Game machine and gripper and prize suspender therefor

Details Game machine and gripper and prize suspender therefor Game machine and gripper and prize suspender therefor

1999-07-13

2001-11-06

Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)

Amusement devices: games

Physical skill or ability

Game element capture or pick up using manual dexterity

C463S025000, C463S029000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06311981

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prize acquisition game machine to be installed in a game center or the like so as to grip a prize to acquire it, a gripper for the game machine provided with at least one pair of hand members for taking out a prize disposed the prize acquisition game machine one by one, a prize suspender for suspending the prizes in the prize acquisition game machine body, and a game machine having a function to change the play fare and number of time to be played, and the operators (players) can visually confirm the play fare and number of time to be played.
2. Related Art
A game machine for commercial use in which doles, candies or capsuled toys are juxtaposed on the floor surface so that they may be picked up, as disclosed in Examined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 7-112513 and a game machine in which prizes are placed on shelves so that they may be gripped and acquired, as shown in
FIG. 28
, and a game machine in which prizes suspended therein so that they may be gripped and acquired, as disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No.8-112446 have appeared and become popular.
Even in the game machine of the second example in which recently popular prizes are placed on the shelves so that they may be gripped and acquired, as shown in
FIG. 28
, or the game machine of the third example in which the prizes are suspended so that they may be gripped and acquired, as shown in
FIG. 29
, a variety of prizes have to be simultaneously accommodated to satisfy the various needs of the player for the prizes, and a various devices have been made in response to the diversities of the prizes. In a suspension type game machine, as detailed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 8-112446, the prizes, as suspended from horizontal rod-shaped retaining means by strings or chains and ring members, are acquired by controlling the position of a drive mechanism unit which is made movable in three X (transverse), Y (vertical) and Z (longitudinal) directions with respect to a casing and provided with grip means integrally. It is then competed what portion of a prize is to be grasped by pawls for gripping it. It could therefore be said absolutely arbitrary whether or not the operation is in the state in which the prize is naturally readily available to be take out and acquired from the retaining means.
Accordingly, in addition to the control inability of the player or customer, if the aimed prize has a shape and material difficult to be gripped, an extremely high frequency of the failure in the acquisition would disinterest the player. As in Examined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 7-112513, if a prize which is not aimed at by the player but stored in the game machine is delivered, the player would be disinterested. If the frequency of drops increases due to the failure in the acquisition, the installer is required to collect the fallen prizes frequently, which would raise a problem of management cost.
Conventionally, there is another prize acquisition game machine (i.e., the so-called “crane game machine”) in which a gripper suspended by a string member is vertically moved to pull up the prize placed on the bottom in the game machine. As disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 8-112446, there is still another prize acquisition game machine
301
(as shown in
FIGS. 68
to
70
), in which a gripper
303
is moved horizontally or vertically by an expander
302
to acquire either a prize
300
suspended from a suspending member in a prize acquisition game machine
301
or a prize
300
placed on the bottom surface.
The gripper
300
to be employed in these game machines has at least one pair of hand members
306
and
306
to be opened/closed for gripping the prize
300
. These paired hand members
306
and
306
are turnably mounted mainly to a gripper body
305
.
As disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 8-112446 and shown in
FIG. 126
, there is also a prize acquisition game machine
650
in which prizes P suspended in a game machine body
651
are individually taken out by prize gripping means
660
composed of a pair of pawl members
661
and
662
, as shown in FIG.
128
. In this prize acquisition game machine
650
, the prizes P are suspended by a prize suspender
653
which is mounted to a back plate
652
.
This prize suspender
653
of the prior art is constructed to include a rod-shaped member
654
and a conical drop preventing member
655
mounted on the leading end of the rod-shaped member
654
. The prize P is composed of a prize body P
1
, a ring P
2
, and a string P
3
joining the ring P
2
and the prize body P
1
so that it is suspended from the prize suspender
653
by hooking the ring P
2
on the rod-shaped member
654
.
This prize acquisition game machine
650
is activated when a coin is inserted into a coin insertion slot
656
. When a transverse control switch
657
and a vertical control switch
658
are depressed, the prize gripping means
660
is moved to a desired height and then is automatically moved forward to the vicinity of the prize P. Then, the paired pawl members
661
and
662
are automatically closed so that the prize gripping means
660
is returned to its original position with the pawl members
661
and
662
being closed, no matter whether or not the pawl members
661
and
662
might grip the prize P.
When the prize gripping means
660
restores the original position, the paired pawl members
661
and
662
are automatically opened to fall the prize P, if they grip it, into the recovery mouth of the game machine body
651
. The prize P thus fallen into the recovery mouth is moved to a take-out mouth formed in the front face of the game machine body
651
, so that the prize P can be taken out from the take-out mouth.
As described above, the prize P is disposed in the game machine body
651
and is gripped and delivered by the paired pawl members
661
and
662
of the grip means
660
. When the prize P is gripped and pulled to this side by the paired pawl members
661
and
662
of the grip means
660
, the ring P
2
is slid along the upper edge of the rod-shaped member
654
and the upper edge of the drop preventing member
655
.
There is also a prize acquisition game machine
670
having the structure in which the prize suspender
653
is mounted to one side of a turnable member
672
mounted rotatably in a game machine body
671
, as shown in FIG.
127
. In this prize acquisition game machine
670
, while the prize P is being suspended by the prize suspender
653
and turned by the turnable member
672
, the prize gripping means
660
, as composed of the paired pawl members
661
and
662
, as described above, is controlled by the control means so that the prizes P being turned can be individually gripped and taken out by the paired pawl members
661
and
662
.
In the conventional game machine for commercial use, on the other hand, the play fare and number display means displays it with a printed seal in the vicinity of the coin insertion slot, as shown in FIG.
133
. Specifically, there are displayed a “coin insertion slot seal”
720
, “play fare indicating seals”
750
a
and
750
b,
and “play number indicating seals”
751
a
and
751
b.
These displays are either adhered at the time of manufacturing the game machine or adhered when the seals (backed by an adhesive) attached to the game machine and shipped to a game center are adhered at the time of installing it in the game center or the like.
In the construction of the conventional game machine for commercial use, at the change of players at the end of a game, for example, the prizes having failed to be acquired will be scattered on the floor surface. Since kinds of the fallen prizes show tendency, a new player is worried about the possibility of acquiring the kind of prize and disinterested by the indication of the prize selection. For the installer, on the other hand, there may arise an undesired situation in which the m

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