Game apparatus having fault restoration function

Abstract

A game apparatus is provided with: determination unit for determining, in a stage of a game, whether or not a kind and order of deal to players of game media are fixed; storage unit for storing restoration data required to restore a game status at time points in a storage medium for each of check points, wherein at least a first timing indicating a time point when a virtual game value possessed by player increases/decreases as a result of the game by betting operations and a second timing indicating a time point when the kind and order of deal are fixed are used as check points; and restoration unit for reading out the restoration data from the storage medium upon restoring a fault including power disconnection during execution of the game, and automatically restoring the game status at the latest check point based on the restoration data.

1 . A game apparatus for executing computer games involving betting operations with a virtual game value by a player, the game apparatus having a fault restoration function, comprising:
 determination means for determining, in a predetermined stage of the game, whether or not a kind and order of deal to the players of game media are fixed for a group of game media composed of a predetermined number of game media;   restoration data storage means for storing restoration data required to restore a game status at time points in a non-volatile storage medium for each of check points, wherein at least a first timing indicating a time point when the game value possessed by the player increases/decreases as a result of the game by the betting operations and a second timing indicating a time point when it is determined that the kind and order of deal are fixed by the determination means are used as check points; and   fault restoration means for reading out the restoration data from the storage medium upon restoring a fault including power disconnection during execution of the game, and automatically restoring at least the game status at the latest check point based on the restoration data.   
   
   
       2 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , wherein the restoration data storage means inputs operation information of its player and other players while determining whether or not the operation by the player is related to an operation for proceeding the game, and if it is determined that the operation is related to the proceeding of the game, storage processing of the restoration data is performed using the time point when the operation is detected as the check point. 
   
   
       3 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , wherein the fault restoration means restores the game status at the latest time point upon restoring the game status, and also sequentially reproduces the game status from the time point when the game was started to the latest check point or the game status from the latest check point among the group of the check points at the first timing to the time point when the restoration data was stored for the last time. 
   
   
       4 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , wherein the fault restoration means determines whether or not a win/lose is settled based on the restoration data if the fault is restored from the second timing upon restoring the game status, and if it is determined that the win/lose is not settled, the game value in which a distribution destination as a payout is undetermined due to the win/lose being unsettled to thereby be pooled temporarily is restored to a status at the latest check point. 
   
   
       5 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , wherein the fault restoration means automatically restarts the game from the restored time point after restoring the game status at the check point. 
   
   
       6 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , wherein the game is a game which allows additional betting operations after a hand ranking is settled by the game medium, and if it is determined that the fault has occurred at a timing from when the hand ranking of its player is fixed to when its player and other players are allowed to additionally bet as well as at a timing when the win/lose has not been determined, the fault restoration means reproduces the game status and restarts the game. 
   
   
       7 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , wherein the data storage means sets data storage points at regular intervals after the first timing which varies depending on the betting operations or after the second timing, and stores the restoration data using the data storage points as the check points. 
   
   
       8 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , further comprising a sub-game execution means for executing a sub-game in which a predetermined amount of the game value is given when a character operated by the player passes a predetermined passing point,
 wherein the data storage means and the fault restoration means process a passing time point of the passing point as the first timing.   
   
   
       9 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , further comprising card updating means for timely updating the data including playing records of the player recorded in an IC card releasably attached to the game apparatus, and card data storage means for storing updated data of the IC card at the check point in the storage medium,
 wherein the fault restoration means reads out the updated data from the storage medium upon restoring the game status and rewrites the recorded data of the IC card with the update data corresponding to the check point.   
   
   
       10 . The game apparatus having the fault restoration function according to  claim 1 , wherein the game apparatus is a medal game apparatus which uses medals as game value media, and when a payout operation is performed by the player after restoring the game status at the check point, the fault restoration means exchanges the game value possessed by the player at the time point when the game status is restored with the number of medals based on a preset predetermined exchange rate, and also drives a medal payout mechanism to pay out the same number of medals to a return unit.