GB2068619A - Amusement and gaming machines - Google Patents

Abstract

A fruit machine in which rotatable reels are ordinarily controlled via drives 10 from a computer control circuit along buses 14. When a button 25 is pressed after the end of a normal game, 2 to 1 selectors 16 change control to a bus 44 on the output of a shift register 46. This rotates the reels for a predetermined time to shuffle the combination of symbols displayed on the reels. If desired, only one or some of the reels may be thus shuffled, and the reels may rotate in the same direction as during the normal game, or in the reverse direction. The shuffling feature may be provided by the main computer control instead of by the circuitry shown. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Amusement and gaming machines This invention relates to amusement and gaming machines, and more particularly to the type commonly called fruit machines.

Fruit machines usually comprise a plurality of coaxial reels bearing symbols (often but not necessarily of different types of fruit). When the machine is operated, the reels spin around and each comes to a halt at random with one or more of the symbols on each reel displayed through a window. Depending on the inter-relationship of the symbols displayed on the different reels when they have all halted, a prize or reward may be paid out. In place of mechanical reels, fruit machines are also known in which the same effect is produced by some other form of display, for example a display on which the various symbols can be illuminated under electronic control.

The present invention is equally applicable to such machines.

From time to time, various features have been devised to enliven the basic game which can be played on a fruit machine. One which has gained popularity in recent years is known as a "nudge". By this feature, when the ordinary game as described above is completed, the player may be offered the choice of "nudging" one or more of the reels from the position in which it has halted by pressing a button. On pressing the "nudge" button the reel rotates by one step, each step corresponding to the spacing between adjacent symbols around the periphery of the reel. By pressing the "nudge" button one or more times and possibly on more than one reel, the player attempts to produce a winning combination of the symbols on the different reels displayed in the window.

The present invention seeks to provide an alternative to this kind of feature in order to provide a degree of interest and amusement for the player.

According to the invention there is provided an amusement or gaming machine having a plurality of sets of symbols which are arranged for display, with only one or some of the symbols of each set being displayed at a time, there being first means operable by a player to cause the symbol or symbols displayed in each set to change so as to display a sequence of different symbols of the set, and to cause each set to stop changing at random so as to produce a random combination of displayed symbols as between the sets, characterised in that further means operable by the player are provided which are arranged, if operated after said random combination of displayed symbols has been produced, to cause the displayed symbol or symbols in at least one of the sets to change continuously through a plurality of the symbols of the set for a time, and then stop changing again, whereby the random combination is altered.

In the common form of amusement or gaming machine which is provided with rotatable reels, said further player operable means causes one or more of the reels to spin through a plurality of symbol displaying positions, suitably for a predetermined time. In one preferred form, all the reels spin together for the same predetermined time.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a block diagram of part of the circuitry of a fruit machine.

The fruit machine is of the common type having three rotatable coaxial reels each with various symbols around their peripheries. Much of the machine is generally conventional, and will not be described in detail. By inserting money or tokens and pushing a "start" button or pulling a lever, a player can cause the reels to rotate under the control of micro-processor based computer control circuitry, and in the usual manner the reels will independently come to rest with one or several of their symbols displayed through a window in the front of the machine. Depending on the combination of symbols displayed on the three reels, the control circuitry will determine either that the player has lost, or that he has won, in which case it will cause an appropriate prize to be paid out.

Also in an entirely conventional manner; when the reels have come to rest a "hold" feature may be brought into operation by the control circuitry, the decision being made at random. When the "hold" feature is in operation, the control circuitry produces pulses to flash lights on the front panel, one associated with each reel, and the player may if he desires press one or more corresponding buttons.

When the next game is played, the reel corresponding to any button which has been pressed will remain stationary.

In the present fruit machine, when the "hold" feature is presented to the player he is allowed a choice: he can either press one or more of the "hold" buttons in the conventional manner, or he can press a special button marked "shuffle". In the latter case, all three reels will spin together for a short period of time and then stop with different symbols displayed through the window in the front panel. The control circuitry will then determine once again in the same way as before whether the player has won or lost, and pay any appropriate prize.

Referring to the drawing, the reels are each controlled by a conventional stepper motor (not shown) which is driven by a reel drive circuit 10.

Each reel drive circuit 10 has as an input a bus 12 of four lines, which is ordinarily fed from the computer control circuitry via buses 14 through respective 2 to 1 selectors 16. The computer control circuitry presents a continuously circulating bit pattern on the corresponding bus 14 when one of the reels is to rotate, the bit pattern being in accordance with specifications for the manufacturer of the reel drive circuit and stepper motor. By an appropriately circulating bit pattern, the reels can be continuously driven art a controlled speed either forwards or backwards. Such stepper motors are well known, a suitable type being available under the Trade Mark SLO-SYN from Messrs. Distronic, of Harlow, Essex.

When the control circuitry brings the "hold" feature into operation, the pulses which drive the "hold" lamps are also fed to a hold detector circuit 18 by lines 20. When such pulsed signals are detected by the detector 18, an output signal is provided on a line 22 to enable a NAND gate 24. If the player now presses the button 25 marked "shuffle" an input is provided through a level changer 26 to the NAND gate 24, which then provides a trigger input to a monostable 28. This monostable 28 has a period of around 11/2 seconds, and provides two outputs: one which activates a driver 30 for a lamp to show that the "shuffle" feature is in operation, and a further output 32 which is taken to the clock pulse input of a type 7474 TTL flip flop 34. The output of the NAND gate 24 is also taken to the-preset input of the flip flop 34.Thus, on pressing the shuffle button the flip flop 34 is preset by the output of the NAND gate 24, and provides an output on a line 36 for 11/2 seconds, until it is reset by the output 32 of the monostable.

The output on line 36 fulfils various functions.

Firstly, it is taken to circuits 38,40 which provide outputs to the computer control circuitry to inhibit the start button and the ordinary "hold" feature respectively, so that if the player subsequently presses either the start button or any of the hold buttons this will have no effect. Secondly, the line 36 is taken to the "select" inputs 42 of each of the 2 to 1 selectors 16, so that the selectors 16 transfer the control of the reel drives 10 from the lines 14 from the computer control circuitry to a four line output bus 44 of a shift register 46. Thirdly, the output of the flip flop 34 charges a capacitor 48 through a diode 50. The capacitor 48 then discharges more slowly through a resistor 52 and thereby after about a 1/4 second delay provides an input to set a further 7474 type flip flop 54.

The shift register 46 is fed with clock pulses which have a duration of about 2.25 milliseconds and a period of about 5.5 milliseconds, along a line 56 which is taken from a crystal divider chain which forms part of the main computer control circuitry.

Initially, the contents of the shift register 46 are all zeros, so that these clock pulses have no effect on the output bus 44. However, the load inputs 58 of the shift register 46 are hard wired in a predetermined pattern to the positive and zero volt lines. An output line 60 from the flip flop 54 causes this predetermined pattern to be loaded into the shift register 46 at the end of the 1/4 second delay provided by the capacitor 48. The D output line of the bus 44 is linked to the "serial in" input of the shift register 46, so that as clock pulses are fed to the shift register the predetermined pattern circulates round and round in the shift register. This circulating bit pattern acts on the reel drives 10 through the selectors 16, causing each of the reels to spin.The direction of spinning could be changed by altering the predetermined bit pattern loaded into the shift register 46 on the lines 58; and indeed if desired the pattern could be changed from time to time by applying appropriate logic circuitry at these inputs.

After the signal on line 60 to the shift register 46, the next clock pulse on line 56 acts on the flip flop 54 to cause itto reset to its initial state ready for the next time the shuffle feature is operated. The line 56 is also taken to the monostable 28 so that the triggering of this monostable is synchronised with a clock pulse.

The shuffling feature (i.e. the rotation of the reels just described) only lasts for as long as the 11/2 second delay period provided by the monostable 28.

At the end of this period, when the output on line 32 resets the flip flop 34, the shuffle feature ceases to be operative, with the output on line 36 from the flip flop 34 causing the selectors 16 to give control of the reel drives 10 back to the computer control circuitry via lines 14. The signal to the driver 30 forthe shuffle lamp is also extinguished by the monostable 28, and the outputs from the circuits 38,40 which act to inhibit the hold and start buttons are removed.

The hold detector circuit 18 is such that it only provides an output on line-22 to enable NAND gate 24 if the inputs on all three lines 20 are pulsing. Thus, if the player selects one or more holds, the NAND gate 24 will inhibit the shuffle button so that it cannot be used. Of course if it were desired to provide a variation on the shuffle feature described this could be omitted, and logic circuitry could be provided between the shift register 46 and each selector 16 to give the player the opportunity to hold one or more of the reels while he is operating the shuffle feature.

The output line 32 from monostable 28 also acts on NAND gate 24 to inhibit the shuffle button while the shuffle feature is in operation. - A further possibility will be for the shift register 46 to act on only some but not all of the reel drives 10 so that only some and not others of the reels are shuffled. Alternatively, a separate shift register 46 could be provided for each reel drive 10, so as to shuffle the reels at different rates; each shift register 46 could then be programmed with different bit patterns by the wiring of their inputs 58 if desired.

Alternatively, the circuitry around the shift register 46, flip flops 34,54 and monostable 28 could be duplicated for each reel drive, each monostable 28 having a different delay period so thatthe three reels are shuffled for different lengths of time. One preferred form is for the inputs 58 to be so wired that during the "shuffle" feature the reel or reels rotate in the opposite sense to their rotation during the ordinary game.

It will also be apparent that a shuffle feature as described also lends itself to control by a suitably programmed micro-processor rather than by the hardware described above. In this case, the shuffle feature could most conveniently be included in the programming of the main computer control microprocessor which controls the reels during a normal game.

The invention can of course be used in fruit machines with, for example, four or six reels instead of three. It can also be adapted to machines in which sets of illuminable symbols are provided instead of rotatable reels.

Claims (9)

1. An amusement or gaming machine having a plurality of sets of symbols which are arranged for display, with only one or some of the symbols of each set being displayed at a time, there being first means operable by a player to cause the symbol or symbols displayed in each set to change so as to display a sequence of different symbols of the set, and to cause each set to stop changing at random so as to produce a random combination of displayed symbols as between the sets, characterised in that further means operable by the player are provided which are arranged, if operated after said random combination of displayed symbols has been produced, to cause the displayed symbol or symbols in at least one of the sets to change continuously through a plurality of the symbols of the set for a time, and then stop changing again, whereby the random combination is altered.

2. An amusement or gaming machine according to claim 1 wherein the further player operable means causes all the sets of symbols to change.

3. An amusement or gaming machine according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the further player operable means causes all the sets to change for the same predetermined time.

4. An amusement or gaming machine according to claim 1 or claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the further player operable means causes at least one of the sets to change in a sequence which is the reverse of the sequence caused by the first player operable means.

5. An amusement or gaming machine according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each set of symbols is provided on a respective reel, rotation of the reel causing display of the symbols of the set in sequence.

6. An amusement or gaming machine according to claim 5 wherein the rotation of the reel is controlled by a circulating bit pattern on a multi-line bus.

7. An amusement or gaming machine according to claim 6 including a 2 to 1 selector in the bus, which is arranged to take control of the bus from circuitry controlled by the first palyer operable means, and give it to circuitry operated by the further player operable means, when the further player operable means is operated.

8. An amusement or gaming machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6 having computer control means arranged to recieve inputs from both player operable means and cause the displayed symbols to change accordingly.

9. An amusement or gaming machine arranged to operate substantially as described herein with reference to the drawing.