The present invention relates to gaming systems and devices and in particular to gaming systems providing a matching symbols game display.
Gaming devices are well known in the art and a large variety of gaming devices have been developed. In general, gaming devices allow users or players to play a game. In many casino-type gaming devices, the outcome of the game depends, at least in part, on a randomly generated event. For example, a gaming device may use a random number generator to generate a random or pseudo-random number (hereinafter, both types are referred to as a “random number”).
The random number can be used to determine a game outcome. For example, the random number may then be compared to a predefined table to determine a corresponding outcome of the event. If the random number falls within a certain range of numbers on the table, the player may win the corresponding predefined prize. The table may also contain display information that allows the gaming device to generate a display that corresponds to the outcome of the game. The gaming device may present the outcome of the game on a large variety of display devices, such as mechanical spinning reels or video screens.
Some gaming devices award bonus prizes in addition to prizes that are awarded in a primary game. Of course, the prize in the primary game may simply be the opportunity to play the bonus game. A bonus prize is generally defined as a prize in addition to the prize obtained from the primary game and that is awarded to the player when a predefined event occurs. An example of a bonus game can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,932 to Adams. Adams discloses a primary game having three spinning game reels and a bonus game having a bonus display with one spinning wheel. The spinning wheel is divided into multiple sections, and each section has a symbol representing a prize. When predetermined indicia are displayed on the spinning game reels of the primary game, the wheel of the bonus display spins and stops. The bonus prize is displayed as the symbol on the wheel being pointed to by a pointer. The bonus prize is awarded in addition to any prizes awarded in the primary game. Another bonus game is disclosed in Baerlocher et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,863). Baerlocher et al. discloses a slot machine with a bonus award display. The bonus award display has a bonus wheel and a mechanical, movable pointer.
In other bonus game systems, bonus awards may be provided as a multiplier which multiplies the winnings of the primary game by an amount determined in the bonus game.
The various embodiments of the present invention may, but do not necessarily, achieve one or more of the following advantages:
provide a highly attractive and entertaining device for conducting games;
provide a highly attractive and entertaining bonus game display;
the ability to attract more patrons to play a game;
the ability to encourage players to play longer on a gaming apparatus;
provide a display that allows a player to predict an imminent game outcome, thereby building a player's excitement and level of interactivity; and
provide an additional element of anticipation and excitement for players.
These and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification, claims, and/or abstract.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a gaming device comprising a game controller and a game display. The gaming device allows a player to place a wager and to play a game. The game controller may determine a game outcome and control the game display to display an arrangement of symbols on the game display that represents the game outcome. The symbols may be allocated to the game display from an available symbol set. The game controller may arrange a winning combination of symbols on the game display. An award for any winning combinations of symbols may be allocated and then the symbols that form the winning combination of symbols may be cleared from the game display. The game controller may then redistribute the remaining symbols and allocate awards for any further winning combinations that are displayed as a result of the redistribution. The process of clearing the winning symbols from the game display and redistributing the remaining symbols may continue until all the symbols have been cleared or no more winning combinations are formed.
The redistribution of the symbols may be performed according to predetermined rules that allow a player to predict an outcome from the redistribution.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for playing a game of a gaming device. The method may comprise allocating one or more symbols to a plurality of spaces on a game board. Combinations of symbols may form a winning combination for which an award may be allocated. Symbols used for winning combinations may be cleared from the game board and at least one redistribution of the symbols may be performed. Awards for one or more winning combinations made during the at least one redistribution of the symbols may be allocated.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a gaming apparatus comprising means for allowing a player to place a wager and play a game and means for randomly determining a game outcome. Display means may be provided for indicating the game outcome, including displaying a plurality of symbols in a plurality of spaces on a game board and indicating one or more primary winning combinations of symbols. Once the primary winning combinations are indicated, the respective symbols may be cleared from the game board and the remaining symbols may be redistributed before indicating any secondary winning combinations. The gaming apparatus may further include means for awarding a prize to the player that correlates to the one or more primary winning combinations of symbols and any secondary winning combinations of symbols.
The above description sets forth, rather broadly, a summary of one embodiment of the present invention so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and contributions of the present invention to the art may be better appreciated. Some of the embodiments of the present invention may not include all of the features or characteristics listed in the above summary. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and will form the subject matter of claims. In this respect, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or as illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The present invention comprises a gaming device for a gaming system. As shown in
A game display 15 displays a game outcome. The game display may include mechanical spinning reels, video reels, a poker card display or any other suitable game display apparent to the person skilled in the art. Additional displays 14 may display further game information, such as a progressive jackpot total. The game device 12 may also include a bonus game display 16 that may allow the player to play a bonus game or to receive bonus game information such as a bonus game outcome. The bonus game display 16 may be a display specifically configured for a particular bonus game. Alternatively the bonus game display may be a generic game display that can be configured by a game server using known server based game techniques. Details of bonus games that can be played using the bonus game display 16 will be described in greater detail below.
If server based gaming techniques are to be used, the gaming devices 12 may be operatively associated with a server 20, which may include components such as a processor 21, memory 22 and random number generator 23. While the random number generator 23 is shown as a distinct component, a person skilled in the art will readily understand that the random number generator 23 may be embodied within the processor 21. The server 20 may be provided within the vicinity of the gaming devices 12 or may be provided elsewhere in the gaming establishment and communicate with the gaming devices 12 through a communication link (not shown), as is known. In an alternative embodiment, the gaming device 12 may be self-contained such that the functions of the server, in particular the memory 22 and the random number generator 23, are provided from within the gaming device 12.
The control of a bonus game may be governed by a bonus game controller which may be the processor 21 at the server 20, a dedicated bonus game controller 24 at the server 20, or by a similar processor or bonus game controller within the gaming device 12.
Each of the gaming devices 12 are configured to operate a game program that allows players to place wagers and play games. The server 20 may store game programs and information, for example in memory 22, which can be downloaded to the gaming devices 12 and gaming devices 12 may transmit information to the server 20. A gaming device 12 may offer a plurality of different games. When a player selects one of the games, the selected game may be downloaded from the server 20 along with game related information, such as pay tables which may also be stored in memory 22. Pay tables are used to determine the outcome of each game and they control the odds of winning a game and the amounts paid out. The gaming devices 12 that form the network 10 may be in one location, such as a casino, or they may be in multiple locations such as an extended casino.
In one example of a typically gaming machine operation, when a player advances a wager and initiates a game, the random number generator 23 generates a random number which is then compared to the pay table to determine the gaming outcome. The display 15 is controlled to create a display, such as a combination of reels, that reflects the game outcome. As is known in the art, certain outcomes on a primary game of the gaming device 12 may trigger entry to a bonus game. An example of a bonus game is illustrated in
A bonus game controller may control the bonus game display 16 to depict a game board 30 on a suitable display device, such as a video screen. In the embodiment depicted, the video game board 30 is a 4×4 grid. The bonus game also includes a plurality of video tiles, e.g. tile 31 that displays a fishbone symbol. The tiles are displayed in the grid spaces of the game board 30. A bonus game meter 37 may display various amounts won during the bonus game as will be described below.
A method for playing the bonus game is shown in the flowchart 100 of
The method 100 of
At the commencement of a spin, the bonus game controller determines a bonus game outcome according to probabilistic algorithms. The bonus game controller then allocates sixteen tiles into the 4×4 grid of the game board 30 to represent the game outcome. Once the game board is filled, matches are made and awards are allocated based on the number of matches per spin. A match may comprise a number of adjacent matching tiles. For example, the two adjacent money pot symbols in row two 38 of the game board may form a match. Similarly, the four adjacent cat symbols in row three 39 may form a match. Winning combinations may also comprise sets of non-matching tiles. In one embodiment, the symbol set from which tiles may be drawn may include four different colored cat symbols, each colored cat symbol representing a different cat character. All four cat symbols on a single row, in a single column, diagonal line or in a particular pattern, may constitute a winning combination.
In the embodiment shown, matches must be adjacent in a row such that the adjacent money pot symbols in column three 40 would not form a match. In alternative embodiments, matches may be made in many different ways, including horizontally, vertically, diagonally and where particular patterns are formed such as the corners of the grid, edges, cross arrangements, etc. The bonus award allocated to a set of matching tiles may be dependent on the particular arrangement. For example, the four matching cats symbols of row three 39 would pay a higher bonus award than the two matching money pot symbols in row two 38. Alternatively or in addition, certain symbols may pay a higher bonus award than other symbols. For example, matching cat symbols may pay double the award allocated to an equivalent number of other matching symbols.
The bonus game may indicate or announce any winning combinations, for example, by highlighting the matching tiles, flashing the matching tiles etc. Sound effects may also accompany the highlighting. As the matching tiles are announced, the match award meter 33 displays a bonus award amount paid for the matching tiles that are being highlighted. Concurrently, tallies in a total spin award meter 34 and a total bonus award meter 35 are updated by adding the bonus award amount paid for the matching tiles to the respective accumulative totals. In one embodiment, instead of indicating each winning combination of tiles individually, all winning combinations of tiles may be highlighted simultaneously so that the match award 33 displays a total for all winning combinations on the game board 30.
Once all of the matches have been announced and the awards for all the matching combinations have been allocated to the bonus game meter 37, the matching tiles disappear. The disappearance of the matching tiles may be accompanied by various graphic or visual effects. For example, visual effects may depict the matching tiles to fade, dissolve, spin, zoom, explode, etc. These visual effects may be provided with or without accompanying sound effects.
After the matching tiles have been removed, there will be gaps in the game board 30 and for the example presently described, the game board will appear as shown in
In the example described, the tiles fall downwards to fill empty spaces below, thereby creating the arrangement of tiles on the game board 30 as depicted in
The process of clearing the winning combinations and redistributing the remaining tiles may continue for a predetermined number of redistributions, until no more matches can be made or the game board has been cleared of tiles. Once no more redistributions are possible, the spin is concluded. If the spin tally 32 indicates that more spins remain, then the game board 30 is cleared and a fresh set of tiles is dealt into the game board display 30 to reflect a game outcome for the next spin.
Where spaces appear in lower rows that cannot by filled from directly above, the bonus game controller may govern how these spaces are to be filled.
Matches made after a redistribution may generate bonus awards at the same rate as for matches before the redistribution. For example, any match of two adjacent tiles may pay five credits, whether it is before or after a redistribution. In an alternative embodiment, matches made after a redistribution may pay at a higher or lower rate. For example, two adjacent matching tiles may pay five credits in the first (i.e. primary) dealing of the tiles. After redistribution, two equivalent adjacent matching tiles may pay a lower bonus award, e.g. four credits or a higher bonus award, e.g. six credits. The bonus award rate may change with each redistribution of the tiles until a spin is concluded. That is, secondary matches may pay at a higher or lower rate than primary matches, tertiary matches may pay at a higher or lower rate than secondary matches, and so on.
If enough matches to clear the game board are made during a spin, an additional bonus for that spin may be paid. The additional bonus award may be a fixed credit value, e.g. 100 credits, or the additional bonus award may be a multiplier of the spin total, e.g. 2×.
At the completion of the spins allocated to the player, the total winnings indicated in the bonus game total 35 are added to the player's gaming credits and the game state returns to a primary game state in which normal play of primary game is resumed. The bonus game total may be multiplied by the initiating line bet of the primary game.
While the bonus game board 30 depicted in
In one embodiment, the game board may not be cleared at the conclusion of a spin, but instead, new tiles may be dealt into the vacant spaces of the game board. A new spin may also consist of replacing certain tiles on the game board with freshly allocated random tiles. Once the game board has been re-dealt, winning combinations may be indicated, winning tiles removed, and redistribution of the tiles may proceed as described above.
A specific example of a gaming device incorporating a bonus game as herein described is illustrated in
The specific examples and embodiments described herein make particular reference to the matching tile game as a bonus game. However, the person skilled in the art will readily understand that the matching tile game could be equally applied as a primary game of a gaming device.
Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by any appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/260,816, filed Nov. 12, 2009, the contents of which is herein incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61260816 | Nov 2009 | US |