Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a chance application
Utility Patent
1998-07-30
2001-01-02
Sager, Mark A (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a chance application
C463S026000
Utility Patent
active
06168520
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to an electronically implemented gaming device and in particular to a computer implemented “Wheel of Fortune” game.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Among various devices which have been used for gaming, even before the electronic age, is a wheel of fortune which typically involves a disk or wheel rotatable in a vertical plane with a plurality of numbers, symbols or other indicia positioned on the face of the wheel near its perimeter. A stationary pointer, such as a flexible resilient flipper, is configured to point to an indicium when the wheel is stationary. In one use, players place wagers on which indicium the flipper will point to when the wheel comes to rest after having been manually spun.
A number of games incorporating a wheel of fortune have been devised, including a televised game titled “Wheel of Fortune” which combines a spin of a wheel of fortune with players' attempts to complete and/or guess at a hidden phrase by choosing, winning or buying letters of the alphabet which are revealed to the players if contained in the hidden phrase.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention includes a recognition of problems found in previous devices. One of the problems with a traditional wheel of fortune is that the number of possible indicia (and thus the maximum possible odds of winning) are limited by the physical size of the wheel. In some gaming environments, it is desired to provide a game which permits relatively small wagers but provides a potential for relatively large prizes. The popularity of so-called progressive games demonstrates the attractiveness of this type of gaming environment. However, the combination of small wagers and large prizes typically means that the odds of winning based on any one wager must be small, such as one in one million, more preferably one in five million, and even more preferably one in eight million or more. Previous traditional wheel of fortune games are not capable of providing these types of odds.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a game which incorporates features of a traditional wheel of fortune game but which is compatible with small prize odds such as odds of one in one million or more.
According to one embodiment of the invention, rather than providing an actual physical wheel, an electronic wheel, preferably a video image controlled by a computer, is provided. Preferably, as with the traditional physical wheel of fortune, the ending configuration of the simulated wheel, after any one spin, is a random event. However, unlike a traditional, physical wheel of fortune in which the ending position, is determined by physical factors such as starting position, rotational velocity, friction, and the like, randomness in the simulated wheel is provided by a computer process such as a random number generator or pseudo-random number generator. In one embodiment, the simulated wheel, just as with a traditional physical wheel, is provided with a plurality of indicia. Unlike the traditional wheel, however, in which the wheel indicia are provided with predetermined, typically even, spacing, such that odds of landing on any given indicium are determined by the total number of indicia, in one embodiment of the present invention, odds are determined by the number of integers in a first range of integers mapped to the indicia. The number of integers in the first range may be different from the number of indicia on the simulated wheel. For example, in an evenly spaced physical wheel with 24 indicia, the odds of landing on any one indicium would be 1 in 24. However, in the present invention, even if the simulated wheel has 24 indicia which are evenly spaced, the odds of landing on any given indicium are determined by the size of the integer range mapped to the wheel and the number of integers mapped to any given indicium on the simulated wheel and thus may be different from 1 in 24.
In another embodiment, it may be desired to change, replace or otherwise modify indicia on a simulated wheel, e.g., during the spinning of the simulated wheel. In this way, even though it may be desired to provide only N indicium locations on the simulated wheel, the simulated wheel may be provided with m possible indicia by “swapping” new indicia onto the wheel during simulated spinning.
It should be understood that it is possible to use physical wheels for implementing the game of this invention. A physical wheel would require a corresponding virtual wheel in the computer memory of the machine. The number of positions in the virtual wheel is equal to or exceeds the number of positions on the physical wheel. The virtual positions are then mapped to the physical wheel positions permitting the odds of hitting a particular physical position to change without changing the size of, or number of physical positions on the wheel. The virtual wheel is analogous to the virtual reel invention for slot machine reels disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,419 to Telnaes and assigned to International Game Technology. For purposes of this application, the use of the term simulated wheel or video screen wheel shall include physical wheels having corresponding virtual wheels in the computer memory of the device.
Traditional wheels of fortune were provided as isolated devices wherein the outcome of one wheel was unrelated to the operation of another wheel. In one embodiment of the present invention, a wheel which provides the potential for winning a large or jackpot prize can only provide such a win if the player has previously achieved a predefined result on a previous spin of another wheel. In one embodiment, the previous wheel need not provide an opportunity for a jackpot win. In this situation, the odds of winning a grand prize or jackpot on the second wheel spin is the product of the odds of landing on a jackpot-indicating indicium on said second simulated wheel times the odds of obtaining the predefined result on the previous wheel, providing a hierarchy of wheels of fortune wherein the result from one wheel spin has an effect on the other wheel spin. Thus, in one embodiment, a game provides for two or more different wheel spins in order to win a grand prize, providing odds of winning the grand prize which is a product of odds on two or more different spins and thus diminishing the overall odds.
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Advertisement from The Sun newspaper; Tuesday, Mar. 18, 1986; p. 27 to show date and undated advertisement for Commodore 30 cigarettes featuring a gaming machine.
‘Old idea make new ideas’,Loose Change, Sep. 1996, pp. 22-24.
Baerlocher Anthony J.
Crowder, Jr. Robert W.
Lam Yin Zin Mark
International Game Technology
Sager Mark A
Sheridan & Ross P.C.
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