JPH0527983Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] <Industrial field of application> The present invention provides a ball detection mechanism in the middle of the ball ejection flow path connecting the upper plate and the lower plate, and operates the ball ejection mechanism to detect the upper The balls stored in the tray are allowed to flow down into the lower tray, and the falling balls are detected by the ball detection mechanism, the number of balls in the upper tray is counted, and this number is visually displayed. This is about a pachinko machine that has been made easy to understand.

<Conventional technology> In conventional pachinko machines, the upper tray provided on the front side of the front panel and the ball supply mechanism on the back side of the front panel are connected by a ball guide trough on the back side of the front panel, and during the game, balls are fed from the upper tray. Balls introduced by the guide trough are fed to the firing position by the ball supply mechanism to play a bullet-shooting game, and the balls that have been won can be exchanged for prizes at the end of the game, or can be sent to other pachinko machines. When moving, a ball removal valve provided at the lower end of the bottom of the upper plate is operated to discharge the balls in the upper plate to the lower plate via a ball removal flow path.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> Generally, when starting a pachinko game, a player borrows balls from a ball rental machine and inserts them into the upper tray to start the game. However, recent players who insert two or three 100 yen coins into the ball lending machine in a row find that the number of balls ejected from the ball lending machine and placed into the upper tray actually corresponds to the amount of money inserted into the ball lending machine. To check whether it was true or not, the only option was to count each item one by one.

Further, during the game, the player cannot accurately grasp how many balls he currently has in the upper tray or in the upper tray and the lower tray. Therefore, when exchanging balls in hand for prizes such as cigarettes or drinking water during a game, the player must count the balls himself or have them counted at a prize exchange office. I felt a sense of annoyance.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention was proposed in view of the above, and includes an upper tray 6 for storing balls thrown in by players and balls ejected as prizes, and an upper tray 6 when the upper tray becomes full. A lower tray 8 for storing overflowing balls and a ball number display device 43 for visually displaying the number of balls are provided on the front surface, and the downstream end of the ball introduction path 11 communicating with the upper tray is connected to a ball supply mechanism (for example, a ball feeding mechanism). By connecting to the member 17), balls can be supplied one by one to the firing position, and the balls stored in the upper tray can be lowered in one row by operating a ball removal mechanism (for example, the actuating member 24). A ball ejection flow path 14 is provided to allow the balls to flow down to the dish, and a ball detection mechanism 37 is provided in the middle of the ball ejection flow path to detect each ball passing in a row to control the ball detection mechanism. The device 41 is electrically connected to a pitch count display device, and the ball extraction mechanism is activated to cause the ball detection mechanism to detect the balls flowing down from the upper tray, and the counted number of pitches is visible on the pitch count display device. By displaying the number of pitches, the player can arbitrarily grasp the number of pitches on the spot.

<Function> During the game, balls are stored in the upper tray, and when the player activates the ball extraction mechanism to cause the balls stored in the upper tray to flow down to the lower tray when moving the table or exchanging prizes, the ball detection mechanism detects and counts the balls flowing down in a line from the upper tray in the ball ejection flow path, and visually displays the counted number of balls on a ball number display device.

<Embodiments> The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the pachinko machine 1 has a game board 4 on the back side of a window 3 of a frame-shaped front frame 2, and a glass frame 5 containing a glass plate on the front side of the window 3. , a front panel 7 with an upper tray 6 for storing balls thrown in by the player and balls ejected as prizes is provided on the front surface so as to be openable and closable, and a lower tray 8 is provided on the lower surface of the front frame 2. .

The upper plate 6 is a shallow dish-shaped body made of synthetic resin, and the bottom part 9 slopes slightly downward from the left side where the front and rear width is wide to the right side where the front and rear width gradually becomes narrower.
A ball passage port 10 of the front panel 7 is opened at a position facing the lower end of the slope, and this ball passage port 10 communicates with a ball introduction path 11 on the back side of the front panel 7.

On the back side of the front panel 7, as shown in FIG.
A stop shutter mechanism (not shown) is provided to close the ball passage opening 10 to bring the ball into a stopped state, and inside the ball supply case 13, a ball introduction passage 11, a ball supply mechanism, and a ball discharge flow passage 14 are provided. establish. The ball supply case 13 shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 is a synthetic resin box with an open front, and can be opened and closed around a support shaft 15 provided on one side, and can be attached and detached, and is always connected to the supply base 12. Stop part 1
It is locked and closed at 6. A ball introduction path 11 is formed in the ball supply case 13, which communicates with the ball passage port 10 when the ball supply case 13 is closed, and a ball introduction path 11 is formed so as to face the downstream end of the ball introduction path 11. A ball feeding member 17 of the feeding mechanism is provided. The ball introduction path 11 extends laterally from the entrance 11a with a slight downward slope, and at the lower end of the slope, the centers of the first ball, the second ball, and the third ball are aligned in a straight line. In order to prevent this, it is formed into an arc shape, and the bottom portion 11b is made shorter than the ceiling portion 11c. Therefore, the downward pressure of the balls introduced from the upper plate 6 can be reduced at the inclined portion of the ball introduction path 11.

Further, the ball feeding member 17 shown in the drawings is a substantially U-shaped member having a ball locking member 18 at the tip and a ball mounting portion 19 on which one ball is placed at the lower tip,
It is swingably supported by a shaft 21 on the upper edge of a supply port 20 opened in the ball supply case 13, and its tip is always lowered by its own weight or biased by a weight 22 until the ball mounting portion 19 abuts against the stopper 23. , it stands still with the ball locking part 18 facing the ball waiting position where the first ball waits. In this state, the ball locking part 18 is lower than the shaft 21, and the distal end surface of the ball locking part 18 in contact with the ball is inclined toward the base end of the ball mounting part 19. Ball feeding member 17 regardless of the downward pressure of the ball in ball introduction path 11
may sway slightly.

At the ball standby position, an actuating member 24 that constitutes a part of the ball ejecting mechanism is arranged, and the actuating member 24 supports the first ball, and a ball ejecting flow path 14 that extends obliquely downward from the ball standby position. Prevents the ball from falling inside. The actuating member 24 shown in the drawing has a horizontally long plate shape and is formed at the tip of the ball removal lever 25. In order to make the ball extraction lever 25 slidable, a horizontally long guide frame 26 is provided inside the ball supply case 13, and a slide member 27 is movably fitted into the guide frame 26. Incorporating a biasing spring 28,
Ring-shaped engagement portion 2 protruding from slide member 27
9 is engaged with the connecting pin 30 of the ball removal lever 25. Further, a slide lever 31 protruding forward from the slide member 27 is passed through a through hole in the front panel 7 so as to face the front surface of the front panel 7, and a knob 32 is covered to form a ball extraction operation section. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
occlude.

As shown in FIG. 7, the ball extraction mechanism is provided with a solenoid 33 for driving the operating member in the guide frame 26, and when the ball extraction switch 34 provided on the front panel 7 is operated, the solenoid 33 is driven to operate the operating member. 24 may be moved.

Ball discharge flow path 14 that allows balls to flow down in a single line
An inlet 14a opens at the downstream end of the ball introduction path 11, extends from the inlet 14a toward the base end of the ball supply case 13 while being slightly inclined downward, and when the ball supply case 13 is closed. The exit 1 faces the flow direction conversion member 35 formed on the back surface of the front panel 7.
4b, and when the front panel 7 is closed, the outlet 14b is configured to communicate with the communication path 36 on the lower plate side, and a ball detection mechanism 37 is provided in the middle of this ball outlet flow lower path 14. It has been done. As shown in FIG.
8, it has a communication port 39 that projects forward from the mounting table 38, and a flue ball gutter 40 communicates above the communication port 39, and the outlet 36' at the downstream end faces the lower plate 8 and opens. do. Therefore, the front panel 7
When closed, the outlet 14b of the lower ball outlet flow path 14 connects to the communication port 39 and communicates with the lower plate 8 via the communication path 36.

The ball detection mechanism 37 detects one ball passing through the ball outlet flow path 14 in a single line and sends the ball to the control device 41.
Any configuration is acceptable as long as it can send a signal to. For example, in addition to microswitches with mechanical contacts, optical devices such as optical sensors, non-contact detectors using magnetism, etc. are used. This ball detection mechanism 37 is electrically connected to a ball count display device 43, which will be described later, via a control device 41.

In the pachinko machine 1 configured as described above, when a player throws balls into the upper tray 6, these balls flow from the ball passage opening 10 of the front panel 7 into the ball introduction path 11 on the back side of the front panel 7, and are The previous ball comes into contact with the ball locking portion 18 of the ball sending member 17 at the ball standby position on the actuating member 24 and stops. Then, in this state, operate the knob 32 of the ball extraction mechanism to remove the operating member 24.
When the ball introduction passage 11 and the ball outlet flow lower passage 14 are moved to communicate with each other, all the balls in the upper plate 6 and the ball introduction passage 11 flow down within the ball extraction flow lower passage 14 and are passed through the communication passage 36. It is discharged to the lower tray 8. When the balls flow down in the ball outlet flow path 14, the ball detection mechanism 37 detects one ball flowing down from the activated upper tray 6 and controls the control device 41.
The control device 4 sends a ball detection signal to the control device 4 that receives the signal.
1 counts and stores the counted value in the storage section 42, and visually displays the counted number of balls on a ball number display device 43 such as a digital display provided on the surface of the game board 4. Therefore, by looking at the numerical value displayed on the ball count display device 43, the player can accurately check the amount of money he has put into the ball lending machine and the number of balls he has borrowed.

After confirming the number of balls at the start of the game in this manner, the balls in the lower tray 8 are transferred to the upper tray 6, and the firing operation section 44 on the lower front side is operated. When the firing operation section 44 is operated, the firing device 45 is started and the firing rod 46 is activated.
rotates back and forth, so the ball feeding member 1 of the ball feeding mechanism
7 swings in conjunction with the firing rod 46. When the ball feeding member 17 swings, the ball locking part 18 rises, so that only one ball at the tip of the ball introduction path 11 falls onto the ball placement part 19, and the ball stops at the supply port of the ball supply case 13. 2
It locks on the opening edge of 0 and stops. Then, when the firing rod 46 is sufficiently retreated, the firing rod 46 returns and rotates vigorously due to the bias of the firing spring. When the firing rod 46 rotates back, the interlocking lever of the firing rod 46 is disengaged from the swinging rod, allowing the ball feeding member 17 to swing freely. Therefore, the ball sending member 17 rotates back in the downward direction of the ball mounting portion 19 due to the weight of the ball, causing the ball to fall from the supply port 20 onto the firing rail 47. The ball that has fallen onto the launch rail 47 rolls due to the inclination of the launch rail 47 and stops at a launch position 48. Note that when the ball sending member 17 returns and rotates, the ball locking portion 18 descends, so that the second ball comes into contact with this ball locking portion 18 and stops at the ball standby position on the actuating member 24.

When the firing rod 46 rotates back and forth as described above,
Since the ball feeding member 17 repeats the above-described operation,
One ball is reliably supplied to the firing position 48, and the firing rod 46 fires this ball. Then, the fired ball is guided by the guide rail 49 and the game board 4
It enters the game part 50 on the surface, hits an obstacle nail in the game part 50, and flows down while changing the direction of flow.
The ball flowing down in this way is on the way to the safe port 51...
If it enters the ball, it becomes a winning ball, and any safe opening 51...
The ball that does not enter the ball enters the out port 52 at the bottom of the game section 50 and becomes an out ball.

On the back side of the game board 4, as shown in FIG. 9, a winning ball detector 55 is connected to an out port 52 in the middle of a winning ball discharge gutter 54 that connects to a winning ball collection gutter 53 that collects safe balls. An out ball detector 57 is provided in the middle of the ball discharge gutter 56, and the above-mentioned in-ball ball detector 55 and out ball detector 57 are connected to the control device 4.
1, respectively. In addition, a prize ball ejecting gutter 59 extending from the prize ball ejecting device 58 is connected to a connecting gutter 60 which is removably connected to the upper tray 6, and a lower end outlet of an overflow gutter 61 extending from this connecting portion is connected. It is connected to the communication path 36 described above. Therefore, when a batted ball enters the safe port 51 and becomes a winning ball, the winning ball is sent to the winning ball detector 55.
detects and sends an winning signal to the control device 41, and when the batted ball enters the out port 52 and becomes an out ball, an out ball detector 57 detects this out ball and sends an out ball signal to the control device 41. Upon receiving the out pitch signal, the control device 41 subtracts "1" from the value stored in the storage section 42, for example "100", and visually displays "99" on the pitch count display device 43. When receiving a winning signal, the prize ball ejecting device 58 is activated to discharge a predetermined number of balls, for example, 15 balls, as a prize to the upper tray 6, and the number "99" displayed on the ball number display device 43 is displayed as a prize. Visually displays the number ``114'', which is the sum of the number of pitches ``15''. Therefore, the player can check the number of balls he has at any time simply by looking at the numerical value on the ball count display device 43, which is added and subtracted as the game progresses. In addition, if you can arbitrarily grasp the number of balls you have on the spot by displaying the number of balls display device 43, you can predict when to stop playing the pachinko machine 1 or when to move to another pachinko machine 1. This allows the player to proceed with the game advantageously. In addition, pitch count display device 43
When the number of balls held by the player becomes less than a predetermined number, the warning lamp 62 on the front of the pachinko machine 1 is lit or flashed to inform the player of this fact, or when the game is about to stop. In some cases, the notification may be given using the discontinuation notice lamp 63, or may be given by generating a warning sound or synthesized voice. Furthermore, the blue lamp 64 may be turned on when a batted ball becomes a safe ball and is displayed as an addition, and the red lamp 65 may be turned on when a batted ball becomes an out ball and is displayed as a subtraction.

If a large number of balls accumulate in the upper tray 6 and you want to end the game and exchange them for prizes in this state, or move them to another Pachinko machine 1, press the knob 32 of the ball extraction mechanism.
Alternatively, the ball removal switch 34 is operated to cause all the balls in the upper tray 6 and the ball introduction path 11 to flow down into the lower tray 8.
Then, the player transfers the balls in the lower tray 8 to a ball box and takes them to a prize exchange place, or moves to another pachinko machine 1 to play the game.

When a large number of balls are placed in a ball box, it becomes very heavy, making it difficult to carry it by hand to the prize exchange office. Therefore, a flow path switching mechanism 66 is provided between the above-mentioned communication path 36 and the out ball discharge gutter 56, and the balls counted by the ball detection mechanism 37 of the ball ejection flow downstream path 14 are transferred from the out ball discharge gutter 56 to the pachinko machine 1. It should be discharged to the back side. In the embodiment of the flow path switching mechanism 66 shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, a switching gate 68 is pivotally attached to a communication opening 67 that communicates the communication path 36 and the out bulb discharge gutter 56 so as to be openable and closable by a shaft 69. axis 69
A flow path switching solenoid 71 is attached to the arm piece 70 that rotates the
is connected and biased by a return spring 72. This flow path switching mechanism 66 is always connected to the ninth
As shown by the solid line in the figure, the switching gate 68 rises under the bias of the return spring 72 and closes the communication opening 67 to connect the lower ball outlet flow path 14 and the lower plate 8, and from the lower ball outlet flow path 14 to the communication path. The balls flowing down inside 36 come to rest in a state where they are discharged into the lower tray 8.

On the other hand, the settlement switch 73 provided on the front panel 7
When operated, the control device 41 excites the flow path switching solenoid 71, rotates the switching gate 68 as shown by the dotted line in FIG. While communicating with the discharge gutter 56, the numerical value of the ball count display device 43 is reset to zero, and then the ball removal solenoid 33 of the ball removal mechanism is energized to communicate the ball introduction path 11 and the ball removal flow lower path 14. Therefore, the balls stored in the upper tray 6 and the balls remaining in the ball introduction path 11 are counted by the ball detection mechanism 37 while flowing down the ball outlet flow path 14, and the counted balls are transferred to the communication path 36. On the way, the balls flow down onto the switching gate 68, are guided by the switching gate 68, flow into the out ball discharge gutter 56 through the communication opening 67, and are discharged to the back side of the Pachinko machine 1. Then, when all the balls are discharged from the out ball discharge gutter 56 to the back side of the pachinko machine 1 after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the control device 41 visually displays the counted value, that is, the number of settled balls on the ball number display device 43. , the printer 74 provided in the lower part of the pachinko machine 1 is activated to eject a sheet on which the counted number of balls is printed. Therefore, when a player brings this sheet to a prize exchange office, he or she can exchange it for a prize corresponding to the number of balls printed on the sheet.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 13, it is preferable that the payment switch 73 be covered with a cover 75 to prevent malfunction, so that it can be operated by removing the cover 75 only when in use. In addition, there is a return switch 7 near the settlement switch 73.
6 so that the display on the display device 43 can be reset to zero as needed.

<Effects of the invention> As explained above, according to the invention, the balls passing in a single line are placed in the middle of the ball discharge path that causes the balls stored in the upper plate to flow down to the lower plate in a single line. Since we have installed a temporary ball detection mechanism that can detect each ball individually, when the player activates the ball extraction mechanism to cause the ball in the upper tray to fall into the lower tray, the ball that has fallen from the upper tray to the lower tray will be detected. You can easily and reliably count numbers on the spot.

Then, insert two or three 100 yen coins in a row, place the balls borrowed from the ball rental machine into the upper tray, activate the ball ejecting mechanism, and re-count the number of balls.The correct number of balls will be ejected. Since it can be confirmed on the spot whether or not the number of ejected balls is insufficient, the suspicious feeling of an insufficient number of ejected balls can be eliminated on the spot, and the game can be started with peace of mind.

Also, when exchanging the balls you have for prizes such as cigarettes or drinking water during the game, the ball extraction mechanism is activated to eject the balls from the upper tray to the lower tray, and the number of balls ejected is displayed as a number of balls. If you check with the device, you can count the number of balls required for prize exchange, so players can count the balls themselves as in the past, or exchange for prizes with more balls than the number of balls that can be exchanged equivalently for the desired prize. This eliminates the hassle of having to carry it to a location and have it calculated.
A pachinko machine of great practical value can be provided for the convenience of players.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 is a perspective view with the glass frame and front panel open, and Fig. 3 is a front view with the ball supply case opened. A perspective view of the back side of the panel, Figures 4 and 5 are front views of the ball supply case, Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of the ball extraction mechanism, and Figure 7 is an exploded view of another embodiment of the ball extraction mechanism. A perspective view, FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the connection state between the lower tray and the communication path, FIG. 9 is a rear view of the pachinko machine, FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the flow path switching mechanism, and FIG. 11 is a winning ball. FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram showing the connection between the control device and each detector, etc.; FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of the cover of the clearing switch. 1 is a pachinko machine, 2 is a front frame, 3 is a window, 4 is a game board, 5 is a glass frame, 6 is an upper tray, 7 is a front panel, 8 is a lower tray, 10 is a ball passage opening, 11 is a ball introduction 12 is a supply base, 13 is a ball supply case, 1
4 is a ball ejection flow path, 17 is a ball feeding member, 20 is a supply port, 24 is an operating member, 34 is a ball ejection switch, 36
is a communication path, 37 is a ball detection mechanism, 39 is a communication port, 4
1 is a control device, 43 is a ball count display device, 46 is a firing rod, 51 is a safe port, 52 is an out port, 54 is a winning ball ejection gutter, 55 is a winning ball detector, 56 is an out ball ejecting gutter, and 57 is a Out ball detector, 61 is an overflow gutter, 66 is a flow path switching mechanism, 67 is a communication opening, 68 is a switching gate, 73 is a payment switch,
74 is a printer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An upper tray for storing balls thrown in by a player and balls ejected as a prize, a lower tray for storing balls that overflow when the upper tray is full, and a ball count display device for visually displaying the number of balls. The downstream end of the ball introduction path provided on the front surface and communicating with the upper plate is connected to a ball supply mechanism so that balls can be supplied to the firing position one by one. A ball evacuation flow path is provided for allowing the balls stored in the ball to flow down to the lower tray in a single line, and a ball detection mechanism is provided in the middle of the ball ejection flow path to detect each ball passing in a single line. The ball detection mechanism was temporarily installed, the ball detection mechanism was electrically connected to a ball count display device via a control device, and the ball extraction mechanism was activated to cause the ball detection mechanism to detect and count the balls flowing down from the upper tray. A pachinko machine characterized in that the number of balls is visually displayed on a ball number display device so that a player can arbitrarily grasp the number of balls on the spot.