Patent Grant
6893342
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to payout methods in a mechanical, an electro-mechanical and/or computer-based slot machine-like game-of-chance and, more particularly, to a method, an apparatus, and a computer readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for enabling a player to intuitively select one or more display domains such as one or more spin positions, one or more spin domains, one or more columns, one or more rows, and/or one or more symbols, and optionally in conjunction with another conditional probability, such as another symbol free of position and/or another symbol position dependent. The present invention optionally further provides the player the capability to receive bonus credits dependent upon or independent of any player-selected payline(s), combination of symbols, symbols and/or spin positions. Optionally, the present invention also relates to the ability for the display domain to be selected by other means, such as by the game system or via a predetermined selection.
2. Background Description
Games-of-chance, such as slot machines, typically define subsets of the matrix of symbol positions as valid pay lines. For example, standard slot machines having a play area of three horizontal rows (that define a top line, a centerline, and bottom line) and three vertical columns generally define the three positions of the centerline as a pay line. If a spin results in all the symbols on that payline being the same or equivalent (e.g., a “wild card” can be used as an equivalent with, say, two other matching symbols), then the slot will lookup that symbol set in the slot's payoff table and award the player the credits indicated.
As shown in
Presently, however, slot machines do not provide players with, for example, a standard 3×3 display (i.e., three horizontal rows and three vertical columns) or an expanded display area (e.g., three horizontal rows and five vertical columns), wherein the player can select a display domain within the display area such that the combination of the player-selected display domain, such as a domain or area on the display with a coincidence of a predetermined symbol within the selected display domain determine one or more potential payouts to the player.
Because of these limitations, slot machines presently do not enable players to intuitively guess and/or select, or reward players for intuitively guessing and/or selecting, one or more display domains. Finally, present slot machines do not award bonus credits, independent of any player-selected paylines and/or spin position when, for example, two or more predefined symbols appear anywhere within the display area. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that advantageously provides players with an enhanced slot machine-like game-of-chance that overcomes these limitations.
It is a feature and advantage of the present invention to allow players to select one or more selected display domains, such as player selected, associated with one or more predetermined or pre-specified symbols that appear within the display area to determine an award, optionally in conjunction with another conditional probability such as a predetermined symbol appearing on the display area position free and/or position dependent. A display domain, as defined herein, includes, for example, one or more spin positions, one or more spin domains, one or more columns, one or more rows, and/or one or more symbols.
It is another feature and advantage of the present invention to enable players to receive a predetermined payout based on the combination of symbols that appear within at least a portion of the selected display domain, such as a player selected display domain.
It is yet another feature and advantage of the present invention to enable players to receive a random payout based on the combination of symbols that appear within at least a portion of the display domain or other display area, wherein the random payouts average out to a predetermined value.
It is still another feature and advantage of the present invention to enable players to select a spin position and/or symbol that optionally provides a potential payout associated with the spin position or symbol.
It is still another feature and advantage of the present invention to award bonus credits, independent of any player-selected display domain and/or spin position.
In an exemplary embodiment, the intuitive pays aspect of the present invention allows a player select, for example, at least one of a display domain, a symbol, a column, a row, a payline and/or a position before the spin.
For example, a slot machine may have, for example, three spin buttons: 1 blue, 1 yellow and 1 red. When the player presses one of these colored spin buttons the slot reels turn and eventually stop. The final spin results of pressing any of the 3 buttons are identical, and the only reason for offering a choice is that a subset of the final symbol set is associated with one of the 3 buttons. That is, selection of one of the buttons selects a symbol or column associated with the button. An additional award is provided when one or more predetermined symbols or combination of symbols, appears all or at least partially within the selected column, row or position, and optionally in conjunction with another conditional probability, such as a symbol appearing within the display area position independent and/or position dependent.
For example, Reel 1 may be associated with a blue button, Reel 3 is associated with a yellow button and Reel 5 is associated with a red button. Since Reels 2 and 4 do not have an associated button, no additional award is provided if a predetermined symbol or group of symbols appear in column 2 and 4 unless the symbols appear in the selected column, and optionally in combination with one or more other symbols appearing in one or more other columns. When the player presses the red spin button, the player hopes that the special pay symbol (e.g., a diamond), will appear on Reel 5. The choice is clearly just intuitive, that is, there is no knowledge or skill involved, yet the player feels that his fate is in his hands.
Note that for this concept to work it is not necessary for there to be 3 separate spin buttons. An alternative representation would have the three reels light up one at a time, in sequence and for the player to simply choose his preferred reel by pressing the spin button at the appropriate time. Rather, the important part of the present invention is provide the player the ability to select at least one of a display area, such as a display area, a row, a column, a specific position, a specific symbol, a pay line, and the like. Further, any number of reels may also be used with any number of symbols in a column.
Further, it is not necessary that actual wheels spin like a slot machine. Rather, this enhanced payout which is determined or selected by the player at the beginning of play may also apply to card games based on a predetermined set of cards in the resulting dealer and/or specific player hand. For example, one player or dealer may be designated as the card hand to view at the end of play for the predetermined card or cards in a specific hand. Further challenge games, including video challenge games, where the result is not based on player actions that may result in collusion also apply.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, implemented by the software appendix attached hereto and basic process illustrated in
When a pearl appears in a selected column by the player and, for example, a WILD symbol with helmet, the conditional probability, appears anywhere on the display, the additional award is provided to the player. In this situation, the diver above the selected column dives down on the display and grabs the pearl in a symbolic fashion as finding a treasure, thereby enhancing the excitement to the player.
In
The diving competition may take various forms of different types of competitions, and is not limited to diving. For example, different competitions for collecting items, or other competitions which allow the player to collect points, or alternatively obtain the lowest score (e.g., a golf type competition), are within the scope of the diving competition of the present invention.
c is an illustration of a further bonus round of the present invention where the player has the further option of selecting a treasure chest for an additional bonus, an additional bonus screen in provided as yet a further level where a combination of predetermined symbols (e.g., three treasure chests) appear on the display. This specific bonus is implemented in accordance with the software attached hereto, and may also be altered for other type of items that may be selected for an additional bonus.
The present invention, in any of the above embodiments or embodiments described below, is not limited to where the bonus is awarded when the WILD appears anywhere on the screen and the pearl appears in the selected column. For example, the present invention may alternatively be implemented when the pearl or other symbol appears in the same column as the WILD, or in any predetermined relationship with respect to each other, or where the pair of symbols appear anywhere on the display, or where the player need not select a specific column where at least one of the symbols must appear. Alternatively, the present invention may use or utilize more than a pair of symbols, such as a combination of three symbols, four symbols, five symbols, and the like.
Further, the present invention also applies to numbers such as number cards, where numbers are treated similarly as symbols. For example, the present invention may provide a bonus when the player obtains a predetermined pair or other combination. For example, a joker may be used as a WILD which, when in combination with another or specific card, optionally based on a specific column selected by the player, will provide a bonus. Other variations using numbered cards are also considered alternatives of the present invention in all of the embodiments described herein.
In yet a third embodiment, a slot machine has an associated payout table that declares the exact payout for any particular combination of symbols that are involved in the main game. This embodiment describes a method of payment to a slot machine player that relies on average-random-payouts. That is, when certain symbols or symbol combinations appear, the player can be rewarded from a range of payouts which average out to a particular expected value. The essential ingredient is that these average-random payouts occur within the normal spinning of the reels, as opposed to during a secondary bonus event.
For example, a slot machine has two special payout symbols (e.g., a gold mine and a lantern). If these symbols both occur within a column then a golden nugget is displayed in the entrance to the gold mine. Its value is random and constrained to be of a specific average value. This method of payout adds excitement for the player and still allows for controlled payback percentages.
The present invention, in any of the above embodiments is not limited to where the bonus is awarded when the nugget appears with the lantern in the selected column. For example, the present invention may alternatively be implemented when the gold nugget or other symbol appears in any predetermined relationship with respect to the lantern or other symbol, or where the pair of symbols appear anywhere on the display, or where the player need not select a specific column where at least one of the symbols must appear. Alternatively, the present invention may use or utilize more than a pair of symbols, such as a combination of three symbols, four symbols, five symbols, and the like.
Further, the present invention also applies to numbers much as number cards, where numbers are treated similarly as symbols. For example, the present invention may provide a bonus when the player obtains a predetermined number combination in a specific pattern in a similar manner as a slot machine. For example, a joker may be used as a WILD which, when in combination with another or specific card, optionally based on a specific column selected by the player, will provide a bonus. Other variations using numbered cards are also considered alternatives of the present invention in all of the embodiments described herein.
To achieve the above and address other problems of the prior art, the present invention provides an improved and novel method, system, and computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for playing a slot machine-like game-of-chance. The game awards the player based both on his intuitive choice of display domain such as a display area and/or spin position, and randomly (i.e., independent of the player-selected display domain and/or spin position) when, for example, the appearance of two or more predefined symbols anywhere within the display area.
In a preferred embodiment, the method includes the steps of having a player select at least one display domain associated with a display of a plurality of symbols of a real or simulated slot machine-like spin operation or turn. The player selects as a display domain, for example, a spin position by choosing, for example, one of a plurality of spin buttons associated with respective spin reels. Once the player selects his spin position, a spin operation is performed that rearranges the symbols, preferably in a random manner. After rearrangement, the symbols eventually stop. As the reels stop spinning, it is preferred that, for a 5 reel display, the leftmost reel, for example, stops first, then the 2nd reel stops, then the 3rd, then the 4th, and finally the 5th or rightmost reel stops last. The player can thus “naturally” follow the unfolding excitement of a win. Of course, any other reel-stopping sequence may also be used.
The results of the spin operation are displayed and, depending on the displayed symbols, the player is awarded when two or more predetermined symbols or combination of symbols appears within any of the selected paylines.
In the preferred embodiment, an optional bonus award is provided. For this optional bonus award, a payline for a 5 reel display comprises five contiguous symbols, either linearly or diagonally. A bonus payout may occur when as few a two contiguous symbols appear within a payline, and as many as five contiguous symbols appear within a payline. Thus, the player may wish to choose a particular payline or combination of paylines because he feels that the selected payline or combination of paylines will maximize his payout/return for the bonus award. The choice is clearly intuitive. That is, regardless of which payline or paylines is/are selected, the final spin result provided in the display area is the same. The reason for offering a choice paylines is to enable the player to select the payline or paylines he feels will maximize his return/payout. There is no a priori knowledge or skill involved. In another embodiment of the invention, the payline bonus award is randomly selected by the player.
The method according to the present invention thus eliminates the traditional, limited, fixed paylines and allows the player to optionally collect a bonus award along any player-selected payline(s) when any of two or more predetermined symbols appear contiguously along a payline. This new concept may be utilized on any form of slot machine from traditional 3-reel stepper slots to the newest generation of video slot machines, including any number of reels and/or any number of symbols. However, at least five reels are preferred in order to provide the player with paylines that comprise five symbols, which provide enhanced payout possibilities over standard three symbol payout lines, as will be described in further detail herein.
As described above, the intuitive aspect of the present invention also applies to the player being awarded when, for example, a first predetermined symbol (e.g., a clam) appears within a reel below the selected display domain, and a second predetermined symbol also appears on the display. Thus, the player may wish to choose a particular display domain because he feels that the predetermined symbol will appear within the column below this position. The choice is again clearly intuitive. That is, regardless of which spin position is selected, the final spin result provided in the display area is the same.
The reason for offering a choice of display domain, such as spin position, is to enable the player to select the spin position he feels that the predetermined symbol will appear under. In an alternate embodiment of the spin position, each spin position may be represented by a different symbol that appears at the top of the column associated with the selected spin position, where the player selects the symbol (i.e., spin position) that he feels will have the most appearances within the display and/or award him with the most credits.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention further includes bonus payouts that occur, for example, when two or more of the same predetermined symbols (e.g., treasure chests, golden claim, etc.) appear anywhere within the display. For example, if two of the same predetermined symbols (e.g., treasure chests) appear anywhere on the display, the player may be presented with a new display where he can, for example, select between three sunken treasure chests, each of which have bonus credits associated therewith.
If, for example, three of the same predetermined symbols (e.g., treasure chests, golden clams, etc.) appear anywhere on the screen, three divers, for example, may be presented on another display, each of which dive for a predetermined number of pearls having bonus credits associated therewith. The player intuitively selects one of the three divers and if the player-selected diver accumulates the most credits, the diver can make an additional dive and earn additional bonus credits. That is, if the player selects the highest payout among a plurality of payouts, he also earns an additional bonus payout.
Note that this aspect of the game links the random and intuitive concepts. That is, the initial screen presenting the three divers occurs purely by chance. It has nothing to do with and is completely independent of any selection by the player of paylines and/or spin positions. However, once the three divers appear, the player intuitively selects the diver that he feels will win the most credits and, if the player is correct, can obtain additional credits. It is preferred that the for each additional round of the game that the player does not correctly select the diver who wins the most credits, the more credits he will win when he eventually does select the diver who wins the most credits.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other systems and methods for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.
The Detailed Description including the description of a preferred structure as embodying features of the invention will be best understood when read in reference to the accompanying figures wherein:
a-4c show an illustrative example of representative displays that may be encountered during a typical game in accordance with the principles of the present invention
a-5b, taken together, is a flowchart depicting a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
a-6g illustrate different possible combination of player-selected paylines and points bet per paylines;
a-7c illustrate different player-selected spin positions within the display;
a-8p show an illustrative example of representative displays that may be encountered during a typical game in accordance with the principles of the present invention;
The same reference numerals refer to the same parts through the various figures.
The detailed descriptions which follow may be presented in terms of program procedures executed on a computer or network of computers. These procedural descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.
A procedure is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. These steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared and otherwise manipulated. It proves convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be noted, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities.
Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms, such as adding or comparing, which are commonly associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No such capability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of the operations described herein which form part of the present invention; the operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performing the operation of the present invention include general purpose digital computers or similar devices.
The present invention also relates to apparatus for performing these operations. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purpose or it may comprise a general purpose computer as selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. The procedures presented herein are not inherently related to a particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove more convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these machines will appear from the description given.
Reference now will be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention. Such embodiments are provided by way of explanation of the invention, which is not intended to be limited thereto. In fact, those of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate upon reading the present specification and viewing the present drawings that various modifications and variations can be made.
For example, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used on other embodiments to yield a still further embodiment. Additionally, certain features may be interchanged with similar devices or features not mentioned yet which perform the same or similar functions. It is therefore intended that such modifications and variations are included within the totality of the present invention.
The present invention provides players the capability to select one or more selected display domains, such as player selected, associated with one or more predetermined or pre-specified symbols that appear within the display area to determine an award, optionally in conjunction with another conditional probability such as a predetermined symbol appearing on the display area position free and/or position dependent. A display domain, as defined herein, includes, for example, one or more spin positions, one or more spin domains, one or more columns, one or more rows, and/or one or more symbols.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a slot machine-like game-of-chance is disclosed that enables a player to intuitively select one or more display domains, such as at least one spin position and/or symbol within the game display area, and optionally receive bonus credits dependent upon or independent of any player-selected display domains and/or spin position. The present invention can be best understood by first considering a preferred symbol set used in the preferred embodiment.
A video slot machine, entitled Pearl Diver™ as disclosed in the preferred embodiment herein, displays a screen with 3-rows and 5-columns (i.e., reels), and preferably utilizes a symbol set as described hereinbelow.
In an exemplary embodiment, the intuitive pays aspect of the Pearl Diver™ embodiment allows a player to select, for example, one of three spin buttons with a corresponding diver having helmet in hand directly above the column. Similar mechanisms or alternatives apply where the diver is positioned in a single location anywhere on or near the reel display or where the diver is positioned above the spin buttons.
When a pearl appears in a selected column by the player and, for example, a WILD symbol with helmet appears anywhere on the display, the additional award is provided to the player. In this situation, the diver above the selected column dives down on the display and grabs the pearl in a symbolic fashion as finding a treasure, thereby enhancing the excitement to the player.
An additional bonus is provided as yet a further level where a combination of predetermined symbols (e.g., three golden oysters) appear on the display. In this additional bonus a new bonus screen is displayed with three divers on three islands, the player selects one of the divers of the three, and a diving competition then begins between the players diver and the remaining two divers. The divers then uncover the five smaller clams, each clam having a specific number of points underneath. The diver with the most points then wins the competition. If it is the player's diver that wins, the player is provided with an option of or the opportunity to uncover the large clam beneath all the smaller clams for an even greater bonus, an additional bonus screen is provided as yet a further level where a combination of predetermined symbols (e.g., three treasure chests) appear on the display.
A further bonus round of the present invention provides the player a further option of selecting a treasure chest for an additional bonus. This specific bonus is implemented in accordance with the software attached hereto, and may also be altered for other type of items that may be selected for an additional bonus.
It should be understood that screen displays having other then 3-rows and 5-columns, and pay symbols other than those listed below, can equally be utilized. For example, a standard 3×3 display could be utilized. Also, in general, an expanded display area can be of the size of a (3+n)×(5+2n) matrix, where (3+n) defines the number of rows of the matrix, (5+2n) defines the number of columns of the matrix, and where n=0, 1, 2, . . . , ∞. Other display areas can also be used.
It should also be understood that the present invention may take various forms as different types of competitions or bonus games, and is not limited to diving as described in the preferred embodiment. For example, different competitions for collecting items, or other competitions which allow the player to collect credits (e.g., card games), or alternatively obtain the lowest score (e.g., a golf type competition), are within the scope of the diving competition of the present invention. In the context of card games, the payout methods according to the present invention may be based on, for example, a predetermined set of cards in the resulting dealer and/or specific player hand. One player or dealer may be designated as the card hand to view at the end of play for the predetermined card or cards in a specific hand. Further, the present invention also applies to numbers such as number cards, where numbers are treated similarly as symbols. For example, the present invention may provide a bonus when the player obtains a predetermined pair or cards or other combination. A joker may be used as a WILD which, when in combination with another or specific card, optionally based on a specific column selected by the player, will provide a bonus. Other variations using numbered cards are also considered alternatives of the present invention in all of the embodiments described herein. Further challenge or bonus games, including video challenge games, where the result is not based on player actions that may result in collusion also apply.
The following is a generalized description of the basic elements used in the present invention in accordance with one embodiment. Various laternatives may also be incorporated, as described herein, and as are within the scope of the present invention.
As discussed above, in one embodiment of the invention, intuitive play involves providing the player the capability of selecting a display domain or area, such as a spin and/or symbol position. Here, the player may be awarded, when, for example, a first predetermined symbol and optionally pre-selected symbol (e.g., a pearl) appears within a reel below the player-selected spin position, and a second predetermined symbol and optionally pre-selected symbol also appears on the display. As is the case with the player-selected paylines, the player may similarly wish to choose a particular spin position and/or symbol because he feels that the predetermined symbol will appear within the reel below his chosen position. The player thus has “intuitive” control of his payoff. Again, the choice is clearly intuitive. That is, regardless of which spin position and/or symbol is selected, the final spin result provided in the display area is the same. The reason for offering a choice of spin position and/or symbol is to enable the player to select the reel he feels that the predetermined symbol will appear under. It should also be understood that the reels may be, for example, either physical, computer-implemented, and/or video/electronic.
Intuitive Pays—First Random Bonus
The slot game according to one embodiment of the invention involves a first optional random bonus where the player is awarded, for example, for two or more contiguous, either diagonally or horizontally, equivalent pay symbols on one or more player-selected paylines. Other patterns may also be used alternatively, or in addition, to the contiguous reward or other rewards. Alternatively, the occurrence of scatter pay symbols count if they appear anywhere on the screen or restricted to specific columns, rows, and the like, and are optionally independent of the row or column they are in. In addition, scatter pay symbols advantageously and optionally pay a multiple of the Total Amount Bet.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention further includes bonus payouts that occur independent (i.e., randomly) of any player-selected payout line(s) and/or spin position. For example, when two or more predetermined symbols (e.g., treasure chests) appear anywhere within the display, the player may then be presented with a new display where he can select between, say, three sunken treasure chests, each of which have bonus credits associated therewith, or optionally only one or more bonus credits selectable by the player.
Similarly, if, for example, three of the predetermined symbols (e.g., golden oysters) appear anywhere on the screen, three divers may be presented on yet another display. Each of the three divers will, for example, dive for a predetermined number of pearls, where each pearl has bonus credits or selected pearls have bonus credits associated therewith. It is preferred that the player optionally be presented the opportunity to intuitively select one of the three divers and, if the player-selected diver accumulates the most credits, accumulate additional bonus credits. Thus, the additional bonus payout may initially be worth 1000 credits, and increase by, say, 100 credits each time the player does not select the winning diver. Thus, if the player correctly guesses the winning diver on, say, the sixth try, he will win 1500 credits, and the payout for the additional bonus credits will be reset to 1000 credits for the next bonus round.
According to the principles of the present invention, a flowchart depicting one example of a process used to implement the game is illustrated in
Then, the player is presented with a display that presents the player with a symbol matrix, a plurality of paylines that can be selected by the player, and a plurality of spin positions 504. One of the spin positions must be selected by the player play to start each round of the game.
In step 506, the player optionally selects one or more of a plurality of paylines and/or an amount bet per payline. Alternatively, the player can accept the default values for the number of paylines and/or the amount bet per payline. The player then optionally selects a spin position to start the game, after either having selected his own payline(s) and/or amount bet per payline or accepting the default values for each. The player can also optionally select a symbol or symbols.
If credits are won as determined in decision step 508, then a determination is made as to whether the credits won are payline credits (e.g., credits won as a result of there being two or more predetermined and/or pre-selected symbols along one or more player-selected paylines) 514. If yes, then the won credits are added to the player's total and the credits bet are subtracted from the player's total 516; if no, a test is made in decision step 518 if the credits won are spin position credits with optional pre-selected symbol or symbols. If yes, then the won credits are added to the player's total and the credits bet are subtracted from the player's total 520; if no, a determination is made as to whether the won credits are scatter pay credits 522 (e.g., credits won randomly, and thus won optionally independent of any player selected payline(s) and spin position). If yes, the won credits are added to the player's total and the credits bet are subtracted from the player's total 524; if no, the player decides if he wants to play again 526. If yes, the process returns to step 504; if no, the game ends.
It should be understood that any combination of the different types of payout can occur. Thus, for any given round of the game, a player may receive payline credits (as determined at 514), spin position and/or symbol credits (as determined at 518), and/or scatter pay credits (as determined at 520), and combinations of two or more of the above, including additional bonuses awarded therefore are possible.
a-6e show the exemplary paylines that the player can select.
b shows first and second paylines 602 and 604, with the total indicator 622 showing 18 credits.
In general, as determined by a particular embodiment, there can be 1 to m paylines, with 1 to n credits per line, with a total of m×n credits per round. To illustrate this concept,
a shows a representative display 700 when the first spin position 712 is selected.
The final spin results of pressing any of the spin buttons 712, 714, 716, shown in
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeric keys “1”, “3”, and “5”, corresponding to the reel (i.e., column number) of each respective diver, will be pressed in order to select the respective diver to activate each round of the game. Other keys or processes or devices can optionally be used to activate the spin wheels or, alternatively, similar mechanisms or alternatives can also be used (e.g., a touch screen, mouse, etc.). Further, for this concept to work it is not necessary for there to be three separate spin buttons 712, 714, 716. An alternative representation could have, for example, the three reels associated with respective spin buttons 712, 714, 716 light up one at a time, in sequence and for the player to simply choose his preferred reel by pressing the spin button at the appropriate time. Rather, the important feature in accordance with the present invention that the player is provided with is the ability to select a specific display domain, such as a display area(s), symbol(s), line(s) and/or spin position. Further, as previously noted, any number of reels may also be used with any number of symbols in a column and/or row.
With reference again to
a-8p are provided to illustrate the salient features of the present invention by way of representative screen displays that may appear during the course of a typical or exemplary game in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. It should be understood that many additional screen displays are possible during any particular game, and that the number is, in fact, virtually infinite. Nevertheless, the screen displays provided in
a shows an illustrative display at the start of a game. Note that the player has 388 credits, and has bet 3 lines at 4 credits per line for a total of 12 credits for the round.
b illustrates one aspect of the intuitive play feature of the present invention. As shown, the player has selected the first diver (i.e., spin position 712), who has won 30 credits as shown in row 1, column 1 of the display. When a pearl or other predetermined and/or pre-selected symbol appears in the column associated with a player-selected spin position, and a WILD symbol with helmet or other predetermined and/or pre-selected symbol appears anywhere on the display (row 2, column 4), the additional award is provided to the player. In this situation, because the player selected the first diver (i.e., spin position 712) and a pearl appears in the column associated with the first diver and a WILD symbol also appears within the display, the first diver dives down on the display and grabs the pearl in a symbolic fashion as finding a treasure, thereby enhancing the excitement to the player. Although 30 credits have been awarded here, it should be understood that any number of credits can be awarded. It is preferred that credits be awarded randomly within a predefined range of possible credits.
It should also be understood that the present invention, in any of the embodiments described herein, is not limited to where the bonus is awarded when the WILD appears anywhere on the screen and the pearl appears in the player selected column. For example, the present invention may alternatively award the player when the pearl and WILD symbol appear in the same player-selected column, or where the WILD symbol appears in the player selected column and the pearl appears elsewhere in the display. Similarly, the player-selected column may correspond to where a symbol or combination of symbols musts not appear. Alternatively, the present invention may use or utilize more than a pair of symbols, such as a combination of three symbols, four symbols, five symbols, and the like, as well as symbols other than the WILD symbol and/or pearl symbol.
c illustrates that a payout is achieved for two contiguous pearls. Note that the player has selected five paylines, and that the two pearls appear on player-selected line 602. Preferably, in order to receive a payout for two contiguous pearls, the two pearls will be of the same color. However, pearls of different colors, or two contiguous symbols other than pearls may also be used.
d illustrates that the pearls can advantageously appear on “endposts” of the payline 604 and be considered contiguous. Note that 9 credits have been awarded. Similarly,
g illustrates a three contiguous symbols on a player-selected payline 604, whereas
i illustrates five contiguous symbols on a player-selected payline 610. Note that
Payline 602 in
k shows two treasure chests on the display. When two treasure chests appear on the display, in a preferred embodiment of the invention the player is provided a new display shown in
Symbols other then treasure chests can optionally be used to invoke the bonus menu of
m illustrates three treasure chests on the display. When three treasure chests appear on the display, the player, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, is provided a new display as shown in
Prior to diving, the player selects one of the three divers whom he believes will have the highest credit total from summing the credits associated with each diver's five pearls. For example, as shown in
p illustrates an additional bonus that may be provided to the player when the player selects the diver who collects the most credits while diving for the five clams. In this case, the player correctly selected diver 3 who collected 345 credits, whereas divers 1 and 2 collected 195 and 240 credits, respectively. Diver 3 thus collected an additional predetermined or randomly determined 450 credits from diving for the large clam shown at the bottom of the display.
Symbols other than treasure chests can be used to invoke the three divers shown in
The techniques of the present invention may be implemented on standard stand-alone casino gaming devices, as well as in a computing unit such as that depicted in FIG. 9. In this regard,
Viewed externally in
The computer system also has an optional display 908 upon which information, such as the screens illustrated in
Although computer system 900 is illustrated having a single processor, a single hard disk drive and a single local memory, the system 900 is optionally suitably equipped with any multitude or combination of processors or storage devices. Computer system 900 is, in point of fact, able to be replaced by, or combined with, any suitable processing system operative in accordance with the principles of the present invention, including sophisticated calculators, and hand-held, laptop/notebook, mini, mainframe and super computers, as well as processing system network combinations of the same.
A display interface 1017 interfaces display 908 and permits information from the bus 1002 to be displayed on the display 908. Again as indicated, display 908 is also an optional accessory. For example, display 908 could be substituted or omitted. Communications with external devices, for example, the other components of the system described herein, occur utilizing communication port 1016. For example, optical fibers and/or electrical cables and/or conductors and/or optical communication (e.g., infrared, and the like) and/or wireless communication (e.g., radio frequency (RF), and the like) can be used as the transport medium between the external devices and communication port 1016. Peripheral interface 1018 interfaces the keyboard 910 and the mouse 912, permitting input data to be transmitted to the bus 1002.
Conventional processing system architecture is more fully discussed in Computer Organization and Architecture, by William Stallings, MacMillan Publishing Co. (3rd ed. 1993); conventional processing system network design is more fully discussed in Data Network Design, by Darren L. Spohn, McGraw-Hill, Inc. (1993), and conventional data communications are more fully discussed in Data Communications Principles, by R. D. Gitlin, J. F. Hayes and S. B. Weinstain, Plenum Press (1992) and in The Irwin Handbook of Telecommunications, by James Harry Green, Irwin Professional Publishing (2nd ed. 1992). Each of the foregoing publications is incorporated herein by reference. Alternatively, the hardware configuration is, for example, arranged according to the multiple instruction multiple data (MIMD) multiprocessor format for additional computing efficiency. The details of this form of computer architecture are disclosed in greater detail in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,131; Boxer, A., Where Buses Cannot Go, IEEE Spectrum, February 1995, pp. 41-45; and Barroso, L. A. et al., RPM: A Rapid Prototyping Engine for Multiprocessor Systems, IEEE Computer February 1995, pp. 26-34, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In alternate preferred embodiments, the above-identified processor, and, in particular, CPU 1004, may be replaced by or combined with any other suitable processing circuits, including programmable logic devices, such as PALs (programmable array logic) and PLAs (programmable logic arrays). DSPs (digital signal processors), FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), VLSIs (very large scale integrated circuits) or the like.
In
To exploit the higher frequencies, ADSL makes use of advanced modulation techniques, of which the best known is the discrete multitone (DMT) technology. As its name implies, ADSL transmits data asymmetrically (i.e., at different rates upstream toward the central office 1212 and downstream toward the subscriber 1236).
Cable television providers are providing analogous Internet service to PC players over their TV cable systems by means of special cable modems. Such modems are capable of transmitting up to 30 Mb/s over hybrid fiber/coax system, which use fiber to bring signals to a neighborhood and coax to distribute it to individual subscribers.
Cable modems come in many forms. Most create a downstream data stream out of one of the 6-MHz TV channels that occupy spectrum above 50 MHz (and more likely 550 MHz) and carve an upstream channel out of the 5-50-MHz band, which is currently unused. Using 64-state quadrature amplitude modulation (64 QAM), a downstream channel can realistically transmit about 30 Mb/s (the oft-quoted lower speed of 10 Mb/s refers to PC rates associated with Ethernet connections). Upstream rates differ considerably from vendor to vendor, but good hybrid fiber/coax systems can deliver upstream speeds of a few megabits per second. Thus, like ADSL, cable modems transmit much more information downstream than upstream. Then Internet architecture 1210 and ADSL architecture 1202, 1204 may also be combined with, for example, player networks 914, 916, and 918.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, in one example, a main game server implementing the process of the invention may be located on one computing node or terminal (e.g., on player network 1214, or system 1220). Then, various players may interface with the main game server via, for instance, the ADSL equipment discussed above, and play the game from remotely located PCs. In this manner, a game owner may be able to attract players located at other parts of the country or planet.
Furthermore, the game according to the present invention may also be implemented manually. For instance, it is possible to play the game of the present invention as a standard slot machine or a mechanical slot machine having an expanded display area are previously discussed herein.
The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention. While the foregoing invention has been described in detail by way of illustration and example of preferred embodiments, numerous modifications, substitutions, and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the following claims.
This application claims priority to, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/563,293, filed May 3, 2000, now abandoned, which in turn claims priority to application Ser. No. 60/132,191, filed May 3, 1999, and both incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4695053 | Vazquez et al. | Sep 1987 | A |
| 5163131 | Row et al. | Nov 1992 | A |
| 5580053 | Crouch | Dec 1996 | A |
| 6093102 | Bennett | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6159098 | Slomiany et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
| 6231442 | Mayeroff | May 2001 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60132191 | May 1999 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09563293 | May 2000 | US |
| Child | 09794083 | US |
