CA2085460C - Video gaming machine - Google Patents

Video gaming machine

Info

Publication number
CA2085460C
CA2085460C CA 2085460 CA2085460A CA2085460C CA 2085460 C CA2085460 C CA 2085460C CA 2085460 CA2085460 CA 2085460 CA 2085460 A CA2085460 A CA 2085460A CA 2085460 C CA2085460 C CA 2085460C
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
pay
game elements
game
gaming machine
elements
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
CA 2085460
Other languages
French (fr)
Other versions
CA2085460A1 (en
Inventor
Jon Manship
Michel Vienneau
David Ross
Nathalie Hache
Charles Maillet
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
IGT Canada Solutions ULC
Original Assignee
Spielo Manufacturing ULC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Spielo Manufacturing ULC filed Critical Spielo Manufacturing ULC
Priority to CA 2085460 priority Critical patent/CA2085460C/en
Publication of CA2085460A1 publication Critical patent/CA2085460A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA2085460C publication Critical patent/CA2085460C/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/32—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for games, toys, sports, or amusements
    • G07F17/3244—Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F13/00—Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions
    • A63F13/70—Game security or game management aspects
    • A63F13/79—Game security or game management aspects involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
    • A63F13/792—Game security or game management aspects involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions

Abstract

A video slot machine includes a display screen on which the wheels of a slot machine are simulated. The display screen is divided into an array of cells with each cell displaying an individual game element selected randomly from a group of available game elements during a game play. Pay-out lines are associated with the rows, columns and diagonals of the array of cells and visually indicate some of the pre-determined sets of cells which are examined to detect winning combinations of displayed game elements. Pay-out tables are stored in memory within the machine and hold information concerning combinations of game elements in all of the pre-determined sets of cells which result in a win when displayed on the screen together with the amount to be paid for each winning combination of game elements. When the game is played and the screen displays a randomly selected game element in each of its cells, the machine consults the pay-out tables to determine if the game elements as displayed in the cells result in a winning combination of game elements as stored in the pay-out tables and calculates the amount to be paid. Therefore, depending on the elements displayed in the array of cells, winnings from more than one pay-out table may result. The winning combinations of game elements, the pre-determined sets of cells, the number of available game elements and the amount paid for each winning combination of displayed game elements are selected so that the expected return of the video slot machine complies with regulatory restrictions while still ensuring that the game is dynamic and appealing to a player.

Description

VIDEO GAMING MACHINE

The present invention relates to gaming machines and in particular to video gaming machines such as video slot machines and the like which comply with regulatory requirements for video gaming in legal jurisdictions and are government sanctioned. Video gaming machines of this type are considered "legal" within the context of the present application.

Video gaming machines are well known in the art and can be found in casinos and other gambling houses throughout North America.
Unlike conventional gaming machines which are mechanical in nature and pay out in negotiable currency in the event of a displayed winning combination of game elements, video gaming machines are microprocessor-based and pay out either in the form of credits accumulated in the machine or in negotiable currency, in the event of a winning combination of game elements. Credits accumulated in the machine can be redeemed by a player for negotiable currency.

One common type of video gaming machine is in the form of a video slot machine. Similar to the well known mechanical versions, a video slot machine has a display screen on which a simulation of the three spinning wheels of the slot m~- hine is presented. Each simulated wheel is divided into a number of cells with each cell having a game element such as a "cherry", an "orangen, a "barn, etc. in it. Different cells of a simulated wheel may have the same element therein and this determines the probability of a particular game element appearing on the display screen after the wheels have been "spunn. Stored in the video slot machine are pay-out tables which assign a pay-out value to pre-determined combinations of game elements considered to be winning combinations of game elements that may appear on the screen during a game play. When one or more of these pre-determined combinations of winning ~, 20~5160 game elements stored in the pay-out tables appears on the screen during a game play, the video slot machine multiplies the pay-out value associated with that combination of game elements by the amount bet to determine the number of credits won by the player.
s In order to make the video slot m~çhine more exciting to play, the number of pay-out tables and the number of pre-determined combinations of game elements in the pay-out tables (or in other words, the number of ways a player can win) are increased. However, when this is done, the profitability of the video slot m~hine decreases due to an increase in the expected return of the video slot m~ hine The expected return of the video slot machine is determined by multiplying the pay-out value ~sign~l to each pre-determined combination of game elements stored in the pay-out tables by the probability of that combination of game elements occurring and then adding each of the calculated products.

For a video slot machine owner to make money, the expected return of the video slot machine should be less than one. In other words, the video slot machine must pay out less money than it takes in. This is easily achieved by ~.aint~ining the number of pre-determined winning combinations of game elements stored in the pay-out tables and the pay-out values associated with these combinations of game elements low. However, when this is done, the video slot m~hine loses its appeal to players since it reduces the occurrence of a player winning during game play. This of course reduces significantly the profitability of the video machine especi~lly if it is rarely used by players.
Therefore, in order to maintain the interest of a player for extended periods oftime, the video slot machine must have a significant expected return and must present winning combinations of game elements during game play fairly often.

ln an attempt to achieve the above, it is current practice to increase the number of pre-determined winning combinations of game elements stored in the pay-out tables and the pay-out values associated with them to the point where the expected return of the video slot machine far exceeds one. To ensure that the actual pay out of the video slot machine is less than one, the m~chine is "fixed" using a governor. The governor ensures that the selection of game elements displayed on the display screen after a "spin" is not always random. In particular, after a certain number of pay outs have occurred, the selection of game elements displayed on the display screen is pre-determined by the governor for a fixed number of following i'spins" and is such so that no winning combinations of game elements will be displayed during these following " spins " .

Although this results in a video slot machine that pays out less lS than it takes in, even though the expected return of the machine is greater than one, machines of this type cannot be used in "legal" gambling houses that are government sanctioned. Also, the operation of the governor, which ensures that a fixed number of ~spins" will result in no winning combinations of game elements, detracts significantly from the video slot machine's appeal to a player. This is a serious drawback as the more appeal a video slot machine has to a player, the more he/she will play it and therefore, the more money the m~.hinP. will generate for the video slot machine owner. Heretofore, a video slot machine which did not suffer from the above-identified drawbacks and which complied with regulatory requirements was not available.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel video gaming machine.

~ .

-~ 2085`460 According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally at random the game elements to be displayed during said game play, wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay-out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein the probability of each game element being selected by said processor and displayed during a game play, the pay-out values and the winning combinations of game elements stored in said pay-out tables are such that the expected statistical return of said gaming machine is significant and that the actual return of the gaming machine is at least basically the same as the expected return;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in a pay-out table; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning colllbination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
Preferably, a plurality of winning combinations of game elements may appear on the display during a game play with the pay-out means paying out to a player for each winning combination of game elements appearing on the display. It is also preferred that at least some of the pre-determined combinations of game elements appear in more than one of the pay-out tables. It is also preferred that the pay-out tables are selected so that the ~.

20854~0 , expected return of the machine is greater than 0.8 and that the hit ratio of themachine is between 40% and 50%.

Preferably, one of the pay-out tables is associated with bonus S credits and that pay-outs from the one pay-out table are accumulated separately as bonus credits and are not paid out directly to a player. Pay out of the bonuscredits occurs when a coll-binalion of game elements stored in another pay-out table is displayed. Preferably, another of the pay-out tables is associated witha special mode of play and pay outs from this table are only made when the machine has entered the special mode of play. The special mode of play is entered when a particular arrangement of a specific game element is displayed.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally a random the game elements to be displayed during said game play wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein at- least one winning combination of game elements is de~ign~ted for bonus credits and wherein pay outs resulting from the display of said at least one winning combination of game elements are accumulated in said memory as bonus credits, at least one of said pay-out tables storing at least one winning combination of game elements which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player when a combination of game elements the same as that winning combination of game elements appears on said display, another of said pay-out tables being associated with a special mode of play, pay outs from that pay-out table being made only when said gaming machine is in said special mode of C

2085~60 play, said gaming machine entering said special mode of play when a predetermined arrangement of particular game elements appears on said display during a game play, the probability of each game element being selected by said processor and displayed during a game play, the pay-out values and the S winning col"billations of game elements stored in said pay-out tables are such that the expected statistical return of said gaming machine is significant and that the actual return of the gaming machine is at least basically the same as the expected return;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally at random the game elements to be displayed during said game play, wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay out value ~s~ci~t~d with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein the probability of each game element being selected by said processor and displayed during a game play, the pay-out values and the winning combinations of game elements stored in said pay-out tables are such that the expected statistical return of said gaming machine is equal to at least 0.8 and - Sa -20`8s4~o -that the actual return of said gaming machine is basically equal to said expected return; and pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning S combination of game elements stored in a pay-out table; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally a random the lS game elements to be displayed during said game play wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay-out value ~ciated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein said gaming machine accumulates bonus credits in said memory and where at least one of said pay-out tables stores at least one winning combination of game elements which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combil~ation of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game - Sb -elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally a random game elements to be displayed during said game play, wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play resulting corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay-out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, one of said pay-out tables being associated with a special mode of play, pay outs from that pay out table being made only when said gaming machine is in said special mode of play, said gaming machine entering said special mode of play when a predetermined arrangement of particular game elements appears on said display during a game play;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables; and pay means are responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of - 5c -20854~0 said processor for generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor and including a pay-out memory portion for storing winning co.,.binaLions of game elements which can S appear in said set of game elements, said winning combinations of game elem~ntc including at least one bonus credit-incrementing winning combination of game elements and further including at least one bonus credit pay-out winning combination of game elements;
a bonus credit memory portion of said memory for storing a bonus credit total;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said detector dele~ g when said set of game elements is a winning combination of game elements, said detector adding bonus credits to said bonus credit memory portion when a combination of elements m~tr~s said at least one bonus credit-incrementing combination of elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting a winning combination of game elements other than said at leact one bonus credit-incrementing combination of game elements exists in said set of elements, said pay-out means paying out said bonus credit total when said bonus credit pay-out combination of game elements exists in said set of elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play, said array having first and second dimensions with values greater than one;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;

- Sd -.~ii 20854~0 a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display, said pay-out memory portion including at least one nonlinear winning combination of game elements, said nonlinear combination S of game elements having at least three predetermined elements at predetermined positions in the array through which a straight line cannot be drawn;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector determining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting a winning combination of game elements in said set of game elements.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine, comprising: .
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play, first and second dimensions of said array having values greater than one;
a plocessor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display, said pay-out memory portion including at least one special winning combination of game elements, said at least one special winning combination of game elements defined by the presence of a predetermined number of predetermined element~ in said set of game elements, said predetermined number being greater than one but less than the total number of elements in said set of elements;

- 5e -~-i .
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector de~l.nining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out deleclor detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play, said array having rows and columns intersecting the rows, each column and row having a plurality of game elements;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a special configuration memory portion of said memory storing a predetermined special configuration of said machine which may occur during a game play;
a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game çlem~t~ which can appear in said set of game elements during a game play;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector determining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements;
a special configuration detector of said processor determining when said m~rhin~ is in said special configuration, said processor altering the behaviour of the m~(~hinç for a plurality of subse~uent game plays based on the occurrence of the special configuration; and , . ~, -pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements and pay-out values associated with respective ones of said winning combinations of game elements;
a special configuration memory portion of said memory storing a special configuration of the machine which the machine may enter during a game play;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector determining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements;
a special configuration detector of said processor detecting when a current configuration of the machine matches said stored special configuration, said processor altering the behaviour of the machine for a plurality of subsequent game plays responsive to detection of the special configuration; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention 2 0 8 :) 4 ~ O

there is provided a gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of S said processor selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;
a memory coup]ed to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements and a pay-out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, the winning combinations of game elements and the pay-out values being chosen so that the expected retum of the machine is significant, so that the actual retum is approximately the same as the expected retum of the machine, and such that a winning combination of game elements is displayed approximately between 40~ and lS 50% of all game plays;
a pay-out detector of said processor d~ mil~ing when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements appears in said set of game elements, the pay-out to the player being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements present in the set of game elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion - Sh -of said memory storing at least one winning combination of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said at least one winning combination of game elements;
Sresponsive to said pay-out detector detecting sad at least one winning combination of game elements, said processor anim~ting at least one game element on said display that is a member of said at least one winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-10out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine comprising:
15a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements;
20a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing at least one winning combination of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements;
an audio output means coupled to said processor for emitting sound during a game play;
25a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said at least one winning combination of game elements;
responsive to said pay-out detector detecting said at least one winning combination of game elements in said set of game elements, said audio output means emitting a sound associated with at least one game element within 30said winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-~0 out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, said array having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, cells occupied by game elements in the array occupying intersections of the rows and columns, a plurality of pay-out lines associated with respective ones of at least the rows of the array;
a processor including a game element selector for selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of kinds of game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor and including a pay-out memory portion storing a plurality of winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display, some of said winning combinations of game elements specifying a particular configuration of elements along any pay-out line in said array, others of said winning combinations of game elements specifying that a predetermined number of a predetermined game element be among said set of game elements to be displayed;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements to be displayed with said winning combinations of game elements;
and pay-out means responsive to said pay-out detector for paying out to a player when a sufficient match exists between a winning combination of game elements and said set of game elements to be displayed.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally 2085 4 ~0 .

randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, said array having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, cells occupied by game elements in the array occupying intersections of the rows and columns, a plurality of pay-out lines associated with respective ones of at least the rows of the array, a respective bet tag associated with each of said pay-out lines todisplay an amount bet on the respective pay-out line;
a processor coupled to said display;
a player input means coupled to said processor for inputting, for each of said pay-out lines, whether no amount or one of a plurality of non-zero amounts is to be bet on the pay-out line;
a game element selector of said processor for selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing a plurality of winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display and a plurality of pay-out values associated with respective ones of said winning combinations of game elements, certain ones of said winning combinations of game elements specifying a particular configuration of elements along any pay-out line in said array;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements to be displayed with said winning combinations of game elements;
and pay-out means responsive to said pay-out detector for paying out to a player when a sufficient match exists between a winning combination of game elements and said set of game elements to be displayed, the amount to be paid out to a player calculated, for said certain ones of said winning combinations of game elements, as a function of the amount bet on the pay-out line on which the winning combination of game elements occurred and the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention - Sk -20854~0 there is provided a gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elem~nt~ are displayed during a game play, said array having rows and columns at an angle to the rows, a plurality of cells formed at the intersections of said columns and rows, each cell displaying a game element;
a processor coupled to said memory and said display, a game element selector of said processor selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements, a subset of said different kinds of game elements having a common characteristic identifi~hle by the player;
a pay-out memory portion of said memory for storing winning combinations of game elements including at least one certain winning combination of game elements which specifies that a predetermined number of game elements in said set of game elements must have said common characteristic, said predetermined number being greater than one;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements; and pay-out means responsive to said pay-out detector for paying out to the player when at least one winning combination of elements is detected in said set of game elements.

The present invention provides advantages in that the actual return of the video gaming machine is less than one without the use of a governor to meet leg~li7ed gambling regulations while ensuring that the game is exciting to play. This is achieved by providing a plurality of pay-out tableswherein pay-outs from more than one pay-out table may occur in a single game play and ensuring that the return from the various pay-out tables varies.

20854~

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a video gaming machine;
Figure 2 is an enlarged front view of the display screen on the S machine illustrated in Figure 1 in one mode of operation;
Figure 3 is a look-up table stored in the machine illustrated in Figure l;
Figures 4a to 4e are pay-out tables stored in the machine illustrated in Figure l;

- Sm -~r 2085~60 Figure 5 is an enlarged front view of the display screen on the machine illustrated in Figure 1 in another mode of operation; and Figures 6a to 6g illustrate the expected returns of the pay-out tables shown in Figures 4a to 4e.
s ~fiorring now to Figure 1, a "legal" videû gaming machine in the form of a video slot m~-~hine is illustr~t~ and is generally in~ t~ by reference numeral 10. The machine 10 includes a housing 12 having a display screen 14 predomillanlly located on the front face 12a of the housing. A money receptacle 16 is located on one side 12b of the housing 12 to receive coins deposited therein by a player so that credits to play the machine 10 can be purchased. Below the display screen 14 is an outwardly angled shelf 18 on which a plurality of buttons 20a to 20e are located. Each of the buttons 20a to 20e respectively is associated with a specific function such as start game play,bet, spin wheels, stop wheels and t~ll-linate game play. By pressing appluplialebuttons after at least one credit has been purchased, the video slot machine 10 can be played. A dispensing slot 22 is located below the shelf 18 and allows r~ceipt~ to be dispensed from the housing 12. Credits accumulated in the machine 10 are printed on the l~ceip~ before they are dispensed so that a player may redeem purchased and/or accumulated credits for negotiable currency. Although not shown, the m~clline l0 also includes a sound board and outputs audio information in the form of "tunes", "bells" etc. during game play.
Wlthin the housing 12 is located a micrùplùcessor-based circuit (not shown) which includes al)pr~pliate ROM, RAM, a video controller and a microprocessor together with other Cil-;Uill~ and colll~nents ntces~.y to operate the video slot machine 10. Circuits of this type are well known to 208S~60 those of skill in the video gaming m~hine art and therefore will not be ~-ssed herein.

The microprocessor-based circuit pelr~l,.,s a variety of functions nece~ry to control the operation of the video slot m~hin.o 10. In particular, the micr~cessor-based circuit monitors the money receptacle 16 to determine the amount of money inserted into m~hine 10 to purchase credits and adjusts the credit total accordingly. A bin (not shown) is located below the coin receptacle 16 to collect money deposited in the housing 12. A printing and dispensing mechanism is in communication with the microprocessor-based circuit and prints the accumulated credits on a receipt and 11ispen~es the receipt when the button 20 associated with ~l",in~ing game play is pressed by a player. If this button 20 is pushed by a player, the microprocessor-based circuit requests the player to confirm that it is the player's intent to terminate game play via information displayed on the screen 14 so that accidental use of the terminate game play button 20 does not autom~ti~lly result in the termination of the game. When game play is ~llllin~lPA and the receipt has been ~i~pen~ed, the mic~p~cessor-based circuit zeros the credit total.

When the machine 10 is not being used and the credit total therein is zero, the microprocessor-based circuit controls the output of the display screen 14 in accoldance with pre-plugl~lllllled information stored in the microprocessor-based circuit's memory. The output of the screen display simulates game play and in this mode is designed to attract players to the machine. However, when a positive credit total exists in the machine 10, the microprocessor-based circuit monitors the buttons 20a to 20e and alters the screen display 14 depending on the buttons pushed. This aspect of the microprocessor-based circuit operation will now be discussed.

2085~60 RP-ferring now to Figure 2, the display screen 14 is better str~. As can be seen, the display screen 14 in response to the output of the microprocessor-based circuit p~sen~ a 3 x 3 array 30 of cells 32. Each cell 32 displays one game element sPlertPd randomly from an ~SOCi~tl~ look-up table 34 (see Figure 3) stored in the miclupl~cessor-based circuit's ROM.
Each of the nine look-up tables 34 is i~Pntic~l and holds the integer values (RN) 1 to 24. Assigned to each integer value RN is a game e1Pm-Pnt sPlPcted from a group of nine pre-determined game e1Pn Pnt~ These pre-determined game elements resemble typical slot machine objects such as "bars", "oranges", "cherries" etc. Some of the nine game elements appear in the look-up table 34 more than once while others show up only once. In this particular example, the game element resembling an "orange" appears five times in the look-up table, the game elements resembling, "sevens" and "bells" appear four times in the look-up table, the game elements resembling "plums" and "melons" appear three times in the look-up table, the game elements resembling "one bar" and "double bar" appear twice in the look-up table while the game elements resembling "cherries" and "triple bar" appear only once in the look-up table.

Pay-out lines 36 extend across the cells con~liluling the rows, columns and diagonals of the array 30 and represent some of the pre-determined sets of cells which are eY~mined by the microprocessor-based circuit during game play to determine if a winning combination of game elements is displayed on the screen 14. In this particular example, eight pay-out lines 36 are provided. Tags 38 are located at one end of each pay-out line 36 and display the amount of credits bet by a player on the pay-out line associated therewith.
In addition to the cells 32 located on each pay-out line 36, the four corner cells of the array 30 are ~PY~mined to determine if a winning combination of game elements occurs therein. Also, the entire array of cells is examined to - ` 208~460 determine the number of cells which display preselected game elements during a game play.

Below the array 30, the display screen 14 shows the credit total 40 accumulated in the machine 10 and the total number of credits bet 41 for each game play. The total bet 41 is equal to the sum of all of the bets displayed in the tags 38. Along one side of the array of cells 32, the display screen 14 shows a bonus credit total 42 accumulated during game play together with an indicator area 44. The indicator area 44 changes colour and provides special mode information if the game advances into a special mode of play coined "Fever Mode". The accumulation of bonus credits and the requirements to advance into the "Fever Mode" will be discussed further hereinafter.

Pay-out tables 50 are stored in the ROM of the microprocessor-based circuit and are best illustrated in Figures 4a to 4e. The pay-out tables 50 hold the combinations of game elements which must appear in the pre-determined sets of cells in order for a win to occur along with the pay-out value associated with these winning combinations of game elements.
In particular, Figure 4a shows a normal odds pay-out table 60 associated with the cells 32 in the array 30 located along each of the pay-out lines 36. When one of the combinations of game elements stored in the normal odds pay-out table 60 is displayed in the cells 32 along any one of the pay-out lines 36 and a bet has been placed on that pay-out line, the machine 10 pays out to the player and advances the credit total 40 by the appropliate amount.
This ~' 2085~6~

amount is calculated by multiplying the amount bet on the pay-out line 36 by the pay-out value ~soc~ I with the winning co"lbinalion of displayed game elements. If a winning combination of game elements occurs along more than one of the pay-out lines, the machine 10 pays out to the player for each winningcombination of game elements provided a bet was placed on the pay-out line 36 on which the winning combination of game e1ernPnt~ appea,ed.

Figure 4b shows a special odds pay-out table 62. ~ay outs from this pay-out table only occur if all nine cells 32 in the array 30 or if the four corner cells in the array 30 display the same game element. This pay-out table is not used as a substitute for the pay-out table 60 shown in Figure 4a but rather in addition to it. Therefore, for example if the array 30 of cells displays nine"cherries" during a game play, the micn~pl~cessor-based circuit would pay out to the player from normal odds pay-out table 60 for the three "cherries"
displayed in the cells 32 along each of the pay-out lines 36 on which a bet was placed, as well as from the special odds pay-out table 62 for the nine "cherries"
displayed. The pay out from the special odds pay-out table 62 is determined by multiplying the pay-out value ~soci~tPd with the winning combination of displayed elements by the total current bet 41.
Figure 4c shows a seven odds pay-out table 64 that is associated with the game element "seven". The microprocessor-based circuit pays out from this pay-out table only if two or more of the cells 32 in the array 30 display the element "seven" during a game play. The jackpot occurs when all nine cells 32 display the element "seven". When the jackpot occurs, the microprocessor-based circuit pays out from the seven odds pay-out table 64 for the nine "sevens", from the special odds pay-out table 62 for the "sevens"
located in the four corner cells 32 of the array and from the normal odds pay-.

out table 60 for the three "sevens" located along each of the pay-out lines 36 on which a bet was placed. The pay out from the seven odds pay-out table 64 is determined by multiplying the pay-out value associated with the wimling combination of displayed game element.~ by the total current bet 41.
s Figure 4e is similar to Figure 4c and shows a pot odds pay-out table 66 ~soci~ted with the game element "triple bar". The microprocessor-based circuit only pays out from this pay-out table when the element "triple bar" appears in three or more of the cells 32 in the array 30 during a game play. The pay out from the pot odds pay-out table 64 is simil~rly determined by multiplying the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of displayed game elements by the current total bet 41. However, when a wilming combination of elements from this pay-out table appears on the display 14, the microprocessor-based circuit does not advance the credit total 40 by the amount won but rather advances the bonus credit total 42 by the amount won. It should be realized however, that the microprocessor-based circuit pays out from the normal odds pay-out table 60 if a winning combination of "triple bars" occurs along a pay-out line 36 on which a bet was placed and advances the credit total 40 accordingly.

The accumulated bonus credit total 42 is awarded to a player only when the "all fruit" wiiming combination of game elements held in the seven odds pay-out table 64 is displayed in the cells 32 of the array during a game play. When this occurs, the bonus credit total 42 is added to the credit total 40 and the bonus credit total is zeroed. The microprocessor-based circuit does not allow the bonus credit total to exceed a pre-determined value; however, the bonus credit total 42 stays in the m~t ~ine 10 until a player wins it.

Unlike conventional video slot machines having a bonus credit total wherein an advance of bonus credits is determined by multiplying the totalbet by a fixed value in the event of a winning combination of game elements, the paying out of bonus credits in the present machine 10 is progressive due to the pot odds pay-out table. Therefore, the number of credits paid into the bonus credit total changes depending on the displayed game elements. The hit ratio associated with the "all fruit combination of game elements is Illain~ined at a relatively low percentage so that the winning cycle for bonus credits is longer than wins from the above described pay-out tables. Because of this, the bonus credit total 42 establishes a short term goal for a player ofthe machine 10 and this together with the fact that bonus credit pay outs are progressive, increases the video slot machine's appeal to a player.

Figure 4d shows a pay-out table 68 that is associated with the game element resembling a "bell". The microprocessor-based circuit only pays out from this pay-out table when the machine 10 has entered the "Fever Mode" and the element "bell" is displayed in one or more of the cells 32 in the array. To enter this mode, during game play, the array 30 must display "bells" in the cells 32 along the center row and the center column (ie. in the form of a cross) and this is shown in ~igure 5. In the "Fever Mode", the display colours are enhanced by the microprocessor-based circuit and the "bells" in the cells 32 are enlarged. During a game play in this mode, when a "bell" appears in a cell 32, the "bell" swings back and forth on the screen 14, and the audio output of the machine 10 changes and rings in time with the swinging motion of the bell or bells. Also, the audio output of the machine 10 increases as the number of displayed "bells" increases. The enhanced colours and the increased activity presented on the screen 14 have significant phycological effects which increase the video slot machine's appeal to a player.

-It should be appalenl that when the machine 10 is in the "Fever Mode", payouts from the other pay-out tables are made if a winning collll)il~aLion of game elements stored in these tables appears on the screen 14during a game play.
s Once the game has entered the UFever Mode", it remains in the mode for a total of nine wheel Uspins or game plays. The number of spins ini~g in the mode are shown in the indicator area 44 as stars 70. During the UFever Mode", the total bet 41 on a game play cannot be raised over what it was in the game play just before the "Fever Mode" was entered. Similar to the other pay-out tables 62 to 66, the microprocessor-based circuit pays out from the pay-out table 68 by multiplying the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of elements by the total bet 41. After the nine spins, the machine reverts back to normal operation until a game play results in the "bells" being displayed in the array 32 in the form of a cross.

Different from the bonus credit total 42, the "Fever Mode"
creates a long term goal for the player of the video slot machine 10. This is achieved by Pn~uring that the hit ratio associated with "bells" appearing in theo 20 form of a cross is at a lower percentage than that of the "all fruit" combination of game elements. Thus, the winning cycle for pay outs in the "Fever Mode"
is even longer than pay outs of bonus credits. This in combination with the bonus credit total further enhances the appeal of the video slot machine to a player as it creates greater dynamics. The longer winning cycles for these goals helps to prevent players from cashing out before all of the accumulated credits have been used and therefore increases the profitability of the machine.

-The combination of the nine game elements forming the twenty-four elements in the look-up tables 34 and the differing probabilities of different game elements, appearing in a cell 32 during a game play, the combinations of game elements which result in a win and the pay-out values ~ign~Pd to each of the winning combinations of game elements are selected to ensure that the machine 10 complies with regulatory requirements to be considered "legal". Within the meaning of this specification, "legal" means that the video slot machine 10 is statistically balanced within its environment and has an expected return equal to or slightly less than its actual return. This is very different from prior art video slot machines which make use of a governor to "fix" the machine to ensure that the actual return of the machine is less than its expected return.

In addition, the design of the pay-out tables in the present video slot machine, is selected to ensure that the expected statistical return of the m~r~linP is below one but is still ~ignific~nt. By significant, it is meant that the video slot machine 10 has an expected ~t~ti!~ti(`~l return equal to or greater than 0.8. Not only that, the pay-out tables are selected so that the hit ratio of thevideo slot machine 10 is also significant and is between 0.4 and 0.5. As is known to those of skill in the art, hit ratio refers to the percentage that a game play will result in a combination of game elements being displayed in the array of cells 32 considered to be a winning combination of game elements and therefore results in a pay out to the player. It should be realized that this does not mean that the pay out will always be more than the amount bet by the player, which may occur, but may also represent a pay out which is only a portion of the amount bet.

Figures 6a to 6g illustrate the expected return of the individual pay-out tables shown in Figures 4a to 4e used in the video slot machine 10.
In each Figure, the probability of each winning combination of game elements , .

2085~60 occurring is given. To delel---ine the expected return, the probability is multiplied by the pay-out value ~igned to that winning combination of game elements. The expected return of the video slot m~ ine 10 is the total of all of the products and in this case is equal to approYim~tely 0.9295. This means that a player can expect to win back 92.95~6 of the money wagered if the machine 10 is played continuously.

In general, the eY~ return of the machine 10 can be calculated using the formula:
P(AI) * Vl + P(A2) * V2 + .... + P(An) * Vn where A~ resenls a winning combination of game elements stored in a pay-out table, Vj is the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements Ai and P is the probability of the winning combination of game elements Ai occurring. The probability of each winning combination of game elements Ai of the video slot machine 10 is calculated using statistical analysis.

The operation of the video slot machine 10 will now be described with reference to the Figures. When money is deposited into the machine 10 via the coin slot 16, the microprocessor-based circuit detects this and increments the credit total 40 to a value dependant on the total amount of money deposited into the machine. To play the video slot machine, once at least one credit has been purchased, the player must press the button 20 associated with initi~ting game play and this causes the microplocessor-based circuit to prompt the user to depress the button 20 associated with betting.
Using the button, the player can assign appl-~pliate bets to any or all of the pay-out lines 36. The amount bet on each pay-out line 36 is displayed in the tags 2o8s~6o -38 and is subtracted from the credit total 40. The sum of the individual bets shown in the tags 38 is displayed as the total current bet 41. After this, the player is prompted to press the button associated with "~inning" the wheels and once this is done, the microprocessor-based circuit conditions the display screen 14 to simulate the spinning wheels of a slot machine. The spinning wheel simulation appears in each of the nine cells 32.

As the wheels are "~inning", the microprocessor-based circuit executes a random number geneldlion program to generate an integer having value between one and twenty four. The initial values used by the microprocessor-based circuit to generate the random numbers are read from the registers of a real time clock in the micl~p~cessor-based circuit to prevent therandom number generation program from starting at the same place in the sequence after the video slot machine 10 has been powered up. The random number generation pr~l~lll is executed nine times during each game play resulting in nine numbers being generated. Each random number RN is associated with one of the cells 32 in the array. Once a pre-determined amount of time has elapsed after the wheels have been "spun", the microprocessor-based circuit uses the generated random numbers and the look-up tables 34 to select the nine game elements to be displayed in the cells 32. For example, if the random number generation program when ~Y~oCUted resulted in a value equal to "6", the game element "orange" would appear in the cell 32 associated with that value. Likewise, if the value "10" were generated by the program, the game element "double bar" would appear in the cell 32 associated with that value.

If the player presses the button 20 associated with ~pping the wheels while the wheels are "~inning", the microprocessor-based circuit stops 20~5~60 the spinning wheel simulation immediately and displays the game elements ed with the generated random numbers in the cells 32 of the array 30.

Once each of the nine cells 32 displays a game element, the S microprocessor-based circuit PY~minPs the col"bin~lions of displayed game elements in the cells 32 located along each pay-out line 36 on which the player has placed a bet and CGlllp~S the displayed game elements with the combinations of game elements stored in the normal odds pay-out table 60 to determine if a win has occurred. The microprocessor-based circuit also PY~mines the other pre-determined sets of cells (i.e.: the entire array 30 and the four corner cells 32) to determine if a win has occurred in the other pay-out tables. If a winning combination of game elements occurs, the microprocessor-based circuit calculates the credits won from each pay-out table and co",putcs the total credits won during that game play. The microprocessor-based circuit then conditions the screen to show the total credits won and advances the credittotal 40 accordillgly for pay outs from pay-out tables 60 to 64 and 68 and advances the bonus credit total 42 for pay outs from pay-out table 66.

As long as the credit total 40 in the machine 10 is above zero, a player can continue to play. After one game play, if the player does not enternew bets in the tags 38 for the following game play, the microprocessor-based circuit uses the bets made during the previous game. The player can play until the credit total 40 goes to zero in which case more money needs to be deposited into the machine 10 to continue play. When this occurs, the machine 10 notifies the player and gives the player a pre-determined amount of time to deposit more money. If the player fails to deposit more money, the microprocessor-based circuit goes into the attract mode and conditions the screen output in accordallce with pr~r~g,i1mmPd information therein.

2~85~60 Alt~ tively, the player can cash out the accumulated credit total 40 and redeem the credit total for negotiable currency. If this option is s~1ectecl, the machine lO prints the credit total 40 on a receipt and dispenses the receipt through the slot 22. The microprocessor-based circuit then clears the S credit total to zero. The microprocessor-based circuit also prints and dispenses a receipt and clears the credit total when the credit total eYr~1s a pre-d~ .lined value.

Appendix A shows the results of Sl million game plays executed on the video gaming machine lO having look-up tables and pay-out tables the same as those illustrated in Figures 3 and 4a to 4e. As can be seen, the machine exhibited an actual return equal to approximately 0.9298 after this many plays. Of significance is the fact that the actual return of the machine ismore or less equal to its expected return achieving what prior art machines do without the aid of a governor. Rec~u~e a governor is not used in the present machine, it can be used in "legal" gaming environments.

Also of significance is the hit ratio achieved by the present machine. As mentioned previously, the hit ratio ~plc;se~ the percentage of time a winning combination of game elements will be displayed. In this case, the machine will display a winl ing combination of game elements in almost 50% of all game plays. The high hit ratio makes the game particularly appealing to players as they can almost expect to win at least something every other game play.
The present invention provides significant advantages over the prior art in that it is extremely appealing to players and yet is suitable for use in legal gambling environments. This is achieved by constructing multiple pay-out tables which ensure that the actual return of the m~hine 10 is greater than or e~ual to the ~ d return, and that the hit ratio is significant. In other words, the present invention includes all of the r~lures of "illegal" m~chines de~signed to attract players but implements these r~lures in a "legal" m~chinP..
s Although, the video slot m~rhine 10 has been described as using buttons 20 to control operation of the m~^hinP, touch screen technology can be implementP~ d to replace the buttons. If this is done, a player need only touch selected areas of the display screen 14 to chose different functions. The machine can also inco~ te both the buttons and a touch screen allowing players to chose the manner in which they wish to operate the machine.

Also, rather than dispensing printed lt;ceip~ in the event of a win, the video slot machine 10 can include a coin bin instead of receipt dispensing slot 22 and dispense coins in the event of a win. The machine can also incolpol~le both the coin bin and the di~pPn~ing slot 22 allowing a player to select the form in which accumulated credits in the machine are to be redeemed.

A~ ~;x 1~.

TOTAL NUMBER OF GAMES PLAYED: 51000000 TOTAL NUMBER OF GAMES WITH A WIN: 24014085.00000000 ~IT RATIO PERCENTAGE: 47.08644 %
~OTAL CREDITS WON; 1209241875.000000 ~OTAL CREDITS PLAYED: 1300594080.000000 WINNING PERCENTAGE: 92.97612 %
TOTAL WIN NORMAL ODDS : 352997337.0000000 NORHAL ODDS X: 27.14123817940183 TOIAL WIN SPECIAL ODDS : 49875380.00000000 SPECIAL ODDS X: 3.834815240739832 TOTAL WIN SEVEN ODDS : 771535218.0000000 SEVEN ODDS Z: 59.32175379423532 TOTAL SWINGING BELLS : 6584.000000000000 SWINGING 8ELL HIT RATIO : 1.2909804E-02%
TOTAL GAHES PLAYED IN FEVER MODE : 59256.00000000000 TOTAL WIN BELLS ODDS : 34833940.00000000 BELLS ODDS %: 2.678309899734435 ~OTAL CREDITS ACCUMULATED IN POT : 13625504.00000000 CURRENT CREDITS IN POT: 306.0000000000000 HIGHEST CREDITS IN POT: 3632.000000000000 TOTAL CREDITS WON FROM POT: 13625198.00000000 AvERAGE POT SIZE IN CREDITS: 302.0371 ~INNING PERCENTAGE FRON POT: 1.047613 %
TOTAL WIN DOUBLE UP : O.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOE+OO
DOUBLE UP X: O.OOOOOOOE+00%

~ NORMAL ODDS 3~ ~
ELEHENTS ODDS FREQUENCY
TRIPLE BAR : 5029374 DOUBLE BAR : 25Z35988 SINGLE 8AR : 152356ZZ
NELON : 12235747 8ELL : 1018891ZO
SEVEN : 101889385 PLUH : 8797573 ORANGE : 53686855 ANY BAR : 53186042 CHERRY : 529255 TWO CHERRY : 3678346 ONE CHERRY : 151062368 ~ SPECIAL 0DDS 33~ 2085~
ELEMENTS ODDS rREQUENCY
ALL TRIPLE BAR : 150 0 ALL DOUBLE BAR : 120 0 ALL CHERRY : 110 0 ALL SINGLE BAR : 100 0 ALL HELON : 900 ALL BELL : 805 ALL PLUH : 700 ALL ORANGE : 603S
ALL ANY BAR : 5047 FOUR CORNERS : 10 194696 ~9~ SEVEN ODDS ~ $.
COMBINATION ODDS FREQUENCY
9 SEVENS : 380 8 SEVENS : 200 255 7 SEVENS : 100 4479 6 SEVENS : 20 53365 5 SEVENS : 10 398541 4 SEVENS : 5 1993095 3 SEVENS : 2 6638886 2 SEVENS : 0 14236266 ALL FRUITS : 20 45111 ~ BELLS ODDS (IN FEVER MODE) .~
COMBINATION ODDS FREQUENCY
9 BELLS : 100 0 8 BELLS : 90 0 7 BELLS : 80 11 6 BELLS : 70 61 BELLS : 60 474 4 BELLS : 50 2273 3 BELLS : 40 7776 2 BELLS : 30 16457 1 BELLS : 20 20694 ~ POT ODDS -~
POT ELEMENT: 3 COMBINATION ODDS FREQUENCY
9 ELEMENTS : 100 0 8 ELEMENTS : 80 0 7 ELENENTS : 50 0 6 ELEMENTS : 20 20 5 ELEMENTS : 10 680 4 ELEMENTS : 315595 3 ELEMENTS : Z239976 Z ELEHENTS : 02368192 1 ELEHENT : 013605149 ~ J A C K P O T ~3 : 2 2 ~ -

Claims (105)

1. A gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally at random the game elements to be displayed during said game play, wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay-out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein the probability of each game element being selected by said processor and displayed during a game play, the pay-out values and the winning combinations of game elements stored in said pay-out tables are such that the expected statistical return of said gaming machine is significant and that the actual return of the gaming machine is at least basically the same as the expected return;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in a pay-out table; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
2. A gaming machine as defined in claim 1 wherein more than one winning combination of game elements may appear on said display during a game play, said pay means paying out to said player for each winning combination of game elements appearing on said display.
3. A gaming machine as defined in claim 2 wherein at least some of said winning combinations of game elements are stored in more than one of said pay-out tables.
4. A gaming machine as defined in claim 3 wherein at least one winning combination of game elements stored in said pay out tables is designated for bonus credits and wherein said pay means accumulates the pay out resulting from the display of said at least one winning combination of game elements in said memory as bonus credits, at least one of said pay-out tables storing at least one winning combination of game elements which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player.
5. A gaming machine as defined in claim 4 wherein all of the winning combinations of game elements stored in one of said pay-out tables are designated for bonus credits.
6. A gaming machine as defined in claim 5 wherein only one of said pay-out tables has a winning combination of game elements stored therein which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player.
7. A gaming machine as defined in claim 6 wherein said only one pay-out table has only one winning combination of game elements stored therein which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player.
8. A video gaming machine as defined in claim 6 wherein pay outs from said only one pay-out table are progressive and are a function of the amount bet by a player and the combination of game elements displayed on said screen resulting in said pay out.
9. A gaming machine as defined in claim 6 wherein said gaming machine has an expected return greater than 0.8.
10. A gaming machine as defined in claim 9 wherein said gaming machine has an expected return equal to at least 0.9.
11. A gaming machine as defined in claim 6 wherein a combination of game elements the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables is displayed approximately between 40% and 50% of all game plays.
12. A gaming machine as defined in claim 2 wherein said gaming machine has an expected return greater than 0.8.
13. A gaming machine as defined in claim 12 wherein said gaming machine has an expected return equal to at least 0.9.
14. A gaming machine as defined in claim 12 wherein a combination of game elements the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables is displayed approximately between 40% and 50% of all game plays.
15. A gaming machine as defined in claim 14 wherein said array has at least three rows, said gaming machine further including means to permit a player to place a bet on each row, column and diagonal, said pay means paying out to a player for each combination of game elements appearing in a row, column and diagonal of said array on which a bet was placed during a game play that is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables.
16. A gaming machine as defined in claim 15 wherein one of said pay-out tables holds winning combinations of game elements associated with only said rows, columns and diagonals and wherein the other of said pay-out tables hold winning combinations of game elements associated with a particular game element, said pay means paying out to a player from said other pay-out tables when a predetermined number of said particular game elements are displayed during a game play.
17. A gaming machine as defined in claim 16 wherein one of said other pay-out tables is associated with a special mode of play, pay outs from that pay-out table being made only when said gaming machine is in said special mode of play, said gaming machine entering said special mode of play when a predetermined arrangement of particular game elements appears on said display during a game play, said pay means paying out from each of said pay-out tables when said machine is in said special mode and a combination of game elements the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables appears on said display.
18. A gaming machine as defined in claim 17 wherein said gaming machine enters said special mode of play when one particular game element appears on said display in said predetermined arrangement.
19. A gaming machine as defined in claim 18 wherein the audio and visual output of said gaming machine is significantly enhanced when said gaming machine is in said special mode of play.
20. A gaming machine as defined in claim 19 wherein said gaming machine remains in said special mode of play only for a pre-determined number of game plays after said predetermined arrangement of said one particular game element appears on said display.
21. A gaming machine as defined in claim 20 wherein at least one winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables is designated for bonus credits and wherein said pay means accumulates the pay out resulting from the display of said at least one winning combination of game elements in said memory as bonus credits, at least one of said pay-out tables storing at least one winning combination of game elements which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player.
22. A gaming machine as defined in claim 21 wherein all of the winning combinations of game elements stored in one of said pay-out tables are designated for bonus credits.
23. A gaming machine as defined in claim 22 wherein only one of said pay-out tables has a winning combination of game elements stored therein which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player.
24. A gaming machine as defined in claim 23 wherein said only one pay-out table has only one winning combination of game elements stored therein which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player.
25. A gaming machine as defined in claim 23 wherein pay outs from only said one pay-out table are progressive and are a function of the amount bet by a player and the combination of game elements displayed on said screen resulting in said pay out.
26. A gaming machine as defined in claim 21 wherein another of said pay-out tables is associated with a special mode of play, pay outs from that pay-out table being made only when said gaming machine is in said special mode of play when a predetermined arrangement of particular game-elements appears on said display during a game play, said pay means paying out from each of said pay-out tables when said machine is in said special mode and a combination of game elements the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables appears on said display.
27. A gaming machine as defined in claim 26 wherein said gaming machine enters said special mode of play when one particular game element appears on said display in said predetermined arrangement.
28. A gaming machine as defined in claim 27 wherein said gaming machine remains in said special mode of play only for a pre-determined number of game plays.
29. A gaming machine as defined in claim 19 wherein said one particular game element resembles a bell and wherein in said special mode of play, said processor causes said display to simulate a swinging bell when said bell appears on said display.
30. A gaming machine as defined in claim 29 wherein said predetermined arrangement requires said bell to appear along the center row and the center column for said gaming machine to enter said special mode of play.
31. A gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally a random the game elements to be displayed during said game play wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein at least one winning combination of game elements is designated for bonus credits and wherein pay outs resulting from the display of said at least one winning combination of game elements are accumulated in said memory as bonus credits, at least one of said pay-out tables storing at least one winning combination of game elements which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player when a combination of game elements the same as that winning combination of game elements appears on said display, another of said pay-out tables being associated with a special mode of play, pay outs from that pay-out table being made only when said gaming machine is in said special mode of play, said gaming machine entering said special mode of play when a predetermined arrangement of particular game elements appears on said display during a game play, the probability of each game element being selected by said processor and displayed during a game play, the pay-out values and the winning combinations of game elements stored in said pay-out tables are such that the expected statistical return of said gaming machine is significant and that the actual return of the gaming machine is at least basically the same as the expected return;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
32. A gaming machine as defined in claim 31 wherein said gaming machine has an expected return at least equal to 0.8.
33. A gaming machine as defined in claim 32 wherein said array has at least three rows and three columns, said gaming machine further including means to permit a player to place a bet on each row, column and diagonal, said pay means paying out to a player for each combination of game elements appearing in a row, column and diagonal on said array on which a bet was placed during a game play that is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables.
34. A gaming machine as defined in claim 33 wherein one of said pay-out tables holds winning combinations of game elements associated with only said rows, columns and diagonals and wherein the other of said pay-out tables hold winning combinations of game elements associated with a particular game element, said pay means paying out to a player from said other pay-out tables when a predetermined number of said particular game elements are displayed during a game play.
35. A gaming machine as defined in claim 34 wherein said gaming machine has an expected return equal to at least 0.9.
36. A gaming machine as defined in claim 35 wherein a combination of game elements the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables is displayed approximately between 40% and 50% of all game plays.
37. A gaming machine as defined in claim 36 wherein said gaming machine enters said special mode of play when arrangement of one particular game element appears on said display in said predetermined arrangement.
38. A gaming machine as defined in claim 37 wherein said gaming machine remains in said special mode of play only for a pre-determined number of game plays.
39. A gaming machine as defined in claim 31 wherein said gaming machine enters said special mode of play is entered when one particular game element appears on said display in said predetermined arrangement.
40. A gaming machine as defined in claim 39 wherein said one particular game element resembles a bell and wherein in said special mode of play, said processor causes said display to simulate a swinging bell when said bell appears on said display.
41. A gaming machine as defined in claim 40 wherein said array has at least three rows and three columns, said gaming machine further including means to permit a player to place a bet on each row, column and diagonal, said pay-out means paying out to a player for each winning combination of game elements appearing in a row, column and diagonal on said array on which a bet was placed during a game play that is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables.
42. A gaming machine as defined in claim 41 wherein said predetermined arrangement requires said bell to appear along the center row and the center column for said gaming machine to enter said special mode of play.
43. A gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally at random the game elements to be displayed during said game play, wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein the probability of each game element being selected by said processor and displayed during a game play, the pay-out values and the winning combinations of game elements stored in said pay-out tables are such that the expected statistical return of said gaming machine is equal to at least 0.8 and that the actual return of said gaming machine is basically equal to said expected return; and pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in a pay-out table; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
44. A gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally a random the game elements to be displayed during said game play wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play result in corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay-out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, wherein said gaming machine accumulates bonus credits in said memory and where at least one of said pay-out tables stores at least one winning combination of game elements which results in said bonus credits being paid out to a player;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables; and pay means responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
45. A gaming machine as defined in claim 44 wherein at least one winning combination of game elements is designated for bonus credits and wherein pay outs resulting from the display of said at least one winning combination of game elements are accumulated in said memory as said bonus credits.
46. A gaming machine having a housing with a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, a memory and a processor for selecting generally a random game elements to be displayed during said game play, wherein predetermined combinations of game elements displayed during a game play resulting corresponding pay-outs, said gaming machine comprising:
a plurality of pay-out tables contained in said memory, each of said pay-out tables storing winning combinations of game elements and a pay-out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, one of said pay-out tables being associated with a special mode of play, pay outs from that pay out table being made only when said gaming machine is in said special mode of play, said gaming machine entering said special mode of play when a predetermined arrangement of particular game elements appears on said display during a game play;
pay-out detection means determining when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables; and pay means are responsive to said pay-out detection means for paying out to a player when a combination of game elements displayed during a game play is the same as a winning combination of game elements, the pay out being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
47. A gaming machine as defined in claim 46 wherein said gaming machine enters said special mode of play is entered when one particular game element appears on said display in said predetermined arrangement.
48. A gaming machine as defined in claim 47 wherein said one particular game element resembles a bell and wherein in said special mode of play, said processor causes said display to simulate a swinging bell when said bell appears on said display.
49. A gaming machine as defined in claim 48 wherein said array has at least three rows and three columns, said gaming machine further including means to permit a player to place a bet on each row, column and diagonal, said pay out pay means paying out to a player for each winning combination of game elements appearing in a row, column and diagonal on said array on which a bet was placed during a game play that is the same as a winning combination of game elements stored in said pay-out tables.
50. A gaming machine as defined in claim 49 wherein said predetermined arrangement requires said bell to appear along the center row and the center column for said gaming machine to enter said special mode of play.
51. A gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor for generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor and including a pay-out memory portion for storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements, said winning combinations of game elements including at least one bonus credit-incrementing winning combination of game elements and further including at least one bonus credit pay-out winning combination of game elements;
a bonus credit memory portion of said memory for storing a bonus credit total;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said detector determining when said set of game elements is a winning combination of game elements, said detector adding bonus credits to said bonus credit memory portion when a combination of elements matches said at least one bonus credit-incrementing combination of elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting a winning combination of game elements other than said at least one bonus credit-incrementing combination of game elements exists in said set of elements, said pay-out means paying out said bonus credit total when said bonus credit pay-out combination of game elements exists in said set of elements.
52. The gaming machine of claim 51, wherein said machine is a video gaming machine.
53. The gaming machine of claim 51, wherein said display comprises a two-dimensional array of cells, each of said set of game elements appearing in respective ones of said array of cells.
54. The gaming machine of claim 51, wherein said pay-out memory portion includes a plurality of bonus credit-incrementing winning combinations of game elements.
55. The gaming machine of claim 51, wherein said pay-out memory portion is organized into a plurality of pay-out tables including a bonus creditpay-out table.
56. The gaming machine of claim 51, wherein said memory includes a game element memory portion for storing different kinds of game elements selectable by said game element selector, said game elements stored in said game element memory portion including a subset of game elements sharing a common characteristic identifiable by the player, said pay-out memory portion including a plurality of bonus credit pay-out combinations of game elements, each of said bonus credit pay-out combinations of game elements having only game elements which are members of said subset.
57. The gaming machine of claim 56, wherein each game element in said subset is an image of a fruit.
58. A gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play, said array having first and second dimensions with values greater than one;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display, said pay-out memory portion including at least one nonlinear winning combination of game elements, said nonlinear combination of game elements having at least three predetermined elements at predetermined positions in the array through which a straight line cannot be drawn;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector determining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting a winning combination of game elements in said set of game elements.
59. The gaming machine of claim 58, wherein said first and second dimensions of said array have values of at least three, cells of said array formed at intersections of rows and columns respectively aligned with said firstand second dimensions, said nonlinear combination of game elements comprising four corner cells at the extremes of each of the first and second dimensions.
60. The gaming machine of claim 59, wherein said array is three rows by three columns.
61. A gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play, first and second dimensions of said array having values greater than one;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display, said pay-out memory portion including at least one special winning combination of game elements, said at least one special winning combination of game elements defined by the presence of a predetermined number of predetermined elements in said set of game elements, said predetermined number being greater than one but less than the total number of elements in said set of elements;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector determining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.
62. The gaming machine of claim 61, wherein said pay-out memory portion is organized into pay-out tables including at least one special pay-out table, said special pay-out table including said at least one special winning combination of game elements.
63. The gaming machine of claim 62, wherein said at least one special pay-out table further includes a winning combination of game elements specifying that all game elements in said set of elements must be of the same kind.
64. The gaming machine of claim 61, wherein said predetermined game elements in each of said special winning combinations of game elements are of the same kind.
65. The gaming machine of claim 61, wherein said pay-out memory portion stores a plurality of said special winning combinations of game elements, said special winning combinations of game elements having said predetermined numbers of different values.
66. The gaming machine of claim 61, wherein said at least one special winning combination of game elements will be found to exist in said set of game elements by said pay-out detector irrespective of the positions in the array of the game elements in said set of game elements.
67. A gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play, said array having rows and columns intersecting the rows, each column and row having a plurality of game elements;

a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a special configuration memory portion of said memory storing a predetermined special configuration of said machine which may occur during a game play;
a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements during a game play;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector determining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements;
a special configuration detector of said processor determining when said machine is in said special configuration, said processor altering the behaviour of the machine for a plurality of subsequent game plays based on the occurrence of the special configuration; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.
68. The gaming machine of claim 67, wherein said special configuration comprises a predetermined configuration of game elements occurring during a game play.
69. The gaming machine of claim 68, wherein said set of game elements has columns and rows, said predetermined special configuration comprises having all of the game elements in a column of said set of elements be of the same kind, and all of the game elements in a row of said set of elements be of the same kind.
70. The gaming machine of claim 69, wherein said set of elements has an odd number of columns including a middle column and odd number of rows including a middle row, said column of said set of game elements being said middle column and said row of said set of game elements being said middle row, such that said predetermined special configuration of game elements comprises a cross.
71. A gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements is displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor generally randomly selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements and pay-out values associated with respective ones of said winning combinations of game elements;
a special configuration memory portion of said memory storing a special configuration of the machine which the machine may enter during a game play;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector determining when said set of game elements includes a winning combination of game elements;
a special configuration detector of said processor detecting when a current configuration of the machine matches said stored special configuration, said processor altering the behaviour of the machine for a plurality of subsequent game plays responsive to detection of the special configuration; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.
72. The gaming machine of claim 71, wherein said processor configures the gaming machine into a special mode of operation upon the occurrence of the special configuration, said pay-out memory portion storing at least one special winning combination of game elements, said pay-out detector comparing said set of game elements to said at least one special winning combination of game elements when said machine is configured into said special mode of operation; and said pay-out means paying out to a player when said at least one special combination of game elements exists in said array only during said special mode of operation.
73. The gaming machine of claim 72, wherein said pay-out memory portion stores a plurality of special winning combinations of game elements, said pay-out detector comparing said set of game elements to each of said plurality of special winning combinations of game elements when the machine is in said special mode of operation, said pay-out means paying out to a player when any of said special winning combinations of game elements exists in said array only during said special mode of operation.
74. The gaming machine of claim 73, wherein each special winning combination of game elements within said plurality of special winning combinations of game elements specifies a predetermined number of a predetermined game element within said set of game elements, the predetermined number of any one of said special winning combinations of game elements being different from the predetermined number of any other of said special winning combinations of game elements.
75. The gaming machine of claim 72, wherein said at least one special combination of game elements comprises a predetermined number of a predetermined game element within said set of game elements to be displayed.
76. The gaming machine of claim 72, wherein said special mode of operation lasts for a predetermined number of game plays.
77. The gaming machine of claim 72, wherein the number of plays left to play in said special mode of operation is indicated on said display.
78. The gaming machine of claim 72, wherein said set of game elements is organized into columns and rows of game elements, said special configuration comprising at least one row and at least one column being occupied by one predetermined kind of game element.
79. The gaming machine of claim 72, wherein said set of game elements has an odd number of rows greater than one and an odd number of columns greater than one, said special configuration comprising a middle column and a middle row being occupied by said one predetermined kind of game element.
80. The gaming machine of claim 72, wherein said special configuration comprises a predetermined configuration of game elements appearing in said set of game elements to be displayed.
81. A gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing winning combinations of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements and a pay-out value associated with each of said winning combinations of game elements, the winning combinations of game elements and the pay-out values being chosen so that the expected return of the machine is significant, so that the actual return is approximately the same as the expected return of the machine, and such that a winning combination of game elements is displayed approximately between 40% and 50% of all game plays;
a pay-out detector of said processor determining when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements appears in said set of game elements, the pay-out to the player being based on the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements present in the set of game elements.
82. The gaming machine of claim 81, wherein said winning combinations of game elements and associated pay-out values are preselected so that said machine has an expected return greater than 0.8.
83. The gaming machine of claim 81, wherein a probability of selection of some of the game elements by said game element selector is greater than the probability of selection of others of said game elements.
84. The gaming machine of claim 81, wherein multiple ones of said winning combinations of game elements may be found in a single set of game elements to be displayed, said pay-out to a player being a function of the pay-out values associated with each of said multiple ones of said winning combinations.
85. A gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing at least one winning combination of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said at least one winning combination of game elements;
responsive to said pay-out detector detecting sad at least one winning combination of game elements, said processor animating at least one game element on said display that is a member of said at least one winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.
86. The gaming machine of claim 85, wherein said display is a cathode ray tube.
87. The gaming machine of claim 85, wherein said at least one game element is an image of an object, said processor-based circuit animating said at least one game element to simulate a natural motion of said object.
88. The gaming machine of claim 87, and further comprising audio output means coupled to said processor, said processor actuating said audio output means to produce a sound responsive to said pay-out detector detecting said at least one winning combination of game elements in said set of game elements, said sound being synchronized to the animation of the image of said at least one game element.
89. The gaming machine of claim 88, wherein said audio output means simulates a sound which would naturally be made by the object depicted by said at least one game element.
90. The gaming machine of claim 87, wherein said object is a bell, said processor-based circuit animating said at least one element to simulate swinging of the bell.
91. The gaming machine of claim 85, wherein said at least one winning combination of game elements is a special combination of winning elements, said machine configurable into a special mode of operation for a plurality of game plays, said special mode of operation being triggered by a predetermined, randomly occurring event, said pay-out memory portion storing a plurality of winning combinations of game elements including said special combination of winning elements; and said pay-out means paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting said special combination of winning elements in said set of game elements only during said special mode of operation.
92. The gaming machine of claim 85, wherein said at least one winning combination of game elements specifies that a predetermined number of a predetermined game element will exist within said randomly selected set of game elements, said processor animating each of said predetermined game elements upon said pay-out detector detecting said special winning combination of game elements in said randomly selected set of game elements.
93. The gaming machine of claim 85, wherein said pay-out memory portion stores a plurality of special winning combinations of game elements including said at least one winning combination of game elements, each of said special winning combinations of game elements specifying the occurrence of a predetermined number of a predetermined game element within said randomly selected set of game elements, the predetermined number for any one of said special winning combinations of game elements being different from the predetermined number for any other of said special winning combinations of game elements.
94. A gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play;
a processor coupled to said display, a game element selector of said processor selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing at least one winning combination of game elements which can appear in said set of game elements;
an audio output means coupled to said processor for emitting sound during a game play;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said at least one winning combination of game elements;
responsive to said pay-out detector detecting said at least one winning combination of game elements in said set of game elements, said audio output means emitting a sound associated with at least one game element within said winning combination of game elements; and pay-out means for paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when a winning combination of game elements exists in said set of game elements.
95. The gaming machine of claim 94, wherein said at least one element is an image of an object, said processor actuating said audio output means to emit a sound simulating a sound which would naturally be made by said object.
96. The gaming machine of claim 95, wherein said object is a bell, said processor-based circuit actuating said audio output means to emit a sound simulating the ringing of the bell.
97. The gaming machine of claim 94, wherein said at least one winning combination of game elements is a special combination of winning elements, said machine configurable into a special mode of operation for a plurality of plays, said special mode of operation being triggered by a predetermined, randomly occurring event, said pay-out memory portion storing a plurality of winning combinations of game elements including said special combination of winning elements; and said pay-out means paying out to a player responsive to said pay-out detector detecting when said special winning combination of game elements is in said set of game elements only during said special mode of operation.
98. The gaming machine of claim 94, wherein said pay-out memory portion stores a plurality of special winning combinations of game elements including said at least one winning combination of game elements, each of said special winning combinations of game elements specifying the occurrence of a predetermined number of a predetermined game element within said set of game elements, the predetermined number of any one of said special winning combinations of game elements being different from the predetermined number for any other of said special winning combinations of game elements; and said processor actuating said audio output means to emit a sound having a magnitude which is a function of the predetermined number of the predetermined game element associated with the particular special winning combination of elements detected within said set of game elements.
99. The gaming machine of claim 98, wherein said predetermined game element is an image of a bell, said audio output means generating a sound simulating the ringing of one or more bells, the magnitude of the sound generated increasing with the number of bell images detected in said set of game elements.
100. A gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, said array having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, cells occupied by game elements in the array occupying intersections of the rows and columns, a plurality of pay-out lines associated with respective ones of at least the rows of the array;
a processor including a game element selector for selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of kinds of game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor and including a pay-out memory portion storing a plurality of winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display, some of said winning combinations of game elements specifying a particular configuration of elements along any pay-out line in said array, others of said winning combinations of game elements specifying that a predetermined number of a predetermined game element be among said set of game elements to be displayed;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements to be displayed with said winning combinations of game elements;
and pay-out means responsive to said pay-out detector for paying out to a player when a sufficient match exists between a winning combination of game elements and said set of game elements to be displayed.
101. The gaming machine of claim 100, wherein pay-out lines are also associated with each of said columns of said array.
102. The gaming machine of claim 100, wherein pay-out lines are also defined on diagonals of said cells in said array, said diagonals formed at an angle to said rows and columns and each diagonal containing a plurality of said cells.
103. A gaming machine comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, said array having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, cells occupied by game elements in the array occupying intersections of the rows and columns, a plurality of pay-out lines associated with respective ones of at least the rows of the array, a respective bet tag associated with each of said pay-out lines todisplay an amount bet on the respective pay-out line;
a processor coupled to said display;
a player input means coupled to said processor for inputting, for each of said pay-out lines, whether no amount or one of a plurality of non-zero amounts is to be bet on the pay-out line;
a game element selector of said processor for selecting generally at random a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements;
a memory coupled to said processor, a pay-out memory portion of said memory storing a plurality of winning combinations of game elements which can appear on said display and a plurality of pay-out values associated with respective ones of said winning combinations of game elements, certain ones of said winning combinations of game elements specifying a particular configuration of elements along any pay-out line in said array;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements to be displayed with said winning combinations of game elements;
and pay-out means responsive to said pay-out detector for paying out to a player when a sufficient match exists between a winning combination of game elements and said set of game elements to be displayed, the amount to be paid out to a player calculated, for said certain ones of said winning combinations of game elements, as a function of the amount bet on the pay-out line on which the winning combination of game elements occurred and the pay-out value associated with the winning combination of game elements.
104. A gaming machine, comprising:
a housing having a display on which an array of generally randomly selected game elements are displayed during a game play, said array having rows and columns at an angle to the rows, a plurality of cells formed at the intersections of said columns and rows, each cell displaying a game element;
a processor coupled to said memory and said display, a game element selector of said processor selecting each of a set of game elements to be displayed from a plurality of different kinds of game elements, a subset of said different kinds of game elements having a common characteristic identifiable by the player;
a pay-out memory portion of said memory for storing winning combinations of game elements including at least one certain winning combination of game elements which specifies that a predetermined number of game elements in said set of game elements must have said common characteristic, said predetermined number being greater than one;
a pay-out detector of said processor comparing said set of game elements with said winning combinations of game elements; and pay-out means responsive to said pay-out detector for paying out to the player when at least one winning combination of elements is detected in said set of game elements.
105. The gaming machine of claim 104, wherein said common characteristic is that each element in said subset is a fruit.
CA 2085460 1992-12-15 1992-12-15 Video gaming machine Expired - Lifetime CA2085460C (en)

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US11380169B2 (en) 2005-12-05 2022-07-05 Milestone Entertainment Llc System for prizing remote users using real life sports personalities
US11393279B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2022-07-19 Milestone Entertainment, LLC System for implementing enhanced gaming and prizing parameters in an electronic environment
US11568714B2 (en) 2008-01-28 2023-01-31 Milestone Entertainment, LLC System for enhanced interactive game play in lottery and gaming environments
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AUPR076700A0 (en) * 2000-10-16 2000-11-09 Next Generation Entertainment (Aust) Pty Ltd Electronic game for a computer or slot machine
US10817851B2 (en) 2009-12-23 2020-10-27 Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited System and method for cashless gaming
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US11393279B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2022-07-19 Milestone Entertainment, LLC System for implementing enhanced gaming and prizing parameters in an electronic environment
US11715341B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2023-08-01 Milestone Entertainment, LLC System for implementing enhanced gaming and prizing parameters in an electronic environment
US11335164B2 (en) 2004-09-01 2022-05-17 Milestone Entertainment Llc Systems for implementing enhanced gaming and prizing parameters in an electronic environment
US11501607B2 (en) 2004-09-01 2022-11-15 Milestone Entertainment, LLC Systems for implementing enhanced gaming and prizing parameters in an electronic environment
US11688237B2 (en) 2004-09-01 2023-06-27 Milestone Entertainment, LLC Systems for implementing enhanced gaming and prizing parameters in an electronic environment
US11875642B2 (en) 2004-09-01 2024-01-16 Milestone Entertainment, LLC Systems for implementing enhanced gaming and prizing parameters in an electronic environment
US11380169B2 (en) 2005-12-05 2022-07-05 Milestone Entertainment Llc System for prizing remote users using real life sports personalities
US11620876B2 (en) 2005-12-05 2023-04-04 Milestoneentertainment, Llc System for prizing remote users using real life sports personalities
US11893863B2 (en) 2005-12-05 2024-02-06 Milestone Entertainment, LLC System for prizing remote users using real life sports personalities
US11568714B2 (en) 2008-01-28 2023-01-31 Milestone Entertainment, LLC System for enhanced interactive game play in lottery and gaming environments
US11861989B2 (en) 2008-01-28 2024-01-02 Milestone Entertainment, LLC System for enhanced interactive game play in lottery and gaming environments

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