Claims
- 1. A game machine in which a combination of characters stopped along a predetermined line thereof is judged based on a predetermined table showing plural combinations of characters to determine the presence of a win and an amount of coins to be paid therefor, the game comprising:
- a random number generator which generates a random number, having the highest number of random numbers satisfying 2.sup.n wherein n is a positive integer, each random number corresponding to one of a plurality of symbol combinations to be used in a game;
- storage means for storing character combinations, each of said character combinations consisting of characters and corresponding to each of said random numbers, said characters including at least one substitutable character which can be used as another character, and a substitution of the substitutable character makes the combination of characters a winning combination, said winning combination being determined based on predetermined ranks, the rank of the combination being changed according to number of substitutable characters contained in the combination;
- selection means for selecting a character from each of said plurality of characters based on the random number to constitute a character combination;
- detection means for detecting whether said character combination contains one or more substitutable characters;
- character display means for displaying the characters selected and showing a plurality of characters in series, said characters being commonly used for said character combinations and including at least one substitutable character;
- means for storing said predetermined ranks and characters to be used for said character combinations;
- display controller means which retrieves from the ranks and characters storing means the character in the character combination corresponding to the random number generated by said random number generator and controls the display of said characters in series by said character display;
- changing means for changing a pay-out when a winning character combination includes at least one substitutable character; and
- pay-out means for paying out an amount of coins corresponding with the last rank after said changing means complete changing of rank for all substitutable characters displayed by said display means;
- wherein 2.sup.n and the total number of character combinations are equal to each other.
- 2. A game machine according to claim 1, wherein said substitutable character is a rank-up character of which substitution makes a combination of characters a winning combination, the combination is ranked higher, and a payment of coins is increased for the combination.
- 3. A game machine according to claim 1, wherein said substitutable character is a rank-down character of which substitution makes a combination of characters a winning combination, the combination is ranked lower, and a payment of coins is decreased for the combination.
- 4. A game machine according to claim 1, wherein said substitutable character includes a rank-up character of which substitution makes a combinational of characters a winning combination, ranking the combination higher and increases a payment of coins for the combination; and a rank-down character of which substitution makes a combination of characters a winning combination, ranking the combination lower and decreases a payment of coins for the combination.
- 5. A game machine according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of reels, each of which has a plurality of characters in series arranged thereon, said characters including at least one substitutable character which can be used as a different character thereof.
- 6. A game machine according to claim 5 wherein the machine is a slot machine.
- 7. A game machine according to claim 6, wherein said substitutable character is a symbol on (the peripheries out of said reels) of (a out slot machine.)
- 8. A game machine according to claim 6 wherein said character display means include a CRT screen with symbol rows and said substitutable character is a symbol included in the symbol rows scrolled on the CRT screen of the slot machine.
- 9. A game machine according to claim 6, wherein said substitutable character is a symbol stored in a memory for the reels of the slot machine.
- 10. A game machine according to claim 6, wherein said substitutable character is a symbol on outside peripheries of the reels of the slot machine, and stored in a memory for the respective reels.
- 11. A game machine according to claim 6, wherein said character display means include a CRT screen with symbol rows and said substitutable character is a symbol included in the symbol rows scrolled on the CRT screen of the slot machine, and stored in a memory for the respective reels.
- 12. A game machine according to claim 6, wherein said substitutable character is a symbol on the outside peripheries of the reels of the slot machine.
- 13. A game machine according to claim 6, wherein said substitutable character is a symbol stored in a memory of the slot machine for the respective reels, and a multiple of the total number of symbols stored in the memory for the respective reels is equal to a total number of random numbers based on which the presence of a win is judged.
- 14. A game machine according to claim 1, wherein the substitutable character is a character which is read by the detection means as another character necessary to have a winning combination and is communicated by the detection means to the changing means to modify the pay-out ratio based on the at least one substitutable character present.
- 15. A game machine according to claim 1, wherein said total number of combinations is L.times.M.times.N, wherein L is the number of characters in a first series of characters, M is the number of characters in a second series of characters, and N is the number of characters in a third series of characters, at least one of L, M and N being different than at least one of the other two.
- 16. A game machine in which a combination of characters stopped along a predetermined line thereof is judged based on a predetermined table showing plural combinations of characters to determine the presence of a win and an amount of coins to be paid therefor, the game machine comprising:
- a random number generator which generates a random number, having the highest number of random numbers satisfying 2.sup.n wherein n is a positive integer, each random number corresponding to one of a plurality of symbol combinations to be used in a game,
- a plurality of reels, each of said reels being mounted for rotation about an axis through a predetermined number of peripheral positions represented by a plurality of numbers,
- characters fixed to each of said reels to indicate the peripheral position of each of said reels, each of said characters corresponding to at least one of said plurality of numbers, and at least one of said characters being assigned to a substitutable character,
- rotation means for randomly selecting one of said plurality of numbers for said reels about said axis,
- selection means for randomly selecting one of said plurality of numbers for each of said reels,
- storage means for storing character combinations, each of said character combinations consisting of characters and corresponding to each of said random numbers, at least one of said characters including a substitutable character which can be used as another character, and a substitution of the substitutable character making the combination of characters a winning combination, said winning combination being determined based on predetermined ranks, the rank of the combination being changed according to the number of substitutable characters contained in the combination,
- detection means for detecting a selected combination constituted by said characters, each of said characters corresponding to the number selected by said selection means, and for detecting whether said selected combination includes one or more substitutable characters and whether all characters of the selected combination without said substitutable characters constitute one of said winning combinations,
- changing means for changing the ban-out ratio corresponding to the selected combination to another, different pay-out ratio stored by said storage means when the selected combination includes said substitutable character and all characters of the selected combination without said substitutable character constitute one of said winning combinations,
- means for stopping said reels at the peripheral position represented by the selected number, and
- pay-out means for paying out an amount of coins corresponding with the last rank after said changing means complete changing of rank of all substitutable characters displayed by said display means, wherein 2.sup.n and the total number of character combinations are equal to each other.
- 17. A game machine according to claim 16, wherein the substitutable character is a character which is read by the detection means as another character necessary to have a winning combination and is communicated by the detection means to the changing means to modify the pay-out ratio based on the at least one substitutable character present.
- 18. A method for determining a payment of coins for a game machine by selecting characters to be stopped along a winning line in which a combination of the characters is compared with a winning table of ranks of winning combinations of characters to determine a payment of coins for the combination,
- the method comprising selecting a random number, selecting a combination of characters which corresponds to said random number based on a predetermined table, the characters in the combination of characters including characters which are substitutable for other characters, ranking combinations of characters that can appear along a winning line from the winning table of ranks, changing the rank of a combination of characters if at least one character which is substitutable for other characters appears along the winning line and checking each character wherein the changing in rank corresponds to a predetermined affect assigned to each character which is substitutable for other characters,
- wherein the total number of random numbers satisfies 2.sup.n wherein n is a positive integer, each random number corresponding to one of a plurality of symbol combinations to be used in a game, and 2.sup.n and a total number of character combinations are equal to each other.
- 19. A method for determining a payment of coins for a game machine according to claim 18, wherein when a substitution of said substitutable character makes a combination of characters a winning combination, the combination is ranked higher, and a payment of coins is increased.
- 20. A method for determining a payment of coins for a game machine according to claim 18, wherein when a substitution of said substitutable character makes a combination of characters a winning combination, the combination is ranked lower, and a payment of coins is decreased.
- 21. A method for determining a payment of coins for a game machine according to claim 18, wherein said game machine is a slot machine comprising reels, and said substitutable character is a symbol to be displayed along a winning line when the reels of the slot machine are stopped.
- 22. A method for determining a payment of coins for a game machine according to claim 18, wherein said game machine is a video slot machine comprising a CRT screen with visual reels, and said substitutable character is a symbol to be displayed along a winning line when the reels of the video slot machine stop scrolling on the CRT screen.
- 23. A method for determining a payment for a game machine according to claim 18, wherein said game machine is a video poker game comprising a CRT screen, and wherein said substitutable character is a card to be displayed on the CRT screen of the video poker game.
Parent Case Info
This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 07/412,985, filed Sep. 26, 1989, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Foreign Referenced Citations (5)
Number |
Date |
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0058488 |
Aug 1982 |
EPX |
793198 |
Jan 1936 |
FRX |
2092797 |
Aug 1982 |
GBX |
2182186 |
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GBX |
WO8605407 |
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WOX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
412985 |
Sep 1989 |
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