Check-actuated control mechanisms – Including value accumulator for plural checks – Having solid state circuitry
Patent
1996-07-18
1998-09-29
Bartuska, F. J.
Check-actuated control mechanisms
Including value accumulator for plural checks
Having solid state circuitry
2731382, 463 25, G07F 1734
Patent
active
058135111
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a slot machine eliminating the need for a start lever.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
A slot machine is one example of gaming machine played in gaming houses, casinos, etc.
The slot machine comprises, as shown in FIG. 11, a change display section 20' having three display windows 200'a, 200'b, and 200'c, which will be hereinafter collectively called "display windows 200'," for changing and displaying a plurality of provided symbols in a predetermined order. Changing of the display symbols is stopped in order as instructed by the player, and a predetermined number of medals are paid out to the player in response to the symbol arrangement and the number of bet medals when the display symbol changing stops completely.
When the player operates a start lever 100, changing of the display symbols on the change display section 20' is started on the three display windows 200' at the same time. The display symbol changing is stopped by operating three stop buttons 5'a, 5'b, and 5'c, which will be hereinafter collectively called "stop buttons 5," corresponding to the display windows 200'a, 200'b, and 200'c respectively. The changing of the display symbols on the display windows 200'a, 200'b, and 200'c is stopped at the timings at which the corresponding stop buttons 5'a, 5'b, and 5'c are pressed.
Therefore, the player plays games while repeating a sequence of steps of "inputting medals (specifying the number of medals to be bet).fwdarw.operating the start lever.fwdarw.operating the stop buttons."
In addition, a slot machine of the type for previously accepting a large number of medals is also available. In this case, to specify the number of medals to be bet, the player operates a separately provided, dedicated switch each time. This dedicated switch is normally formed as a push button and the player can specify the number of medals to be bet by pressing the push button as many times as the number of medals to be bet. With such a slot machine, after inputting medals, the player repeats the steps of "operating the number-of-medals specification button".fwdarw.operating the start lever.fwdarw.operating stop buttons."
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Such slot machines are relatively old in concept, and in recent years, design improvements have mainly been in the area of the change display section 20, etc.
However, the present inventor found the following problems remaining unsolved as a result of completely examining how the slot machines currently developed are played:
In the above-mentioned playing sequence, operating the start lever has no effect on the game play result and is essentially unrelated to the game play contents. This means that the symbol combination at the stop time depends on operating the stop buttons, which is the essence of the game play. In contrast, the start lever is operated only to instruct the slot machine to start changing the display symbols. Therefore, operating the start lever is really nothing but an inconvenience for the player.
For the gaming houses, the presence of the start lever is an encumbrance reducing the substantial net operating rate of gaming machines. This means that the number of times a game play is executed within a given time with such a gaming machine is reflected directly in the sales. Therefore, to increase the sales, it becomes important to create a condition in which gaming machines are operated efficiently. Depending on the symbol arrangement result, the player may not immediately operate the start lever, although he or she actually wishes to continue playing a game. For example, if the player comes within an inch of a big win arrangement "777," but does not complete it finally, he or she may be late starting the next game play because of disappointment. The absolute length of the time loss (seconds) caused by such a factor is small in estimation for each game play.
However, in a slot game that the player takes several seconds to play, the ratio of the time loss to the substantial game play time is not small. Normally, one player plays
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patent: 3819186 (1974-06-01), Hinterstocker
patent: 4695053 (1987-09-01), Vazquez, Jr. et al.
patent: 5010995 (1991-04-01), Okada
patent: 5096195 (1992-03-01), Gimmon
patent: 5467856 (1995-11-01), Okada
patent: 5531440 (1996-07-01), Dabrowski et al.
Takemoto Takatoshi
Yamamoto Kenji
Bartuska F. J.
Kabushiki Kaisha Ace Denken
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