "per figure" in the figure game from the normal state, The control (high opening control, high base control) that makes it easy for the game ball to enter the second starting winning opening is also executed. The time saving state is a state in which the variation efficiency of the special symbol (particularly the second special symbol) is improved, which is an advantageous state for the player.

In the probability variation state (probability variation state), in addition to the time saving control, the probability variation control in which the probability that the display result is "big hit" is higher than in the normal state is executed. The probability variation state is a state that is more advantageous to the player because it is a state in which it is likely to be a "big hit" in addition to improving the variation efficiency of the special symbol.

The time saving state and the probability changing state are continued until one of the ending conditions such as that the special figure game has been executed a predetermined number of times and the next big hit game state has been started. The condition that the ending condition is that the special figure game is executed a predetermined number of times is also referred to as the number of times cutting (shortening of times of cutting, probability change of times of cutting etc.).

The normal state is an advantageous state such as a big hit game state that is advantageous to the player, a game state other than a special state such as a time saving state, a probability change state, etc., and the display result in the ordinary figure game is "universal figure win". Probability and probability that the display result in the special figure game is a "big hit", etc., the pachinko gaming machine 1 returns to a predetermined state after the power is turned on, such as when the pachinko gaming machine 1 is in the initial setting state (for example, when the system is reset). It is in the same controlled state as when the process was not executed).

A state in which the probability variation control is executed is also referred to as a high accuracy state, and a state in which the probability variation control is not executed is also referred to as a low accuracy state. A state in which the time saving control is executed is also called a high base state, and a state in which the time saving control is not executed is called a low base state. By combining these, it is said that the time saving state is a low accurate high base state, the definite change state is a high accurate high base state, and the normal state is a low accurate low base state. The highly accurate and low base state is also referred to as the highly accurate low base state.

After the small hit game state is finished, the game state is not changed, and the game state before the special figure game display result is "small hit" is continuously controlled (however, "small hit" occurs If the special figure game at that time is the predetermined number of special figure games in the above-mentioned number of times cutting, the game state is naturally changed). It should be noted that “small hit” may not be provided as the display result of the special figure game.

The gaming state may change based on that the game ball has passed a specific area (for example, a specific area in the special winning opening) during the big hit gaming state. For example, when the game ball passes through a specific area, it may be controlled to be in a certain change state after the big hit game state.

(Progress, etc.)
In the pachinko gaming machine 1, various effects (effects of notifying the progress of the game or exciting the game) are executed according to the progress of the game. The effect will be described below. The effect is performed by displaying various effect images on the image display device 5. However, in addition to or in place of the display, audio output from the speakers 8L and 8R and/or the game effect lamp 9 is performed. May be performed by turning on/off the light, the operation of the movable body 32, or the like.

In the decorative pattern display areas 5L, 5C, and 5R of "left", "middle", and "right" provided on the image display device 5, as the effects executed in accordance with the progress of the game, the first special figure game or the first special figure game. In response to the start of the 2 special drawing game, the variable display of the decorative design is started. At the timing when the display result (also referred to as a fixed special symbol) is stopped and displayed in the first special figure game and the second special figure game, the fixed decorative symbol (a combination of three decorative symbols) becomes the display result of the variable display of the decorative symbol. ) Is also stopped (displayed).

In the period from the start to the end of the variable display of the decorative pattern, the variable display mode of the decorative pattern may be a predetermined reach mode (reach is established). Here, the reach mode is a variable display for a decorative pattern which is not stopped and displayed when the decorative pattern stopped and displayed on the screen of the image display device 5 constitutes a part of a big hit combination described later. Is an aspect in which is continuing.

Further, the reach effect is executed in response to the above-mentioned reach mode during the variable display of the decorative pattern. In the pachinko gaming machine 1, the ratio of the display result (the display result of the special drawing game or the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern) being a “big hit” (also called big hit reliability or big hit expectation degree) according to the effect mode. Different types of reach production are executed. Reach production includes, for example, normal reach and super reach, which has higher jackpot reliability than normal reach.

When the display result of the special figure game is "big hit", a fixed decorative pattern which is a predetermined big hit combination is derived as the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern on the screen of the image display device 5 (decoration) The display result of the variable display of the pattern is "big hit"). As an example, the same decorative pattern (for example, “7”) is stopped and displayed together on a predetermined effective line in the “left”, “middle”, and “right” decorative pattern display areas 5L, 5C, and 5R. ..

In the case of "probability variation jackpot" that is controlled to the probability variation state after the jackpot gaming state is finished, odd decorative patterns (for example, "7" and the like) are also stopped and displayed, and after the jackpot gaming state is transformed to the probability variation state. In the case of "non-probability variation big hit (normal big hit)" which is not controlled, an even number of decorative symbols (for example, "6" etc.) may be stopped and displayed together. In this case, the odd-numbered decorative pattern is also referred to as a probability variation pattern, and the even-numbered decorative pattern is also referred to as a non-determination variation pattern (normal pattern). After reaching the reach mode with the non-probabilistic variation pattern, the promotion effect that finally becomes the “probability variation jackpot” may be executed.

When the display result of the special drawing game is "small hit", the fixed decorative pattern (for example, "" which is a predetermined small hit combination is displayed as the display result of the variable display of the decorative design on the screen of the image display device 5. 1 3 5”) is derived (the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern is “small hit”). As an example, the decorative patterns forming the chances are stopped and displayed on the predetermined effective lines in the “left”, “middle”, and “right” decorative pattern display areas 5L, 5C, and 5R. In addition, when the display result of the special figure game is "big hit" of some big hit types (big hit type of big hit game state of a mode similar to the small hit game state) and when it becomes "small hit" A common fixed decorative pattern may be derived and displayed.

When the display result of the special drawing game is “miss”, the variable display mode of the decorative design is not the reach mode, and the fixed decorative pattern of the non-reach combination is displayed as the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern (“ (Also referred to as "non-reach lost") may be displayed as a stop (the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern is "non-reach lost"). Further, when the display result is "miss", after the variable display mode of the decorative pattern becomes the reach mode, as a display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern, a predetermined reach combination other than the jackpot combination ("reach miss") (Also referred to as) the fixed decorative pattern may be stopped and displayed (the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern is "reach lost").

The effects that can be executed by the pachinko gaming machine 1 include displaying the variable display corresponding display (hold display or active display). Further, as another effect, for example, a notice effect that gives a notice of the jackpot reliability is executed during the variable display of the decorative pattern. The notice production includes a notice production that announces the jackpot reliability in the variable display being executed and a look-ahead notice production that announces the jackpot reliability in the variable display before execution (variable display in which execution is suspended). As the prefetching notice effect, an effect of changing the display mode of the variable display corresponding display (hold display or active display) to a mode different from the normal mode may be executed.

Further, in the image display device 5, the variable display is temporarily stopped during the variable display of the decorative pattern, and then the variable display is restarted, so that one variable display can be simulated like multiple variable display. You may make it perform a pseudo continuous production.

Even during the big hit game state, a big hit mid-game production for notifying the big hit game state is executed. As the big hit medium effect, an effect for notifying the number of rounds or a promotion effect indicating that the value of the big hit game state is improved may be executed. In addition, during the small hitting game state, the small hitting medium production which notifies the small hitting game state is executed. In addition, during the small hitting game state, in some big hitting type (the big hitting type of the big hitting game state of the form similar to the small hitting game state, for example, the big hitting type which makes the following game state high accuracy state) big hitting game By executing a common effect depending on the state, the player may not be able to know whether the present is in the small hitting game state or the big hitting game state. In such a case, by performing a common effect after the end of the small hit game state and after the end of the big hit game state, it is possible to distinguish between the high-accuracy state and the low-precision state. May be.

Further, for example, when the special drawing game or the like is not executed, a demo (demonstration) image is displayed on the image display device 5 (a customer waiting demonstration effect is executed).

(Substrate configuration)
The pachinko gaming machine 1 is equipped with, for example, a main board 11, a performance control board 12, a sound control board 13, a lamp control board 14, a relay board 15, etc. as shown in FIG. In addition, various boards such as a payout control board, an information terminal board, a launch control board, and a power supply board are arranged on the back surface of the pachinko gaming machine 1.

The main board 11 is a control board on the main side, and progresses in the above-mentioned game in the pachinko gaming machine 1 (execution of special figure game (including hold management), execution of general figure game (including hold management), big hit It has a function of controlling the gaming state, the small hitting gaming state, the gaming state, etc. The main board 11 has a game control microcomputer 100, a switch circuit 110, a solenoid circuit 111, and the like.

The game control microcomputer 100 mounted on the main board 11 is, for example, a one-chip microcomputer, and includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 101, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 103. , A random number circuit 104 and an I/O (Input/Output port) 105.

The CPU 103 executes a program stored in the ROM 101 to perform processing for controlling the progress of the game (processing for realizing the function of the main board 11). At this time, various data stored in the ROM 101 (variation patterns described below, effect control commands described below, data such as various tables referred to when making various determinations described below) are used, and the RAM 102 is used as a main memory. .. The RAM 102 is a backup RAM in which the stored contents are saved for a predetermined period even if the power supply to the pachinko gaming machine 1 is partially or entirely stopped. Alternatively, all or part of the program stored in the ROM 101 may be expanded in the RAM 102 and executed in the RAM 102.

The random number circuit 104 counts the numerical value data indicating various random number values (game random numbers) used when controlling the progress of the game in an updatable manner. The game random number may be updated by the CPU 103 executing a predetermined computer program (updated by software).

The I/O 105 is, for example, an input port into which various signals (detection signals described later) are input, and various signals (first special symbol display device 4A, second special symbol display device 4B, ordinary symbol display device 20, first hold) An output port for transmitting a signal for controlling (driving) the display 25A, the second hold indicator 25B, the universal figure hold indicator 25C, and the like, and an output port for transmitting the signal.

The switch circuit 110 is a detection signal (a game ball passes or a game ball passes) from various switches for detecting a game ball (gate switch 21, starting opening switch (first starting opening switch 22A and second starting opening switch 22B), count switch 23). A detection signal indicating that the switch has been turned on when the vehicle has entered is taken in and transmitted to the game control microcomputer 100. The transmission of the detection signal means that the passage or entry of the game ball has been detected.

The solenoid circuit 111 sends a solenoid drive signal (for example, a signal for turning on the solenoid 81 or the solenoid 82) from the game control microcomputer 100 to the solenoid 81 for the ordinary electric accessory or the solenoid 82 for the special winning opening door. To transmit.

The main board 11 (game control microcomputer 100), as a part of the control of the progress of the game, production control board (command for designating (notifying) the progress status of the game etc.) according to the progress of the game. Supply to 12. The effect control command output from the main board 11 is relayed by the relay board 15 and supplied to the effect control board 12. The effect control command includes, for example, various determination results on the main board 11 (for example, a display result of the special figure game (including a big hit type), a variation pattern used when executing the special figure game (details will be described later). )), a game status (for example, start and end of variable display, status of opening of big winning opening, winning of prize, number of reserved memories, game status), command for designating error, and the like.

The effect control board 12 is a sub-side control board that is independent of the main board 11, receives an effect control command, and effects based on the received effect control command (various effects according to the progress of the game, It has a function of executing various notifications such as driving of the movable body 32, error notification, and notification of power failure recovery.

On the effect control board 12, an effect control CPU 120, a ROM 121, a RAM 122, a display control unit 123, a random number circuit 124, and an I/O 125 are mounted.

The effect control CPU 120 executes a program stored in the ROM 121 to execute a process together with the display control unit 123 (a process for realizing the above-described function of the effect control board 12 and an effect to be executed). (Including the determination of). At this time, various data (data such as various tables) stored in the ROM 121 is used, and the RAM 122 is used as a main memory.

The production control CPU 120 displays the execution of production based on the detection signal from the controller sensor unit 35A or the push sensor 35B (a signal that is output when an operation by the player is detected, and a signal that appropriately indicates the operation content). The control unit 123 may be instructed.

The display control unit 123 includes a VDP (Video Display Processor), a CGROM (Character Generator ROM), a VRAM (Video RAM), and the like, and executes an effect based on an effect execution instruction from the effect control CPU 120.

The display control unit 123 causes the image display device 5 to display the effect image by supplying the image display device 5 with a video signal corresponding to the effect to be executed based on the effect execution instruction from the effect control CPU 120. The display control unit 123 further supplies a sound designating signal (a signal designating a sound to be output) to the sound control board 13 in order to output the sound in synchronization with the display of the effect image and turn on/off the game effect lamp 9. Alternatively, a lamp signal (a signal that specifies the lighting/extinguishing state of the lamp) is supplied to the lamp control board 14. In addition, the display control unit 123 supplies a signal for operating the movable body 32 to the movable body 32 or a drive circuit that drives the movable body 32.

The voice control board 13 is equipped with various circuits for driving the speakers 8L, 8R, drives the speakers 8L, 8R based on the sound designating signal, and outputs the sound designated by the sound designating signal from the speakers 8L, 8R. Let

The lamp control board 14 is equipped with various circuits for driving the game effect lamp 9, drives the game effect lamp 9 based on the lamp signal, and turns on/off the game effect lamp 9 in a manner designated by the lamp signal. To do. In this way, the display control unit 123 controls the sound output and the lighting/extinguishing of the lamp.

It should be noted that the production control CPU 120 executes audio output, control for turning on/off the lamp (supply of a sound designation signal, a lamp signal, etc.), and control of the movable body 32 (supply of a signal for operating the movable body 32). You may do it.

The random number circuit 124 updatable counts numerical data indicating various random number values (random numbers for effect) used for executing various effects. The effect random number may be updated by the effect control CPU 120 executing a predetermined computer program (updated by software).

The I/O 125 mounted on the production control board 12 transmits, for example, an input port for receiving the production control command transmitted from the main board 11 and various signals (video signal, sound designation signal, lamp signal). And an output port of.

Substrates other than the main substrate 11, such as the effect control substrate 12, the sound control substrate 13, and the lamp control substrate 14, are also referred to as sub substrates. A plurality of sub-boards may be provided for each function like the pachinko gaming machine 1, or one sub-board may be configured to have a plurality of functions.

(motion)
Next, the operation (action) of the pachinko gaming machine 1 will be described.

(Main operation of main board 11)
First, the main operation of the main board 11 will be described. When the power supply to the pachinko gaming machine 1 is started, the game control microcomputer 100 is activated, and the CPU 103 executes the game control main processing. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the game control main processing executed by the CPU 103 on the main board 11.

In the game control main process shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 103 first sets an interrupt prohibition (step S1). Then, necessary initial setting is performed (step S2). The initial setting includes setting of a stack pointer, register setting of a built-in device (CTC (counter/timer circuit), parallel input/output port, etc.), setting for making the RAM 102 accessible.

Next, it is determined whether the output signal from the clear switch is on (step S3). The clear switch is mounted on the power supply board, for example. When the power is turned on with the clear switch turned on, an output signal (clear signal) is input to the game control microcomputer 100 via the input port. When the output signal from the clear switch is on (step S3; Yes), the initialization process (step S8) is executed. In the initialization process, the CPU 103 performs a RAM clear process for clearing flags, counters, and buffers stored in the RAM 102, and sets an initial value in the work area.

Further, the CPU 103 transmits an effect control command for instructing initialization to the effect control board 12 (step S9). When the effect control command is received, the effect control CPU 120 displays a screen for notifying that the control of the gaming machine has been initialized, for example, in the image display device 5.

If the output signal from the clear switch is not on (step S3; No), it is determined whether backup data is stored in the RAM 102 (backup RAM) (step S4). When the power supply to the pachinko gaming machine 1 is stopped due to an unexpected power failure or the like (power cut), the CPU 103 executes the power supply stop time process immediately before the pachinko gaming machine 1 stops operating due to the stop of the power supply. In this power supply stop process, a process of turning on a backup flag indicating that data is backed up in the RAM 102, a data protection process of the RAM 102, and the like are executed. The data protection processing includes processing for adding an error detection code (checksum, parity bit, etc.) and backing up various data. The data to be backed up includes various data (including various flags, states of various timers, etc.) for advancing the game, the state of the backup flag and an error detection code. In step S4, it is determined whether the backup flag is on. When the backup flag is off and the backup data is not stored in the RAM 102 (step S4; No), the initialization process (step S8) is executed.

When the backup data is stored in the RAM 102 (step S4; Yes), the CPU 103 checks the data of the backed up data (performed using the error detection code) and determines whether the data is normal (step). S5). In step S5, it is determined whether or not the data in the RAM 102 matches the data when the power supply is stopped, for example, by using a parity bit or a checksum. If it is determined that they match, the data in the RAM 102 is determined to be normal.

When it is determined that the data in the RAM 102 is not normal (step S5; No), the internal state cannot be returned to the state when the power supply was stopped, so the initialization process (step S8) is executed.

When it is determined that the data in the RAM 102 is normal (step S5; Yes), the CPU 103 performs a recovery process (step S6) for returning the internal state of the main board 11 to the state when the power supply was stopped. In the restoration process, the CPU 103 sets the work area based on the stored contents of the RAM 102 (contents of backed up data). As a result, the game state is restored when the power supply is stopped, and if the special symbol is changing, the variation of the special symbol is restarted from the state before the restoration by executing the game control timer interrupt process described later. Will be.

And CPU103 transmits the production control command which directs recovery from power failure to production control board 12 (Step S7). In accordance with this, a production control command for designating a backed-up game state before power interruption, and a production control for designating the display result of the special figure game being executed when the special figure game is being executed. You may make it transmit a command. These commands can use the same commands as the commands set for transmission in the special symbol process processing described later. When the production control CPU 120 receives the production control command that specifies the time of recovery from power failure, for example, the image display device 5 notifies that power recovery has been performed or that power recovery is in progress. Display the screen to do so. The effect control CPU 120 may display an appropriate screen based on the effect control command.

After finishing the restoration process or the initialization process and transmitting the production control command to the production control board 12, the CPU 103 executes a random number circuit setting process for initializing the random number circuit 104 (step S10). Then, the CTC register built in the game control microcomputer 100 is set so that a timer interrupt is taken at regular intervals (eg, 2 ms) (step S11), and interrupts are permitted (step S12). ). Then, the loop processing is started. After that, an interrupt request signal is sent from the CTC to the CPU 103 every predetermined time (for example, 2 ms), and the CPU 103 can periodically execute timer interrupt processing.

When the CPU 103 that has executed the game control main process receives the interrupt request signal from the CTC and accepts the interrupt request, it executes the game control timer interrupt process shown in the flowchart of FIG. When the game control timer interrupt process shown in FIG. 4 is started, the CPU 103 first executes a predetermined switch process, and thereby the gate switch 21, the first starting port switch 22A, and the second starting port via the switch circuit 110. Whether or not the detection signals are received from various switches such as the switch 22B and the count switch 23 is determined (step S21). Then, by executing a predetermined main side error processing, an abnormality diagnosis of the pachinko gaming machine 1 is performed, and a warning can be issued if necessary according to the diagnosis result (step S22). After that, by executing a predetermined information output process, for example, jackpot information (information indicating the number of occurrences of jackpots) supplied to a hall management computer installed outside the pachinko gaming machine 1, starting information (starting) Data such as information indicating the number of winnings and the like, probability variation information (information indicating the number of times the probability has changed, etc.) is output (step S23).

Following the information output process, a game random number updating process for updating at least a part of the game random numbers used on the main board 11 side by software is executed (step S24). After this, the CPU 103 executes special symbol process processing (step S25). The CPU 103 executes the special symbol process processing for each timer interrupt, whereby the execution and suspension of the special symbol game, the control of the big hit game state and the small hit game state, the control of the game state, etc. are realized. See below).

Following the special symbol process process, a normal symbol process process is executed (step S26). The CPU 103 executes the normal symbol process processing for each timer interrupt, and based on the detection signal from the gate switch 21 (based on the fact that the game ball has passed through the passage gate 41), management of execution and suspension of the general figure game, It is possible to control the opening of the variable winning ball device 6B based on "universal figure". The ordinary figure game is executed by driving the ordinary symbol display device 20, and the ordinary figure hold indicator 25C is turned on to display the number of reserved figure symbols.

After the normal symbol process process is executed, as a part of the game control timer interrupt process, a process when power failure occurs, a process for paying out a prize ball, etc. may be performed. After that, the CPU 103 executes command control processing (step S27). The CPU 103 may set the transmission of the effect control command in each of the above processes. In the command control process of step S27, a process of transmitting the effect control command set for transmission to the sub-side control board such as the effect control board 12 is performed. After executing the command control process, the interrupt is permitted, and then the game control timer interrupt process is ended.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the process executed in step S25 shown in FIG. 4 as the special symbol process process. In this special symbol process process, the CPU 103 first executes a start winning determination process (step S101).

In the start winning determination process, a process of detecting the occurrence of a start winning, storing the hold information in a predetermined area of the RAM 102, and updating the number of held memories is executed. When a start winning occurs, a random number value for determining a display result (including a big hit type) and a variation pattern is extracted and stored as pending information. Further, a process of pre-reading a display result or a variation pattern may be executed based on the extracted random number value. After storing the hold information and the number of holding memories, the transmission setting for transmitting the effect control command for designating the determination result such as the occurrence of the start winning, the number of holding memories, and the pre-reading determination is performed on the effect control board 12. .. The effect control command at the time of the start winning set to be transmitted as described above is executed from the main board 11 to the effect control board 12 by, for example, executing the command control processing of step S27 shown in FIG. 4 after the special symbol process processing is completed. Is transmitted to.

After executing the start winning determination process in S101, the CPU 103 selects and executes any of the processes of steps S110 to S120 according to the value of the special figure process flag provided in the RAM 102. In each process (steps S110 to S120) of the special symbol process process, a transmission setting for transmitting a production control command corresponding to each process to the production control board 12 is performed.

The special symbol normal process of step S110 is executed when the value of the special symbol process flag is "0" (initial value). In this special symbol normal process, it is determined whether or not to start the first special figure game or the second special figure game based on the presence or absence of the hold information. In the special symbol normal process, based on the random number value for determining the display result, whether or not the display result of the special symbol or the decorative pattern is "big hit" or "small hit" and the big hit type when the "big hit" is set Is determined (predetermined) before the display result is derived and displayed. Further, in the special symbol normal process, a fixed special symbol (either a big hit symbol, a small hit symbol, or a lost symbol) to be stopped and displayed in the special symbol game is set corresponding to the determined display result. After that, the value of the special symbol process flag is updated to "1", and the special symbol normal process ends. The special figure game using the second special figure may be executed with priority over the special figure game using the first special figure (also referred to as special figure 2 priority digestion). Further, the winning order of the game balls to the first starting winning opening and the second starting winning opening may be stored, and the conditions for starting the special drawing game may be established in the winning order (also referred to as winning order winning).

When making various decisions based on the random number values, various tables stored in the ROM 101 (tables in which decision values to be compared with random number values are assigned to decision results) are referenced. The same applies to other decisions on the main board 11 and various decisions on the effect control board 12. In the effect control board 12, various tables are stored in the ROM 121.

The fluctuation pattern setting process of step S111 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "1". This fluctuation pattern setting process uses a random value for fluctuation pattern determination to select one of a plurality of fluctuation patterns, based on the result of pre-determination of whether or not the display result is "big hit" or "small hit". It includes the processing to determine. In the fluctuation pattern setting process, when the fluctuation pattern is determined, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to “2”, and the fluctuation pattern setting process ends.

The variation pattern is the execution time of the special figure game (special figure change time) (also the execution time of variable display of the decorative pattern), the mode of variable display of the decorative pattern (whether the reach or not), the variable display of the decorative pattern. Is specified, and is also referred to as a variable display pattern.

The special symbol variation process of step S112 is executed when the value of the special symbol process flag is "2". In this special symbol variation process, a process for setting for varying the special symbol in the first special symbol display device 4A and the second special symbol display device 4B, and the elapsed time from when the special symbol starts varying. It includes the process of measuring. Further, it is also determined whether or not the measured elapsed time has reached the special figure fluctuation time corresponding to the fluctuation pattern. Then, when the elapsed time from the start of the variation of the special symbol reaches the special symbol variation time, the value of the special symbol process flag is updated to "3", and the special symbol variation process ends.

The special symbol stop process of step S113 is executed when the value of the special symbol process flag is "3". In this special symbol stop processing, the first special symbol display device 4A and the second special symbol display device 4B stop the fluctuation of the special symbol, and stop display (derive) the fixed special symbol which is the display result of the special symbol. It includes a process to set up for. When the display result is "big hit", the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "4". On the other hand, when the big hit flag is off and the display result is "small hit", the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "8". If the display result is "miss", the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "0". When the display result is "small hit" or "miss", when the game is controlled to the time saving state or the probability changing state, and when the cut-out is completed, the game state is also updated. When the value of the special figure process flag is updated, the special symbol stop processing ends.

The big hit opening preprocessing in step S114 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "4". This big hit opening preprocessing includes processing for starting the execution of the round in the big hit game state and setting the big winning opening in the open state based on the fact that the display result is "big hit". Has been. When the special winning opening is opened, a process of supplying a solenoid drive signal to the solenoid 82 for the special winning opening door is executed. At this time, for example, the open upper limit period in which the special winning opening is opened and the upper limit number of times of round execution are set according to which the big hit type is. When these settings are completed, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "5", and the big hit opening preprocessing is completed.

The big hit opening process in step S115 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "5". In this big hit opening process, the process of measuring the elapsed time after the big winning opening is opened, and the big winning opening based on the measured elapsed time, the number of game balls detected by the count switch 23, etc. It includes a process of determining whether or not it is time to return the open state from the open state to the closed state. Then, when returning the special winning opening to the closed state, after performing a process of stopping the supply of the solenoid drive signal to the solenoid 82 for the special winning opening door, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "6", The big hit opening process is ended.

The post-big hit opening process of step S116 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "6". This big jackpot post-processing, processing to determine whether the number of executions of the round to open the special winning opening has reached the set upper limit number of executions, when the maximum number of executions has been reached, the big hit game state It includes the process of setting to terminate. When the round execution count has not reached the upper limit execution count, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to “5”, while when the round execution count reaches the upper limit execution number, the special figure process flag The value is updated to "7". When the value of the special figure process flag is updated, the jackpot release post-processing ends.

The big hit ending process of step S117 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "7". This big hit end processing, waiting processing until the waiting time corresponding to the period during which the ending effect as the effect operation for notifying the end of the big hit game state is executed, and the probability change corresponding to the end of the big hit game state It includes processing for performing various settings for starting control and time saving control. When such a setting is made, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "0", and the big hit ending process ends.

The small hit opening pre-processing of step S118 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "8". The small hit opening pre-processing includes processing for setting the big winning opening to be open in the small hit game state based on the display result of "small hit". At this time, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "9", and the small hit opening preprocessing is ended.

The small hitting open process in step S119 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "9". This small hit opening process is the process of measuring the elapsed time after opening the big winning opening and the timing to return the big winning opening from the open state to the closed state based on the measured elapsed time etc. A process for determining whether or not it is included. When the timing for ending the small hitting game state is reached by returning the special winning opening to the closed state, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "10", and the small hitting open process ends.

The small hit ending process of step S120 is executed when the value of the special figure process flag is "10". The small hitting end process includes a process of waiting until a waiting time corresponding to a period in which the effect operation for notifying the end of the small hitting game state is executed. Here, when the small hit game state ends, the game state in the pachinko gaming machine 1 before the small hit game state is continued. When the waiting time at the end of the small hitting game state has elapsed, the value of the special figure process flag is updated to "0", and the small hitting end processing ends.

(Main operation of the production control board 12)
Next, the main operation of the effect control board 12 will be described. In the effect control board 12, when the power supply voltage is supplied from the power supply board or the like, the effect control CPU 120 is activated to execute effect control main processing as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6. When the effect control main process shown in FIG. 6 is started, the effect control CPU 120 first executes a predetermined initialization process (step S71) to clear the RAM 122 and set various initial values, and to the effect control board 12. Register settings of the installed CTC (counter/timer circuit) are performed. Further, the initial operation control process is executed (step S72). In the initial operation control process, control for performing an initial operation of the movable body 32 such as control for driving the movable body 32 to return to the initial position and control for confirming a predetermined operation are executed.

Then, it is determined whether or not the timer interrupt flag is turned on (step S73). The timer interrupt flag is set to the ON state each time a predetermined time (for example, 2 milliseconds) elapses based on, for example, the CTC register setting. At this time, if the timer interrupt flag is off (step S73; No), the process of step S73 is repeatedly executed and stands by.

On the side of the effect control board 12, an interrupt for receiving the effect control command from the main board 11 is generated in addition to the timer interrupt that is generated each time a predetermined time has elapsed. This interrupt is, for example, an interrupt generated when the effect control INT signal from the main board 11 is turned on. When an interrupt occurs due to the effect control INT signal being turned on, the effect control CPU 120 automatically sets the interrupt disable, but if a CPU that does not automatically enter the interrupt disable state is used, an interrupt occurs. It is desirable to issue a prohibition instruction (DI instruction). The effect control CPU 120 executes, for example, a predetermined command reception interrupt process in response to the interrupt caused by the effect control INT signal being turned on. In this command reception interrupt process, the effect control command is fetched from a predetermined input port of the input ports included in the I/O 125, which receives the control signal transmitted from the main board 11 via the relay board 15. The effect control command fetched at this time is stored in, for example, an effect control command receiving buffer provided in the RAM 122. After that, the production control CPU 120 sets the interrupt permission, and then ends the command reception interrupt process.

If the timer interrupt flag is turned on in step S73 (step S73; Yes), the timer interrupt flag is cleared to the off state (step S74), and the command analysis process is executed (step S75). In the command analysis process, for example, after reading various effect control commands transmitted from the game control microcomputer 100 of the main board 11 and stored in the effect control command receiving buffer, the read effect control commands are read. Corresponding settings and controls are performed. For example, the read effect control command is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 122 or the RAM 122 is stored in the RAM 122 so that the effect control command received, the content specified by the effect control command, and the like can be confirmed by the effect control process processing or the like. The reception flag provided is turned on. Further, when the effect control command specifies the game state, the display control unit 123 may be instructed to display the background according to the game state.

After executing the command analysis process in step S75, the effect control process process is executed (step S76). In the effect control process processing, for example, an effect image display operation in the display area of the image display device 5, a sound output operation from the speakers 8L and 8R, a lighting operation in a decorative light emitter such as the game effect lamp 9 and a decorative LED, and the movable body 32. The control for operating various effect devices, such as the driving operation of, is performed. Further, with respect to the control contents of the effect operation using various effect devices, determination, determination, setting, etc. are performed in accordance with the effect control commands transmitted from the main board 11.

Following the effect control process processing of step S76, effect random number updating processing is executed (step S77), and at least a part of the effect random numbers used on the effect control board 12 side is updated by software. Then, the process returns to step S73. Other processing may be executed before returning to the processing in step S73.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the process executed in step S76 of FIG. 6 as the effect control process process. In the effect control process processing shown in FIG. 7, the effect control CPU 120 first executes prefetching advance notice setting processing (step S161). In the pre-reading notice setting process, for example, determination, determination, setting, etc. for executing the pre-reading notice production are performed based on the effect control command at the time of start winning transmitted from the main board 11. Further, a process for displaying the hold display is executed based on the number of hold memories specified from the effect control command.

After executing the process of step S161, the effect control CPU 120 selects and executes any of the following processes of steps S170 to S177 according to the value of the effect process flag provided in the RAM 122, for example.

The variable display start waiting process of step S170 is a process executed when the value of the effect process flag is "0" (initial value). This variable display start waiting process is a process of determining whether or not to start variable display of a decorative design in the image display device 5, based on whether or not a command for specifying the start of variable display is received from the main board 11. Etc. are included. When it is determined that the variable display of the decorative pattern on the image display device 5 is started, the value of the effect process flag is updated to "1", and the variable display start waiting process is ended.

The variable display start setting process of step S171 is a process executed when the value of the effect process flag is "1". In the variable display start setting process, based on the display result and the variation pattern specified by the effect control command, the display result of the variable display of the decorative pattern (fixed decorative pattern), the variable display mode of the decorative pattern, the reach effect and various The presence/absence of execution of various effects such as a notice effect, its mode, and execution start timing are determined. Then, the effect control pattern (collection of control data for instructing the display control unit 123 to execute the effect) that reflects the determination result or the like is set. Then, based on the set effect control pattern, the display control unit 123 is instructed to start the variable display of the decorative pattern, the value of the effect process flag is updated to "2", and the variable display start setting process is ended. The display control unit 123 causes the image display device 5 to start the variable display of the decorative pattern in response to the instruction to start the variable display of the decorative pattern.

The variable display effect process in step S172 is a process executed when the value of the effect process flag is "2". In the effect display during variable display, the effect control CPU 120 instructs the display control unit 123 to display an effect image based on the effect control pattern set in step S171 on the display screen of the image display device 5. Or driving the movable body 32, outputting voice or sound effect from the speakers 8L and 8R by outputting a command (sound effect signal) to the sound control board 13, and sending a command (illumination signal) to the lamp control board 14. Various effect control is performed during variable display of the decorative pattern, such as turning on/off/blinking the game effect lamp 9 and the decorative LED by output. After performing such effect control, for example, an end code indicating the end of variable display of the decorative pattern is read from the effect control pattern, or a command designating that the fixed decorative pattern is stopped and displayed from the main board 11 is received. Corresponding to what is done, the fixed decorative design which is the display result of the decorative design is stopped and displayed. When the fixed decorative design is stopped and displayed, the value of the effect process flag is updated to "3", and the variable display effect effect processing ends.

The special figure winning waiting process of step S173 is a process executed when the value of the effect process flag is "3". In the special figure winning waiting process, the effect control CPU 120 determines whether or not the main board 11 receives an effect control command that specifies to start the big hit game state or the small hit game state. When a production control command for designating the start of the big hit game state or the small hit game state is received, if the command designates the start of the big hit game state, the value of the production process flag is set to "6. Update to ". On the other hand, if the command specifies the start of the small hitting gaming state, the value of the effect process flag is updated to "4" which is a value corresponding to the effect processing during the small hitting. Further, when the waiting time for receiving the command is not received without receiving the command designating the big hit game state or the small hit game state, it is determined that the display result in the special figure game is “miss”. Then, the value of the effect process flag is updated to “0” which is the initial value. When the value of the effect process flag is updated, the special figure hit waiting process ends.

The effect process during the small hit in step S174 is a process executed when the value of the effect control process flag is "4". In the effect processing during the small hit, the effect control CPU 120 sets, for example, an effect control pattern corresponding to the effect contents in the small hit game state, and executes various effect controls in the small hit game state based on the set contents. .. Further, in the small hitting production process, the value of the production process flag is set to a value corresponding to the small winning finish production in response to receiving a command for ending the small winning game state from the main board 11, for example. It is updated to a certain "5", and the effect processing during the small hit is finished.

The small hit completion production process of step S175 is a process executed when the value of the production control process flag is "5". In this small hitting end effect processing, the effect control CPU 120 sets, for example, an effect control pattern or the like corresponding to the end of the small hit game state, and various effect controls at the end of the small hit game state based on the setting contents. To execute. After that, the value of the effect process flag is updated to "0" which is the initial value, and the small hit end effect processing is ended.

The big hit mid-game production process of step S176 is a process executed when the value of the production process flag is "6". In this big hit medium production process, the effect control CPU 120 sets, for example, a production control pattern or the like corresponding to the production contents in the big hit game state, and executes various production controls in the big hit game state based on the set contents. Further, in the big hit midfield effect process, the value of the effect control process flag is a value corresponding to the ending effect process, for example, in response to receiving a command designating termination of the big hit game state from the main board 11. It updates to "7" and finishes the big hit midfield effect process.

The ending effect process of step S177 is a process executed when the value of the effect process flag is "7". In this ending effect processing, the effect control CPU 120 sets an effect control pattern or the like corresponding to, for example, the end of the big hit game state, and performs various effect controls of the ending effect at the end of the big hit game state based on the setting contents. Execute. After that, the value of the effect process flag is updated to the initial value "0", and the ending effect process is ended.

(Variation of basic explanation)
The present invention is not limited to the pachinko gaming machine 1 described in the above basic description, and various modifications and applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Although the pachinko gaming machine 1 of the above basic description is a payout type gaming machine that pays out a predetermined number of game media as a prize based on the occurrence of a prize, the game media is enclosed and points are awarded based on the occurrence of a prize. It may be an enclosed game machine.

What is displayed during variable display of the special symbol is only one type of symbol (for example, a symbol indicating "-"), and variable display may be performed by repeating display and extinction of the symbol. Further, even when the symbol is displayed during the variable display, the symbol may not be displayed when the variable display is stopped (the symbol indicating "-" may not be displayed as the display result).

In the above basic explanation, the pachinko gaming machine 1 is shown as the gaming machine, but a predetermined number of bets is set by inserting medals, and a plurality of types of symbols are rotated according to the operation of the operation lever by the player, A slot machine capable of executing a game in which a predetermined number of medals are paid out to a player (for example, a big bonus when the stop symbol combination becomes a specific symbol combination when the symbols are stopped in response to the operation of the stop button by The present invention can also be applied to a slot machine in which one or more of regular bonus, RT, AT, ART, and CZ (hereinafter, bonus etc.) are mounted.

The program and data for implementing the present invention are not limited to the form distributed and provided to a computer device included in the pachinko gaming machine 1 by a removable recording medium, and the computer device or the like in advance. It may be distributed by being installed in the storage device included in. Further, the program and data for implementing the present invention may be distributed by being downloaded from another device on a network connected via a communication line or the like by providing a communication processing unit. It doesn't matter.

The game execution mode is not limited to that executed by mounting a removable recording medium, but can be executed by temporarily storing the program and data downloaded via a communication line in the internal memory or the like. Alternatively, the hardware resources of other devices may be directly used on the network connected via a communication line or the like. Further, the game may be executed by exchanging data with another computer device or the like via a network.

In the present specification, one of the expressions for comparing various ratios such as the execution ratio of the effect (expressions such as “high”, “low”, “different”) is “0%”. May be included. For example, it is also included that one is a ratio of "0%" and the other is a ratio of "100%" or a ratio less than "100%".

(Explanation regarding the characteristic part 31AK)
Next, the characteristic part 31AK of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining variation patterns and reach types in the pachinko gaming machine 1 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8(A), in the present embodiment, the variable patterns PA1-1 and PA1-2 are non-reach-miss patterns in which the variable display mode of the decorative pattern is not the reach mode and the display result is “miss”. , The variable display mode of the decorative pattern is the reach mode and the display result is "miss". The reach change pattern PA2-1 to PA2-6, PA3-1 to PA3-4, etc., the display result is "big hit". Variation patterns PB2-1 to PB2-6, PB3-1 to PB3-4, etc. are prepared.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8B, in the present embodiment, reach effects such as normal reach and super reach A to E are executed. In this embodiment, the reach effect is also referred to as a suggestion effect that suggests that the jackpot state is controlled. The reliability (big hit reliability) when each reach is executed is, as represented by the number of black stars in FIG. 8B, normal reach<super reach E<super reach D<super reach C<super reach B. <Higher in order of Super Reach A. In addition, you may provide the reach which determines that it is a big hit.

In this embodiment, the super reach is executed via the normal reach. Further, during the reach effect of the super reach, there is a case where the development effect of developing (promoting) the reach with higher reliability is executed. The variation patterns PA3-1 to PA3-4 and the variation patterns PB3-1 to PB3-4 and the like shown in FIG. 8A are variation patterns corresponding to the execution of the development effect. Note that FIG. 8A shows a variation pattern in which the reliability develops to one level higher super reach, but a variation pattern in which the reliability develops more than two stages is also provided. Further, a variation pattern in which the development effect is executed multiple times may be provided.

In this embodiment, except for the normal reach, which has the lowest reliability, the title of the reach is notified at a predetermined timing after the reach is established. As shown in FIG. 8B, the title notification mode differs depending on the reach type. Specifically, the super-reach E, which has the lowest reliability among the super-reach, is informed of the title of the reach only by display, and the other super-reach is informed of the title by display and voice. In this way, the notification of the title is executed by more production devices in the reach with high reliability than in the reach with low reliability. As a result, the player's expectation can be effectively agitated and the effect of production is improved. The title notification mode may be changed depending on the reliability or irrespective of the reliability. Further, even in the same reach effect, the notification mode may be changed according to the actual display result or the like. Also, the font of the title character (Gothic font, Mincho font, etc.) and typeface (line book, open book, etc.) may be different depending on the type of reach.

The notification of the title of the reach (title notification) is not limited to the title itself such as the name of the reach, and may be the name of the character appearing in the reach effect, the effect content of the reach effect, or the like.

(Example of production operation of the characteristic part 31AK)
Next, an example of the effect operation in the present embodiment will be described. The following production operation is executed by the production control CPU 120 executing the production control process process based on the production control command transmitted from the main board 11. FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are diagrams showing an example of an effect operation of super reach in the present embodiment. FIG. 9A shows that the variable display of the decorative pattern is executed in each of the “left”, “middle”, and “right” decorative pattern display areas 5L, 5C, and 5R of the image display device 5. .. After that, for example, as shown in FIG. 9B, the decorative pattern showing the number 7 on “left” and “right” is stopped, and the reach mode is set. After that, the effect branches according to the type of reach.

(Super reach A)
In the case of Super Reach A, as shown in FIG. 9(C), the character 31AK001, which is a ally character, is displayed on the image display device 5, and the reach effect is started. Here, for example, an animation or the like using the character 31AK001 is displayed. When a predetermined period elapses after the super reach effect is started, such as when the introduction part of the reach effect of the super reach (also called super reach effect) is finished, as shown in FIG. 9D, the entire screen of the image display device 5 is displayed. The title 31AK002 (here, “SP reach A” here) of the super reach A is displayed on the screen, and the voice (“super reach A” here) corresponding to the title name of the reach is output from the speaker 8. , The title of Super Reach A is notified. After that, the title 31AK002 of the super reach A is erased, as shown in FIG. 9(E), the character 31AK003 that is an enemy character is displayed, the dialogue 31AK004 of the character 31AK001 is displayed, or the character 31AK001 and the character 31AK003 are confronted. The succeeding part of the reach effect of Super Reach A is executed. The production in which the characters confront each other is also called a battle production, and when the teammate character wins in the battle production, it becomes a big hit, and when the teammate character is defeated, it becomes a loss.

When the dialogue is displayed on the image display device 5 during the super reach effect, the speaker 8 may output a voice corresponding to the dialogue. Further, the dialogue is not limited to be displayed in a balloon as shown in FIG. 9E, and may be displayed in subtitles on the lower portion of the image display device 5 or the like.

(Super reach B)
In the case of super reach B, as shown in FIG. 9C, the character 31AK001 is displayed on the image display device 5 and the reach effect is started. Here, for example, an animation or the like using the character 31AK001 is displayed. When a predetermined period of time elapses from the start of the super reach effect, such as the end of the introduction of the super reach effect, as shown in FIG. 9(F), the title 31AK005 of the super reach B (here "SP Reach B" is displayed, and the speaker 8 outputs a voice corresponding to the title name of Reach ("Super Reach B" in this case) to notify the title of Super Reach B. It After that, the title 31AK005 of the super reach B is erased, as shown in FIG. 9(G), the character 31AK006 that is an enemy character is displayed, the dialogue 31AK004 of the character 31AK001 is displayed, or the character 31AK001 and the character 31AK006 are confronted. The succeeding part of the reach effect of Super Reach B is executed.

As described above, in the super reach A and the super reach B, the reach title is notified when a predetermined period has elapsed since the super reach effect was started. By doing so, the title can be notified after the player has shown the introduction part of the super reach effect and the like, so that the effect of the title notification can be enhanced.

Further, in Super Reach A (FIG. 9(C)→(D)→(E)...) and Super Reach B (FIG. 9(C)→(F)→(G)...), the titles are In the introduction part until the notification, the super reach effect is executed in a common effect mode (FIG. 9(C)). By doing so, it is possible to make the player pay attention to which super-reach is performed after the super-reach effect is started and which title is notified. Super-reach A and super-reach B are not limited to completely commoning the presentation mode until the title is informed, and it is possible to determine which super-reach will be achieved by paying attention to the production. You may make it a common production mode. For example, in the introduction part of the super reach A and the super reach B, the super reach effect (for example, the effect of displaying the enemy character or suggesting the enemy character) is executed in a mode related to the subsequently notified title. You may By doing so, the effect of the effect is improved, and the player comes to pay attention to the effect. In this way, the title notification may be performed after it is possible to specify which super-reach will be performed.

(Super reach D)
In the case of Super Reach D, as shown in FIG. 9H, a title 31AK007 of Super Reach D (here, the characters "SP Reach D") is displayed in a part of the center of the image display device 5. At the same time, a voice corresponding to the title name of the reach (here, "defeat the enemy") is output from the speaker 8 to notify the title of the super reach D. As described above, in the super reach D, the title is notified at the start of the super reach effect. Further, below the title 31AK007, an expectation suggestion display 31AK008 that indicates the expectation of the reach is displayed. The degree of expectation is represented by the number of black stars, as shown in FIG. Here, the degree of expectation is the degree of expectation of a big hit, but it does not have to exactly match the reach of the big hit of the reach.

It should be noted that the notification by the voice of the super reach D does not notify the title name as it is, but notifies the contents of the reach. As described above, in this embodiment, the notification mode of the title notification by voice is changed depending on the type of reach. As a result, the notification mode of the title notification is diversified, and the interest is improved.

After the title is notified in the super reach D, the character 31AK001 is displayed on the image display device 5, as shown in FIG. 9(I). At this time, the title 31AK007 and the expectation suggestion display 31AK008 continue to be reduced and displayed in the upper right portion of the image display device 5 or the like. By doing so, the player can grasp the degree of expectation of the reach even during the reach production. Although FIG. 9(I) shows the same effect contents as FIG. 9(C) (super reach A, super reach B), a super reach effect dedicated to super reach D may be executed.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9(J), the character 31AK009, which is an enemy character, is displayed, the dialogue 31AK004 of the character 31AK001 is displayed, and the reach effect of the super reach D in which the character 31AK001 and the character 31AK009 are confronted is executed. It

(Super Reach E)
In the case of the super reach E, as shown in FIG. 10A, the title 31AK010 of the super reach E (here, the characters “SP reach E”) is displayed in a part of the upper left of the image display device 5. As a result, the title of Super Reach E is announced. In Super Reach E, the title is not notified by voice. In addition to the display of the title 31AK010, the character 31AK001 and the character 31AK011 that is an enemy character are displayed, the dialogue 31AK004 of the character 31AK001 is displayed, and the reach effect of the super reach E in which the character 31AK001 and the character 31AK011 confront each other. To be executed. As described above, in the super reach E, the title is notified along with the progress of the reach effect. In Super Reach E, the title 31AK010 continues to be displayed during the reach production.

In the reach effect of the super reach E with low jackpot reliability, it is possible to prevent the player from having an excessive expectation by notifying the title without stopping the reach effect. On the other hand, in the reach productions of Super Reach A, Super Reach B, and Super Reach D, the progress of the reach production is stopped and the title is notified (FIGS. 9D, 9F, and 9F). H)). By doing so, the title notification corresponding to the super reach effect can be executed, and the effect of the effect is improved. It should be noted that the title notification may be performed without stopping the progress of the reach in super reach effects such as super reach A, super reach B, and super reach D. Contrary to this embodiment, in the reach effect of super reach with high jackpot reliability, title notification may be performed without stopping the progress of the reach effect. In the reach effect of super reach with low jackpot reliability, the progress of the reach effect may be stopped to notify the title.

(Title notification timing)
As described above, in this embodiment, in Super Reach A and Super Reach B, the title is notified after a predetermined period has elapsed after the start of Super Reach production, and in Super Reach D and Super Reach E, the super reach production is performed. The title is announced at the start. By doing so, the title notification according to the reach effect can be executed, and the effect of the effect is improved. In this embodiment, in Super Reach A and Super Reach B, which have high jackpot reliability, the title is notified after a predetermined period has elapsed after the start of the super reach production, and Super Reach D and Super Reach with low jackpot reliability. In E, the title was announced at the start of super reach production, but in the case of reach with high jackpot reliability, the title was announced at the start of super reach production, and in the case of reach with low jackpot reliability, super The title may be announced after a predetermined period has elapsed after the reach effect.

(Title display area)
Further, in this embodiment, in Super Reach A and Super Reach B, the title is notified on the entire screen (first area) of the image display device 5, and in Super Reach D and Super Reach E, the image display device 5 is displayed. The title is notified in a part (second area) of the screen. By doing so, the title notification according to the reach effect can be executed, and the effect of the effect is improved. In particular, in the case of the reach with high jackpot reliability, the title notification is executed in a wider display area than in the case of the reach with low reliability, so that effective title notification is possible. Note that the title notification on the entire screen of the image display device 5 may be that the title is displayed in a size that fits the entire screen, or the title is displayed on the entire background as a background for title notification. It may be one (title notification using the entire screen) or the like. Further, the display areas for performing the title notification may be different between the super reach A and the super reach B, and the display areas for performing the title notification may be different between the super reach D and the super reach E.

The method of changing the display area for performing the title notification according to the reach effect is not limited to the example of this embodiment, and the display area for performing the title notification may be arbitrarily changed according to the reach effect. For example, in the case of a reach with high jackpot reliability, title notification may be executed in a narrower display area than in the case of reach with low reliability. Further, in the case of changing the display area for performing the title notification according to the reach effect, the display area may be different as in this embodiment, or the display place may be different.

(Expectation level indication)
In this embodiment, in the title notification in super-reach A and super-reach B having a high jackpot reliability, super-reach D having a jackpot reliability lower than that of super-reach A and super-reach B is displayed without displaying the expectation indication. In the title notification in, the expectation level suggestion display is displayed. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the production from becoming dull. Further, in the title notification in Super Reach E, which has a lower jackpot reliability than Super Reach D, the expectation level suggestion display is not displayed. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the player from losing his/her expectation by displaying the expectation suggestion display indicating that the reliability is low in the reach with low reliability. Note that the expectation suggestion display may be displayed on at least a part of super reach A, super reach B, and super reach E.

As shown in FIG. 9(H) and the like, the expectation degree suggestion display is not limited to that indicated by the number of black stars, and the expectation degree may be indicated by a meter or gauge, or the expectation degree may be indicated. The displayed numerical value may be displayed. Further, as shown in FIG. 9(H) and the like, when the number of black stars is shown, half (corresponding to half) black stars may be displayed, and the number of stages of expectation may be increased.

(Timing display end timing)
Further, in this embodiment, in super reach A and super reach B, after the title is displayed, the title is erased and the super reach effect is executed. Thereby, in the super reach A and the super reach B, the reach effect can be focused. In Super Reach D and Super Reach E, after the title is displayed, the title continues to be displayed until the below-described determination effect is executed. As a result, in super reach D and super reach E, the type of reach can be grasped even during super reach production. Further, by performing the above, the title notification according to the reach effect can be executed, and the effect of the effect is improved. It should be noted that the title display end timing may be changed at any timing, because the effect of production can be improved.

Here, although the effect operation of the reach effect of the super reach C is omitted, for example, title notification or expectation degree suggestion display according to the jackpot reliability may be executed.

(Decision production)
After each reach effect is executed, at the timing of deriving the display result (the final stage of the variable display), the decided effect for notifying whether or not the display result is a “big hit” is executed. The decision effect includes a decision effect indicating that the display result is “big hit” and a decision effect indicating that the display result is “miss”. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10(B), a decided effect in which the image 31AK012 is displayed on the image display device 5 is executed. After that, if the display result is “big hit”, as shown in FIG. 10C, an image 31AK013 showing that the teammate character has won is displayed, and as shown in FIG. The fixed decorative pattern is derived. If the display result is "miss", an image showing that the teammate character has been defeated is displayed, and a fixed decorative pattern that is a reach lose combination is derived.

In this embodiment, even when the title is continuously notified even during the reach effect, the notification of the title is finished before the decided effect is executed. As a result, it is possible to focus attention on the decided effect, and it is possible to execute the title notification with a sharpness.

In the example of the production operation shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, during the reach production of the super reach, the decorative pattern is reduced and the variable display is executed in the lower right portion of the image display device 5, but during the reach production. The method of displaying the decorative pattern may be arbitrary. For example, the decorative design may not be displayed during the reach effect, and the display mode (size, position, shade, number, etc.) may be changed depending on the type of the reach effect.

In addition, when displaying a hold display, an active display, a character that is permanently displayed during variable display, and a display related to cell-phone interlocking on the image display device 5, during the reach effect of super reach, it is appropriately hidden in order to draw attention to the reach effect. May be At this time, these displays may be kept displayed during the reach production with low reliability such as the super reach E. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the player from expecting too much due to the low-reliability reach effect, and to pay attention to the reach effect in the high-reliability reach effect.

(Development production)
Next, an example of the effect operation when the development effect is executed will be described. As shown in FIG. 11(A), when the development effect is executed while the reach effect of super reach D is being executed (the title notification of super reach D is being executed), FIG. As shown, the reach effect is interrupted and an effect that the screen is torn is executed. Then, in the case of developing into the super reach A, as shown in FIG. 11C, the title of the super reach A is notified and the reach effect of the super reach A is executed. In the case of development into super reach B, as shown in FIG. 11D, the title of super reach B is notified and the reach effect of super reach is executed. In this way, when the development effect is executed, the title notification of the reach of the development source is switched to the title notification of the reach of the development destination, so that it becomes easy to understand which reach has been developed. As shown in FIG. 11, in the case where the reach of the development destination is the reach for notifying the title by the display and the sound, the title notification by the display and the sound is executed again.

The development effect is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 11(B), and may be an effect in which the screen gradually cracks and cracks, or a sandstorm (display indicating that a failure has occurred) is displayed. You may do it. With such an effect, an unexpected effect can be executed. It should be noted that there may be a developmental development effect such as a production in which the screen gradually cracks but the reach does not develop.

(Expectation suggestion)
In the example of the effect operation shown in FIG. 9(H), the expectation suggestion display 31AK008 displays the black stars indicating the expectations from the beginning, but five white stars are displayed first, and step by step. You may make it perform the expectation suggestion production which shows an expectation degree by becoming a black star.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12A, when announcing the title of Super Reach D, five white star expectation degree indications 31AK021 are displayed first. Then, as shown in FIG. 12(B), a black star 31AK022 larger than the star of the expectation suggestion display 31AK021 is displayed, and as shown in FIG. 12(C), the black star 31AK022 moves and the expectation suggestion display 31AK021. A production that fits into one of the white stars of is executed. At this time, the speaker 8 outputs the sound "pin" indicating that the number of black stars indicating the degree of expectation has increased. As shown in FIGS. 12D and 12E, the same effect is repeated a number of times corresponding to the reach expectation. At this time, the sound (volume, scale, sound quality, etc.) output from the speaker 8 may be changed stepwise every time it is repeated (for each number of stars). When the number of black stars corresponding to the degree of expectation has settled in the expectation suggestion display 31AK021, as shown in FIG. 12F, the black star is highlighted such that it glows. By doing so, it becomes easy to understand that the expectation suggestion production has ended.

In the example shown in FIGS. 12A to 12F, the black stars are displayed one by one, and the degree of expectation indicated by the expectation suggestion display is increased by one step, but there are two or more black stars. It may be displayed and the degree of expectation may be increased by two or more steps. Alternatively, half the black stars may be displayed to raise the expectation by half. In this case, different voices may be output, or the same voice may be output, depending on the number of stars displayed (the number of stages of expected degree of increase). For example, the same sound may be output when half a black star is displayed and when one black star is displayed. The same sound may be output when two and a half black stars are displayed and when three black stars are displayed. Further, there may be a case where no sound is output. By doing so, the expectation suggestive production is diversified, and the production effect is improved. Note that the same black star image is displayed regardless of the number of steps of the degree of expectation that increases at one time, and it fits in the white star of the degree of expectation display, and the number of black stars increases according to the number of steps of the degree of expectation that increases. You may make it perform the effect like.

(Direction mode)
There may be a plurality of effect modes in the effect devices such as the image display device 5, the speaker 8 and the game effect lamp 9. In the different effect modes, even if the same command (for example, a command that specifies a variation pattern) is transmitted from the main board 11, effects based on the command are executed in different effect modes. In each effect mode, the background displayed on the image display device 5, the character, the motif, the voice output from the speaker 8, and the like may be different. The effect mode may be automatically changed according to the number of times of variable display or the game state, or may be changeable by the operation of the player.

FIGS. 12G to 12L are examples of effect operation of title notification and expectation suggestion effect when the normal mode and the special mode are provided as the effect modes and the special mode is set. In the normal mode, title notification and expectation suggestion effect are executed as shown in FIGS. In the special mode, the reach effect based on the variation pattern of the super reach D is the reach effect of the super reach D2 having a different effect mode from the reach effect of the super reach D. Therefore, when the variation pattern of the super reach D is designated, the title 31AK023 of the super reach D2 is displayed as shown in FIG. At this time, although the voice corresponding to the reach title name is output from the speaker 8, a voice different from the normal mode (for example, voice having a different voice color) is output. Further, the expectation indication 31AK024 in the super reach D2 is not a star shape but a rhombus shape.

After that, as shown in FIG. 12(H), a black diamond 31AK025 larger than the star of the expectation suggestion display 31AK024 is displayed, and as shown in FIG. 12(I), the black diamond 31AK025 moves and the expectation suggestion display 31AK024. A production that fits in one of the white rhombuses is executed. At this time, the speaker 8 outputs the sound “Pong” indicating that the black diamonds indicating the degree of expectation have increased. As shown in FIGS. 12J and 12K, the same effect is repeated a number of times corresponding to the reach expectation. When the number of black rhombuses corresponding to the degree of expectation has been set in the expectation degree suggestion display 31AK024, the black rhombus is highlighted such that it glows, as shown in FIG. In this way, depending on the effect mode (state when the reach effect is executed) that is determined according to the player's selection, the game status, etc., by varying the title notification mode, the effect is diversified and the effect effect is increased. improves.

FIG. 12 shows an example of the effect operation when the variation pattern of the super reach D is designated, but other reach effects (title notification, expectation suggestion effect) depending on the effect mode (the state when the reach effect is executed). (Including) may be different. Depending on the effect mode (the state when the reach effect is executed), whether or not the reach title is notified and the execution rate of the title notification may be changed. For example, when a predetermined effect mode is selected, the reach title may not be notified. By doing so, the effect according to the player's preference can be executed, and the effect of the effect is improved.

In this embodiment, the expectation degree is suggested by the number of black stars in the expectation suggestion display, and the expectation suggestion effect of gradually increasing the number of black stars is executed. You may make it perform the expectation suggestion production which reduces the number of the display which suggests stepwise. Such an expectation suggesting effect may be executed in addition to the expectation suggesting effect of this embodiment, or may be executed instead.

(Other example of development production)
In the case of executing the expectation suggestion effect in which the display indicating the expectation of the expectation suggestion display is increased stepwise, the development effect may be executed after increasing the display indicating the expectation. In this case, when the display showing the degree of expectation is increased after the development effect, the display to be increased may be displayed at once instead of stepwise. For example, as shown in FIG. 13(A), after the title of Super Reach D is announced and the effect of gradually increasing the black stars is completed, as shown in FIG. 13(B), the button is displayed on the image display device 5. The development effect in which the image 31AK031 is displayed is executed. Here, when the operation on the push button 31B is detected, as shown in FIG. 13C, the title 31AK032 of the super reach C (here, the characters of "SP reach C") is displayed, and the supermarket is displayed. The Reach C title is announced. In this way, when the development effect is executed, the title notification of the reach of the development source is switched to the title notification of the reach of the development destination, so that it becomes easy to understand which reach has been developed. Further, below the title 31AK032, an expectation suggestion display 31AK033 in which the number of black stars is 3 is highlighted. Even if the number of black stars increases by two or more, they are displayed at once. It should be noted that, after the movable body 32 operates, the development effect in which the title and the expectation suggestion display change may be executed.

(Preliminary notice)
In this embodiment, as a notice effect, a title notice for notifying the jackpot reliability is executed in accordance with the title notification mode (for example, the title display color). For example, as shown in FIG. 14(A), the title 31AK036 of the super reach A is displayed in black and the voice corresponding to the title name of the reach is output from the speaker 8 to notify the title of the super reach A. After that, as shown in FIG. 14(B), the title announcement is executed in which the display color of the title 31AK036 changes to red. As described above, the title is displayed in black when the title announcement is not executed, and the title is displayed in a color other than black when the title announcement is executed. In the title notice shown in FIG. 14, the title display mode (display color) may change after the reach title is announced by voice. By doing so, the effect of the notice effect can be enhanced. The timing of displaying the title in a color other than black is not limited to this, and the title may be displayed in a color other than black from the start of display.

In addition, when the title announcement in which the display mode (display color) of the title is changed is executed, after the display mode of the title is changed, a sound according to the changed display mode may be output. By doing so, the effect of the notice effect can be enhanced. Further, the title notification by voice may be executed after the display mode (display color) of the title is changed. In this case, sound may be output according to the display mode (display color) of the changed title.

(Timing notification execution timing)
It is preferable that the notification of the title in the reach is executed at a timing other than the execution timing of the effect (specific effect) such as the notice effect or the development effect in which the degree of expectation that is controlled to the big hit advantageous state is improved. By doing so, when the title is once notified, the effect of improving the degree of expectation can be executed, so that the player's expectation can be maintained.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of a notice effect determination process for determining whether or not to execute a notice effect and an effect mode. The notice effect determination process is executed by the effect control CPU 120 within the variable display start setting process in step S171 of FIG. In the notice production determination process, the production control CPU 120 first determines whether or not the variation pattern specified by the command transmitted from the main board 11 is a super reach variation pattern (step 31AKS001).

If it is a variation pattern of super reach (step 31AKS001; Yes), the display color of the title of super reach (whether or not to execute the title notice) is determined (step 31AKS002).

In step 31AKS002, the display color of the title of the super reach is determined according to the determination ratio shown in FIG. 16A, for example, depending on whether the display result is "big hit" or "miss". As shown in FIG. 16(A), the display color of the title of Super Reach changes from “black”, “red”, “black” to “red”, and “black” to “fruit pattern”. The ones that change from "red" to "fruit pattern" are provided, and the jackpot reliability is high in this order (ascending order). That is, the jackpot reliability varies depending on the timing of change in the title display color. By doing so, the player pays attention to the timing of changing the display color of the title, and the effect of production is improved.

Note that the "fruit pattern" may be such that the title characters are displayed in bold and the characters themselves are "fruit pattern", or the background portion of the title display area may be "fruit pattern". .. There may be a pattern displayed as "fruit pattern" from the beginning. As for the display colors that change, as shown in FIG. 14, the display colors may change after the title notification is executed. For the display color changing, there may be a plurality of timings at which the display color changes. Then, the jackpot reliability may be changed according to the timing at which the display color changes. Further, since the title display period varies depending on the type of super reach, the timing at which the display color changes may vary depending on the type of super reach. In the case of super-reach (for example, super-reach D or super-reach E) in which the title display period is long, a plurality of changing timings may be provided and the changing timing may be determined. Then, in the case of super-reach with a short title display period (for example, super-reach A or super-reach B), the number of changing timings may be one or less than that of super-reach with a long title display period.

When there are a normal mode and a special mode as the effect modes, the display color of the title is determined at the determination ratio shown in FIG. 16(A) in the normal mode, and the normal mode as shown in FIG. 16(B) in the special mode. Determine the title display color in different proportions. In the special mode, the display color pattern and the order of reliability may be different from those in the normal mode. As described above, by changing the execution mode (display color or change timing of display color) of the title notice depending on the effect mode, the effect is diversified and the effect is improved.

In this embodiment, as a notice effect, a dialogue notice for notifying the jackpot reliability is executed according to the display mode of the dialogue of the character in the reach production of the super reach (for example, the display color of the dialogue).

After determining the display color of the title of the super reach, the display color of the character dialogue (whether or not to execute the dialogue notice) in the reach effect of the super reach is determined (step 31AKS003).

In step 31AKS003, the display color of the dialogue in the reach effect is determined at the determination ratio shown in FIG. 16C, for example, depending on whether the display result is “big hit” or “miss”. As shown in FIG. 16(C), the display color of the lines in the reach effect is changed from “white”, “red”, and “white” to “red”, and in this order (ascending order). The jackpot reliability is high. That is, the jackpot reliability differs depending on the change timing of the display color of the dialogue. By doing so, the player pays attention to the change timing of the display color of the dialogue, and the effect of the production is improved. For the display color changing, the display color may be changed after the dialogue is displayed. For the display color changing, there may be a plurality of timings at which the display color changes. Then, the jackpot reliability may be changed according to the timing at which the display color changes.

Also, the jackpot reliability may be different depending on the combination of the effect form of the title notice and the dialogue notice. For example, in the case where the same notice mode (display color) is included in the title notice and the dialogue notice, the jackpot reliability may be increased when the same notice mode is obtained. Further, the jackpot reliability may be different depending on the combination of the timing of changing the presentation mode of the title announcement and the dialogue announcement. For example, when the change timings are the same, the jackpot reliability may be higher than when the change timings are different, or the jackpot reliability may be changed depending on which change comes first. By doing so, it is possible to pay attention to the timing of each change of the title notice and the dialogue notice.

When the normal mode and the special mode are provided as the effect modes, the display color of the dialogue may be determined in the special mode at a rate different from that of the normal mode. In the special mode, the display color pattern and the order of reliability may be different from those in the normal mode.

It should be noted that instead of the announcement of the dialogue, the announcement production of announcing the jackpot reliability may be executed by changing the production mode of the reach production. In that case, in the notice production, a plurality of timings for changing the production mode may be provided so that the jackpot reliability varies depending on the change timing.

After determining the display color of the line in the reach effect, or when it is determined that the variation pattern is not the super reach (step AK31S001; No), the presence/absence of execution and the effect mode are determined for other notice effects (step AK31S004). After that, the determination results in 31AKS002 to 31AKS004 are stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 122 (step AK31S005), and the notice effect determination process is ended.

In addition, in this embodiment, the title notice and the line notice can be executed in the case of super reach, but the title notice can be executed in the case of a specific super reach (for example, other than the low-reliability super reach). Alternatively, at least one of the speech notice and the notice may be enabled. Further, the title notice and the dialogue notice have been described as being determined by the determination rate shown in FIG. 16, but the determination rate is arbitrary, and the determination rate may be different depending on the type of super reach, for example. By doing so, the notice effect corresponding to the type of reach can be executed, and the effect of the effect is improved.

In this embodiment, the number of executable presentation modes (the number of display colors that can be displayed) is different between the title notice and the dialogue notice. By doing so, the effects are varied and the effect of the effect is enhanced. In the title notice and the dialogue notice, the number of executable production modes may be arbitrarily changed, and the number and types of executable production modes may be the same. By doing so, it is possible to execute a notice presentation with a sense of unity, and it becomes easier for the player to grasp the jackpot reliability.

(Action production)
When the effect form of the title notice and the dialogue notice changes, an effect indicating that the effect form changes may be executed. For example, the action effect image may be displayed on the image display device 5, and the action effect in which the image acts on at least one of the title and the dialogue may be executed. Then, after the action effect is executed, the effect mode (display color) of the title or the dialogue may be changed. The effect mode (effect effect image or the like) of the effect effect may be common regardless of whether it acts on the title or the dialogue. It should be noted that there may be a case where the effect mode of the title or the dialogue does not change even though the effect effect is executed. When the action effect is executed, the presence/absence of execution of the action effect, the execution timing, and the effect mode may be determined based on the determination result related to the title notice and the dialogue notice. Such a determination may be executed by the process of step AK31S004. For example, the rate at which at least one of the title notice and the dialogue notice changes according to the effect mode of the action effect (the rate at which the effect mode changes due to the action effect) may differ, or the title effect may change. The ratio of which presentation mode changes (the ratio of the effect) may be different from that of the serif notice, or the ratio of how many colors (how many stages) to change may be different. .. By executing such action effect, the player pays attention to which one of the title and the dialogue acts when the action effect image is displayed, and the effect is improved. In addition, when there are a plurality of effect modes, the presence/absence of execution of the effect effect and the effect mode may be determined at different rates according to the effect modes. By doing so, the effect effect according to the effect mode can be executed, and the effect effect is improved.

As another example of such action effect, at least one effect mode (display color) of either the title or the dialogue is displayed according to the effect content of the reach effect (for example, the character action or the effect content in the battle effect). May be changed. By doing so, the player comes to pay attention to the effect contents of the reach effect.

The present invention is not limited to the pachinko gaming machine 1 described in the above characteristic portion 31AK, and various modifications and applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, all the characteristic portions described in the above embodiments are not essential configurations, and can be omitted as appropriate.

(Sub liquid crystal)
As a sub display device different from the image display device 5, a sub liquid crystal may be provided in the game board 2 or the game machine frame 3. Although referred to as a sub liquid crystal here, the sub display device may be configured by an organic EL or a dot matrix LED. The sub liquid crystal device may be fixed, for example, in the vicinity of the image display device 5, or may be a movable type or a retractable type. On the sub liquid crystal, various effects such as a notice effect and a display of a hold display are executed. For example, the title notification may be performed on the sub liquid crystal. When the title is continuously displayed after the notification of the title as in the case of the super reach D and the super reach E of the above-described embodiment, the sub liquid crystal may display the title or the expectation suggestion display. In this case, the title or the degree of expectation suggestion display may be displayed on the sub liquid crystal after the image display device 5 notifies the title. By doing so, the title and the expectation suggestion display can be displayed without hindering the super reach effect on the image display device 5, and the title and the expectation suggestion display can be easily understood.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to the notification of the title of the reach effect as the suggestive effect has been described, but the present invention is applied to the title notification regarding other effects (informing mainly displaying characters). May be. For example, in the case of executing a look-ahead zone effect for shifting to a plurality of zones (stages, effect modes, etc.) having different background images and effect modes on the image display device 5 as a notice effect (for example, a look-ahead notice effect), the zone that has been moved The present invention may be applied to the title notification. In the case of presenting a mission (“Let's reach with 7”, “Use a stick controller to destroy all enemies”, etc.) and perform a mission effect that gives the player an advantageous state when the mission is achieved, The present invention may be applied to notification of mission titles.

(Modification 1 of the characteristic part 31AK)
In the above-described embodiment, when it is time to derive the display result, a decided effect for notifying whether or not the display result is a “big hit” is executed, and then the display result is displayed ( 10(B) to (D)). Instead of such a decided effect, at a predetermined timing before deriving a display result, an operation effect that prompts the operation of the stick controller 31A or the push button 31B is executed, and a predetermined operation is detected during the operation valid period. The display result may be displayed by displaying the win/loss of the battle effect, temporarily stopping the display result, or the like. By doing so, the display result is shown according to the operation of the player, so that the player's motivation to participate in the game can be increased and the interest is improved.

FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 are diagrams showing a production operation example of super reach in a modified example in which an operation production is executed and a display result is shown according to the operation. As shown in FIG. 17(A), after the image display device 5 is in the reach mode, for example, as shown in FIG. 17(B), a character 31AK041 which is a friend character and a character 31AK042 which is an enemy character are displayed. Then, as shown in FIGS. 17(C) to (F) and FIGS. 18(G) to (I), the reach effect in which the character 31AK041 and the character 31AK042 confront each other is executed.

With the reach effect, as shown in FIG. 17C, a small button image 31AK043 and a regulation line 31AK044 superimposed on the small button image 31AK043 are displayed at the lower right of the image display device 5. As a result, the operation effect using the push button 31B is executed, but it is suggested that the acceptance of the operation is currently restricted.

In this modified example, a plurality of types of operation effect images indicating that the operation effect is executed are prepared. The jackpot reliability varies depending on which operation effect image is displayed and the operation effect is executed. Further, the image showing that the operation effect is executed during the reach effect may change to a mode with higher reliability.

For example, as shown in FIG. 17(D), a praying character 31AK045 is displayed, and as shown in FIG. 17(E), the praying character 31AK045 is changed to a pleased character 31AK046, and the small button image 31AK043 is changed to the large button image 31AK047. Changes to.

Then, as shown in FIG. 18(H), the cannon 31AK048 is displayed, and as shown in FIG. 18(I), the effect 31AK049 in which a bullet is shot from the cannon 31AK048 is displayed, and the large button image 31AK047 is hit by the bullet. The effect 31AK050 is displayed. Then, the large button image 31AK047 changes to the stick image 31AK051.

As described above, in this modification, when the operation effect image changes, the action effect indicating that the operation effect image changes is executed. The operation effect image may change without the effect effect. In addition, the operation effect image may not change even though the effect effect is executed. The rate at which the operation effect image changes may differ depending on the type of action effect.

After that, a predetermined time before the display result is derived, the regulation line 31AK044 is erased as shown in FIG. 18(J), and the stick image 31AK051 is enlarged and displayed in the central portion as shown in FIG. 18(K). , A display prompting the user to pull the stick controller 31A is displayed. Further, at this time, the operation on the stick controller 31A is in an effective operation valid period.

Here, when the operation of pulling the stick controller 31A is detected, as shown in FIG. 18L, an image 31AK052 indicating that the teammate character has won is displayed. Then, at the timing when the fluctuation time ends, as shown in FIG. 18(M), a fixed decorative design that is a big hit combination is derived. If no operation is detected within a predetermined operation valid period, the image shown in FIG. 18L is automatically displayed.

In this modification, there are a small button image, a large button image, and a stick image as the operation effect images, and when the operation effect using these images is executed in the order of small button image<large button image<stick image. The jackpot reliability is high. Even if a low-reliability operation effect image is displayed, it may change to a highly-reliable operation effect image during the reach effect, so the effect effect is improved and the player's expectation is improved. Can be maintained.

In the example of the effect operation shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the notification of the title of the reach and the indication of the degree of expectation are omitted. However, the reach effect and the operation effect shown in FIGS. It may be executed. The determination related to the operation effect and the operation effect image (whether the operation effect is present, the operation effect image to be displayed, the presence of the effect effect, etc.) may be executed in step 31AKS004 in FIG.

(Modification 2 of the characteristic part 31AK)
You may make it perform the suggestion display which shows the expectation degree of control to an advantageous state, such as a big hit game state. For example, the shutter effect for performing the first suggestion display and the reach title effect for performing the second suggestion display may be executed. In the shutter effect, the effect of covering the screen with the shutter display is executed after the variable display is started. Further, in the reach title effect, an effect of displaying the reach title showing the development destination of the reach effect after the reach is executed. When displaying either the shutter display or the reach title display, the specific image may be included and displayed. The reach title effect may be the same as the title announcement in the above-described embodiment, or may be another effect determined by another process.

The specific image is an image with high jackpot reliability that is displayed by including a plurality of types of elements in the image. The plurality of types of elements include a banana image of the element E1, a melon image of the element E2, an apple image of the element E3, a watermelon image of the element E4, and a strawberry image of the element E5. The fruit pattern image including these elements E1 to E5 is the specific image. In both the shutter display and the reach title display, all the elements E1 to E5 are displayed so as to be visible. Further, the display sizes of the elements E1 to E5 that form the specific image are changed and displayed according to the difference in display size between the shutter display and the reach title display. Further, all of the elements E1 to E5 are displayed so as to fit in the shutter display and the reach title display, respectively.

When the shutter effect is executed after the start of variable display, the jackpot reliability is higher when the fruit pattern image is displayed than when the fruit pattern image is not displayed. Further, when the reach title is displayed during the reach production, when the fruit pattern image is displayed, the jackpot reliability is higher than when the fruit pattern image is not displayed. When the fruit pattern is not displayed, for example, a plain image that does not include the elements E1 to E5 is displayed. An image pattern other than the fruit pattern image may be prepared as an image showing the jackpot reliability when the shutter effect and the reach title effect are executed. For example, a white image<blue image<red image<fruit pattern image may be prepared in the order of jackpot reliability (for example, a red shutter or a reach letter in red letters). Then, depending on whether or not the display result of the variable display is a big hit, one of the image patterns may be selected by a predetermined random number lottery.

When performing the shutter display and the reach title display, even when the fruit pattern is displayed, the speaker 8 outputs a common sound (melody) and the game effect lamp 9 emits light. The common sound and the emission control of the game effect lamp 9 indicate to the player that the fruit pattern is a special image. When performing such shutter display and reach title display, common notification for the fruit pattern is executed. Further, in the reach title display, a specific sound (voice) is further output after the common notification. The output periods of the common sound and the specific sound may partially overlap.

FIG. 19 is a display screen diagram when the shutter effect and the reach title effect are executed. As shown in FIG. 19A, when the shutter effect is executed, the shutter image 31AK061 is displayed at the start of the variable display on the image display device 5. In the shutter image 31AK061, a fruit pattern image including all the elements E1 to E5 is displayed. Further, when the shutter effect is executed, the notification of outputting the common sound (melody) by the speaker 8 is executed and the notification by the light emission of the game effect lamp 9 is executed. When the closed shutter is opened, the variable display of the decorative pattern is started as shown in FIG. 19(b). The downward arrows indicate the variable display of the left, middle, and right symbols. When the variable display of the left symbol and the right symbol is temporarily stopped, the reach state is set as shown in FIG. 19(c).

Next, as shown in FIG. 19D, the super reach effect is started. The variable display is displayed, for example, in a small size on the upper right of the screen, and a character is displayed on the left side of the screen. A reach title image 31AK062 is displayed at the lower right of the screen, and the content of the super reach to be executed is shown as a reach title display. In the reach title image 31AK062, a fruit pattern image including all the elements E1 to E5 is displayed. Further, in the reach title image 31AK062, the characters "battle reach" indicating that the reach effect accompanied by the battle effect is executed are displayed.

Further, when the reach title effect is executed, the notification for outputting the common sound (melody) by the speaker 8 is executed and the notification by the light emission of the game effect lamp 9 is executed. Furthermore, after the common sound is output, an effect is produced in which the character emits a specific sound (voice) such as "hot and hot" indicating that the jackpot reliability is high. Here, in the reach title effect, the size of the suggestion display to be displayed is smaller than that in the shutter effect. However, in this way, in the reach title effect, by outputting the specific sound, it is possible to make the player easily recognize that the fruit pattern image is displayed. Although the common sound and the specific sound have been described in the case where the output periods are completely separated, the output periods may be partially overlapped.

Then, a battle reach effect as shown in FIG. 19(e) is executed. The enemy character is displayed on the left side of the screen, and the ally character is displayed on the right side of the screen. When the teammate character wins the battle with the enemy character, the word "Battle Victory!" is displayed in the upper left of the screen. It is reported that the big hit has been confirmed by winning the battle. When the battle production is completed, the display returns to the variable display screen based on the original numerical design. As shown in FIG. 19(f), all the symbols are stopped and the big hit symbol "777" is displayed.

As shown in FIGS. 19A and 19D, both the shutter image 31AK061 and the reach title image 31AK062 are displayed including all the elements E1 to E5 that form the fruit pattern image. By doing so, the fruit pattern image can be preferably displayed in both the shutter image 31AK061 and the reach title image 31AK062 which have different display sizes. As a result, it is possible to accurately notify that the fruit pattern image with high jackpot reliability is displayed.

Further, the display size of the shutter image 31AK061 shown in FIG. 19A is displayed larger than the display size of the reach title image 31AK062 shown in FIG. 19D. Therefore, it is possible to pay attention to the difference between the display size of the shutter image 31AK061 and the display size of the reach title image 31AK062.

Further, the shutter image 31AK061 shown in FIG. 19A and the reach title image 31AK062 shown in FIG. 19D are displayed at different timings. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the fruit pattern image, which is the specific image, from becoming difficult to see due to overlapping execution timings.

The determination regarding the shutter effect (presence or absence of the shutter effect and effect mode) may be executed in step 31AKS004 of FIG. In that case, the shutter effect may be determined based on the determination result of the display color of the title in step 31AKS002 of FIG. For example, when it is determined that the title display color is a fruit pattern, the fruit pattern shutter effect may be easily executed. Further, the determination regarding the reach title effect may be executed in step 31AKS004 of FIG. 15 together with the determination regarding the shutter effect.

(Explanation regarding the characteristic part 92IW)
Next, the characteristic part 92IW of the present embodiment will be described. In the pachinko gaming machine 1 included in the characteristic unit 92IW, in the effect control board 12 shown in FIG. It is installed. The details will be described later.

The pachinko gaming machine 1 included in the characteristic unit 92IW performs the game control main processing shown in FIGS. 20-1 and 20-2 instead of the game control main processing shown in FIG.

In the game control main processing shown in FIGS. 20-1 and 20-2, the CPU 103 sets the interrupt mode to the interrupt mode 2 after step S1 (step 92IWS001) and sets the stack pointer designated address in the stack pointer. (Step 92IWS002). Then, after initialization of the built-in device (initialization of CTC (counter/timer) and PIO (parallel input/output port) which are built-in devices (built-in peripheral circuits)) (step 92IWS003), the RAM 102 can be accessed. (Step 92IWS005). In the interrupt mode 2, an address synthesized from the value (1 byte) of the specific register (I register) built in the CPU 103 and the interrupt vector (1 byte: least significant bit 0) output by the built-in device is This is a mode indicating an interrupt address.

After that, the CPU 103 executes a random number circuit setting process for initializing the random number circuit 104 (step 92IWS006). For example, the CPU 103 executes a process in accordance with a random number circuit setting program to set the random number circuit 104 to update the value of the random R.

Then, the CPU 103 determines whether or not "1" is set in the specific bit of the internal information register incorporated in the game control microcomputer 100 (step 92IWS007). The specific bit of the internal information register is set so that "1" is set when the power is turned on and the CPU 103 is activated. That is, the case where "1" is set in the specific bit of the internal information register in step 92IWS007 indicates that it is immediately after the power is turned on.

When "1" is set in the specific bit of the internal information register, the CPU 103 sets "0" in the specific bit (step 92IWS008), and sets a value corresponding to 4 ms in the standby timer indicating the standby time. (Step 92IWS009).

If "1" is not set in the specific bit of the internal information register (if "0" is set), the CPU 103 sets a value corresponding to 4.5 s in the standby timer (step 92IWS010). ..

The case where "0" is set in the specific bit of the internal information register is the case where the process of step 92IWS008 is performed after the CPU 103 is activated and the game control main process is performed again. In the present embodiment, power recovery from an instantaneous power failure state (the power supplied to the pachinko gaming machine 1 is higher than the predetermined voltage value before the special period elapses after the power is reduced to the predetermined voltage value). When the voltage value is restored), the CPU 103 keeps the start-up state and performs the same program control as that at the time of turning on the power of the CPU 103 (that is, executes the game control main process from the beginning) and produces the effect. The control CPU 92IW101 will be restarted. In such a case, the game control main process is performed in a state where "0" is set in the specific bit of the internal information register. Therefore, the case where "0" is set to the specific bit of the internal information register in step 92IWS007 indicates that the power recovery from the instantaneous power failure state has been performed.

After either of steps 92IWS009 and 92IWS010, the CPU 103 decrements the standby timer by "1" (step 02IWS011) and waits until the time is up (N of step 02IWS012). If the time is up, the process proceeds to step S3.

Further, in the game control main processing shown in FIGS. 20-1 and 20-2, the CPU 103 performs processing of step S11 and subsequent steps after steps S7 and S9.

As described above, in the present embodiment, steps S7 and S9 can be executed after waiting for 4 ms when the power is turned on, while steps S7 and S9 are executed after waiting for 4.5 seconds when the power is restored from the instantaneous blackout state. It's supposed to be workable.

FIG. 20-3 is a timing chart showing timings of events at power-on and power recovery from an instantaneous power failure state.

As shown in FIG. 20-3(A), when the power is turned on, it takes 2.5 seconds from when the power is turned on until the CPU 103 starts up. Then, the game control microcomputer 100 performs a standby process for 2.3 seconds. The game control microcomputer 100 executes the stand-by process by hardware regardless of the program. Then, the CPU 103 performs the above-described game control main processing after the hardware standby processing is completed, and thus a command for restoration or a command for initialization is transmitted after waiting for 4 ms. Become. Therefore, a command for restoration or a command for initialization is transmitted 4.804 seconds after the power is turned on.

Further, when the power is turned on, it takes 1.5 seconds for the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 to start up the effect control CPU 92IW101 (described later in FIG. 20-4) after the power is turned on. Then, the effect control CPU 92IW101 performs the initialization process (see step S71 in FIG. 6) for 2.8 seconds, after which the serial reception interrupt and the timer interrupt described later can be performed. Although details will be described later, the CPU 92IW101 for effect control transfers the command stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 to the transfer buffer or the analysis buffer when a serial reception interrupt or a timer interrupt occurs. Is. Therefore, the effect control CPU 92IW101 can input the command transmitted from the game control microcomputer 100 4.3 seconds after the power is turned on.

In this way, when the power is turned on, there is a standby executed by hardware and a standby of 4 ms in the game control main processing, so that a command at the time of restoration while the effect control CPU 92IW101 is performing the initialization processing. Alternatively, a command for initialization is prevented from being transmitted, and a command for restoration or a command for initialization is transmitted during a period in which serial reception interrupt or timer interrupt may occur in the production control microcomputer 92IW100. Is configured. As a result, it is possible to prevent a command from being missed when the power is turned on.

As shown in FIG. 20-3(B), when power is restored from the instantaneous blackout state, in the game control microcomputer 100, the CPU 103 has already been activated and a hardware standby is performed. Since there is no such thing, the power is restored from the momentary power failure state, and the CPU 103 performs the above-mentioned game control main processing to wait for 4.5 seconds and then a command for restoration or a command for initialization. Will be transmitted. Therefore, the command for restoration or the command for initialization is transmitted 4.5 seconds after the power is restored from the instantaneous power failure state.

When power is restored from the momentary power failure state, the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 performs the same control as when the power is turned on. Therefore, the CPU 92IW101 for effect control can input the command transmitted from the microcomputer 100 for game control 4.3 seconds after the power is restored from the instantaneous power failure state.

In this way, when power is restored from the momentary power failure state, the CPU 103IW101 for effect control is initialized by the CPU 103 waiting for 4.5 seconds and then transmitting a command for restoration or a command for initialization. It is possible to prevent a command for restoration or a command for initialization from being transmitted during the activation process, and to restore during a period in which a serial reception interrupt or a timer interrupt may occur in the production control microcomputer 92IW100. It is configured to send an hour command or an initialization command. As a result, it is possible to prevent the command from being missed when the power is restored from the instantaneous blackout state.

Next, the configuration and operation of the effect control means will be described. As described above, in the present embodiment, the effect control board 12 shown in FIG. 2 is provided with the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 in place of the effect control CPU 120, the ROM 121, and the RAM 122. Although not shown, the production control board 12 is equipped with an external SDRAM 92IW116.

20-4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 mounted on the effect control board 12. FIG. The production control microcomputer 92IW100 shown in FIG. 20-4 is, for example, a one-chip microcomputer, and has a production control CPU 92IW101, a clock circuit 92IW110, an internal ROM 92IW111, an internal RAM 92IW112, a timer circuit 92IW113, and an interrupt controller 92IW114. , Serial communication circuit 92IW115. Although illustration is omitted in FIG. 20-4, the production control microcomputer 92IW100 includes various components such as an external bus interface, a random number circuit, a reset circuit, an arithmetic circuit, a watchdog timer, an address decode circuit, and an input/output port. It has a circuit, an interface, and a port.

The effect control CPU 92IW101 can execute the same processing as the effect control CPU 120, in addition to the processing described in the characteristic unit 92IW. The built-in ROM 92IW111 has the same function as the ROM 121 described above, in addition to the function described in the characteristic section 92IW. The built-in RAM 92IW112 has the same function as the RAM 122 described above, in addition to the function described in the characteristic section 92IW.

FIG. 20-5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an address map in the effect control microcomputer 92IW100. As shown in FIG. 20-5, in the area from address 0000H to address FFFFH, there are an area allocated to the internal ROM of the effect control microcomputer 92IW100, an area allocated to the internal RAM, and an internal register area allocated to the internal register. Areas to be allocated are included. Further, as shown in FIG. 20-5, the area assigned to the built-in ROM includes a program code/data area (area for storing user programs and data) and a program management area. The program management area is a storage area for storing information necessary for performing various settings such as interrupt operation settings of the production control microcomputer 92IW100, serial communication circuit settings, random number circuit settings, and internal reset operation settings. is there.

The interrupt controller 92IW114 is a circuit for controlling various interrupt requests in the production control microcomputer 92IW100 such as serial reception interrupt and timer interrupt. The interrupt controller 92IW114 is provided with an interrupt control register for setting permission/prohibition of an interrupt and an interrupt priority for each type of interrupt.

FIG. 20-6(A) shows a configuration example of the interrupt control register for serial reception interrupt setting provided in the interrupt controller 92IW114. FIG. 20-6(B) shows an example of setting contents in each bit of the internal information data stored in the interrupt control register for serial reception interrupt setting. The internal information data Im7 stored in the bit number [7] of the interrupt control register for setting the serial reception interrupt indicates whether or not the serial reception interrupt is permitted. In the example shown in FIG. 20-6(B), if the bit value of the internal information data Im7 is set to "0", the serial reception interrupt is set to the enabled state, while the bit of the internal information data Im7 is set to "1". If set to, the serial reception interrupt is disabled. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 20-6(B), the initial value of the internal information data Im7 is set to "1".

The internal information data Im3 to Im0 stored in the bit number [3-0] of the interrupt control register for setting the serial reception interrupt indicates the priority of the serial reception interrupt. In the example shown in FIG. 20-6(B), the internal information data Im3 to Im0 are set by the numerical values in 16 stages of “0000 [0(H)]” to “1111 [F(H)]” and “0000[0[H]]”. 0(H)]" has the highest priority of serial reception interrupt, and "1111[F(H)]" has the lowest priority of serial reception interrupt.

FIG. 20-7(A) shows a configuration example of an interrupt control register for setting a timer interrupt, which is included in the interrupt controller 92IW114. FIG. 20-7(B) shows an example of setting contents in each bit of the internal information data stored in the interrupt control register for timer interrupt setting. The internal information data In7 stored in the bit number [7] of the interrupt control register for setting the timer interrupt indicates whether or not the timer interrupt is permitted. In the example shown in FIG. 20-7(B), if the bit value of the internal information data In7 is set to "0", the timer interrupt is set to the enabled state, while the bit of the internal information data In7 is set to "1". If set, the timer interrupt is disabled. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 20-7(B), the initial value of the internal information data In7 is set to "1".

The internal information data In3 to In0 stored in the bit number [3-0] of the interrupt control register for setting the timer interrupt indicates the priority of the timer interrupt. In the example shown in FIG. 20-7(B), the internal information data In3 to In0 are set by the numerical values in 16 stages of “0000 [0(H)]” to “1111 [F(H)]” and “0000[0[H]]”. 0 (H)]" has the highest priority for timer interrupts, and "1111 [F(H)]" has the lowest priority for timer interrupts.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 20-6 and 20-7, the interrupt control registers for serial reception interrupt setting and timer interrupt setting are shown as an example. If the 92IW 114 is configured to be able to accept interrupt requests such as external interrupts, serial transmission interrupts, and interrupts due to the random number fetching of the random number circuit, an interrupt control register is provided for each interrupt. The interrupt control registers are configured according to the configuration similar to that of FIG. 20-6 or FIG. 20-7. Further, for example, when the serial communication circuit is provided with a plurality of channels and is configured to be capable of accepting the serial reception interrupt and the serial transmission interrupt for each channel, the serial reception interrupt setting and the serial transmission are set for each channel. An interrupt control register for setting an interrupt is provided. Further, for example, when a plurality of timer circuits are provided and configured to accept a plurality of types of timer interrupts, an interrupt control register is provided for each timer interrupt.

The setting data set in the interrupt control registers shown in FIGS. 20-6 and 20-7 are set in advance in the program management area of the internal ROM (see FIG. 20-5). The production control microcomputer 92IW100 performs the setting of the serial communication circuit, the setting of the random number circuit, the setting of the internal reset operation, etc. according to the setting contents of the program management area when the power supply to the gaming machine is turned on. Then, the setting data is set in the interrupt control register for serial reception interrupt (see FIG. 20-6) and the interrupt control register for timer interrupt setting (see FIG. 20-7) included in the interrupt controller 92IW114. As a result, serial reception interrupt and timer interrupt are set. Note that the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 executes this setting operation by hardware regardless of the program.

In this embodiment, the internal information data Im7 of the interrupt control register for serial reception interrupt shown in FIG. 20-6 and the internal information data register In7 of the interrupt control register for timer interrupt shown in FIG. , Are set to “0”, respectively, and the serial reception interrupt and the timer interrupt are set to the enabled state, respectively. In addition, in this embodiment, the internal information data Im3 to Im0 of the interrupt control register for serial reception interrupt shown in FIG. 20-6 are set to "0000 [0(H)]" and The internal information data registers In3 to In0 of the interrupt control register for timer interrupt shown in 7 are set to "0001 [1 (H)]", and the serial reception interrupt has a higher priority than the timer interrupt. Is set.

In this embodiment, in each of the interrupt control registers shown in FIGS. 20-6 and 20-7, “0000 [0 (H)]” and “0001 [1 (H)]” is shown, but the setting is not limited to the setting mode shown in this embodiment. For example, in the interrupt control register for timer interrupt setting shown in FIG. 20-7, “1111 [F(H)]” is set in order from the setting value with the lowest priority, and the serial number shown in FIG. By setting "1110 [E(H)]" in the interrupt control register for setting the reception interrupt, the serial reception interrupt may be set to have a higher priority than the timer interrupt. .. Further, for example, in the interrupt control register for serial reception interrupt setting shown in FIG. 20-6, “0010 [2(H)]” is set, and the interrupt control for timer interrupt setting shown in FIG. 20-7 is set. By setting "0100 [4 (H)]" in the register, the serial reception interrupt may be set to have a higher priority than the timer interrupt, or at least the serial reception interrupt may be set. Any setting method may be used so that the priority is higher than the timer interrupt.

FIG. 20-8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a reception register and each reception buffer for storing the effect control command received from the game control microcomputer 100 of the main board 11. In this embodiment, the effect control command received from the game control microcomputer 100 is first stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 of the effect control microcomputer 92IW100. The reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 is configured by a 16-byte area of a FIFO (first-in first-out) system, and can store up to eight 2-byte effect control commands.

Further, as shown in FIG. 20-8, each time a serial reception interrupt occurs, the effect control command stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 is transferred to the delivery buffer. Therefore, as described above, a maximum of eight effect control commands can be stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115. However, in this embodiment, a serial reception interrupt occurs immediately after the effect control command is received. Since it is transferred to the delivery buffer, substantially no two or more effect control commands are stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115. In this example, the delivery buffer is a ring buffer type buffer having a capacity of 128 bytes, which has a larger capacity than the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115, and can store 64 production control commands of 2 bytes. As shown in FIG. 20-8, the transfer buffer is formed in the built-in RAM of the effect control microcomputer 92IW100.

Further, as shown in FIG. 20-8, the effect control command stored in the transfer buffer is further transferred to the analysis buffer each time a timer interrupt occurs every 1 ms. Two analysis buffers, an analysis buffer (upper) and an analysis buffer (lower), are provided, and the upper data (MODE data) of the effect control commands read from the transfer buffer is The data is stored in the analysis buffer (upper), and the lower data (EXT data) is stored in the analysis buffer (lower). In this embodiment, each of the analysis buffer (upper) and the analysis buffer (lower) is composed of 256 bytes having a larger capacity than the transfer buffer, and 256 effect control commands of 2 bytes can be stored ( Since the upper 1 byte (MODE data) of the effect control command is stored in the analysis buffer (upper) and the lower 1 byte (EXT data) is stored in the analysis buffer (lower), 256 pieces can be stored. There is a certain ring buffer format buffer. As shown in FIG. 20-8, the analysis buffer (upper) and the analysis buffer (lower) are formed in the SDRAM 92IW116 externally connected to the effect control microcomputer 92IW100.

As shown in FIG. 20-8, in this embodiment, when the effect control CPU 92IW101 transfers the effect control command from the transfer buffer to the analysis buffer (upper) and the analysis buffer (lower). While it is necessary to access the SDRAM 92IW116 connected by the external bus, when the effect control command is transferred from the reception register to the transfer buffer, the serial communication circuit 92IW115 connected by the internal bus is used. Since it is only necessary to access the built-in RAM 92IW112, data can be transferred at high speed.

When the timer interrupt occurs every 1 ms, the effect control CPU 92IW101 executes the timer interrupt process shown in FIG. 20-9. In the timer interrupt process, the effect control CPU 92IW101 first executes an analysis buffer transfer process for transferring the effect control command stored in the delivery buffer to the analysis buffer (step 92IWS711). Further, the effect control CPU 92IW101 sets the timer interrupt flag (step 92IWS712).

In this embodiment, the case where the analysis buffer transfer process is executed in the timer interrupt process shown in FIG. 20-9 is shown, but only the timer interrupt flag is set in the timer interrupt process. The analysis buffer transfer process is executed in the loop process of steps S73 to S77 of the effect control main process shown in FIG. 6 (for example, the analysis buffer transfer process is executed between step S74 and step S75). May be.

In addition, when the production control command is received from the game control microcomputer 100 and a serial reception interrupt occurs, the production control CPU 92IW101 transfers the production control command stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 to the delivery buffer. Executes the transfer buffer transfer process for transfer. FIG. 20-10 is a flowchart showing the transfer buffer transfer processing executed when the serial reception interrupt occurs.

In the transfer buffer transfer process, the effect control CPU 92IW101 first reads the received effect control command from the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 (step 92IWS721). Although the effect control command is composed of 2 bytes, the received effect control command is stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 one byte at a time, and the higher order data (MODE data) of the effect control command is stored. Since a serial reception interrupt occurs at each of the reception of the low-order data and the reception of the lower data (EXT data), in step 92IWS721, the production control CPU 92IW101 receives the production control from the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115. Read the command byte by byte. In this embodiment, the effect control command is assumed to be received upon reception of the upper data (MODE data) and the lower data (EXT data), and in step 92IWS721, the effect control CPU 92IW101 generates the serial reception interrupt. Accordingly, the effect control commands are read in the order of the upper data (MODE data) and the lower data (EXT data).

Next, the effect control CPU 92IW101 writes the read effect control command (1 byte of data) in the area indicated by the write pointer in the transfer buffer (step 92IWS722). Further, the effect control CPU 92IW101 adds 1 to the value of the write pointer of the transfer buffer (step 92IWS723).

Next, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not the effect control command received by the delivery buffer is full (step 92IWS724). Specifically, the effect control CPU 92IW101 determines, for example, whether or not the value of the write pointer of the transfer buffer is in a state of catching up with the value of the read pointer, and the state of catching up (that is, an unread area) When the next data is about to be written), it can be determined that the transfer buffer is full. If the delivery buffer is not full, the process proceeds to step 92IWS735.

If the delivery buffer is full, the effect control CPU 92IW101 reads the effect control command (1 byte data) from the delivery buffer (step 92IWS725). In this case, the effect control CPU 92IW101 temporarily stores the effect control command (1 byte of upper data (MODE data) or lower data (EXT data)) read in step 92IWS725 in, for example, one of the data registers. Keep it. Further, the effect control CPU 92IW101 adds 1 to the value of the read pointer of the transfer buffer (step 92IWS726).

Next, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not the read data is higher order data (MODE data) of the effect control command (step 92IWS727). Specifically, in this embodiment, the upper data (MODE data) of the effect control command is configured to always have a value in the range of 80(H) to FF(H), and the lower data (EXT data) is It is configured so that the value always falls within the range of 00(H) to 7F(H). Therefore, in step 92IWS727, the effect control CPU 92IW101 can determine that it is upper data (MODE data) if the most significant bit of the read data is "1", and the most significant bit of the read data is " If it is "0", it can be determined that it is lower data (EXT data).

If the read data is the lower data (EXT data) (N in step 92IWS727: that is, in this embodiment, the upper data (MODE data) and the lower data (EXT data) are read in this order. The fact that the data is lower-order data (EXT data) means that one effect control command is read as a set of upper-order data (MODE data) and lower-order data (EXT data), and the effect control CPU 92IW101 The previously read upper data (MODE data) is written in the analysis buffer (upper) (step 92IWS728), and the lower data read this time is written in the analysis buffer (lower) (step 92IWS729). Moreover, the CPU 92IW101 for effect control sets a writing completion flag indicating that writing of one effect control command in the analysis buffer is completed by setting the upper data (MODE data) and the lower data (EXT data). (Step 92IWS730). Then, the process proceeds to step 92IWS732.

If the read data is the upper data (MODE data) (Y in step 92IWS727: that is, the lower data (EXT data) has not been read yet), the effect control CPU 92IW101 resets the write completion flag ( Step 92IWS731). Then, the process proceeds to step 92IWS732.

By executing the processing of steps 92IWS727 to 92IWS731, in this embodiment, each time the effect control command is read out byte by byte, the upper data (MODE data) and the lower data (EXT data) are individually buffered for each analysis. Rather than controlling to store in (analysis buffer (upper) and analysis buffer (lower)), collect both upper data (MODE data) and lower data (EXT data) as a set Control is performed so that the data is stored in each analysis buffer (analysis buffer (upper) and analysis buffer (lower)).

Next, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not all the effect control commands stored in the delivery buffer have been read (step 92IWS732). Specifically, the effect control CPU 92IW101 determines, for example, whether or not the value of the read pointer of the delivery buffer is in a state of catching up with the value of the write pointer, and if it is in the state of delivery, the delivery control is performed. It can be determined that the reading of all the effect control commands stored in the use buffer has been completed. If the unread performance control command remains in the delivery buffer, the process returns to step 92IWS725, and the performance control CPU 92IW101 executes the processing of steps 92IWS725 to 92IWS731 again.

If all the effect control commands stored in the delivery buffer have been read out, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not the write completion flag is set (step 92IWS733). If the write completion flag is set (Y in step 92IWS733), the transfer buffer transfer process is ended. If the write completion flag is not set (N in step 92IWS733), only the upper data (MODE data) of the rendering control command read last from the transfer buffer has been read, and the lower data (EXT data) has not been read yet. This means that the data cannot be read and the transfer to the analysis buffer has not been completed. Therefore, in this case, the effect control CPU 92IW101 subtracts 1 from the value of the read pointer and returns it by 1 (step 92IWS734), and proceeds to step 92IWS735.

Next, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not all the effect control commands stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 have been read (step 92IWS735). If an unread effect control command remains in the reception register, the effect control CPU 92IW101 returns to step 92IWS721 and repeatedly executes the processing of step 92IWS721 and thereafter. If no unread performance control command remains in the reception register, the transfer buffer transfer process is ended.

In this embodiment, as soon as an effect control command is received, it is transferred to the delivery buffer due to the occurrence of the serial reception interrupt, so that substantially two or more effect control commands are accumulated in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115. Although there are almost no cases, when the power supply to the gaming machine is started, the game control microcomputer 100 rises earlier than the effect control microcomputer 92IW100, and the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 is set. There may be a case where the effect control command is received from the game control microcomputer 100 before the completion and is stored in the reception register. Even in such a case, by executing the process of step 92IWS735, after the production control microcomputer 92IW100 is activated, when the production control command is first received and the serial reception interrupt occurs, this time. In addition to the received effect control command, all effect control commands are read out, including the effect control command already received and stored in the reception register before the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 is activated, and is read into the transfer buffer. Transferred.

20-11 is a flowchart showing the analysis buffer transfer process (step 92IWS711) executed in the timer interrupt process. In the analysis buffer transfer process, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not there is an unread effect control command in the transfer buffer (step 92IWS741). Specifically, the effect control CPU 92IW101, for example, determines whether or not the value of the read pointer of the transfer buffer is in a state of catching up with the value of the write pointer. It can be determined that all the effect control commands stored in the buffer have been read, and if not, it can be determined that there is an unread effect control command.

If there is an effect control command that has not been read (Y in step 92IWS741), the effect control CPU 92IW101 reads the effect control command (1 byte data) from the transfer buffer (step 92IWS742). In this case, the effect control CPU 92IW101 temporarily stores the effect control command (1 byte of upper data (MODE data) or lower data (EXT data)) read in step 92IWS742 in, for example, one of the data registers. Keep it. Further, the effect control CPU 92IW101 adds 1 to the value of the read pointer of the transfer buffer (step 92IWS743).

Next, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not the read data is higher order data (MODE data) of the effect control command (step 92IWS744). Specifically, in this embodiment, the upper data (MODE data) of the effect control command is configured to always have a value in the range of 80(H) to FF(H), and the lower data (EXT data) is It is configured so that the value always falls within the range of 00(H) to 7F(H). Therefore, in step 92IWS744, the effect control CPU 92IW101 can determine that it is upper data (MODE data) if the most significant bit of the read data is "1", and the most significant bit of the read data is " If it is "0", it can be determined that it is lower data (EXT data).

If the read data is lower data (EXT data) (N in step 92IWS744: that is, in this embodiment, upper data (MODE data) and lower data (EXT data) are read in this order, so read The fact that the data is lower-order data (EXT data) means that one effect control command is read as a set of upper-order data (MODE data) and lower-order data (EXT data), and the effect control CPU 92IW101 The previously read upper data (MODE data) is written to the analysis buffer (upper) (step 92IWS745) and the lower data read this time is written to the analysis buffer (lower) (step 92IWS746). Moreover, the CPU 92IW101 for effect control sets the write completion flag (step 92IWS747), and returns to step 92IWS741.

If the read data is the upper data (MODE data) (Y in step 92IWS744: that is, if the lower data (EXT data) has not been read yet), the effect control CPU 92IW101 resets the write completion flag ( Step 92IWS748), and returns to step 92IWS741.

Then, the processes of steps 92IWS741 to 92IWS748 are repeatedly executed until the processes are completed for all the effect control commands stored in the delivery buffer.

If there is no unread production control command (N in step 92IWS741), the production control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not the writing completion flag is set (step 92IWS749). If the write completion flag is set (Y in step 92IWS749), the analysis buffer transfer process ends. If the writing completion flag is not set (N in step 92IWS749), only the upper data (MODE data) of the rendering control command read last from the transfer buffer is read, and the lower data (EXT data) is not read yet. This means that the data cannot be read and the transfer to the analysis buffer has not been completed. Therefore, in this case, the effect control CPU 92IW101 subtracts 1 from the value of the read pointer and returns it by 1 (step 92IWS750), and ends the analysis buffer transfer process.

The effect control command stored in the analysis buffer in the analysis buffer transfer process shown in FIG. 20-11 or the processes of steps 92IWS725 to 92IWS734 shown in FIG. 20-10 is analyzed in the command analysis process (see step S75). It That is, the effect control CPU 92IW101, in the command analysis process, reads out and analyzes the effect control command received from the game control microcomputer 100 and stored in the analysis buffer, and sets a flag according to the analyzed effect control command. Perform processing, etc.

As described above, in the present embodiment, a game machine capable of executing a game, and game control means (in this example, game control microcomputer 100) for controlling the progress of the game, and game control means. The production control means (in this example, the production control microcomputer 92IW100) for controlling the execution of the production based on the information output from the game control means is provided for a predetermined period after power is supplied to the gaming machine. After a lapse of time, predetermined information (in this example, a production control command instructing recovery from power failure, production control command instructing initialization) is output (in this example, steps S7 and S9 in the game control microcomputer 100). The production control means is in a specific period in which the information output from the game control means cannot be analyzed (in this example, a period in which the timer interrupt process in the production control microcomputer 92IW100 cannot be executed). ), it is possible to execute a specific process (in this example, an initialization process) (in this example, execute step S71 in the effect control microcomputer 92IW100), and a specific period has elapsed since power was supplied to the gaming machine. Predetermined information can be input after a lapse of time (in this example, the transfer buffer transfer process (FIG. 20-10) and the analysis buffer transfer process (step 92IWS711) in the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 are executed), and a predetermined period of time In the above, at least the first process (in this example, a hardware standby process) and the second process (in this example, a software standby process (process shown in steps 92IWS009 to 92IWS012 by the CPU 103)) can be executed. , The electric power supplied to the gaming machine is reduced to a predetermined voltage value, and the electric power is restored to a voltage value higher than the predetermined voltage value before the special period elapses. Occasionally, the first process is not executed (in this example, the hardware standby process is not executed when the power is restored from the instantaneous power failure state), and the second process is executed at least until the specific period has elapsed (this example). Then, the CPU 103 executes steps 92IWS009 to 92IWS012 to execute a software standby process until the initialization process by the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 is completed (see FIG. 20-3)). Thereby, even when the power is restored from the momentary power failure state, the predetermined information is not output until the predetermined period of time elapses, so that it is possible to prevent the production control unit from dropping the predetermined information.

In the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not the power is restored from the instantaneous power failure state based on whether or not the specific bit of the internal information register is set to "1" in the game control main processing. However, how to determine whether or not the power recovery from the instantaneous power failure state is not limited to this. For example, when the power supply to the gaming machine is stopped, if the power supply to the gaming machine is restarted again before the lapse of a predetermined period after the power supply is stopped, the instantaneous power failure flag is set, and the game control is performed. When the instantaneous blackout flag is set in the main processing, it may be determined that the power is restored from the instantaneous blackout state.

Further, in the present embodiment, the effect control means is provided with an information storage means (in this example, a reception register included in the serial communication circuit 92IW115) capable of storing the information output from the game control means in a specific period. did. Thereby, even when the information is output during the specific period, it is possible to prevent the production control unit from missing the information.

Further, in the present embodiment, the special process is executed before the second process is executed (in this example, steps 92IWS001 to 92IWS006 are executed before steps 92IWS011 and 92IWS012 in CPU 103). As a result, it is possible to gain time until the specific processing by the effect control means is completed.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the process related to random numbers can be executed as a special process (in this example, the CPU 103 executes step 92IWS006 before steps 92IWS011 and 92IWS012). Thereby, the processing required for the progress of the game can be performed first.

Further, in the present embodiment, the game control means includes a data storage means (RAM 102 in this example) including a stack area for temporarily saving data, and a stack indicating a storage destination address of the data saved in the stack area. The process of setting the pointer can be executed as a special process (in this example, the CPU 103 executes step 92IWS002 before steps 92IWS011 and 92IWS012). Thereby, the processing required for the progress of the game can be performed first.

Further, according to this embodiment, the control means (in this example, the production control microcomputer 92IW100) that performs control based on the received command (in this example, the production control command) and the received command are first A first storage area (in this example, a reception register included in the serial communication circuit 92IW115) to be stored, and a second storage area (in this example, a transfer buffer provided in the internal RAM 92IW112) in which a received command is temporarily stored. , And a third storage area (in this example, an analysis buffer provided in the external SDRAM 92IW116) in which the received command is finally stored. Further, the control means reads the command stored in the first storage area and stores it in the second storage area based on a reception interrupt (in this example, a serial reception interrupt) that occurs each time a command is received. Then, the command stored in the second storage area is read out and stored in the third storage area based on a timer interrupt that occurs every predetermined period (1 ms in this example). Then, the control means analyzes the command stored in the third storage area (in this example, in the command analysis processing (see step S75), the effect control command stored in the analysis buffer is analyzed). Therefore, when a large number of commands are received, it is possible to reduce the omission of commands.

Specifically, in the conventional gaming machine, for the effect control command received from the game control microcomputer 100, the effect control command is directly output from the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 every time a timer interrupt occurs every 1 ms. It was read and transferred to the analysis buffer. Then, even if the production control command is received and stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115, the production control command is not read from the reception register until the timer interrupt occurs every 1 ms. If a large amount of effect control commands are received in the meantime, the capacity of the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 will be exceeded and the effect control commands may be missed. In particular, in the gaming machine configured to be able to execute the variable display of the first special symbol and the second special symbol at the same time, when the start winning occurs and the pre-reading determination is made at the same timing as the start of the variation, the variation occurs. It is possible that a large number of commands at the start of fluctuations such as pattern commands and display result specification commands and pre-reading judgment commands such as symbol specification commands and fluctuation category commands will be sent at the same timing, and then within the same timer interrupt. There is a possibility that the total number of effect control commands transmitted will exceed 20, the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 will overflow, and effect control commands will be missed.

In view of this, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 20-8, the built-in RAM 92IW112 is further provided with a delivery buffer in addition to the analysis buffer, and a serial communication circuit is immediately generated each time a serial reception interrupt occurs. The production control command is transferred from the receiving register of the 92IW115 to the delivery buffer, and thereafter, the production control command is further transferred from the delivery buffer to the analysis buffer at each timer interruption every 1 ms. With such a configuration, in this embodiment, when a large amount of effect control commands are received, it is possible to prevent the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 from overflowing, and reduce the omission of effect control commands. ing.

Further, according to this embodiment, the second storage area is provided in the RAM incorporated in the control means (in this example, as shown in FIG. 20-8, the internal RAM 92IW112 is provided with a transfer buffer. ing). Therefore, the command can be transferred from the first storage area to the second storage area at high speed. That is, since it is only necessary to access the built-in RAM connected by the internal bus, it is possible to transfer data at high speed.

Further, according to this embodiment, the second storage area has a larger storage capacity than the first storage area, and the third storage area has a larger storage capacity than the second storage area (this example). Then, as shown in FIG. 20-8, while the capacity of the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 is 16 bytes, the capacity of the transfer buffer is as large as 128 bytes, and the analysis buffer (upper) and the analysis buffer are used. The capacity of the buffer (lower) is 256 bytes, which is even larger). Therefore, it is possible to reduce the missed command by increasing the storage capacity of the transfer destination storage area.

Further, according to this embodiment, when the capacity of the command stored in the second storage area reaches the maximum value of the storage capacity of the second storage area, regardless of the occurrence of the timer interruption, The command stored in the second storage area is read out and stored in the third storage area (in this example, as shown in FIG. 20-10, in the transfer buffer transfer processing, if the transfer buffer is full, step 92IWS725 to 92IWS734 are executed to transfer the effect control command from the transfer buffer to the analysis buffer). Therefore, when the second storage area is full, the command can be alleviated by moving the command to the third storage area as much as possible.

In this embodiment, the capacity of the transfer buffer is 128 bytes, and a maximum of 64 effect control commands can be stored, and it seems that the transfer buffer is rarely full. Therefore, the processing of steps 92IWS725 to 92IWS734 may not be provided in the transfer buffer transfer processing shown in FIG. 20-10.

Further, in this embodiment, when the transfer buffer becomes full, all the effect control commands in which the upper data (MODE data) and the lower data (EXT data) are stored as a set are transferred from the transfer buffer to the analysis buffer. Although the case of transferring is shown, the present invention is not limited to such a mode, and only some of the effect control commands may be transferred from the transfer buffer to the analysis buffer. Even with such a configuration, it is possible to reduce the omission of the effect control command to some extent when the delivery buffer becomes full.

Further, according to this embodiment, the third storage area is a first area (in this example, an analysis buffer (upper)) that stores upper data of a command and a second area that stores lower data of the command. (In this example, the analysis buffer (lower level)) is included. Then, the upper data of the command read from the second storage area is stored in the first area, and the lower data of the command read from the second storage area is stored in the second area (see steps 92IWS745 and 92IWS746 in FIG. 20-11). ). Therefore, missed commands in the second storage area can be reduced. Further, the data transfer speed can be improved by increasing the data flow path at the time of transfer by dividing the area for storing the upper data of the command and the area for storing the lower data.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, when the effect control command is transferred from the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 to the transfer buffer, it is transferred to the common transfer buffer without being divided into the upper data and the lower data. It is configured to do. With this configuration, in the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the processing load from increasing on the contrary when transferring to the transfer buffer for each serial reception interrupt.

(Modification of the characteristic part 92IW)
In this embodiment, when the serial reception interrupt occurs, the effect control command stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 is immediately read and transferred to the delivery buffer. It is not limited to the mode. For example, in this embodiment, the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 is also provided with a capacity of 16 bytes, can store a maximum of eight effect control commands, and the capacity of the transfer buffer is 128 bytes, which is somewhat large. Therefore, based on the occurrence of the predetermined number of serial reception interrupts, the effect control command stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 may be read and transferred to the transfer buffer. Good. Hereinafter, a modification in which the effect control command is transferred to the delivery buffer on the basis of the occurrence of the predetermined number of serial reception interrupts will be described.

FIG. 20-12 is a flowchart showing a modification of the transfer buffer transfer process executed when a serial reception interrupt occurs. In the modified example shown in FIG. 20-12, in the transfer buffer transfer process, the effect control CPU 92IW101 first increments the value of the interrupt number counter for counting the number of times the serial reception interrupt occurs (step 92IWS751). ). Next, the effect control CPU 92IW101 confirms whether or not the value of the interrupt number counter after addition has reached a predetermined number (10 in this example) (step 92IWS752). In addition, in this embodiment, the case where the predetermined number is 10 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to such a mode, and whether the value of the interrupt number counter has reached 5 or 15 as the predetermined number, for example. May be confirmed. At least in this embodiment, since the capacity of the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 is 16 bytes, the predetermined number is set to a value corresponding to the capacity of the reception register (16 in this example) or less. It should be fixed.

If the value of the interrupt counter has not reached the predetermined number, the transfer buffer transfer process is directly terminated without proceeding to the process of step 92IWS753 and thereafter. If the value of the interrupt number counter has reached a predetermined number, the effect control CPU 92IW101 clears the value of the interrupt number counter (step 92IWS753). Then, the process proceeds to steps 92IWS721 to 92IWS723, and the process of transferring the effect control command stored in the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 to the delivery buffer is executed. 20-12, the processes of steps 92IWS721 to 92IWS723 are the same as those shown in FIG. 20-10. Further, in FIG. 20-12, the processing of steps 92IWS724 to 92IWS735 is similar to those processing shown in FIG. 20-10.

According to the modified example shown in FIG. 20-12, the command stored in the first storage area is read out and stored in the second storage area based on the occurrence of the reception interrupt a predetermined number of times (10 times in this example). Stored in the area (in this example, as shown in FIG. 20-12, when it is determined to be Y in step 92IWS752, the process proceeds to steps 92IWS721 to 92IWS723 and is stored in the reception register of serial communication circuit 92IW115 Execute the process to transfer the production control command to the transfer buffer). Therefore, by performing the process of transferring the command from the first storage area to the second storage area only once every predetermined number of reception interrupts, the processing time for each interrupt can be shortened. As described above, in this example, the capacity of the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 is 16 bytes, and the capacity of the transfer buffer is 128 bytes. There is no problem even with data transfer for each interrupt.

In the above embodiment, when the effect control microcomputer 92IW100 stores the effect control command received from the game control microcomputer 100, the effect control command is temporarily transferred from the reception register of the serial communication circuit 92IW115 to the transfer buffer, Although the case where the data is finally transferred to the analysis buffer is shown, the invention is not limited to such a mode. For example, when the game control microcomputer 100 and the payout control microcomputer store a payout control command that is transmitted and received mutually, the configuration shown in the above-described embodiment is applied, and the received payout control command is serial communication circuit. It may be configured such that the data is first transferred from the reception register to the transfer buffer, and finally transferred to the analysis buffer. In addition, for example, when the display control unit 123 stores the command received from the effect control microcomputer 92IW100, the configuration shown in the above-described embodiment is applied, and the received command is temporarily passed from the reception register of the serial communication circuit. The data may be transferred to the analysis buffer and finally to the analysis buffer.

(Explanation regarding the characteristic part 31AK and the characteristic part 92IW)
A gaming machine may be provided with both the characteristic portion 31AK and the characteristic portion 92IW described above.

1 ... Pachinko game machine 2 ... Game board 3 ... Game machine frame 4A, 4B ... Special symbol display device 5 ... Image display device 6A ... Winning ball device 6B ... Variable winning ball device 7 ... Special variable winning ball device 8L, 8R ... Speaker 9 Game effect lamp 10 General prize hole 11 Main board 12 Production control board 13 Voice control board 14 Lamp control board 15 Relay board 20 Normal pattern display 21 Gate switch 22A, 22B Start opening Switch 23... Count switch 30... Hitting ball operation handle 31A... Stick controller 31B... Push button 32... Movable body 100... Game control microcomputers 101, 121... ROM
102, 122... RAM
103... CPU
104, 124... Random number circuits 105, 125... I/O
120... CPU for production control
123... Display control unit

Claims (1)

A gaming machine capable of executing a game,
A game control means for controlling the progress of the game,
And a production control means for controlling execution of production based on information output from the game control means,
The game control means includes information output means for outputting predetermined information after a predetermined period has elapsed since power was supplied to the gaming machine,
The effect control means,
Specific processing execution means capable of executing specific processing during a specific period in which it is impossible to analyze the information output from the game control means,
An information input unit capable of inputting the predetermined information after the specific period of time has passed since power was supplied to the gaming machine,
The game control means can execute at least a first process and a second process in the predetermined period,
The power supplied to the gaming machine is reduced to a predetermined voltage value, and before the special period elapses, the power is restored to a voltage value higher than the predetermined voltage value. In the case, the first process is not executed, and the second process is executed at least until the specific period elapses,
The effect control means,
A first storage region received information is stored first, Bei example a second storage region received information is temporarily stored, and
It is possible to execute a process related to random numbers as a special process before the second process is executed.
A gaming machine characterized by that.