JP2001025540A - Symbol reel for game panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a symbol pattern reel for a game panel which gives a gorgeous feeling to a player and avoids neither increasing a weight nor giving a burden on a driving motor by forming a three-dimensional symbol pattern on the outer peripheral surface of a reel drum. SOLUTION: Relating to a symbol reel for a game panel consisting of a reel wheel 2 having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface and a symbol sheet 3 adhered along the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of this wheel 2 to display symbol patterns, each symbol pattern 8 is formed on the symbol sheet 3 as a three-dimensional pattern appeared in the form of projecting while a plastic thin sheet film is directed toward the surface side of the sheet corresponding to the shape of the symbol pattern.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to various types of game machines such as pachinko machines, pachislot machines, etc., such as ball game machines, slot machines, etc., through display windows formed at the center of the game board surface. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game board symbol reel in which a plurality of symbol designs are formed and displayed on an outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical reel for displaying a symbol design and allowing a player to recognize the symbol design.

[Prior art]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a game board such as a pachinko machine or a slot machine has a built-in symbol reel in which various symbol designs are printed and displayed at equal intervals on an outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical reel. Each of these game board unique symbol designs projects the light of the back lamp installed inside the reel drum from behind the symbol design so that the player can observe it from the display window formed in the center of the front of the game board. Then, it is visually recognized by the player from the window of the game board. In a slot machine described as an example of a game board, when a start lever is operated by a player, a motor is driven to rotate a reel drum, and a part of a symbol symbol that rotates and moves at high speed is observed in a display window. You. When the stop switch is pressed by the player, the brake is applied to the motor in accordance with the operation timing, and the reel drum is controlled to stop. A player executes a game for a long time by rotating or stopping a reel drum by operating a lever or a push button. Therefore, the rotation and stop of the reel drum are repeated, and this is performed for a long time, so that the reel drum is required to be as light as possible in order to reduce the load on the motor.

The conventional symbol reel incorporated in the above-mentioned game board is a reel wheel formed of a lightweight and transparent plastic material and a strip-shaped symbol sheet attached to a cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel. It is configured. This symbol sheet is made of a flexible flat plastic sheet, and various symbol marks are printed and displayed on the surface thereof at a constant pitch in the circumferential direction. This symbol sheet is attached to both ends by a double-sided adhesive tape or the like attached to the back surface of the sheet, and is fixed to the cylindrical outer surface of the reel wheel.

As described above, in the conventional symbol reel,
Since only a flat symbol design is printed and displayed on the outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel, there is a problem that the symbol design is flat and does not look good and the player cannot feel luxurious. In order to give the symbol design a three-dimensional effect, some parts of the symbol design are printed separately from the front and back of the transparent symbol sheet to display the three-dimensional effect, but if only the thickness of the sheet is sufficient If a sufficient three-dimensional effect cannot be exhibited, and if the thickness of the sheet is increased, the weight of the reel wheel itself is increased, and the load on the drive motor is increased, causing troubles such as motor burnout. Also,
Attempts have been made to directly form a three-dimensional pattern on the outer peripheral surface of the wheel when molding the reel wheel. However, this requires a complicated mold for forming the reel wheel, and this three-dimensional pattern is often used. There is a problem that a high-level printing technique and many steps are required in order to make colors, and the production cost is eventually increased.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a three-dimensional symbol pattern is formed on the outer peripheral surface of a symbol reel to give a more luxurious feeling to a player, and the weight of the reel drum itself. It is an object of the present invention to provide a symbol symbol display reel for a game board which does not increase the number of symbols and does not impose a load on a drive motor for rotating the symbol reel.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a reel wheel having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface, and a symbol sheet displaying a symbol pattern along the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel. In the symbol reel for a gaming machine constituted by attaching a symbol, the symbol sheet has a three-dimensional pattern in which a symbol pattern is formed by projecting a plastic thin sheet film in a convex shape toward the front side of the sheet corresponding to the symbol pattern shape. It is characterized by being formed as a design. Furthermore, the symbol pattern is printed and displayed on a flat sheet film made of a thermoplastic resin material, and the flat sheet film is heated and softened to form a symbol sheet in which the pattern is formed unevenly by a mold in which the symbol pattern is three-dimensionally stamped. The symbol reel for a game board is manufactured by a process of winding and fixing the symbol sheet around the outer surface of the reel wheel.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a symbol reel 1 used for a pachislot game board, which comprises a reel wheel 2 formed of a transparent plastic material and a symbol sheet 3 stuck on the outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel 2. . The reel wheel 2 includes a cylindrical portion 4 having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface, and an annular support frame 6 connected by a connection piece 5 connected from one side edge of the cylindrical portion 4 toward the inner diameter direction. It is composed of An opening 7 is formed in the center of the support frame 6, and a rotation shaft of a drive motor (not shown) is inserted therethrough. The symbol reel 1 is rotated and stopped by the driving force of the motor transmitted to the reel wheel 2 via the rotation shaft.

On the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 4 of the reel wheel 2, a symbol sheet 3 on which symbol symbols 8 are formed at regular intervals in the circumferential direction is fixed. As shown in FIG. 2, the symbol sheet 3 is a sheet-like film made of a thermoplastic resin such as a vinyl chloride resin or a polycarbonate resin having a length substantially equal to the circumference of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 4 of the reel wheel 2. It is composed of Symbol symbols 8 corresponding to the game board are formed on the symbol sheet 3 at regular intervals. As shown in FIG. 3, each symbol pattern 8 is formed as a three-dimensional pattern obtained by forming a film material into an uneven shape, and a symbol is formed such that a space is formed between the outer surface of the reel wheel 2 on the back side of the symbol pattern 8 forming portion. The design 8 protrudes toward the front side of the sheet. The symbol reel 1 mounted on the game board is formed on the symbol sheet 3 by the light of an illumination lamp (not shown) disposed inside the cylindrical portion 4 of the reel wheel 2 through the transparent cylindrical portion 4 and the color of the symbol sheet 3. The displayed symbol pattern 8 is displayed.

The details of a three-dimensional mahjong tile as an example of the symbol pattern 8 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. An outer edge 11 for displaying an outer edge of the mahjong tile design is formed to have a predetermined width on the front side of the sheet 3. The central part 12 of the tile pattern is formed by a raised part one step lower than the outer edge, and the concentric circles of the concentric patterns constituting the pattern patterns 13, 14, 15 of the tile are raised to the respective heights, and a three-dimensional mahjong tile is formed. Is formed as a symbol. A concave portion 16 is formed on the rear surface side of the raised portion of the symbol sheet 3 corresponding to the raised portion, and a hollow portion is formed between the symbol sheet 3 and the outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel when the symbol sheet 3 is attached to the reel wheel 2. I have. The intermediate portion 18 between the both sides 17 of the symbol sheet 3 and the adjacent symbol pattern 8 is not formed with a bulge and remains in a flat state of the symbol sheet 3, and these portions are in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel 2. Let it be glued.

Next, an example of a method for manufacturing the symbol sheet 3 will be described with reference to FIG. As a material of the symbol sheet 3, a film 20 of a thermoplastic plastic such as a vinyl chloride resin, a polycarbonate resin, or PET is used. In the printing process, the peripheral length and width of the outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel 2 are formed on the front or back surface of the film 20. The symbol pattern 8 is printed and formed in various colors in the corresponding range.
When the swelling dimension of the symbol pattern 8 described later is set to be large, it is necessary to create a symbol pattern 8 plate in consideration of the elongation of the film 20 at the time of molding in the symbol pattern printing plate. In addition, the symbol design can be colored not only by printing but also by a method such as foil stamping or the like to give a more luxurious feeling such as coloring of gold and silver or a hologram.

Film 20 on which symbol pattern 8 is printed
Forms the symbol design part three-dimensionally by the vacuum forming device 21 as an example. In the vacuum forming apparatus 21, a symbol pattern mold 22 in which an uneven pattern is formed corresponding to the symbol pattern of the symbol pattern 8 is arranged, and a film 20 heated and softened by heating is placed on the symbol pattern mold 22. Place
The film 20 is sucked from the back side of the symbol pattern mold 22 by the vacuum pump 23, and the film 20 is drawn into the concave portion of the symbol pattern mold 22 so that the softened film 20 is brought into close contact with the concave and convex pattern of the pattern to form a three-dimensional pattern portion. The main part of the symbol pattern mold 22 is applied to the film 20 by vacuum pressure.
Are formed with a plurality of small-diameter holes 24 for effectively drawing in the holes. Reference numeral 25 denotes a holding frame for bringing the periphery of the film 20 into close contact with the symbol pattern 22.

As a method of forming a three-dimensional symbol figure, in addition to the above-described method using a vacuum forming die, a method in which a film is arranged between a male and a female mold and press forming is also possible. It is also possible to accurately form a more precise three-dimensional pattern by using the method and the press molding method using a female / male type together. The cooled film 20 is taken out of the mold and the periphery is cut into a predetermined length and width to produce a symbol sheet 3 which is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel 2 to complete the symbol reel 1.

In the step of printing a symbol pattern on the film 20, a heat-sensitive or pressure-sensitive adhesive layer may be formed by printing around the symbol figure of the film 20 and on the back side of the intermediate portion of the three-dimensional symbol. It is possible.
This eliminates the need for an adhesive application step for attaching the symbol sheet 3 to the outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel 2, an adhesive component such as a double-sided adhesive tape attached to the back side of the symbol sheet 3, and an attaching step. (1) The cost of parts can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the case where the symbol reel according to the present invention is applied to a symbol reel for a pachi-slot machine has been described. However, the present invention is applied to an outer peripheral surface of a slot machine, a pachinko machine, a smart ball game machine, a pinball game machine and the like. The symbol reel structure according to the present invention can be applied to gaming machines that use symbol reels displaying various symbol designs. In this case, the same effect as in the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the symbol design which can be said to be the face of the game board is formed in three dimensions, so that the game board can be made even higher quality, and the player can enjoy a luxurious appearance. You can give a sense of fun and play. In addition, since a three-dimensional design is formed by molding a thermoplastic resin film using a mold, even if the design is displayed three-dimensionally, the overall weight does not increase, and the load of the motor that rotates and drives the symbol reel is reduced. And no troubles such as motor burnout occur.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a symbol pattern display reel drum for a pachislot game board according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a symbol sheet used for the reel drum of FIG. 1, wherein (a) shows a symbol sheet for a pachislot game machine, and (b) shows a symbol sheet for a slot machine.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the symbol reel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of a symbol of a pachislot symbol sheet.

5 is an enlarged sectional view showing a symbol forming portion of the same symbol sheet as that of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are conceptual diagrams showing an outline of a manufacturing process of a typical manufacturing method of forming a three-dimensional symbol pattern, wherein FIG. 6A is a symbol pattern printing step, and FIGS. 3 shows a molding step.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a symbol sheet is attached to an outer peripheral surface of a reel wheel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Symbol reel 2 Reel wheel 3 Symbol sheet 4 Cylindrical part 5 Connecting piece 6 Support frame 7 Opening 8 Symbol design 20 Film 21 Vacuum forming device 22 Symbol design 23 Vacuum pump 24 Drilling hole 25 Holding frame

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A gaming machine symbol reel comprising: a reel wheel having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface; and a symbol sheet on which a symbol pattern is displayed along the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the reel wheel. Wherein the symbol pattern is formed as a three-dimensional pattern in which a plastic thin sheet film is bulged in a convex shape toward the front side of the sheet corresponding to the symbol pattern shape. . 2. A process in which a symbol pattern is printed and displayed in multicolor on a flat sheet film made of a thermoplastic resin material, wherein the flat sheet film on which the symbol pattern is printed is heated and softened, and the symbol pattern is three-dimensionally stamped. And a method of manufacturing a symbol reel for a game board, which is produced by a process of forming a pattern formed by printing according to irregularities, and a process of winding and fixing the sheet film around the outer surface of a cylindrical reel wheel.