[Not Applicable]
[Not Applicable]
The present invention generally relates to gaming machines and methods of gaming. A particular embodiment of the present invention relates to gaming machines that select and present a plurality of game outcomes on which the player may stake a wager.
With the increase of gambling at gaming venues has come increased competition between gaming venues to obtain a larger share of the total gambling spend. Gaming venue operators have therefore continuously looked for new variations and types of games in order to attract both new and return customers to their venues.
In response to this need, suppliers of gaming devices and systems have attempted to provide the sought after variety, while still developing games that comply with the relevant regulations in the jurisdiction of the gaming venue operator. Suppliers therefore are faced with restrictions on the types of games and gaming machines that are allowable, both in terms of the prevailing regulations and in terms of providing a return on investment to the gaming venue operators.
One way in which suppliers have provided increased variety and interest is to provide multi-line spinning reel gaming machines and other games with a plurality of outcomes, such as poker-style card games with multiple hands. The increased number of game outcomes that result (one outcome per pay line in a spinning reel game and one outcome per hand in a card game), provides for increased wager options. For example, the player may select to wager on one pay line or hand, or may select to wager on a plurality of pay lines or hands. In addition, the player may select to wager a variable amount on each outcome. For example, in a spinning reel game, in one game play the player may wager 1 credit per pay line selected and in another game play may wager 10 credits per pay line selected.
In addition to the demand for new games, there continues to be a demand for traditional types of games. For example, gaming machines with mechanical reels driven by stepper motors continue to be popular with many players. There is therefore also a demand for gaming machines that may be of interest to these players.
With regards to gaming machines players often look to games where they have a degree of input and control over the outcome. Games such as video Poker give players a chance to select, from an initial display of typically five playing cards, which cards to hold and which to discard in the hopes of improving the hand ranking (and award) on the draw where discarded cards are replaced.
Still a further aspect of gaming is the desire of players to be able to increase their odds for receiving a winning outcome. This can be done by providing, more wager options as described above such as providing players with the ability to wager on multiple pay lines or arrangements. Providing more wagering propositions increases the odds for a player to receive a winning outcome and, for the casino, increases the amounts wagered and hence their expected profits.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for use with a gaming machine that is arranged to select symbols, present the selected symbols on a display and award an award if a winning outcome occurs, the method comprising:
in a first random selection process selecting a plurality of symbols and presenting the selected symbols on a display of the gaming machine, wherein each symbol is selected independently of each other symbol and the plurality of symbols are separated into at least three distinct groups of symbols, each group containing at least two symbols;
receiving a selection from a player of the gaming machine of one or more of the groups of symbols to be held;
in a second random selection process reselecting any symbols that are not selected by the player to be held and presenting the reselected symbols on the display; and
paying a prize according to a pay table and the symbols presented following the second random selection process.
In one embodiment, the symbols are presented in a matrix having n rows and m columns, wherein m is at least 3 and n is at least 2 and wherein the at least three distinct groups of symbols are the symbols in each column of the matrix.
In one embodiment, the method further includes providing the option to select none of the groups of symbols to be held.
In one embodiment, the method further includes providing the option to select all of the groups of symbols to be held.
In one embodiment, the display is the visible portion of a plurality of physical spinning reels, one reel for each said presented symbol on the display.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for use with a gaming machine that is arranged to, in response to the staking of a wager, select symbols, present the selected symbols on a display to represent a plurality of outcomes and award an award if a winning outcome occurs, the method comprising:
receiving a selection of a plurality of outcomes on which to stake a wager;
in a first random selection process selecting a plurality of symbols and presenting the selected symbols on a display of the gaming machine in manner so that a plurality of initial outcomes are visually determinable, wherein each symbol is selected independently of each other symbol and the plurality of symbols are separated into at least three distinct groups of symbols, each group containing at least two symbols and wherein each of the plurality of outcomes includes one and only one member of each group of symbols;
receiving a selection from a player of the gaming machine of one or more of the groups of symbols to be held;
in a second random selection process reselecting any symbols that are not selected by the player to be held and presenting the reselected symbols on the display so that a plurality of final outcomes are visually determinable; and
following the second random selection process either paying a prize or not according to a pay table and the final outcomes.
In one embodiment, the selection of a plurality of outcomes on which to stake a wager is a selection of three outcomes. In one embodiment, there are five said groups of symbols.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gaming machine that is arranged to select symbols, present the selected symbols on a display to represent a plurality of game outcomes and award an award if a winning outcome occurs in the plurality of game outcomes, the gaming machine comprising:
a game controller in communication with a display, the game controller including a random number generator, the game controller adapted to use numbers generated by the random number generator to select symbols for presentation on the display in a process including two stages, wherein
in a first stage of the process, a first selection of a plurality of symbols is presented on the display to form a plurality of initial outcomes, wherein each symbol is selected independently of each other symbol;
in a second stage of the process, one or more subsets of symbols are reselected and presented on the display to form a plurality of final outcomes, wherein each subset includes one and only one symbol from each of the plurality of outcomes;
following the second stage paying a prize according to a pay table and the final outcomes.
In one embodiment, the gaming machine includes a user interface adapted to allow a player of the gaming machine to select the number of said subsets of the first selection of symbols to be reselected.
In one embodiment, the symbols are presented in a matrix having n rows and m columns, wherein n is at least 2 and m is at least 3 and wherein subsets of the first selection of symbols available for selection consist of at least two of the columns of symbols in the matrix. In this embodiment, the gaming machine and user interface may be adapted so that the player can select any of the m columns to be reselected. The gaming machine and user interface may also be adapted so that the player can select all or none of the m columns to be reselected.
In one embodiment, the display is the visible portion of a plurality of physical spinning reels, one reel for each said presented symbol on the display.
Further aspects of the present invention and further embodiments of the aspects described in the preceding paragraphs will become apparent from the following description, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In
The gaming console 114 includes two displays 106A, 106B on one or both of which is displayed representations of a game that can be played by a player and a bank of buttons 107A and/or a touch screen 107B to enable a player to play the game. The displays 106 may be video display units, such as a cathode ray tube screen device, a liquid crystal display, plasma screen, any other suitable video display unit, or the visible portion of an electromechanical device. In one particular embodiment of the invention, the display 106A is an array of physical spinning reels, which are rotated by stepper motors. The display 106B may display artwork, including for example, pay tables and details of bonus awards and other information or images relating to the game. In alternative gaming consoles the display 106B may be omitted, optionally replaced by a static display. Where a single game is played, as hereinafter described, only display 106A need be a processor controlled display such as an LCD, plasma, OLED or other video display. Where multiple games are played display 106A may be configured to handle the display of the games or additionally or alternatively the top display 106B may be a processor controlled video display displaying one or more games to the player.
A credit input including a coin input 110A and/or bill collector 110B allows a player to provide credit for wagering and a coin output 111 is provided for cash payouts from the gaming console 114. A card and/or ticket reader 108 and a printer 109 may be provided to provide player tracking, cashless game play or other gaming and non-gaming related functions.
The gaming machine 100 includes a game controller 101, which in the illustrated example includes a computational device 102, which may be a microprocessor, microcontroller, programmable logic device or other suitable device. Instructions and data to control operation of the computational device 102 are stored in a memory 103, which is in data communication with, or forms part of, the computational device 102. Typically, the gaming machine 100 will include both volatile and non-volatile memory and more than one of each type of memory, with such memories being collectively represented by the memory 103. The instructions to cause the game controller 101 to implement the present invention will be stored in the memory 103. The instructions and data for controlling operation of the computational device 102 may be stored on a computer readable medium from which they are loaded into the gaming machine memory 103. The instructions and data may be conveyed to the gaming machine by means of a data signal in a transmission channel. Examples of such transmission channels include network connections, the Internet or an intranet and wireless communication channels.
The game controller 101 may include hardware credit meters 104 for the purposes of regulatory compliance and also include an input/output (I/O) interface 105 for communicating with the peripheral devices of the gaming machine 100. The input/output interface 105 and/or the peripheral devices may be intelligent devices with their own memory for instructions and data.
In the example shown in
The bank of buttons 107A and/or touch screen 107B together with one or both of the displays 106 may provide a user interface 115 through which the gaming machine 100 and player communicate. If a card/ticket reader 108 is provided, this may also form part of the user interface 115.
In addition, the gaming machine 100 may include a communications interface, for example a network card 112. The network card 112, may for example, send status information, accounting information or other information to a central controller, server or database and receive data or commands from the central controller, server or database. The network card 112 may also enable communication with a central player account, allowing cashless gaming. One or more of the peripheral devices, for example the card/ticket reader 108 may be able to communicate directly with the network card 112. The network card 112 and the I/O interface 105 may be suitably implemented as a single machine communications interface.
The game controller 101 may also include a random number generator (RNG) 113, which generates a series of random numbers that are used by the computational device 102 to determine the outcomes of games played on the gaming machine 100. In particular, the RNG 113 determines the displayed stopping position of each of the reels 1 (see
The game controller 101 may have distributed hardware and software components that communicate with each other directly or through a network or other communication channel. The game controller 101 may also be located in part or in its entirety remote from the user interface 115. Also, the computational device 102 may comprise a plurality of devices, which may be local or remote from each other and may incorporate jackpot servers and other devices that determine game play of games on the gaming console 114. Instructions and data for controlling the operation of the user interface 115 may be conveyed to the user interface 115 by means of a data signal in a transmission channel. The user interface 115 may be a computational device, for example a personal computer, used by a person to play a game provided from a remote game controller 101.
Each of the fifteen reels 1 has a plurality of symbols on it and in this embodiment displays a single symbol when stopped. The number of symbols on each of the reels 1 is a matter of design choice. For example, each reel may have between 15 to 25 symbols, with either all reels having the same number of symbols or different reels having differing numbers of symbols, depending on the specific implementation. The symbols sets on the reels 1 may all be the same or may differ between the reels.
When the game is played, the stopping position of each of the reels 1 is individually randomly determined. Accordingly the symbols 2 displayed by each reel 1 is randomly determined independently of the stopping position of the other reels 1. By way of example only, the reels may display the symbols as shown in
The player then selects between zero and all of the columns 3-7 to ‘Hold’. Equivalently, the player may select between zero and all of the columns 3-7 to reselect or discard.
For example, the pay table of the game may specify that three, four or five ‘J’ symbols along a pay line pay prizes. If the symbols shown in
In this embodiment, the game has three pay line P1-P3 that extend across each of the three rows of reels 1. If the rules of the game require combinations of symbols to occur from left to right along a pay line, and three or more ‘J’, ‘Q’, ‘K’ or ‘A’ symbols along a pay line to win a prize, then the result of the game play indicated by
The two-stage selection process of the initial deal and the draw therefore provides a plurality of initial outcomes (the symbols shown in
As is apparent from
If the prizes had values as follows:
Prizes other than prizes in credits may be offered. For example, a prize may be an award of a feature game or the award of a physical item, such as a car. Each of these prizes will have a value or expected average value that can be used to determine the expected overall return of the game and the expected return of each hold strategy in a game.
In the screen shot shown in
While the description of
In step 20, the game controller 101 monitors the bill acceptor and/or coin input 110 and/or information received by the card/ticket reader 108 or network card 112 for a deposit of credit and in response causes the hardware meters 104 to increment according to the denomination of the game. The game controller 101 then monitors the user interface 107 for the input of a wager. The input of the wager may specify whether player wishes to wager on pay line P2 alone, on pay lines P1 and P2, or on all three pay lines P1-P3. The input may also specify the amount to be wagered on each pay line. In alternative embodiments, the number of pay lines may be fixed at three and/or the amount to be wagered per pay line may be fixed.
If there is sufficient credits in the meters 104 to support the wager, a game play is commenced in step 21 by the game controller 101 receiving random numbers from the RNG 113, spinning the reels 1 and causing the reels 1 to stop according to the received random numbers. As previously described, the stopping position of each reel is independently determined.
In step 22 the game controller monitors the bank of buttons and/or touch screen 107 for a player input of reels to be held. The player may select columns of reels to hold by touching the touch screen 107B at the location of between zero and all five of the ‘Hold’ icons 8-12. Repeated presses of the same ‘Hold’ icon may cycle between selecting and deselecting a column to be held. As discussed previously, the gaming machine may indicate a recommended hold strategy, for example by illuminating the appropriate columns and/or the appropriate ‘Hold’ icons and may require selection of the recommended hold strategy. This may be achieved by preventing continued play until the appropriate columns have been held.
The player may indicate completion of the selection of a hold strategy by pressing a ‘spin’ or ‘draw’ button (step 23). This may be button in the bank of buttons 107A. The game controller 101 then determines if any symbols have not been held. If all five columns have been held, then the process proceeds to step 26.
If there are reels that have not been held, then these reels are re-spun and stopped to reveal the game outcome (step 25). In step 26 any prizes are awarded to the win meter. These prizes may be transferred to the credit meter automatically, or after the completion of further optional game processes, such as a double or nothing gamble feature.
The embodiment described above had a total of fifteen reels, each presenting one symbol. In other embodiments other numbers of reels may be provided. For example, an alternative embodiment may involve a game having three columns and two rows so as to present six symbols. Another embodiment may have three columns and three rows of reels. A still further embodiment may have six columns and four rows.
In addition, the reels need not be presented in a matrix. All that is required is the presentation of a plurality of symbols in three or more groups, to allow a hold strategy to be determined and selected. In certain embodiments of the invention, including the embodiments described herein previously, each group of symbols may include one and only one symbol from each outcome that indicates whether a winning outcome has occurred (i.e. each group includes only one symbol from each pay line P1-P3). Alternatively, larger groups may be provided. For example, a player may be required to select either both of columns 3 and 4 to be held or select none of the symbols in these two columns to be held. The option could still be provided to select columns 5-7 individually, or these columns may be split into a group of two columns and a single column.
In another embodiment, and with reference to
In addition to the primary game display at display 106A the player can enable one or more second games 216a-d which are also, in this example, 3×3 display matrices. These second games 216a-d can be displayed at display 106B or, in the alternative, may share real estate with the primary game display at the display 106a.
The primary game display 106A has one or more pay lines. While there may be numerous pay lines, for purposes of explanation it will be assumed that the primary game as well as the second games have only three horizontal pay lines 218, 220, 222. It should be understood that there may be more or fewer pay lines.
To play the game of
When the player has made their wager game play is prompted and the processor 102 and RNG 113 randomly select and display at the display 106A a primary game initial display or “deal”. The player then has the option to hold none, one or more reels 200-204 in the hopes of improving the outcome in relation to a predetermined pay table. In the example of
Turning to
In addition to the primary game one or more secondary games 302a, b games are provided in the display 106B or share real estate with the primary game at display 106A. The player may enable the one or more secondary games 302a,b by selecting and/or wagering. For example, the credits may be wagered and allocated as follows:
And so forth. According to this example the player could wager a maximum amount for the primary and two second games 302a,b of 9 arrangements ×5 credits per arrangement ×3 games=135 credits. Other wagering schemes may be adopted.
The pay arrangements of Table 1 are:
After the player has made their wager game play is prompted and the processor 102 and RNG 113 randomly select and display at the display 106A a primary game initial display or “deal”. According to this embodiment the reel 200 is automatically “held”. Accordingly reel 200 should have a symbol set such that no initial deal is a “dead hand”. i.e. cannot possibly result in a winning outcome. The automatic holding of reel 200 simplifies the player's decisions and is believed to help speed play. It should be understood that the game may randomly select which reel(s) 200, 202, 204 to hold or, where all reels are similarly populated with symbols the processor may select the reel(s) to hold for the best possible outcome for the player. Held reel 200 is duplicated into any enable second games 302a,b. The player next has the option of additionally holding one or both of reels 202, 204 in the hopes of obtaining a winning outcome. In the example of
The player then prompts a “draw” whereupon the processor randomly selects and displays the symbols for reel 202 for the primary and any second games 302a,b to complete play and produce an outcome for each game. Each outcome is then compared to a schedule of winning outcomes and the player receives an award for all winning outcomes. For example, with reference to
The foregoing game can be played on any suitable game matrix of N reels and M rows and can be played as an arrangement game such as that described above and with reference to the '102 patent cited above or can be based upon paylines. The game can also be played with either electro-mechanical stepper reels or video reels.
While the foregoing description has primarily focussed on a spinning reel game, the invention may be implemented in other forms, such as a card game where cards are selected and displayed on the display 106A, or a dice game.
While the foregoing description has been provided by way of example of the preferred embodiments of the present invention as presently contemplated, which utilise gaming machines of the type found in casinos, those skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate that the present invention also may have application to internet gaming and/or have application to gaming over a telecommunications network, where handsets are used to display game outcomes and receive player inputs.
Where in the foregoing description reference has been made to integers having known equivalents, then those equivalents are hereby incorporated herein as if individually set forth.
Those skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate that modifications and additions to the embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/060,016 having a filing date of Jun. 9, 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61060016 | Jun 2008 | US |