JPH04218192A - Pachinko or control button for ball dispensing device therebetween - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To lessen possibility of erroneous operation of control buttons, by lowering the touching face of the control buttons key-inputting to a pachinko machine or the like from the periphery thereof. CONSTITUTION:A dispensing ball-button 22 is supported to be vertically movable on the print base plat 24 fixed inside a control pannel 20. And the touching face 22a is exposed at the outside from the round hole 25 of the control pannel 20. And a cylindrical frame 26 protruded outward a little at the upper edge is fixed as a unit at the round hole 25 of the control pannel 20. The peripheral edge of the round hole 25 of the control pannel 20 is raised high by the upper edge of this cylindrical frame 26 and hence, the touching face 22a of the dispensing ball-button 22 is formed to be lower than the periphery by nearly the protrusion of the cylindrical frame 26. The face of the control pannel 20 protrudes stepwisely on the upper edge of the cylindrical frame 26 so as to surround the periphery of the ball-button 22. In this way, player's fingers can touch light by the protrusion to prevent erroneous operation.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation button for a player to input keys into a pachinko machine or an inter-machine ball rental machine.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a prepaid card system has been introduced in the pachinko industry in which players are provided with rental balls using prepaid cards. In addition, so-called card-type pachinko machines that record data on a player's ball holdings on a magnetic card instead of ejecting pachinko balls to the player are currently being actively researched and developed. In pachinko machines and inter-machine ball rental machines that use such prepaid cards, or card-type pachinko machines that use magnetic cards, players are required to key in the number of balls to be withdrawn from the prepaid card (magnetic card). Therefore, operation buttons are essential.

[0003] Conventional operation buttons include push button types and touch switch types, and both of these use a touch surface that the player touches with his or her hand to perform input operations such as pressing on a pachinko machine or the like. It is constructed so that input can be easily performed by being flush with the surface of the operation panel provided on the inter-machine ball rental machine or protruding outward from it.

0004

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, while the above-mentioned operation button is easy to input, there is a risk that the button will be turned on even if the player accidentally touches the operation button, and there is a high possibility of erroneous operation. . Among these erroneous operations, if the return button of a prepaid (magnetic) card is entered incorrectly, the card will simply be returned, so there will be no actual harm to the player.
If the ball rental button that issues a command to release rental balls is erroneously input, the pachinko balls will inevitably be rented out, causing real harm to the player. Such erroneous operations are likely to occur when the player is enthusiastic about playing the game.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an operation button for a pachinko machine or an inter-machine ball rental machine that is less likely to be operated incorrectly.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an improved operation button for key input on a pachinko machine, etc., in which the touch surface of the operation button is lower than its surroundings. It is characterized by

[0007]

[Operation] Since the touch surface of the operation button is lower than its surroundings, even if you carelessly place your hand on the operation button, it will not turn ON. Furthermore, since there is a step around the touch surface of the operation button, the operation button can be identified by touch without having to visually confirm the operation button.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a normal pachinko machine 1 that releases pachinko balls to players, and an inter-machine ball rental machine 2 that supplies rental balls to the pachinko machine 1 using a prepaid card.
It is a combination of The pachinko machine 1 and the inter-machine ball rental machine 2 are each formed independently, and are placed next to each other on a pachinko machine installation island (not shown), and are equipped with a card reader 16 and a ball ejecting device, which will be described later. 17. The operation panel 20 and the like are electrically connected to each other by cables.

The pachinko machine 1 has a front frame 4 hinged to the front surface of an outer frame 3 so as to be openable and closable, a game board 5 installed on the back side of the front frame 4, and a game board 5 that overlaps with the back side of the game board 5. It is generally composed of a mechanism plate 6 hinged to a game board 5 so as to be openable and closable.

The front frame 4 includes, on its front side, a glass door frame 7 that can be opened and closed to cover the game section 5a of the game board 5, a front plate 8 that can be opened and closed to cover the launch section of the launch rail, and a front panel 8 that can open and close the launch section of the launch rail. An operating handle 9 for adjusting the force of the ball to be hit, a lower ball tray 11 for receiving overflowing balls from an upper ball tray 10 provided on the front plate 8, and the like are provided.

The mechanism board 6 includes a winning ball collecting gutter 12 which has a concave portion on the side facing the back side of the gaming section 5a of the gaming board 5 and collects winning balls flowing out to the back side of the playing board 5, and this winning ball collecting gutter 12. A winning ball processing device 13 that communicates with the terminal end of the ball to process winning balls, and a ball guide gutter 14 that guides rental balls and prize balls to the upper and lower ball trays 10 and 11 are provided.

On the other hand, the inter-stand ball rental machine 2 has a card reader 16 for reading amount information of a prepaid card and a ball discharge device 17 for discharging rental balls and prize balls built into a thin rectangular parallelepiped case 15. It is.

The card reader 16 has a prepaid card insertion/ejection port 16a facing the front of the case 15, and is driven by a built-in motor (not shown) to insert and remove the prepaid card. Note that the card reader 16 is set to eject a prepaid card to the front side in response to a key input from a return button 23 provided on the pachinko machine 1 side, which will be described later. A card ejection port is provided so that when a new prepaid card is inserted by a player while a prepaid card with a balance of "0" remains in the card reader 16, the used prepaid card remains in the card reader 16. The prepaid card may be ejected from the rear ejection port to the back side. With this configuration, used prepaid cards will not be scattered around the store, and there will be no need to spend effort collecting used cards.

The ball ejecting device 17 is powered by a motor or a solenoid (
A device of the type that can freely control the number of balls released by driving a pachinko machine (not shown) is used, and it is connected to the ball supply gutter (not shown) of the pachinko machine installation island with a flexible pipe 18 from the pachinko machine installation island side. Receive a supply of pachinko balls. This ball release device 17 is connected to a ball rental button 2 on the side of the pachinko machine 1, which will be described later.
In response to the key input of 2, the number of rental balls corresponding to the preset withdrawal amount is released, and in response to the winning signal from the winning ball processing device 13 on the pachinko machine 1 side, a fixed number of rental balls (
For example, 13 prize balls are released. The ball ejecting device 17
A guide tube 19 as shown in FIG. 2 is connected to the ball outlet of the guide tube 19, and an opening at the lower end of the guide tube 19 and an opening at the end of the ball guide trough 14 of the mechanism plate 6 communicate with each other in an opposing manner. Then, rental balls and prize balls are guided to the upper ball tray 10 and the lower ball tray 11. Note that the guide tube 19 and the ball guide trough 14 only face each other and communicate with each other, and are not physically connected to each other. Therefore, the front frame 4 can be opened and closed freely.

[0015]The front plate 8 has an upper spherical plate 1.
An operation panel 20 is provided so as to be integrally continuous with the end of the 0. This operation panel 20 includes a segment display section 21 that displays the remaining amount of the prepaid card used for the inter-machine ball lending machine 2, and an operation button for inputting a command to supply rental balls to the inter-machine ball lending machine 2. Barrel ball rental button 22;
The inter-stand ball rental machine 2 is provided with a return button 23 which is an operation button for key-inputting a prepaid card return command.

As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 3, the ball lending button 22 is supported so as to be movable up and down on a printed circuit board 24 fixed inside the operation panel 20.
The touch surface 22a is exposed to the outside through the circular hole 25. Then, a cylindrical frame 26 whose upper edge slightly protrudes outward is integrally fixed to the circular hole 25 of the operation panel 20, and the upper edge of the cylindrical frame 26 raises the peripheral edge of the circular hole 25 of the operation panel 20. The touch surface 22a of the ball rental button 22 is made to be lower than its surroundings by approximately the protrusion of the raised cylindrical frame 26. In this way, if the upper edge of the cylindrical frame 26 causes the surface of the operation panel 20 to protrude in a stepped manner, and this protrusion surrounds the ball rental button 22, the player's finger can once touch the protrusion. is lightly caught, and the resistance at that time acts as a brake, making the most of its ability to prevent erroneous operation.

Note that the means for lowering the touch surface 22a of the ball lending button 22 lower than its surroundings is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the periphery of the ball rental button 22 may be formed at the same height as the surface of the operation panel 20, and the touch surface 22a at the center may be recessed.

On the other hand, the return button 23 may have the same configuration as the ball rental button 22, but as already explained, even if the return button 23 is operated incorrectly, there will be no actual harm to the player, and the touch screen The touch surface of the return button 23 is set at approximately the same height as the surface of the operation panel 20 for reasons such as making the height different from the touch surface 22a of the ball rental button 22 so that the type of button can be determined by the feel of the hand. It has become.

The present invention has described an embodiment in which both rented balls and prize balls are supplied to the Pachinko machine 1 by the ball discharge device 17 provided in the inter-machine ball rental machine 2, but of course this invention is not limited to this embodiment. It is not limited to. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the pachinko machine 1 may be provided with a prize ball release device 27, and the ball release device 17 may only release rental balls. Alternatively, only the card reader 16 may be provided in the inter-stand ball rental machine 2. Furthermore, although the present invention has been described with reference to the case where the operation buttons are provided on the ordinary pachinko machine 1, it can also be applied to the case where the operation buttons are provided on the card-type pachinko machine or the inter-machine ball rental machine 2 as described above. be. In addition to making the touch surface of the operation button lower than its surroundings as in the present invention, in order to prevent erroneous operation of the operation button, it is necessary to cover the entire operation button or at least the touch surface with a removable cover. It is also possible to prevent key input while the cover is covered.

[0020]

[Effects of the Invention] The touch surface of the operation button of the present invention is lower than its surroundings, so even if you carelessly place your hand on the operation panel, it is difficult to touch the touch surface of the operation button, and there is no risk of erroneous input. . In addition, since the operating buttons can be tactually identified by the difference in level between the touch surface and its surroundings, the player can concentrate on playing the game without taking his eyes off the game section.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a combination of a pachinko machine and an inter-machine ball rental machine.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part showing an operation button.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing another embodiment of the operation button.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of a combination of a pachinko machine and an inter-machine ball rental machine showing another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Pachinko machine 2…Inter-table ball rental machine 22...Operation button (ball rental button) 22a...Touch surface

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: An operation button provided on the operation panel of a pachinko machine or an inter-machine ball rental machine, for key input to the pachinko machine, etc., characterized in that the touch surface touched by a player is lower than the surrounding area. Operation buttons for pachinko machines or intermachine ball rental machines.