JPH10309366A5 - - Google Patents

Description

[0002]
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in order to sell gaming machines, more specifically pachinko gaming machines, on the market, they have to be inspected by a third party to see if they meet the performance requirements of pachinko gaming machines in accordance with prescribed laws (for example, the Law Concerning the Regulations and Proper Management of Amusement and Entertainment Businesses, etc.), and only if they meet the prescribed standards (for example, the standards set out in the "Regulations Concerning the Certification and Model Inspection of Gaming Machines, etc.") can they obtain a sales license, and as a result, can they be sold on the market.
Then, business is conducted at gaming parlors, but in order to differentiate themselves from other parlors, there are very rare cases where parlors resort to fraud (to attract more customers) by, for example, unfairly bending the pins to increase the number of game balls won when a jackpot is hit, or by replacing the ROM storing the game program on the game control board that manages the game control of the gaming machine with a modified ROM (modified to make jackpots more likely to occur).

[0007]
In practice, monitoring gaming machine fraud through third-party reporting is difficult, inefficient, and not very promising. While gaming parlors may occasionally be able to detect gaming machine fraud through third-party reporting, it is nearly impossible for a third-party organization to detect gaming machine fraud through third-party reporting. Furthermore, if the gaming parlor itself is committing fraud, it is extremely difficult for a third party to discover the fraud.

[0099]
Here, the divisor mentioned earlier will be explained.
The divisor is the ratio of the number of balls paid for to the number of balls loaned, and is calculated as follows: That is, using the out ball signal SG6 (corresponding to the number of outs), the safe ball signal SG5 (corresponding to the number of replenished balls), and the sales signal SG4 (corresponding to the number of loaned balls: 100 yen = 25 balls),
"Cash Sand" (cash ball lending machine that lends balls by inserting cash)
Dividend = {(Number of balls supplied) - (Number of outs)} / Number of balls loaned ... (4)
It is calculated as follows.
"CR Sand" (in the case of a card-type ball lending device 132 that lends balls using a prepaid card: balls are lent using the ball discharge device of the gaming machine 10)
It is calculated as follows.

[0149]
The contents of the current values in FIG. 16(a) are as follows :
Logical ID
The monitoring device number is a number that logically identifies the monitoring device 1 in this case.
Node Number: This is the node number (terminal number) of the terminal (monitoring device 1) on the communication network.
・Time (hours and minutes)
This is the time when the gaming information was collected.
- The cumulative value of supply balls (prize balls) to the cumulative safe P machine.
・Cumulative Out P This is the cumulative value of out balls on the machine.
・Total jackpot 1
This is the cumulative number of special prizes awarded.

[0169]
Next, in step S95, a higher-level authentication process is performed. Although the monitoring device 3 is one of the higher-level gaming machine performance monitoring devices, mutual authentication is performed between the monitoring device 3 and the monitoring device 4 (higher-level gaming machine performance monitoring device) which is located higher on the network than the monitoring device 3. By performing mutual authentication, it is possible to prevent fraud by the monitoring device 3 and to improve the accuracy of monitoring the gaming machine performance.
Next, in step S96, polling request process 3 is performed. As a result, a polling request is output from monitoring device 3 to monitoring device 2, and gaming information collected by multiple monitoring devices 1 located on the pachinko island 111 that monitoring device 2 is responsible for is received from monitoring device 2.

[0210]
In step S255, monitoring device 0 (or monitoring device 1) receives an ID from each terminal (here, it receives the ID sent from monitoring device 2). Note that since there may be cases where an ID is not sent from monitoring device 2, it is also determined in the following step S256 whether there is no response to the ID request.
In step S256, it is determined whether there is an abnormality in the received ID or whether there is no response to the ID request. If there is a response to the ID request and the received ID is normal (if it is a legitimate ID), monitoring device 0 (or monitoring device 1) authenticates monitoring device 2 and returns. This means that monitoring device 2 has been authenticated by monitoring device 0 (or monitoring device 1).

[0214]
In step S265, monitoring device 2 receives an ID from each terminal (here, it receives the ID transmitted from monitoring device 0 or monitoring device 1). Note that since there may be cases where an ID is not transmitted from monitoring device 0 (or monitoring device 1), it is also determined in the following step S266 whether there is no response to the ID request.
In step S266, it is determined whether there is an abnormality in the received ID or whether there is no response to the ID request. If there is a response to the ID request and the received ID is normal (if it is a legitimate ID), monitoring device 2 authenticates monitoring device 0 (or monitoring device 1) and returns. This means that monitoring device 2 has authenticated monitoring device 0 (or monitoring device 1).

[0256]
In the hierarchical monitoring configuration, monitoring device 1 monitors each connected gaming machine 10, monitoring device 2 polls monitoring device 1 to collect and monitor gaming information on the gaming machines 10 installed in the pachinko island 111, monitoring device 3 polls monitoring device 2 to collect and monitor gaming information by model on all gaming machines 10 installed in the gaming establishment 100, monitoring device 4 polls monitoring device 2 to collect and monitor gaming information on all gaming machines 10 installed in the gaming establishment 100, and processes each gaming information into a database (see file in Figure 40) and transfers the database file if accessed by a third party. In addition, monitoring device 0 monitors gaming machines 10 for fraudulent operations such as opening and closing gold frames, and monitoring device 5 manages information on changes in the gaming status of the gaming machines 10.
The lower gaming machine performance monitoring device is constituted by monitoring device 1, the upper gaming machine performance monitoring device is constituted by monitoring devices 2, 3, and 4, and the lower and upper gaming machine performance monitoring devices are arranged hierarchically to constitute the gaming machine performance monitoring device.

[0278]
(11) According to the invention described in claim 11, the subordinate gaming machine performance monitoring device is provided with a disabling means for disabling a specific gaming machine when the subordinate gaming machine performance monitoring means determines that the performance of the specific gaming machine does not meet a predetermined standard, thereby making it possible to immediately stop the operation of an illegal gaming machine.
In the past, it was difficult for gaming parlors to maintain gaming machine performance that had passed inspection by a third-party organization in a healthy state. For example, in the past, even if a gaming machine's performance was abnormal, it was possible to launch game balls, so game play continued without any change, preventing game play from being performed at its original (inspected) performance. In contrast, the present invention monitors the performance of all gaming machines in a gaming parlor while they are in operation, detects any irregularities, and disables the operation of the gaming machine. Therefore, even if the gaming parlor changes the performance of a gaming machine due to irregularities, the irregularities can be reliably identified by a third-party organization, and the gaming machine's performance that passed inspection can be maintained, allowing game play to be performed in a healthy state. Furthermore, if the gaming machine's performance deviates from the performance at the time of inspection, the gaming machine is disabled, preventing game play from continuing, and only gaming machines with healthy performance can be operated (i.e., healthy game play can be maintained).