JPH03121085A - Hit-ball shooting device for pinball game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically vary the number of shooting of hit balls in correspondence with the playing state by constituting a hit ball shooting device including a shooting quantity control means so that the number of shooting of the hit balls becomes max. when the output of a special playing state detecting means is detected. CONSTITUTION:The number of shooting of the hit balls of a hit ball shooting device 25 can be determined by controlling the number of revolution of a driving motor 26, and a cycle converter 28 for varying the number of revolution according to the instruction supplied from a microcomputer 27 is installed, and said microcomputer 27 calculates the rate of winning balls on the basis of the input signals supplied from a safe ball input circuit 30 and an out ball input circuit 31. The output signal is sent into the cycle converter 28 so that the previously determined number of shooting on ths basis of the calculated rate of winning balls is obtained, and the number of revolution of the driving motor 26 is automatically controlled. When a winning state is generated, the control for the number of shooting according to the rate of winning balls is suspended, and the output signal is sent into the output quantity converter 23 so that the shooting quantity becomes max., and the number of revolution of the driving motor 26 is increased. Thus, the number of shooting of hit balls can be varied automatically in accordance with the playing state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a ball firing device for a pachinko machine that fires a ball by driving an electric drive source.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a ball firing device for a pachinko machine has been configured to fire a ball by reciprocating a ball rod by driving an electric drive source, such as a drive motor or a rotary solenoid. Then, the electric drive source was driven so that the number of balls fired was always constant (100 balls/min). Additionally, there have been a few proposals in which the number of balls fired can be varied according to the player's selection. However, even if the number of shots can be varied, control is limited to the selected number of shots, so the game ends up being played using only a fixed number of shots.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, in a pachinko game using a pachinko machine, there are cases where it is desired to change the number of balls fired depending on the game state. For example, in the slump state of a pachinko game, when the ball output rate is low (the probability of winning a prize in the winning slot is low), it is desirable to reduce the number of balls fired to reduce the rate of decrease in the number of balls in possession, and conversely, In a state where the ball output rate is high, there is an expectation to fire a large number of balls and win a large number of prize balls, and when the pachinko game enters a special game state where there is a chance to win a large number of prize balls. , there is a desire to increase the number of shots as high as possible. In this way, it is desired to change the number of shots in response to various game conditions, but in the conventional batted ball launcher described above, the number of shots is constant, so the above-mentioned demand cannot be met. Further, even if the number of shots can be varied, there is a problem in that the player has to select the number of shots corresponding to the gaming state each time, which is cumbersome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a ball firing device for a pachinko machine that can automatically change the number of balls fired in accordance with the game state. There is a particular thing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a ball firing device for a pachinko machine according to the present invention fires a ball by driving an electric drive source, and the pachinko machine has a ball firing device that fires balls in a predetermined unit. The ball launcher is equipped with a ball output rate calculation means for calculating a ball output rate per time, and a special game state detection means for detecting that the pachinko game has entered a predetermined special game state, and the ball launcher is in a normal game state. a first shot number control means for controlling an electric drive source to change the number of shot balls in proportion to the ball output rate calculated by the ball output rate calculation means; and the special game state detection means. and a second firing number control means for controlling the electric drive source so that the number of batted balls fired is maximized based on the detected output.

[Operation] In a normal game state, balls are fired based on the number of shots calculated by the ball output rate calculation means. Therefore, when the game condition is a state where the ball output rate is poor, the number of shots is automatically selected to be low, and when the ball output rate is good, the number of shots is automatically selected to be high. selected. That is, in the normal game state, the number of shots is controlled to always change based on the ball output rate.

On the other hand, when the pachinko game enters a special game state in which there is a chance to win a large number of prize balls, firing operations are performed so that the number of balls hit is maximized. For this reason, the probability of winning a winning ball increases, making the game more interesting.

[Examples] Examples according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, with reference to FIG. 1, the front configuration of a pachinko machine to which a ball launcher according to an embodiment is applied will be described.

In the figure, a pachinko machine 1 is provided with a front frame 3 pivotally supported on one side by a box-shaped outer frame 2 so as to be openable and closable. Front frame 3
is formed in the shape of a picture frame, and a glass door frame 4 and a front plate 5, both of which are pivotally supported on one side via a metal frame, are provided around the periphery of the opening so as to be openable and closable.

A game board 6 is arranged behind the glass door frame 4, and the surface of the game board 6 can be seen through the glass plate housed in the glass door frame 4. The game board 6 is detachably attached to a game board storage frame (not shown) fixed to the back surface of the front frame 3. Further, on the surface of the front plate 5, there is provided an upper tray 7 that stores the ejected prize balls and guides the stored prize balls one by one to the firing position as batted balls. In addition, the front plate 5
A batted ball co-feeding device (not shown) for feeding batted balls one by one to a firing position is fixed to the back surface of the upper plate 7 at a position corresponding to the downstream back surface of the upper plate 7.

Below the front frame 3, there is an operation handle 8 on the negative side of the front frame 3 for starting the shot of the ball and adjusting the flight distance of the ball.
A lower tray 9 is fixed to the side of the operating handle 8 for storing prize balls that cannot be stored in the upper tray 7. The operation handle 8 is operated by the player to drive a drive motor 26 of a ball launcher 25, which will be described later.
This starts the rotation of the . And the drive motor 26
When the ball starts rotating, a ball batting rod (not shown) rotates back and forth according to a well-known structure and fires a batted ball. However, since the number of rotations per unit time of the drive motor 26 is controlled to change depending on the gaming state, the number of shots will always change.

The game board 6 is provided with a plurality of winning holes and winning devices, and in this embodiment, a center accessory 10 is provided in the center thereof. This center accessory 10 is a so-called continuous accessory, and the hit ball is a special prize opening (
When a prize is won in the V-winning slot, the opening/closing member is controlled to open and close repeatedly so that a jackpot game state occurs and a large number of winning balls are generated in a short time. When the jackpot game state is reached, in this embodiment, the number of balls fired is controlled to be the maximum, so it is possible to increase the number of winning balls generated during that time, and to gain interest from the players. I can do it.

Further, at the upper part of the front frame 3, a shot number display 11 for displaying the number of shots per unit time during the game is provided so as to face the front.

Next, the structure of the back side of the pachinko machine 1 configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG.
As is well known, the generated winning balls are processed one by one, and a predetermined number of balls corresponding to the winning balls (for example, 13
Mechanism board 1 incorporating various mechanisms for dispensing prize balls (pieces)
2 is placed. This mechanism board 12 has a storage tank 13 in its upper part that stores a predetermined number (for example, 400) of prize balls, and its lower part contains winning balls (also called safe balls) and non-winning batted balls ( It has a discharge port 14 for discharging the ball (referred to as an out ball).

A ball launcher 25, which constitutes the main part of this embodiment, is fixed to the lower part of the back surface of the pachinko machine 1. The configuration of the batted ball launcher 25 will be described in detail later.

The pachinko machine 1 configured as described above has a pachinko island 1
Inside this pachinko island 15, a distribution path 16 for supplying prize balls to each pachinko machine 1 runs across the upper part, and a distribution path 16 for supplying prize balls to each pachinko machine 1 is provided in the lower part of the pachinko island 15. A collection path 18 extends therethrough, which collects the discharged balls (both safe balls and out balls) discharged from the machine 1 at a location and collects them in a lifting device (not shown). The distribution path 16
A distribution pipe 17 is suspended so as to correspond to each pachinko machine 1, and guides prize balls flowing down the distribution path 16 to the storage tank 13. On the other hand, a discharge bulb tank 1 is located at a position corresponding to the discharge port 14 at the upper part of the recovery path 18.
9 are provided so as to correspond to each pachinko machine 1. This discharge ball tank 19 temporarily receives the discharge balls discharged from each pachinko machine 1, and then allows them to fall into the collection path 18. Inside the tank 19, as shown in FIG. It includes a safe ball detector 20 that detects only safe balls among the discharged balls discharged from the discharge port 14, and a discharged ball detector 21 that detects all discharged balls. The safe ball detector 20 is of a type in which a detection signal is derived by the passage of generated safe balls, and the ejected ball detector 21 generates a detection signal every time a predetermined number (for example, 10) of ejected balls pass. This is a format that derives one detection output. The detection signals from the safe ball detector 20 and the ejected ball detector 21 are input manually to a microcomputer 27, which will be described later, and serve as the basis for calculating the ball output rate per predetermined time. For example, the signals from the safe ball detector 20 and the ejected ball detector 21 are counted for a predetermined number of minutes, and based on the counted values, the ball output rate for the predetermined number of minutes (
Calculate the number of safe pitches/number of ejected pitches). Based on the calculated ball delivery rate, in this embodiment, the rotation speed of the drive motor 26 of the ball launcher 25 is controlled to change. Specifically, the number of shots fired is, for example, 70 to
It can be set to vary between 100 balls/minute, but the lower the ball output rate, the lowest number of shots will be automatically selected, and the higher the ball output rate, the maximum number of shots will be selected. do it. For example, if the ball payout rate is rO,03 or less,
Select 70 pieces/minute and the ball output rate is rO, 04 to 0.06.
In this case, select 80 pieces/minute and the ball output rate is ro, 07
~0.08J, select 90 pieces/minute, and if the ball output rate is RO, 09 or higher, select 100 pieces/minute.In addition, calculate the ball output rate. In order to
In this embodiment, the calculation is performed based on the safe balls and the ejected balls, but it may be calculated based on the number of prize balls supplied from the distribution pipe 17 to the storage tank 13 and the ejected balls.

Next, the ball launcher 25, which is the main part of this embodiment, will be explained. As shown in FIG. 3, the ball launcher 25 has a drive motor 26 as an electric drive source, and includes a rotating cam (not shown) fixed to the output shaft of the drive motor 26 and a ball rod (not shown). ) are intermittently engaged and disengaged to rotate the batting rod back and forth, thereby making it possible to fire a batted ball. Therefore, the number of shots fired by the drive motor 2
This can be done by controlling the rotation speed of 6.
In order to control the rotation speed, a microcomputer 27 and a frequency converter 28 for changing the rotation speed of the drive motor 26 based on commands from the microcomputer 27 are provided near the drive motor 26.

The microcomputer 27, as shown in the block diagram of FIG. Signal, special PjlJtl
a display circuit 33 that receives a human power signal from a pachinko machine player award operation input circuit 32 that determines and detects the jackpot state, which is a skill state, and drives the shot number display 11 (represented as a display section); The frequency converter drive circuit 34 is configured to output an output signal to each frequency converter drive circuit 34 that drives the frequency converter 28 . Note that the microcomputer 27 may be configured to receive input signals from the operation button circuit 35. As shown in FIG. 7, this operation button circuit 35 sends a signal to the microcomputer 27 based on the operation of the firing number conversion operation button 29 provided at the upper part of the operation handle 8, and operates a switching button (not shown). This is used when playing a game by manually varying the number of shots after firing. In other words, in this embodiment, the number of shots can be controlled automatically, and the number of shots can be manually varied according to the will of the player to continue playing the game with a constant number of shots. It can also be configured to do so.

To explain the control operation of the microcomputer 27 described above, the microcomputer 27 calculates the ball output rate based on input signals from the safe ball input circuit 30 and the out ball input circuit 31. This calculation is performed every predetermined unit time (for example, 1 to 3 minutes). Then, an output signal is sent from the microcomputer 27 to the frequency converter 28 via the frequency converter drive circuit 34 so that the number of shots is a predetermined number based on the calculated ball payout rate, and based on this, the pachinko The rotation speed of the drive motor 26 of the machine 1 is automatically controlled. For example, when the ball output rate is low, as shown in FIG. 5, the number of ejected balls decreases, so the number of ejected balls that fall from the ejection port 14 of the mechanism plate 12 into the ejected ball tank 19 decreases, On the other hand, when the ball output rate is high, as shown in Figure 6, the number of balls fired increases, so
The number of discharge balls that fall from the discharge port 14 of the mechanism plate 12 into the discharge ball tank 19 increases. In this way, when the ball output rate is low, the number of balls fired can be reduced to reduce the rate of decrease in the number of balls held, and conversely, when the ball output rate is high, the number of balls fired can be increased. This makes it possible to increase the possibility of winning a large number of prize balls, thereby increasing the interest of the game.

The above-mentioned safe ball input circuit 30 and out ball power circuit 3
The number of shots is controlled based on the input signal from Pachinko machine 3 during the normal gaming state, and when the jackpot state, which is a special gaming state, occurs, that is, when the pachinko machine wins operation input circuit 3. When there is a human power signal from 2, the control of the number of shots based on the above-mentioned payout rate is stopped, and the frequency is changed from the microcomputer 27 so that the number of shots is the maximum, that is, in this embodiment, 100 pieces/minute. An output signal is sent to the frequency converter 28 via the converter drive circuit 34 to increase the rotational speed of the drive motor 26. For this reason, when the special game state is entered, the number of shots per unit time increases, so the possibility that the number of winning balls to the center accessory 10 provided on the game board 6 will increase increases, and the interest in the game is improved. I can do it.

The configuration and operation of the ball launcher 25 of the pachinko machine 1 according to the embodiment have been described above.
6 is shown as an example, but it may be a ball launcher using a rotary solenoid, a rear solenoid, or the like. In addition, the number of shots per unit time can be set arbitrarily, for example,
You may make it change according to a ball output rate between 80 pieces/minute - 120 pieces/minute.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, the ball firing device for a pachinko machine according to the present invention, in the normal gaming state, fires balls in proportion to the ball output rate calculated by the ball output rate calculation means. a first firing number control means for controlling the electric driving source to change the number of balls fired; Since the configuration includes a second firing number control means for controlling the target driving source, it is possible to automatically change the number of batted balls to be fired in accordance with the game state, thereby meeting the wishes of the players. You can play games according to the rules.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the pachinko machine seen from the front, Figure M2 is a rear view of the pachinko machine installed on Pachinko Island,
FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial view of the lower part of the pachinko machine, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control circuit of the ball launcher according to the embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway front view of the pachinko machine showing the operation when the ball output rate is low, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway front view of the pachinko machine showing the operation when the ball output rate is high. FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial view of the vicinity of the operation handle provided on the front of the pachinko machine. 32... Pachinko machine player award operation input circuit (special game state detection means)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A ball firing device for a pachinko machine that fires balls by driving an electric drive source, the pachinko machine comprising: a ball output rate calculating means for calculating a ball output rate per predetermined unit time, and a pachinko game. special game state detection means for detecting that the ball has entered a predetermined special game state, and the batted ball firing device is configured to detect a ball output rate proportional to the ball output rate calculated by the ball output rate calculation means in the normal game state. a first firing number control means for controlling the electric drive source so as to change the number of batted balls fired; and a first firing number control means for controlling the electric drive source to change the number of batted balls fired; A batted ball firing device for a pachinko machine, comprising: second firing number control means for controlling the electric drive source so that the following is achieved.