AU2011101133B4 - Multiple Pay Combination Gaming Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A gaming machine comprising a display; and an electronic game controller arranged to display a game image on the 5 display, the game image comprising: a game outcome area comprising a matrix of symbols; and a pay line indicator area located adjacent the game outcome area, the pay line indicator area comprising a first integer representing a number of the pay lines selected by the player, the pay 10 line indicator area being such that it does not contain: any indicia individually representing each of the pay lines available for selection by the player; and any indicia individually representing the pay lines selected by the player.

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Innovation Patent Applicant: Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited Invention Title: Multiple Pay Combination Gaming Apparatus The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method for performing it known to me/us: - 2 MULTIPLE PAY COMBINATION GAMING APPARATUS RELATED APPLICATION This application is a divisional application of Australian 5 patent application no. 2009212851 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a gaming machine. 10 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION With the increase of gambling at gaming venues has come increased competition between gaming venues to obtain a larger share of the total gambling spend. Gaming venue is operators have therefore continuously looked for new variations and types of games in order to attract both new and return customers to their venues. In response to this need, suppliers of gaming devices and 20 systems have attempted to provide the sought after variety, while still developing games that comply with the relevant regulations in the jurisdiction of the gaming venue operator. Suppliers of gaming devices therefore are faced with restrictions on the types of games and gaming 25 apparatus that are allowable, both in terms of the prevailing regulations and in terms of providing a return on investment to the gaming venue operators. Originally, gaming machines had physical spinning reels, 30 which were controlled by a stepper motor. These gaming machines paid a prize in an outcome was spun up on a single central pay line that was a winning combination. Some later machines displayed three positions on each reel and provided three horizontal pay lines, one for each row 35 that could be defined through the spinning reels. It is now uncommon for a player of an electronic gaming - 3 machine having a video display unit to be able to simultaneously play twenty-five or more pay lines in each activation of a game. It is usual and desirable to indicate to a player on screen the number of pay lines 5 that can be purchased and how many pay lines have been purchased in a way that allows players to readily compare their purchase with what is available. Figure 14 shows an exemplary screen shot S8 of a game in 10 which up to twenty-five lines can be played. The available twenty-five lines are indicated by pay line indicators 9. The player has selected to play ten lines and therefore the ten lines that are being played are highlighted. Typically, if a win occurred on one of the 15 pay lines being played, the pay line which displays the winning outcome is highlighted, for example by flashing both the symbols in the outcome that meant that it was a winning combination and flashing the corresponding pay line indicator 9. Indication of the winning pay lines is 20 required by the relevant gaming regulations in many jurisdictions. There is a need or want in the industry for gaming machines to have a high number of pay lines, for example 25 machines with 50, 100 or more pay lines. However, the higher the number of pay lines that are available, the more difficult it becomes to clearly display the pay lines on screen. In addition to providing information that allows a player to play the game in an informed way, a 30 game designer or gaming machine manufacturer must overcome the problem of presenting the game in an attractive way. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to a first aspect of the invention, there is 3S provided a gaming machine comprising: a display; and -4 an electronic game controller arranged to display a game image on the display, the game image comprising: a game outcome area comprising a matrix of symbols; and a pay line indicator area located adjacent the game outcome s area, the pay line indicator area comprising a first integer representing a number of the pay lines selected by the player, the pay line indicator area being such that it does not contain: any indicia individually representing each of the pay lines available for selection by the io player; and any indicia individually representing the pay lines selected by the player. In one embodiment, the game image comprises a second integer that is only visible if the symbols in the game is outcome area correspond to a predefined winning outcome, the second integer representing a line number of one of the pay lines selected by the player that is associated with the predefined winning outcome. 20 In one embodiment, the second integer is one of a plurality of second integers each of which represents a different line number of one of the pay lines selected by the player that is associated with the predefined winning outcome, the second integers being sequentially depicted 25 in the game image such that only one of the second integers is viewable at any time. In one embodiment, the second integer is disposed between the game outcome area and the pay line indicator area. 30 In one embodiment, the number of pay lines selected by the player is one of a plurality of predefined pay line options available for selection by the player, each of the predefined pay line options representing a unique number 35 of the pay lines available for selection by the player.

- 5 Further aspects of the present invention and further embodiments of the aspects of the invention described in the preceding paragraphs will become apparent from the following description, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings. 5 Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1: shows diagrammatically, a view of a gaming machine suitable for implementing the present invention. Figure 2: shows a block diagram of gaming apparatus suitable for implementing the present invention. 10 Figure 3: shows a block diagram of components of the memory of the gaming apparatus represented in Figure 2. Figure 4: shows diagrammatically, a network gaming system suitable for implementing the present invention. Figures 5 to 10: show exemplary screen shots from a gaming apparatus 15 implementing a first game of the present invention. Figure 11: shows an arrangement of pay line outcomes for the game shown in Figures 5 to 10. Figure 12: shows numbered outcome indicators for the 100 pay lines shown in Figure 11. 20 Figure 13: shows an exemplary screen shot from a gaming apparatus implementing a second game of the present invention. Figure 14: shows a screen shot showing the pay line structure of some prior art games.

.6 Detailed Description In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, one example of a gaming machine suitable for implementing the present invention is generally referenced by arrow 10. 5 The gaming machine 10 includes a console 12 having a display 14 on which is displayed representations of a game 16, that can be played by a player. A mid-trim 20 of the gaming machine 10 houses a bank of buttons 22 for enabling a player to play the game 16. The mid-trim 20 also houses a credit input mechanism 24 including a coin input chute 24A and a bill collector 24B. A top box 26 may carry 10 artwork 28, including for example, pay tables and details of bonus awards and other information or images relating to the game. Further artwork and/or information may be provided on the front panel 29 of the console 12. A coin tray 30 is mounted beneath the console 12 for cash payouts from the gaming machine 10. 15 The display 14 shown in Figure 1 is in the form of a video display unit, particularly a cathode ray tube screen device. Alternatively, the display 14 may be a liquid crystal display, plasma screen, any other suitable video display unit, or the visible portion of an electromechanical device. The top box 26 may also include a display, for example a video display unit, which may be of the same type as the display 14, 20 or a different type of display. Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a gaming apparatus, generally referenced by arrow 100, suitable for implementing the present invention. The gaming apparatus 100 may, for example, operate as a standalone gaming machine of the type shown in Figure 1. However, the gaming apparatus 100 may alternatively operate 25 as a networked gaming machine, communicating with other network devices, such as one or more servers or other gaming machines. The gaming apparatus 100 may also have distributed hardware and software components that communicate with each other directly or through a network. Accordingly, different reference numerals have been used in Figure 2 from Figure 1 for components that may be 30 equivalent.

- 7 The gaming apparatus 100 includes a game controller 101, which in the illustrated example includes a microprocessor, microcontroller, programmable logic device or other computational device 102. Instructions and data to control operation of the computational device 102 are stored in a memory 103, which is in data 5 communication with the computational device 102. Typically, the gaming apparatus 100 will include both volatile and non-volatile memory and more than one of each type of memory, with such memories being collectively represented by the memory 103. The instructions to cause the game controller 101 to implement the present invention will be stored in the memory 103. 10 The gaming apparatus may include hardware meters 104 for the purposes of regulatory compliance and also include an input/output (1/O) interface 105 for communicating with the peripheral devices of the gaming apparatus 100. The input/output interface 105 and/or the peripheral devices may be intelligent devices with their own memory for instructions and data. 15 In the example shown in Figure 2, the peripheral devices that communicate with the controller are one or more displays 106, a user interface 107 including a touch screen 106A, a card and/or ticket reader 108, a printer 109, a bill acceptor and/or coin input mechanism 110 and a coin output mechanism 111. Additional devices may be included as part of the gaming apparatus 100, or devices omitted as 20 required for the specific implementation. In addition, the gaming apparatus 100 may include a communications interface, for example a network card 112. The network card, may for example, send status information, accounting information or other information to a central controller, server or database and receive data or commands from a the central controller, 25 server or database. As explained in more detail In relation to Figure 4, the computational device 102 may include two or more controllers or processors, which may be local or remote from each other and the displays 106. Figure 3 shows an exemplary block diagram of the main components of the memory 103. The RAM 103A typically temporarily holds program files for -8 execution by the computational controller 102 and related data. The EPROM 103B may hold be a boot ROM device and/or may contain some system or game related code. The mass storage device 103C is typically used to store game programs, the integrity of which may be verified and/or authenticated by the computational 5 controller 102 using protected code from the EPROM 103B or elsewhere. Figure 4 shows a gaming system 200. The gaming system 200 includes a network 201, which for example may be an Ethernet network. Gaming devices 202, shown arranged in three banks 203 of two gaming devices 202 in Figure 4, are connected to the network 201. The gaming devices 202 may be gaming machines 10, as 10 shown in Figure 1 or form part or all of another gaming apparatus 100. Single gaming devices 202 and banks 203 containing three or more gaming devices 202 may also be connected to the network 201. One or more displays 204 may also be connected to the network 201. The displays 204 may, for example, be associated with a bank 203 of gaming devices. 15 The displays 204 may be used to display representations associated with game play on the gaming devices 202, and/or used to display other representations, for example promotional or informational material. Servers may also be connected to the network 201. For example, a game server 205 may generate game outcomes for games played on the gaming devices 202, 20 a database management server 206 with associated database 206A may store game programs and associated data for downloading or access by the gaming devices 202 and a jackpot server 207 may control one or more jackpots associated with the gaming devices 202. Further servers may be provided to assist in the administration of the gaming 25 system 200, including for example a gaming floor management server 208, and a licensing server 209 to monitor the use of licenses to particular games. An administrator terminal 210 is provided to allow an administrator to run the network 201 and the devices connected to the network.

-9 The gaming system 200 may communicate with other gaming systems, other local networks, for example a corporate network and/or a wide area network such as the Internet through a firewall 211. Figures 5 to 10 show a exemplary screen shots S1 to S6 of a game 16 in 5 accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The game may be implemented by the gaming machine 10, gaming apparatus 100 and/or within the gaming system 200, with a game controller 101 causing a display 106 to display the screen shots S1 to S6 during game play. Unless specifically stating otherwise, the following description refers to implementation of the game on a standalone 10 gaming machine 10 (see Figure 1). The game 16 is a spinning reel type game. Five spinning reels I - 5 are provided, each of which displays four playing elements or symbols 6 (one only indicated by a reference numeral). The symbols therefore define a matrix of five columns and four rows. If the game 16 pays from left to right, as is typical of a spinning reel 15 game, up to 1024 different outcomes can be defined in the matrix, representing every possible combination of visible symbols, with each combination having one symbol from each of the five reels I to 5. In the exemplary game 16 shown in Figures 5 to 10, a wager indicator 40 shows five combinations, indicated by combination indicators 41 - 45. Each combination 20 indicator 41 - 45 shows the number of outcomes or pay lines that are included in that combination. In the example shown, the available combinations allow two, twenty, fifty, eighty or one hundred lines to be purchased by a player. Figure 5 shows a screen shot S1 when two lines have been purchased, Figure 6 shows a screen shot S2 when twenty lines have been purchased and so forth for Figures 7 25 to 9. As is usual in a gaming machine, during normal play and excluding from consideration any "scatter pays" or other special symbols or features that may be provided, only a winning combination that occurs on a purchased pay line results in the award of a prize in credits or another award.

- 10 Figures 5 to 10 show a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention in which all five combination indicators 41 - 45 are displayed on screen and the selected combination is highlighted. In less preferred embodiments, the display may only show the combination indicator 41 - 45 that corresponds to the 5 combination selected by the player. For example, in Figure 5 only the combination 41 showing "2" lines may be displayed and in Figure 8 only the combination 44 showing "80" lines may be displayed. The wager indicator 40 can be viewed as a representation of a gauge, which gives a graphical representation of the proportion of outcomes purchased relative to the 10 total number of outcomes available to be purchased. The gauge starts at the top of the screen (Figure 5) when the minimum number of outcomes has been purchased and progresses towards the bottom of the screen (Figure 9) when all possible outcomes have been purchased. Although the gauge shown in Figures 5 to 10 shows discrete tabs for each combination indicator 41 - 45, this is not 15 essential and the gauge may appear more like a temperature gauge, optionally changing colour dependent on the number of outcomes purchased and optionally only displaying an integer that indicates the number of outcomes purchased. Therefore, in accordance with the instructions of the game 16, the game controller 101 causes the display 14 to show indicia of the number of outcomes purchased 20 without the complexity and clutter of displaying every outcome that is available to be purchased. In addition, the screen preferably also graphically displays a representation of the proportion of outcomes purchased relative to the total number available to be purchased. This can be a general indication of proportion rather than an exact or close approximation of the actual proportion, as is the case 25 with the example provided in Figures 5 to 10. The bank of buttons 22 or other user interface 107, which may include the touch screen 106A, preferably has a button or other selector corresponding to each of the five combinations. Alternatively, a single button may be used to cycle through the five available options, or two buttons provided, one to move to the next highest 30 option and the other to move to the next lowest option. In one embodiment, a - 11 player of the gaming machine 10 could touch the touch screen and drag his or her finger along the combination indicator 40 or other gauge, with the number of pay lines increasing or decreasing as the player moves along the combination indicator. The gaming machine 10 would display an increasing or decreasing 5 wager amount in a bet indicator 48 (see Figure 10) as the number of pay lines selected for purchase increase or decrease respectively. In an alternative game, the player may be able to select many more combinations of outcomes. For example, for a game having five spinning reels and three symbols from each reels displayed for each game activation the player may be 10 able to choose between 1 and 1024 lines. In this case, the bank of buttons 22 or other user interface 107 may have an "increase bet" button and a "decrease bet" button. The wager indicator 40 when displayed as a gauge may then also have a much higher resolution of steps and could show a moving marker as the player pressed the "increase bet" and "decrease bet" buttons. 15 Figure 10 shows a screen shot S6 following the purchase of eighty pay lines and play of the game 16. The result of the game is that one of the purchased outcomes, the thirty-eighth pay line is a winning combination. Having purchased eighty lines, as indicated by the highlighting of combination 44 in the wager indicator 40, at a cost of 40 credits ($0.40 in a 1 cent game) as indicated on the 20 screen under the "BET" heading, a win of 8 credits resulted, as indicated on the screen under the "WIN" heading. The win of 8 credits would typically be stored by the game controller 101 in a software implemented win meter, and then transferred to the credit meter of the gaming apparatus after any subsequent events that may be provided as part of the game. 25 An outcome indicator 46 indicates the pay line that caused the win. No outcome indicator 46 is displayed for any pay line that did not contain a winning combination. Multiple outcome indicators 46 may be displayed sequentially or simultaneously if more than one pay line contained a winning combination that contributed to the win meter under the game rules. In the embodiment shown, the 30 outcome indicator 46 includes a number identifying the pay line and also a - 12 representation of a pay line 46A showing the symbols that made up the pay line. These symbols may also flash or otherwise be highlighted to the player. The arrangement of the outcomes, in this example pay lines may be varied to match the wager indicator 40. Traditionally, the pay line allocated to pay line 5 number one is a straight pay line that traverses through the centre row of the symbols defined by the displayed part of the spinning reels. In the currently contemplated preferred embodiment the pay line allocated to pay line number one is located towards the top of the screen to match the location of the combination indicator 41. The first 50 pay lines may be predominantly defined by symbols in 10 the upper two rows and the second 50 pay lines may be predominantly defined by symbols in the lower two rows. In one embodiment, the first symbol or leftmost symbol in a game that pays left to right across the spinning reels, is dominant, so that the first 50 pay lines are defined by pattems where the symbol on the first reel is predominantly on the upper two rows. Similarly, for the second 50 pay lines the 15 symbol used on the first reel may be predominantly located on the lower two rows. Figure 11 shows a possible arrangement of lines in accordance with this arrangement method. In this arrangement the first 50 pay lines, specifically pay line 1 to pay line 50 all have the first symbol position in one of the top two rows of the first column/reel. These lines also have the last symbol position in the same 20 row of the last column/reel. Similarly, the last 50 pay lines have first and last symbol positions in the lower two rows of the first and last columns/reels respectively. Figure 12 shows all 100 of the outcome indicators 46 for the game described herein in relation to Figures 5 to 11. When an outcome displays a winning 25 combination of symbols, the outcome indicator 46 for that outcome is displayed between the wager indicator 40 and the symbols in the position horizontally in line to the position of the outcome indicator 46 shown in Figure 12. for example, the outcome indicator '3' would be displayed between the wager indicator 40 and the symbols where the outcome indicator '1' is currently shown. Similarly, the outcome - 13 indicator '42' would be displayed where the outcome indicator '40' is currently shown. In the example game shown in Figure 10, the player wagered one credit per line cost. The game may provide the option to wager two or more credits per line cost. 5 For example, if the player played eighty lines at two credits per line cost and game outcomes of Figure 10 resulted, the bet would have been eighty credits and the win sixteen credits. The player could vary the credits per line cost using the bank of buttons 22. Figure 13 shows an example screen shot S7 in which the credits per line-cost are 10 also displayed as a gauge. In screen shot S7 the wager indicator 40A is similar to that previously described and a per line-cost indicator 47 shows the bets per line, the options being 1, 10, 24, 40 (currently selected) and 50 in the example shown. In one embodiment of the invention, where a player has purchased less than the maximum number of outcomes and one or more winning combinations occurred in 15 outcomes that were not purchased, then the gaming apparatus may indicate this to the player. For example, if the player purchased 20 lines in a game supporting up to 100 lines, winning combinations in lines 21 to 100 may be indicated. Preferably the indication is in a less prominent way than for winning combinations that occur in outcomes that have been purchased. 20 While the foregoing description has been provided by way of example of the preferred embodiments of the present invention as presently contemplated, which utilise gaming apparatus and machines, those skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate that the present invention also may have application to internet gaming and/or have application to gaming over a telecommunications network, where 25 handsets are used to display game outcomes and receive player inputs. Where in the foregoing description reference has been made to integers having known equivalents, then those equivalents are hereby incorporated herein as if individually set forth.

- 14 Those skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate that modifications and additions to the embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification 5 extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention. It will also be understood that the term "comprises" (or its grammatical variants) as used in this specification is equivalent to the term "includes" and should not be 10 taken as excluding the presence of other elements or features.

Claims (5)

1. A gaming machine comprising: 5 a display; and an electronic game controller arranged to display a game image on the display, the game image comprising: a game outcome area comprising a matrix of symbols; and a pay line indicator area located adjacent the game outcome io area, the pay line indicator area comprising a first integer representing a number of the pay lines selected by the player, the pay line indicator area being such that it does not contain: any indicia individually representing each of the pay lines available for selection by the 15 player; and any indicia individually representing the pay lines selected by the player.

2. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the game image comprises a second integer that is only visible 20 if the symbols in the game outcome area correspond to a predefined winning outcome, the second integer representing a line number of one of the pay lines selected by the player that is associated with the predefined winning outcome. 25

3. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second integer is one of a plurality of second integers each of which represents a different line number of one of the pay lines selected by the player that is associated 30 with the predefined winning outcome, the second integers being sequentially depicted in the game image such that only one of the second integers is viewable at any time.

4. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, 35 wherein the second integer is disposed between the game outcome area and the pay line indicator area. - 16

5. The gaming machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the number of pay lines selected by the player is one of a plurality of predefined pay line options available for selection by the player, each of the 5 predefined pay line options representing a unique number of the pay lines available for selection by the player.