Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a chance application
Patent
1997-03-15
2000-07-25
Harrison, Jessica J.
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a chance application
463 16, 2731381, G07F 1734
Patent
active
060931027
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
IMPROVED MULTILINE GAMING MACHINE
The present invention relates to gaming machines of the type generally referred to as slot machines, fruit machines or poker machines, and in particular the invention provides an improvement to a game played on such a machine.
Players who regularly play gaming machines quickly tire of particular games and therefore it is necessary for manufacturers of these machines to come up with innovative game features that add interest to the games provided on such machines in order to keep the players amused and therefore willing to continue playing the game.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Gaming or poker machines have been well known in the state of New South Wales for many years and have more recently gained considerable popularity throughout Australia, with quite substantial amounts of money wagered on these machines. There is a growing tendency for State governments to legalise the use of gaming machines by licensing operators, with resulting revenue gains through licence fees and taxation of monies invested. The licensed operation of gaming machires is the subject of State legislation and regulation. This regulation most always dictates a minimum percentage payout for a gaming machine. For example, a minimum of 85% of monies invested must be returned as winnings, and manufacturers of gaming machines therefore must design their machines around these regulatory controls.
With the growth that has occurred in the gaming machine market there is intense competition between manufacturers to supply the various existing and new venues. When selecting a supplier of gaming machines, the operator of a venue will often pay close attention to the popularity of various games with their patrons.
Therefore, gaming machine manufacturers are keen to devise games which are popular with players, as a mechanism for improving sales.
Many various strategies have been tried in the past to make games more enticing to players, and these strategies are often aimed at either increasing the maximum prize payable on a machine or creating at least the perception of more winning opportunities. The present invention falls into the latter category. For quite a few years, it has been possible to bet on more than one pay line of a slot machine simultaneously. However this feature has been restricted by the number of pay lines that could be achieved on the display format commonly used in slot machines.
Originally, the term "pay line" included within its scope only straight line arrangements of symbol locations (e.g. horizontal lines, and diagonals in 3.times.3 machines). In fact original slot machines only paid on the horizontal centreline of symbol locations.
In the more recent past "pay lanes" have been devised which are not straight line arrangements of symbol locations although these more recent payline arrangements have still included only symbol locations that were horizontally or diagonally adjacent to one another and always included only one location in each column of the display.
In embodiments of the present invention, paying symbol arrangements are proposed in which symbol locations in adjacent columns of the display are not necessarily horizontally or diagonally adjacent to one another. Throughout this specification these new paying symbol arrangements are still referred to as "pay lines" although in the conventional sense they are not strictly lines at all.
The present invention provides an arrangement whereby the number of pay lines provided on a slot machine, particularly a machine with 3.times.5 display, can be increased without changing the display format.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention consists in a gaming machine having display means arranged to display a plurality of symbols in an array of n rows and m columns of symbol positions, game control means arranged to control images displayed on the display means the game control means being arranged to pay a prize when a predetermined combination of symbols is displayed Ln a predetermined arrangement of symbol positions including o
REFERENCES:
patent: Re34244 (1993-05-01), Hagiwara
patent: 5580053 (1996-12-01), Crouch
Aristocrat Leisure Industries Pty Ltd
Harrison Jessica J.
Hotaling II John M.
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