Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a chance application
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-17
2001-01-16
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a chance application
C463S022000, C463S025000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06174233
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of game machines, and more particularly to the field of game machines such as slot machines in which unusual lighting, sounds, or any other similar indicator signals that a player may most likely win a prize.
BACKGROUND
Game machines, such as slot machines and poker game machines, that pay back tokens, such as coins, for winning game results have been very popular. Here, slot machines will be used as an example of a game machine.
Players start a game by pulling a start lever after putting a token in the slot machine. A plurality (three, for example) of reels with numerous types of symbols arranged on the circumference rotate at high speed in the slot machine, and the prize status is determined by the combination of the symbols on the reels displayed at a given location in a window when the reels have stopped. The number of tokens that are paid out is determined by the combination of symbols when the reels have stopped, that is, the prize status. When the current game prize status has been determined, the reels are rotated to begin the game.
Slot machine prizes typically include “Big Jackpots,” where 1000 or more tokens, for example, are paid back, as well as “Small Jackpots,” where less than 1000 tokens are paid back. A variety of other prizes also may be offered.
In most slot machines, the player can operate stop buttons provided in the slot machine to stop the reels, but in the type of slot machine in which the prize status is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game, the reels are not stopped immediately when the player actuates the stop buttons, but instead are stopped when the symbols on the reels reach the position corresponding to the prize status previously determined by random selection.
It is possible for too much time to pass after the player presses the stop buttons until the reels stop at the prize status that had been previously determined by random selection. This could lead to unnatural reel-stopping operations. In such cases, the reels may be stopped at a point that does not match the prize status previously determined by random selection. In other words, when too much time passes until the reels stop after the player has operated the stop bottons, leading to unnatural reel-stopping operations, the reels are stopped irrespective of the prize status previously determined by random selection. As a result, even when the prize status previously determined by random selection would have been, for example, a “Big Jackpot,” the prize status may end up being a “Lose” due to the timing with which the player has actuated the stop buttons. Conversely, when the prize status previously determined by random selection would have been a “Lose,” the prize status may end up being a “Big Jackpot” due to the circumstances under which the player actuated the stop buttons.
Slot machine prizes also may include a so-called “Second Game Win” result, where a second game can be played as a subsidiary game. This “Second Game Win” result is described below.
The game that results in the aforementioned “Big Jackpot,” “Small Jackpot,” or “Second Game Win” is referred to herein as the first game. When a “Second Game Win” is won in a first game, a second game can be played without new tokens being entered. The second game is played with an arrangement or a set of beginning reels that is different from the arrangement or set of the first game. Common examples are referred to as “Bonus” games or “Free” games. Such a second game is often advantageous for the player, allowing the player to win a prize that includes a large amount of tokens depending on the results of the second game. The player plays the slot machine in anticipation of increasing the number of tokens in possession, but since the number of tokens in the player's possession does not increase all that much with “Small Jackpots,” the player plays the slot machine while hoping for a “Second Game Win” or a “Big Jackpot” that will quickly increase the number of tokens in the player's possession.
Frequently, the prize status in a slot machine is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game. In this type of slot machine, for example, the prize status is randomly selected when a token is put into the slot machine and the start lever is pulled, and the current game prize status is then determined. When the current game prize status has been determined, the reels are rotated to begin the game.
However, in the type of slot machine in which the prize status is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game, the prize status is randomly selected when a token has been put into the slot machine and the start lever has been pulled, so the prize status of the current game is already known when the reels begin to rotate. As described above, the player plays slot machines hoping for a “Second Game Win” or “Big Jackpot” to quickly increase the number of tokens in the player's possession, and when it is known that there is an extremely high possibility that the current game will result in a “Big Jackpot” or “Second Game Win” as a result of previous random selection (as described previously, there can be cases in which the prize status might end up as a “Lose” due to the timing with which the player actuates the stop buttons), it would be extremely significant to make a demonstration alerting the player to that fact.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The systems and methods described herein are designed to provide a game machine which can make demonstrations when a “Second Game Win” has been obtained by random selection for determining the game prize status, and which can make more effective demonstrations when a “Second Game Win” has been obtained. A game machine according to the systems and methods described herein randomly selects the game result conditions of a first game by lottery from among a plurality of conditions, and determines the game results on the basis of the randomly selected results, wherein the game machine is characterized by alerting a player by a demonstration to the fact that there is “Second Game Win” condition among the randomly selected conditions. The presentation includes various states or features, such as changes in the rotating operation of the reels, visual stimulation by special light displays, audio stimulation by special sounds, and tactile stimulation by vibrations in the operating components of the machine. Naturally, two or more states or features can be combined.
A game machine according to the systems and methods described herein includes random selection means for randomly selecting, at the beginning of the current first game, game result conditions for a predetermined prescribed number of games from among the plurality of such conditions, storage means for storing a prescribed number of game result conditions; actuating means for actuating the start of a game, determination means for determining whether or not a “Second Game Win” condition is present among the randomly selected results for a prescribed number of games, and demonstration means for displaying prescribed sensory information to the player when the “Second Game Win” condition is present. This sensory information may include visual, audio, and tactile information, either independently or in combination, similar to that described above.
A game machine optionally may include second random selection means for randomly selecting in advance several kinds of current game result conditions at the beginning of the current first game, selecting one of the several kinds of randomly selected results by a prescribed method, and actualizing the current game results, wherein a demonstration is made during the current game when the aforementioned “Second Game Win” condition is present among the several kinds of conditions randomly selected in advance. Optionally, a demonstration may be made when the randomly selected game results include at least two predetermined game results, or some combination of predetermined game results.
R
Danjo Hiroyuki
Inamura Yukinori
Sunaga Isao
Cheng Joe H.
Hotaling II John M.
Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar
Universal Sales Co., Ltd.
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