Patent Application
20120322533
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates generally to gaming systems and methods and, more particularly, to a gaming system and computer-implemented method for conducting a wagering game.
Gaming terminals, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a gaming system comprises at least one input device, at least one display device, at least one processor, and at least one memory device. The memory device stores a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to receive a wager to play a wagering game, display an array of symbols randomly selected from a plurality of possible symbols, trigger a bonus feature if the displayed array includes a bonus triggering outcome, and, in response to the displayed array including at least one special symbol, change one or more of the symbols adjacent to the special symbol to respective other symbols selected from the plurality of possible symbols, and award an enhanced award that is greater than a basic award that would otherwise result from the bonus feature and any winning combinations of the symbols in the displayed array.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a gaming device under control of at least one processor, comprises at least one input device, at least one display device, and at least one memory device. The memory device is configured to store a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to receive a wager to play a wagering game, display an array of symbols randomly selected from a plurality of possible symbols, and, in response to the displayed array not including at least one bonus triggering symbol, award basic awards for any winning combinations of the symbols in the displayed array, and in response to the displayed array including the at least one bonus triggering symbol, change one or more of the symbols adjacent to the bonus triggering symbol to respective other symbols selected from the plurality of possible symbols, trigger a bonus feature if the displayed array includes a bonus triggering outcome, and increase an award resulting from the bonus feature and the basic awards for any winning combinations of the symbols in the displayed array.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for a gaming system comprises receiving a wager to play a wagering game, displaying an array of symbols randomly selected from a plurality of possible symbols, and triggering a bonus feature if the displayed array includes a bonus triggering outcome. In response to the displayed array including at least one special symbol, one or more of the symbols adjacent to the special symbol are changed to respective other symbols selected from the plurality of possible symbols, and an enhanced award is awarded that is greater than a basic award otherwise resulting from the bonus feature and any winning combinations of the symbols in the displayed array.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method comprises receiving a wager to play a wagering game and displaying an array of symbols randomly selected from a plurality of possible symbols. in response to the displayed array including at least one special symbol, one or more of the symbols adjacent to the special symbol are changed to respective other symbols randomly selected from the plurality of possible symbols, a bonus feature is triggered if the displayed array includes a bonus triggering outcome, and an enhanced award is awarded that is greater than a basic award resulting from the bonus feature and any winning combinations of the symbols in the displayed array. The basic award is otherwise provided when the at least one special symbol is absent from the displayed array.
According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media are encoded with instructions, which when executed by at least one processor or controller associated with a gaming system, causes the at least one processor or controller to perform the above methods.
Additional aspects of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description of various embodiments, which is made with reference to the drawings, a brief description of which is provided below.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.
Referring to
The gaming terminal 10 illustrated in
The primary display area 14 include, in various aspects of the present concepts, a mechanical-reel display, a video display, or a combination thereof in which a transmissive video display is disposed in front of the mechanical-reel display to portray a video image in superposition over the mechanical-reel display. Further information concerning the latter construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,433 to Loose et al. entitled “Reel Spinning Slot Machine With Superimposed Video Image,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The video display is, in various embodiments, a cathode ray tube (CRT), a high-resolution liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, a light emitting diode (LED), a DLP projection display, an electroluminescent (EL) panel, or any other type of display suitable for use in the gaming terminal 10, or other form factor, such as is shown by way of example in
Video images in the primary display area 14 and/or the secondary display area 16 are rendered in two-dimensional (e.g., using Flash Macromedia™) or three-dimensional graphics (e.g., using Renderware™). In various aspects, the video images are played back (e.g., from a recording stored on the gaming terminal 10), streamed (e.g., from a gaming network), or received as a TV signal (e.g., either broadcast or via cable) and such images can take different forms, such as animated images, computer-generated images, or “real-life” images, either prerecorded (e.g., in the case of marketing/promotional material) or as live footage. The format of the video images can include any format including, but not limited to, an analog format, a standard digital format, or a high-definition (HD) digital format.
The player-input or user-input device(s) 26 include, by way of example, a plurality of buttons 36 on a button panel, as shown in
The information reader 24 (or information reader/writer) is preferably located on the front of the housing 12 and comprises, in at least some forms, a ticket reader, card reader, bar code scanner, wireless transceiver (e.g., RFID, Bluetooth, etc.), biometric reader, or computer-readable-storage-medium interface. As noted, the information reader may comprise a physical and/or electronic writing element to permit writing to a ticket, a card, or computer-readable-storage-medium. The information reader 24 permits information to be transmitted from a portable medium (e.g., ticket, voucher, coupon, casino card, smart card, debit card, credit card, etc.) to the information reader 24 to enable the gaming terminal 10 or associated external system to access an account associated with cashless gaming, to facilitate player tracking or game customization, to retrieve a saved-game state, to store a current-game state, to cause data transfer, and/or to facilitate access to casino services, such as is more fully disclosed, by way of example, in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0045354 entitled “Portable Data Unit for Communicating With Gaming Machine Over Wireless Link,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The noted account associated with cashless gaming is, in some aspects of the present concepts, stored at an external system 46 (see
Turning now to
To provide gaming functions, the controller 42 executes one or more game programs comprising machine-executable instructions stored in local and/or remote computer-readable data storage media (e.g., memory 44 or other suitable storage device). The term computer-readable data storage media, or “computer-readable medium,” as used herein refers to any media/medium that participates in providing instructions to controller 42 for execution. The computer-readable medium comprises, in at least some exemplary forms, non-volatile media (e.g., optical disks, magnetic disks, etc.), volatile media (e.g., dynamic memory, RAM), and transmission media (e.g., coaxial cables, copper wire, fiber optics, radio frequency (RF) data communication, infrared (IR) data communication, etc). Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a hard disk, magnetic tape (or other magnetic medium), a 2-D or 3-D optical disc (e.g., a CD-ROM, DVD, etc.), RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or solid state digital data storage device, a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer can read. By way of example, a plurality of storage media or devices are provided, a first storage device being disposed proximate the user interface device and a second storage device being disposed remotely from the first storage device, wherein a network is connected intermediate the first one and second one of the storage devices.
Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to controller 42 for execution. By way of example, the instructions may initially be borne on a data storage device of a remote device (e.g., a remote computer, server, or system). The remote device can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line or other communication path using a modem or other communication device appropriate to the communication path. A modem or other communication device local to the gaming machine 10 or to an external system 46 associated with the gaming machine can receive the data on the telephone line or conveyed through the communication path (e.g., via external systems interface 58) and output the data to a bus, which transmits the data to the system memory 44 associated with the processor 42, from which system memory the processor retrieves and executes the instructions.
Thus, the controller 42 is able to send and receive data, via carrier signals, through the network(s), network link, and communication interface. The data includes, in various examples, instructions, commands, program code, player data, and game data. As to the game data, in at least some aspects of the present concepts, the controller 42 uses a local random number generator (RNG) to randomly generate a wagering game outcome from a plurality of possible outcomes. Alternatively, the outcome is centrally determined using either an RNG or pooling scheme at a remote controller included, for example, within the external system 46.
As shown in the example of
As shown in the example of
As seen in
Communications between the controller 42 and both the peripheral components of the gaming terminal 10 and the external system 46 occur through input/output (I/O) circuit 56, which can include any suitable bus technologies, such as an AGTL+ frontside bus and a PCI backside bus. Although the I/O circuit 56 is shown as a single block, it should be appreciated that the I/O circuit 56 alternatively includes a number of different types of I/O circuits. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the components of the gaming terminal 10 can be interconnected according to any suitable interconnection architecture (e.g., directly connected, hypercube, etc.).
The I/O circuit 56 is connected to an external system interface or communication device 58, which is connected to the external system 46. The controller 42 communicates with the external system 46 via the external system interface 58 and a communication path (e.g., serial, parallel, IR, RC, 10bT, near field, etc.). The external system 46 includes, in various aspects, a gaming network, other gaming terminals, a gaming server, a remote controller, communications hardware, or a variety of other interfaced systems or components, in any combination. In yet other aspects, the external system 46 may comprise a player's portable electronic device (e.g., cellular phone, electronic wallet, etc.) and the external system interface 58 is configured to facilitate wireless communication and data transfer between the portable electronic device and the controller 42, such as by a near field communication path operating via magnetic field induction or a frequency-hopping spread spectrum RF signals (e.g., Bluetooth, etc.).
The gaming terminal 10 optionally communicates with external system 46 (in a wired or wireless manner) such that each terminal operates as a “thin client” having relatively less functionality, a “thick client” having relatively more functionality, or with any range of functionality therebetween (e.g., an “intermediate client”). In general, a wagering game includes an RNG for generating a random number, game logic for determining the outcome based on the randomly generated number, and game assets (e.g., art, sound, etc.) for presenting the determined outcome to a player in an audio-visual manner. The RNG, game logic, and game assets are contained within the gaming terminal 10 (“thick client” gaming terminal), the external systems 46 (“thin client” gaming terminal), or are distributed therebetween in any suitable manner (“intermediate client” gaming terminal).
Referring now to
In accord with various methods of conducting a wagering game on a gaming system in accord with the present concepts, the wagering game includes a game sequence in which a player makes a wager, such as through the money/credit detector 48, touch screen 38 soft key, button panel, or the like, and a wagering game outcome is associated with the wager. The wagering game outcome is then revealed to the player in due course following initiation of the wagering game. The method comprises the acts of conducting the wagering game using a gaming apparatus, such as the gaming terminal 10 depicted in
In the aforementioned method, for each data signal, the controller 42 is configured to process the electronic data signal, to interpret the data signal (e.g., data signals corresponding to a wager input), and to cause further actions associated with the interpretation of the signal in accord with computer instructions relating to such further actions executed by the controller. As one example, the controller 42 causes the recording of a digital representation of the wager in one or more storage devices (e.g., system memory 44 or a memory associated with an external system 46), the controller, in accord with associated computer instructions, causing the changing of a state of the data storage device from a first state to a second state. This change in state is, for example, effected by changing a magnetization pattern on a magnetically coated surface of a magnetic storage device or changing a magnetic state of a ferromagnetic surface of a magneto-optical disc storage device, a change in state of transistors or capacitors in a volatile or a non-volatile semiconductor memory (e.g., DRAM), etc.). The noted second state of the data storage device comprises storage in the storage device of data representing the electronic data signal from the controller (e.g., the wager in the present example). As another example, the controller 42 further, in accord with the execution of the instructions relating to the wagering game, causes the primary display 14 or other display device and/or other output device (e.g., speakers, lights, communication device, etc.), to change from a first state to at least a second state, wherein the second state of the primary display comprises a visual representation of the physical player input (e.g., an acknowledgement to a player), information relating to the physical player input (e.g., an indication of the wager amount), a game sequence, an outcome of the game sequence, or any combination thereof, wherein the game sequence in accord with the present concepts comprises acts described herein. The aforementioned executing of computer instructions relating to the wagering game is further conducted in accord with a random outcome (e.g., determined by the RNG) that is used by the controller 42 to determine the outcome of the game sequence, using a game logic for determining the outcome based on the randomly generated number. In at least some aspects, the controller 42 is configured to determine an outcome of the game sequence at least partially in response to the random parameter.
The basic-game screen 60 is displayed on the primary display area 14 or a portion thereof. In
In the illustrated embodiment of
As shown in the example of
Symbol combinations are evaluated in accord with various schemes such as, but not limited to, “line pays” or “scatter pays.” Line pays are evaluated left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, or any combination thereof by evaluating the number, type, or order of symbols 90 appearing along an activated payline 30. Scatter pays are evaluated without regard to position or paylines and only require that such combination appears anywhere on the reels 62a-e. While an embodiment with nine left-to-right paylines is shown, a wagering game with no paylines, a single payline, or any plurality of paylines will also work with the present invention. Additionally, though an embodiment with five reels is shown in
Turning now to
In the illustrated bonus game of
The wagering game may include a single bonus game or multiple bonus games. Each bonus game may be triggered by the occurrence of a respective start-bonus outcome in or during the basic wagering game. Alternatively or in addition, each bonus game may be triggered by the occurrence of a start-bonus outcome in or during another one of the bonus games such that one bonus game leads to another bonus game. The bonus games may be similar or different in format and may occupy the primary display area 14, the secondary display area 16, or a combination thereof.
Referring now to
Referring to
In the illustrated example, the occurrence of the special bonus triggering symbol 100 may, by itself or in combination with other standard bonus triggering symbols 106 (depending upon the rules of the wagering game), trigger a bonus game. If the game rules require the occurrence of the combination to trigger a bonus game, the rules may or may not further require the combination to appear along an active payline to act as a bonus trigger. The bonus game may be of a first type played directly on the displayed array (e.g., free spins of the reels) or, as shown in
After the reels 62a-e have spun and stopped and any symbol change associated with the appearance of the special bonus triggering symbol 100 in the display array has occurred, the wagering game awards the player for any line pays, scatter pays, and triggered bonus games. In the absence of the special bonus triggering symbol 100 from the displayed array, the player is merely awarded a basic award resulting from such line pays, scatter pays, and triggered bonus games. The basic award may be set forth in a basic pay table as shown in
If, however, the special bonus triggering symbol 100 appears in the displayed array, the player is awarded an enhanced award resulting from any line pays, scatter pays, and triggered bonus games. For example, if the displayed array only yields line pays or scatter pays, then those pays are enhanced. If the displayed array yields both line or scatter pays and a triggered bonus game, then both the line/scatter pays and bonus game payoffs are enhanced. The enhanced award may, for example, be a fixed or randomly selected multiple of the basic award wherein the special bonus triggering symbol 100 effectively acts as a spin multiplier. In an alternative embodiment, the enhanced award may be based on an enhanced pay table that has higher pays than the basic pay table shown in
In the example illustrated in
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, if the symbol change resulting from the occurrence of the special bonus triggering symbol 100 in the displayed array occurs after the reel 62b containing the bonus triggering symbol 100 has stopped, the player is preferably also awarded a basic award resulting from any line pays, scatter pays, and bonus triggers that appear in the displayed array prior to the symbol change. A benefit of awarding the basic award prior to the symbol change is that the player will not feel cheated out of any line pays, scatter pays, and bonus triggers that may appear in the displayed array before, but not after, the symbol change.
A benefit of the aforementioned symbol change feature wherein one or more symbols adjacent to the special bonus triggering symbol 100 are variable is that such symbol change feature allows for a variety of line and scatter pays when the symbol 100 appears in the displayed array. If the symbols adjacent to the special bonus triggering symbol 100 were otherwise static, the types of line and scatter pays would be constrained by such static symbols when the symbol 100 appears in the displayed array. With respect to line pays, for example, many paylines “extend through” the symbols adjacent to the special bonus triggering symbol 100. By making such adjacent symbols variable, the player can potentially achieve line and scatter pays with any of the symbols resulting from the symbol change.
In one embodiment, the special bonus triggering symbol 100 is a wild symbol that can act as one or more of the other symbols in the displayed array to create line pays and/or scatter pays. In another embodiment, the special symbol 100 does not operate as a bonus triggering symbol but still operates to enhance, e.g., multiply, the basic award resulting from any line pays, scatter pays, and triggered bonus games. The vertically adjacent symbols, e.g., symbols 102a and 104a in
If the answer at step 114 is yes, one or more of the symbols adjacent (e.g., horizontal, vertical, diagonal) to the special bonus triggering symbol are changed to respective other symbols randomly selected from the plurality of possible symbols at step 118. The changed symbols are preferably vertically adjacent to (i.e., on the same reel as) as the special bonus triggering symbol. Also, a bonus feature is triggered at step 120 if the displayed array includes a bonus triggering outcome. The bonus triggering outcome may comprise the special bonus triggering symbol by itself or in combination with other standard bonus triggering symbols 106 (depending upon the rules of the wagering game). It is contemplated that the bonus feature can instead or also be triggered between step 112 and step 114. Next, at step 122, the wagering game awards an enhanced award for any winning combinations of the symbols in the displayed array and for any triggered bonus features, and operation then returns to step 110 for another play of the wagering game. It is contemplated that the enhanced award is greater than a basic award that would otherwise result from the winning combinations and the bonus features. The enhanced award is preferably a randomly selected multiple of the basic award.
In certain aspects a gaming system can comprise at least one input device, at least one display device, at least one processor, and at least one memory device. The memory device stores a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to receive a wager to play a wagering game, display an array of symbols randomly selected from a plurality of possible symbols, and, in response to the displayed array including at least one special symbol, change one or more of the symbols adjacent to the special symbol to respective other symbols selected from the plurality of possible symbols, trigger a bonus feature if the displayed array includes a bonus triggering outcome, and enhance a basic award resulting from the bonus feature and any winning combinations of the symbols in the displayed array. The basic award is otherwise provided when the at least one special symbol is absent from the displayed array.
Each of these embodiments and obvious variations thereof is contemplated as falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
