JPH0214073B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to electronic slot machines. This electronic slot machine displays the slot machine reels on a cathode ray tube, and when a predetermined coin or medal is inserted and a lever is pulled,
This system displays the state in which the reels are rotating, then stops the reels one after another, and pays out predetermined coins or medals according to the combination of characters lined up on a predetermined payline. It is widely used as an alternative to mechanical slot machines. However, known electronic slot machines
It used large-capacity, high-speed memory and arithmetic circuits, and was therefore expensive. The present invention has been made in view of the above, and its object is to provide an electronic slot machine comprising extremely small capacity and inexpensive circuit elements. The details of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. The drawing is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the electronic slot machine according to the present invention, and in the drawing, 1 is a cathode ray tube type display device, 2 is an auxiliary display device, 3 is a reel display circuit, 4 is a coin receiving device, and 5 is a A lever device, 6 a hit determination circuit, and 7 a reward device. The reel display device 3 includes a CPU 8, a clock pulse oscillator 9, three vertical position registers 10, 11 and 12, an adder circuit 13, a reel pattern register 14, a character memory 15,
It consists of a parallel-to-serial converter 16, electron gun control signal generation circuits 17, 18, 19, and a random number timer 20. The random number timer 20 includes a refresh counter 21, a squaring circuit 22, a buffer register 23, an adder 24, and a preset counter. Consists of 25. Further, the winning determination circuit 6 includes a winning ROM 26 and a comparison circuit 27. By the output of the reel display circuit 3, the first to third reels 1a,
1b and 1c are shown, but the state shown is a standby state where no game is being played.
Seven is the only character displayed on each reel. In this embodiment, first to fifth paylines 1d, 1e, 1f, 1g, and 1h are provided, and these paylines and their corresponding magnifications are displayed on the screen. The first payline 1d is a central horizontal line, the second and third paylines 1e and 1f are upper and lower horizontal lines, the fourth payline 1g is a diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right, and the fifth payline 1h is a horizontal line from the upper left to the lower right. It is a diagonal line from the bottom left to the top right, and the magnification is the first
The fourth payline is 200, and the fifth payline is 3000. When the player inserts coins and specifies the number of coins to bet in one game, paylines are sequentially set from the first payline according to the number and are highlighted. In addition, the auxiliary display device displays the winning combinations of characters that land on each payline, the multipliers, and other rules. On each reel, characters such as orange, plum, bar, cheery, bell, and seven are appropriately distributed and arranged in a certain order. For example, the combinations are as shown in the table below.

【table】

[Table] The operation of the reel display circuit 3 will be explained below. Character data of all patterns to be used are recorded in the character memory 15. Here, the pattern is a figure displayed on the reels, and in this example, the above-mentioned orange, plum,
Character data refers to the shapes of bar, cherry, bell, and seven, and character data is data recorded in the character memory 15 to display these shapes. When this data is read, the corresponding shapes are displayed. This allows you to obtain the video signal necessary for displaying the image. Data specifying patterns to be displayed on the three reels 1a, 1b, and 1c is input to the reel pattern register 14. As shown in the table above, the sequence of patterns corresponding to one rotation of the reel is programmed in advance, but only data for four patterns per reel, which are selected in rotation from among them, are stored in this register. Ru. When the image is static, only three patterns per reel appear on the screen, and the top one pattern is hidden from view (or by an appropriate mask). However, when the lever of the lever device 5 is pulled, the reels begin to rotate, and the image begins to move downward, the patterns that were outside the screen at the top also enter the screen sequentially from the bottom and become visible. On the other hand, when the lowest pattern disappears from the screen, the reel pattern register 14 is shifted and simultaneously accepts the new highest pattern data. In this way, the reel pattern register 14 is
Character data to be read from the character memory 15 is specified, and the characters are arranged and displayed in a predetermined order on each reel. Vertical position registers 10, 11, and 12 are provided corresponding to reels 1a, 1b, and 1c, respectively, and are provided for rotating reel images. These vertical position registers are given numerical values that periodically change within a range of 32, assuming that each pattern is given a height of 32 scanning lines, for example. To explain more specifically, for example, 64 is first set, this value is decremented at a desired speed, and when it reaches 32, it is returned to 64, and the following changes are made in the same manner. These three registers are not driven synchronously, but are driven separately, and their decrement rates are not necessarily the same, but when they stop, their count values are all set to 32. Therefore, these vertical position registers 1
The count values of 0, 11, and 12 are added to the scan signal sent from the CPU 8 by the adder circuit 13, so that the data read out from the character memory 15 in response to the scan signal is only based on the original scan signal. Unlike the read data, the data appears at a position shifted by the number of scanning lines corresponding to the count value of the corresponding vertical position register. Since this shift is performed for each reel and the amount of shift is changed individually, each reel appears to be rotating independently while the vertical position register is in operation. Therefore, when the lowest pattern on any one reel disappears off the screen, the corresponding vertical position register value becomes 32 and automatically changes to 64.
However, at this time, the corresponding portion of the reel pattern register 14 is simultaneously shifted and new top pattern data is input, so that the reels appear to continue rotating. This vertical position register 10, 11, 12
The operation continues while the random number timer 20 is operating. When the random number timer 20 stops operating for the first time, the counting speed of the vertical position register 10 that controls the first reel 1a is gradually decelerated according to a predetermined program, and then stops. However, the random number timer 20 immediately starts its second operation. When the second reel 1b is stopped, the vertical position register 11 that controls the second reel 1b is decelerated and stopped, but at the same time the random number timer 20 starts the third operation. The vertical position register 12 that controls the three reels 1c is decelerated and stopped. However, the recorded value of any of the above registers when stopped is 32. Next, the random number timer 20 will be explained. The refresh counter 21 is an 8-bit counter that is incremented by 1 each time the CPU 8 executes one instruction. The value of this refresh counter 21 is squared by a squaring circuit 22, and the central 8-bit value is recorded in a buffer register 23. Note that this squaring circuit 22 and buffer register 2
It is not necessary to use a separate circuit from 3, and it is not necessary to perform accurate squaring calculations, so other circuits that can perform substantially the same calculations as those described above can be used instead. This refresh counter 21 and square circuit 22
is used as a random number generation circuit. Therefore, these may also be replaced with other known random number generation circuits. The value in the buffer register 23 may be zero or a value close to zero in some cases, but since this may cause problems, an adder 24 adds a constant number corresponding to a predetermined minimum time limit. is set in the preset counter 25. In this embodiment, 180 (10110100 in binary) is added. Further, the output of the adder 24 at this time is returned to the refresh counter 21. However, at this time, the squaring circuit 22 does not operate. The refresh counter 21 counts up by 1 each time the CPU 8 processes one instruction. The preset counter 25 counts down with a clock pulse sent from the CPU 8, and when the count reaches zero, it emits an output pulse. The output pulse, on the one hand, decelerates and gradually stops the operation of the vertical position register 10 via the CPU 8, and on the other hand activates the squaring circuit 22, which again generates a new random number into the preset counter 25 by the process described above. , and restarts the random number timer 20. At this time, the frequency of the drive pulse applied to the vertical position register 10 is sequentially lowered according to a predetermined program, and after the frequency falls below a predetermined limit value, the count value of the vertical position register 10 is 32, the drive pulse is cut off and the vertical position register 10
stops. When the random number timer 20 stops operating for the second time, the vertical position register 11 stops in the same manner as described above, and the random number timer 20 starts operating for the third time. When the random number timer 20 stops operating for the third time,
At this time, the vertical position register 12 stops operating in the same manner as before, but the random number timer 20 no longer restarts. Therefore, at this time, the CPU 8 uses the comparator circuit 2.
7 to read out the data indicating the pattern displayed on the payline on which the bet is being made from among the pattern data of each reel recorded in the reel pattern register 14, and read the data indicating the pattern displayed on the payline on which the bet is being made, When a match is found, a corresponding winning signal is generated and the reward device 7 is activated. Therefore, the reel pattern register 14 only needs to be able to record 12 pattern data, and the vertical position registers 10, 11, and 12 can be substantially 6-bit registers, and the character memory 15 and per ROM 26 are also required. Since the minimum capacity is sufficient, the present invention can provide an inexpensive electronic slot machine. Note that the configuration of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and the number and characters of reels and patterns displayed on the screen can be freely selected.
Furthermore, the design of the random number generation circuit for the random number timer can be freely changed, and the present invention encompasses all of them.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an electronic slot machine according to the present invention. 1... Cathode ray tube display device, 2... Auxiliary display device, 3... Reel display circuit, 4
... Coin receipt device, 5 ... Lever device, 6 ...
Hit determination circuit, 7... Reward device, 10, 11, 1
2... Vertical position register, 13... Addition circuit, 14... Reel pattern register, 15...
Character memory, 20...Random number timer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A cathode ray tube and a plurality of image reels each consisting of a plurality of characters connected in sequence in an endless manner. Parts of the images are arranged parallel to each other, and the image of one character on each image reel is arranged in parallel with each other. In addition to generating the necessary video signals to display the reels aligned in a line on a predetermined game line, the reel images on the cathode ray tube surface are individually displayed for each reel so that the reels appear to rotate in response to player operations. a reel display circuit that generates a video signal necessary to move and circulate in a certain direction, sequentially reduce the moving speed, and stop an image of one randomly selected character on each reel on the payline. and,
A win determination circuit that generates predetermined win and loss signals corresponding to the combination of characters arranged on the game line, and when the win determination circuit generates a win signal, a predetermined reward is given in response to the win signal. an electronic slot machine comprising a reward device for giving a prize, the reel display circuit of which comprises the components described in paragraphs (a) to (e) below. (a) in accordance with a predetermined program;
A reel pattern register that sequentially inputs data specifying the pattern to be displayed on each reel and holds the data of the pattern currently displayed. (b) Character memory in which character data of all patterns used are recorded. (c) When the count value provided corresponding to each reel and given to each reel is changed from one of the two limit values to the other at the desired speed, and when the other limit value is reached, the count value is changed to the original one. A vertical position register which is returned to a limit value and whose count value is changed cyclically in the same way. (d) An addition circuit that adds the recorded value of the vertical position register to the vertical scan signal. (e) Consisting of a random number generation circuit, an addition circuit that adds a fixed value to the random number generated by the random number generation circuit, and a preset counter to which the output value of the addition circuit is set and driven by a predetermined clock pulse, A random number timer that controls the activation time of the vertical position register.