Patent Application
20230401934
The invention relates to gaming systems and methods which provide reel-type games. More particularly, the invention relates to gaming systems and methods which provide improved mechanisms for expanding an array of reels in a reel-type game.
Mechanical and video reel-type wagering games display results for a given play in the game using an array of game symbol locations. In the course of a play in a reel-type wagering game (which may be referred to generally as a “slot game”), the various game symbols appearing at the different game symbol locations (or at least some of the different game symbol locations) are randomized or selected according a random result. The randomization or apparent randomization is performed by spinning a reel which carries on its periphery the various game symbols for the game, or, in the case of video reel-type games, by conducting a reel spin simulation for one or more simulated reels shown on a video display. A reel-type game may include physical or simulated multiple-symbol reels which each provide multiple game symbol locations in the array, or may include physical or simulated single-symbol reels which each show only a single game symbol location of the array.
Winning results may be defined for a given combination of game symbols appearing in a predefined winning game symbol location pattern commonly referred to as a “payline” defined through the array of game symbol locations. Winning results may also be defined in terms of the number of a given game symbol or different game symbols appearing in the array after randomization, commonly referred to as a “scatter pay.” The combinations of game symbols which represent a winning result along a payline or as a scatter pay are defined in a pay table which relates each such combination of game symbols to a respective prize, or multiple prizes with each prize corresponding to a bet level in effect for the play in the game. Any prizes as defined by the pay table are awarded in some fashion at the completion of a given play such as by incrementing a credit meter at the gaming machine.
Reel-type gaming machines may offer special features in addition to a primary or base game conducted at a gaming machine. Such special features are seen as a way to vary the player's gaming experience at a given gaming machine and may involve spins of the same or different physical or simulated reels defining the original game symbol location array. In view of the popularity of special features for reel-type gaming machines, there is a continuing need both for new implementations of special features and new implementations for triggering such features in a game.
Aspects of the present invention include methods, apparatus, and program products for providing array expansion features in reel-type gaming machine. Additional aspects of the present invention encompass methods, apparatus, and program products for controlling the operation of reel-type gaming machines.
In accordance with this first aspect of the invention, a method is provided for controlling a reel-type gaming machine. The method includes controlling a display system of the gaming machine to display a game symbol array for a play at the gaming machine including an active array area in which symbols are shown and evaluated, and an expansion array area in which symbols are not shown or are shown in an inactive state. During the play at the gaming machine, the method populates at least some game symbol locations in the active array area and at least some game symbols in the expansion array area with a respective game symbol selected from a first game symbol set which includes a first expansion symbol. Responsive to an expansion condition in which a selected expansion symbol appears in the expansion area adjacent to a boundary between the active array area and the expansion array area, the method controls the display system of the gaming machine to enlarge the active array area by moving the boundary only sufficiently to include the selected expansion symbol Responsive to moving the boundary, the method includes showing and evaluating symbols in a new active array area created by moving the boundary. After moving the boundary, the method includes controlling the gaming machine to award any prize defined for a winning game symbol group contained in the enlarged active array area.
A gaming machine according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a display system, a player input system, and least one processor. At least one memory device of the gaming machine stores instructions which are executable by the at least one processor to produce the active array area and the expansion array area, display a game play through the gaming machine, and award prizes in accordance with the above-described method.
Because methods and gaming machines according to the present invention may be implemented with processing devices operating under the control of program code, another aspect of the present invention includes a program product comprising one or more non-transitory computer readable data storage devices storing program code. The program code is executable by one or more processors such as a gaming machine processor arrangement to perform the operations described above in connection with methods according to the invention.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of representative embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
The gaming machine 100 illustrated for purposes of example in
It will be appreciated that gaming machines may also include a number of other player interface devices in addition to devices that are considered player controls for use in entering inputs in the course of a particular game. Gaming machine 100 also includes a currency/voucher acceptor having an input ramp 112, a voucher/receipt printer having a voucher/receipt output 115, and a player card reader (not shown in the view of
Gaming machine 100 may also include a sound system to provide an audio output to enhance the user's playing experience. For example, illustrated gaming machine 100 includes speakers behind grille 116 which may be driven by a suitable audio amplifier (not shown) to provide a desired audio output at the gaming machine.
Those familiar with data processing devices and systems will appreciate that other basic electronic components will be included in gaming machine 100 such as a power supply, cooling systems for the various system components, audio amplifiers, and other devices that are common in gaming machines. These additional devices are omitted from the drawings so as not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail.
All of the elements 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, and 211 shown in
It will also be appreciated that graphics processors are also commonly a part of modern computer systems. Although separate graphics processor 215 is shown for controlling primary video display device 104, CPU 205 or a graphics processor packaged with or included with CPU 205 may control all of the display devices directly without any separately packaged graphics processor. The invention is not limited to any particular arrangement of processing devices for controlling the video display devices included with gaming machine 100. Also, a gaming machine implementing the present invention is not limited to any particular number of video display devices or other types of display devices. While the large display device 104 is particularly suited for showing additional groups of game symbol locations in accordance with some implementations of reel-type games in accordance with aspects of the present invention, the display area may be arranged differently than the portrait orientation shown or divided across multiple discrete display devices within the scope of the present invention.
In the illustrated gaming machine 100, CPU 205 executes software, that is, program code, which ultimately controls the entire gaming machine including the receipt of player inputs and the presentation of the graphics or information displayed according to the invention through the display devices 104 and 106 associated with the gaming machine. CPU 205 also executes software related to communications handled through network controller 210, and software related to various peripheral devices such as those connected to the system through audio controller 209, serial interface 211, and touch screen controller 217. CPU 205 may also execute software to perform accounting functions associated with game play. Random access memory 206 provides memory for use by CPU 205 in executing its various software programs while the nonvolatile memory or storage device 207 may comprise a hard drive or other mass storage device providing storage for game software (program code) prior to loading into random access memory 206 for execution, or for programs not in use or for other data generated or used in the course of gaming machine operation. Network controller 210 provides an interface to other components of a gaming system in which gaming machine 100 may be included. An example network will be described below in connection with
It should be noted that the invention is not limited to gaming machines employing the personal computer-type arrangement of processing devices and interfaces shown in example gaming machine 100. Other gaming machines through which the invention may be implemented may include one or more special purpose processing devices to perform the various processing steps for implementing the invention. Unlike general purpose processing devices such as CPU 205, which may comprise an Intel® or AMD® processor for example, these special purpose processing devices may not employ operational program code to direct the various processing steps.
The example gaming machine 100 is shown in
Reel Assembly 213 is shown in the diagrammatic representation of
Referring now to
The example gaming network 300 shown in
Tournament server 306 may be included in the system for controlling or coordinating tournament functions. These functions may include maintaining tournament player scores and ranking in reel time during the course of tournament play, and communicating this information to the various gaming machines 100 participating in the tournament. Tournament server 306 may also function to enroll players in tournaments, schedule tournaments, and maintain the time remaining in the various tournaments.
Progressive server 307 may maintain progressive pools for progressive games which may be available through the various gaming machines 100 (such as some prizes defined for the game described further below). In some implementations, progressive server 307 may simply receive communications indicating contribution amounts which have been determined by processes executing at the various gaming machines 100 or elsewhere in the gaming network. Alternatively, progressive server 307 may perform processes to determine the contribution amounts for incrementing the various progressive pools which may be maintained. Progressive server 307 may also periodically communicate current pool values back to the various gaming machines 100, and may participate in communicating awarded progressive prize amounts to the gaming machines and making adjustments to the progressive prize pools accordingly. In some implementations, progressive server 307 may also determine or participate in determining when a progressive prize triggering event occurs.
Accounting server 311 may receive gaming data from each of the networked gaming devices, perform audit functions, and provide data for analysis programs. Player account server 309 may maintain player account records, and store persistent player data such as accumulated player points and/or player preferences (for example, game personalizing selections or options).
Example gaming network 300 also includes a gaming website 321 which may be hosted through web server 320 and may be accessible by players via the Internet. One or more games may be displayed as described herein and played by a player through a personal computer 323 or handheld wireless device 325 (for example, a Blackberry® cell phone, Apple® iPhone®, personal digital assistant (PDA), iPad®, etc.). To enter website 321, a player may log in with a user name that may, for example, be associated with the player's account information stored on player account server 309. Once logged in to website 321 the player may play various games on the website, including games according to the invention. Also website 321 may allow the player to make various personalizing selections and save the information so it is available for use during the player's next gaming session at a casino establishment having the gaming machines 100.
It will be appreciated that gaming network 300 illustrated in
In response to the game play input, at block 406, the process includes displaying an active array area and an expansion array area, and populating game symbol locations at block 406. An example of an active array area and expansion array area are discussed below with respect
Such a sequence is begun at block 408, where the process stops an initial set of reels, with game symbols on the reels thereby aligning with the various game symbol locations of the active array area and expansion array area. In the active array area, all symbols spun up on the reels are visible. In the expansion array area, only designated types of symbols that spin up on the reels or otherwise appear in the array are visible, and are shown in an inactive state. In this context, inactive means that the symbols are at least temporarily not available to be evaluated to form winning patterns or winning groups of symbols according to the game paytable. The inactive symbols in the expansion array area may be visually altered from their versions appearing in the active array area to indicate to the player that they are inactive (see the stack of “Wild” symbols in the expansion array area 512 on reel 505 of
At block 410, the process checks for the presence of responsive of an expansion condition in which a selected stack of expansion symbols includes a symbol in the expansion array area adjacent to a boundary between the active array area and the expansion array area. An example of such a condition in
Responsive to an expansion condition, the process at block 414 includes controlling the display system of the gaming machine to enlarge the active array area by moving the boundary only sufficiently to include the selected stack of expansion symbols. An example of such an enlargement is shown in the sequence of
Responsive to moving the boundary at block 414, the process includes showing and evaluating symbols in a new active array area created by moving the boundary. The newly-shown symbols are shown immediately, as shown in
At block 416, in this embodiment, the process includes applying a first multiplier to all winning game symbol groups formed using the selected stack of expansion symbols. Such a multiplier is shown being applied to the stack of expansion symbols causing the expansion in
Next, at block 418, the process evaluates the modified conditions of the game for a new expansion condition. The qualification for an expansion condition is the same as used in block 410. If a new expansion condition exists, the process returns to block 414 to enlarge the active array area responsive to the new expansion condition. If not, the process goes to block 420. As seen in the example scenario of
Once all of the new expansion conditions have been recognized and handled by the process at block 418, the process goes to block 420 where it determines if any reels or column are remaining in the symbol array to be stopped or newly populated. If so, the process goes to block 422 where it stops the next reel or populates the next column of symbols. If not, the process goes to block 424. At block 422, the newly populated symbols are displayed as discussed above, with all symbols populated to the active array area displayed, while only designated symbols are displayed in the expansion array area. For example, as shown in
After all remaining reels are columns have been populated or stopped, and any expansion conditions handled, the process at block 420 goes to block 424, where the process controls the gaming machine to award any prize defined for a winning game symbol group contained in the enlarged active array area. Block 424 may include conducting bonus features related to bonus symbols appearing in the symbol array. For example, bonus symbols may trigger awards of jackpots such as the Major or Minor jackpots displayed in
In this example, each column of ten locations 504 is defined by a multiple-symbol reel representation including a first reel 505, a second reel 506, a third reel 507, a fourth reel 508, and a fifth reel 509. In the state of the display shown in
The illustrated game graphics also include an area 514 for showing credits available for play, an area 515 showing an amount of a win for the most recent play of the game, a multiplier display area 516, a bet level display area 517, and a denomination display area 518. Of these display areas, area 514 and area 515 are shown blank for purposes of this description. It will be appreciated, however, that these areas would show credit values in an actual implementation. As indicated by the arrows in overlaying fourth reel 508 and fifth reel 509, in the depicted state these reels are still spinning to present a game.
The example of
In
The outcome of any game conducted in accordance with the present invention, that is, the prize to be awarded, may be determined in any suitable fashion. In some implementations the various reels may be designed so that they may be randomly stopped and will produce a desired payout and hold over time. Other implementations may obtain a random outcome or an outcome from another game such as “bingo” and then control the various reel spins according to the invention to produce correspond to that outcome.
One way to obtain a random outcome (in terms of prize value) to be displayed through the play described herein uses a random number generator to generate a random number which is used to index a table to lookup an outcome. In such an arrangement, the outcomes are stored in a lookup table which is indexed by the random number to provide suitable distributed, randomly-selected results. The lookup table may have a number of outcome entries, each with an index, a prize amount in credits, and a bonus flag. The outcome entry may have other data fields to control other parts of the game. The bonus flag indicates that the outcome is to be displayed with both the base and bonus portion of game play described above.
As one alternative to a game outcome determined by random number, outcomes be selected from an outcome record pool of predetermined outcome records. In those arrangements, an outcome record may be chosen from a record pool in order to service a play initiated at the gaming machine. Such an outcome record may be chosen from the pool either randomly or from a randomly-organized queue. The chosen record may include a record identifier (rather than an index), a prize amount, and a free-spin bonus flag. An outcome record may have other data fields to control other parts of the game. The free-spin bonus flag indicates that the record outcome will trigger the bonus portion of play. Still other implementations may use a server-hosted bingo game with multiple game play requests participating as bingo cards, the bingo patterns determining prize outcomes.
In some implementations of the invention, one or both of the base portion of play or the bonus portion of play may be controlled by a script which controls the various reel spins to land on game symbols to produce the randomly selected or otherwise obtained outcome for the play. In order to provide a natural feel to the play of the game, numerous scripts may be stored for each potential outcome and the particular script to be used to control the game for a given play may be selected randomly from the scripts available to show the given outcome.
Numerous variations are possible on the example processes described in connection with
As used herein, whether in the above description or the following claims, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, that is, to mean including but not limited to. Also, it should be understood that the terms “about,” “substantially,” and like terms used herein when referring to a dimension or characteristic of a component indicate that the described dimension/characteristic is not a strict boundary or parameter and does not exclude variations therefrom that are functionally similar. At a minimum, such references that include a numerical parameter would include variations that, using mathematical and industrial principles accepted in the art (e.g., rounding, measurement or other systematic errors, manufacturing tolerances, etc.), would not vary the least significant digit.
Any use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the following claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another, or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. Rather, unless specifically stated otherwise, such ordinal terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term).
In the above descriptions and the following claims, terms such as top, bottom, upper, lower, and the like with reference to a given feature are intended only to identify a given feature and distinguish that feature from other features. Unless specifically stated otherwise, such terms are not intended to convey any spatial or temporal relationship for the feature relative to any other feature.
The term “each” may be used in the following claims for convenience in describing characteristics or features of multiple elements, and any such use of the term “each” is in the inclusive sense unless specifically stated otherwise. For example, if a claim defines two or more elements as “each” having a characteristic or feature, the use of the term “each” is not intended to exclude from the claim scope a situation having a third one of the elements which does not have the defined characteristic or feature.
The above described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate the principles of the invention, but not to limit the scope of the invention. Various other embodiments and modifications to these preferred embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in some instances, one or more features disclosed in connection with one embodiment can be used alone or in combination with one or more features of one or more other embodiments. More generally, the various features described herein may be used in any working combination.
