JPH09140857A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game machine having a high eye catch effect even at the game stand-by. SOLUTION: The second game board 20 made of a transparent resin is provided on the first game board 12, and an air blowout pipe blowing air along the inner circumferential face is provided. External force is applied to a ball B rotated on the inner circumferential face 26 of the second game board 20 by the air blown from the air blowout pipe. The ball B is continuously rotated on the inner circumferential face 26 of the second game board 20 until the force feed of the air is stopped. The ball B is continuously rotated on a circulative track even when no game is played, the eye catch effect is increased, and the playing frequency of a game machine can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game machine such as a roulette game machine or a pachinko game machine which rolls balls on a game board to play.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a roulette game machine,
The wheel which constitutes the play board is composed of an annular fixed wheel and a rotating wheel which rotates within the fixed wheel.
A winning number is given to the outer periphery of the rotary wheel.
When the game is started, the rotating wheel is rotated, and then the ball is ejected from the circumferential surface of the fixed wheel, and moves around the circumferential surface of the fixed wheel by the action of centrifugal force. When the centrifugal force ceases to act, the ball separates from the peripheral surface of the fixed wheel and rolls on the rotating wheel. Then, when the rotation speed of the rotary wheel decreases, the balls are accommodated in any one of the ball accommodating portions formed in the rotary wheel. Then, when the number given to the ball containing portion containing the ball and the number bet by the player match, a predetermined prize (for example, a coin) is paid out.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional roulette game machine has the following problems.

(1) In a game machine waiting for a game due to absence of a player or the like, since the ball does not roll on the wheel, the eye catching effect is low and the frequency of playing the game machine is low.

(2) The ball is discharged to the wheel at the start of the game by using an actuator such as a solenoid or an air pump. In these actuators and air pumps, the impact given to the ball is always the same, so the time for the ball to move around the peripheral surface of the fixed wheel is almost constant. Therefore, the fun of the game is reduced. In order to solve this problem, it is possible to change the impact on the ball to change the initial speed when the ball moves around the fixed wheel, but to change the impact on the ball for each game. However, there is a problem that the cost becomes high because the configuration of is very complicated.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a first object thereof is to provide a game machine having a high eye-catching effect even while the game is on standby.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a game machine capable of adjusting the orbital movement time of a ball on a game board with a simple structure.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claim 1, in a game machine in which a ball rolls on a play board, the ball orbits on the play board by centrifugal force. The moving orbit is provided so that it can be seen from the outside, and when the ball is orbiting on the orbit, air is blown to the ball to impart an external force to the ball to keep the orbit moving. The gist of this is to provide an external force applying means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the play board is composed of a first play board and a second play board provided with a ball drop port and provided above the first play board. The gist of the orbit is that it is provided on the second play board.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the ball is provided so as to be able to appear in and out of the rotary orbit, and when the ball collides with the orbiting ball on the orbit, the ball is forcibly slid from the orbit. The gist of this is to provide an interference member.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the external force imparting means is composed of a pump and a pipe connected to the pump, and the balls pass through the pipe from the tip of the pipe to a circular orbit by an air pressure. The gist is that an external force is applied by the air discharged and blown from the pipe.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, the gist of the invention is that the ball rolls in the pipe by its own weight after the game is finished and is automatically collected. Therefore, in the invention according to the first aspect, the air is blown from the external force applying means to the ball even while the game is on standby, so that the ball continues to move on the orbit. When slipping the ball from the orbit, if the air from the external force applying means is stopped (or the pressure is reduced to a pressure at which the centrifugal force does not act on the ball), the centrifugal force of the ball becomes small and the ball moves on the orbit. Slip off.

According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the invention, the ball rotates on the orbit of the second play board provided above. When the air from the external force imparting means is stopped (or lowered), the ball drops from the second play board onto the first play board.

According to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the invention, the ball that orbits on the orbit is forcibly displaced from the orbit by colliding with the interference member.

According to the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the function of the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 3, after the ball is discharged from the tip of the pipe to the orbit by air pressure, It rotates on the orbit by the momentum when it is released. An external force is applied to the ball by the air blown from the pipe during the rotation.

According to the invention of claim 5, claim 4
In addition to the effect of the invention described in (1), the ball rolls by its own weight after the game ends and is automatically collected in the pipe,
The configuration for setting the ball on the pipe is simplified.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) A first embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a roulette game machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a first play board 12 is provided on the upper surface of a body 11 which constitutes a roulette game machine. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the first play board 1
2 is a fixed wheel 13 that cannot rotate with respect to the body 11,
The rotary wheel 15 is rotatable with respect to the fixed wheel 13, and a support plate 22 is provided at the center of rotation of the rotary wheel 15 and is not rotatable with respect to the fixed wheel 13. The rotary wheel 15 is provided with a plurality of concave ball accommodating portions 14 for accommodating and holding the balls B. A prize number 16 is given to each ball housing portion 14. As shown in FIG. 2, a tubular shaft 17 is connected to the rotary wheel 15, and a motor 18 is connected to the shaft 17. Therefore, the rotating wheel 15 is positively rotated by driving the motor 18. In addition, a prize number selection button 19 for selecting a prize number is provided on the upper surface of the body 11.

A second play board 20 is provided above the first play board 12. The second play board 20 is formed in a bowl shape made of transparent resin, and an opening 23 is formed in the center of a tapered bottom surface 29. The second play board 20 is connected to the first play board 12 via the three pins 21.
Is connected to the support plate 22. The inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20 serves as an orbit around which the ball B moves.

An air blowing pipe 24 projects from the center of the support plate 22, and the air blowing pipe 24 enters the second play board 20 through the opening 23 of the second play board 20. The gap formed between the inner peripheral edge of the opening 23 and the outer peripheral surface of the air blow-out pipe 24 is defined as a drop opening 23a of the ball B.

The air blowing pipe 24 is separated from the inner peripheral surface 26 and the bottom surface 29 of the second play board 20 by a predetermined distance, and is curved along the inner peripheral surface 26. The tip of the air blowing pipe 24 has an injection needle-like shape, and is provided at a predetermined angle to face the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20. On the other hand, the air outlet pipe 24 penetrating downward from the support plate 22 passes through the inside of the shaft 17 and is connected to the pump 25. The pump 25 pumps air from the tip of the air blowing pipe 24 toward the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20. The inner diameter of the air blowing pipe 24 is the same as that of the ball B.
Slightly larger than the diameter of.

An air blowing pipe 24 near the pump 25
A ball recovery pipe 28 communicates with the. And
The ball collecting pipe 28 communicates with a ball collecting bucket 27 provided below the first play board 12. The play boards 12 and 20 have a hemispherical transparent cover 30.
Covered by

Next, the operation of the roulette game machine configured as described above will be described. Before the power supply to the game machine is turned on, the ball B is housed in the air blowing pipe 24 (position in FIG. 2). Then, when the game machine is powered on, the pump 25 is driven to drive the air blowing pipe 24.
Air is pumped to. As a result, the ball B is guided upward by the air blowing pipe 24 and discharged to the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20 (position in FIG. 2). At this time, since the ball B is urged by the air pressure, the ball B is rotated along the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20 by the centrifugal force (the position shown in FIG. 2). The pump 2
5 continues to be driven even after the ball B is discharged to the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20, and air continues to be blown from the air blowing pipe 24.

Each time the ball B moves around the inner peripheral surface 26 and reaches a portion facing the tip of the air blowing pipe 24,
The air blown from the air blowing pipe 24 gives an external force (a force in the circumferential direction of the ball B) to the ball B. As a result, the ball B continues to orbit along the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20.

When the game is started, the number that is likely to win will be predicted and selected by the winning number selection button 19. When the winning number 16 is selected, the motor 1
8 is driven, and the rotary wheel 15 rotates. When a predetermined time has passed since the rotary wheel 15 was rotated, the pump 25
Drive stops. That is, the blowing of air from the air blowing pipe 24 is stopped, and the inner peripheral surface 2 of the second play board 20 is stopped.
The external force is stopped from being applied to the ball B moving around 6 and the centrifugal force acting on the ball B is reduced. Then, when the centrifugal force acting on the ball B disappears, the ball B comes off the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20, passes through the bottom surface 29 (the position of FIG. 2), and then falls from the drop opening 23a to the first position. Play board 12
Drops up (position in Figure 2).

After the ball B falls on the first play board 12, the ball B rolls on the first play board 12 as the rotary wheel 15 rotates. Then, when the rotation speed of the rotary wheel 15 decreases, the ball B is accommodated and held in one of the ball accommodating portions 14 (position in FIG. 2). At this time, the winning number selected by the player before the game starts and the winning number 1 corresponding to the ball housing portion 14 in which the ball B is housed and held.
When 6 matches, a prize such as a medal is paid out. This completes one game.

When the game is over, the balls are collected by a ball collecting mechanism (not shown), and the ball collecting bucket 2
7 (the position shown in FIG. 2). Then, the ball B is guided by the ball collecting pipe 28 and rolls by its own weight,
It returns to a predetermined position (position in FIG. 2) in the air blowing pipe 24. As a result, the ball B is again moved to the second game board 2
It is discharged to 0 and moves around the inner peripheral surface 26. Then, the ball B is in the second game board 2 until the next game starts.
The inner peripheral surface 26 of 0 continues to rotate.

In this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained by configuring the roulette game machine as described above. (1) Since the ball B moves around the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20 even while the game is on standby, the eye catching effect is high and the frequency of game play can be improved.

(2) The timing at which the ball B falls on the first play board can be easily changed by simply changing the stop timing of the air pressure feed from the pump 25.
That is, the ball B is moved to the inner peripheral surface 2 of the second play board 20 without changing the pressure of air when the ball B is discharged.
6 It is possible to change the timing of shifting from above. As a result, the orbiting time of the ball B can be adjusted with a simple structure.

(3) A mechanism for ejecting the ball B onto the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20 (air blowing pipe 24 and pump 25) and a mechanism for applying an external force to the ball B (air blowing pipe) Since 24 and the pump 25) are also used, the number of parts can be reduced.

(4) After the game is finished, the ball B rolls by its own weight and is automatically collected by the air blowing pipe 24. Therefore, the structure for setting the ball B on the air blowing pipe 24 is simplified. it can.

(5) Since the orbit of the ball B (the inner peripheral surface 26 of the second play board 20) is provided above the first play board, it is easy to see even from a distant position, and the eye is more visible. The catching effect can be improved.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, the game board is embodied as a roulette game machine held horizontally, but as shown in FIG. 5, the game board 41 may be embodied as a pachinko game machine held vertically. Good. That is, a ball guide plate 43 is formed on the peripheral surface of the board surface 42 constituting the play board 41 so as to project forward. In the present embodiment, the inner peripheral surface 44 of the ball guide plate 43 serves as a circular orbit. The board surface 42 is provided with a plurality of winning openings 45 and nails 46.

A notch (not shown) is provided in a part of the ball guide plate 43, and an actuator 47 is provided in the vicinity of the notch as an interference member which is switched between two positions of a solid line position and a dotted line position to rotate. Half moon shaped cushion 48
Is provided. The cushion 48 is held at the solid line position when the game is interrupted. Further, when a button (not shown) is pressed, the cushion 48 switches to the dotted line position.
When the cushion 48 is in the solid line position, the cushion 48 is not exposed on the inner peripheral surface 44. Meanwhile, the cushion 4
In the state where 8 is in the dotted line position, a part of the cushion 48 is exposed to the inner peripheral surface 44.

A ball discharge hole 49 is formed in the lower portion of the ball guide plate 43. An air blowing pipe 50 is connected to the ball discharge hole 49. The pump 25 is connected to the air blowing pipe 50 as in the first embodiment. When the pump 25 is driven, the air passes through the air blowing pipe 50 and the ball discharge hole 4
9 is blown out along the inner peripheral surface 44 of the hole guide plate 43. In this embodiment also, after the ball B is collected by the ball collecting mechanism (not shown), the ball B
Is rolled by its own weight and automatically collected in the air blowing pipe 50.

Next, the operation of playing the game will be described. First, before the game starts, air is pressure-fed from the air blowing pipe 50, and the ball B moves toward the ball guide plate 43.
It continues to move along the inner peripheral surface 44 (position of FIG. 5). In this state, the button is pressed and the cushion 48
Is switched to the position of the dotted line, the ball B cushion 48
Inner surface 4 as an orbit around
4 Shift from the top. As a result, the ball B rolls on the board surface 42 (position in FIG. 5), interferes with the nail 46, and wins the winning hole 45. Cushion 48 after the game
Position of the ball B returns to the position indicated by the solid line,
It is released from the ball guide plate 9 and again moves along the inner peripheral surface 44 of the ball guide plate 43 on the board surface 42.

With this structure, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. The present invention can be configured as follows. (1) In each of the above embodiments, the mechanism for ejecting the ball B and the mechanism for applying an external force to the ball B (external force applying means) are embodied as separate bodies.

(2) In the first embodiment, the second play board 20 may be omitted, and the inner peripheral surface of the fixed wheel 15 of the first play board 12 may be embodied as a circular orbit. Of course, also in this case, a pipe that blows out air is provided and embodied.

(3) In the second embodiment, the cushion 48 serving as an interference member is rotated by the actuator 47 to switch to two positions. However, the cushion 48 is linearly moved to form an orbit. Face 44
The cushion 44 may be configured to appear and disappear.

[0040]

According to the invention as set forth in claim 1, since the ball can be orbitally moved on a circular orbit visually recognized from the outside even while the game is on standby, the eye catching effect is high, and the operation rate of the game is high. Can be raised.

Further, it is possible to easily adjust the rotation time of the ball which orbits on the orbit by merely stopping (or lowering) the air from the external force imparting means without adjusting the strength of the external force applied to the ball. This can simplify the configuration,
It also leads to cost reduction.

According to the invention described in claim 2, according to claim 1
In addition to the effect of the invention described in (1), since the orbit of the ball is provided above the first play board, it can be easily seen even from a distant position, and the eye catching effect can be further improved.

According to the invention described in claim 3, according to claim 1
In addition to the effect of the invention described in (1), by changing the collision timing between the cushion and the ball, it is possible to easily change the deviation of the ball that orbits on the orbit. As a result, the game property can be further improved.

According to the invention of claim 4, claim 1
In addition to the effect according to any one of claims 3 to 3, since the mechanism for ejecting the ball and the mechanism for applying an external force to the ball are combined, the number of parts can be reduced.

According to the invention of claim 5, claim 4
In addition to the effect of the invention described in (1), the structure for setting the ball on the pipe can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a roulette game machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a first play board and a second play board.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a first play board.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of first and second play boards.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a pachinko game machine according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 12 ... First play board constituting the play board, 13 ... Fixed wheel forming the first play board, 15 ... Rotating wheel forming the first play board, 20 ... Second play forming the play board Disk, 25 ... Pump that constitutes external force imparting means, 26 ... Inner peripheral surface that constitutes a circular orbit, 28 ... Ball recovery pipe, 2
4, 50 ... Air-blowing pipes constituting external force imparting means,
48 ... Cushion as interference member, 41 ... Play board, 4
2 ... a board surface that constitutes a game board, 43 ... a ball guide plate that constitutes a game board, 44 ... an inner peripheral surface that constitutes a circular orbit, B ... a ball.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a game machine in which a ball rolls on a play board, a circular orbit around which the ball revolves by centrifugal force is provided on the game board so as to be visible from the outside, and the ball orbits on the orbit. A game machine provided with an external force imparting means for imparting an external force to the ball while continuing to move by blowing air against the ball while moving. 2. The play board comprises a first play board and a second play board provided with a ball drop opening above the first play board, and the orbit is a second play board. The game machine according to claim 1, which is provided on a board. 3. When a ball is provided so that it can appear in and out of a circular orbit and collides with a ball that orbits on the circular orbit,
The game machine according to claim 1, further comprising an interference member that forcibly slides the ball from the orbit. 4. The external force imparting means is composed of a pump and a pipe connected to the pump, and the balls pass through the pipe and are discharged from the tip of the pipe onto the circular orbit by air pressure, and also from the pipe. The game machine according to claim 1, wherein an external force is applied by the blown air. 5. The game machine according to claim 4, wherein the ball is automatically collected by rolling in the pipe by its own weight after the end of the game.