Game machine with concentrative prize mode

Details Game machine with concentrative prize mode Game machine with concentrative prize mode

1999-02-26

2001-10-16

O'Neill, Michael (Department: 3713)

Amusement devices: games

Including means for processing electronic data

Credit/debit monitoring or manipulation

C463S016000, C463S020000, C463S012000, C463S013000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06302794

ABSTRACT:

This patent application claims priority based on the Japanese patent application, H10-64820 filed on Feb. 27, 1998 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game machine having a variety of prize modes and, more particularly, to a game machine having a function to make a change to a game state, in which a predetermined prize mode is easily concentrated, when a predetermined condition is satisfied.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, the game machine equipped with such various prize modes is prepared to have a plurality of prize modes of low bonuses (as will be called the “low bonus modes”) and a plurality of prize modes of high bonuses (as will be called the “high bonus modes”) so that any of these low bonus modes and high bonus modes may be selected by a random number lottery.
For each prize mode, on the other hand, the lottery probabilities and the bonus numbers are predetermined according to the bet numbers so that the game can be played within a range of the expected value which is determined by those bet number, lottery probability and bonus number. Here, the expected value indicates how many coins can be expected for each coin inserted for a game.
There are further prepared a game state set to a relatively low expected value R
L
(as will be called the “ordinary probability game state”) and a game state set to a higher expected value R
H
than that of the ordinary probability game state (as will be called the “high probability game state”). If a predetermined condition is satisfied during in a play in the ordinary probability game state, the game state is changed to the high probability game state so that a predetermined prize mode is concentratively prized to give the high expected value R
H
to the player.
For example, the conventional slot machine is prepared to have the prize modes which are called a big bonus game (as will be called the “BB game”), a regular bonus game (as will be called the “RB game”) and a single bonus game (as will be called “SB game”) as the high bonus modes, and a small mode such as “Replay”, “Bell” or “Bullet” as the low bonus modes.
On the other hand, there are prepared a prize decision table for the ordinary probability game state, which is stored with data of lottery probabilities a
1
to a
6
and bonus coin numbers M
1
to M
6
assigned to the respective prize modes, as shown in
FIG. 1A
, and a prize decision table for the high probability game state, which is stored with data of the lottery probabilities a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, a
4
to a
6
and the bonus coin numbers M
1
to M
6
assigned to the respective prize modes, as shown in FIG.
1
B. The expected value R
L
in the ordinary probability game state and the expected value R
H
in the high probability game state are determined on the basis of the following Formulas (1) and (2):
R
L
={(a
1
×M
1
)+(a
2
×M
2
)+(a
3
×M
3
)+(a
4
×M
4
)+(a
5
×M
5
)+(a
6
×M
6
)}÷T  (1);
and
R
H
={(a
1
×M
1
)+(a
2
×M
2
)+(a
3
×M
3
)+(a
4
×M
4
)+(a
5
×M
5
)+(a6×M
6
)}÷T  (2);
Here in Formulas (1) and (2): T indicates the bet number; a
1
to a
6
and A
3
indicate the lottery probabilities for the respective prize modes; and M
1
to M
6
indicate the bonus coin numbers for the respective prize modes. For the “SB game”, on the other hand, the lottery probability a
3
in the ordinary probability game state and the lottery probability A
3
in the high probability game state are set in a relation of A
3
=10×a
3
, from which the expected values R
L
and R
H
are related to R
L
<R
H
.
During a game in the ordinary probability game state, the random number lottery for a prize mode is performed on the basis of the prize decision table shown in FIG.
1
A.
If a predetermined condition is satisfied during a game in the ordinary probability game state, on the other hand, the high probability game state is established by making a change to the prize decision table, as shown in FIG.
1
B. As a result, the probability, at which the “SB game” is randomly lotted, i.e., the lottery probability is raised from a3 to A
3
(=10×a
3
) so that the “SB game” is concentratively won to provide a game of the high expected value R
H
for the player.
In the conventional game machine thus far described, the expected value R
H
in the high probability game state is enhanced by raising only the lottery probability for a specific prize mode such as the aforementioned “SB game” when the game state is switched from the ordinary probability one to the high probability one. In the respective prize decision tables shown in
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, more specifically, the expected value is enhanced from R
L
to R
H
merely by raising the lottery probability for the “SB game” from a
3
to A
3
.
If the expected values R
L
and R
H
are set by those means, however, the expected value R
H
in the high probability game state may exceed a predetermined proper expected value Rmax (e.g., 0.9) to raise the so-called “payout ratio” so excessively that no proper game mode cannot be provided for the player thereby to impose a heavy economical burden on the game house.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has been conceived to solve the aforementioned problems of the related art and has an object to provide a game machine which is provided with prize decision tables capable of setting proper expected values for an ordinary probability game state and a high probability game state.
In order to achieve this object, according to the invention, a game machine having a plurality of prize modes and adapted to be transferred, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, from an ordinary game state to a high probability game state in which the prize probability of a predetermined one of the plurality of prize modes is enhanced, wherein the prize probability of at least one other than the predetermined prize mode in the high probability game state is set lower than the prize probability in the ordinary game state.
There is further provided a game machine, wherein the plurality of prize modes are lotted by a random sampling so that the prize probability of a predetermined prize mode in the high probability game state is enhanced by increasing the number of the lottery random numbers for the predetermined prize mode whereas the prize probability of the one other than the predetermined prize mode in the high probability game state is lessened by reducing the number of the lottery random numbers for the one other than the predetermined prize mode.
With this construction, the expected value in the high probability game state is set by raising the prize probability of a specific prize mode and by lowering the prize probability of another prize mode. As a result, it is possible to set a more proper expected value within a range at or lower than a predetermined proper expected value than to set the expected value in the high probability game state by enhancing only the prize probability for the specific prize mode. As a result, the problem that the so-called “payout ratio” becomes excessively high can be avoided in advance to provide a proper game mode for a player and to realize a game machine which will impose no economical burden on the game house or the like.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4679143 (1987-07-01), Hagiwara
patent: 4844464 (1989-07-01), Berge
patent: 4991848 (1991-02-01), Greenwood et al.
patent: 5123649 (1992-06-01), Tiberio
patent: 5380008 (1995-01-01), Mathis et al.
patent: 5393061 (1995-02-01), Manship et al.
patent: 5645486 (1997-07-01), Nagao et al.
patent: 5989121 (1999-11-01), Sakamoto
patent: 7-112051 (1995-05-01), None
patent: 8-280872 (1996-10-01), None
EPO Search Report, re: EP99 30 1384, dated Dec. 20, 2000.

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