JPH0753186B2 - Slot machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial field of application> The present invention aligns and stops each symbol of a plurality of reels along at least three upper, lower, middle, and lower stop lines shown in the symbol display portion. About the slot machine.

<Prior Art> In a conventional slot machine, after all reels are simultaneously started by operating a handle, a player sequentially pushes a stop button of each reel at an appropriate timing to stop the corresponding reels. It is configured as such, when the effective symbols that stand alone for winning are stopped on the activated stop line of the symbol display section, or when the effective symbols that stand for winning by combining are aligned, medals with a predetermined payout rate Is released.

In recent slot machines, normally, a microcomputer is the main control unit, and whether or not the combination of effective symbols that make a winning is aligned depends not only on the skill of the player but also on the control of this microcomputer. It depends on the department. That is, when the microcomputer receives a stop signal by operating the stop button,
If necessary, the reels are displaced by a suitable number of frames within a predetermined delay allowable time. As a result, when a command for causing an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols that establishes a prize to appear and a command for preventing its appearance are generated, the stop position of each reel is controlled, and thereby the effective symbol or effective A combination of symbols is forced to appear, or its appearance is blocked.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the conventional slot machine, even if there is a command to make an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols appear, the timing of the stop button operation, that is, which reel the reel is operated at Depending on the position, it may be difficult to make an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols appear in relation to the delay allowable time.

Also, the stop button can be operated in either order,
When this stop button is sequentially operated in a certain direction, an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols appears, but when sequentially operated in the opposite direction, an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols may not appear. There are also problems.

This invention was made by paying attention to the above problems, and by devising the arrangement of the effective symbols on each reel, in particular, when the upper, lower, middle and lower three stop lines are activated, a prize is won. In response to a command for causing an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols to be established to appear, when the effective symbol of the reel stopped by operating one of the first stop buttons stops on the activated stop line, the second and subsequent ones An object of the present invention is to provide a slot machine that can surely establish a winning regardless of the operation timing of the stop button and the operation sequence of each stop button.

<Means for Solving Problems> In the slot machine of the present invention, a plurality of reels (in the embodiment, reels 1a, 1b, 1c are provided with a plurality of pieces of symbols including effective symbols related to winning on each circumferential surface) Equivalent),
A symbol display unit (corresponding to the symbol display unit 3 in the embodiment) that displays the symbols of each reel in line along at least the upper, lower, middle, and lower three stop lines, and individually stops each reel in any order. A stop button for each reel (corresponding to the stop button 5 in the embodiment) that can be activated, a motor for each reel that individually drives and stops each reel, and a lottery is executed and activated by a lottery. Command generation means (corresponding to the function of the CPU18 shown in ST6 of FIG. 8 in the embodiment) for generating a command for appearing an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols for establishing a winning on the stopped line Regarding the reel stopped by the operation of any of the stop buttons, the effective symbol of the reel is stopped on any one of the stopped lines of the at least three activated stop lines. When there is a detecting means (corresponding to the function of the CPU 18 shown in ST13 of FIG. 8 in FIG. 8) of the second embodiment and any one of the second and subsequent stop button operations, the command generating means outputs a command. In response to the occurrence of the stop signal by the stop button operation in response to the occurrence and the detection means detects that the effective symbol of the reel has stopped on the stop line, the corresponding delay allowable time of the corresponding reel And a reel stop control means (corresponding to the function of the CPU 18 shown in ST15 of FIG. 8 in the embodiment) for stopping the motor by shifting the positions of the symbols by an arbitrary number within the range. Each reel is concerned with the effective symbol first stopped on the activated stop line when the reel stop control means displaces the symbol by the maximum number of frames that can be displaced within the delay allowable time. The effective symbol for establishing the winning or the effective symbol for independently establishing the winning is arranged so that the effective symbol reaches the stop line.

<Action> For the reel that is stopped first, when a stop of the effective symbol is detected on any of the activated upper, lower, middle, and lower stop lines, the detection operation and the effective symbol or the combination of the effective symbols that establish the winning prize In response to a command for causing the second shift, the reel stop control means responds by shifting the position by an arbitrary number of frames within a predetermined delay allowable time after the stop signal is generated. Stop the reel. In this case, each reel, when the symbols are displaced by the maximum number of pieces that can be displaced within the delay allowable time, establishes the prize relating to the effective symbol that is first stopped on the activated stop line. Since the effective symbol is arranged so that the effective symbol or the effective symbol that establishes the prize alone reaches the stop line, one of the first stop is given to the command for causing the effective symbol or the combination of the effective symbols to appear. When the effective symbol of the reel stopped by the button operation is stopped on the activated stop line, the winning is surely established regardless of the operation timing of the second and subsequent stop buttons and the operation order of each stop button.

<Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows a slot machine having three reels 1a, 1b, 1c, and a symbol display portion 3, a medal slot 4, 3 on the front surface of the body 2.
In addition to the individual stop button 5, starting handle 6, and medal discharge tray 7, various display lamps and numeral indicators are provided. Each reel 1a, 1b, 1c is one in which a plurality of symbols are arranged on the peripheral surface, and each reel is connected to a pulse motor (not shown) to be driven and stopped.

The symbol display section 3, the reels 1a, 1b, a part for displaying aligned along a pattern of 1c to five stop line L ₁ ~L _5,
It is possible to see the state of rotation of the three reels 1a, 1b, 1c arranged in parallel in the body 2 and to check the symbols for the three frames on each reel peripheral surface from the outside when the reels are stopped. There is.

The stop lines L _{1 to} L ₅ are the center stop line L ₁ when there is one inserted medal, and the top stop line L ₁ when there are two inserted medals,
The middle and lower stop lines L ₂ , L ₁ and L ₃ , and when the number of inserted medals is 3, the upper, middle, lower and diagonal stop lines L ₂ , L ₁ and L ₃ ,
When L is _3, L _4, L _5, respectively valid, effective effective symbol to establish alone winning the validated stopped line on the to establish a winning by either or a combination, the stop symbols are aligned, a predetermined A medal with a dividend rate of is released.

FIG. 3 shows the arrangement order of the symbols on the peripheral surface of each reel 1a, 1b, 1c in a developed state. In the figure, each number indicated by 1, 2, ..., 21 indicates a symbol number. In the case of this embodiment,
21 reels of symbols are provided for each reel 1a, 1b, 1c. Also, in the figure, A, B, C shows the valid symbol that is the target of the medal payout that is subjected to the positional deviation control, of which the valid symbol A,
B is provided on all reels 1a, 1b, 1c, and the effective symbol C is provided only on the first reel 1a.

For the effective symbols A and B, as shown in FIG. 4, each reel is on the activated stop line (stop line L _{2 in} the figure).
When three valid symbols A or B of 1a, 1b, 1c are lined up, a winning is achieved by a combination of valid symbols, and eight medal payouts are awarded. With respect to the effective symbol C, as shown in FIG. 5, the stop line drawing which is enabled only valid symbol C is the position of the first reel 1a to L _2, L ₅₎ on the winning is established, Four (8 in the case of the same figure) medal payouts are awarded per effective line.

Returning to FIG. 1, the starting handle 6 has three reels 1a, 1b,
1c to start all at once and 3 stop buttons 5
Is for individually stopping the corresponding reels 1a, 1b, 1c. Each stop button 5 can be operated in any order.

In this slot machine, after a stop signal is generated by pressing each stop button 5, the corresponding reel is stopped by shifting the position by an arbitrary number of frames within a predetermined delay allowable time. The allowable delay time is defined by laws and regulations, and is set to an appropriate value so that the stopping operation of each reel 1a, 1b, 1c does not become unnatural. Maximum number N of symbols that can be displaced within this delay tolerance time
_{Although MAX} varies depending on the rotation speed of the reel (usually constant speed rotation), the maximum number of frames N _MAX is N _MAX = 3 in this embodiment.

Thus, in this slot machine, three stop lines L ₁
~ L ₃ or 5 stop lines L ₁ ~ L ₅ is activated, based on the maximum number of symbols N _MAX of the symbols that can be displaced within the delay allowable time, about the reel stopped first,
When the effective symbol stops on any of the activated stop lines, for other reels, for any timing of the stop signal, the effective symbol or the independent symbol that establishes the prize relating to the first effective symbol stopped. The arrangement of the effective symbols A, B, C of each reel 1a, 1b, 1c is devised so that the effective symbol that establishes the winning may reach the stop line.

FIG. 3 specifically shows an example of arrangement of the effective symbols.
According to the figure, the effective symbols on the second and third reels 1b, 1c
A and B are arranged side by side, and the arrangement interval d of each effective symbol A and B
_A and d _B are set to d _A and d _B ≦ N _MAX +1. Further, in the first reel 1a, the effective symbols A, B, C are located apart from each other, the spacing d _AB between the effective symbols A, B is d _AB ≤ N _MAX , and the effective symbol C and other effective symbols The distance d _C between A and B is d _C ≤ N
It is set to _MAX +2.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the circuit configuration of the slot machine, in which a sensor 18, a start handle 6, a stop button 5, a numeral display 11, a motor control unit 1 are provided for the CPU 18 of the microcomputer.
2, the medal counting unit 13, the voice generating unit 14, and the lamp control unit 15 are electrically connected via the interfaces 16 and 17. In the figure, a sensor 10 detects whether or not a medal has been inserted, and a numeral display 11 digitally displays the number of inserted medals and payout medals. The motor control unit 12 controls the operation of the pulse motor that drives each reel 1a, 1b, 1c, and the medal counting unit 13 counts the number of inserted medals and payout medals. The sound generation unit 14 generates a sound effect of the game and the like, and the lamp control unit 15 controls the lighting operation of various lamps.

The CPU 18 decodes and executes the program stored in the ROM 19, executes various operations while reading and writing data from and in the ROM 20, and controls the operations of the input / output units in series.

Further, the CPU 18 detects a combination of symbols on the reels stopped on the activated stop line, and functions as a means for determining whether or not an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols for establishing a winning combination has appeared. That is, the CPU 18 captures the drive pulse of each pulse motor from the motor control unit 12 and counts it to detect what the symbol of each reel located on the activated stop line is, and then to combine these symbols. Is to judge the contents of.

In addition, the CPU 18 of this embodiment performs a lottery as to whether or not to make an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols for winning a prize appear for each game, particularly when two or three medals are inserted, and the lottery is performed. When there is, a command for causing the effective symbol or the combination of effective symbols to appear is generated. Further, the CPU 18 detects whether or not the effective symbol of the reel is stopped on any one of the activated stop lines of the reels stopped by the operation of any one of the first stop buttons. Further CPU1
When the second stop button operation or later is performed, the command is generated, and the stop is performed in response to detecting that the effective symbol of the reel related to the first stop operation on the stop line is stopped. After the stop signal by button operation is generated, stop by shifting the position by an arbitrary number of pieces less than the maximum number of pieces N _MAX , and by arranging a combination of effective symbols on the activated stop line. Win the prize.

6 (1) and (2) show the alignment process of the combination of effective symbols under the above-mentioned command. When the effective symbol A of the first reel 1a is stopped on the central stop line L ₁ now, when the effective symbol A of the second reel 1b is at the position two frames before the central stop line L ₁ , the stop signal is It is assumed that it has occurred (see FIG. 6 (1)). In this case the CPU18 goes to perform control to stop let me misaligned second reel 1b by two frames, as a result, the effective symbol A of the second reel 1b is stopped on the center of the stop line L ₁ . Next is the third
Assuming that a stop signal is generated when the effective symbol A of the reel 1c is located one frame before the central stop line L ₁ (see FIG. 6 (2)), the CPU 18 in this case operates the third reel 1c. The control for shifting the position by one frame and stopping the position is executed, whereby the winning combination by the combination of the effective symbols A is established on the central stop line L ₁ .

7 (1) (2) (3), FIG. 6 shows the first reel 1a,
The case where the stop operation is performed in the order of the second reel 1b and the third reel 1c is shown, whereas the case where the stop operation is performed in the order of the third reel 1c, the second reel 1b, and the first reel 1a is shown.

In the example of the figure, one piece of the second reel 1b and two pieces of the first reel 1a are used.
Pieces, respectively, a control for shifting the position and stopping is executed, whereby a combination of the effective symbols related to the symbol A is established on the central stop line L ₁ (FIG. 7 (1)).
(See (2)).

FIG. 7 (3) assumes that the stop signal is generated when the symbol C on the first reel 1a is at the position before the four stops of the central stop line L ₁ , and in this case, the CPU 18 is the first reel. The effective symbol C is positioned on the stop line L _{2 at the} upper position by executing control to shift the position of 1a by 3 frames and stop.

Thus, when three or more stop lines are activated,
If the position deviation can be maximum frame number N _MAX of symbols is "3", the reels 1a, 1b, effective symbol A in 1c, B, by setting the arrangement of C as in the Figure 3, For any generation timing of the stop signal, it is possible to stop the effective symbol A or B on the target stop line, and the effective symbol C on any of the three stop lines.

FIG. 8 shows the operation procedure of the slot machine. When the player inserts a medal into the medal insertion slot 4 in step 1 (indicated by “ST1” in the figure), the sensor 10 detects this and the The judgment is “YES”. In the following step 2, it is determined whether or not the number of inserted medals is two or more. When the determination is “YES”, the process proceeds to step 3 and the upper, middle, and lower of the two inserted medals are determined. 3 stop lines L ₂ , L ₁ and L ₃ are activated, and for 3 throw-in medals, upper, middle,
The lower five diagonal stop lines L ₂ , L ₁ , L ₃ , L ₄ , L ₅ are activated.

Next, when the start handle 6 is operated, the operation signal is turned on and step 4 becomes "YES". The determination in step 4 and step 1 is performed by the CPU 18 based on the operation signal from the starting handle 6 and the detection signal from the sensor 10. Next, the CPU 18 sends a drive signal to the motor control unit 12 to output each pulse. Drive the motor, all reels 1a, 1b, 1c
Simultaneously starting, and performing the lottery process by itself, it is determined whether or not to forcibly appear the effective symbol or the combination of effective symbols that establish the winning prize (step 5,
6).

The next steps 7 to 9 determine which stop button 5 has been pressed, and the next step 10 is whether or not the lottery is successful, that is, the effective symbol or the combination of the effective symbols is forced. It is determined whether or not to appear, and the next step 11 is a stop flag (described later).
It is determined whether is on.

Assuming here that the lottery is successful and a command for generating an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols is generated, when the stop button 5 of the first reel 1a is pressed, the step 7 is " YES ", step 10 is" YES ", step 11 is" NO ", so the routine proceeds to step 12, and the first reel 1a is stopped at an appropriate timing. The reel stop operation is executed by the CPU 18 sending a drive stop signal for stopping the pulse motor to the motor controller 12 when the stop signal by the stop button operation is taken into the CPU 18. In this case, if the timing of sending the drive stop signal is set almost at the same time as the reception of the stop signal, the reel will stop at the same time as the stop signal is generated, and the number of reel position shift pieces is zero.

In the next step 13, the CPU 18 detects the symbol of the reel 1a located on the activated stop line based on the count value of the drive pulse of the pulse motor, and then in the following step 14, represents that the first reel has stopped. The stop flag is set in a predetermined flag area of the CPU 18.

When the effective symbol A is stopped on the central stop line L ₁ (see FIG. 6 (1)), when the stop button 5 of the second reel 1b is next pushed, step 8 is "YES". ,
Step 10 is "YES", step 11 is "YES", the process proceeds to step 15, and the reel 1b is required so that the effective symbol A stops on the central stop line L _{1 with} respect to the arbitrary generation timing of the stop signal. Stop by shifting the position by a certain number.

Then, when the stop button 5 on the third reel 1c is pressed,
Step 9 is "YES", Step 10 is "YES", Step 11
Is “YES”, and the process proceeds to step 15, and the reel 1c is displaced by the required number of frames so that the effective symbol A stops on the central stop line L _{1 in} the same manner for any generation timing of the stop signal. And stop, so that the effective symbol combinations (in this case, AAA) are aligned.

In this way, when all reels 1a, 1b, 1c are stopped, step
The determination in 16 becomes "YES", and the CPU 18 detects the combination of symbols arranged on the stop line activated in step 17, and turns off the stop flag in step 18.
And in this case, since the combinations of effective symbols are lined up, the determination of "winning?" In step 19 is "YES".
Therefore, the CPU 18 operates the medal releasing mechanism to release the medals having the predetermined payout rate, and then shifts to the next gate.

When the number of inserted medals is one, the determination in step 2 is "NO". In this case, after activating only the central stop line L _{1 in} step 21, the reel position is determined in step 22. A game without deviation control will be executed. When the lottery by the CPU 18 (step 6) is missed, the determination in step 10 is "NO", and in this case also, the game without reel displacement control is executed (step 23).

In the above-described embodiment, the reels involved in the first stop operation are stopped by a method that does not involve positional deviation control, but the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to stop a predetermined effective symbol on the top.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, the present invention, for any timing of generation of a stop signal, an effective symbol or an effective result of establishing a winning on any one of the activated stop lines of at least three stop lines. Since the effective symbols are arranged on each reel so that a combination of symbols appears, the effective symbol of the reel stopped by the operation of any one of the first stop buttons in response to the command to cause the effective symbol or the combination of effective symbols to appear. When the player stops on the activated stop line, there is a remarkable effect that the winning can be surely established regardless of the operation timing of the second and subsequent stop buttons and the operation order of each stop button.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a slot machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing its circuit configuration, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory view showing a state in which the arrangement order of the symbols on each reel is developed, FIGS. 4 and 5 are explanatory diagrams showing a combination of effective symbols, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are the process of establishing a combination of effective symbols. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the slot machine. 1a, 1b, 1c …… Reel 5 …… Stop button 18 …… CPU L _{1 to} L ₅ …… Stop line

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of reels on which a plurality of pieces of symbols including effective symbols related to winning a prize are arranged on each circumferential surface, and the symbols of each reel are aligned along at least three upper, lower, middle and lower stop lines. A symbol display section to be displayed, a stop button for each reel that can individually stop each reel in any order, a motor for each reel that individually drives and stops each reel, and performs lottery , About the reel stopped by the command generating means for generating a command for appearing an effective symbol or a combination of effective symbols for establishing a winning on the stop line activated by lottery, and the reel stopped by operating one of the first stop buttons Detecting whether the effective symbol of the reel has stopped on any one of the at least three activated stop lines And means out, when there was one of the stop button operation of the second and subsequent,
In response to the command generation means generating a command and the detection means detecting that the effective symbol of the reel has stopped on the stop line, the corresponding reel is generated after the stop signal is generated by the stop button operation. Regarding the reel delay control time, the reel stop control means for stopping the motor by shifting the position of the symbol by an arbitrary number of frames within a predetermined delay allowable time is provided, and the reel stop control means has a delay allowable time. When the symbols are displaced by the maximum number of pieces that can be displaced within, the effective symbols that are effective for stopping the effective symbols that first stopped on the activated stop line are effective. A slot machine in which effective symbols are arranged so that the symbols reach the stop line.