A game unit

Abstract: A game unit to be arranged outside of an adjacently to a game machine main, comprising a game unit cabinet of box-shape having a front face and a top face, a display instrument housed in said game unit cabinet having a display surface for displaying progress of a game, a bet rate, result of the game allotment and like, said display surface being disposed on said top face of the game unit cabinet and facing upwards, and a bill receiving apparatus, characterized in that: said bill receiving apparatus is positioned on one side of said display instrument; said game unit cabinet has a top face member which covers upper surfaces of said display instrument and said bill receiving apparatus, said top face member has an opening through which an upper portion of said bill receiving apparatus is exposed; a lid member is provided to open and close said opening; and a locking mechanism is provided to lock said lid member.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a structure of a box-like game unit to be arranged in large numbers outside of and adjacently to a main body of a game machine such as a casino game machine, a horse race game machine, a boat race game machine or the like. In a customary box-like game unit, a cash box capable of storing surplus coins resulted from deducting pay-back coins from cast coins (in the following, coin and medal are called coin collectively) is disposed on a bottom of a game unit cabinet, and on the cash box are piled up in order a flat parallelepiped control unit for carrying out controlling necessary to game, a coin pay-back apparatus, and a display apparatus for displaying progress of game, bet rate, result of game, allotment and the like. The customary game unit has a difficulty that if the display apparatus is made larger it becomes higher and necessarily also the box-like game unit cabinet becomes higher. If the flat parallelepiped control unit is disposed adjacently to a side wall of the game unit cabinet in an erect posture, a coin inspecting apparatus and a coin return must be disposed adjacently to another side wall of the game unit cabinet. And when a hinge-type machine door is provided at a front face of the game unit cabinet for repair, maintenance and inspection of the control unit, the coin pay-back apparatus, the coin inspecting apparatus and the like, the coin inspecting apparatus which may be repaired or inspected frequently is disposed on a side corresponding to a free end of the machine door, therefore the control unit must be disposed on a side corresponding to the hinge of the machine door. As a result, in order to take out the control unit from the game unit cabinet, the machine door must be opened beyond 90 degrees. Players often perform a casino game or a horse race game drinking drinks such as juice and beer. If a player spills the drink on the box-like game unit cabinet, the drink leaks into the game unit cabinet through a gap between an opening part of a top door and a top part of a display instrument to give various instruments in the cabinet a bad influence. In a machine door hinged on one side of a front face of the game unit cabinet so as to open in front, sometimes a lower edge of the machine door is inclined downward from a hinge side by own weight of the door and the door does not close tightly. Particularly, in case that a door for taking out a cash box is provided under the machine door, sometimes the lower edge of the machine door interferes with the cash box take out door to prevent smooth opening and closing of the cash box take out door. In a game unit cabinet having a top face on which a top door is provided so as to be opened upward, since the top door is wide and heavy enough, spring force of a gas spring for letting the top door spring up when a locking mechanism of the top door is unlocked must be increased against own weight and inertia force of the top door acting in the closing direction. However, the increased spring force of the gas spring undesirebly lets the top door spring up vigorously when the top door is unlocked. In a customary game unit in which players pay bet moneys of game by bills, a bill receiving apparatus is disposed on a front face of the game unit cabinet, therefore it is difficult to insert bills in a bill slot of the bill receiving apparatus because players must crouch in a half-sitting posture and there is high possibility that unfairness is acted behind back of the game unit cabinet. The EP-A-0 784 299 discloses a game unit with a bill receiving apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1. The US-A-5 386 903 discloses a coin fill and delivery system for gaming machines, wherein a coin escalator is provided with a locking mechanism. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement of the game unit for a game machine which overcomes the aforementioned difficulties The present invention provides a game unit as set forth in claim 1. Preferred embodiments are set forth in the dependent-claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an entire perspective view of a casino game machine having game units according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front view of a game unit shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a left side view of the game unit; Fig. 5 is a right side view of the game unit; fig. 6 is a plan view of the game unit; Fig. 7 is a rear view of the game unit; Fig. 8 is a bottom view of the game unit; Fig. 9 is a front view showing arrangement of instruments in the game unit; Fig. 10 is a right side view of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a plan view of Fig. 9; Fig. 12 is a plan view of a top door; Fig. 13 is a side view showing the game unit in more detail than Fig. 4; Fig. 14 is an enlarged sectional side view showing a part of Fig. 13; Fig. 15 is a left side view showing the game unit being moved; Fig. 16 is a left side view showing the game unit being inclined; Fig. 17 is a left side view of a bill receiving apparatus; Fig. 18 is a left side view of a bill receiving case; Fig. 19 is a front view of the bill receiving case; Fig. 20 is a plan view of the bill receiving case; Fig. 21 is a sectional side view of the bill receiving case showing a state that a sealing cover is opened; Fig. 22 is a sectional side view similar to Fig. 21 showing a state that the sealing cover is opened and a manipulative lever is pulled in front; Fig. 23 is a sectional side view similar to Fig 21 showing a state that the sealing cover is opened and the manipulative lever is pulled fully in front to unlock a locking mechanism; Fig. 24 is a diagram showing a general constitution of a guard apparatus of the casino game machine; and Fig. 25 is a flow chart showing a operation procedure of display control in a display control circuit of the guard apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a casino game machine 0. The casino game machine 0 comprises a casino game machine main 1, box-like game units 2 which are arranged on both sides of the game machine main 1 four by four, a dice shooting apparatus 4 for throwing dice 3 disposed on one side of the game machine main 1 and the game units 2, a game control apparatus 5 disposed on another side of the game machine main 1 and the game units 2 for controlling the casino game machine 0 as a whole, a display apparatus 6 erected on the game control apparatus 5, and a lighting apparatuses 8 extending from tops of supports 7 provided on both sides of the display apparatus 6. Each of the dice 3 is made of soft plastics and has rounded edges and corners. Three dice 3 are thrown on a top face of the game machine main 1 by the dice shooting apparatus 4. Players stand in front of respective game units 2, predict total number of pips of the dice 3, combination of the pips or the like before the dice 3 are thrown, and put bills or coins into the game unit 2. After all players have paid bets, the dice 3 are thrown by the dice shooting apparatus 4, and if the prediction comes true, coins are paid at the corresponding game unit 2. The game unit 2 has a box-like game unit cabinet 9 which is shaped nearly in a vertically long parallelepiped as shown in Figs. 3 to 8. A top face member or a top door 10 of the game unit cabinet 9 is inclined down from a rear side toward a front side and has a armrest 11 projecting horizontally at the front side. A rear edge of the top door 10 is hinged on a top edge of a back plate 9a of the game unit cabinet 9 by a hinge 58 so as to rock up and down. As shown in Fig. 12, the top door 10 is formed with a display opening 10a to which a display section 12a of a CRT display apparatus 12 can be loosely fitted. Further, on the right side of the top door 10 is formed a cut 10b to which an upper part of a bill receiving apparatus 13 can be loosely fitted, in front of the cut 10b is formed a coin slot 10c, and in front of the coin slot 10c is formed an opening 10d adapted to house a coin return section 14. On the left side of the top door 10 is provided a pit 10e for attaching an indication light 15. Within the game unit cabinet 9, as shown in Figs. 9 to 11, under the CRT display apparatus 12 are disposed an electric power unit 16 on the left and a coin pay-back apparatus 17 on the right. The electric power unit 16 and the coin pay-back apparatus 17 are installed on a middle bottom plate 9b of the game unit cabinet 9. Between the CRT display apparatus 12 as well as the electric power unit 16 and a left side plate 9c of the game unit cabinet 9 is disposed a flat parallelepiped control unit case 18. On the right rear side of the coin pay-back apparatus 17 is disposed the bill receiving apparatus 13 with its upper part exposed above the top door 10, and a coin inspecting apparatus 19 is disposed in front of the bill receiving apparatus 13. Further in front of the coin inspecting apparatus 19 is disposed the coin return section 14. An upper end of a coin shoot 17a of the coin pay-back apparatus 17 is connected to a coin guide section 14a on rear side of the coin return section 14, so that coins are sent to the coin guide section 14a from the coin pay-back apparatus 17 through the coin shoot 17a and supplied to a saucer 14b on front side of the coin return section 14. At an upper part in the game unit 9 and in front of the CRT display apparatus 12 is disposed an opening 20a of a coin supplement shoot 20 having a lower part opened above the coin pay-back apparatus 17. When the coin payoff apparatus 17 is in short of coin and the shortage is indicated, an administrator of the casino game machine 0 can put a large number of coins into the coin pay-back apparatus 17 through the opening 20a at the upper end of the coin supplement shoot 20 to supplement coins. A lower portion of the coin inspecting apparatus 19 is bifurcated in two branch shoots. A branch shoot 19a (Fig. 11) is opened to the coin supplement shoot 20, and another branch shoot 19b (Fig. 10) passes behind the coin pay-back apparatus 17, penetrates the middle bottom plate 9b of the game unit 9 and opens above a cash box 21 below the middle bottom plate 9b. A switchover apparatus (not shown) is provided at the bifurcated portion, so that when the coin pay-back apparatus 17 is full of coin, normal coins put into the coin inspecting apparatus 19 are guided to the cash box 21 through the branch shoot 19b, and when the coin pay-back apparatus is not full of coin, normal coins put into the coin inspection apparatus 19 are supplemented in the coin pay-back apparatus 17 through the branch shoot 19a and the coin supplement shoot 20. When a coin put into the coin inspecting apparatus 19 is an abnormal one, the abnormal coin does not supplied to the branch shoots 19a, 19b and discharged to a coin return 22. As shown in Figs. 3, 13, 14, a machine door 24 is hinged on a front edge of the left side plate 9c of the game unit cabinet 9 by hinges 23. At a nearly central portion of the machine door 24 is formed a sound opening 24a for conducting sound generated by a speaker (not shown) in the game unit cabinet 9, and a return opening 24b communicating with the above-mentioned coin return 22 is formed on the right side of the sound opening 24a. Along a lower edge of the machine door 24 is formed a machine door guide piece 25 gently curved upward toward rear (Fig. 14). Positioned below the machine door 24, a lower edge of a cash box door 26 is hinged on a bottom plate 9e of the game unit cabinet 9 by a hinge 27 so as to be opened in front. The cash box 21 is housed in a space between the middle bottom plate 9b and the bottom plate 9e, as shown in Figs. 9, 10. Even if the machine door 24 is deformed in a parallelogram by its own weight with the right side part hung down, the machine door 24 is corrected by the door guide piece 25 into a rectangle, so that the machine door 24 does not interfere with the cash box door 26 and both the doors 24, 26 can be opened and closed smoothly. As shown in Fig. 14, at both right and left ends of front side of the bottom plate 9e are attached casters 28 which freely turn on vertical axes, and as shown in Figs. 4, 5, 7, 8, at both right and left ends of rear side of the bottom plate 9e are attached wheels 29 pivoted on brackets 30. In neighborhoods of the caster 28 and the wheel 29 are screwed fixing stud bolts 31 which are shortened when the cabinet 9 is moved and lengthened when the cabinet 9 is installed. And at upper right and left parts of the back plate 9a of the cabinet 9 are attached grip handles 32 so as to appear and disappear. Next, a lifting mechanism of the bill receiving apparatus 13 shown in Figs. 17 to 23 will be described. As shown in Figs. 18 to 20, the bill receiving apparatus 13 comprises a bill detecting unit 81 which is prolonged in front and rear and has a front shape of nearly regular square, and a flat parallelepiped bill storing unit 82 which has a width nearly equal to that of the bill detecting unit 81, a depth smaller than that of the bill detecting unit 81, and a height larger than that of the bill detecting unit 81. The bill detecting unit 81 and the bill storing unit 82 are housed in a bill receiving case 83 with the bill detecting 81 piled up on the bill storing unit 82 so as to be pulled out and separated from the bill receiving case 83. The bill receiving case 83 is housed in the sealing box 55 of a modified pentagon in side view (Fig. 17). Between an inner surface of a left side plate 55a of the sealing box 55 and an outer surface of a left side plate 83a of the bill receiving case 83, and between an inner surface of a right side plate 55b of the sealing box 55 and an outer surface of a right side plate 83b of the bill receiving case 83 are interposed respective slide rails 84 (Fig. 17). The bill receiving case 83 can move up and down guided by the slide rails 84 to appear from and disappear in the sealing box 55. The sealing box 55 has a front plate 55c, a bottom plate 55d and a rear plate 55e, besides the left and right side plates 55a, 55b. A sealing cover 86 is hinged on an upper end of the rear plate 55e by a cover hinge 58 which is coaxial with the hinge 58 of the top door 10. On a front portion of the sealing cover 86 is provided a locking mechanism 87. If the sealing cover 86 is opened upward after the locking mechanism 87 is unlocked by turning a key (not shown) inserted in the locking mechanism 87 to detach a retaining piece 87a of the locking mechanism 87 from a retaining hole (not shown) of the front plate 55c of the sealing box 55, an upper portion of the bill detecting unit 81 is exposed as shown in Fig. 21. Within the sealing box 55 is provided a wind lifter 88 positioned at a rear side of the bill receiving case 83. A tip end of a wire veered out from the wind lifter 88 is connected to a rear bottom of the bill receiving case 83 so that the bill receiving case 83 can move up and down lightly by forcing energy of the wind lifter 88. On the right side plate 55b of the sealing box 55 is integrally attached a guide plate 89 having a guide groove 89a formed vertically. On the right side plate 83b of the bill receiving case 83 are projected upper and lower guide pins 83c, 83d which can slide up and down in the guide groove 89a of the guide plate 89. On the right side plate 55b of the sealing box 55 and the guide plate 89 is provided a shaft 90 projecting to the left, and a manipulative lever 91 and a lift limiting member 92 are pivoted on the shaft 90. A retaining piece 91a formed at a rear upper part of the manipulative lever 91 bent to the left engages with an upper rear edge 92e of a front piece 92a of the lift limiting member 92. The lift limiting member 92 is formed in nearly J-shape comprising the front piece 92a and a rear piece 92b. Upper and lower retaining pawls 92c, 92d are formed on a rear edge of the front piece 92a and a tensile coil spring 93 is interposed between an upper end of the rear piece 92b and the guide plate 89. The coil spring 93 forces the lift limiting member 92 rearward, and the retaining pawls 92c, 92d projects over the guide groove 89a so as to engage with the guide pins 83c, 83d of the bill receiving case 83. A locking mechanism 94 is provided on an upper portion of an inner surface of the front plate 55c of the sealing box 55, and a retaining piece 94a of the locking mechanism 94 is adapted to touch the front piece 91b of the manupulative lever 91. Next, a guard apparatus 100 (Fig. 24) of the casino game machine 0 will be described. The box-like game unit cabinet 9 has five doors, namely, the top door 10, the machine door 24, the cash box door 26, the sealing cover 86 of the bill receiving apparatus 13 and the closing plate 34 of the control unit case 18. The guard apparatus 100 watches opening and closing of the doors round the clock. Especially opening and closing of the cash box door 26 and the bill receiving apparatus 13 are important regarding the guard. Fig. 24 shows a general constitution of the guard apparatus 100. The doors 10, 24, 26, the sealing cover 86 and the closing plate 34 of the game unit cabinet 9 have respective door switches 101a, 101b, 101c, 101d and 101e for detecting opening and closing of the doors. In Fig. 24, only the door switch 101c is illustrated representatively but other door switches are also arranged in parallel. The door switch 101c is a changing-over switch having a common grounded terminal a, a terminal b which short-circuits when the door is closed and a terminal c which short-circuits when the door is opened. The terminal b is connected to a first door watch circuit 102 for during electrification and the terminal c is connected to a second door watch circuit 103 for during electricity failure. The first door watch circuit 102 watches opening-closing of the door switch 101c when the circuit 102 is electrified from a main electric source, and outputs a detection signal to a display control circuit 105 when the door switch 101c is in "open" state. When supply of electricity from the main electric source is cut off, the second door watch circuit 103 watches opening-closing of the door using electric power of a battery 106 and outputs a detection signal to a detection signal holding circuit 104 if the door switch 101c is opened even once. The detection signal holding circuit 104 acts using the electric power of the battery 106 and holds the detection signal from the circuit 103. The detection signal holding circuit 104 outputs a signal to the effect that the detection signal has been received to the display control circuit 105 and continues to output the same signal until a holding cancel signal is sent from the display control circuit 105. The display control circuit 105 controls display of the above-mentioned CRT display apparatus 12. The first door watch circuit for during electrification 102, the display control circuit 105, the CRT display apparatus 12 and other instruments in the game unit 2 act by electric power of the main electric source. On the one hand, the second door watch circuit for during electricity failure 103 and the detection signal holding circuit 104 act by the battery 106 so that even if the main electric source is cut off or electricity fails, the second door watch circuit 103 and the detection signal holding circuit 104 act surely to continue watching opening-closing of the five doors. When electricity is transmitted from the main electric source, if any one of the doors opens and a detection signal is outputted from the first door watch circuit 102 to the display control circuit 105, the display control circuit 105 lets the CRT display apparatus 12 display "DOOR OPEN" in green. On the one hand, when electricity from the main electric source is cut off, if any one of the doors opens and a detection signal is outputted from the second door watch circuit 103 to the detection signal holding circuit 104, the detection signal holding circuit 104 holds the detection signal and outputs a signal to the effect that the detection signal has been received to the display control circuit 105. After that, when electricity is transmitted from the main electric source, the display control circuit 105 acts to receive an output signal from the detection signal holding circuit 104 and let the CRT display 12 display "DOOR OPEN" in red specially for warning. By this warning, it is known that at least one door was opened during electricity failure. If a warning cancel signal is outputted to the display control circuit 105, the display control circuit 105 stops the red display "DOOR OPEN" and outputs a holding cancel signal to the detection signal holding circuit 104 to stop signal output therefrom. Fig. 25 shows operation procedure of the CRT display apparatus 12 by the above-mentioned display control circuit 105. When electricity is transmitted from the main electric source to start, it is judged at Step 1 whether or not there was a detection signal during electricity failure (the detection signal from the detection signal holding circuit 104), and if there was not the detection signal during electricity failure, the flow advances to Step 2 where it is judged whether or not electricity is off. If electricity is off, the flow ends, and if electricity is on, the flow advances to Step 3. At Step 3, presence of detection signal during electrification (the detection signal from the detection signal holding circuit 104) is judged. If the detection signal during electrification is not present, the flow returns to Step 2, and if the detection signal during electrification is present, the flow advances to Step 4 to let the CRT display apparatus 12 display "DOOR OPEN" in green. Then, at Step 5, presence of the detection signal during electrification is judged again, and as far as the detection signal is present continuously, the flow returns to Step 4 to maintain the green display "DOOR OPEN". When the door is closed and the detection signal during electrification disappears, the flow returns to Step 2 and the display is stopped. On the one hand, when it is judged at Step 1 that a detection signal during electricity failure is present, the flow jumps to Step 6 to let the CRT display apparatus display "DOOR OPEN" in red. Until a cancel signal appears at Step 7, Step 6 is repeated to maintain the red display "DOOR OPEN". When the cancel signal appears at Step 7, the flow advances to Step 8 to stop the display and output a holding cancel signal to the detection signal holding circuit 104, then jumps to Step 2. As mentioned above, if at least one of the five doors opens, the green display "DOOR OPEN" is expressed for enabling to confirm present state of doors. Therefore, it can be prevented that a door is left opening by mistake, and even if a door is opened forcibly it can be detected soon. If any one door is opened during electricity failure, the red warning display "DOOR OPEN" is expressed on the game unit 2 when electricity is transmitted next. Therefore, it can be known whether or not a door has been opened during the electricity failure. Thus , the guard apparatus 100 can watch opening-closing of the doors round the clock. Even during electricity failure, the watch can be carried out using a minimum electric power of the battery 106. According to the guard apparatus 100, the display shows that at least one of the five doors opens, however, the watch circuit during electrification 102 and the detection signal holding circuit 104 may output signals corresponding to opening-closing of the five doors respectively so that the CRT display apparatus 12 can express different displays enabling to distinguish an opened door from other doors. Lamps of different colors may be used in place of the CRT display apparatus 12. The bill receiving apparatus 13 is sealed by the sealing box 55 and the sealing cover 56 irrespective of opening-closing of the top door 10, therefore, even if maintenance or modification of instruments other than the bill receiving apparatus 13 such as the CRT display apparatus 12, the coin return section 14, the electric power unit 16, the coin pay-back apparatus 17 and the control unit case 18, is carried out with the top door 10 opened, there is no fear that bills in the bill receiving apparatus 13 are stolen. Since the hinge 58 of the top door 10 and the cover hinge 85 of the sealing cover 86 are arranged on the same axis, the top door 10 and the sealing cover 86 can be opened and closed separately without interfering with each other. If a serviceman for repair, maintenance and inspection of the bill receiving apparatus 13 inserts a private key into the locking mechanism 87 to unlock it and opens the sealing cover 86 upward as shown in Fig. 21, an upper portion of the bill detecting unit 81 is exposed so that bills clogging in a bill feed mechanism provided in the upper portion for feeding bills from front toward rear can be removed easily. If the manipulative lever 91 is pulled forward, the lift limiting member 92 interlocked with the lever 91 rocks clockwise, the upper retaining pawl 92c is disconnected from the guide pin 83c of the bill receiving case 83, the case 83 goes up forced by the wind lifter 88, the guide pin 83d of the case 83 is retained by the retaining pawl 92d of the lift limiting member 92, and only the bill detecting unit 81 is exposed above the sealing box 55. As a result, the bill detecting unit 81 can be taken out from the bill receiving case 83 by pulling forward only the bill detecting unit 81 relatively to the bill storing unit 82 for repair and inspection of the bill detecting unit 81. An administrator of the casino game machine 0 has both keys for the locking mechanisms 87, 94. When the locking mechanisms 87, 94 are unlocked, the manipulative lever 91 can be rocked further forward. As the result, the lower retaining pawl 92d is disconnected from the guide pin 83d of the bill receiving case 83 and the case 83 goes up forced by the wind lifter 88 up to the upper limit position, so that the bill storing unit 82 can be removed from the bill receiving case 83 to take out bills in the bill storing unit 82. As mentioned above, the bill receiving apparatus 13 is provided with two locking mechanisms 87, 94, the serviceman has only a key for the locking mechanism 87 and the administrator of the casino game machine 0 has two kinds of keys for the locking mechanisms 87, 94. Therefore, it is prevented that the serviceman takes out bills in the bill storing unit 82 in the course of repair. In the above embodiment shown in the drawings, the present invention is applied to the casino game machine, however, the present invention is also applicable to a horse race game machine, a boat race game machine or any other game machines.

Claims: A game unit to be arranged outside of and adjacently to a game machine main (1), comprising a game unit cabinet (9) of box-shape having a front face and a top face, a display instrument (12a) housed in the game unit cabinet having a display surface for displaying progress of a game, a bet rate, result of the game, allotment and the like, the display surface being disposed on the top face of the game unit cabinet (9) and facing upwards, a bill receiving apparatus (13, 83) positioned on one side of the display instrument (12a), the game unit cabinet (9) having a top face member (10) which covers upper surfaces of the display instrument (12a) and bill receiving apparatus (13, 83), the top face member (10) having an opening (10b) through which an upper portion of the bill receiving apparatus (13, 83) is exposed, a sealing cover (86) provided to open and close the opening (10b), and a locking mechanism (87) provided to lock the sealing cover (86), the bill receiving apparatus (13, 83) having a lifting mechanism (88) by which the bill receiving apparatus can be lifted for repair, maintenance, inspection and the like when the sealing cover (86) is opened upward, the bill receiving apparatus (13, 83) including an upper bill detecting unit (81) and a lower bill storing unit (82) which are separable from each other, characterized in: that the upper bill detecting unit (81) is piled up on the lower bill storing unit (82) so as to be separated from the bill receiving apparatus (13, 38), and the bill receiving apparatus (13, 83) is movable up and down in two steps by the lifting mechanism (88) to have two lift positions including a lower lift position and a higher lift position, and a second locking mechanism (94) is provided other than the first mentioned locking mechanism (87) of the sealing cover (86), the higher lift position being taken by unlocking the second locking mechanism (94); and that the bill detecting unit (81) can be taken out from the game unit cabinet (9) separately from the bill storing unit (82), and the bill storing unit (82) can be taken out from the game unit cabinet (9) separately from the bill detecting unit (81) when both the first locking mechanism (87) and the second locking mechanism (94) are unlocked. A game unit as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the bill receiving case (83) is placed within a sealing box (55) in such a manner that the bill receiving case (83) can move up and down to appear from and disappear in the sealing box (55), the sealing cover (86) being provided to onenably close an upper opening of the sealing box (55), the first mentioned locking mechanism (87) being provided to lock the sealing cover (86) to the sealing box (55). A game unit as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that only the bill detecting unit (81) is exposed from the sealing box (55) in the lower lift position of the bill receiving apparatus (13, 83), and both the bill detecting unit (81) and the bill storing unit (82) are exposed from the sealing box (55) in the higher lift position of the bill receiving apparatus (13, 83). A game unit as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the bill receiving case (83) is subjected to a lifting force by the lifting mechanism (88) and has guide pins (83c, 83d), and a lift limiting member (92) is provided adjacent to the bill receiving case (83) and has retaining pawls (92c, 92d) which are engageable with and disengageable from the guide pins (83c, 83d) to determine a non-lift position and the lower lift position of the bill receiving apparatus. A game unit as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the lift limiting member (92) is urged by urging means (93) to a first position in which the retaining pawls (92c, 92d) are engageable with the guide pins (83c, 83d), the lift limiting member (92) being movable to a second position in which the retaining pawls (92c, 92d) are not engageable with the guide pins (83c, 83d) to thereby permit the guide ins (83c, 83d) and hence the bill receiving case (83) to move upward to the higher lift position, the second locking mechanism (94) being provided to prevent the lift limiting member (92) from moving to the second position. A game unit as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the lift limiting member (92) has a manipulative lever (91) attached thereto and is rockable about a shaft (90) between the first position and the second position by means of the manipulative lever (91). A game unit according to claim 1, further comprising a guard apparatus (100) of the game unit having the game unit cabinet (9), wherein the guard apparatus comprises: a door switch (101c)for detecting opening-closing of a door provided in the game unit cabinet; a display means (12) for displaying information of opening-closing of the door, a first watch means (102) for watching state of the door switch when electricity is transmitted from a main electric source; a second watch means (103) for watching state of the door switch when electricity from the main electric source is cut off; a signal holding means (104) for holding a detection signal when said second watch means detects opening of the door switch to generate the detection signal; a battery (106) for supplying the second watch means and the signal holding means with electric power; and a display control means (105) for letting the display means display a special display in case that the signal holding means holds the detection signal when electricity is transmitted from the main electric power. A game unit according to claim 7, wherein the game unit cabinet has a plurality of doors (10, 24, 26, 86, 34) provided with respective the door switches (101a, 101b, 101c, 101d, 101e), and the first and second watching means watch states of the door switches.

Inventors: KAMATA OSAMU, MIYAUCHI HIROBUMI, SUGA JYOJI, YAMAGUCHI KOJI, YANO KEIJI, KAMATA, OSAMU, MIYAUCHI, HIROBUMI, SUGA, JYOJI, YAMAGUCHI, KOJI, YANO, KEIJI
Applicants: SEGA ENTERPRISES KK, SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD.
Application year: 1999
Main classification: G07F17
IPC codes: G07F17