Gaming machine
In the slot machine 1, when the player touches the touch panel 5k corresponding to the periphery of the bet number display part 32, the numerical keypad image is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d and input operation of the numerical value through the numerical keypad device 30 is activated. After the numerical value is input by the numerical keypad device 30, if the player operates the start lever 9 or the spin switch 13 or the MAX BET switch 17, the numerical keypad image disappears. Thereafter, the bet number is recognized by the main CPU 42. If the bet number is recognized by the main CPU 42, the sum calculated by multiplying the unit sum corresponding to one bet with the bet number is set as the betted money by the main CPU 42. And based on the operation of the start lever 9 or the spin switch 13 or the MAX BET switch 17 by the player, rotation of the reels 2 to 4 is conducted and the slot machine game is started.
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This application is based upon and claims a priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-352221 filed on Oct. 10, 2003, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This application is related to a co-pending U.S. application entitled “GAMING MACHINE”, filed on the same date as this application. The co-pending application is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine in which a game is conducted by betting game media stored therein.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, as such kind of the gaming machine, it is, for example, well-known a slot machine disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-120716. On a switch panel of the slot machine shown in the above reference, there are provided bet buttons through which a player determines a bet number to bet game media stored in the slot machine. The bet buttons are constructed from a 1-BET button that one bet number is added by every one operation thereof and a MAX-bet button that game media can be betted at the MAX bet number by operation thereof The bet number is determined by operation of these bet buttons and thereafter a game is started by operating a start lever.
However, in the slot machine shown in the Japanese reference, game media can only be betted by the bet number which is allotted beforehand for each of the bet buttons, therefore the bet number cannot be voluntarily set. Thus, in a case that the bet number is large, the player has to press the 1-BET button many times. As a result, it takes a relatively long time for a BET operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has been done to dissolve the above problems and has an object to provide a gaming machine through which a player can voluntarily and quickly set a bet number, thereby operability to determine the bet number can be raised.
According to one aspect of the present invention, it is provided a gaming machine comprising a game medium storing device for storing game media, wherein a game is conducted by betting at least one of the game media,
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- the gaming machine further comprising:
- an input device for inputting a numerical value; and
- a recognition device for recognizing the numerical value input from the input device as a bet number of the game media.
According to the above gaming machine, the numerical value input from the input device is recognized as the bet number by the recognition device. And the game media corresponding to the bet number are betted and a game is conducted. Therefore, the player can voluntarily set the bet number without being limited to a bet number allotted to each of bet buttons as in the prior art. Therefore, even if the bet number is large, the player can quickly set the bet number without pressing the bet button in many times.
Here, the game media include various game media such as coins, tokens, medals, coupons, tickets, memory media (cards and the like).
The above and further objects and novel features of the invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description when the same is read in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for purpose of illustration only and not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the objects, advantages and principles of the invention.
In the drawings,
The preferred embodiment of the present invention will described hereinafter. Here, in the embodiment, although various game media such as coins, tokens, medals, coupons, tickets, memory media (cards and the like) can be utilized, it will be hereinafter explained the embodiment in which coins are utilized as an example.
On a control panel 10 positioned at a lower position of the reel display window portion 5, a coin insertion slot 11 in which the player inserts coins and a bill insertion portion 12 to insert a bill are provided. And also on the control panel 10, it is provided a spin switch 13 to start rotation of the reels 2 to 4 by press operation thereof, independently from the start lever 9 and further a change switch 14, a cashout switch 15, a 1-BET switch 16 and a MAX-BET switch 17 are arranged.
The change switch 14 is a switch used when the player calls an attendant of a game arcade, and when the change switch 14 is operated, a tower light arranged on an upper part of the slot machine 1 is turned on. The cashout switch 15 is a switch to pay out money betted and credited to a coin tray 19 as coins when pressed. The 1-BET switch 16 is a switch to bet only a predetermined unit sum among the money betted and credited by one press operation, and the MAX BET switch 17 is a switch to bet a sum corresponding to the max bet number (1000 coins in the embodiment) among the money betted and credited by one press operation.
And on a top glass 20 arranged at an upper position of the reel display window portion 5, it is displayed a payout table indicating a relation that each of the winning combinations and payout thereof is corresponded. And on a bottom glass 21 positioned at a lower position of the reel display window portion 5, characters relating to the slot machine are described.
And attachment of the reel display window portion 5 to a front panel of the device is, as shown in
At both an upper end and a lower end of the light guiding plate 5g, a pair of cold cathode ray tubes 30a are arranged as light sources of the liquid crystal display panel 5d. And at an upper and a lower positions of display window parts on a rear side of the rear holder 5h, a pair of cold cathode ray tubes 30b to illuminate the symbols described on the outer periphery of each of the reels 2 to 4 are arranged.
The liquid crystal display panel 5d is a transparent electric display panel which is disposed at the front side of the reels 2 to 4 and the reels 2 to 4 are seen and recognized through the liquid crystal display panel 5d. A rear side around the display part of the liquid crystal display panel 5d is held by the liquid crystal holder 5e. The light guiding plate 5g is formed from a light transmitting resin panel and lens cuts are formed to guide light emitted from the cold cathode ray tubes 30b disposed at sides thereof toward the rear side of the liquid crystal display panel 5d. The diffusion sheet 5f is formed light transmitting resin sheet and constructs diffusion member to diffuse light guided by the light guiding plate 5g and levels light illuminated to the liquid crystal display panel 5d. The liquid crystal holder 5e holding the liquid crystal display panel 5d, the diffusion sheet 5f and the light guiding plate 5g are formed into one-construction and the circumference thereof is inserted in the bezel metallic frame 5c. By this insertion, the front side of the circumference of the display part in the liquid crystal display panel 5d is held by the bezel metallic frame 5c.
The liquid crystal holder 5e, the diffusion sheet 5f and the light guiding panel 5g, which are inserted in the bezel metallic frame 5c and formed into one-construction, are further inserted in the reel glass base 5b at the circumference thereof, thereby are supported by the reel glass base 5b in a state that the front side of the display part in the liquid crystal display panel 5d is opened. The transparent acrylic plate 5a, on the front surface of which the touch panel 5k is arranged, is attached to the front plane of the device by fixing the reel glass base 5b on the front panel of the device through the screws 5j, thereby the transparent acrylic plate 5a is pressed and attached to the front plane of the reel glass base 5b with the touch panel 5k. Thus, the transparent acrylic plate 5a closes the above opening positioned on the front plane of the display part in the liquid crystal display panel 5d.
The rear holder 5h is formed from a white resin plate and retains the bezel metallic frame 5c, the liquid crystal holder 5e supporting the liquid crystal display panel 5d, the diffusion sheet 5f and the light guiding plate 5g, all of which are supported to the reel glass base 5b, to the reel glass base 5b from the rear side thereof. The rear holder 5h functions as a reflecting plate to reflect light emitted to the light guiding plate 5g from the cold cathode ray tubes 30a toward the liquid crystal display panel 5. The antistatic sheet 5 is made transparent and is adhered to the rear plane of the rear holder 5h by a double-sided tape, thereby the antistatic sheet 5i covers the openings formed in the rear holder 5h.
The control circuit 40 is mainly constructed from a microcomputer 41 and the microcomputer 41 is constructed from a main CPU 42 (Central Processing Unit) for conducting control operation according to a program preset beforehand, a ROM (Read-Only Memory) 43 as a storing device and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 44. In the ROM 43, control procedures for wholly controlling the gaming machine are stored as a sequence program and the RAM 44 is utilized as a temporary memory work area and the like when such program is executed.
To the main CPU 42, a clock pulse generator 45 for generating standard clock pulses and a frequency divider 46, a random number generator 47 for generating random numbers within a predetermined range and a sampling circuit 48 for sampling one random number generated by the random number generator 47, are connected. Further, an I/O port 49 to receive and output various signals between peripheral devices (actuators) mentioned later, is connected to the main CPU 42. And the ROM 43 has also memory areas to store a winning combination table which is referred when the winning combination is determined based on a symbol combination, other than the sequence program.
Here, the microcomputer 41, the random number generator 47 and the sampling circuit 48 constructs a lottery device to determine the winning combination by a lottery and selects the symbols which are stopped and displayed on the display windows 6 to 8 or the liquid crystal display panel 5d by a lottery and determines the winning combination based on the selected symbol combination. And the microcomputer 41 constructs a game medium storing device for storing the betted money inserted from the coin insertion slot 11 and the bill insertion portion 12 as data in the RAM 44.
As the main actuator the operation of which is controlled by a control signal from the microcomputer 41, there exist stepping motors 50 for rotating and driving the reels 2 to 4, various lamps 51, a LED display part 52, a hopper 53 for storing coins, the liquid crystal display panel 5d and a speaker 55. These are driven and controlled by a motor drive circuit 56,a lamp drive circuit 57, a LED drive circuit 58, a hopper drive circuit 59, an image control circuit 60 and a sound control circuit 61, respectively, These drive circuits 56 to 59 and the control circuits 60, 61 are connected to the main CPU 42 through the I/O port 49.
And as the main input signal generation device for generating input signals necessary for the main CPU 42 to produce control signals, there exist a start switch 9S for detecting operation of the start lever 9, the spin switch 13, the change switch 14, the cashout switch 15, the 1-BET switch 16, the MAX BET switch 17 and a coin sensor 11S to detect coins inserted in the coin insertion slot 11. Further, a reel position detection circuit 62 for detecting the rotation position of the reels 2 to 4 is provided.
And as the input signal generation device, there exist a coin detection part 53S for counting the number of coins paid out from the hopper 53, a payout completion signal generation circuit 63, the numerical keypad device 30 constructed from the numerical keypad image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d and the predetermined area of the touch panel 5k corresponding to the numerical keypad image and a numerical keypad device detection circuit 64. The payout completion signal generation circuit 63 generates a signal to detect a coin payout completion when the coin count value corresponded to the coin number actually paid out and input from the coin detection part 53S reaches to the payout coin number data. And the numerical keypad device detection circuit 64 detects operation of the numerical keypad device 30, such operation being done by touching the touch panel 5k corresponding to numerical keys of the numerical keypad image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d and outputs the detected operation signal to the main CPU 42. The above payout completion signal generation circuit 63 and the numerical keypad device detection circuit 64 are also connected to the main CPU 42 through the I/O port 49. Here, the main CPU 42 constructs a bet number recognition device to recognize the numerical value input from the numerical keypad device 30 as the bet number of the money betted.
In the above construction, before the game is conducted in the slot machine 1, the player at first inserts coins in the coin insertion slot 11 or inserts a bill in the bill insertion slot 12, thereby the betted money is stored in the slot machine 1. Next, the sum betted for the game is directed by the player among the betted money which is stored. This direction is done by conventional operation of the 1-BET switch 16 or the MAX-BET switch 17, or by operation of the numerical keypad device 30 constructed from the liquid crystal display panel 5d and the touch panel 5k.
On a game image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d of the reel display window portion 5, as shown in
When the bet number is recognized, the main CPU 42 sets the sum calculated by multiplying the bet number with the unit sum corresponding to one bet as the betted money. And based on the operation of the start lever 9 or the spin switch 13 or the MAX BET switch 17 by the player, rotation process of the reels 2 to 4 is done and the slot machine game is started. And in a case that the symbol combination of the winning combination with payout is stopped and displayed along the pay line L, the payout corresponding to the betted money which is set by the main CPU 42 is given to the player. Thereby, the credit number is increased or coins are paid out to the coin tray 19.
According to the slot machine 1 of the embodiment, as mentioned, when the numerical value is input through the numerical keypad device 30 constructed from the numerical keypad image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d and the touch panel 5k, such numerical value is recognized as the betted number by the main CPU 42 and the slot machine game is conducted after the betted money corresponding the recognized bet number is set. Thus, the player can voluntarily set the bet number without being limited to the bet number “1” allotted to the 1-BET switch 16 and the bet number “1000” allotted to the MAX BET switch 17, as in the conventional slot machine. Therefore, even in a case that the bet number is large, the player can quickly set the bet number without troublesome operation, for example, without pressing the 1-BET switch 16 395 times in order to conduct the game with 395 bets.
And in the embodiment, the numerical keypad image is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d in the reel display window portion 5 which displays the game image of the slot machine 1, and the player can input the bet number by touching the touch panel 5k corresponding to each of the numerical key images constructing the numerical keypad device 30 in cooperation with the touch panel 5k. Therefore, the player can operate the numerical keypad device 30 while seeing the reel display window portion 5 and operability to determine the bet number can be raised.
Here, in the embodiment, although the bet number is determined by the numerical keypad device 30 every the unit game, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be constructed so that the bet number input through the numerical keypad device 30 is used as the bet number over a plural times of games and such bet number is used for setting the betted money. That is to say, the bet number input in the present game by the player may be stored as the data in the RAM 44 and the like and it may be provided a repeat bet switch to determine the stored data in the RAM 44 as the bet number in the next games. In this case, in the next games, so long as the bet number is determined by the repeat bet switch without again inputting the bet number through the numerical keypad device 30, the stored data in the RAM 44 is continued to be used as the bet number. And when the bet number is again input through the numerical keypad device 30, the data stored in the RAM 44 may be displayed in the bet number display part 32.
According to the above construction, in a case that the constant bet number is used over a plural times of games, the player can omit the input operation of the bet number through the numerical keypad device 30 every the unit game, thereby operation in the game can be reduced. As a result, even if the player conducts games for a long time, the player can concentrate in games without feeling fatigue and improvement of motivation for games can be expected.
And it may be determined corresponding to a gaming state whether or not the bet number input through the numerical keypad device 30 by the player is used for setting the betted money. For example, it is supposed two gaming states, in which the expectation values of the payout paid out to the player in the unit game are different with each other, and it is supposed that the gaming state with lower expectation value is the first gaming state and the gaming state with high expectation value is the second gaming state. At that time, in one of the first gaming state and the second gaming state, the bet number input through the numerical keypad device 30 by the player is used and in the other gaming state thereof the bet number fixedly stored in the ROM 43 is used.
According to the above construction, there may be a case that the rate for getting coins in the specific gaming state may be controlled.
And according to the gaming state, it may be conceivable that a range of the bet number which the player can input through the numerical keypad device 30 is changed. For example, in the above first gaming state, the bet number may be selected within the range up to a predetermined first upper limit value (for example, the bet number is 1000) and in the above second gaming state, the bet number may be selected within the range up to a predetermined second upper limit value (for example, the bet number is 100) lower than the above first upper limit value. Further, the second upper limit value may be set higher than the first upper limit value. And a lower limit value of the bet number which the player can input may be changed according to the gaming state.
According to the above construction, there may be a case that the rate for getting coins in the specific gaming state may be controlled.
And in the above embodiment, although it is explained the case that operation of the numerical keypad device 30 is detected by the numerical keypad device detection circuit 64 and the detected value is input to the main CPU 42, thereby the bet number is determined, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be conceivable that the function of the numerical keypad device detection circuit 64 is provided with the touch panel 5k and the value input through the numerical keypad device 30 is directly given to the main CPU 42 from the touch panel 5k. According to this construction, in the cabinet to which the touch panel 5k is installed as the standard, the slot machine having the same function as the above embodiment may be realized by only changing software thereof, without adding a new parts such as the numerical keypad device detection circuit 64.
Further, in the above embodiment, although dollar ($) and cent (¢) are utilized as the currency denomination displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d in the numerical keypad device 30 for inputting the bet number, the currency denomination is not limited to this. For example, the currency denomination displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d in the numerical keypad 30 may be pound and penny and the like, thereby the currency denomination may be changed and displayed corresponding to the area where the slot machine 1 is used.
And in the above embodiment, although the bet number is determined by directly inputting the numerical value through the numerical keypad device 30, determination method of the bet number is not limited to this. For example, a bet number selection panel may be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d in the reel display window portion 5 in stead of the numerical keypad device 30, the bet number selection panel having a plurality of bet number selection parts in each of which the bet number is set beforehand by stages, and the bet number may be determined to the bet number in the bet number selection part to which the player touches.
In each of the above mentioned modifications, the effect similar to the above mentioned embodiment may be obtained.
In the above mentioned embodiment, although it is explained a case that the gaming machine of the present invention is applied to the slot machine, the present invention can be applied to the gaming machine in which game media are betted, similar to the above embodiment. For example, the present invention can be applied to a Japanese Pachi-slot gaming machine that rotation of the reels is stopped by operating the stop buttons, a poker gaming machine, a trump gaming machine, a mah-jong gaming machine and the like. Further, the present invention can be applied to a game program by which a home gaming machine can suspectedly execute the same operation as in each of the above gaming machines. In this case, as the recording medium to record the game program, various recording media such as CD-ROM, FD (Flexible Disk), flash memory card and the like can be utilized. If the present invention is applied to any of the above gaming machines, the same effect as that of the embodiment can be obtained.
Further, the numerical keypad image may be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5d every one game is terminated and when the player wants to change the bet number.
And the numerical keypad image may disappear when the touch panel 5k corresponding to the periphery of the bet number display part 32 is touched.
Further, in a case that the numerical keypad image includes an enter key image instead of the clear key image shown in
Claims
1. A gaming machine comprising a game medium storing device for storing game media, wherein a game is conducted by betting at least one of the game media,
- the gaming machine further comprising:
- an input device for inputting a numerical value; and
- a recognition device for recognizing the numerical value input from the input device as a bet number of the game media.
2. The gaming machine according to claim 1, further comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a liquid crystal display panel for displaying at least a numerical keypad image, the liquid crystal display panel being arranged at a front side of the cabinet; and
- a transparent touch panel arranged in front of the liquid crystal panel;
- wherein the input device is constructed from the numerical keypad image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel and a predetermined area of the touch panel corresponding to the numerical keypad image.
3. The gaming machine according to claim 2, wherein a gaming image plane including a bet number display part is displayed on the liquid crystal panel, and
- wherein the numerical keypad image is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel when the touch panel corresponding to a periphery of the bet number display part is touched.
4. The gaming machine according to claim 3, wherein the numerical keypad image includes a plurality of numerical keys and a numerical value display part, and
- wherein a numerical value input by touching the touch panel corresponding to the numerical keys is displayed in the numerical value display part.
5. The gaming machine according to claim 4, further comprising:
- a calculation device for calculating a betted money;
- wherein the calculation device calculates the betted money by multiplying a unit sum corresponding to one bet with the bet number.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 7, 2004
Publication Date: Apr 14, 2005
Applicant:
Inventor: Yukinori Inamura (Tokyo)
Application Number: 10/959,057