Apparatus for detecting passage of a game medium and a game machine employing same

A game machine comprising:

• a game board surface;
• sending means for sending a game medium rolling on said game board surface in a depth direction of said game board surface;
• and
• a game medium passage detecting apparatus for detecting which of a plurality of detection areas, which are adjacent to one another in a direction perpendicular to the depth direction, the game medium has passed through, said game medium passage detecting apparatus including:
• a plurality of light-cut-off optical sensors, each sensor having a light emitting element for emitting a detection light to the detection areas and a photoelectric detecting element facing the light emitting element and sandwiching the detection areas between said light emitting element and said photoelectric detecting element to detect the detection light;
• and
• a control section for detecting which detection area the game medium has passed through, based on signals from said optical sensors, wherein each pair of said light emitting elements and said photoelectric detecting elements of said optical sensors is arranged so that an optical axis of the detection light extends in a direction which crosses a flat surface containing an axis extending in a depth direction of the game board surface, parallel to the game board surface, crosses an axis perpendicular to the game board surface, and passes obliquely through game board surface.