Patent Application
20110034231
Gaming machines are generally classified as either being skill games or chance games. Blackjack, poker and so-called “re-spin” slot machine reel games are examples of skill games. (Skill games typically include an element of chance, but allow for a player to improve their odds of winning from default odds by applying mental calculations in some manner to the state of the game.) Conventional slot machines and conventional physical and electronic pull tab machines are examples of chance games. Governmental regulatory authorities often restrict gaming machines at selected venues based on their classifications. For example, some regulatory authorities only permit skill games to be played at selected venues.
Some electronic pull tab machines are designed to simulate the spinning reels of slot machines, thereby providing a play experience similar to slot machines. The outcome of the spinning reels match the results of the next pull tab in a previously defined deal of game results. These types of game machines are very popular. However, they are permitted in selected venues because they are games of chance.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need to allow certain types of game machines that are normally played as games of chance to be modified so that they can be installed in venues where they would normally be prohibited. The present invention fulfills such a need.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a conventional electronic pull tab machine, or a network of such machines, is modified so as to allow a player to select from and play a plurality of different deals at a machine, and to receive deal information regarding the current status of such deals. By analyzing the deal information, an element of skill is added because a player has an opportunity to select deals that have better odds of winning than other deals, provided that the player correctly processes the deal information. The modified electronic pull tab machine thus becomes a game of skill and can be offered in venues where such machines would normally be prohibited. In other preferred embodiments, other conventional game machines, such as instant lottery machines, can be modified in a similar manner and also offered in such venues.
Tickets are vended from a network of electronic game machines that play a game and that are in communication with a central server. Each ticket is associated with a deal of tickets for the game that includes at least some predetermined winning tickets. Each electronic game machine is adapted to simultaneously play a plurality of different deals and includes a deal selection indicator. Deal information and the current status information for each of the different deals is displayed immediately prior to or concurrently with a patron paying for a ticket. The information includes the total number of tickets and total number of tickets that have been played or remain to be played, the number of tickets having winning symbol or number combinations and number of tickets having winning symbol or number combinations that have been played or remain to be played, and the total winnings and amount of the total winnings that have been won or amount of the total winnings that remain to be won. The patron selects at the electronic game machine which of the plurality of deals to play using the deal selection indicator. The results of the next ticket in the selected deal is provided to the electronic game machine upon payment for a ticket, and the patron is informed of the results. The current status information is updated in real time immediately after each game play.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. However, the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
In the drawings:
Certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to be taken as a limitation on the present invention.
The present invention is described in the context of a video reel game commercially available from Diamond Game Enterprises, Inc., Chatsworth, Calif., and referred to as “SkilTab™.” This embodiment is a new form of a pull tab machine. However, more broadly, the present invention may be used for any form of ticket-based games wherein the tickets are associated with a deal of tickets that includes at least some predetermined winning tickets. Instant win tickets sold in state lotteries are one example of such ticket-based games.
In one preferred embodiment, the system is operated via a standard off-the-shelf Windows® XP computer that communicates with game machines using TCP/IP, configured as discussed below. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to this commercial embodiment or to any particular hardware or software platform.
An electronic game machine 16 is preferably installed in an upright cabinet with a single LCD touch screen video display (monitor 54). The LCD touch screen display (monitor 54) is used for displaying game outcomes, pay table information and attendant menu features. One suitable touch screen display (monitor 54) is a 19″ ELO Touch Monitor, commercially available from Tyco Electronics. The front of the cabinet preferably has a button panel and a card reader on it. This is used in conjunction with a technician card to access the attendant menu feature. When the correct card is inserted, the attendant menu is opened; when the card is removed, the attendant menu is exited. The cabinet contains a logic board 58, bill acceptor 48 and a ticket printer 50. The interior of the game machine 16 can be accessed through the main and cashbox doors, each with its own separate lock. The main door gives access to the logic board 58, printer 50, bill acceptor 48 and power switch. The cashbox door gives access to a stacker, which is behind another lock, and all of the other items that the main door gives access to. Each of the doors has a two-way switch that is monitored by the logic board 58. The video display (monitor 54) may be accessed by opening the main door. The logic board 58 is a locked compartment that may be reached after opening the main door. The logic board 58 is also monitored by a two-way switch. The logic board 58 has two positions for compact flash cards, namely, an inner compact flash position for the system card, and another position where the game compact flash is connected. Both cards must be present during game play and configuration, and a RAM clear is also performed with both cards in position.
SkilTab games are electronic pull tab games that differ from traditional pull tab games in that they offer pieces of information to the player (patron) in order to calculate the odds of winning and select the most favorable deal to play. These pull tab results come from a master deal. A master deal is a specific, finite set of predetermined results. Each master deal is loaded onto the game server 12 along with the supporting data necessary to play the games. The game server 12 creates deals which are sets of pointers into master deals. Each master deal is loaded into a SQL database on the game server 12.
The deals provide a chronological inclusive set of sequence numbers and a set of ticket numbers that have been randomly shuffled by an RNG shuffler. The sequence number will be in the range of 1 to n where n is the number of results in the master deal. The ticket numbers will include each number from 1 to n where n is the number of results in the master deal. The RNG shuffler is resident only on the deal server 10. A form exists for every bet combination that the game machine can generate. For example, a game which is displayed as a “5 reel slot” game may have the betting options of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 15 or 20 lines and 1 or 2 credits bet per line. A deal can then be created for each possible combination, such as 1 line and 1 credit per line, 1 line and 2 credits per line, and 3 lines and 1 credit per line. During game play, tab results are drawn from a deal sequentially. Since the ticket numbers are shuffled, results from the master deal are presented in random order.
Referring to
This information is given for each and every deal. The player is also given a list of “flare” information, as shown in
In an alternative embodiment, the tickets having winning symbol or number combinations that have been played or remain to be played in the deal are not just provided as a total number, but are broken down by win types, for example, as set forth in the game flare.
The deal information shown in
When a game machine 16 is initially connected to the game server 12, the game server 12 verifies that the game machine 16 has been set up within the server configuration (see
The game machines 16 themselves keep track of critical data such as meter information, game recall and event history. This is stored on NVRAM resident on the game machine's logic board 58. Game history is only recallable on the game machine 16. No functionality exists on the game server 12 to recall game history.
A game machine 16, once initialized and registered by the game server 12, begins play by selecting bet options and then committing to a bet via the play button. The game machine 16 will send a play message to the game server 12, including information on what deal is being played (i.e., the bet options). The game server 12 will receive and respond by handing out the next sequential tab from the appropriate deal. These pieces of information are encoded at the application layer via a proprietary scheme. The network layer has no built in security, only basic cyclic redundancy check (CRC) provided by TCP/IP protocol. The encoded data sent to a game machine 16 will include all relevant information to display an appropriate win, including the win amount and the specific reel combination to display appropriate to the game type. The game server 12 will continue to send out game results in such a manner until the entire deal is out of tabs. At this point, a follow-up deal may be used (typically created when the deals are first randomly shuffled into place), or a new deal will have to be created and then initialized. The game machine 16 keeps up-to-date SkilTab information for the player based on when the player enters the help screens. Once a player selects the help screen button, a request is sent to the game server 12 for information on the deal, and the game server 12 will return updated results at that instant.
The deal server 10 and the game server 12 are comprised of many different components (installed applications 18 and 30). The following components are the major pieces:
1. Deal Import 34
The Deal Import application imports deal data from the form information files. These forms are master sets of game results. The Deal Import 34 takes these game results and puts them into a back office system database (not shown) so that they may be used by games and other system components. The Deal Import application also will generate logs and reports of each import action, giving details of successes and failures or other pertinent events during the importing process.
2. Deal Server application 23
The Deal Server application 23 is a component of the back office system that is used for creating deals for games. This component creates random sequences of master deals. In this way new deals are created that have the same payback percentages and mathematical statistics, only they will not have a predictable arrangement of wins and losses. Each deal is composed of a list of game outcomes and a ticket number for each outcome. The deal server application 23 will create new deals in the database that randomly reshuffle the order of those ticket numbers.
3. Accounting System 32
The Accounting System 32 allows authorized users the ability to print various auditing, transaction and user reports from the data stored in the back office database. After launching the application and entering a valid username and password, the user selects a report to be printed from several listed in a “Report” menu item (not shown). Upon selecting a report, the user is presented a “Criteria” window (not shown) in which report specific data is entered, such as a date range. After valid criteria are entered, the onscreen version of the report is displayed via a print preview screen. The user can review each page of the report onscreen. If desired, the user can print the report or export it to a file for later use. Reports are available for a large variance of data, most importantly for accounting data such as revenue and hold percentages over a time period (e.g., dollars in/out, play counts, dollars and games played per bet amount, win counts). This accounting system is meant to be used with many different games on a casino floor at once, so some reports are by machine number, and some are for a specific game or pay table of a game. The Accounting System 32 also has a “Maintenance” menu (not shown) which allows configuration options for setting up casino level data, pay tables available, bank setup (as in a bank of machines), and machine setup (e.g., setting of jackpot amounts, pay tables, games). The availability of functionality accessible in this program is determined by the appropriate user permissions. User permissions are controlled by the administrator user account, which can give any level of permissions to existing or new users.
4. Transaction Portal 36
The Transaction Portal 36 is the communication component of the game server 30, handling communications between the game machines 16 and the game server 12. This component handles transferring information between the back office system database and the games, including their configuration, events and game play results.
5. Transaction Portal Control 37
The Transaction Portal Control 37 is an application that allows monitoring of the currently connected game machines 16 to the game server 12 and their status. It also allows the ability to manage the Transaction Portal 36 itself, as well as options for logging events from the Transaction Portal 36.
Having described the hardware and software for implementing SkilTab, the following set of step-by-step rules may be followed for game play:
1. When not being played, the monitor displays either the last game played or the deal information noted above. The screen toggles between the two displays in screen-saver fashion. The Deal Information shown on a particular game machine in the screen-saver mode is the information that was most recently retrieved from the database server by the previous player. The Deal Information page is time-stamped to show when the information was retrieved. Players should additionally have the ability to access the Help Pages, the Pay Table page, the Deal Information pages and the Game Flare page both before and/or after they insert money into the game machine. The Deal Information pages should be updated upon touching the “help” button without needing to insert money into the game machine. The phrase “To Get Latest Deal Information Press Help” should be displayed on the screen saver version of the deal information page only.
2. Upon insertion of currency or a ticket voucher, the game machine will automatically retrieve the latest Deal Information. The database server records every transaction and play in real time, so the information retrieved is always current. The Deal Information page, which shows information for every deal that can be played on that game machine, is displayed to the player. The time to register the credits and retrieve and display the latest Deal Information preferably takes less than 5 seconds, thereby ensuring that the player is presented with the most current Deal Information.
3. The Deal Information for each deal is labeled clearly with a deal number and the line and credit combination corresponding to such deal, e.g. 10 lines, 5 credits per line. It is organized on the page in the order that the deals can be played on the game machine, e.g., 1 line, 1 credit, 1 line, 2 credits . . . 1 line, 20 credits, to whatever the max bet may be, such as 8 lines, 20 credits.
4. The player analyzes the Deal Information and makes a decision as to which deal to play. The player presses the “Return to Game” button to go back to the main screen and select the line and credits combination corresponding to the deal that the player has discerned has the best odds of winning. In an alternative embodiment, the deal information screens (
5. At any time during play, the player can press the Help button to get basic information about the game, as well as retrieve updated Deal Information. Upon pressing the Help button, the game machine queries the database server and retrieves the latest Deal Information and updates that page. The Deal Information does not need to be shown when the player changes the bet.
The display screen will show the previous game play as the player prepares to select the PLAY button in the same manner as conventional game machines. The display screen in
Referring again to
As discussed above, the present invention is not limited to pull tab ticket environments, and is suitable for use in any ticket-based environment wherein a pool of tickets is established before game play via a deal. The tickets may have any combination of symbols and/or numbers.
The embodiment of the present invention described above and shown in
In the embodiment of the present invention described above, all deals are stored at a central game server 12 and the next play in each deal is distributed from the game server 12 to the electronic game machine 16 upon request by a player to purchase a ticket. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the deals stored at the game server 12 are initially divided into a plurality of deal subsets, and then the deal subsets are distributed to the electronic gaming machines 16 so that each electronic game machine 16 contains its own deal subsets that are playable independent of the deal subsets played on other electronic game machines 16. In this manner, it is not be necessary for the electronic game machine 16 to communicate with the game server 12 to deliver the next ticket in the selected deal to the electronic game machine 16 upon payment for a ticket since the next ticket would already be present on the electronic game machine 16. Communications preferably still occur between the game server 12 and the electronic game machines 16 for accounting purposes and for loading of new deals, but not for purposes of providing the next ticket in the selected deal to the electronic game machine 16 upon payment for a ticket.
The pull tabs or tickets may exist in physical form in a manner similar to the pull tabs used in the Lucky Tab II™ gaming machine pull tab dispenser, available from Diamond Game Enterprises, Inc., Chatsworth, Calif. Such a dispenser releases one pull tab ticket at a time off a roll contained inside the cabinet. A barcode scanner reads the back of the ticket as it is dispensed and displays the contents of the ticket on a video monitor. Examples of pull tab machines are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,771 (Haste, III) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,299 (Clapper, Jr.). Machines such as these may be used to implement the present invention, especially in jurisdictions that require the existence of a physical (paper) version of the game results. These machines need not be connected to a central server for purposes of retrieving deal information since the deal information may be stored locally. Thus, these machines would play as they currently do, except that multiple deals are loaded into the machines, and a deal selection indicator is provided.
Electronic pull tab machines also exist. These machines are electronically loaded with one or more electronic “digital deals” (i.e., an electronic version of a set of physical tickets). Unlike a lottery terminal or slot machine, the electronic pull tab machine does not select the outcome. It merely dispenses the set of tickets which have predetermined content that provides a predetermined outcome. The electronic pull tabs are dispensed in a previously determined order, such as sequentially. A touch screen is often provided on such machines. Upon receipt of payment, a pull tab appears on the touch screen and the player touches each tab or window to reveal its hidden content. Another type of electronic pull tab machine uses spinning reels which simulate physical reels that display tab results upon stopping. A receipt is printed if the electronic pull tab ticket is a winner. When all of the pull tabs in each available deal are sold, new digital deals must be electronically loaded into the machine to allow for continued play. One example of a touch screen electronic pull tab machine that dispenses “digital pull tabs” is commercially available from Tekbilt USA, Huntingdon Valley, Pa. The digital deal is loaded into the Tekbilt USA machine using a floppy disk and security key. The present invention may be used with such “digital deals,” especially in jurisdictions that do not require the existence of a physical (paper) version of the game results. The present invention may be used with networked or stand-alone embodiments of such digital pull tab machines loaded with a plurality of different digital deals.
Some electronic pull tab machines have a multiplier feature. Different deals are assigned to different multipliers. That is, there is a first deal for single credits (1×), a second deal for double (2×) credits, and a third deal for triple (3×) credits. Thus, if a patron plays 1× and then decides next to play 3×, the electronic pull tab for the 3× is not the next pull tab in the 1× deal, but instead is the next pull tab in the 3× deal. If the patron subsequently decides to play another 1× deal (and no other patron has played in between), then the patron receives the next pull tab from the 1× deal. The present invention may be used with such multiple deal machines to add a skill level to such machines that does not currently exist because in conventional electronic pull tab machines that have a multiplier feature, the player does not know the current status of the different deals.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
