JP7170415B2 - game system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a game system for a game in which a plurality of players form a group.

Conventionally, there has been a game system in which a plurality of players can form a group, play against each other, exchange information, and the like (for example, Patent Document 1).
However, conventional game systems are limited in how groups can be used.

JP 2014-147589 A

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a game system and a game program in which a method for using a group having a plurality of players is developed.

The present invention solves the problems by means of the following solutions. In order to facilitate understanding, reference numerals corresponding to the embodiments of the present invention are used for explanation, but the present invention is not limited to these. Also, the configurations described with reference numerals may be improved as appropriate, and at least a part of them may be replaced with other components.

- A first form is capable of playing a competitive game between players, and includes at least one game machine (30) arranged in a store, an information terminal (10) owned by each player, the game machine and the game machine. A game system comprising a server (50) communicatively connected to an information terminal, said server relating to a group having a first player (P011) and at least one second player (P012, P013). A group information storage unit (58) that stores group information as information, a search target player storage unit (57) that stores information on a search target player (P050) who is a search target for the group, and a control unit (66, 66a). ), and the control unit of the server sends search target player battle information to the second player in response to matching between the first player and the search target player based on the information in the search target player storage unit. This game system is characterized by transmitting to an information terminal and performing matching processing between a second player and a search target player.
In a second mode, in the game system of the first mode, the control unit (66, 66a) of the server (50) controls the second player (P012, P013) who transmitted search target player match information. When a matching request from the information terminal (10) to the search target player (P050) is received, matching between the second player and the search target player is performed by matching other players different from the second player and the search target player. It is a game system characterized by giving priority to
In a third mode, in the game system of the first or second mode, the control unit of the gaming machine sets the number of winning streaks to the maximum number of winning streaks as play end processing for ending the play without the player's next play. The control unit (66, 66a) of the server (50) executes a win streak limit play end process for ending the play when the player reaches After the match information is transmitted to the information terminals (10) of the second players (P012, P013), the defeat play end processing is not executed as the play end processing of the search target player (P050) without executing the win streak limit play end processing. The game system is characterized by executing
A fourth mode is the game system according to any one of the first to third modes, wherein the control unit (66, 66a) of the server (50) controls the second player ( The game system is characterized by accepting a matching request between the second player and the search target player (P050) from the information terminal (10) of P012, P013).
A fifth form is the game system according to any one of the first to fourth forms, wherein the control unit (66, 66a) of the server (50) controls the second player ( The game system is characterized by receiving a reservation for the game machine in the store from the information terminal (10) of P012, P013).
A sixth form is the game system according to any one of the first to fifth forms, wherein the server (50) stores play histories of the first player (P011) and the second players (P012, P013). A play history storage unit (56e) is provided, and the control unit (66, 66a) of the server refers to the play history storage unit to set, as a search target player, a player whose second player has lost, It is a game system characterized by
A seventh form is the game system according to any one of the first to sixth forms, wherein the group has a plurality of second players (P012, P013), and the server receives settings of search target players. A game system characterized by comprising a search target player setting receiving unit (66, 66a).
An eighth form is the game system according to any one of the first to seventh forms, wherein each information terminal (10) has a positional information acquisition section (16a) for acquiring positional information, and the server (50) acquires the travel time or distance between each information terminal and the store based on the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit of the plurality of information terminals, and based on the acquired travel time or distance, the search target player battle The game system is characterized by determining the information terminal to which information is to be transmitted.
- A ninth form is a computer (50) communicably connected to at least one game machine placed in a store and information terminals owned by the players respectively, the first player (P011) and at least one A group information storage means (58) for storing group information, which is information relating to a group having second players (P012, P013), and a search target player (58) for storing information on a search target player (P050) who is a search target for the group. Functioning as storage means (57) and control means (66, 66a), the control means, based on the information in the group information storage means, the first player and the search target player are matched. transmitting search target player battle information indicating that the player and the search target player have fought against each other to the information terminal (10) of the second player, and functioning to perform matching processing between the second player and the search target player; It is a game program characterized by

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, there can exist the following effects.
In the first and ninth forms, the terminal of the second player receives the search target player match information, so that the second player can be notified that the search target player is in a match with the first player. Thereby, it is possible to prompt the second player to go to the store.
In the second mode, since matching between the search target player and the search target player is prioritized, when the second player visits the store to compete with the search target player, matching between the two is likely to be established.
In the third mode, after transmitting the match information of the search target player to the information terminal of the second player, the play end process of the search target player with the limit of winning streak is not executed. Therefore, it is possible to increase the possibility that the search target player continues playing when the second player comes to the store after receiving the search target player battle information. As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of matching between the second player and the search target player.
In the fourth mode, a request for matching with the search target player can be accepted before the second player arrives at the store, so waiting times at the store can be reduced.
In the fifth mode, a reservation for a game machine is received from the information terminal that has transmitted the battle information of the player to be searched.
In the sixth mode, the player to whom the second player has lost is set as the search target player, so the second player can set the opponent to whom the second player wishes to take revenge as the search target player.
- Since the seventh form includes a search target player setting reception unit, the system operator and the store can set, for example, a well-known player as a search target player. As a result, when the first player and the search target player play against each other at the store, the second player of the group to which the first player belongs can be urged to go to the store.
In the eighth form, search target player match information is transmitted based on the travel time or distance between the information terminal and the store, so the search target player match information can be transmitted to the player who is in a position where it is easy to move to the store.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure explaining the structure of the game system 1 of 1st Embodiment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure explaining the structure of the game system 1 of 1st Embodiment. 1 is an external view of a game machine 30 of a first embodiment; FIG. It is a figure which shows each table which the server 50 of 1st Embodiment memorize|stores. It is a figure which shows each table which the server 50 of 1st Embodiment memorize|stores. It is a figure explaining the flow of the battle|competition process of the game system 1 of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the flow of the battle|competition process of the game system 1 of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the flow of the battle|competition process of the game system 1 of 1st Embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining states of devices and players during a battle process of the game system 1 of the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining states of devices and players during a battle process of the game system 1 of the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining states of devices and players during a battle process of the game system 1 of the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display screen of the game machine 30 during battle processing according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display screen of the game machine 30 during battle processing according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display screen of the game machine 30 during battle processing according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display screen of the game machine 30 during battle processing according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display screen of the game machine 30 during battle processing according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display screen of the information terminal 10 when group battle information is received according to the first embodiment; It is a figure explaining the structure of the game system 201 of 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows each table which the server 250 of 2nd Embodiment memorize|stores. Fig. 256e is a table 256e for explaining the retention rate of ranks, which is a diagram for explaining the steps during group guidance in the second embodiment; It is a flow chart of group recruitment processing of the second embodiment. It is a display example of the information terminal 210 at the time of the group recruitment process of the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the aspect by which the match play between store groups of the 1st round and the 2nd round of 3rd Embodiment is performed in the store A and B. FIG. It is a figure explaining the structure of the game system 301 of 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows each table which the server 350 of 3rd Embodiment memorize|stores. It is a figure which shows each table which the server 350 of 3rd Embodiment memorize|stores. It is a figure explaining the process of the match|competition between groups of the shop groups of the shops A and B of 3rd Embodiment. FIG. 11 is a flow chart of a battle process between store groups according to the third embodiment; FIG. FIG. 11 is a flow chart of a battle process between store groups according to the third embodiment; FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a communication state between an information terminal 310 and a server 350 during group recruitment processing according to the third embodiment; FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a communication state between an information terminal 310 and a server 350 during group recruitment processing according to the third embodiment; It is an example of a display of the touch panel 14 of the information terminal 310 at the time of the group recruitment process of 3rd Embodiment. It is an example of a display of the touch panel 14 of the information terminal 310 at the time of the group recruitment process of 3rd Embodiment. It is an example of a display of the touch panel 14 of the information terminal 310 at the time of the group recruitment process of 3rd Embodiment. It is a display example of the support guidance display screen 376 of the information terminal 310 of 3rd Embodiment. FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an outline of the flow of inter-group competition in the game system 401 of the fourth embodiment; FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a play screen 460 of an information terminal 410 according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a game system 401 according to a fourth embodiment; FIG. It is a figure which shows the table which the player information storage part 456 of 4th Embodiment memorize|stores. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a table stored by a group information storage unit 458 according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. It is a figure explaining the flow of the process of the competition between groups of 4th Embodiment along a time-axis. It is a figure explaining the flow of the battle|competition process of the game system 401 of 4th Embodiment. FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a display screen of the information terminal 410 from requesting inter-group competition to formation of an allied group according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a display screen of the information terminal 410 from requesting inter-group competition to formation of an allied group according to the fourth embodiment; It is a figure explaining the flow of the schedule setting process of the game system 401 of 4th Embodiment. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a display screen of an information terminal 410 when a competition play acceptance period is set in advance according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a display screen of an information terminal 410 when a competition play acceptance period is set in advance according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a display screen of an information terminal 410 when a competition play acceptance period is set in advance according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining the reception of matching with Ichiro (P011) and the status of a matching request from Ichiro (P011) during the competition period of Ichiro (P011) in the fourth embodiment; FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating the flow of processing of a matching request from Ichiro (P021) to Ichiro (P011) during the acceptance period of Ichiro (P011) in the fourth embodiment; FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example of an information terminal 410 during matching processing according to the fourth embodiment; It is a figure explaining the process of giving a point to Ichiro (P011) of the group G010 of 4th Embodiment. FIG. 11 is a table for explaining the points given to each player and the total points of each group according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. It is a figure explaining the outline of a structure of the game system 501 of 5th Embodiment, and the outline of the competition between groups. It is a figure explaining a part of processing of the battle play of the match|play between groups of 5th Embodiment along a time-axis.

(First embodiment)
1 and 2 are diagrams for explaining the configuration of the game system 1 of the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an external view of the game machine 30 of the first embodiment.
4 and 5 are diagrams showing each table stored by the server 50 of the first embodiment.

In the embodiment, when indicating a specific player, the player name is appropriately used, or the player ID (player identification information) is added in parentheses. In other words, specific players are described as player (P011), Ichiro (P011), and the like, for example. Similarly, when indicating a specific information terminal 10 and game machine 30, the terminal ID (terminal identification information) and the game machine ID (game machine identification information) are put in parentheses, and the information terminal 10 (T011), It is written as game machine 30 (M011) or the like.
An example in which Ichiro (P011), Jiro (P012), Saburo (P013), and Shiro (P014) form the same group G010 will be described below. Players in the same group can cooperate on the game. Although detailed description is omitted, for example, the information terminal 10 and the game machine 30 can display a group participation screen (not shown) for prompting participation in a group and accept participation in the group.

In the embodiment, the group G010 is composed of four players (P011 to P014), but may be composed of more players.
Also, in the embodiments, the term "matching" is mainly used to mean "combine" or "combine."

[Configuration of game system 1]
As shown in FIG. 1, the game system 1 includes an information terminal 10, a game machine 30, and a server 50. FIG.
The information terminal 10, the game machine 30, and the server 50 are connected by a communication network 2 using the Internet or the like, and can communicate with each other as necessary.
The information terminal 10 is, for example, a mobile phone, a multifunction mobile phone (also called a smart phone), a personal computer, a tablet computer, or the like. In the embodiment, an example in which the information terminal 10 is a multifunctional mobile phone will be described.
Each player owns an information terminal 10 respectively.

A plurality of game machines 30 are installed in the store.
The store is, for example, one operated by a game maker or a store manager (also called an amusement facility), or one owned by a complex commercial facility or the like. Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which the game system 1 has one store, it actually has more stores.
A store system including a plurality of game machines 30 and a store server 5 is installed in the store.
Communication between the plurality of game machines 30 and the shop server 5 is possible via the shop communication network 3 as necessary.

The store server 5 is a server that manages the game machines 30 in the store.
The store server 5 includes a storage unit and a control unit (not shown), and can manage, tally, etc. the operation status, billing status, etc. of the game machine 30 in the store.
In this embodiment, detailed description of the shop server 5 is omitted.

The server 50 is owned by an operator (a game maker or the like) who controls and manages the game system 1 .
In the embodiment, the computer refers to an information processing device having a storage device, a control device, etc. The information terminal 10, the game machine 30, the store server 5, and the server 50 each have a storage unit and a control unit, Included in the concept of computer.
Each storage unit is a storage device such as a hard disk, a semiconductor memory device, or the like for storing programs, information, and the like necessary for the operation of each device. Each control unit is a device for performing arithmetic processing necessary for the operation of each device and for controlling each device in an integrated manner. The control unit is composed of, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The control unit implements various functions of the embodiment by appropriately reading and executing various programs stored in the storage unit.

A game that can be executed by the game system 1 is a fighting game (see FIG. 13, etc.). The player can select a single play (so-called computer battle) or a battle play with other players.
A fighting game executed on the game machine 30 is controlled by a play control section 36a (described later) of the game machine 30. FIG. The battle play of the first embodiment is a knock-out battle in which teams having three characters C, a vanguard, a midfielder, and a general, operated by each player compete against each other (see FIG. 12). The spearhead, middle-ranking, and general characters C are alternated in order each time they are defeated in each round. For each character C, the result of the round battle is determined based on the HP (parameter indicating the physical strength of the character), and the character loses when the HP reaches 0P. The loss between players is determined by the victory or defeat of the general. In other words, each player loses when the captain of his own team loses, and wins when he wins against the captain of another player's team.

The details of the configuration of the game system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG.
(Information terminal 10)
The information terminal 10 includes a touch panel 14 , a storage section 15 and a control section 16 .
The touch panel 14 is a device that serves both as a display unit that displays various information to the player and as an operation unit that receives operations from the player. For the touch panel 14, for example, a capacitive touch panel can be used.
The touch panel 14 displays a group information notification display 81 (see FIG. 17B) and the like.

The storage unit 15 includes a group program 15a and a terminal ID storage unit 15b.
The group program 15a is a program for managing players in the same group. The group program 15 a is downloaded from the server 50 to the information terminal 10 . Alternatively, the group program 15a may be downloaded from a content server of a content service operator that distributes digital content (applications, movies, music).
The group program 15a relates to the processing of distributing game-related information to each player, the processing of information transmission between players, and the like.
The terminal ID storage unit 15b stores a terminal ID (information terminal identification information) for identifying the information terminal 10 . The terminal ID is issued when the group program 15a is installed, and is transmitted to the server 50 in this case. The terminal ID is used to identify the information terminal 10, and is used, for example, when various types of information are distributed to a specific information terminal 10 using push notifications.

The control unit 16 performs processing related to the functions of the information terminal 10 (web browsing, phone calls, etc.) in addition to the processing related to the game.
The control unit 16 includes a position information acquisition unit 16a.
The position information acquisition unit 16 a acquires position information of the information terminal 10 , that is, position information of the player who owns the information terminal 10 . The location information acquisition unit 16a acquires location information using GPS or the like. When using GPS, position information is acquired based on reception information of a GPS antenna (not shown) provided in the information terminal 10 .
Details of the processing of the control unit 16 will be described later.

(Game machine 30)
The game machine 30 includes a billing section 31 , a card reader 32 , an operation section 33 , a display section 34 , a storage section 35 and a control section 36 .
The billing unit 31 is a part that bills a play fee from the player.
As shown in FIG. 3, the billing unit 31 includes a coin slot 31a and a billing card RW (reader/writer) 31b.
The coin slot 31a is a slot for inserting coins for the player to play. A coin detector (not shown) such as an optical sensor for detecting inserted coins is provided in the coin slot 31a. The coin detection section outputs a coin detection signal to the control section 36 when detecting a coin.

The billing card RW31b is a device that communicates with the billing card 31c possessed by the player to bill the play fee.
The billing card 31c incorporates an RFID tag (not shown) that stores the remaining charge amount. The charge card RW31b and the charge card 31c can be communicated without contact by an electromagnetic induction method or the like. The billing card RW31b communicates with the billing card 31c to subtract the play fee from the charge balance of the billing card 31c.
The player can pay the play fee by inserting coins or by making a payment with the charge card 31c.

The card reader 32 is a device that communicates with the ID card 32c possessed by the player to read and acquire the player ID.
The ID card 32c incorporates an RFID tag 32d storing a player ID. Contactless communication is possible between the card reader 32 and the ID card 32c by an electromagnetic induction method or the like.
Note that the charge card 31c and the ID card 32c can be used together to form a single card. In this case, the identification information of the billing card 31c may be used as player identification information, and the billing card RW 31b and card reader 32 may be combined into one device.

The operation unit 33 is operated by the player at the start of play, progress of play, end of play, and the like. The operation unit 33 is provided on the operation panel on the front side of the game machine 30 .
The operation unit 33 includes one lever 33a, six buttons a to f, and a start button 33b.
The lever 33a is a member that is operated to be tilted in the left-right direction, the depth direction, and a combination of these directions.
Buttons a to f and the start button 33b are push buttons. The a button to f button are mainly operated during play. The start button 33b is mainly operated at the start of play, end of play, and the like.
The display unit 34 is, for example, a liquid crystal display device or the like. The display unit 34 displays various screens before the start of play, a play screen during play, various screens after play is finished, and the like.

The storage unit 35 includes a game program 35a.
The game program 35a relates to the fighting game.
The control unit 36 performs processing related to games, processing related to communication with the server 50, and the like.
The control section 36 includes a play control section 36a.
The play control unit 36a controls and processes the progress of the play by operating according to the game program 35a.
Details of the processing of the control unit 36 will be described later.

(Server 50)
The server 50 includes an operation unit 53 (search target player setting receiving unit), a storage unit 55 and a control unit 66 .
The operation unit 53 is used by a system operator or the like to operate the server 50 . The operation unit 53 includes a mouse, keyboard, and the like.

The storage unit 55 includes a game management program 55a, a player information storage unit 56, a strong player storage unit 57 (search target player storage unit), a group information storage unit 58, a shop information storage unit 59, and a game machine information storage unit 60.
The game management program 55a is for performing various processes related to the game performed by the server 50. FIG. The game management program 55a is not directly involved in play control on the game machine 30, but is included in a type of game program because it performs processing related to the game.
The player information storage unit 56 stores a player ID and various types of player information in association with each other.
As shown in FIG. 4, the player information storage unit 56 includes a player ID storage unit 56a, a player name storage unit 56b, a rank storage unit 56c, a terminal ID storage unit 56d, and a play history storage unit 56e.

The player ID storage unit 56a stores the player ID of each player.
The player name storage unit 56b stores player names. The player name is a nickname or the like used when the player plays, and does not need to be the real name. The player name can be registered from a registration device (for example, the ID card 32c vending machine, the game machine 30, the information terminal 10 owned by the player, etc.).

The rank storage unit 56c stores the rank of each player.
The rank indicates the level of the player's game skill. Ranks can be determined, for example, by the following method.
Ranks are set from 1st dan to 10th dan.
Each player is given points "3" when playing against a player of the same rank as himself, and is given points "2" when playing against a player of a rank different from him by one rank. A point of "1" is awarded when the player competes with a player who is two ranks different, and no points are awarded when the player competes with a player who is three or more ranks different. Giving is a concept including addition and subtraction, and points are added and points are subtracted when winning. When the total number of points reaches 10 or more, the rank is promoted (that is, one rank goes up).
As for the points to be given, different points may be given depending on whether each player plays against a player with a higher rank than when playing against a player with a lower rank. For example, when the rank difference is two steps, the points given to the former may be larger than the points given to the latter.

The terminal ID storage unit 56d associates and stores the player ID and the terminal ID of the information terminal 10 possessed by each player. Each information terminal 10 transmits the terminal ID and the player ID to the server 50 when the group program 15a is installed. The control unit 66 of the server 50 acquires these pieces of information and stores them in the terminal ID storage unit 56d.

The strong player storage unit 57 stores the player ID of the strong player (search target player).
A strong player is a player with high playing skill. A strong player is, for example, a player with a rank of 10, or a player ranked high in various game tournaments. A strong player is a famous player who is well known at least in the fighting game field of the present embodiment. As will be described later, the strong player is a player to be searched for by the group. It should be noted that ordinary players often have the mentality of wanting to play against such famous players.
The strong player setting method may be any method, and is not limited. For example, the control unit 66 may extract strong players from the player information storage unit 56 and store them in the strong player storage unit 57 based on each set condition (such as a player with a rank of 10). Alternatively, the control unit 66 may store this information in the strong player storage unit 57 when the system operator operates the operation unit 53 to input information about the strong player.

As shown in FIG. 5, the group information storage unit 58 stores group information. The group information is information in which the group ID of each group is associated with the player ID of the player owned by each group.
The group information storage unit 58 stores, for example, a group G010 and four player IDs (P011 to P014) belonging to the group in association with each other. Since Bunta (P061), Ryota (P062), and Kenta (P063) do not belong to any group, the group information storage unit 58 does not store information on these players.
The store information storage unit 59 stores store information, which is information about stores. The store information is information in which the store name and the store address (position information) are associated with each other.
The game machine information storage unit 60 stores game machine information, which is information about the game machine 30 . The game machine information is information that associates the game machine ID with the store name where the game machine 30 is installed. That is, the game machine information is information indicating the store where each game machine 30 is installed.
The system operator can input store information and game machine information by operating the operation unit 53, for example.

The control unit 66 performs various processes related to the game by operating according to the game management program 55a.
The control unit 66 includes a matching unit 66a.
The matching unit 66a performs processing related to matching between players in the battle play.
Detailed processing of the control unit 66 will be described later.

[Operation of game system 1]
Details of the operation of the game system 1 will be described below.
6 to 8 are diagrams for explaining the flow of battle processing of the game system 1 of the first embodiment.
9 to 11 are diagrams for explaining the states of each device and the players during the battle process of the game system 1 of the first embodiment.
12 to 16 are diagrams showing display screens of the game machine 30 during the battle process of the first embodiment.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a display screen of the information terminal 10 when receiving group battle information according to the first embodiment.

(Battle processing of Ichiro (P011) and Kyouko (P050))
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 9A, first, in store A, Ichiro (P011), who is a player of group G010, and Suiko (P050), who is a strong player (competing player), The process will be described from the scene where the battle play using the game machines 30 (M011, M014) is started.
In step S (hereinafter referred to as "S") 1, the control unit 36 of the game machine 30 (M011) executes charging processing using the charging unit 31 and reading processing of the player ID based on the operation of Ichiro (P011). After that, a matching request operation is accepted from Ichiro (P011).
In S2, similarly, the control unit 36 of the game machine 30 (M014) accepts a matching request operation from Neko (P050).
Note that the control units 36 of both game machines 30 (M011, M014) display a setting screen (not shown) before the start of play and accept the matching request operation by operating the operation unit 33 .
Further, the setting screen accepts selection operation of matching type. Matching types include intra-store matching and inter-store matching. In-store matching is for matching players within the same store, and inter-store matching is for matching players between different stores. The battle play based on in-store matching is performed using the in-store communication network 3 , and the battle play based on inter-store matching is performed by communication battle using the communication network 2 .

The controllers 36 of both game machines 30 (M011, M014) transmit matching request information to the server 50. FIG. The matching request information has information on the game machine ID, player ID, and matching type.
The following description describes an example where in-store matching is selected.

In S3, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 performs normal matching processing upon receiving the matching request information from the game machine 30 (M011). Normal matching processing is processing that is normally performed, unlike forced matching, priority matching, and the like, which will be described later.
The information of the matching request indicates that the matching type is in-store matching. Therefore, the matching unit 66a extracts the store A by referring to the game machine information storage unit 60 based on the game machine ID (M011) of the matching request information.

Similarly, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 extracts the store A based on receiving the matching request information from the game machine 30 (M014). Also, based on the information in the strong player storage unit 57, the matching unit 66a determines that strong child (P050) is a strong player.
The matching unit 66a determines that Ichiro (P011) is at the same store A based on the above process, and matches both players.

In S4, as shown in FIG. 9A, the matching unit 66a instructs the two game machines 30 (M011, M014) to perform matching between the two game machines 30 (M011, M014).

In S5a and S5b, the play control units 36a of both game machines 30 (M011, M014) start processing related to battle play according to instructions from the server 50. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 12, when starting a battle play, the play control units 36a of the two game machines 30 (M011, M014) respectively display character selection screens on the display units 34, and Selection of three characters C is accepted according to the operation. The play control units 36a of the two game machines 30 (M011, M014) respectively conduct a team battle between the three selected characters C by the above-described elimination game.
An example in which Ichiro (P011) selects characters C1 to C3 in the order of vanguard, midfielder, and general, and Tsuneko (P050) selects characters C11 to C13 will be described below.

(Send strong player battle information)
In S6, the matching unit 66a of the server 50, in response to the matching between Ichiro (P011) (first player) and Suiko (P050) in S4, determines the strong player match information (search target player match information). Perform transmission processing. Strong player match information is information indicating that Ichiro (P011) and strong player Tsuneko (P050) have played against each other.
Note that the matching unit 66a may perform this transmission process after both players start the battle play. In this case, the matching unit 66a may receive information about the start of the battle play from the game machines 30 (M011, M014).

The matching unit 66a extracts the transmission destination of the strong player competition information in the following procedure.
(1) By referring to the group information storage unit 58, the players (P012 to P014) of the group G010 to which Ichiro (P011) belongs are extracted.
(2) The terminal IDs (T012 to P014) of the players extracted in (1) above are extracted by referring to the terminal ID storage unit 56d.
(3) Based on the terminal IDs (T012 to T014) extracted in (2) above, request each information terminal 10 (T012 to T014) to transmit the current location information.
Note that the location information acquiring unit 16a of each information terminal 10 (T012 to T014) acquires current location information and transmits it to the server 50 in response to a request from the server 50. FIG.

(4) Receive and acquire the current location information of each information terminal 10 (T012 to T014). Then, by referring to the store information storage unit 59, the address of the store A where Ichiro (P011) (first player) and Suiko (P050) are located is extracted.

(5) Each player (P012-P014) owning each information terminal 10 (T012-T014) based on the location information of each information terminal 10 (T012-T014) in (4) above and the address of the store A acquires the travel time (required time) for the to move to the store A.
Any method may be used to acquire the travel time, and is not limited. For example, the server 50 may obtain travel time using a map application, or may request calculation of travel time from a server of a service company that provides information such as travel time.

(6) From among the information terminals 10 (T012 to T014), those whose travel time is less than one hour in (5) above are extracted.
In the example of FIG. 9A, Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) (second player) are within a short distance from store A and the travel time is less than one hour, while Shiro (P014) is at store A. is a long distance from and the travel time is more than an hour.
Therefore, the matching unit 66a extracts the information terminals 10 (T012, T013) of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013).
(7) Send strong player competition information to the information terminals 10 (T012, T013) extracted in (6) above using push notification. The strong player competition information includes information indicating that Ichiro (P011) and Suiko (P050) have been matched, and store A information.
On the other hand, to the information terminal 10 (T014) of Shiro (P014) who is far away from the store A, the strong player competition information is not transmitted.

As shown in FIG. 17A, the control unit 16 of the information terminal 10 (T012) displays a push notification display 80 on the touch panel 14 upon receiving the strong player competition information. FIG. 17A shows an example of Jiro's (P012) information terminal 10 (T012), but Saburo's (P013) information terminal 10 (T013) performs the same processing.
The push notification display 80 has characters such as "Group battle information!!". By checking the push notification display 80, Jiro (P012) can know that a player in the same group is playing against a strong player.
As shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, when Jiro (P012) touches the push notification display 80, the control unit 16 of the information terminal 10 (T012) displays the group information notification display 81 on the touch panel 14. indicate.
The group information notification display 81 displays information included in the strong player competition information. That is, the group information notification display 81 displays information indicating that Ichiro (P011), who is in the same group as Jiro (P012), is currently competing at the store A with the strong player Suko (P050). indicate. In this case, the control unit 16 may display that the two players are matched, rather than that they are competing.
The information terminal 10 (T013) of Saburo (P013) performs similar processing.

Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) can confirm the above information by the group information notification display 81. FIG. Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) can consider whether or not to go to store A according to their future plans. Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) can easily move to store A because the travel time from their current positions to store A is less than one hour. If it is within one hour, there is a high possibility that the player will continue to stay at store A.
As described above, players have a mentality of wanting to play against famous strong players. For this reason, for Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) who know the above information, going to store A against Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) is a chance to play against Kyouko (P050).
In this way, the game system 1 can motivate Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) to play with Kyoko (P050), and strongly encourage them to go to store A.

As shown in FIG. 9B, an example of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) moving to store A is shown below.
On the other hand, since the information terminal 10 (T014) of Shiro (P014) has not received the strong player match information, Shiro (P014) does not move to the store A.
Even if Shiro (P014) were to be able to know the strong player competition information, unlike the above, Shiro (P014) would likely decide not to go to store A. This is because it is a burden for the player to spend one hour or more to go to the store A, and the strong player is unlikely to stay at the same store for one hour or more.
Therefore, at this point in time, the strong player competition information is unnecessary information for Shiro (P014).
In this way, the game system 1 can select a player who is likely to visit the store A and transmit strong player competition information.

Note that, in the embodiment, "nearby" means that the player is close enough to move within, for example, about one hour using normal transportation means.
Ordinary means of transportation are those that are used on a daily basis, and include, for example, walking, automobiles running on general roads, conventional trains, and general fixed-route buses (buses that are mainly operated on general roads). be. On the other hand, ordinary means of transportation include those that are not used on a daily basis, such as automobiles that use expressways, express route buses (buses that operate on expressways), paid limited express trains, airplanes, etc. It is a concept that does not exist.
Moreover, geographically, for example, the concept of the same or adjacent areas (municipalities, prefectures, etc.).

In S7, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 sends a terminal transmission indicating that the strong player competition information has been transmitted to the information terminals 10 (T012, T013) of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) in (7) of S6. The information is sent to the game machine 30 (M011) that Ichiro (P011) is playing.
In S8, as shown in the play screen 71a of FIG. 13A, when the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M011) receives the terminal transmission information, the information terminals 10 of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) At (T012, T013), characters are displayed in the play screen 71a of the display unit 34, indicating that the strong player competition information has been transmitted.
As a result, Ichiro (P011) can expect Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) to visit store A.

Here, in the battle play between Ichiro (P011) and Suiko (P050) performed in S5a and S5b, since the skill of Suiko (P050) is significantly higher than that of Ichiro (P011), P050).
In this embodiment, as shown in the play screen 71b of FIG. 13(B), an example in which Kyoko (P050) wins will be described. In FIG. 13B, Ichiro (P011) is competing with the third character C3 (general), while Tsuneko (P050) continues to compete with the first character C11. This is the scene where Kyouko (P050) wins.
In other words, the example of FIG. 13(B) is the scene of the third round, and even if Ichiro (P011) fights using all three characters C1 to C3, only one character C11 of Kyouko (P050) is used. It is in a state where it was not even possible to win.

In S9a, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M011) transmits the play result to the server 50 in response to the completion of the competitive play between Ichiro (P011) and Tsuyoshi (P050). The play result has defeat information indicating that Ichiro (P011) has been defeated.
In S9b, similarly, the play control section 36a of the game machine 30 (M014) transmits the play result to the server 50. FIG. The play result has victory information indicating that Kyouko (P050) has won.
In addition, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M014) enters a state in which it is possible to accept the next play from Suko (P050) without charge due to the victory of Suko (P050).
In S10, the control unit 66 of the server 50 updates information such as the play history storage unit 56e in response to receiving the play results from both game machines 30 (M011, M014).

When the above processing is finished, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M014) is ready to receive the next play from Kyoko (P050).
Here, in the conventional game machine, either single play or battle play can be selected from the strong child (P050). The game machine 30 of the present embodiment is configured to accept only the battle play from Suiko (P050) by the following processing.

As shown in S11 and FIG. 9B, in this embodiment, Bunta (P061), who is in store A, makes a matching request to the server 50 after Kyoko (P050) wins. . The play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M015) of Bunta (P061) requests matching to the server 50 according to Bunta's (P061) operation.

In S12, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 forcibly matches the strong child (P050) game machine 30 (M014). That is, the matching unit 66a instructs the game machine 30 (M014) of the strong child (P050) to perform only the battle play and not to perform the solo play. In response to this, the game machine 30 (M014) enters a matching standby state (that is, a state of waiting until matching with another game machine 30 is established).
When the matching unit 66a of the server 50 receives the matching request (see S11) from the game machine 30 (M015) of Bunta (P061), to match.
In the present embodiment, the forced matching between Bunta (P061) and Nezuko (P050) will be explained as an example of intra-store matching, but inter-store matching is also possible.
In S13, the matching unit 66a instructs the two game machines 30 (M014, M015) to perform matching between the two game machines 30 (M014, M015).
In this case, the matching unit 66a instructs the game machine 30 (M014) of the strong child (P050) to cancel the winning streak limit (described later).

In S14a, 14b, the play control units 36a of both game machines 30 (M014, M015) start the battle play according to the instruction from the server 50. FIG. This process is similar to S5a and S5b.
In S15, the play control section 36a of the game machine 30 (M014) of Kyouko (P050) cancels the restriction on consecutive wins.
Explain the win streak limit.
The play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 mainly executes either the win streak limit play end process or the losing play end process as the process of ending the play without the player's next play.
The winning streak limit play ending process is executed when the number of winning streaks in the competitive play reaches the limit, and the losing play ending process is executed when the player is defeated in the competitive play.
A win streak limit is a limit on the number of times a player can win streaks in competitive play based on one charge. The number of winning streaks is set to, for example, three times. For this reason, when the player performs a battle play by charging once, the game machine 30 will end the play when the player wins three times in a row, or if he/she wants to continue playing, he or she will have to select whether to pay an additional play fee. demand.

After the matching unit 66a of the server 50 transmits the strong player match information to the information terminal 10 such as Jiro (P012), the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M014) sets the play end processing of strong child (P050) to the winning streak. A loss play end process is executed without executing a limit play end process.
Therefore, by canceling the restriction on the winning streak, Kyoko (P050) can perform the next battle play without charge if she wins the battle play. It is profitable for Suiko (P050) to be able to play competitive games without paying by winning streaks.

Here, as shown in FIG. 10(A), Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013), who have confirmed the strong player battle information by the process of S7, go to store A even during the battle play by Suiko (P050). It's likely moving towards you.
On the other hand, Tsuneko (P050) has a very high skill, so there is a high possibility that she will continue to play by continuing her winning streak.
As a result, the game system 1 recognizes the possibility that after Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) arrive at store A, Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) will be matched with Kyouko (P050). can be raised.

FIG. 10(A) shows a state in which Suko (P050) continues winning streak, and Susuko (P050) and Ryota (P062) are currently playing a match. Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) have arrived at store A in this scene and are about to use game machines 30 (M011 and M012), respectively.
The matching unit 66a of the server 50 makes a matching request (that is, a matching request (that is, (P050) is accepted, and the matching process for the next game of Kyoko (P050) is performed.
As shown in FIG. 10A, in this embodiment, three players (Jiro (P012), Saburo (P013), and Kenta (P063)) make matching requests in S16a, S16b, and S16c.

In S17, similarly to S12, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 performs forced matching for the strong child (P050). For this reason, the game machine 30 (M014) of Kyouko (P050) is controlled so that the next play will also be executed after the current battle play is finished.
In addition, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 responds to requests from Jiro (P012), Saburo (P013), and Kenta (P063) from the respective game machines 30 (M012, M013, M016), Jiro (P012), Saburo ( P013) and Kenta (P063) are matched with Kyouko (P050).

In this case, the matching unit 66a performs matching between Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) who belong to the group G010 and Kyouko (P050), Kenta (P063) who does not belong to the group G010 (No. This is prioritized over matching between (another player different from the 2 players) and the strong child (P050). That is, the matching unit 66a gives priority to matching requests from Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013), who are the transmission destinations of the strong player match information, over Kenta (P063).
As a result, when Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) come to the store A to play against Suiko (P050), matching between them is likely to be established.
It should be noted that which of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) is selected by the matching unit 66a for matching with the strong child (P050) can be set as appropriate. They may be selected in the order in which they were requested.
FIG. 10B is an example in which the first matching is established between Jiro (P012) and Suiko (P050), and the second matching is established between Saburo (P013) and Suiko (P050). be.

In S18, the matching unit 66a sends information indicating that matching with Suiko (P050) has been established to the game machines 30 (M012, M013) of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013), and the order of the battle play. Send information indicating
In addition, the matching unit 66a matches the game machine 30 (M014) of Kyouko (P050) with the game machine 30 (M012, M013) after the competitive play between Ryota (P062) and Kyouko (P050) is completed. By sequentially performing matching between Jiro (P012) and Kyouko (P050), Saburo (P013) and Kyouko (P050) are instructed to sequentially execute the battle play.

In S19a, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M012) of Jiro (P012) waits until the competitive play between Ryota (P052) and Suiko (P050) is completed in response to the matching instruction from the server 50. do.
In S19b, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M013) of Saburo (P013) waits until the battle play between Jiro (P012) and Kyouko (P050) is completed in response to the matching instruction from the server 50. do. In other words, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M013) determines that after the battle play between Ryota (P052) and Tsuyoshi (P050) is completed, the battle play between Saburo (P013) and Tsuyoshi (P050) is started. Wait until finished.

In S20, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 instructs Kenta's (P063) game machine 30 (M016) and the other player's game machine 30 (not shown) to perform matching.
In S21, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M016) of Kenta (P063) and the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (not shown) of another player respond to the matching instruction from the server 50. (P063) and a battle play between other players is started. A detailed description of this battle play is omitted.

(Fighting process between Jiro (P012) and Kyouko (P050))
In S22a and S22b, the play control units 36a of the game machines 30 (M014 and M015) of Shinko (P050) and Ryota (P062) transmit play results to the server 50, respectively, in the same way as in S9a and S9b. As for the play result, Suko (P050) wins and Ryota (P062) loses.
In S23, similarly to S10, the control unit 66 of the server 50 updates the information in the play history storage unit 56e and the like according to the reception of the play result.

In S24a and S24b, the two game machines 30 (M012, M014) of Jiro (P012) and Tsuyoshi (P050) perform matching in response to completion of the competitive play between Ryota (P062) and Tsuyoshi (P050). Afterwards, the processing of the battle play between Jiro (P012) and Kyouko (P050) is started.
In this case, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 may instruct the two game machines 30 (M012, M14) to match at the end of the competitive play between Ryota (P062) and Tsuyoshi (P050). , the game machine 30 (M014) of Kyouko (P050) may request matching from the game machine 30 (M012) of Jiro (P012).

In S25a, the play control section 36a of Jiro's (P012) game machine 30 (M012) displays a character selection screen in order to start a battle play. In this case, the play control unit 36a accepts selection of four characters C. That is, the play control unit 36a accepts the selection of four characters C, as opposed to the three characters C in the normal battle play shown in FIG. 12(A).

On the other hand, in S25b, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M014) of Kyouko (P050), in order to start the competitive play, performs 3 Accepts the selection of one character C.
In S26, the play control unit 36a further calculates the HP of character C selected by Tsuneko (P050) from the HP at the end of the previous play (competitive play between Ryota (P062) and Tsuneko (P050)), not fully recovered. In the embodiment, the HP of each character C is controlled to recover only 20 points.
Therefore, as shown in the play screen 72a of FIG. 14A, at the start of play, Jiro (P012)'s character C1 has a total HP of 100 points, while Jiro's (P012) character C11 has HP of , has only about half 50P. When a different character is selected for each battle play, the play control unit 36a changes the HP of each of the vanguard, midfielder, and general characters C in the previous play to the HP of each of the vanguard, midfielder, and general characters C in the next play. should be reflected in the website of
Also, in the previous play, if the character C was defeated with its HP reduced to 0, then at the start of the next game, the corresponding HP of the character C should be restored from 0P to 20P. For example, in the previous play, if the vanguard was defeated with HP of 0, the HP of the vanguard should be set to 20P at the start of the next play.

By the processing of S24 to S26 above, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M012, M014) controls Jiro (P012) and Kyouko based on the fact that the information terminal 10 (T012) of Jiro (P012) receives the battle information. When the child (P050) plays a match, a play condition that is advantageous to Jiro (P012) can be set. In other words, the play control unit 36a can set the number of characters and the HP of the characters in an advantageous manner to Jiro (P012).
Therefore, even if Tsuyoshi (P050) is extremely skilled, the probability of Jiro (P012) winning the revenge battle can be improved.

In S27, as shown in the play screen 72b of FIG. 14(B), the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M011) of Ichiro (P011) controls the battle play between Jiro (P012) and Tsuyoshi (P050). On the other hand, accept temporary participation. In this case, the play control unit 36a may set the charging from Ichiro (P011) as a condition for temporary participation.
Temporary participation allows an attack against Ichiro (P011), who has been defeated in the previous play, only once per round, as a back-up support for competitive play between Jiro (P012) and Tsuyoshi (P050). It is. For example, when the start button 33b is operated, the play control unit 36a may cause the character C operated by Ichiro (P011) to appear on the play screen, and may accept operations such as the a button to the f button.
As a result, the play control unit 36a of the game machine 30 (M011, M012, M014) can make the conditions for the competitive play between Jiro (P012) and Suiko (P050) more advantageous to Jiro (P012). .

The play screen 72c of FIG. 15 is a scene at the end of the play between Jiro (P012) and Neko (P050).
According to the above conditions, in the battle play between Jiro (P012) and Suiko (P050), although Jiro (P012) was defeated, before his fourth character C4 (admiral) appeared, Suiko (P050) ) can be defeated, and the third character C13 (general) of Tsuyoshi (P050) can be defeated.

In S28a and S28b, similarly to S9a and S9b, the play control units 36a of the game machines 30 (M012 and M014) of Jiro (P012) and Tsuyoshi (P050) send the play result to the server when the battle play ends. Send to 50.
In S29, similarly to S10, the control unit 66 of the server 50 updates the information in the play history storage unit 56e and the like according to the reception of the play result.

(Battle processing between Saburo (P013) and Kyouko (P050))
In S30a and S30b, the game machines 30 (M013, M014) of Saburo (P013) and Kyouko (P050) respond to the end of the competitive play between Jiro (P012) and Kyouko (P050). P013) and Kyouko (P050) start the processing of the battle play.
The processes after S30 and S31 of each game machine 30 and server 50 are the same as those of S24 to S29.
Processing different from S24 to S29 will be mainly described below.
The play screen 73a of FIG. 16(A) is a scene at the start of a battle play between Saburo (P013) and Suiko (P050).
In S31a, S31b, and S32, similar to S25a, S25b, and S26, the play conditions for the competitive play between Saburo (P013) and Suiko (P050) are set to be advantageous to Saburo (P013).
That is, Saburo (P013) can select four characters C, while Nezuko (P050) can select only three characters C.
In addition, in the battle play between Jiro (P012) and Suiko (P050), which is the previous play, Susuko (P050)'s vanguard has been defeated. Therefore, at the start of the battle play between Saburo (P013) and Suko (P050), which is the next play, the HP of character C11, who is the vanguard of Suko (P050), is set to 20P.

In S33a and S33b, the play control unit 36a of each game machine 30 (M011, M012) permits Ichiro (P011) and Jiro (P012) to participate temporarily. This is because before the battle play between Saburo (P013) and Kyouko (P050), Ichiro (P011) and Jiro (P012) were the two players in group G010 who lost to Kyouko (P050). be.

In the play screen 73b of FIG. 16B, as a result of setting the above play conditions, the fourth character C4 (general) of Saburo (P013) becomes the third character C13 (general) of Suiko (P050). ) was defeated.
After the play, the play result is transmitted and updated (S34a, S34b, S35).
In this way, in the game system 1, Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) of the group G010 are more likely to win against Ichiro (P011) and Suiko (P050) in the revenge battle play of the battle play between Ichiro (P011) and Suiko (P050). so as to control the play. Therefore, if Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) of the group G010 win, the players of the group G010 can keep the face of the group, and the atmosphere of the group G010 becomes lively. Thus, the game system 1 can activate the group G010.

As described above, the game system 1 of the present embodiment uses the fact that Ichiro (P011), who is one of the players in the group, has played against Tsuyoshi (P050) who is a strong player, Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) other than P011) can be urged to go to store A.
In this case, the system operator or the like itself may select and set a player with high name recognition, and allow that player to play at the store A. As a result, it is possible to attract players to the store A by staging an event-like event as if a well-known player appeared at the store A by chance.
Also, by belonging to the group, the player has more chances to play against strong players. Therefore, the game system 1 can prompt players who do not belong to the group (Bunta (P091), etc.) to join the group.
It should be noted that the probability that one of the plurality of plays in the group encounters a strong player increases as the number of members in the group increases. Therefore, the game system 1 encourages the formation of groups of a certain size, and can suppress the proliferation of small groups.

The game system 1 of this embodiment can be modified as follows.
(1) The matching unit 66a of the server 50 accepts a matching request with Kyoshiko (P050) from the information terminals 10 (T012, T013) of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013), which have transmitted the strong player match information. It's okay. In this form, the information terminal 10 (T012, T013) may display a reservation button or the like on the group information notification display 81 or the like and transmit the operation to the server 50. FIG. In this case, Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) can make a matching request with Tsuyoshi (P050) while traveling to store A. P050) and the waiting time until the battle play is started can be reduced.
It should be noted that the server 50, even when the information terminal 10 (T012, T013) makes a matching request with the strong child (P050) in this way, performs Jiro (P012), Saburo ( P013) and strong child (P050) may be prioritized over matching of other players (players not belonging to the group) and strong child (P050).
Also, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 may accept reservations for the game machine 30 at the store A from the information terminals 10 (T012, T013) of Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013). As a result, Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) can secure the game machine 30 immediately after going to the store A.

(2) The matching unit 66a of the server 50, when transmitting strong player match information to Jiro (P012), sets the player whom Jiro (P012) has defeated in the past as a strong player (search target player). It can be in any form. In this form, the matching unit 66a may extract this strong player by referring to the play history storage unit 56e.
Here, a player whom Jiro (P012) has defeated in the past is an opponent whom Jiro (P012) wants to personally take revenge on. In this form, Ichiro (P011) and the like in the same group as Jiro (P012) play against this strong player at store A, thereby transmitting strong player match information to Jiro (P012). Therefore, Jiro (P012) can have players in the same group (Ichiro (P011), etc.) search for this strong player.

Also, the strong player may be a player who has been defeated by some or all of the players in the group. For example, in the play history storage unit 56e shown in FIG. 4, three players (Ichiro (P011), Jiro (P012), and Saburo (P013)) among the players of the group G010 have been defeated by Tsuyoshi (P050). The matching unit 66a may extract the strong consonant (P050) by referring to the play history storage unit 56e. In this form as well, Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013), who wish to take revenge on Kyouko (P050), can have Ichiro (P011) of the same group search for Kyouko (P050).

Additionally, a group may be a collection of players who have been defeated by one player to be revenged. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the strong player storage unit 57 has information on two strong players (strong child (P050) and strong player (P099)), each group stores strong player (P050). The group of players who were defeated may be one group, and the group of players who were defeated by Takeshi (P099) may be another group. In this case, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 may refer to the play history storage unit 56e to extract a plurality of players defeated by each strong player.
In this form, even if a group is not formed in advance based on the player's own intention, the group can be formed based on the group forming condition and the above processing of the embodiment can be performed. In other words, the matching unit 66a of the server 50, when one of a group of a plurality of players who wish to take revenge against a player who is a target of revenge, plays against the player who is a target of revenge, the matching unit 66a of the server 50 stores the information of the other players in this group. Battle information can be transmitted to the terminal 10 .
Furthermore, the player to be searched is not limited to the strong player, and may be a specific player. The specific player is, for example, a player who has extremely frequent competitive play with players of lower skill than himself, a player who extremely often abandons the competitive play midway through, or the like.
In this case, the control unit of the server 50 can determine whether or not each player corresponds to a specific player by analyzing the play history of each player.

(3) A battle play that takes revenge against a strong player may be a form in which a plurality of players in the same group operate the character C, respectively. In other words, the team of character C in the battle play may have characters C operated by a plurality of players in the same group. Furthermore, in this form, the play control unit 36a may allow characters C operated by a plurality of players in the same group to simultaneously compete with one character C operated by a strong player. In this form, a plurality of characters C and one character C are to be played against each other. As a result, the play control unit 36a can set the conditions for the competitive play to be advantageous to the players in the group, and can produce a performance in which the group unites to take revenge on the strong player.

(4) When the matching unit 66a of the server 50 transmits strong player match information to Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) (second players) in the same group, A mode may be used in which the condition is that the battle play is in a disadvantageous state for Ichiro (P011). Also, in this form, the strong player competition information may be transmitted to Ichiro (P011) regardless of the information in the strong player storage unit 57. FIG. It should be noted that the criteria for judging whether the battle play is in a disadvantageous state for Ichiro (P011) can be appropriately set. This determination criterion is, for example, that Ichiro (P011) is fighting as the character C, the general, but the strong player is still fighting in the vanguard, or that Ichiro (P011) and the strong player are playing multiple times in succession. It can be assumed that Ichiro (P011) has a losing streak.

(5) The matching unit 66a of the server 50, when transmitting strong player match information to Jiro (P012) and Saburo (P013) (second player) in the same group, requires charging from Ichiro (P011). It can be in any form. In this form, some of the operation buttons may be assigned to the operation of transmitting strong player competition information. Also, the billing from Ichiro (P011) can be made using the billing unit 31 of the game machine 30 . In this form, when Ichiro (P011) is defeated by Kyouko (P050), etc., when Jiro (P012), Saburo (P013), etc. desire a revenge battle as retaliation, Ichiro (P011) is charged. can be encouraged.

(6) The matching process, the process of transmitting information on the strong players, and the like may be performed by the shop server instead of the server 50 . In this case, the arcade server may include the strong player storage unit 57, the control unit 66, and the like. In this case, the shop operator can set the strong player (P050) as the strong player in the strong player storage unit 57, so that the visit of the strong player to the store can be more freely presented as an event of the store. can.
(7) When Jiro (P012) and Tsuyoshi (P050) play against each other, the server 50 may perform the processing (S24 to S26, etc.) of setting playing conditions advantageous to Jiro (P012). In this case, the server 50 should instruct each game machine to set the play conditions.

(Second embodiment)
In the following description and drawings, the same reference numerals or the same reference numerals at the end (lower two digits) are appropriately assigned to portions that perform the same functions between the embodiments, and overlapping explanations are omitted as appropriate.
In the second embodiment, one form of configuration for creating groups will be described.
FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the game system 201 of the second embodiment.
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing each table stored by the server 250 of the second embodiment.
[Configuration of game system 201]
The storage unit 15 of the information terminal 210 has a player management program 215c.
The player management program 215c can be downloaded from the server 250 or the like.
The player management program 215c is for receiving various kinds of guidance from the server 250 and allowing the player to check his/her own play information (for example, play history, etc.). The player management program 215c and the group program 15a may be one program.

As shown in FIG. 19, the player information storage unit 256 of the server 250 stores a registered shop storage unit 256f. The registered shop is the shop where the player is based. The player can, for example, activate the player management program 215c of his/her own information terminal 210 and register the registered shop from the information terminal 210. FIG.
The storage unit 55 of the server 250 has a priority matching player storage unit 261 .
The priority matching player storage unit 261 stores a priority matching player (first player). As will be described later, the priority matching player is a player who is preferentially matched when there is a matching request from another player (second player). The priority matching player can be set by operating the operation unit 53 by the system operator or the like.

Note that the group information storage unit 258 shown in FIG. 19 does not have player information regarding the group G010. In other words, the group information storage unit 258 shows information before the formation of the group G010.

The control unit 66 of the server 250 includes a rank management unit 266b (ranking unit) and a group guidance unit 266c.
The rank management unit 266b ranks the players by assigning ranks to the players, as described in the first embodiment.
As shown in the rank storage section 56c of FIG. 19, for example, the players (P010 to P014) are ranked in 5th tier (first rank) or 4th tier (second rank) lower than 5th tier.
The group guidance section 266c guides the player to create a group.
Details of the processing of the control unit 66 will be described later.

[Operation of game system 201]
FIG. 20 is a table 256e for explaining the retention rate of rank, which is a diagram for explaining the process of group guidance in the second embodiment.
FIG. 21 is a flowchart of group recruitment processing according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 22 is a display example of the information terminal 210 during the group recruitment process of the second embodiment.
An example in which the system operator or the like uses the server 250 to form the group G010 in response to a request from the store operator or the like of the store A will be described below. Group G010 is formed by players whose store A is a registered store.

As shown in #201 of FIG. 20(A), first, the system operator or the like selects a priority matching player in response to a request from the store operator or the like. In this example, an example in which Sakurako (P020) of rank 5 is selected will be described. Sakurako (P020) has the skills to qualify as Tier 5 by being consistently ranked at Tier 5 or having the skills to move between Tiers 5 and 6.
The matching unit 66a of the server 250 refers to the play history storage unit 56e (see FIG. 4) in response to the input of the selection conditions from the system operator or the like, and selects Sakurako (rank 5) as a player who satisfies these conditions (see FIG. 4). P020) can be selected.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the play history includes the rank of the player at the time of playing. 19 shows an example in which Sakurako's (P020) registered store is store A, but it may be other than store A.
The system operator requests Sakurako (P020) to cooperate in creating group G010.
As shown in #202, the system operator etc., upon receiving Sakurako's (P020) approval, enters Sakurako's (P020) player ID into the server 250 . In this example, the input date is December 10th.
Sakurako (P020), who accepted the request, waits at the game machine 30 for as long as possible after December 10th. Sakurako (P020) may be on standby at any of the multiple stores, not limited to store A.

In S201, the matching unit 66a of the server 250 stores the player ID of Sakurako (P020) in the priority matching player storage unit 261 according to the input operation of the system operator or the like.
As indicated by #203 in FIG. 20A, the recruitment period for group G010 begins after this input.
In S<b>202 , the matching section 66 a of the server 250 receives a matching request from the game machine 30 . The game machine 30 issues a matching request based on the player's operation, as in the first embodiment.

In S203, the matching unit 66a of the server 250 determines whether or not to match the player who requested the matching with Sakurako (P020).
The matching type may be either in-store matching or inter-store matching. That is, if the type of matching request is in-store matching and both players are in the same store, in-store matching between both players is established. On the other hand, if the type of matching request is inter-shop matching and both players are in different shops, inter-shop matching is established.

When all of the following conditions (a) to (c) are satisfied, the matching unit 66a matches Sakurako (P020) with priority over other players as a matching partner of the player who has made the matching request.
(a) The registered store of the player who made the matching request is store A. Based on the player ID information included in the matching request, the matching unit 66a refers to the registered store storage unit 256f and issues the matching request. By determining whether or not the player's registered store is store A, it is determined whether or not this condition is satisfied. As a result, all the players matched with Sakurako (P020) become players associated with store A, which is the same store.

(b) The player who made the matching request does not belong to any group. It is determined whether or not the condition is satisfied.

(c) Move between tier 4 and tier 5, and have a tier 4 stay rate of 70% (judgment criteria) or higher. indicate. In this embodiment, the retention rate of each tier is calculated based on the number of times each tier has been played in the past 20 plays.
The matching unit 66a may refer to the play history storage unit 56e (see FIG. 4) for the player who satisfies (a) and (b) above, and calculate the retention rate of each rank.

Here, a player who satisfies the condition (c) has sufficient skill for level 4, but does not have enough skill to stay at level 5 stably even after playing multiple times. In other words, these players are in a state of being unable to acquire sufficient skills for level 5 even after playing a sufficient number of times, because their skills have stagnated. The game system 201 can match the player in this state with Sakurako (P020), who stably stays at rank 5, by extracting the player who satisfies the condition (c).
Four players (P011 to P014) satisfy the condition (c), as shown in a table 256e showing the retention rates in FIG. 20(B).

Also, since the registered shop of the players (P011 to P014) is the shop A (see the registered shop storage unit 256f in FIG. 19), the above condition (a) is satisfied. Since the players (P011 to P014) do not belong to any group (see the group information storage section 258 in FIG. 19), the above condition (b) is satisfied.
For this reason, the four players (P011 to P014) satisfy all of the above conditions (a) to (c), so when a matching request is made, they will be matched with Sakurako (P020). .

If the matching unit 66a of the server 250 determines that both are matched (S203: YES), it proceeds to S204, and if it determines that they are not matched (S203: NO), it proceeds to S203a.
In S203a, the matching unit 66a of the server 250 performs normal matching processing as described in the first embodiment. Although the detailed description of the subsequent processing is omitted, processing of battle play and the like is performed between the game machines 30 of the matched players.

In S204, the matching unit 66a of the server 250 matches Sakurako (P020) with the player who requested the matching.
Similar to the first embodiment, when both players are matched, a battle play process is performed between the game machines 30 of both players. Both game machines 30 transmit the battle results to the server 250, as in the first embodiment.

In S205, upon receiving the battle result from the game machine 30, the control unit 66 of the server 250 determines whether or not the player who requested the matching has won. If the control unit 66 determines that the player who requested the matching has won (S205: YES), it ends the processing related to group recruitment. move on.
As described above, the player who requested the matching is in a state where it is difficult to acquire the skills of level 5. Therefore, it is highly likely that Sakurako (P020) will win the battle play between the two. However, even a player who satisfies the above (c) may have recently obtained a skill sufficient for level 5. By performing the process of S206, the game system 201 can more accurately determine the current skill of the player who requested the matching.
Although detailed description is omitted, if the player who requested the matching wins (S205: YES), the control unit 66 performs the processing related to the rank described in the first embodiment, and then ends the series of processing.

In S206, the group guidance unit 266c of the server 250 performs processing for displaying the group recruitment guidance screen 270 (see FIG. 22A) on the information terminal 210. FIG. It should be noted that the control unit 66 also performs the processing related to the rank in this case as well.
Based on the player ID of the player who lost to Sakurako (P020), the group guidance unit 266c refers to the terminal ID storage unit 56d and reads out the terminal ID of that player. Then, the information for displaying the group recruiting guide screen 270 is displayed on the information terminal 210 .

As shown in FIG. 22(A), the control unit 16 of the information terminal 210 that received this displays a group recruitment guide screen 270 on the touch panel 14 .
FIG. 22A is a display example of the group recruitment guide screen 270 of the information terminal 210 of Ichiro (P011). In other words, the group recruitment guidance screen 270 was displayed after Ichiro (P011) was defeated by Sakurako (P020).
The group recruitment guidance screen 270 has the following display.
・Information encouraging participation in group G010 ・Information indicating that the purpose of group G010 is to win against Sakurako (P020). High motivation. Therefore, by guiding the players in this state to create a group, it is easy to lead them to create a group.
・Number of recruits for group G010, current number of applicants ・Apply button 270a

The player confirms the display contents of the group recruitment guidance screen 270, and if he wishes to participate in the group G010, the player can operate the apply button 270a.
The control unit 16 of the information terminal 210 transmits the operation information of the apply button 270 a to the server 250 .

In S207, the group guidance unit 266c of the server 250 determines whether or not the player participates in the group based on the operation information of the application button 270a transmitted from the information terminal 210. FIG.
The group guidance unit 266c of the server 250 determines group participation when the operation information of the apply button 270a is received (S207: YES), and proceeds to S208. , the processing from S201 is repeated.

In S208, the group guidance unit 266c of the server 250 determines whether or not the number of applicants has reached four, which is the number of recruits. If the group guidance unit 266c determines that the number of applicants has been reached (S208: YES), it proceeds to S209. .
In S209, the group guidance section 266c of the server 250 forms the group G010 and updates the information in the group information storage section 258. FIG.
For example, if four players (P011 to P014) wish to join group G010 after playing against Sakurako (P020), these four players will belong to the formed group G010. In this case, the row of the group ID "G010" in the group information storage section 258 of FIG. 19 is updated as in the group information storage section 58 of FIG.
As shown in #203 of FIG. 20A, in this example, group G010 has been formed as of December 20th.

Group G010 formed by the above process has the following properties.
(1) Since the group G010 is formed by the players of the store A, which is the same base, the connection between the players is strong. In addition, the possibility of meeting at store A also increases, and in this case, direct conversation can be made.
(2) Group G010 is a group of players defeated by Sakurako (P020). For this reason, the players of the group G010 unite and strongly desire revenge against Sakurako (P020), so that the solidarity of the group can be improved.

As shown in #204 of FIG. 20(A) and FIG. 22(B), after the group G010 is formed, the store manager can hold a workshop or the like for improving the skill. In this case, the store operator or the like uses the functions of the group program 15a and the player management program 215c to transmit information for displaying the seminar guidance display 271 from the server 250 to each information terminal 210. good. 20(A) and 22(B) are examples of transmitting information for displaying the seminar guide display 271 on December 25th.

It should be noted that the store manager or the like can give instruction for skill improvement to a plurality of players of the group G010 at the same time, so that the instruction can be performed efficiently. In addition, since the players of group G010 strongly desire to win against Sakurako (P020), they tend to strongly desire to improve their skills. For this reason, the store operator can strongly encourage the players of the group G010 to participate in seminars and the like, and if the skills of the players improve as a whole, the group and the field of fighting games will be activated. can be achieved.

As described above, the game system 201 of the present embodiment encourages players whose skills have stagnated to join a group, and gathers these players to form a group. After that, the system operator, etc. will provide these players with training to improve their skills, thereby suppressing the players who have stagnated in their skills from leaving the game, that is, stopping the game. can.
Also, the game system 201 can provide a player who does not belong to the group with an opportunity to belong to the group. After the group is formed, the player may continue to belong to the group if he/she feels that belonging to the group will help improve his/her skills and that there will be benefits such as exchanges between players.

The game system 201 of this embodiment can be modified as follows.
(1) The conditions for establishing a match between the player who made the matching request and Sakurako (P020) may be part of (a) to (c). In this case, there is an effect corresponding to each condition.
For example, if the condition (a) is satisfied, there is an effect such as forming a group to which only players belonging to the same store belong. Even if the condition (a) is not satisfied, it is possible to form a group in which a plurality of players belonging to different registered shops belong.
If the condition (b) is satisfied, there is an effect of encouraging players who do not belong to the group to join the group. Even if the condition (b) is not satisfied, that is, even if the player already belongs to one of the groups, the player may belong to another group in order to improve his skill.
If the condition (c) is satisfied, there is an effect of encouraging a player whose skill improvement is stagnant to join the group.

(2) The matching partner of the player who made the matching request may be another player who stably stays at rank 5 instead of Sakurako (P020). In this case, the matching unit 66a may extract a player with a high retention rate of rank 5 as the other player based on the information in the play history storage unit. After that, when a player with a high stay rate of rank 4 loses against another player, the group guidance unit 266c displays a group recruitment guidance screen 270 (see FIG. 22A) on the information terminal 210 of that player. ) can be displayed.
(3) The group recruiting guidance screen 270 may be displayed on the display section 34 of the game machine 30 after the end of the competitive play. In this case, the game machine 30 may accept participation in the group by performing processing similar to that of the information terminal 10 .

(4) A recruitment period for group recruitment may be set, and group recruitment may be terminated when the recruitment period is reached.
(5) The matching process and the like may be performed by the store server 5 (see FIG. 1) instead of the server 250. FIG. In this case, the arcade server 5 may include the priority matching player storage unit 261, the control unit 66, and the like. In this case, the store operator can set Sakurako (P020) and the like in the priority matching player storage unit 261, so that the group can be recruited more freely.

(Third Embodiment)
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a mode in which the first round and second round matches between store groups are performed at stores A and B according to the third embodiment.
FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the game system 301 of the third embodiment.
25 and 26 are diagrams showing tables stored by the server 350 of the third embodiment.
[Configuration of game system 301]
As shown in FIG. 23, the game system 301 performs processing relating to inter-store group competitive play between each store group and other store groups. The match play between store groups is a match play between a group to which a player whose store is a registered store belongs and a group to which a player whose store is a registered store belongs to. In the present embodiment, the inter-store group battle play is performed not by the communication battle play but by the intra-store battle play.
In the present embodiment, a group to which players belonging to the same registered store belong will be referred to as a "store group", and a match play between store groups will be simply referred to as an "match between groups".
FIG. 23 shows an inter-group competition between a group G010 (first group) of players at store A (first store) and a group G020 (second group) of players at store B (second store). Here are some examples: The match between groups is held at stores A and B, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 24, the storage unit 15 of the information terminal 310 includes a player management program 315c.
The player management program 315c is similar to that of the second embodiment. Also, the player management program 315c has a program related to processing on the information terminal 310 side among various processing related to inter-group competition.

As shown in FIG. 25, a registered store storage unit 356f (store-player information storage unit) of the server 350 has information on registered stores of players (P011 to P015) and (P021 to P025).
The registered store storage unit 356f stores information on the store A and the players (P011 to P015) associated with the store A (information on the first store and the first player associated with the first store). In other words, the store A is the registered store of the players (P011 to P015).
In addition, the registered store storage unit 356f stores information on the store B and the players (P021 to P025) associated with the store B (information on the second store and the second player associated with the second store). In other words, the store B is the registered store of the players (P021 to P025).
In the play history storage unit 356e of FIG. 25, as part of the play history, those related to Ichiro (P011), Jiro (P012), and Ichita (P021) are illustrated.

The group information storage unit 358 (before group formation) in FIG. 26 does not have player information regarding groups G010 and G020. In other words, the group information storage unit 358 (before group formation) shows the information before the groups G010 and G020 were formed.

The control unit 66 of the server 350 includes an inter-group battle management unit 366d.
The inter-group competition management unit 366d manages the inter-group competition. In addition, the inter-group competition management unit 366d performs processing related to group creation.
Details of the processing of the control unit 66 will be described later.

[Operation of game system 301]
FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining the process of inter-group competition between the store groups of stores A and B according to the third embodiment.
28 and 29 are flowcharts of the match processing between store groups according to the third embodiment.
30 and 31 are diagrams for explaining the communication state between the information terminal 310 and the server 350 during the group recruitment process of the third embodiment.
32 to 34 are display examples of the touch panel 14 of the information terminal 310 during the group recruitment process of the third embodiment.
FIG. 35 is a display example of the support guidance display screen 376 of the information terminal 310 of the third embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 27, an example in which the system operator or the like performs an operation for starting the process of inter-group competition on December 1st will be described below.
In S301, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 refers to the store address (position information) in the store information storage unit 59 (see FIG. 5) according to the operation of the operation unit 53 by the system operator, etc. Extract the stores of each other. The concept of neighborhood is the same as in the first embodiment. Here, it is assumed that stores A and B are neighbors and have been extracted.
In addition, when there are multiple combinations of nearby stores, the inter-group competition management unit 366d may perform the following processing, for example.
- You may accept the input operation which narrows down an area.
- You may proceed simultaneously with the competition between each group of the combination of several neighboring shops.
- After completing the battle processing of each inter-group battle, the battle processing of another inter-group battle may be started.

In this way, the game system 301 determines the arcades A and B by itself according to the operation of the system operator. It doesn't take.

In S302, the inter-group match management unit 366d of the server 350 refers to the registered store storage unit 356f (see FIG. 25) to extract players registered with store A as a registered store. Here, an example of extracting five players will be described.
In addition, the inter-group match management unit 366d refers to the play history storage unit 356e (see FIG. 25), so that at least one of these five players has a match history with the player of the store B. Select a player who has won in the history (winning player).
Here, an example in which the inter-group competition management unit 366d selects Ichiro (P011) will be described.
That is, the play history storage unit 356e has a match history between Ichiro (P011) at store A and Itta (P021) at store B on November 1st. In addition, this battle history has information that Ichiro (P011) won.

The inter-group competition management unit 366d may select the four players other than Ichiro (P011) by the same method as Ichiro (P011), or may select them irregularly. Here, an example in which the inter-group competition management unit 366d randomly selects players (P012 to P015) as players other than Ichiro (P011) will be described.

In S303, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 transmits the recruiting guide display information to the information terminals 310 of the five players (P011 to P015) selected in S302 (see FIG. 30A). Recruitment guidance display information is information for displaying the store group recruitment guidance screen 370A (see FIG. 32A).
Recruitment processing for Ichiro (P011) (recruitment processing for winning first player) is included in the recruitment for these five players.

As shown in FIG. 32(A), the control units 16 of the information terminals 310 of the five players who have received this display the store group recruitment guide screen 370A on the touch panel 14, respectively. A shop group recruiting guidance screen 370A in FIG. 32A is displayed on the information terminal 310 of Ichiro (P011).
The shop group recruitment guide screen 370A of the information terminal 310 of each player (P011 to P015) includes information prompting each player to participate in the group G010 formed by players whose shop A is a registered shop, the number of recruits, A participation button 370a and the like are displayed.
If each player (P011 to P015) wishes to participate in group G010, that is, if they wish to participate in the inter-group competition, they may operate participation button 370a.
The control unit 16 of each information terminal 310 transmits the operation information to the server 350 when the participation button 370a is operated.

In this way, the game system 301 solicits groups for inter-group competition from the players of each store. For this reason, the game system 301 can raise the player's feelings and increase the player's willingness to participate in the group based on the attachment to the store that is the home base. As a result, it is possible to raise the player's feelings and increase the willingness to participate.

In S304, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 refers to the registered store storage unit 356f, thereby extracting players registered with store B as a registered store.
Here, an example in which the inter-group competition management unit 366d randomly extracts four players (P022 to P024) other than Ichita (P021) will be described. As described above, Ichita (P021) and Ichiro (P011) have battle histories, and Ichita (P021) is a defeated player (losing player).

At S305, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 sets recruitment guidance display information for displaying the store group recruitment guidance 370B (see FIG. 32B) to the four players (P022 to P024) selected at S304. ) to the information terminal 310 of .
As shown in FIG. 32(B), the control units 16 of the information terminals 310 of the four players who have received this display the store group recruitment guidance screen 370A on the touch panel 14, respectively. The store group recruiting guidance display screen 370B in FIG. 32B is displayed on the information terminal 310 of Ichita (P021).
While the store group recruitment guidance screen 370A encourages participation in the group G010, the store group recruitment guidance display screen 370B encourages each player (P022 to P025) to participate in the group G020. . Group G020 is formed by players whose store B is a registered store.
Each player (P022 to P025) may operate the participation button 370a when desiring to participate in the group G020.

Upon receiving the operation information of the participation button 370a from each information terminal 310 after completing the above process, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 assigns the player to the row of each group G010, G020 in the group information storage unit 358. memorize to

In S306, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 determines whether or not there is an application from Ichiro (P011) (see FIG. 30(B)). If the inter-group competition management unit 366d determines that there is an application from Ichiro (P011) (S306: YES), the process proceeds to S307. proceed to
In S307, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 transmits the recruiting guide display information to the information terminal 310 of Itta (P021) (recruiting process for the defeated second player) (see FIG. 30(B)). . This recruitment guidance display information is information for displaying the store group recruitment guidance display screen 371B (see FIG. 33A). This recruitment guidance display information has information indicating that Ichiro (P011) has participated in group G010 in addition to the information contained in the recruitment guidance display information transmitted in S305 (see FIG. 32B).

As shown in FIG. 33(A), the control unit 16 of the information terminal 310 of Ichita (P021) which received this displays a store group recruitment guidance display screen 371B on the touch panel 14. As shown in FIG.
The store group recruitment guidance display screen 371B of FIG. 33(A) has information indicating that Ichiro (P011) has participated in the group G010 in addition to the information of the store group recruitment guidance display screen 370B of FIG. 32(B). . If Ichita (P021) wishes to participate in group G020, he can operate participation button 371a in the same manner as described in S303 above.

As described above, Ichita (P021) has a history of losing against Ichiro (P011). For this reason, Ichita (P021) has a strong desire to get revenge on Ichiro (P011). The victory or defeat of the match between groups is determined by the skill of the entire group. Therefore, even if Ichita (P021) is unlikely to be able to beat Ichiro (P011) due to differences in skill, Ichita (P021)'s desire to participate in group G020 will increase. .
Thereby, the game system 301 can strongly urge Ichita (P021) to participate in the group G020.

In S308, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 determines whether or not the number of recruits for both groups has reached four. If the inter-group competition management unit 366d determines that the number of recruits has been reached (S308: YES), it proceeds to S309. repeat.
The inter-group competition management unit 366d extracts players other than the players (P011 to P015) in repeated S302, and extracts players other than the players (P021 to P025) in repeated S304. Further, the process of extracting players again in this manner may be performed, for example, each time a waiting period (for example, one day) elapses.

After receiving applications from the players (P011 to P014, P021 to P024) (see FIG. 31), a group G010 is formed by the players (P011 to P014), and a group G020 is formed by the players (P021 to P024). example.
In S310, as shown in the group information storage section 358 (after group formation) in FIG.

In S310, the inter-group match management unit 366d of the server 350 sends information for displaying the match date inquiry screen 372 (see FIG. 33(B)) to each player (P011 to P014, P021 to P024).
Upon receiving this, the control unit 16 of the information terminal 310 of each player displays a battle date inquiry screen 372 .
The competition date inquiry screen 372 in FIG. 33B is displayed on the information terminal 310 of Ichiro (P011). The match date inquiry screen 372 allows the player to select a match date candidate. The match date inquiry screen 372 displays a match date candidate date and a send button 372a.
Ichiro (P011) selects a date that is convenient for him from among the dates displayed on the competition date inquiry screen 372, and then operates the send button 372a. Similarly, other players may also operate the battle date inquiry screen 372 displayed on their own information terminal 310 .
The control unit 16 of each information terminal 310 transmits the response information including the selected date information to the server 350 in response to the operation of the transmission button 372a.

In S311, when the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 receives the answer information of the competition date from all the players (P011-P014, P021-P024), based on this information, determines the contents of the inter-group competition. do.
The inter-group match holding content includes information about the dates of the first and second rounds, and information about the stores where the first and second rounds will be held.
The inter-group competition management unit 366d determines two convenient dates for all players based on the answer information of all players. Then, the inter-group match management unit 366d assigns one of these two dates to store A and the other to store B, thereby determining the host store.
Here, an example will be described in which the first and second rounds are decided on December 21st and December 22nd, respectively, and shops A and B are decided to hold the games (see FIG. 23, etc.).
In this embodiment, an example in which only the date is determined will be described for simplicity, but the date and time may be determined by subdividing the time zone and inquiring.

With the above processing, the inter-group match management unit 366d performs the inter-store match using the game machine 30 of store A in the first round (first match) and the game machine 30 of store B during a period different from the first round. Schedule processing can be performed so that both the second round (second match) used is performed.

In S312, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 transmits information for displaying competition content display screens 375A and 375B (see FIGS. 34A and 34B) to each player in each group. Send to the information terminal 310 . This transmission information includes information on the content of the competition between groups.
Upon receipt of this, the control unit 16 of the information terminal 310 of each player displays competition holding content display screens 375A and 375B.

FIG. 34(A) shows a battle holding content display screen 375A displayed on the information terminal 310 of Ichiro (P011).
The competition content display screen 375A notifies the players (P011 to P014) of the group G010 of the competition content. 375 A of competition holding content display screens display the information of the competition holding content between groups. That is, the competition holding content display screen 375A displays "information that the first round will be held on December 21st at store A" and "information that the second round will be held on December 22nd at store B". . In addition, the battle holding content display screen 375A for the players (P011 to P014) of the group G010 includes information of "Home" indicating that the game will be held at the home of the store A, and "Away" indicating that the game will be played at the enemy's territory at the store B. to display information about

The battle holding content display screen 375B in FIG. 34B is displayed on the information terminal 310 of Ichita (P021). Similar to the competition content display screen 375A, the competition content display screen 375B also displays information about the content of the competition between groups. In addition, the display of "Away" and "Home" on the competition content display screen 375B for the players (P021 to P024) of the group G020 is different from the competition content display screen 375A. In other words, the competition holding content display screen 375B displays "Away" information indicating that the store A is the enemy's territory, and "Home" information indicating that the store B is the home base.
The players of each group can go to stores A and B on each match day by checking the match holding content display screens 375A and 375B.

In S313, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 transmits information for displaying the support guidance display screen 376 (see FIG. 35) to the players other than the groups G010 and G020 of the shops A and B. This transmission information also has information on the content of the competition between groups.
Upon receiving this, the control unit 16 of the information terminal 310 of each player displays a support guidance display screen 376 .
The support guidance display screen 376 of FIG. 35 is displayed on the information terminal 310 of Goro (P015) whose shop A is the registered shop.
The support guidance display screen 376 displays information on the content of the inter-group competition, similar to the competition holding content display screens 375A and 375B. Display information that prompts you to go cheer for the match.
In addition, the support information display screen 376 displays the information of "Home" and "Away" in the same manner as the match holding content display screens 375A and 375B. Therefore, the game system 301 can prompt the players of each store to support the group of the home store. Thereby, the game system 301 can strongly urge the players other than the groups G010 and G020 to go to the stores A and B on the match day.

In S314, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 starts the processing of the first-round inter-group competition by controlling the game machines 30 of the store A in response to December 21st. (See FIG. 23(A)).
The form of this competition between groups is not limited.
For example, in the inter-group battle, each player of the group G010 and each player of the group G010 may perform a battle play by a team of three characters. In this case, the server 350 may perform this battle play four times and determine the battle result of the inter-group battle in the first round according to the results of these four battles.
Also, for example, in inter-group competition, each player in group G010 selects one character to form a team with four characters, and similarly each player in group G020 forms a team with four characters. Form and then play against each other. In this case, a total of four one-on-one rounds may be played, or a knockout match may be used.

In S315, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 starts the processing of the second-round inter-group competition by controlling the game machine 30 of the store B in response to December 22nd. (See FIG. 23(B)).
The process for the second round match between groups is the same as the process for the first round match between groups.
The inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 determines the winning group according to the results of the first-round inter-group competition and the results of the second-round inter-group competition when the second-round inter-group competition ends. to decide.

In this way, the game system 301 conducts inter-group battles at both stores A and B. FIG. Therefore, the players of both groups G010 and G020 play both home games and away games. Therefore, the game system 301 can ensure fair play conditions. In addition, since the inter-group competition is held at nearby stores A and B, players other than groups G010 and G020 (Goro (P015), Gota (P025), etc.) are limited to their home stores for support purposes. It is also easy to go to away stores. Therefore, the game system 301 can liven up the atmosphere of both stores.

As described above, the game system 301 of the present embodiment recruits players of each store for group players for inter-group competition. Therefore, it is possible to incite a sense of rivalry among the players and strongly encourage the players to participate in the group.

The game system 301 of this embodiment can be modified as follows.
(1) The inter-group competition may be inter-group competition between stores using a communication network. In this case, instead of the players of both groups gathering at the same store, the players of each group may individually gather at their respective registered stores. In this case, a match between groups can be held even between two stores that are sufficiently far apart.

(2) A system operator or the like may input information to the server 350 in response to a request from the store operator or the like for the store where the inter-group competition is held. In this case, the system operator or the like may input information designating both shops, or may input information designating only one shop. In the latter case, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 may determine the neighboring stores of one store by referring to the store information storage unit 59 (see FIG. 5).

(3) The inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 selects a plurality of players among the players of the store B who were defeated by Ichiro (P011) of the group G010, and recruits these players to the group G020. you can go These plurality of players have a high sense of revenge against Ichiro (P011). Therefore, group G020 has improved unity.
In addition, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 may recruit different players who have been defeated by different players of the group G010 to join the group G020. For example, if Nita (P022) of store B has a play history in which he lost to Jiro (P012) of group G010, in addition to Ichiro (P021) who lost to Ichiro (P011) of group G010, these two Recruitment to group G020 may be conducted at Futoshi (P022). In this case, both of them have a strong sense of revenge against group G010. Therefore, group G020 has improved unity.

(4) At store A, the inter-group competition management unit 366d of the server 350 selects the players (P011 to P014) of the group G010 of the store A, which is home, and the players (P021 to P024) of the group G020, which is the away store B. When the game machine 30 of the store A is commanded, the players (P021 to P024) of the group G020 of the store B are more likely to play than the players (P011 to P014) of the group G010 of the store A. Advantageous playing conditions may be set. The play conditions can be set as appropriate. For example, the players (P021 to P024) of the group G020 of the store B have less damage and higher attack power than the players (P011 to P014) of the group G010 of the store A. is. In this case, the players of the group B are more motivated to go to the store A, which is the enemy's territory, and play against each other.
Similarly, when the group G020 players (P021 to P024) of the store B and the players (P011 to P014) of the group G010 of the store A compete at the store B, the inter-group match management unit 366d A play condition may be set in which one is more advantageous than the former.

Note that, contrary to the above, the server 350 may set playing conditions that are more advantageous for the player at the home store than for the player at the away store.
In this case, the player, who is the home shop, can play at the shop he is familiar with, and in addition to having many players who can cheer him on, the playing conditions are advantageous, so he can compete more favorably. Thereby, the game system 301 can liven up the play at each store.

(Fourth embodiment)
FIG. 36 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the flow of inter-group competition in the game system 401 of the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating the play screen 460 of the information terminal 410 of the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 38 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the game system 401 of the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 39 is a diagram showing a table stored by the player information storage unit 456 of the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 40 is a diagram showing a table stored by the group information storage unit 458 of the fourth embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 36, the game system 401 performs processing related to inter-group competition.
In the following, inter-group competition between group G010 (large group, first group) and its opponent, coalition group G020 (second group) having group G021 (small group) will be mainly described.
As shown in FIG. 37, the fighting game of this embodiment is played between information terminals 410 possessed by players. FIG. 37 is a scene of a battle play between Ichiro (P011) of group G010 and Itta (P021) of coalition group G020 displayed on information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011) of group G010.
Like the lever 33a and buttons a to f (see FIG. 3), the touch panel 14 displays a lever operation portion 433a, a to f button operation portions, and the like for receiving operations in each direction, selection operations, and the like.

[Configuration of game system 401]
(Information terminal 410)
As shown in FIG. 38, the storage unit 415 of the information terminal 410 has a game program 415a and a player management program 415c.
The game program 415a is for executing the fighting game on the information terminal 410. FIG.
The player management program 415c is for executing various types of processing related to the fighting game (eg, scheduling, matching, processing related to communication with the server 450, etc.) in the information terminal 410. FIG.
The play control unit 416a controls and processes the progress of the play on the information terminal 410 by operating with the game program 415a.

(Server 450)
As shown in FIG. 39, the player information storage unit 456 of the server 450 has information on players (P011 to P019), (P021 to P024), (P025 to P028), (P029) and the like.
As shown in FIG. 40, the group information storage unit 458 (before forming a coalition) has information on the players of the groups G010, G021, and G022, information on the player ID of the leader of each group, and the like.
Nine players (P011 to P019) belong to the group G010 before forming an alliance. Group G021 has four players (P021 to P024), which are fewer than group G010. Similarly, four players (P025 to P028) belong to group G022.
No player belongs to group G020. That is, group G020 does not exist.
Kyusuke (P029) does not belong to any group.

Group information storage unit 458 (after formation of coalition) has information such as coalition group G020 in addition to the above information.
The coalition group G020 is a coalition of the group G021, the group G022, and the player (P029) who does not belong to the group.
Details of the group information storage unit 458 (after formation of the coalition) and the coalition group G020 will be described later.

The storage unit 55 of the server 450 also has a schedule storage unit 462 (acceptance period storage unit) and a point storage unit 463 .
The schedule storage unit 462 stores information such as a matching acceptance period determined in accordance with the scheduling process described later.
The point storage unit 463 stores information such as the number of points given to each player based on a match play between groups, which will be described later, and the total number of points for each group.

The inter-group competition management unit 466d performs management for inter-group competition, processing related to formation of an alliance group, and the like.

[Operation of game system 401]
FIG. 41 is a diagram explaining the flow of the inter-group battle process according to the fourth embodiment along the time axis.
FIG. 42 is a diagram explaining the flow of battle processing of the game system 401 of the fourth embodiment.
43 and 44 are diagrams showing display screens of the information terminal 410 from the request for inter-group competition to the formation of a coalition group according to the fourth embodiment.
It should be noted that the display screens in and after FIG. 43 omit the outer shape of the information terminal 410 as appropriate.

In the following, the federation group forming process, schedule setting process, battle process, and point process will be mainly described.
(Union group formation process)
Here, Ichiro (P011), the leader of the group G010, requests a match with the group G021, and the processing until the group match between the group G010 and the coalition group G020 is started will be described.
In S401, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011), who is the leader of the group G010, receives a request for inter-group competition from Ichiro (P011).
FIG. 41 shows an example of receiving a request for a match between groups on April 1st.
As shown in FIG. 43A, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) receives a request for inter-group competition by displaying an inter-group competition request screen 470 on the touch panel .
The play control unit 416a acquires information for displaying the inter-group competition request screen 470 from the server 450 as appropriate.
The inter-group competition request screen 470 displays a competition group selection section 470a, request destination group information 470b, and a request button 470c.

The competition group selection unit 470a displays selection buttons indicating group names for which competition can be requested. The competition group selection section 470a in FIG. 43A displays selection buttons for three groups G021, G031, and G090, but by scrolling the screen, more groups may be selected. .
The requested group information 470b is detailed information of the group selected by the competition group selection section 470a.
The detailed information includes the total number of people in the group, skill information (information about skill), and the like.
The detailed information has information on the skills of the entire group. That is, the skill information includes information on the number of players with low skills (ranks 1 to 3), medium skills (ranks 4 to 6), high skills (ranks 7 to 8), and highest skills (ranks 10). The display method of the skill information is not limited to this, and for example, the number of players in each rank may be displayed, or the player's name may be displayed so that the player can be identified.
In addition, in this embodiment, such detailed information of each group is also called group information.

In FIG. 43A, the detailed information of the group G021 is displayed in the requested group information 470b by selecting the group G021 in the competition group selection section 470a.
Ichiro (P011) can confirm, for example, the following from these pieces of information.
・The number of players in group G021 (4 people) is smaller than the number of players in your group G010 (9 people). being big

When Ichiro (P011) requests an inter-group battle with group G021, he can operate the request button 470c after selecting the select button for group G021.
The play control unit 416a transmits inter-group battle request information to the server 450 upon receiving the operation of the request button 470c. The inter-group battle request information has information indicating that the group G010 has issued a battle request to the group G021.

In S402, upon receiving the inter-group competition request information, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 determines whether or not the competition request from the group G010 to the group G021 is appropriate.
The inter-group battle management unit 466d determines that it is appropriate when the number of players in the group that requested the battle is greater than the number of players in the group that is the destination of the battle request. If the number of players is less than the number of players in the group, it is determined to be inappropriate.
A competition request from group G010 (9 players) to group G021 (4 players) is appropriate. Therefore, the inter-group competition management unit 466d accepts the competition request from the group G010. If the match request is inappropriate, the inter-group match management unit 466d transmits information for displaying that effect on the touch panel 14 to the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011).

Based on the above determination, the inter-group competition management unit 466d rejects an inter-group competition request from a group with a small number of players to a group with a large number of players. As a result, the competition between groups is not established in an unreasonable state.
That is, as will be described later, matching between players is established by a matching request from a player in the opponent group.
For this reason, unlike the embodiment, if a group with a small number of players is allowed to make a match request to a group with a large number of players, the group with a small number of players will receive a large number of matching requests during the match period. put away. In this case, the burden on the players in the group with a small number of players becomes heavy, and the matching itself becomes difficult to establish.

When the number of players in the group requesting the match is smaller than the number of players in the group to which the match is requested, the inter-group match management unit 466d may determine that the match request is appropriate when the difference between the two is small. In this case, the criteria for determination can be appropriately set to the extent that no problem occurs in the match between groups. The criteria for determination can be appropriately set according to, for example, the size of the group (that is, the number of players).
Judgment criteria are, for example, if the total of both groups is less than 20 people, the difference between the two is 2 people, and if the total is 20 people or more, the difference between the two is within 20% of the total group (for example, the total of both groups If there are 40 people, the difference between the two is within 4 people). The latter condition takes into account the fact that the number of players during the acceptance period (described later) increases as the group grows to some extent.

In S403, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 transmits competition request notification information to the information terminal 410 (T021) of Itta (P021). Ichita (P021) is the leader of group G021 to which Ichiro (P011) has requested a match. The battle request notification information has information for displaying the battle request notification screen 471 (see FIG. 43(B)).
In S404, as shown in FIG. 43B, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) of Ichita (P021) receives the match request notification information, and displays the match request notification screen 471 on the touch panel 14. do.

The battle request notification screen 471 displays request source group information 471a, request refusal explanation 471b, coalition formation deadline date 471c, and confirmation button 471d.
The request source group information 471a is group information of the group G010 that is the match request source.
By checking the requesting group information 471a, Ichita (P021) can confirm that the average skills of the players in the group G010 are higher than the average skills of the players in his own group G021. Therefore, Ichita (P021) can determine that the requested group competition is disadvantageous to group G021.

The request rejection explanation 471b is an explanation that the match request cannot be rejected. That is, the inter-group battle management unit 466d of the server 450 and the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021), when it is determined to be appropriate in S402, receive the battle request from the group G021 to which the battle is requested. Request rejection is not accepted.
The coalition formation deadline date 471c is a deadline date that is allowed until the group G021 forms the coalition group G020. In the example of FIG. 43(B), the coalition formation deadline is April 20th. In the embodiment, the coalition formation period is set to 5 days including the date of reception of the battle request notification. In other words, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 gives the group G021 a period (union group formation period) until the union formation deadline date.

The confirmation button 471d is a button to be operated when Ichita (P021) confirms each display content.
In S405, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) transmits the operation information to the server 450 upon accepting the operation of the confirmation button 471d.
In S406, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 receives the operation information of the confirmation button 471d.

In S407a and S407b, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) of Itta (P021) and the inter-group battle management unit 466d of the server 450 confirm that the server 450 received the operation information of the confirmation button 471d in S406. In response to this, the combined group forming process is performed by communicating the display information and operation information of the touch panel 14 between them as necessary.
The coalition group forming process is a process for forming a coalition group G020 of Ichita (P021)'s group G021, other groups, and other players in response to a request from Ichita (P021).

The federation group forming process is performed in the following procedure.
(1) As shown in FIG. 44(A), the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) of Ichita (P021) displays the association request screen 472 on the touch panel 14 in response to the operation of Ichita (P021). to display.
The coalition request screen 472 displays a coalition selection section 472a, coalition request destination group information 472b, coalition total number of persons 472c, coalition formation deadline date 472d, and a request button 472e.
The association selection unit 472a displays selection buttons displaying group names for which association can be requested. The union selection portion 472a in FIG. 44A displays selection buttons for three groups G022, G032, and G091.
The inter-group battle management unit 466d determines that the total number of players in the group G021 (4 players) and the number of players in the group to which the union is requested is the number of the group G010, which is the source of the battle request. (9 people) or less may be extracted.

The association request destination group information 472b is group information of the group selected by the association selection unit 472a.
The coalition total number 472c is the sum of the number of players in the group G021 and the number of players in the group selected by the coalition selection section 472a. In addition, when there are two or more destinations (groups, players) to which the request for coalition is made, the total number of people for coalition 472c is the current total.
Ichita (P021) considers the skills of the players in his own group G021 and the group selected by the coalition selection unit 472a, and the skills of the players in group G010, which is the opponent, to select a group to request coalition. You just have to decide.

Itta (P021) can operate the request button 472e when requesting the group selected by the association selection section 472a to join his own group G021.
In response, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) transmits the operation information of the request button 472e to the server 450. FIG.

(2) As shown in FIG. 44(B), the play control section 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) of Ichita (P021) displays the association request screen 473 on the touch panel 14 in response to the operation of Ichita (P021). to display.
While the union request screen 472 in FIG. 44A is a screen for requesting union with other groups, the union request screen 473 is a screen for requesting union with individual players. is.
The coalition request screen 473 displays a coalition selection section 473a, coalition request destination player information 473b, coalition total number of people 473c, and a request button 473e.

The coalition selection unit 473a displays selection buttons displaying names of players who can request coalition. The union selection portion 473a in FIG. 44(B) displays selection buttons for Kyusuke (P029), Kenta (P063), and Takeshi (P099).

The association request destination player information 473b is player information of the player selected by the association selection section 473a. This player information is information such as the player name, rank, belonging group, the number of coalitions, and the coalition winning rate.
The affiliation group is the name of the group to which the player selected by the union selection section 473a belongs.
The number of coalitions and the coalition win rate are history information regarding coalition groups in which the selected player has participated in the past.
The number of coalitions is the number of times the selected player participated in the coalition group in the past.
The number of coalitions is the winning percentage of the selected player's participation in the coalition group in the past.

The association request destination player information 473b in FIG. 44(B) is the player information of Kusuke (P029) because Kusuke (P029) is selected in the association selection section 473a.
In addition, the combined total number 473c is 9 because Kyusuke (P029) was selected after requesting group G022 (4 people) to join.

Ichita (P021) can examine, confirm, etc. the following through the association request destination player information 473b regarding Kyusuke (P029).
・Since it is rank 9, the skill is high. For this reason, it is enough to reinforce the skill of one's own group G021.
・Although you are not a member of a group, you have joined 10 times. For this reason, if you request an alliance, there is a high chance that you will join.
・High win rate when joining an alliance.

Ichita (P021) may determine the group in consideration of the player requesting the union, as in the case of determining the group to request the union.
Itta (P021) can operate the request button 473e when requesting the player selected by the union selection section 473a to form a union with his group G021.
In response, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) transmits the operation information of the request button 473e to the server 450. FIG.

(3) When the server 450 receives the operation information of the request button 472e or the request button 473e from the information terminal 410 (T021) through the process (1) or (2) above, the server 450 sends the association request information to the group of the association request destination. or to the information terminal 410 of the player to whom the association is requested. The coalition request information has information indicating that the group G021 has requested the coalition of the coalition group G020 (request to join the coalition group G020) to other groups or other players.

(4) Although not shown, the information terminal 410 that has received the association request information displays an inquiry screen asking whether or not to participate in the association group G020 with the group G021. This inquiry screen displays, for example, buttons for selecting participation or non-participation.
The play control unit 416 a of the information terminal 410 transmits to the server 450 operation information including information regarding participation or non-participation.
(5) The inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 updates the information in the group information storage unit 458 upon receiving this operation information from the information terminal 410 to which the participation request is made. In other words, when the received operation information includes information about participation, the inter-group competition management unit 466d stores the player IDs of the players who participate in group units or the player IDs of the players who participate individually in the group information storage unit 458. are stored in the rows of the union group G020.
In addition, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 transmits information indicating participation or non-participation to the information terminal 410 (T021) of Itta (P021) who requested participation.

(6) The play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) of Itta (P021) receives the information indicating participation or non-participation, and displays a screen (not shown) having the information on the touch panel 14 . This allows Ichita (P021) to know the result of participation or non-participation from the group and player requested to participate.
(7) The play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) of Itta (P021) and the inter-group battle management unit 466d of the server 450 perform the processes (1) to (6) described above during the coalition group formation period. Repeat. For this reason, Ichita (P021) can request another group to participate again if the requested group does not participate. As a result, Itta (P021) can organize the number of players in the coalition group G020 until it becomes the same as the number of players in the group G010 that requested the battle.
(8) When the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) and the inter-group battle management unit 466d of the server 450 reach April 5, which is the coalition formation deadline, the above processes (1) to (7) exit.

In S408, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 selects the players of the group G021 and the players stored in the row of the coalition group G020 of the group information storage unit 458 as of the coalition formation deadline date as the coalition group G020. Form a group that has
The group information storage unit 458 (after coalition formation) in FIG. 40 shows information after the coalition group G020 is formed.
Below, the formed coalition group G020 includes the players (P021 to P024) (4 people) of the group G021 who are the coalition request source, the players (P025 to P028) (4 people) of the group G022 which is the coalition request destination, An example with Kyusuke (P029) (one person), who is the destination of the association request, will be described.

In S409, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 transmits coalition formation contact information indicating the formation of the coalition group G020 to the information terminals 410 (T021 to T029) of each player of the coalition group G020.
In S410a, S410b, and S410c, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021 to T029) of each player of the coalition group G020 displays the coalition formation contact screen 474 on the touch panel 14 upon receiving the coalition formation contact information. FIG. 42 shows only the processing of the information terminals 410 (T021, T025, T029) of Ichita (P021), Gosuke (P025), and Kyusuke (P029) of the combined group G020.
The coalition formation contact screen 474 of FIG. 44(C) is displayed on the information terminal 410 (T021) of Ichita (P021).
The coalition formation contact screen 474 displays coalition group information 474a.
The coalition group information 474a has the breakdown information of the coalition group G020 in addition to the group information of the coalition group G020.
The breakdown information is information such as the group IDs of the groups that make up the coalition group G020 and the player IDs of the players.

In addition, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 transmits the coalition formation contact information to the information terminals 410 (T011 to T019) of each player of the group G010 in addition to the coalition group G020 (see S409). The play control unit 416a of the terminal 410 (T011 to T019) may receive this and display the coalition formation communication screen 474. FIG. In this case, the players of the group G010 can know the group information of the coalition group G020, which is their opponent.

Through the above processing, the game system 401 forms a coalition group G020 having the group G021 in response to a group competition request from the group G010 to the group G021.
The game system 401 has the following actions and effects by forming the coalition group G020.
(1) Since the group G021 is given a combined group formation period, the number of members belonging to both groups can be made equal. As a result, an equal match between groups can be performed.
(2) Since the combined group G020 having the groups G021 and G022 is formed, small groups (groups with a small number of members) can be combined into one. For this reason, it is possible to promote the elimination of a large number of small groups.
In addition, since the coalition group G020 will unite and compete with the group G010, which has a large number of players, the unity is strong even if the groups are different groups.

(3) The group G021 can apply for participation in the coalition group G020 not only on a group-by-group basis but also on a player-by-player basis. Therefore, the number of people in the coalition group G020 can be adjusted more finely.
(4) Group G021 cannot refuse a competition request from group G010. Therefore, group G021 needs to form coalition group G020 in order to fight on an equal footing with group G010. As a result, it is possible to further promote the elimination of the overcrowding of small groups.

Note that the process of requesting a match between groups may be modified as follows.
The inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 may accept requests for inter-group competition from small groups to large groups. In this case, the inter-group match management unit 466d may set a condition that the difference between the number of players in the small group and the number of players in the large group is smaller than the criterion. For example, as described above, the determination criteria can be appropriately set to the extent that no problem occurs in inter-group competition.

Also, the game system 401 may accept a request for inter-group competition from the coalition group G020 to another group after the coalition is formed. In this case, the game system 401 may perform processing for forming the coalition group G020 by performing the same processing as S407a and S407b. In this case, the inter-group competition management unit 466d appropriately sets the difference between the number of players in the coalition group G020 and the number of players in the other groups to the extent that no problem occurs in the inter-group competition, as described above. do it. In this case, by forming an allied group G020 having small groups, the leaders of the small groups belonging to the allied group G020 can initiate inter-group competition.

(Schedule setting process)
FIG. 45 is a diagram illustrating the flow of schedule setting processing of the game system 401 of the fourth embodiment.
FIGS. 46 to 48 are diagrams showing display screens of the information terminal 410 at the time of presetting the reception period for the competitive play according to the fourth embodiment.
The game system 401 performs a schedule setting process after forming the union group G020.
In the schedule setting process, an acceptance period (matching acceptance period), which is a period during which each player can accept a matching request during the competition period, is set prior to the competition period, which is the period during which the competition between groups is actually performed. processing.
As shown in FIG. 41, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 sets five days from April 6 to April 10 as the schedule setting period after forming the coalition group G020 on April 5. do. In addition, the inter-group match management unit 466d sets 7 days (one week) from April 11 to April 17 as the match period.
The schedule setting process for the players of the group G010 will be described below, but the schedule setting process for the players of the coalition group G020 is similarly performed.

As shown in FIG. 45, in S420, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 sends the competition guidance information including the information for displaying the competition guidance screen 475 (see FIG. 46A) to the group G010. to each information terminal 410 (T011 to T019).
In S421a and S421b, the play control unit 416a of each of the information terminals 410 (T011 to T019) displays the battle implementation guidance screen 475 on the touch panel 14 upon receiving the competition implementation guidance information.
The competition implementation guidance screen 475 of FIG. 46A is displayed on the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011) of the group G010.
The competition implementation guide screen 475 displays an overview of the inter-group competition (competition group name, holding period, etc.), a detail button 475a, and an input button 475b.
The detail button 475a is provided corresponding to the display of each group name.
Although illustration is omitted, when the detail button 475a corresponding to each group is operated, the play control unit 416a acquires the group information of each group from the server 450, and displays a display screen having the group information of each group. . Thereby, each player can confirm the group information of the opponent.

The play control unit 416a displays the reception period input screen 476 when the input button 475b is operated.
As shown in FIG. 46B, the acceptance period input screen 476 is a screen for accepting input of an acceptance period from the player.
The acceptance period input screen 476 displays an acceptance period selection table 476a and an OK button 476b.
The acceptance period selection table 476a has seven rows for seven days during the competition period (April 11 to April 17) and three time zones (previous time zone 10:00 to 14:00, middle time zone 14:00). :00 to 18:00, later time zone 18:00 to 22:00).
The information terminal 410 requests the player to set the acceptance period by displaying the acceptance period selection table 476a.
The player selects three or more cells from the cells of the reception period selection table 476a that correspond to dates and time slots that can be received when matching requests are received from other players. As a result, the player can preset a convenient time in real life for the reception period. The acceptance period selection table 476a displays "○" in the cell of the selected time period.
The player may operate the enter button 476b to confirm the selection.
In S422a, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) receives the operation of the decision button 476b, and transmits selection information of the date and time period selected in the reception period selection table 476a.
In S422b, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T012 to T019) of each player (P012 to P019) of the group G010, similarly to S422a, responds to the operation of the decision button 476b and sets the date and time zone. Send selection information.

In S423, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 receives the selection information of the date and time zone from all the players of the group G010, and determines the acceptance period from the information terminals 410 (T011 to T019) of each player. Accept presets. The inter-group competition management unit 466d transmits preset information of all the players of the group G010 to the information terminal 410 (T011) of the leader Ichiro (P011).
In S424, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011) receives these pieces of information, and displays the acceptance period adjustment screen 477 on the touch panel 14 as shown in FIG. 46(C).

In S425, as shown in FIGS. 46(C), 47(A), and 47(B), the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011) changes the reception period adjustment tables 477b, 478 Accepts the period adjustment operation using .
Acceptance period adjustment tables 477b and 478 are for the group leader to adjust the date and time zone selected by all the players in the group. In other words, since each player selects the acceptance period, multiple players' selections overlap in the same time slot. The leader of the group can adjust the acceptance period selected by the players of the group so as to satisfy the following adjustment conditions (a) to (d).
(a) Each player has three or more acceptance periods.
(b) The total number of acceptance periods for all players is 30;
(c) There are two or more later hours on weekdays.
(d) All weekend time slots are 2 or more.

The above (a) is a condition for each player in the group having three or more acceptance periods so that the battle between groups becomes an all-out battle of the entire group rather than a part of the group. The game system 401 can improve the ease with which matching can be established by thus providing a plurality of reception periods for one player.

The above (b) is a condition for facilitating matching. That is, according to (a) above, although the entire group has 21 (=3×7 days) acceptance periods, matching is more likely to be established as the acceptance period increases. Therefore, the game system 401 requests Ichiro (P011) to adjust the total acceptance period to 30, which is more than 21, thereby facilitating matching.

The above (c) and (d) are the conditions for arranging the acceptance period in the time period when matching is likely to be established.
That is, in general, on weekdays, players are more likely to secure play time in the evening or later than during morning and afternoon hours, and are more likely to secure play time all day on weekends. Therefore, the game system 401 facilitates matching by the above conditions (c) and (d).
In addition, due to the above conditions (c) and (d), the acceptance periods for both groups are arranged on all seven days during the competition period. As a result, the reception periods are arranged with less bias within the competition period, that is, are arranged evenly within the competition period. For this reason, it is easy to establish matching between players throughout the competition period.

The play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) selects the date-displayed cells in the acceptance period adjustment table 477b of FIG. ), the acceptance period adjustment table 478 and the OK button 478b are displayed.
FIG. 47(A) is the reception period adjustment table 478 for the weekday April 11 (Monday), and FIG. 47(B) is the reception period adjustment table 478 for the weekend April 17 (Sunday). be.
As shown in FIG. 47(A), the acceptance period adjustment table 478 displays cells partitioned by rows of each player and columns of three time zones. The squares corresponding to the time zones selected by each player in S422a, 422b (see FIG. 46B) display "o".
When Ichiro (P011) selects "o", the play control unit 416a changes the display of "o" to "x". As a result, the play control unit 416a receives the setting for deleting the player corresponding to "o" from the receiving period corresponding to that "o".

Ichiro (P011) considers the above conditions (a) to (d), and adjusts the reception period as follows, for example, so that group G010 can come up with a strategy that is advantageous.
・According to the above conditions (a) and (b), each player in group G010 will have at least 3 acceptance periods, and some players in group G010 will have 4 or more acceptance periods. It will be. Here, if the high-skilled players (P017 to P019) have more acceptance periods, the win rate of group G010 can be expected to increase. For this reason, Ichiro (P011) has four or more acceptance periods for high-skilled players (P017 to P019) and only three acceptance periods for low-skilled players (P011 to P013). can be adjusted to

- It is expected that the number of matches in the match play will increase as the time period during which matching is more likely to be established. Here, if the highly skilled players (P017 to P019) are placed in a time zone where matching is likely to be established, the win rate of group G010 can be expected to increase. For this reason, Ichiro (P011) places high-skilled players (P017 to P019) in late weekday hours and all weekend hours as much as possible during the acceptance period, and places low-skilled players in the front hours on weekdays. By arranging in the time zone and the middle time zone, the above conditions (c) and (d) can be satisfied.

In order to satisfy the above conditions (c) and (d), for example, in the example of FIG. 47(A), Ichiro (P011) has a high skill player (P018) play the time slot after April 11, which is a weekday. , P019) and other players are deleted. In addition, in the example of FIG. 47(B), Ichiro (P011) leaves only the high skill players (P017 to P019) and the medium skill players (P015, P016) for the time slot after April 17, which is the weekend. , have adjusted to remove other players.
It should be noted that Ichiro (P011) needs to adjust the schedule so that the above conditions (a) and (b) are satisfied in addition to the above (c) and (d). In addition, there are cases where less than two high-skilled players are selected during the later hours on weekdays or all hours on weekends. Although a detailed explanation is omitted, Ichiro (P011) may need to assign low-skilled or medium-skilled players during the later hours on weekdays or all the hours on weekends.

Ichiro (P011) can operate the decision button 478b after completing the schedule adjustment operation.
In S426, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) transmits schedule adjustment information to the server 450 in response to the operation of the enter button 478b.
In S427, upon receiving the schedule adjustment information, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 determines whether or not the schedule adjustment information satisfies the above conditions (a) to (d).
If the schedule adjustment information satisfies the above conditions (a) to (d), the inter-group competition management unit 466d determines that it is appropriate.
On the other hand, if the schedule adjustment information does not satisfy the above conditions (a) to (d), the inter-group competition management unit 466d determines that the schedule adjustment information is inappropriate. to the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011).

Although a detailed explanation is omitted, upon receiving this, the play control section 416a of Ichiro's (P011) information terminal 410 (T011) displays on the touch panel 14 information indicating that the schedule adjustment information is inappropriate. Then, the play control unit 416a receives an operation for readjusting the schedule from Ichiro (P011).
The information terminal 410, not the server 450, may determine whether or not the schedule adjustment information satisfies (a) to (d) above. In this case, information terminal 410 may make this determination before transmitting schedule adjustment information to server 450 . In this case, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) functions as a control unit (inter-group battle management unit) that executes part of the above-described processing of the control unit 66 of the server 450. FIG.

In S428, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 transmits the schedule adjustment information determined to be appropriate in S427 to the information terminals 410 (T011 to T019, T021 to T029) of all players in both groups. In addition, the inter-group competition management unit 466d stores the schedule adjustment information in the schedule storage unit 462 as fixed schedule information so as to be referred to in processing related to matching, which will be described later.
In S429a, S429b, and S429c, as shown in FIG. 48, when the play control unit 416a of each information terminal 410 (T011 to T019, T021 to T029) receives the schedule adjustment information, the reception period schedule screen 479 is displayed on the touch panel 14. Display (output) to (output part).

The reception period schedule screen 479 of FIG. 48 is displayed on the information terminal 410 (T021) of Itta (P021) of the coalition group G020.
The acceptance period schedule screen 479 informs Ichita (P021) of the acceptance period of each player in the opponent group G010 by displaying a schedule table 479a.
The schedule table 479a has the same display as the reception period adjustment table 477b and the like, that is, "o" is displayed in the cell of the match period of each player. Ichita (P021) can check the schedule for the entire competition period by scrolling the touch panel 14 left and right.

By checking the schedule table 479a, Ichita (P021) is able to plan which time period during the competition period the matching request will be made, taking into account the convenience of his/her actual life. Also, the schedule table 479a displays each player's name and each player's rank. Therefore, Ichita (P021) can consider the time period in which he can request matching that is advantageous to him.
On the other hand, each player in group G010 can confirm the reception period decided by Ichiro (P011) after he/she selects the period (S422a, 422b, see FIG. 46(B)) by confirming the schedule table 479a. .

In this way, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 and the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 perform the scheduling process, which is the process of adjusting the competition period for which the preset has been received.
Through the above processing, the game system 401 can determine the schedule for the acceptance period of the group G010 and inform both groups of the determined schedule. In addition, although the explanation is omitted, the game system 401 can also determine reception schedule processing for the combined group G020, and inform both groups of the determined schedule.

(match processing)
As shown in #451 of FIG. 41, the inter-group match management unit 466d of the server 450 starts the match processing when the match period arrives after the schedule setting process, that is, when April 11th arrives. do.
FIG. 49 is a diagram for explaining the acceptance of matching with Ichiro (P011) and the status of a matching request from Ichiro (P011) during the competition period of Ichiro (P011) in the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 50 is a diagram illustrating the flow of processing of a matching request from Ichiro (P021) to Ichiro (P011) during the acceptance period of Ichiro (P011) in the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 51 is a diagram showing a display example of the information terminal 410 during the matching process of the fourth embodiment.
Processing of the matching request to Ichiro (P011) and the processing of the matching request from Ichiro (P011) will be described below, but each player in both groups G010 and G020 is similarly processed.

As shown in FIG. 49, by the above schedule processing, Ichiro (P011) has three acceptance periods (April 12 middle time period, April 13 (Wednesday) middle time period, April 15 (Friday) ) is set after ).
In FIG. 49, the point in time indicated as "necessary" in the circle indicates the point in time when a matching request is made to Ichiro (P011) from a player of the coalition group G020. The point in time marked with "necessary" in the square indicates the point in time when Ichiro (P011) makes a matching request to the players of the coalition group G020.
The inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 performs the following processing during the reception period for Ichiro (P011).

(Matching request from player of coalition group G020 to Ichiro (P011))
As shown in FIGS. 49 and 50, as an example of this matching request, Ichiro (P011) receives Ichiro (P011) at 16:00 in the middle time zone on April 12, and Ichiro (P021) of the coalition group G020 The processing when a request for matching is made from Ichiro (P011) will be described.
During the acceptance period, Ichiro (P011) needs to wait with the information terminal 410 in an operable state in order to accept matching requests from the players of the combined group G020. During the reception period of Ichiro (P011), the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011) may execute a single play during the waiting time when the battle play is not executed. . In this case, the play control unit 416a, when receiving a matching request from a player of the coalition group G020 during the solo play, should stop or stop the processing of the solo play, and then perform the matching-related processing. .

In S440, as shown in FIG. 51A, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T021) of Itta (P021) of the coalition group G020 displays the matching request screen 480 in response to the operation of Itta (P021). is displayed on the touch panel 14 .
The matching request screen 480 displays a player selection button 480a and a matching request button 480b.
The player selection button 480a is a button for selecting an opponent to whom Ichita (P021) makes a matching request. Inside the player selection button 480a, the name of the player who is currently accepting matching among the group G010 and the rank thereof are displayed. The play control unit 416 a acquires information such as the player name from the server 450 .

At the time of FIG. 51(A), Ichiro (P011) and Jiro (P012) of the group G010 are accepting matching.
In this example, Ichita (P021) makes a matching request to Ichiro (P011). should be operated.
In addition, Saburo (P013) is in the acceptance period, but is currently playing against Kyusuke (P029) of the coalition group G020. Therefore, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 does not accept the matching request to Saburo (P013).

In S441, the play control unit 416a transmits operation information of the matching request button 480b to the server 450. FIG. As a result, the information terminal 410 (T021) sends a matching request between Ichita (P021) and Ichiro (P011) to the server 450 (that is, a matching request between the information terminals 410 (T011) and 410 (T021)). I do.

In S442, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 receives the operation information of the player selection button 480a from the information terminal 410 (T021) of Ichita (P021), and ) to accept matching requests between
In S443, the inter-group competition management unit 466d transmits a matching request between Ichita (P021) and Ichiro (P011) to Ichiro's (P011) information terminal 410 (T011).

In S444, as shown in FIG. 51B, when the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011) receives this matching request from the server 450, the matching acceptance screen 481 is displayed on the touch panel 14. do.
The matching reception screen 481 displays information indicating that there is a matching request from Ichita (P021) of the coalition group G020, and a battle start button 481a.
In S445, the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) transmits the operation information to the server 450 upon receiving the operation of the battle start button 481a from Ichiro (P011).
Note that the matching acceptance screen 481 does not have a button for rejecting a matching request. Therefore, if Ichiro (P011) receives a matching request from a player of the opponent coalition group G020 during his acceptance period, Ichiro (P011) cannot refuse the request and operates the battle start button 481a. is required.
Therefore, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 and the play control unit 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011), when Ichiro (P011) is in the acceptance period, selects Ichiro from the group player who is the opponent of the group G010. When a matching request is made to (P011), it does not accept an operation to reject it from Ichiro (P011). Thereby, the game system 401 can improve the ease with which matching is established between the players of the groups G010 and G020.

In S446, when the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 receives the operation information of the competition start button 481a from the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011), Ichiro (P011) and Itta (P021) are matched. Information indicating that it has been performed is stored in the storage unit 55 . The information in the storage unit 55 is referred to when the information terminals 410 of players other than Ichita (P021) of the coalition group G020 display the matching request screen 480 (see FIG. 51A).
In S447, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 instructs the information terminals 410 (T011) and 410 (T021) of Ichita (P021) and Ichiro (P011) to start competition play.
In S448a and S448b, the play control units 416a of the information terminals 410 (T011) and 410 (T021) of Ichita (P021) and Ichiro (P011) respond to instructions from the server 450 to (P011) starts the battle play.

The play screen 460 in FIG. 37 is a scene of a battle play between Ichita (P021) and Ichiro (P011). In this scene, Ichiro (P011) has defeated Ichita (P021).
Although not shown in FIG. 50, the play control section 416a of the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichita (P021) and Ichiro (P011) transmits the play result to the server 450 when the play ends. Upon receiving this, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 deletes from the storage unit 55 the information indicating that Ichiro (P011) and Itta (P021) have been matched.
As described above, the processing from Ichita (P021) requesting matching to Ichiro (P011) to the end of the competitive play between them ends.

It should be noted that the game system 401 performs the following process in addition to the above process during the reception period for Ichiro (P011).
(1) The inter-group competition management unit 466d does not limit the number of players of the coalition group G020 who request matching from Ichiro (P011) during the acceptance period. In other words, a player of the coalition group G020 who is outside the acceptance period can make a matching request to Ichiro (P011). Therefore, the game system 401 can improve the ease with which matching can be established during the competition period.

However, the inter-group competition management unit 466d limits the number of times of matching from Ichita (P021) to Ichiro (P011) to one during each acceptance period.
For example, Ichiro (P021) can make a matching request to Ichiro (P011) only once during the reception period for Ichiro (P011) during the middle hours on April 11th. Ichiro (P011) has three acceptance periods set during the match period, so the number of times Ichiro (P021) can make a matching request to Ichiro (P011) is one match for each acceptance period. A total of three times throughout the period.
As a result, the game system 401 can prevent the same player from making excessive matching requests for the sole purpose of acquiring points (point processing will be described later) during each acceptance period.

Note that the upper limit of the number of matching requests that can be made in each acceptance period is not limited to one, and may be any number that can suppress an excessive number of matching requests.
Also, the upper limit number of times may differ for each acceptance period. For example, the maximum number of matching requests for times when the number of matching requests is low (early hours on weekdays, middle hours, etc.) is the same as the maximum number of matching requests for times when the number of matching requests is high (late hours on weekdays, all hours on weekends, etc.). may be more than In this case, even in a time period when the number of matching requests is small, the number of matches between groups increases, so it can be expected that the matches between groups will become active.

(2) The inter-group competition management unit 466d does not accept a matching request from Ichiro's (P011) information terminal 410 (T011) to another player during the acceptance period for Ichiro (P011). The other players are all players, including the players (P021 to P029) of the coalition group G020. In addition, the game system 401 limits the players with whom Ichiro (P011) can play against each other during the acceptance period to the players of the coalition group G020 who requested matching to Ichiro (P011).
As a result, the game system 401 can improve the ease of establishing matching between the players of the groups G010 and G020.

(3) The inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450, when Ichiro (P011) receives a matching request from a player of the coalition group G020 to Ichiro (P011) during the reception period, Ichiro (P011) If the match is not accepted, Ichiro (P011) is forfeited.
It should be noted that, for example, when the matching request is not accepted, there are the following cases.
・When the battle start button 481a is not operated in the scene of S445 in FIG. For example, if Ichiro (P011) is not logged in to the game, or if the information terminal 410 (T011) is powered off, the information terminal 410 (T011) connects to the communication network 2 wirelessly. This is the case, for example, when the user is in a place where reception is not possible.

Thereby, the game system 401 can prompt the player during the acceptance period to wait in a state where the matching request can be accepted. In addition, the game system 401 can prompt the player to consider the schedule of real life in detail when setting the reception period (S422a, 422b, see FIG. 46B).

(4) In addition, in the process of losing by default in (3) above, a grace period (for example, 10 minutes, etc.) elapses after a matching request is sent to the information terminal 410 (T011) of Ichiro (P011) from a player of the coalition group G020. Thus, Ichiro (P011) may be determined to be defeated by default. This is because it may be difficult for Ichiro (P011) to constantly monitor the state of the information terminal 410 (T011) during the reception period in order to confirm whether or not there is a matching request.
As a result, the game system 401 can allow the player to take a short break even during the acceptance period.

(Request for matching from Ichiro (P011) to a player of the coalition group G020)
Contrary to the above, a matching request from Ichiro (P011) to the players of the coalition group G020 will be described.
The inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 accepts a competition request from Ichiro (P011) to a player within the acceptance period of the coalition group G020 while Ichiro (P011) is outside the acceptance period during the competition period.
For example, Ichiro (P011) is outside the acceptance period in the time period after April 12th in FIG. During this time period, Ichiro (P011) is making a matching request to two members of the combined group G020.
In this way, Ichiro (P011) is able to play a match while he is out of the acceptance period by making a matching request to the players of the coalition group G020 who are opponents within the acceptance period. .

The game system 401 has the following actions and effects through the schedule setting process and the battle process described above.
Since each player can set the acceptance period in advance, it is possible to accept a battle request at a convenient time in real life. Therefore, each player is not matched at an inconvenient time. In addition, matching between each player and the opponent requesting matching can be established during the acceptance period set in advance by each player. Therefore, the competition period can be implemented over a long period of time (eg, several days) instead of a predetermined short period (eg, several hours).

(point processing)
FIG. 52 is a diagram illustrating the process of giving points to Ichiro (P011) of group G010 in the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 53 is a table for explaining the points given to each player and the total points of each group in the fourth embodiment.
The inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 determines whether the inter-group competition is won or lost based on the total points given to each player.
The process of giving points to Ichiro (P011) will be described below as an example, but the other players are processed in the same way.

As shown in the time period after April 12 in FIG. 52, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 decides to play competition after Ichiro (P011) makes a matching request to the players of the coalition group G020. Accordingly, 1 point is given to Ichiro (P011). Then, when Ichiro (P011) wins the battle play, the inter-group competition management unit 466d gives Ichiro (P011) 1 point as a point according to the victory. Moreover, even if Ichiro (P011) loses in the battle play, the inter-group battle management unit 466d does not subtract the owned points.

For this reason, Ichiro (P011) first makes a matching request without worrying about the rank difference, and by establishing a matching, can obtain one point.
Therefore, the game system 401 can strongly urge each player to make a matching request to the players of the opponent's group in each time period. As a result, the game system 401 can realize a greater number of competitive plays during the competitive period, thereby activating the inter-group competition.
Furthermore, Ichiro (P011) is required to play the battle play seriously in order to obtain 1 point corresponding to victory in addition to the 1 point at the time of matching request.

On the other hand, as shown in the middle time period on April 11th in FIG. , points are not increased or decreased for Ichiro (P011), regardless of whether the match is won or lost.
However, when Ichiro (P011) is defeated in this competitive play and Ichiro (P021), who is the opponent, wins, the inter-group competition management unit 466d issues a matching request to Ichiro (P021). In addition to the 1 point of , 1 point will be awarded according to the victory. Therefore, if Ichiro (P011) loses in the battle play based on Ichiro (P011)'s matching request, Ichiro (P011)'s group G010 will be at a disadvantage in terms of victory or defeat among the groups. For this reason, Ichiro (P011) is required to play seriously even in the competitive play based on the matching request.

Here, the relationship between the point processing and the schedule setting processing described above will be described.
It is the period during which a large number of competitive plays are performed, that is, the period during which matching requests are likely to be made, that greatly affects the win or loss between groups. For this reason, the arrangement of players during a period during which matching requests are likely to be made will be described here.
The leaders of both groups can determine the schedule, for example, taking into account the following:

(Placement of players during the match period)
・When high-skilled players are placed and low-skilled players are not placed during periods when matching is likely to be requested In this case, high-skilled players in the own group will be matched by players in the other group. , in this competitive play, the probability of winning is high, so it becomes difficult for the opponent group to acquire points. On the other hand, since low-skilled players in their own group will request matching from players in the opposing group, the probability of losing in this competitive play is high, so only points based on matching requests can be earned, and points based on victories can be earned. Hard to get points.
For this reason, groups that are scheduled in this way tend to be more defensive.

・When low-skilled players are placed and high-skilled players are not placed during periods when matching requests are likely to be made, in this case, low-skilled players in the own group will be matched by players in the other group. , in this competitive play, the probability of losing is high, so it is easy for the opponent group to acquire points. On the other hand, since highly skilled players in their own group will request matching from players in the opposing group, the probability of winning in this competitive play increases. Easy to earn points.
For this reason, groups that have undergone scheduling processing in this way tend to be aggressive.

Also, whether each leader should be in a defensive or offensive attitude can be determined by taking into consideration the total number of people on the reception period adjustment screen 477 shown in FIG. 46(C).
For example, each leader can expect that the greater the total number of people, the greater the number of matching requests to the other group. That is, in the example of FIG. 46(C), the total number of players is 70, and 30 of them are assigned to each competition period. Since the acceptance period is not set for the remaining total of 40 players, these 40 players can make a matching request to the players of the opponent group during this period. Therefore, the larger the total number of players, the more aggressive the group can be and the more advantageous it is to win or lose the match between groups.

(Processing at the end of the competition period)
As shown in the granted point table of FIG. 53, the inter-group competition management unit 466d of the server 450 totals the total points granted to the entire group when the competition period ends. Then, the inter-group competition management unit 466d determines that the group with the higher total points wins. In this example, group G010 is the winner.
Also, in this example, the inter-group competition management unit 466d does not give the player (P025 to P029) a privilege because the coalition group G020 has been defeated, but unlike this example, the coalition group G020 has won. In this case, a privilege is given to each player (P021 to P029) participating in the coalition group G020. The privilege may be anything that is beneficial to the player, such as an item that can be worn by the character C, for example.
It should be noted that the privilege-related processing may be performed not only for the combined group G020 but also for the group G010.
Then, the inter-group competition management unit 466d stores various types of information on the inter-group competition (information on winning or losing, etc.) in the storage unit 55, and ends the series of processes.
After the inter-group competition ends, the inter-group competition management unit 466d may accept the intention of the players of the coalition group G020 from the information terminal 410, and allow the coalition group G020 to remain without being dissolved. In this case, the allied group G020 may request a revenge match against the group G010, since the winning/losing margin in the above example is close.

Through the above-described point processing, the game system 401 strongly urges each player to make a matching request to the players in the opponent's group who are accepting the competition. As a result, the inter-group battle can be carried out as an all-out battle of not only a part of the players in the group but also all the players.

The game system 401 of this embodiment can be modified as follows.
(1) The coalition group G020 does not have the group G022, and may be a coalition of the players of the group G021 and one or more players who do not belong to the group.
(2) The inter-group match management unit 466d may accept a request for an inter-group match against the group G010 from the group G021, which has fewer members than the group G010. In this case, before requesting the inter-group competition, the inter-group competition management unit 466d performs processing related to the formation of the coalition group G020 having the group G021, and then accepts the inter-group competition from the coalition group G020. can be

(3) Competing players may be played not between the information terminals 410 owned by the players, but between the game machines in the store. In this case, the player should go to the store during the acceptance period and wait for the matching request in a state where the game machine can be operated.
(4) Part of the processing of the inter-group match management section 466d of the server 450 may be performed by the play control section 416a of the information terminal 410. FIG.
(5) A winning group in an inter-group competition may absorb a defeated group.

(6) Arrangement of acceptance periods, that is, schedules, can be set by the player, but may be set irregularly or according to set conditions by the inter-group competition management unit 466d. The setting condition is, for example, setting a time zone in which matching is likely to be established with a high-skilled player.

(Fifth embodiment)
FIG. 54 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the configuration of the game system 501 of the fifth embodiment and the outline of the competition between groups.
FIG. 54 omits illustration of each configuration. The game machine 530 and the server 550 have configurations similar to those of the first embodiment (see FIG. 2 and the like), the fourth embodiment (see FIG. 38 and the like), and the like. That is, the game machine 530 includes a game program 535 a in the storage section 535 and a play control section 536 a in the control section 536 . The server 550 includes a game management program 555a of the storage unit 555, a group competition management unit 566d of the control unit 566, and the like. Also, each player may own an information terminal (see FIG. 2, etc.), as in the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 54, the game system 501 performs processing relating to inter-group competition between groups G010 (first group) and G020 (second group). The skills of the entire group are higher in group G010 than in group G020, that is, the players in group G010 have higher skills than the players in group G020.
The game system 501 uses the game machine 530 in the store to perform the competition between groups, as in the first embodiment. Groups G010 and G020 may be combined groups formed by the same processing as in the fourth embodiment.
FIG. 54 shows that Ichiro (P011) of the nine players (P011 to P019) (first player) of the group G010 plays on the game machine 530 (M011) of the store A011, and the nine players of the group G020 ( P021 to P029) (second players), Ichita (P021), Nita (P022), and Santa (P023) are playing on the game machines 530 (M021 to M023) of stores A021 to A023, respectively. is.

As in the fourth embodiment, the inter-group competition of this embodiment is executed in response to one group (group G010, etc.) requesting the other group (group G020, etc.) to participate in a group competition (Fig. 42 S401 to S406, etc.).
Also, although illustration is omitted, the inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 sets the competition period of the inter-group competition similarly to the fourth embodiment, and displays the competition implementation guide screen 475 ( (see FIG. 46(a)) is performed. In this embodiment, the competition period is set, for example, from May 11th to May 17th.
After that, as in the fourth embodiment, the game system 501 starts processing regarding the battle play between the players of both groups in response to the arrival of the battle period.

Processing related to battle play will be described in detail.
FIG. 55 is a diagram for explaining a part of the processing of the battle play of the inter-group battle of the fifth embodiment along the time axis.
FIG. 55 explains the processing from 18:00 to 19:00 on May 11th.
The game system 501 performs battle play processing in the following order.
(1) The inter-group competition management unit 566d receives a matching request according to the operation of each game machine 530 (M011, M021 to M023) of each player (P011, P021 to P023). In the present embodiment, receiving a matching request from each player and waiting for matching with other players to be processed) is also called an entry.
In this case, the inter-group battle management unit 566d limits the number of players who can enter at the same time so that the total skills of the players who requested matching for one group is within 10 ranks.

From 18:00 to 19:00, Ichiro (P011) has entered group G010 and his total skill level is 10. Therefore, the inter-group battle management unit 566d selects other players from group G010. does not allow
On the other hand, for group G020, Ichita (P021), Nita (P022), and Santa (P023) are entered at the same time, and their total skill level is 5. From G020, one or more other players are allowed to enter within the range of 5 remaining ranks.
In this way, the number of players who can enter simultaneously in group G010 becomes smaller than that in group G020 by the highly skilled Ichiro (P011) making a matching request from group G010. Therefore, the number of plays per player is smaller in group G010 than in group G020. As a result, the game system 501 can create a situation in which a high-skilled player concentrates on competitive play with a plurality of low-skilled players.

(Processing related to Battle 1)
(2) The inter-group match management unit 566d of the server 550 performs matching processing for match 1, which is the first match, among the players in the entries.
That is, the inter-group competition management unit 566d matches Ichiro (P011) of group G010 with one of Itta (P021), Nita (P022), and Mita (P023) of group G020. In the example of FIG. 55, in match 1, Ichiro (P011) and Ichita (P021) are matched.
(3) The inter-group competition management unit 566d instructs the game machines 530 of the two matched players via the communication network 2 to start competition play.

(4) The play control unit 536a of each game machine 530 of the matched players starts a battle play according to an instruction from the server 550. FIG.
Although detailed description is omitted, the play control unit 536a performs processing for playing the fighting game in the same manner as in the first embodiment.
In addition, the battle play is a battle between three characters, each of which has HP of 100P, and the total HP of the three characters is HP of 300P.

At the end of the battle, Ichiro (P011)'s HP has decreased from 300P to 250P, and the first character has a remaining HP, while Itta (P021)'s HP has decreased from 300P to 0P. , and the third character is HP0P.
Therefore, the play control unit 536a determines that Ichiro (P011) (winning player) at rank 10 has won against Itta (P021) at rank 1, based on the HP.
The play control unit 536a transmits the play result to the server 550. FIG.

(5) The play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 executes processing for recovering the HP of the character of Ichita (P021) who has been defeated in response to the end of the play. In an embodiment, the HP300P recovery time is 10 minutes. Note that the processing related to HP recovery may be executed by the inter-group battle management unit 566d of the server 550. FIG.

(6) The inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 performs point award processing based on the play result received from the game machine 530. FIG. In the point awarding process, victory points are awarded to the winning player, while victory points are not awarded to the defeated player, and points are not increased or decreased.
In addition, the inter-group match management unit 566d gives more victory points to the winning player as the rank (skill) of the opponent (defeated player) is higher. In this embodiment, the same number of points as the rank is given. Therefore, for example, if the player wins against a tier 1 opponent, the player is awarded 1 victory point, and if the player wins against a tier 10 opponent, the player is awarded 10 victory points.
In match 1, Ichiro (P011), who won, is given 1 victory point corresponding to rank 1 of his opponent, Ichita (P021).

(Processing related to battle 2)
(7) The inter-group match management unit 566d of the server 550 performs matching processing for match 2 (next play), which is the second match.
In this case, the inter-group competition management unit 566d excludes Ichiro (P011)'s matching partner, Ichita (P021), who is recovering HP according to (5) above, from among the entered players. It should be noted that the inter-group competition management unit 566d may exclude Ichita (P021) from the players in the entry.
As a result, in the match 2, the inter-group match management unit 566d selects Ichiro (P011) and Ichita (P021) or Nita (P022) rather than matching Ichiro (P011) and Ichita (P021) again. Also, the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 does not execute the match play between Ichiro (P011) and Ichita (P021) during the recovery period.
In the example of FIG. 55, in match 2, Ichiro (P011) and Nita (P022) are matched.
For this reason, Ichiro (P011) never gets bored with the game even if he fights continuously with the same low-skilled player.

(8) Similar to (3) to (7) above, the inter-group battle management unit 566d of the server 550 and the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 control the battle play between Ichiro (P011) and Nita (P022). process. In this example, Ichiro (P011), who is ranked 10th, beats Futa (P022), who is ranked 2nd.
However, the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 reflects the HP 250 of the character Ichiro (P011) who won in the battle 1 to the character HP of the character Ichiro (P011) in the battle 2. Therefore, in Battle 2, the first character of Ichiro (P011) starts the battle with HP of 50P. In this case, the play control unit 536a may recover only a portion of the HP without recovering the full HP, as in the first embodiment (see S26 and the like in FIG. 8).

If Ichiro (P011) wins consecutively in subsequent games, the play control unit 536a continues the process of carrying over the HP of the character to the next game. Therefore, as Ichiro (P011) wins in a row, the character's initial physical strength decreases, and he becomes disadvantageous from the next game onwards.

(Processing related to Battle 3)
(9) The inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 performs matching processing for the competition 3, which is the third competition, when the competition 2 ends.
At the time of the matching process of match 3, Ichita (P021) and Nita (P022) are in the HP recovery period. Therefore, the inter-group competition management unit 566d excludes Ichiro (P011)'s matching opponents, Ichiro (P021) and Nita (P022), who are performing HP recovery processing, from among the players in the entry. . Therefore, the inter-group competition management unit 566d matches Ichiro (P011) and Santa (P023).
(10) Similar to (3) to (7) above, the inter-group battle management unit 566d of the server 550 and the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 control the battle play between Ichiro (P011) and Santa (P023). process. In this example, Ichiro (P011), who is ranked 10th, beats Santa (P023), who is ranked 2nd.
At the start of match 3, the character HP of Ichiro (P011) is HP 200P. Therefore, the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 performs a battle using two characters for Ichiro (P011), corresponding to HP 200P.

(Processing related to battle 4)
(11) The inter-group match management unit 566d of the server 550 performs matching processing for the match 4, which is the fourth match, when the match 3 ends.
At the time of the matching process of match 4, Ichita (P021) has finished his recovery period, and Nita (P022) and Santa (P023) are still within their recovery period. Therefore, the inter-group competition management unit 566d matches Ichiro (P011) and Ichita (P021).
(12) Similar to (3) to (7) above, the inter-group battle management unit 566d of the server 550 and the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 control the battle play between Ichiro (P011) and Ichita (P021). process. In this example, Ichiro (P011) beats Ichita (P021).

(Processing related to battle 5)
(13) The inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 matches Ichiro (P011) and Nita (P022) in the same manner as in competition 4. Also, the inter-group battle management unit 566d of the server 550 and the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 process the battle play between Ichiro (P011) and Nita (P022). In this example, Ichiro (P011) beats Nita (P022).
At the start of match 5, the character HP of Ichiro (P011) is HP 100P. For this reason, the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 performs a battle using one character corresponding to HP100P for Ichiro (P011).

(Processing related to battle 6)
(14) The inter-group match management unit 566d of the server 550 matches Ichiro (P011) and Santa (P023) in the same way as in match 4. Also, the inter-group battle management unit 566d of the server 550 and the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 process the battle play between Ichiro (P011) and Santa (P023).
At the start of match 6, Ichiro (P011)'s characters have a total HP of 50P, so Ichiro (P011) will fight with only one character with HP of 50P. On the other hand, Santa (P023)'s character HP has a total HP of 300 HP, so Santa (P023) will fight with three characters with HP of 100 HP as usual. Therefore, Santa (P023) is advantageous even if his skill is lower than that of Ichiro (P011).

In the example of FIG. 55, at the end of play, the character HP of Ichiro (P011) is HP0P, and the character HP of Santa (P023) is HP10P. Therefore, the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 determines that Santa (P023) has won.
The play control unit 536a transmits the play result to the server 550. FIG.

(15) The inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 performs point award processing for the competition 6 based on the play result received from the game machine 530 .
The inter-group match management unit 566d gives the victorious Santa (P023) 10 victory points corresponding to the 10 rank of the opponent Ichiro (P011).

The inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 gives a total of 8 victory points to Ichiro (P011) of the group G010 through the processes (1) to (15) above, and Itta (P021) of the group G020 ), Nita (P022), and Mita (P023) will be given a total of 10 victory points.
Therefore, at least from 18:00 to 19:00 on May 11th, the group G020 won the group G010 in terms of wins and losses among the groups. In other words, the group in which the low-skilled players have entered has won against the group in which the high-skilled players have entered.
As in the fourth embodiment, the inter-group match management unit 566d of the server 550 determines whether the group wins or loses based on the total victory points of the players during the match period. In addition, since the inter-group match management unit 566d of the server 550 and the play control unit 536a of the game machine 530 continue the same processes as the above (1) to (15) during the match period, there are many low-skilled players. Even if it is a group, it can be expected to win against a group with many highly skilled players.

As described above, the game system 501 of this embodiment restricts the players from the same group who can enter at the same time based on their skills, and gives more points to the players as they win against players with higher skills. . As a result, even if there is a large skill difference between the groups, it is possible to perform an equal match between the groups.

The game system 501 of this embodiment can be modified as follows.
(1) Competitive play may be performed between information terminals possessed by players instead of between the game machines 530 in the store.
(2) In the above example, when a player newly enters the group G020, the matching process may be performed by adding the newly entered player.

(3) The inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 may transmit the status of the inter-group competition to the information terminals owned by the players. In this case, the player can determine whether or not to go to the shop by checking the status of the inter-group battle at the present time on the touch panel of the information terminal or the like, and determining whether entry is possible. .
For example, in the example of FIG. 55, the players of group G010 can determine that they cannot enter even if they go to the store by checking the status of the inter-group match at the present time, while the players of group G020 can similarly check the status of the match between groups. It can be determined that entry can be made by going to

(4) The control unit of the game machine 530 in the store may charge a fixed rate per hour from the players who are competing between groups (for example, hourly rental of 1000 yen per hour). As a result, the store is profitable even if the player occupies the game machine during the inter-group competition, and the player is not charged an extremely large amount for the inter-group competition.

(5) The inter-group competition management unit 566d of the server 550 may increase or decrease the upper limit of the total skills of players who can make matching requests per group according to the status of matching requests from both groups. Thereby, the inter-group competition management unit 566d can increase or decrease the number of players who can enter at the same time according to the acceptance status of the matching request operation.
In this case, the inter-group competition management unit 566d receives, for example, a matching request operation for two high-skilled players from the group G010, and a matching request operation for six or more low-skilled players from the group G020. If accepted, the total skill level per group may be set at 20th level, and the number of players who can enter within the 20th level may be limited.
As a result, a plurality of competitive plays between groups can be executed at the same time, so the waiting time until matching is established can be reduced, and moreover, the competitive play between groups can be made active.

Although the embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. within the scope of Moreover, the effects described in the embodiments and the like are only part of the preferred effects of the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are not limited to those described in the embodiments and the like. It should be noted that the configuration of the embodiment, part of the embodiment, modified form, and part of the modified form can be used by using only part of them or by appropriately combining them, but detailed description thereof will be omitted.

(deformed form)
(1) In the embodiments, the game program is executed on a game machine or an information terminal, but it is not limited to this. For example, the game program is executed by a server and may relate to a browser game that operates on a WEB page displayed on a game machine or information terminal.

(2) In the embodiment, the game is a fighting game or RPG, but the game is not limited to this. The type of the game is not limited as long as it can be a competitive game, and may be, for example, a shogi game, a sports game such as baseball, or a shooting game.
(3) In the embodiment, the competitive game is played by knockout, but is not limited to this. A match game may be played until all the players in one group are defeated by having the winning player have the right to play again and the defeated player losing the right to play again. good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,201,301,401,501... Game system 5... Store server 10,210,310,410... Information terminal 14... Touch panel 15,35,55,415,535,555... Storage part 15a... Group program 16,36 , 66, 416, 566... Control unit 16a... Position information acquisition unit 30, 530... Game machine 33... Operation unit 34... Display unit 35a, 415a, 535a... Game program 36a, 416a, 536a... Play control unit 50, 250, 350, 450, 550... Mackerel 53... Operation unit 55a... Game management program 56, 256, 356, 456... Player information storage unit 56a... Player ID storage unit 56b... Player name storage unit 56c... Level storage unit 56e, 356e... Play History storage unit 57 Strong player storage unit 58, 258, 358, 458 Group information storage unit 59 Store information storage unit 60 Game machine information storage unit 66a Matching unit 215c, 315c, 415c Player management program 256f, 356f Registered store storage unit 261 Priority matching player storage unit 266b Rank management unit 266c Group guidance unit 366d, 466d, 566d Inter-group competition management unit 462 Schedule storage unit 463 Point storage unit

Claims (5)

A plurality of game machines capable of playing a competitive game between players and arranged in a store, an information terminal owned by each player, and a server communicably connected to the game machine and the information terminal. a game system,
The server is
a group information storage unit that stores group information that is information about a group having at least one first player and a second player;
a search target player storage unit that stores information about search target players who are search targets for the group;
a play history storage unit that stores play histories of the first player and the second player;
and a control unit,
The control unit of the server,
extracting and setting, as a search target player, a player whose skill is equal to or greater than a set value and whose second player has been defeated in the past by referring to the play history storage unit;
transmitting search target player battle information to the information terminal of the second player in response to matching between the first player and the search target player based on the information in the search target player storage unit;
performing matching processing between the second player and the search target player in response to a request from the second player;
A game system characterized by The game system according to claim 1,
The group information storage unit stores group information having a plurality of second players,
The control unit of the server extracts and sets, as search target players, players to whom two or more of the plurality of second players have been defeated in the past;
A game system characterized by In the game system according to claim 1 or claim 2 ,
The control unit of the server,
Matching between the second player and the search target player when a matching request for the search target player is received from the information terminal of the second player to which the search target player battle information is transmitted or from the game machine played by the second player is given priority over matching of other players different from the second player and the search target player,
A game system characterized by In the game system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The control unit of the server,
Receiving a matching request between the second player and the search target player from the information terminal of the second player that transmitted the search target player battle information;
A game system characterized by In the game system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
Each information terminal
A location information acquisition unit that acquires location information,
The server is
Based on the location information acquired by the location information acquiring units of the plurality of information terminals, the travel time or distance between each information terminal and the store is acquired, and based on the acquired travel time or distance, match information of the search target player is obtained. determining the information terminal to transmit;
A game system characterized by

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