Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a chance application
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-16
2002-07-02
Martin-Wallace, Valencia (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a chance application
C273S14300R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06413162
ABSTRACT:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or may contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device displaying a plurality of symbols, wherein each symbol is included on a separate reel, and wherein the game includes paylines positioned such that the implementor can flexibly provide reel strips having different symbol distributions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Referring to
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, which are described in detail below, a known central display device
30
is illustrated with five vertical reels
34
and a payline
56
. The gaming industry standard is to provide three to five vertical reels and display three symbols per reel, as illustrated. The paylines
56
, which are sets of adjacent or juxtaposed symbols that the game analyzes to determine if the game has randomly generated a winning symbol or symbol combination, typically do not include more than one symbol from each reel. Including more than one symbol from the same reel on the same payline disrupts the mathematics of the game because one random number generating device, the reel, can supply more than one winning symbol or winning symbol combination component. The implementor would thus have to consider the relative spacing of the symbols on the reel, not just the number of symbols on the reel, in determining the odds of generating any particular symbol or symbol combination.
Many known gaming devices display multiple symbols of a single reel and accordingly display multiple symbols when the reels spin. These known games typically include at least one reel having a different symbol distribution than the other reels. Different symbol distributions provide the game designer or implementor flexibility in designing winning combinations and varying payouts. Many known gaming devices include multiple paylines, such as payline
56
. When the multiple paylines include more than one or all the reels of the game, the symbol distribution of each reel determines some of the game characteristics that limit the game implementor.
In an effort to provide a gaming device capable of more flexible payline layouts, manufactures have developed gaming devices displaying a plurality of columns of symbols as illustrated in
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, but wherein each symbol is included on a separate reel. That is, referring to the furthest right reel
34
of
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, the bell, the seven and the cherries each represent, are part of and are included on a separate reel. Each “unisymbol display reel” thus displays one symbol to the player on the display. In
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, there would be fifteen different reels if the figures included unisymbol display reels. Unisymbol display reels typically exist as simulated symbols on video monitors. IGT, the assignee of this invention, manufactures and distributes a nine reel game called ‘Super 8 Race’, which includes unisymbol display reels in a 3 by 3 matrix.
Referring to
FIG. 3
, an exploded representation of a prior art unisymbol display embodiment is illustrated having nine separate displayed symbols “A” through “I” of a central display device
30
and nine respective exploded reels
100
through
116
. The reels
100
through
116
each include a single symbol (or blank) displayed on the central display device
30
. A rotational arrow is also illustrated for each reel
100
through
116
indicating that any symbol on the central display device
30
can change individually.
FIG. 3
also illustrates paylines one through eight connecting the symbols. The unisymbol display reels
100
through
116
enable vertical paylines, as illustrated by paylines four, five and six because the relative spacing problems associated with vertical paylines on multisymbol display reels are inapplicable. Symbol “A” is included on a reel that is different from the reel of symbol “D”, etc.
Unisymbol display reels also enable the implementor to design highly unlikely winning combinations with very large payouts, which players' desire, and which typically cannot exist on normal multisymbol display reels. For a player playing all eight paylines, for example, the implementor can create a large payout for the random generation of nine of any particular symbol, “e.g.” nine “A's”, one on each reel. A three by three multisymbol display reel would have to place three of the same symbols next to each other on the three separate reel strips to create the possibility of displaying nine of the same symbol. As stated above, this disrupts the mathematics of the game because the odds are dependent on the relative spacing of the symbols on the reel.
Unisymbol display reels have a drawback in comparison with multisymbol display reels. Referring again to prior art FIG.
3
and assuming that a winning combination of any three adjacent “A” symbols on a payline yields an award, the mathematics of the game dictate that each reel contains the same proportion of “A” symbols. If, for instance, the reels
100
through
114
include one “A” symbol and reel
116
includes two “A” symbols, and assuming each reel strip has ten symbols, the odds of obtaining an “A”, “A”, “A” combination would vary depending upon which payline the player played. That is, the odds of obtaining an “A”, “A”, “A” combination on paylines one, two, four, five and eight are (1/10)×(1/10)×(1/10) or 1000:1. However, the odds of obtaining an “A”, “A”, “A” combination on paylines three, six and seven are (1/10)×(1/10)×(2/10) or 500:1. The differing odds force the game to maintain separate payouts for the same winning combination and cause player confusion.
Another drawback arises when in a winning symbol combination such as “A”, “A”, “A”, a necessary symbol, i.e., “A” is not included on one of the reels, e.g., reel
116
. In this situation, the winning paylines one, two, four, five and eight enable the player to win the award associated with the “A”, “A”, “A” combination, whereas paylines three, six and seven do not. With both drawbacks, differing reel strips create payline inequities that force the gaming device implementors to place the same proportion of the same symbols on each of the reels strips. The current apparatus configuration and method for evaluating winning combinations thus severely restricts the flexibility of the design of a game having unisymbol display reels.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A need exists to provide a unisymbol display reel gaming device that enables unique winning combinations having high yielding prizes, enables the implementor to employ different reel strips and enables winning combinations having uniform odds on each payline. The present invention achieves these criteria by removing either the vertical or horizontal paylines, preferably the vertical paylines, from the known unisymbol display reel gaming device.
By removing the vertical paylines and thereby including only one unisymbol display per column in any given payline, the odds of obtaining any given symbol on a unisymbol reel of a column can be different from the odds of obtaining the same symbol on a different column because each payline will include or account for the change in odds. In this way each payline will maintain the same odds of generating any particular symbol or symbol combination. The present invention in this embodiment thus includes: unisymbol display reels; horizontal or diagonal paylines or combinations thereof; and different reel strips in different columns of independent, unisymbol display reels.
Likewise, by removing the horizontal paylines and thereby including only one unisymbol display per row in any given payline, the odds of obtaining any given symbol on a unisymbol reel of a row can be different from the od
Baerlocher Anthony J.
Webb Bayard S.
Bell Boyd & Lloyd LLC
IGT
Jones Scott E.
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