Patent Application
20060033281
This invention is in the field of games of chance. In particular, this invention discloses a method and apparatus for creating a slot machine concept based upon the ancient Chinese dice game of Sic Bo (Tai Sai). This is accomplished by adding the game feature of the Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui, the use of new apparatus and a novel summing representation for the betting rules of the old game.
Sic Bo (table game), known to some people as Tai Sai, means dice pair in Chinese. It is an ancient Chinese game of chance. It may have originally used a pair of dice shaken between a plate and an overturned bowl, but today it commonly has three dice in a cage for tumbling. Extremely popular in Asian cultures, this exciting and engaging game is winning new converts in many casinos around the world. Sic Bo (table game, Tai Sai) is easy to play. The object is to pick the numbers or combinations that will appear on the dice when they come to rest after tumbling. There are 50 different ways to place bets, so players have plenty of choices with a range of payouts—some as high as 180-to-1.
Most casino Sic Bo tables offer the following types of bets (described below from top to bottom of the betting summary chart layout as depicted in
Small Bet (Under 11)
Small bets win when the point total of the three dice is between 4 and 10 (also expressed as “Under 11”). The payout is 1-to-1 unless there is a low Triple (Triple 1s, 2s or 3s), in which case the Small bet loses. There are 108 possible combinations of the three dice that add up to point totals under 11, and only 3 of them are Triples.
Specific Double
To win a Specific Double bet, two of the three dice must show the Double one selects. The payout is 10-to-1. There are six Specific doubles bets that one can make (and one can place bets on any or all of them for any tumbling). If the third dice also matches the Specific double number (in other words, when the result is a Triple), the Specific Double bet still wins.
Specific Triple
To win a Specific Triple bet, all three of the dice must show the Specific Triple one selects. The payout is 180-to-1. There are six Specific Triples bets one can make (and one can place bets on any or all of them for any tumbling).
Any Triple
To win the Any Triple bet, all three of the dice must show the same number, but it can be any of the six possible numbers. This bet wins on any triple result. The payout is 30-to-1.
Big Bet (Over 10)
Big bets win when the point total of the three dice is between 11 and 17 (also expressed as “Over 10”). The payout is 1-to-1 unless there is a high Triple (Triple 4s, 5s or 6s), in which case the Big bet loses. There are 108 possible combinations of the three dice that add up to point totals over 10, and only 3 of them are Triples.
Specific Total
To win a Specific Total bet, all three of the dice must add up to the Specific Total one selects. The payout varies depending on the total selected, from 6-to-1 to 60 to-1 (as indicated in the betting chart layout shown in
Pair Match
To win a Pair match bet, two of the three of the dice must make the pair selected. The payout is 5-to-1 on each pair. There are fifteen Pair Match bets one can make (and one can place bets on any or all of them for any tumbling). Note that for a result with three single (for example 1, 4, 5), three of the Pair match bets will win (in this example: 1&4, 1&5 and 4&5).
Numbers Bet
If one places a wager on any of the six numbered boxes in the “Numbers Bet” area at the bottom of the betting summary chart layout shown in
Thus, if all three dice come up 4, any wager on the Number 4 die bet would pay 10-to-1. One can bet on as many individual Numbers as one likes.
Despite the fact that the game of Sic Bo could be found in Las Vegas casinos since the early 1950's, albeit only in a few small gambling joints, the game has never gained the same kind of popularity over the years as other casino games such as Black Jack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat and Poker. There are several reasons to explain this fact. First and foremost, Sic Bo has always been identified as a game of Chinese origin. From before the 1950's up till the time when Congress finally passed the Civil Rights Act of 1962, racial segregation existed, to various degrees and in various forms, in the United States, and this segregation helps to explain why the game of Sic Bo has been largely ignored by the general public until recently.
Second, the Sic Bo game itself is indeed very unique when compared with the other popular casino games. Sic Bo can be played very simply, like making the Small and Big bets as explained earlier above. On the other hand, playing the game can also be exceedingly complex as there are 50 different ways to make bets and it will take most players quite a long time to develop the kind of betting strategies that they would individually enjoy.
Third, Sic Bo is an ancient Chinese game played with very unsophisticated apparatus like three dice, a plate and a bowl. Virtually no changes have been made to this ancient apparatus as the game was passed down from hundreds of years ago to today. Usually there is an operator, one of the casino staff, who is responsible for the tumbling of the three dice using a relatively small “cage” and announcing the result. Players gather around the operator and place bets on a long and narrow table top displaying all the betting possibilities for the game. The result of the tumbling dice, as made known to the players by the operator, can only be verified by those few players immediately in the vicinity of the operator. The rest of the players, especially when there are many playing the game, who can be many feet away from the operator, have literally to take the operator's word for granted. This is perhaps the most serious weakness of the Sic Bo game, not to mention the remote yet realistic chance of encountering the “loaded dice” fraud, that must be dealt with if ever it can become a popular casino game in the business.
Finally, as more and more gambling visitors from Asia, especially from China, come to play in casinos in the U.S., the original game of Sic Bo, which albeit is by far their favorite game to play, carries with it a bad stigma as a reminder to them of the racially segregated America of yesteryears. Thus, something has to be done about this game in order to shift the attention of these Asian visitors coming to visit the US from America's imperfect past to being recognized as the cradle of racial diversity in the world of today.
The present inventor recognizes a golden opportunity, based upon the unique circumstances surrounding the Sic Bo game in America, viz. the American society from the early 1950's to the present time and the recent emergence of China as a world economical power as discussed earlier, to create a slot machine for the first time based upon the Sic Bo game. In order to accomplish this feat successfully, the Sic Bo game is first rendered grandiose by replacing the tumbling of the three dice with the spinning motion of a beautiful multicolor carousel controlled by computer software and projected onto a computer monitor or a big screen. Next, a novel summing representation for all the betting rules of the game is devised. Finally, in order to entice a new generation of Chinese visitors to play this slot machine game in America or elsewhere in the world, a feature of their beloved folk culture Feng Shui is added to the game. This is most opportune since not only are the growing numbers of Asian tourists, especially from China, very important to America's tourist industry and economy, their understanding of the American people, particularly of their diverse societal culture and behavior, serves to sustain a strong relationship between the US and China, thus contributing directly to the future stability and harmony of the world.
The present invention is generally directed to a slot machine that allows a player to make multiple bets of differing amounts for a simulated roll of three dice, and also allows the player to bet upon the selection of a given Feng Shui indicator from a set of Feng Shui indicators, such as a set associated with luck, wealth, wind, longevity, health and fertility.
In a first, separate group of aspects of the present invention, the slot machine contains a display mechanism that includes a carousel wheel having an inner wheel divided into x inner wheel segments, each of which bears an inner wheel designation, a middle wheel divided into y segments, each of which bears a middle wheel designation, and an outer wheel divided into z outer wheel segments, each of which bears an outer wheel designation, wherein y is greater than or equal to x, z is greater than or equal to y and both y and z are divisible by x. After the carousel is spun, and each of inner, the middle and the outer wheels have rotated, the wheels will stop such that each of the inner wheel segments will align itself moving outwardly from the inner wheel with (y÷x) of the middle wheel segments and (z÷x) of the outer wheel segments, and they can each stop at different times. When the carousel is displaying a Sic Bo game, x and y will be 6 while z will either be 12 or six pairs, each of which will contain a number designation and a Feng Shui designation, and all of the inner and middle wheel designations will be number designations representing dice. The carousel can be spun so that each of the inner, the middle and the outer wheels rotate with different degrees of freedom and independently of one another; the inner and middle wheels can spin in opposite directions of each other while the outer wheel can remain stationary and its designators are shuffled.
In other, separate aspects of the present invention, the slot machine is controlled by a computer software program, a pseudo random number generation program is used to simulate roll of the three dice and selection of the Feng Shui indicator and the length of time that the control mechanism takes to create the session spin of the carousel is at least partly dependent upon the total number of betting units wagered by the player for the session spin.
In still other, separate aspects of the present invention, the input mechanism of the slot machine allows a player to make session bets selected from a group of Sic Bo bets tied to the outcome of the simulated roll of three dice, and these bets can be represented by certain numbers related to the Sic Bo bets.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved slot machine.
This and further objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art in connection with the drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments set forth below.
The present invention takes advantage of the fact that, to the best of the inventor's knowledge, there are no slot machines existing today which are devised based upon the concept of the ancient Chinese dice game of Sic Bo. However, in order for one to be able to implement the Sic Bo game as a slot machine game, its extensive betting possibilities (exactly 50 ways) must first be systematically and logically coded using a novel representation scheme. In addition, since the Sic Bo game is a heavy favorite among Chinese gamblers, the Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui (wind and water) is opportunistically introduced as an added playing feature to the game in order to entice the growing number of Chinese visitors to play this slot machine game in Las Vegas (and elsewhere). Finally, the tumbling of the three dice in a cage is replaced with the spinning motion of a carousel whose design is based upon the use of a computer software program.
Feng Shui in Chinese means wind and water. Its origins date back several thousand years to ancient China. The geography of that vast land requires careful consideration when constructing a building since the mountain winds can be severe and the lower areas are prone to flooding. Thus for the ancient Chinese, Feng Shui literally means “luck engineering”. However, the ancient Chinese did not consider luck as synonymous with chance. To them luck was opportunity and they believed that even if presented with opportunity many of us do not act and grasp it with both hands. Today Feng Shui remains as both a fascinating and a revered living concept for the Chinese. They not only believe in Feng Shui, but also strive to improve it whenever and wherever possible in order to increase their opportunity, thereby enhancing their luck in whatever they are doing.
Practically speaking, this Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui could therefore be interpreted as an “art of professional placement” or “opportunity engineering”. For the modern Chinese, it is most important for them to seek harmony with Feng Shui, meaning for them to find or identify opportunities for themselves and then to pursue them. The six opportunities most recognized with Feng Shui are, respectively: 1) Wind or the ability to trend events; 2) Longevity; 3) Health; 4) Fertility, as in the ability to have a male baby; 5) Luck, as in the winning of a lottery; and 6) Personal Wealth. Thus, one is advised to constantly seek out these opportunities in the hope that they can be realized by executing the right strategies.
The incorporation of the concept of Feng Shui as an added playing feature to the ancient game of Sic Bo to Chinese gamblers is likened to the addition of butter to a steamed ear of fresh corn before eating to corn lovers. After all, if they can win more money at the gambling table or slot machine by identifying and pursuing the prevailing Feng Shui, it would be the best of two worlds for them.
The “computer software carousel”, or simply referred to as the “carousel”, is created by custom computer software programs designed to meet the desired performance characteristics selected in conjunction with the inventive concepts set forth herein. In an especially preferred embodiment, the carousel is essentially a coplanar structure of three wheels, designated as the inner, the middle and outer wheel, respectively, all sharing a common axis and also commonly “geared” to only six possible angular positions. Each of the three wheels can rotate with their own degree of freedom. In other words, each wheel can either independently rotate in a clockwise direction, a counterclockwise direction or remain stationary. Both the inner and the middle wheel are divided up into six equal sectors (or segments) each of which spans an angular extent of 60 degrees out of a possible 360 degrees for a circle. The outer wheel is divided into twelve (12) equal sectors each spanning an angle of 30 degrees. The top 60° sector or quadrant is designated as the House's or Casino's domain pointer.
Because of the fact that the three wheels are commonly “geared” to rotate in only intervals of 60 degrees, the wheels cannot arbitrarily be stopped with their sectors randomly registered in angles other than exactly 60 degrees. To add contents to the respective wheels, both the inner and the middle wheel are populated with the numbers of the six faces of a dice, namely, one, two, three, four, five and six. For the outer wheel, six sectors are filled with the numbers of the six faces of a dice, like the inner and middle wheels. The other six sectors are filled with the six opportunity designators of Feng Shui discussed earlier, namely, Wind, Longevity, Health, Fertility, Luck and Health. The opportunity designators might be depicted by various symbols, or words, or a combination of the two, but it is especially preferred, for machines geared to cater to Chinese or Asian visitors, that the opportunity designators include a Chinese character representing the Feng Shui opportunity. When the three wheels of the carousel are made to rotate and stop randomly according to random number generator software (or, for those skilled in the art of computer programming, a pseudo random number generation program), their final positions with respect to the House's 60° domain pointer will also be random. Accordingly, with the exception of the addition of the six Feng Shui opportunity designators, the spinning and subsequent stopping of the three independent wheels of the carousel with respect to House's domain pointer is exactly likened to, and thus simulates, tumbling of three dice with each wheel being identified as one of three dice. Furthermore, a particular Feng Shui opportunity designator will also be randomly selected as indicated by the same pointer for every spin of the carousel or the tumbling for the three dice.
By replacing the tumbling of the three dice in a traditional Sic Bo game with the spinning of the computer software carousel, not only will a Feng Shui designator be randomly determined for a particular spin, the outcome of the tumbling for the Sic Bo game will also be determined by the stopping position of the carousel at the House's designated domain pointer. In this way, the Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui can readily be incorporated into the traditional Sic Bo game.
To complete the implementation of the Sic Bo game into a slot machine game, a novel representation or coding scheme for the 300 possible bets to play the Sic Bo game including the Feng shui feature is devised. This scheme, along with further objects and advantages of the present invention, will be described in greater detail below with the accompanying drawings.
All three wheels, 2, 3 and 4, are divided up equally into six segments, and of which 12 is an example for the inner wheel 2. The face number of a dice, namely, one, two, three, four, five and six, occupy, respectively, the six segments of each of the three wheels as shown in
The presently invented Feng Shui slot Machine game takes advantage of the computer software carousel for incorporating the concept of Feng Shui into the Sic Bo game. In order to accomplish this, the outer wheel 16 of carousel 17 is divided equally into twelve (12) equal segments (or six pairs of segments) as shown in
Unlike the carousel 1 portrayed in
It is relatively easy and straight forward to play the presently invented Feng Shui Slot Machine game, especially for those who are already familiar with how Sic Bo is played. To play the Feng Shui Slot Machine game, one simply follows the way that a traditional Sic Bo game is played with only an additional Feng Shui opportunity designator bet. For example, instead of placing a Big bet, one now can place a Big bet with a Feng Shui opportunity designator like Fertility with it, or Big bet Fertility. If after the spinning of the carousel 17, the total sum of the three dice (4,1,6) is 11 and the Feng Shui opportunity designator is Health 20 (see
In order to facilitate incorporation of all 50 possible bets of the traditional Sic Bo game plus independently the six (6) additional Feng Shui bets, a grand total of 300 possible bets, into the Feng Shui Slot Machine, a novel code is devised to represent all the 300 possible bets with a leading indicator, which is preferably a letter in an especially preferred embodiment (six of them), followed by no more than 3 numerical digits or numbers. The six letters arbitrarily chosen are A, B, C, D, E and F representing respectively the Feng Shui Opportunity Designators “Luck”, “Wealth”, “Wind”, “Longevity”, “Health” and “Fertility”. For the 50 possible bets of the traditional Sic Bo game, the 1-3 digit numeric codes representing them, namely NNN, where N can be any number from “0” to “9”, are preferably selected in such a way so as to enable the player to naturally identify and easily remember them.
For example, with reference to the betting summary chart layout for the traditional Sic Bo game, the numbers “1” and “2” are used to represent, respectively, the Small and Big Sic Bo bets (first row of bets in
Alphanumeric codes for all possible bets for the Feng Shui Slot Machine game are listed in
In a variant of the preferred embodiment, a player could be allowed to select any of the six possible 60 degrees quadrants as the Casino or House quadrant (thus, effectively, changing the location of the pointer), or a player could be allowed to make one or more bets based upon the outcome of multiple 60 degrees quadrants, in which case all of the bets for a single 60 degrees quadrant would be determined based upon what designators are within said quadrant, and this determination would not affect the results of the betting in another 60 degrees quadrant, except for the fact that the designators in one 60 degrees quadrant obviously could not end up in another 60 degrees quadrant. Thus, for example, if a player was allowed to place bets for six 60 degrees quadrants, and a Feng Shui bet was placed in each of the six 60 degrees quadrants, one of the Feng Shui bets would have to win (if it was not combined with a losing Sic Bo bet), while five would have to lose.
A Feng Shui slot machine, in accordance with the teachings set forth herein, can be designed to enhance many aspects of a player's gaming experience. Because traditional slot machines have wheels that rotate three-dimensionally out of the viewing plane of a player, the upcoming symbols for a given selection point are not visible; also, because slot machines traditionally rotate very fast, the result is a blur, which is not especially pleasing or interesting to watch. In newer electronic slot machines, there is no “wheel” to rotate at all, so the machines create a blur by moving through possible frames or selections so fast that they create a blur. Not only does such a display suffer from the drawbacks of mechanical wheel slot machines, but it is also hard to watch and can create eye strain for viewers after prolonged periods. The present invention helps to eliminate these problems by creating an aesthetically pleasing, and interesting, display in which the player's attention is captured, and the player's enjoyment is increased, by watching the two dimensional rotation of the wheels through different possibilities. In this sense, the present invention, or at least its display, is more akin to the spinning of a traditional money wheel or a roulette wheel, as opposed to a traditional slot machine, and thus it adds the enjoyment of anticipating exactly where the wheels will stop, while the player can view his or choices slowing spinning and coming close to, or in, or moving beyond, the designated selection point. Accordingly, in designing the software for the carousel, a designer can control the speed and timing of spinning the wheels to enhance a player's experience. In an especially preferred embodiment, the inner wheel will be designed to stop its rotation first, so the result of that spin (or simulated roll) is made known to the player, and then, after another brief period, the middle wheel stops its rotation, and then, after another brief period, the results for the outer wheel are displayed. It is believed that this presentation heightens the expectation and anticipation, and thus the pleasure of the player's gaming experience, especially since the Feng Shui indicator is not determined initially. This timing aspect of the present invention, as well as the anticipation tied to viewing spinning wheels, is different from traditional Sic Bo, when all three dice are rolled simultaneously, and believed to be an improvement.
Because many aspects of the design of a Feng Shui slot machine can be controlled by a designer of its software and thus customized to particular goals, such a slot machine offers many different opportunities for variances and customization. In this regard, given that the timing and speed of rotation of the wheels can be controlled, a designer might also wish to provide players with options concerning these parameters. For example, a hard core impatient gambler might not want to enjoy the anticipation of spinning wheel, and might want to just get to the end result. To accommodate such wishes, the Sic Bo slot machine could be designed to allow a player to provide input into how long the carousel will spin. However, because it is believed that the spinning enhances player enjoyment, instead of detracting from it, it might be desirable to either increase, or allow the player the option of increasing spin time, with increased bets. Because increased spin time means less potential revenue to an operator of the Sic Bo slot machine, increased betting for a single spin would compensate the operator for increased spin time. So, for example, if the carousel spins for a period of x time for a minimum bet of one betting unit, the carousel might spin for a period of x plus y time for a bet that exceeds a preselected threshold over the minimum bet, or the increased time might be stepped up in accordance with preselected thresholds. This type of variation might be especially appropriate if the player is allowed to choose multiple 60 degree quadrants for which bets are made, in which case the player might also enjoy increased spin time.
From the foregoing, it should be readily apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure sets forth a novel slot machine that can be customized to take advantage of, and appeal to, a specific niche demographic group—Chinese and Asian persons who enjoy gambling. While the novel slot machine can also be enjoyed by persons of different heritage, it is particularly well-suited to Chinese and Asian persons because of their familiarity with Sic Bo and the appeal of Feng Shui. As such, it offers something enjoyable and appealing to a demographic group that has heretofore been largely neglected, or to which no specific appeal has been made in terms of traditional slot machines.
While the invention has been described herein with reference to certain preferred embodiments, those embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and not to limit the scope of the invention. Additional embodiments thereof will be obvious to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this detailed description. Further modifications are also possible in alternative embodiments without departing from the inventive concepts described herein. For example, although the preferred embodiment has been described as using a carousel wheel in which the inner and middle wheels are rotated, while the outer wheel remains stationary and its designators are shuffled, a slot machine can be designed, based upon the teachings set forth herein, in which all three wheels remain stationary, all of their designators are shuffled, and then they start to populate the wheels in a preselected order. Although such an embodiment is believed to be less desirable than the especially preferred embodiment described herein, especially because it lacks the unique aesthetic appeal of two wheels spinning in opposite directions, it would certainly be an improvement over what exists today. Similarly, while the preferred embodiment has been described in connection with the Sic Bo game, a slot machine could be designed, based upon the teachings set forth herein, that uses three wheels that rotate as described herein, that are populated with designators other than dice numbers or Feng Shui indicators, and such a slot machine would still take advantage of the novel aesthetic appeal of two wheels spinning in opposite directions in a two-dimensional plane, as opposed to the three-dimensional spinning of wheels contained in traditional slot machines in which only a portion of the wheel is visible at any given time. In such a slot machine, the number of designators located in the inner wheel can be defined by x, the number of designators located in the middle wheel can be defined by y, and the number of designators located in the outer wheel can be defined by z, where y is greater than or equal to x, z is greater than or equal to y and both y and z are divisible by x.
Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that further changes and modifications in the actual concepts described herein can readily be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed inventions as defined by the following claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/919,092, filed Aug. 16, 2004, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference, and is related to another patent application being filed concurrently herewith entitled “Method and Apparatus for the Casino Feng Shui Sic Bo Game,” the disclosure of which is also specifically incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10919092 | Aug 2004 | US |
| Child | 10941513 | Sep 2004 | US |
