AU2019200611A1 - A method of gaming and gaming system - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract A gaming machine comprising: a credit input mechanism to enable a player to 5 input credits and receive payouts; a display; and a game controller comprising a processor and a memory, the game controller arranged to: receive a player choice of a bet multiplier 10 and play lines to play; select from the memory a plurality of groups of two symbols for a play line selected for play; control the display to display each of the selected groups of two symbols in a first orientation at 15 respective ones of a plurality of display positions on the play line on the display; determine, based on link rules stored in the memory, an optimum matching sequence of the symbols on the play line; 20 rotate at least one of the groups of two symbols on the display so that in a second orientation the symbols on a play line are linked based on the determined optimum matching sequence of the symbols; and award a prize to the player upon sufficient 25 of the symbols on the play line being linked in the optimum matching sequence. 11044292_1 (GHMatters) P72190.AU.5 30/01/19

Description

A METHOD OF GAMING AND GAMING SYSTEM

Related Application

This application is a divisional application of Australian patent application number 2017203736, which in turn is a divisional application of Australian patent application number 2015201651, which in turn is a divisional io application of Australian patent application number

2011253590, which in turn is a divisional application of Australian patent application number 2008202819. The disclosures of each of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.

Field

The present invention relates to a method of gaming and a gaming system.

Background to the Invention

The games played on gaming machines vary from market to market. Reasons for variation in games include regulations within the market or the appeal that particular games have within a market. For example, in some markets, slot machines with spinning reel games are popular whereas in other markets gaming machines which allow players to play games like bingo or poker are popular.

There is a need to provide a game that may have appeal in some markets .

Summary of the Invention

The invention provides a gaming machine comprising:

a credit input mechanism to enable a player to

11044292_l (GHMatters) P72190.AU.5 30/01/19

2019200611 30 Jan 2019 input credits and receive payouts; a display; and a game controller comprising a processor and a memory, the game controller arranged to:

receive a player choice of a bet multiplier and play lines to play;

select from the memory a plurality of groups of two symbols for a play line selected for play;

control the display to display each of the io selected groups of two symbols in a first orientation at respective ones of a plurality of display positions on the play line on the display;

determine, based on link rules stored in the memory, an optimum matching sequence of the symbols on the play line;

rotate at least one of the groups of two symbols on the display so that in a second orientation the symbols on a play line are linked based on the determined optimum matching sequence of the symbols; and award a prize to the player upon sufficient of the symbols on the play line being linked in the optimum matching sequence .

In an embodiment, the game controller is further arranged to cause the display to display each said group of two symbols as a token.

In an embodiment, the game controller comprises selects the plurality of groups of two symbols by selecting a plurality of tokens.

In an embodiment, the tokens are dominoes.

Brief Description of Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

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Figure 1 is a block diagram of the core components of a gaming system.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a stand alone gaming machine;

Figure 3 is a block diagram of the functional components of a gaming machine;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the functional components of a memory;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a network gaming system;

Figure 6 is a block diagram showing further details of the opponents of a gaming system;

Figure 7 is a flowchart of a method of an embodiment;

Figures 8 to 10 are screen shots of a domino game of the embodiment.

Detailed Description

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a gaming system arranged to implement a symbol linking game, exemplified by a domino game. In the domino game, dominoes are selected and arranged on play lines. The gaming system then determines which dominoes may be linked and awards prizes for linked dominoes on player played play lines.

The gaming system can take a number of different forms.

In a first form, a stand alone gaming machine is provided wherein all or most components required for implementing the game are present in a player operable gaming machine.

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In a second form, a distributed architecture is provided wherein some of the components required for implementing the game are present in a player operable gaming machine and some of the components required for implementing the game are located remotely relative to the gaming machine. For example, a thick client architecture may be used wherein part of the game is executed on a player operable gaming machine and part of the game is executed remotely, io such as by a gaming server; or a thin client architecture may be used wherein most of the game is executed remotely such as by a gaming server and a player operable gaming machine is used only to display audible and/or visible gaming information to the player and receive gaming inputs from the player.

However, it will be understood that other arrangements are envisaged. For example, an architecture may be provided wherein a gaming machine is networked to a gaming server and the respective functions of the gaming machine and the gaming server are selectively modifiable. For example, the gaming system may operate in stand alone gaming machine mode, thick client mode or thin client mode depending on the game being played, operating conditions, and so on. Other variations will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.

Irrespective of the form, the gaming system has several core components. At the broadest level, the core components are a player interface 50 and a game controller 60 as illustrated in Figure 1. The player interface is arranged to enable manual interaction between a player and the gaming system and for this purpose includes the input/output components required for the player to enter instructions and play the game.

Components of the player interface may vary from

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2019200611 30 Jan 2019 embodiment to embodiment but will typically include a credit mechanism 52 to enable a player to input credits and receive payouts, one or more displays 54 and a game play mechanism 56 that enables a player to input game play instructions.

The game controller 60 is in data communication with the player interface and typically includes a processor 62 that processes the game play instructions in accordance io with game play rules and outputs game play outcomes to the display. Typically, the game play instructions are stored as program code in a memory 64 but can also be hardwired. Herein the term processor is used to refer generically to any device that can process game play instructions in accordance with game play rules and may include: a microprocessor, microcontroller, programmable logic device or other computational device, a general purpose computer (e.g. a PC) or a server.

A gaming system in the form of a stand alone gaming machine 10 is illustrated in Figure 2. 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 interact with the gaming machine, in particular during game play. The mid-trim 20 also houses a credit input mechanism 24 which in this example includes a coin input chute 24A and a bill collector 24B. Other credit input mechanisms may also be employed, for example, a card reader for reading a smart card, debit card or credit card. A reading device may also be provided for the purpose of reading a player tracking device, for example as part of a loyalty program. The player tracking device may be in the form of a card, flash drive or any other portable storage medium capable of being read by the reading device.

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A top box 26 may carry artwork 28, including for example play tables and details of bonus awards and other information or images relating to the game. Further artwork and/or information may be provided on a front panel 29 of the console 12. A coin tray 30 is mounted beneath the front panel 29 for dispensing cash payouts from the gaming machine 10.

The display 14 shown in Figure 2 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, or of a different type.

Figure 3 shows a block diagram of operative components of a typical gaming machine which may be the same as or different to the gaming machine of Figure 2.

The gaming machine 100 includes a game controller 101 having a processor 102. Instructions and data to control operation of the processor 102 are stored in a memory 103, which is in data communication with the processor 102. Typically, the gaming machine 100 will include both volatile and non-volatile memory and more than one of each ³⁰ type of memory, with such memories being collectively represented by the memory 103.

The gaming machine has hardware meters 104 for purposes including ensuring regulatory compliance and monitoring player credit, an input/output (I/O) interface 105 for communicating with peripheral devices of the gaming machine 100. The input/output interface 105 and/or the

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2019200611 30 Jan 2019 peripheral devices may be intelligent devices with their own memory for storing associated instructions and data for use with the input/output interface or the peripheral devices. A random number generator module 113 generates random numbers for use by the processor 102. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the reference to random numbers includes pseudo-random numbers.

In the example shown in Figure 3, a player interface 120 io includes peripheral devices that communicate with the game controller 101 include one or more displays 106, a touch screen and/or buttons 107, 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 hardware may be included as part of the gaming machine 100, or hardware may be omitted as required for the specific implementation.

In addition, the gaming machine 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 the central controller, server or database.

Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the main components of an exemplary memory 103. The memory 103 includes RAM 103A, EPROM 103B and a mass storage device 103C. The RAM

103A typically temporarily holds program files for execution by the processor 102 and related data. The EPROM 103B may 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 processor 102 using protected code from the EPROM 103B or elsewhere.

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It is also possible for the operative components of the gaming machine 100 to be distributed, for example input/output devices 106,107,108,109,110,111 to be provided remotely from the game controller 101.

Figure 5 shows a gaming system 200 in accordance with an alternative embodiment. The gaming system 200 includes a network 201, which for example may be an Ethernet network.

Gaming machines 202, shown arranged in three banks 203 of two gaming machines 202 in Figure 5, are connected to the network 201. The gaming machines 202 provide a player operable interface and may be the same as the gaming machines 10,100 shown in Figures 2 and 3, or may have simplified functionality depending on the requirements for implementing game play. While banks 203 of two gaming machines are illustrated in Figure 5, banks of one, three or more gaming machines are also envisaged.

One or more displays 204 may also be connected to the network 201. The displays 204 may, for example, be associated with one or more banks 203 of gaming machines. The displays 204 may be used to display representations associated with game play on the gaming machines 202, and/or used to display other representations, for example promotional or informational material.

In a thick client embodiment, game server 205 implements part of the game played by a player using a gaming machine

202 and the gaming machine 202 implements part of the game. With this embodiment, as both the game server and the gaming device implement part of the game, they collectively provide a game controller. A database management server 206 may manage storage of game programs and associated data for downloading or access by the gaming devices 202 in a database 206A. Typically, if the gaming system enables players to participate in a Jackpot

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2019200611 30 Jan 2019 game, a Jackpot server 207 will be provided to implement the accounting functions of a Jackpot game. The system may also include a player loyalty system 212.

In a thin client embodiment, game server 205 implements most or all of the game played by a player using a gaming machine 202 and the gaming machine 202 essentially provides only the player interface. With this embodiment, the game server 205 provides the game controller. The io gaming machine will receive player instructions, pass these to the game server which will process them and return game play outcomes to the gaming machine for display. In a thin client embodiment, the gaming machines could be computer terminals, e.g. PCs running software that provides a player interface operable using standard computer input and output components.

Servers are also typically provided to assist in the administration of the gaming network 200, including for example a gaming floor management server 208, and a licensing server 209 to monitor the use of licenses relating 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.

The gaming network 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, for example through a firewall 211.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that in accordance with known techniques, functionality at the server side of the network may be distributed over a plurality of different computers. For example, elements may be run as a single engine on one server or a separate server may be provided. For example, the game server 205 could run a random generator engine.

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Alternatively, a separate random number generator server could be provided. Further, persons skilled in the art will appreciate that a plurality of games servers could be provided to run different games or a single game server may run a plurality of different games as required by the terminals .

Referring to Figure 6 there is a shown a block diagram containing more detail than Figure 1. The instruction 10 input mechanism 56 includes a play line selector 56a which enables the player to select how many play lines they will play and a bet amount selector 56b operable by the player to select the amount of credits they wish to bet per play line. The game controller 60 implements a number of separate modules 621 to 624 to carry out various functions in respect of the game. In the embodiment these modules 621 to 624 are implemented as software program code executed by processor 62. However, a person skilled in the art will appreciate that some or all of the modules

621 to 624 may be implemented as dedicated hardware components. For example, it is possible to provide a dedicated random number generator module 621.

A person skilled will appreciate that other symbols, for example card symbols animal symbols or other identifiers as can be used. The number of different symbols can be used to vary the domino distribution. Further, while the embodiment employs dominoes having a predetermined two symbols thereon. In some embodiments, it may be desirable to select symbols at random from a set of symbols to form the dominoes - i.e. by randomly selecting two symbols to form each domino rather than selecting dominoes. Thus, a domino may be understood to be a group of two symbols displayed on a token. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that other forms of tokens may be used to for example, tokens having three symbols or more thereon.

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In the embodiment, the token selector randomly selects dominoes using random number generator 621 from a set of dominoes and displays them as shown in Figures 8 to 10 in a 5 x 5 grid.

In accordance with the invention, prizes are awarded for linking dominoes on the play lines that a player is playing. Accordingly, the game controller includes a token linker 623 arranged to determine how the dominoes io may be linked based on link rules 642.

In an alternative embodiment, the player operates the instruction input mechanism 56 to input one or more link instructions to thereby make selections as to how the dominoes should be linked and the token linker 623 determines whether the attempted links are correct in accordance with the link rule. For example, where the input mechanism 56 includes a touch screen, the player could touch each domino which the player wants to rotate.

The outcome determiner 624 then determines whether to award a prize based on the linked dominoes in accordance with the game rule and prize data 641. In some embodiments, dominoes having higher ranked identifiers for example a larger number of dots on their faces can be used as the basis of awarding a higher prize. A set of dominoes may also include dominoes that allow links to be made even when there is not a match or which are treated deemed a match such as a wild symbol.

Further, in the example described below the dominoes are linked in play lines defined by rows in the matrix.

However a person skilled in the art will appreciate that play lines can be defined in a number of different ways.

In other embodiments, one or more dominoes may be moved in accordance with game rules in order to form additional

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2019200611 30 Jan 2019 links. For example, either a single domino or a row or column of dominoes may be moved in accordance with game rules .

In a further embodiment, there may be additional dominoes, for example, displayed in a reserve area which are used to replace dominoes to form links. In accordance with techniques known in the art, some of these possible additional features may be available to players who place io additional bets or may be awarded based on an earlier game outcome.

The process 700 of the embodiment is shown in Figure 7.

The process 700 involves selecting tokens 710, linking the tokens 720 and awarding prizes based on the link 730.

Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that the method of the embodiment could be embodied in program code. The program code could be supplied in a number of ways, for example on a computer readable medium, such as a disc or a memory (for example, that could replace part of memory 103) or as a data signal (for example, by downloading it from a server).

The number of dominoes that a player is required to link will depend on the game rules 641 that is the game rules and prize data will specify how many symbols are sufficient for a prize to be awarded. For example, in some embodiments linking two tokens may not sufficient.

The display of a game may be carried out in a number of different ways. In some embodiments if the player selects to play only one play line, only tokens corresponding to that play line are drawn and displayed on the display. In a typical embodiment, a grid of dominoes is shown face down so that the symbols are not visible prior to the player playing the game. After the player chooses the

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2019200611 30 Jan 2019 number of play lines to cover and enters their bet amount, the dominoes are turned over (preferably with animation) to reveal the symbols. In some embodiments, only dominoes played by the player are turned over. In a similar manner, in some embodiments the linking operation may only be performed on paid for play lines or alternatively may be highlighted to distinguish it from linking operations occurring on play lines not played by the player.

io Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that other grid configurations may be employed, for example, 3x5, 4x5, 5x6 etc.

Various modifications to the above embodiment will apparent to a person skilled in the art and should be considered as falling within the scope of the invention described herein.

Example

To commence play, the player employs game play mechanism 56 in the form of a touch screen or buttons 107 to choose a bet multiplier and choose play lines to play in a manner analogous to a multi-line reel spinning game. A new set of dominoes are selected and arranged in a grid of 5 columns and 5 rows as shown in Figure 8. This is done by turning over a set of dominoes that are face down, such as domino 830b to a series of face up dominoes 830a as shown in the screen shot 800 of Figure 8. It will also be apparent from Figure 8 that there are five play lines 820 as well as a display of the credit bet and win amounts 810. In the example, once the whole stack is revealed dominoes such as domino 930a are turned to form winning combinations. The screen shot 900 of Figure 9 shows the dominoes being linked by turning them to form the optimum matching sequence. In an embodiment, dominoes are only displayed for selected play lines.

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Figure 10 shows the final result wherein play line 2 pays for 5 dominoes as the wild symbol in the fourth column connects to the footprint symbol in the fifth column.

Play line 1 plays for 3 dominoes, play line 3 pays for 2 dominoes with a connect using a wild symbol and play line 5 pays for 3 dominoes with a wild connecting again.

It will be understood to persons skilled in the art of the invention that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, in particular it will be apparent that certain features of embodiments and examples of the invention can be employed to form further embodiments.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word comprise or variations such as comprises or comprising is used in an inclusive sense,

i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Claims (4)

1. THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

   1. A gaming machine comprising:

   a credit input mechanism to enable a player to 5 input credits and receive payouts;

   a display; and a game controller comprising a processor and a memory, the game controller arranged to:

   receive a player choice of a bet multiplier io and play lines to play;

   select from the memory a plurality of groups of two symbols for a play line selected for play;

   control the display to display each of the selected groups of two symbols in a first orientation at

   15 respective ones of a plurality of display positions on the play line on the display;

   determine, based on link rules stored in the memory, an optimum matching sequence of the symbols on the play line;

   20 rotate at least one of the groups of two symbols on the display so that in a second orientation the symbols on a play line are linked based on the determined optimum matching sequence of the symbols; and award a prize to the player upon sufficient

   25 of the symbols on the play line being linked in the optimum matching sequence .
2. 2. A gaming machine as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the game controller is further arranged to cause the display

   30 to display each said group of two symbols as a token.
3. 3. A gaming machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the game controller comprises selects the plurality of groups of two symbols by selecting a plurality of tokens.

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4. 4. A gaming machine as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the tokens are dominoes.