EA008327B1 - Gaming machine and control method of gaming machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A gaming machine is configured to shift from a normal game mode to a special game mode based on the result of determination on establishment/non-establishment of a shift condition. After shifting to the special game mode, the gaming machine extracts a predetermined number of card data to be used in the special game mode, and selects card data to be assigned to a first group and card data to be assigned to second groups from among the extracted card data. Then, the gaming machine compares a winning combination based on the card data of the first group to winning combinations based on the card data of at least two the second groups, and pays the payout amount to the player in accordance with the comparison result.

Description

The present invention relates to a gaming machine on which card games such as blackjack can be played, with images of cards such as playing cards or the like displayed on a screen, and to a method of controlling a gaming machine.

Prior art

Traditionally, a gaming machine that displays images of cards, such as playing cards, on the screen of its display device, which is implemented by means of a liquid crystal display panel or cathode ray tube, and changes the display of each of the card images in accordance with the operational input made by the player to facilitate promotion of the game (see, for example, Japanese application No. 2001-70642, which has not passed the examination, hereinafter referred to as "patent document 1"). A real player playing a game on such a gaming machine plays a game using playing cards (a card game), such as blackjack or poker, against the dealer (croupier) who is a virtual opponent controlled by the gaming machine, and receives a payout, for example depending on the outcome of the game.

Summary of Invention

The card game in the above-described traditional gaming machine, including the above-described patent document 1, is such that the win / loss is determined by comparing the superiority or lower rank between the winning combination of real player cards and the winning combination of the croupier card that is a virtual opponent controlled by the gaming machine, so when a player wins, a fixed payout amount is paid according to the winning combination of the player’s cards. Therefore, in a card game realized on a traditional gaming machine, after a decision is made on a winning combination of player cards, the payout amount payable when a player wins is automatically determined (known), thereby causing the player continuing the game on this gaming machine. feeling of monotony of the game. Accordingly, the traditional gaming machine does not maintain interest in the game.

The present invention has been developed taking into account the problems described above, and its task is to create a gaming machine that maintains player interest by making the contents of the card game changeable and new, as well as a way to control the gaming machine.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the present invention provides a gaming machine comprising determination means for determining whether a transition condition for transitioning a game mode from a normal game mode to a special game mode and determining a transition mode for transitioning a game mode from a normal game mode to a special mode. game mode based on the result of the determination implemented by the means of determination, characterized in that it includes a selection tool, n ednaznachennoe for allocating a predetermined number of card data for use in the special game mode of the plurality of card data; a selection means for selecting card data for assigning to the first group and card data for assigning each of a plurality of second groups among a predetermined amount of card data allocated by the allocator; winning combination comparison means for performing a comparison between winning combinations based on card data of the first group and winning combinations based on card data of at least two second groups; and a payout calculating means for calculating a payout based on a comparison result performed by the winning combination comparison means.

In a special game mode according to the present invention, it is assumed that there are a plurality of second groups, and the winning combinations of the respective card data of the second group are compared (played against) the winning combination of card data of the first group to compete for superiority, respectively. Therefore, the player of the first group is given a chance to get paid many times by winning against the set of second groups. The amount of the payout (winnings) to be paid to the first group is not determined until the end of the game against all of the second groups, even if the winning combination of the card data of the first group is determined, thereby allowing the player of the first group to continue to wait until the last moment. Therefore, even if the game is played with repetitions, the interest of the player of the first group can be maintained.

In this case, it is preferable that the gaming machine additionally includes a command input device for inputting commands for the first group, the selection means selecting card data for the first group in accordance with the command entered from the command input device. This allows the player of the first group to realize that his desire is taken into account and that he directly takes part in a special game mode, so that the interest of the player of the first group can be maintained for a longer time.

In addition, it is preferable that the payment be changed in accordance with the number of participants from the second groups, in which the party of the first group won. In this case, for example, if the payout increases in proportion to the number of players from the second groups, in which the player won from the first group, then the player from the first group hopes that he can win

- 1 008327 number of players in the second group, which results in an additional increase in interest in the game.

In addition, it is preferable that if the processing from extracting card data by means of allocating to comparing a winning combination by means of comparing winning combinations is considered as one game, then the payout rate for calculating payouts by means of the payout calculator changes for each game. This allows the first group player to experience the expectations of winning a game with a high payout rate, leading to additional interest in the game.

In addition, it is advisable that the gaming machine additionally includes a card display device for displaying card images using card data selected by the selection means.

In addition, it is advisable that the selection tool is designed to select card data for assigning the first group as card data on the player’s side and selecting card data for assigning the second group as card data on the side of the gaming machine.

Then it is advisable that in a special game mode, the player can play blackjack.

The present invention provides a gaming machine control method comprising determination means for determining whether a transition condition for transition of a game mode from a normal game mode to a special game mode is established or not, and a transition tool for switching a game mode from a normal game mode to a special game mode based on the result of the determination implemented by the means of determination, wherein the method includes the steps of: extracting a predetermined amounts of card data for use in a special game mode from a variety of card data; selecting card data for assignment to the first group and card data for assigning each of a plurality of second groups among a predetermined number of allocated card data; performing a comparison between a winning combination based on the card data of the first group and winning combinations based on the card data of at least two second groups; and calculating payouts based on the result of the comparison of winning combinations.

The present invention is explained in the detailed description below with reference to the drawings, which are presented for illustration only and, therefore, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a spatial view showing the complete configuration of a gaming machine that is a gaming machine in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a gaming machine, mainly showing its internal configuration;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of an image control circuit;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the operating procedure from the beginning to the end of the game on the gaming machine shown in FIG. one;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the lottery processing operation procedure shown in FIG. four; FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the operational procedure for processing the first game shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 are diagrams showing examples of the contents of the symbol decision tables for use in the first game;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the stop table for use in the first game;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a win definition table for use in the first game;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a state definition table for use in the first game;

FIG. 11 is a view of a screen image when playing a game in the first game;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the operational procedure for processing the second game shown in FIG. four;

FIG. 13 is a schematic representation of an example of a screen image when playing a game displayed on a liquid crystal display panel when processing a second game;

FIG. 14 is a schematic representation of an example of a screen image when playing a game displayed on a liquid crystal display panel when processing a second game;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the operating procedure for another processing of the second game.

Description of preferred embodiments of the invention

Below, preferred embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the drawings illustrating them. The same reference numerals designate the same or corresponding components and the repeated description of such components is omitted.

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FIG. 1 is a spatial view illustrating the complete configuration of the gaming machine 1. The gaming machine 1, which is a gaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, has a variable image display device that displays a plurality of symbols in a variable manner, and a map display device that displays multiple map images . The gaming machine 1 may also perform a normal game mode in which a plurality (three in this embodiment) of pseudo-reels is displayed on a variable image display device, providing the opportunity to play the traditional game of slots (the first game), and additionally a special game mode in which a plurality of card images are displayed on a card display device, providing the opportunity to play blackjack, which is a game of cards (second game). In the normal game mode, the win / loss is determined depending on the combination of symbols that appear on the active payline (pay line) at the time of the game when the pseudo-reels stop.

The gaming machine 1 has a housing 2, in front of which are mounted liquid crystal display panels 3, 4 and 5 in order from the upper side. The liquid crystal display panel 3 displays images that are not directly related to the game (for example, a pay table, a three-dimensional moving image for a game action that makes the game more exciting, etc.). The LCD display panel 4 displays explanations on how to play games, etc.

The liquid crystal display panel 5 functions as a display device for a variable image and a display device for maps. On this liquid crystal display panel 5, in the normal game mode, a plurality of pseudo-drums for the first game (playing slots) is displayed, so that on each of the pseudo-drums the symbols are displayed in a variable manner (indicator with creeping line mode). In addition, images of cards for the second game (card game) are displayed in a special game mode. The contents of the pseudo drum images and maps displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5 are described below.

In addition, the housing 2 is provided with a coin acceptor slot 6 for betting in the game and a banknote receiving port 7 for entering banknotes under the liquid crystal display panel 5. In addition, to the left of the port 7, banknote receiving buttons 8 are arranged in order Spin, button 9 for selecting a bet, button 10 for selecting a line and button 12 for pay.

The rotation button 8 inputs a start signal for the player, intended to enter a command to start the game, to thereby trigger the changing display of pseudo-drums on the liquid crystal display panel 5 by the prompt input made by the player. The bet selection button 9 introduces a bet selection signal for the player to select and set a certain number of coins (for example, 1, 2 or 10) as the bet object. The line selection button 10 inputs a line selection signal for the player to select and set the desired active line from a plurality of not shown active lines by operational input of the player. In addition, the housing 2 is provided at the bottom with a hole 13 for paid out coins and a tray 14 for receiving coins that receives paid out coins.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a gaming machine 1 illustrating its internal configuration. The gaming machine 1 comprises a plurality of components on the microcomputer 31.

The microcomputer 31 contains a main central processing unit (CPU) 32, random access memory (RAM) 33 and read-only memory (ROM) 34. The main DSC 32 operates in accordance with the program stored in the permanent memory 34 to input / output signals from / to others components through the I / O port 39 to thereby control the operation of the entire gaming machine 1. The RAM 33 stores data and programs for use in the operation of the main CPU 32, in which, for example, the random number values selected by the sampling scheme 36 described below temporarily preserved After the game starts, data is stored, such as code numbers and pseudo drum symbol numbers. Permanent memory 34 stores the programs executed by the main DSC 32 and permanent data.

The gaming machine 1 also comprises a random number generator 35, a sampling circuit 36, a clock pulse generation circuit 37, and a frequency divider 38. The random number generator 35 operates in accordance with the commands from the main CPU 32 for generating random numbers within a certain range. The sampling circuit 36 selects an arbitrary random number from the random numbers generated by the random number generator 35, in accordance with the command from the main DSC 32, and inputs the selected random number to the main DSC 32. The clock generation circuit 37 generates a reference clock signal to activate the main CPU. 32, and the frequency divider 38 inputs the main DSC 32 signal obtained by dividing the frequency of the reference clock signal by a certain period.

The input switching unit 50 comprises a start switch 51, a bet switch 52, a 53 line switch and a pay switch 55. The start switch 51 inputs the start signal to the main CPU 32 after detecting the operational input from the rotation button 8. The switch 52 of bets enters a signal to select a bet into the main DSC 32 after detecting operational input from the button 9 for selecting a bet. The switch 53 lines enters the signal line selection in the main DSC 32 after the detection of operating

- 3 008327 input from the button 10 line selection. The switchboard 55 payouts enters the payout signal to the main CPU 32 after detecting the transaction input from the payout button 12.

In addition, the gaming machine 1 includes a touch panel 56, a light supply circuit 59, a light bulb 60, an LED indicator power circuit 61, an LED indicator 62, a bunker loading device control circuit 63, a bunker loading device 64, a payout signaling circuit 65 and a detector 66 of coins. The gaming machine 1 further comprises an image display control circuit 71, a sound output control circuit 72, and a speaker 73.

The touch panel 56 is provided in such a way that it overlaps the screen of the liquid crystal display panel 5 to detect the location of a player’s finger touch and to input the position signal corresponding to the detected location to the main CPU 32. The power supply circuit 59 of the light bulb provides a signal to the light bulb 60 to turn on the light bulb 60, causing the flashes of the light bulb 60 to be played. With the use of such a flash, an effective execution of the game is ensured. The LED power supply circuit 61 controls the illumination of the LED indicator 62. The LED indicator 62 realizes the indication of the number of credits, the indication of the received number of coins, etc. The control circuit 63 of the bunker loading device provides control of the bunker loading device 64 by means of the main CPU 32, and the bunker loading device 64 performs the operation of paying out coins for winning, ensuring the delivery of coins from the payout opening 13. The coin detector 66 counts the number of coins paid out by the bunker loading device, and sends the count value data to the payout signaling circuit 65. The payment completion signaling circuit 65 acquires the data of the counted number of coins from the 66 coin detector and inputs a signal notifying the completion of the payout of coins to the main CPU 32 when the value of the number reaches the data value for the set number.

The image display control circuit 71 controls the display of images on each of the liquid crystal display panels 3, 4, 5 to provide display on the liquid crystal display panels 3, 4, 5 of various images, such as pseudo-drums, displayed in a variable manner, map images, etc.

The image display control circuit 71 has, as shown in FIG. 3, an image display control CPU 71a, a work RAM 71B, a program ROM 71c, an image ROM 716, a video RAM 71e, and a video processor 71G. The image display control CPU 71a decides on images (pseudo drums, maps, etc.) to be displayed on liquid crystal display panels 3, 4, 5, based on parameters set by the microcomputer 31 in accordance with the image display control program (associated with displaying images on liquid crystal display panels 3, 4, 5) stored in advance in program ROM 71c. The work RAM 71b acts as a temporary memory when the image display control unit 71a executes the image display control program.

The program ROM 71c stores the image control program, various selection tables, etc. The image ROM 716 stores image point data for imaging. The dot image data in this embodiment includes not only pseudo-drum image data for use in the first game slots game, but also card images showing 52 playing cards (hereinafter referred to as “the card image group”) for use in blackjack. The video RAM 71e acts as an intermediate memory when the video processor 71 £ forms images. A video image processor 71G having control RAM 71d forms images consistently with the content of images displayed on the respective liquid crystal display panels 3, 4, 5 under the control of the image display control CPU 71a, and outputs the corresponding generated images to the liquid crystal display panels 3, 4, 5.

According to FIG. 2, the audio output control circuit 72 introduces a sound signal into the speaker 73 to output the sound by the speaker 73. The speaker 73 outputs a sound signal to give the game an additional appeal, for example, with corresponding temporal characteristics after the start of the game.

The operation of the gaming machine 1 having the above-described configuration is described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIG. 4-6 and FIG. 11. In the gaming machine 1, as shown in FIG. 4, the first game is played first, and then, under certain conditions, the second game is played. The first game is described in the following illustration as a slot game, however, the first game played in the game according to the invention is not limited to the slot game. A game may be, for example, a card game, such as poker or the like. On the other hand, the second game should only be a card game in which the party represented by the gaming machine and the player play the game against each other, and is not limited to blackjack.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation procedure of the main processing from the beginning to the end of the slot game on the gaming machine 1. Note that in FIG. 4-6 and FIG. 11 the word “stage” (8! Er) is conventionally designated as “8”. As shown in FIG. 4, the gaming machine 1, after starting the main processing, performs in step 1 a launch acceptance procedure for launching the game.

- 4 008327

In the start-up acceptance processing at stage 1, the gaming machine 1 takes an operation to start the game from the player under the control of the main CPU 32. , through the slot 6 of the coin acceptor and operates on the bet selection button 9, to thereby decide on the number of coins used for the bet in one game. In addition, the player acts on the line selection button 10 to select the active line. The player then acts on the spin button 8 (hereinafter, the sequence of these operations is referred to as the “start operation”). In this launch operation, the start signal is inputted from the start switch 51 to the main CPU 32 (in the case of a loan, a bet selection signal is input from the rate switch 52).

Processing then proceeds to step 2, in which the lottery processing is performed in the first game. When the lottery process starts, the processing proceeds to step 13, shown in FIG. 5, in which the main DAC 32 performs character decision processing. In this symbolic decision processing, the master CB1 32 decides on the symbol on which the stop on the selected active line B should occur for each pseudo-drum.

Further, in the lottery processing, upon detecting a start operation performed by the player, based on the input signal from the start switch 51, the master TS11B 32 issues a command to the random number generator 35 to generate random numbers in a certain range after establishing detection (in other words, considering the beginning games like launch). The master CB11B 32 also issues a command to the sampling circuit 36 for extracting an arbitrary random number from random numbers generated by the generator 35 random numbers. When a random number is allocated, the master DI 32 establishes a random number in the search key to obtain the code number of its corresponding symbol, and the symbol belonging to the tables 81 to 83 of the symbol solutions shown in FIG. 7 (a) to (c) is stored in the permanent memory 34. Tables 81 to 83 of the symbol solutions shown in FIG. 7 (a) - (c), which correspond to pseudo-drums K1-K3 in the specified order, are tables in which the code number of each character is stored, and the symbol associated with random numbers. For example, if the random number selected by the sampling circuit 36 is a number ranging from 0 to 20, then the code with the number “0” and the symbol “(HUSH)” are selected. The processing of the selected random number to obtain its code number is performed for each of the pseudo-drums K1-K3.

Alternatively, it is possible to search for the corresponding symbol for each of the pseudo-drums K1-K3, referring to one table 90 of the stops, as shown in FIG. 8, instead of using three tables of 81-83 symbolic solutions.

Here, the stop table 90, as shown in FIG. 8 is a table having a code number area 90a, where codes (characters) numbers are stored, a character area 90B, where symbols corresponding to the code numbers are stored, and a random number area 90c, where random numbers are stored, and configured so that when the number is set in the search key to search for the random number area 90c, the code number of the corresponding symbol and the symbol can be searched for each of the pseudo-drums K1-K3. In the field of 90 characters, the characters are registered according to the code numbers from “0” to “6” for each of the pseudo-drums (the order of the registered characters differs from the order in the tables 81-83 of the symbolic solutions shown in Fig. 7). For example, C1, shown in FIG. 8 shows a combination of characters composed of characters when the received code numbers are “0” for all pseudo-drums K1-K3.

Then, in the gaming machine 1, the selection of a random number and a search in tables 81-83 of symbolic solutions or in table 90 are stopped for each of the pseudo-reels K1-K3. When the symbols for the pseudo-drums K1-K3 are defined, the stop positions for the stop of the symbols on the active line b are determined.

According to FIG. 5, after deciding on the stop positions of the reels, the main Q11B 32 proceeds to step 14 and determines a win or loss, referring to the pay table 86 of the payoff stored in the permanent memory 34. Here in the pay table 86, as shown in FIG. 9, either a winning combination of symbols, or a non-winning combination of symbols in association with a combination of code numbers (hereinafter referred to as a “code number combination”) is registered distinctively. 1 Since the combination of code numbers corresponding to the pseudo-drum stop positions is determined at step 13, the main CPU 32 sets the combination of the code numbers to the search key and refers to the scoring table 86, thereby determining the win or no win from the reference result. Note that in table 86 of the definition of winning combinations, the code numbers are set accordingly to table 90 stops.

Then, the main CPU 32 refers to the content table 91 shown in FIG. 10, and performs content definition processing for determining win content (“win content” is also referred to as a “winning combination”). Here, the content table 91 is intended to determine the win content (winning state) in which the payout amounts (coin payouts and second game content) are recorded corresponding to the winning content, as shown in FIG. 10. For example, the winning combination “(any) - (any) -start-1 or 2” means the case when specific characters appear (characters, when the pseudo-drum code number is K3

- 5 008327 is 2 or 8, and the numbers of the pseudo-drum codes K1 and K2 are arbitrary numbers), such as PRIZE 1 or 2 in this case, the second game is played. Note that the difference between the characters PRIZE 1 and PRIZE 2, described in more detail below, is that the number of opponents in the second game is different. In addition, the winning combination "7-7-7" means that the symbols on the K1-KZ pseudo-reels coincide with "7", in which case the payout amount is 80 coins. This completes the lottery processing.

Processing then proceeds to step 3 and processing of the first game is performed. The processing of the first game is performed in the game mode, which corresponds to the normal game mode and includes steps 17 to 19, as shown in FIG. 6. At step 17, a variable image processing is performed. In this case, the image display control circuit 71 operates in accordance with the commands of the main CPU 80 to provide a display, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, images of the performance of the game, including the display of changing images of a plurality of pseudo-drums B1-KZ, which are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5. FIG. 11 is a view showing an image of a game performance in a normal game mode on the liquid crystal display panel 5. On the liquid crystal display panel 5, three pseudo-drums K.1, K2 and P3 are displayed in a variable manner in its center. and a straight active line passing across b is displayed in their middle. Each of the pseudo-drums K1-K3 has a lot of characters (for example, character 81, displaying ^ ΙΕΌ, character 82, displaying ΒΘΝυδ 1 (PRIZE 1), etc.) and, thus, is displayed in a variable manner so that the corresponding characters appear sequentially in an irregular order. Note that PRIZE 1 symbol 82 shown in FIG. 11 corresponds to 1 dp 1 (start 1), as shown in FIG. 10. In addition, in the gaming machine 1, three pseudo-drums are ordered side by side in a horizontal direction, but the number of reels is not limited to three. For example, there may be five or nine.

In addition, in the E1 area, the number of credits and the number of bets are displayed on the upper right side of the pseudo-drums K1-K3. In addition, an explanation of the game’s content is displayed in the E2 area on the bottom side of the pseudo-reels K.1-K.3 (in this embodiment, the inscription: enter the coin, press the button).

Although not shown in the drawing, the main CPU 82 issues a command, during the processing of the first game, an image display control circuit 71 for displaying a pay table and three-dimensional images for executing the game on the liquid crystal display panel 3 and images relating to an explanation of how to play the game and the like, on a liquid crystal display panel 4.

According to FIG. 4, at the end of step 17, processing proceeds to step 18, in which stop control processing is performed. Here the rotating pseudo-drums K1-K3 stop in accordance with the result of the lottery processing in step 2.

Processing then proceeds to step 19, in which payout processing is performed. In this case, when the master CPU 32 issues a command to the bunker loading device control circuit 63 to perform the payment of a certain number of coins according to the search result in the content table 91, the bunker loading device 64 performs the coin payout operation in the first game. In addition, when determining that the payment of the number of coins indicated in the command on the signal from the payment completion circuit 65 is completed, the main CPU 32 ends the payment processing and proceeds to step 4 shown in FIG. 4.

After the transition to stage 4, the main CPU 32 acts as a means of determining to determine whether the launch is set for the transition to the second game or not (setting / not setting the transition condition for switching the game mode from the normal game mode to the special game mode), based on the result determine the winning content at step 14. Here, if the winning content indicates the possibility of switching to a special game mode (for example, if the symbol combination corresponds to (any) - (any) - run 1 or 1, as shown by ohm B1 and B2 in FIG. 10), the main CPU 32 operates as a switching means and proceeds from step 4 to step 5 to switch the game mode to the special game mode, thus performing the processing of the second game. If the switch condition is not set, then the main CPU 82 ends the main processing without performing step 5.

The following describes the processing of the second game, which is a distinctive part of the present invention.

In the second game processing according to this embodiment, a game (card game) can be executed in which the first player (cards distributed to the first player are referred to as the first group) plays against a plurality of second players (cards distributed to the second player are referred to as the second group). In this card game, processing is performed in such a way that the first player takes the position of a real player (here referred to as a real player), and each of the second players takes the position of a virtual player (here referred to as a virtual player) on the side of the main CPU 32. In addition, the first the player plays the leading role (dealer, croupier), and the second players play the role of the slave, and the first player and many second players play a blackjack game. In short, a real player plays against a lot of virtual players.

After processing proceeds to step 5 shown in FIG. 4, and the second game starts, the processing proceeds to step 20 shown in FIG. 12, where the main CPU 32 acts as a means

- 6 008327 allocation, intended to highlight image data for a predetermined number of card images to be used in the second game (image data for card images are hereinafter referred to as “card data”). Note that in addition to the image data, the number on the card, the label on the card, and the like for determining each of the card images are included in the card data. At this point, the main CPU 32 allocates card data from a group of card images to display a predetermined number of cards on the liquid crystal display panel 5, referring to data obtained from the sampling circuit 36. In the second game, the liquid crystal display panel 5 acts in the present invention as a display device for the map images. In this embodiment, the card data is retrieved to display the corresponding cards of the real player as the lead and virtual players as the slave. In this case, the number of virtual players as leaders is determined from the result of the definition of winning content described above at step 14. For example, if the result matches PRIZE 1 (the combination of characters corresponds to (any) - (any) -start 1), then the number of virtual players is assumed to be three and if the result corresponds to PRIZE 2 (the combination of characters corresponds to (any) - (any) -start 2), then the number of virtual players is assumed to be five. Note that in the embodiment described below, the case of PRIZE 1 is considered, that is, the case when there are three virtual players.

Processing then proceeds to step 21, where the cards are distributed to the real player and the virtual players respectively. In more detail, the main CPU 32 acts as a picker for selecting card data that is assigned to a real player and should be displayed as real player cards from the card data selected in step 20. On the other hand, the main CPU 32, which also works as a decision tool that determines the images of the cards that should be appropriately assigned to the virtual players and should be displayed as virtual players' cards from the card data selected in step 20. Then after Selecting the main CPU 32 provides for the display on the liquid crystal display panel 5 images of cards using selected card data. At this moment, first of all, the main CPU 32 displays on the liquid crystal display panel 5 that the cards face up (open) are distributed to the real player and to all virtual players, one for each.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating the state in which the map images for a real player and all virtual players are displayed with one map for each. In this drawing, an image of a card 40a (in this case “A”) for a real player is displayed on the left side in the form of the front sides of the player's cards on the liquid crystal display panel 5, the card image 41a (in this case, “7”), 42a (in this case “8”), 43a (in this case, “A”) for virtual players are displayed on the right side as the front sides of the player cards on the liquid crystal display panel 5. In addition, on the right side, the number of games is displayed on the right side of the liquid crystal display panel 5 (in In this case, three games s) that the real player has played so far, with the processing from step 20 to step 26 described below, and the number of coins that are the object of the bet chosen and set by the real player (in this case, 10) as one game.

Then, the main CPU 32 acts as a selection tool for selecting card data for the new display as cards for the real player and virtual players from the card data selected in step 20, and provides 5 card images on the liquid crystal display panel . At this moment, the main CPU 32 displays the image of the card 40b in the form of a card, turned over to a closed player, and displays the images of the cards 41b, 42b and 43b in the form of cards, handed over to the closed virtual players, one for each. It is only required that the number of all images of the cards to be dealt be determined to a given point in time, and various time determination modes can be used to make a decision on the number of all the images of the cards. After that, the image of the 40b card (in this case “9”), turned over to the closed real player, is turned face up.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating the state in which the card images for a real player and for virtual players are displayed face up, two cards for each player. At this point in time, winning combinations can be determined based on the card data corresponding to the card images of the real player and the virtual players. In this case, the processing proceeds to step 23, in which the main CPU 80 acts as a means of comparing winning combinations to perform a comparison of winning combinations, during which the winning combination based on the card data corresponding to the images of the real player's cards 40a and 40b is compared with the winning combinations based on card data corresponding to images of cards 41a, 41b and images of cards 42a, 42b and images of cards 43a, 43b of virtual players, respectively, using the number on k arte, tags on the card for identifying each of the card images (in this embodiment, the number on the card) from the card data corresponding to the corresponding card images of the real player that is

- 7 008327 players, and virtual players who are slaves. Note that the “winning combination” referred to here is not the “winning content” in the above-described first game, but it means the combination of numbers on the set of card images. Processing then proceeds to step 24, the main CPU 82 compares the superiority / lower rank between the winning combination of images of the real player’s cards and the winning combination of images of the virtual player’s cards to determine whether the real player has won or not. More specifically, the main CSL 32 compares the sum of the numbers on the images of the real player's cards with the sum of the numbers on the images of the virtual player's cards to determine which of them is closer to "21".

It is assumed that the comparison with the virtual player corresponding to the images of the cards 41a, 41b in FIG. 14 is executed first. Since the sum of the numbers on the images of the cards of this virtual player is 10 + 7 = 17, while the sum of the numbers on the images of the real player’s cards is 9 + 11 (A is assumed to be 11) = 20, it is determined that the real player won. Processing then proceeds to step 25, in which the payout amount is added, which must be paid to the real player. Processing then proceeds to step 26, the main CPU 13 acts as a means of determining to determine whether the winning combination of the images of the real player’s cards are compared to the winning combinations of the images of the cards of all virtual players (if the winning combination has been compared for the images of all virtual players’s cards).

At step 26, if it is determined that the winning combination of images of the real player’s cards was not compared with the winning combinations of the images of cards of all virtual players, then processing returns to step 23, and if it is determined that the winning combination of images of the real player’s cards was compared with the winning combinations of images cards of all virtual players, the processing proceeds to stage 27. Thus, the main CSB 32 repeats the processing from stage 23 to stage 25 until the winning combination of real map th player will not be compared with a winning hand images of all virtual players. In the state shown in FIG. 14, the sums of numbers on the virtual player card images correspond to 10 + 7 = 17, 9 + 8 = 17 and 10 + 11 = 21, respectively. Accordingly, a comparison of the sum of numbers on the images of cards of a real player and virtual players shows that the real player won against two virtual players, so that on the upper side of the liquid crystal display panel 5 is displayed “POSSIBLE GAP x 2”, and on the lower right side of the liquid crystal display panel 5 “WON 4” is displayed because the number of games that a real player has won so far has increased by one. On the other hand, at step 24, if the real player did not win against the virtual players, then the main CPU 32 goes to step 26 without performing step 25 and performs a definition similar to the one described above.

At step 26, if it is determined that the winning combination of the images of the real player’s cards was compared to the winning combinations of the images of the cards of all virtual players, the processing proceeds to step 27, which is determined by considering the processing from step 20 to step 26 as one game, was the game is executed a predetermined number of times (for example, seven times), and if it is, the processing goes to step 28, and if not, the processing returns to step 20. To return to step 20, the main CSB 32 issues a command to the control circuit 71 remove images that have already been displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5, and select a predetermined amount of card data in a manner similar to that described above. In this case, for example, between steps 26 and 27, a step 29 is provided, as shown in FIG. 15, and in step 29, an increment of the score is performed, at which “1” is added to the count of the number of games. Further, at step 27, it can be determined whether or not a predetermined number of games has been completed, depending on whether the predetermined or greater number of games indicates the number of games at step 27 (the number of games is reset to its original state after step 28).

At step 28, the main CPU 32 acts as a payout calculator for calculating the payout amount for a win in accordance with the result of comparing a winning combination of card images in step 23. In addition, the main CLB 32 issues a command to the bunker loading device control circuit 53 to perform the payout according to with the calculated payout amount. Then, after receiving the command, the bunker loading device control circuit 63 issues a command to pay out the specified amount of coins, so that the bunker loading device 64 pays out the coins. Here, the main CPU 32, acting as the payout calculation means, calculates the payout amount using the payout reference value, which is set separately from the corresponding value for the first game. In this case, the payout varies according to the number of virtual players that the real player won as a result of the comparison between the winning card image combinations, for example, increases in proportion to the number of virtual players that the real player won. In this case, there is a possibility that the greater the number of virtual players playing against a real player, the greater the payout becomes, and therefore the real player expects the combination of characters to become "PRIZE 2" (the combination of characters "(any) - (any) run 2 ”) for five virtual players, not“ PRIZE 1 ”(combination of characters“ (any) - (any)

- 8 008327 launch 1 ”) for three virtual players in the above-described first game. Therefore, the first game becomes more attractive. This is where the second game ends.

In the second game described above, although winning combinations of the images of the real player and the virtual players are determined at the point in time when two images of the cards are distributed to each of them, as shown in FIG. 14, it is also possible to additionally select card data, so that the sum of the numbers on the images of the real player and virtual players cards will be “21” or less, in accordance with the usual blackjack rule. In this case, the main CPU 32 can perform all the procedures for selecting card data so as to automatically continue the game, or the main CSB 32 can choose card data on a single card for card player images, in response to commands from a real player, input from the liquid crystal display panel 5 as a command input device. In this case, the main CPU 32 provides, by means of the liquid crystal display panel 5, covered with the touch panel 56, a display, for example, of the zones “one more” and “enough”.

Then, for example, if a real player touches the “one more” zone, the card data for one card is selected, and the card image is displayed using this card data on the LCD display panel 5. Selecting the card images by touching the “another” zone, any the number of times until the sum of the numbers on the images of the real player's cards exceeds "21" On the other hand, when a real player touches the zone “enough”, the winning combination is determined by the images of the cards displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 5 at a given time. Note that when the sum of the numbers on the card images exceeds “21”, this is taken as a brute force, so at this point in time a decision is made about losing. Note that it is also possible to provide buttons for entering the commands “enough” and “one more” on the body 2, so the real player presses these buttons to select the option “one more” or “enough”.

In addition, although the number of virtual players in the second game is assumed to be three or five, based on the result of determining the winning content in the above step 14 in this embodiment, it is also possible for the number of virtual players to be freely set by the real player by entering a command from the liquid crystal display panel 5 as a command input device. In this case, the assignment of the number of virtual players is performed before, for example, stage 20. Such a free choice of the number of virtual players provides the possibility of a significant change in the estimated payout amount, thereby making the game content more interesting.

As described above, in accordance with the present invention, processing is performed under the condition that the first player takes the position of a real player, and each of the second players takes the position of a virtual player, while the real player plays against multiple opponents. This allows an actual player to win many times in one game and receive a correspondingly increased payout amount. In addition, the amount of the payment that must be paid to the real player is not determined until the game ends against all virtual players, which allows the player to maintain his expectations until the last moment of the game. Therefore, even when the game is executed in a repetitive manner on the gaming machine 1, the payout amount that must be paid for the winnings is not fixed, but changes in each game lot, which helps to maintain the interest of the real player.

In the above-described second game performed on the gaming machine 1, the game can be re-executed multiple times, in which case the payout rate can be changed for each game. For example, the number of games is counted by the main CLS 32 so that the payout, which is the reference value set according to the winning combination of card images, can be multiplied by a multiplier according to the number of games (this multiplier is designed to calculate the payout and is further referred to as “payout rate” ). For example, in the case of a total number of games equal to 7, when the number of games is from 1 to 6 (from the first game to the sixth game), the payout rate can be 1, and when the number of games is 7 (the seventh game), the payout rate can be equal to 2. This can make the real player, who loses at the beginning, expect to recover the loss if he wins the last game, thereby making the game more attractive.

Based on the above, the payout (payout amount) in the second game can be calculated according to equation (1) below. It should be noted that equation (1) represents an example, and the equation for calculating payouts in the second game is, of course, not limited to the given example.

Equation (1): Amount of payment H = (number of rate + X) x + + ...

where X is the payout amount when winning one slave, 8 is the payout rate in each game.

In equation (1), assuming that the bet number is 10, the payout for winning one slave is five coins, the payout rates in games one through three are 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and the number of followers from which the lead won in games from first to third, equal to 2, 1 and 2, respectively, the amount of payments H is equal to:

H = (10 + 5 + 5) x1 + (10 + 5) x2 + (10 + 5 + 5) x3 = 110 (coins)

- 9 008327

In the above description, the present invention is described specifically based on its embodiments, however, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. For example, the second game is launched at the end of the first game in the above embodiments, but it can be started during the game in the first game. In addition, the number of slaves (virtual players) can be determined in the lottery under the control of the main CPUs 32.

In addition, when processing the second game in this embodiment, the real player plays the role of the lead, and the virtual players play the role of the slave, but it is possible that the real player plays the role of the slave by selecting the real player. It is possible that the real player chooses the role of the slave at any time. If a real player plays the role of a slave by choice of a real player, then a real player plays many roles as a slave in relation to a virtual player.

In accordance with the present invention, processing is performed under the condition that the first player takes the position of a real player, and each of the second players takes the position of a virtual player. In addition, when a plurality of second players play against the first player participating in the game, and the first player plays against all the second players, the payout amount for payment to the first player is determined in accordance with the game against each of the second players. This may maintain interest in the first player game.

Obviously, various embodiments and modifications of the present invention can be implemented based on the above description. Accordingly, it is possible to carry out the invention in other modes other than the best mode described above, within the scope of the claims and the scope of their equivalents.

Claims (8)

1. A gaming machine comprising a determination means for determining whether or not a transition condition is set for a game mode to transition from a first game mode to a second game mode, a transition means for switching a game mode from a first game mode to a second game based on the determination result obtained by the said means for determining, a means of extraction, designed to extract a predetermined number of card data for use in the second game mode from many card data units, a selection tool for selecting card data for assigning to a first group and card data for assigning each of a plurality of second groups from a predetermined amount of card data extracted by the extraction means, a winning combination comparing means for comparing comparisons between winning combinations, based on the card data of the first group, and winning combinations based on the card data of at least two second groups and payout calculation means for calculating a payout based on a comparison result performed by the comparison tool of winning combinations. 2. The gaming machine according to claim 1, further comprising a command input device for inputting commands for the first group, the selection means selecting card data for the first group in accordance with a command inputted from the command input device. 3. The gaming machine according to claim 1 or 2, in which the payout is changed in accordance with the amount of the second group, which won the side of the first group. 4. The gaming machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the processing from the allocation of card data by means of allocation to comparing the winning combination by means of comparing the winning combinations relates to one game, and the payout rate for calculating the payout by means of the calculation of payouts is changed for each games. 5. A gaming machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a card display device for displaying card images using card data selected by a selection means. 6. The gaming machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in which the selection means selects card data for assignment to the first group as card data on the player side and selects card data for assignment to the second group as card data on the side of the gaming machine. 7. A gaming machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a blackjack game is used as a game in the second game mode. 8. A control method for a gaming machine comprising a determination means for determining whether or not a transition condition has been established for a game mode to transition from a first game mode to a second game mode, and a transition means for switching a game mode from a first game mode to a second game mode based on the determination result obtained by said determination means, the method including the steps of: - 10 008327 allocating a predetermined amount of card data for use in a second game mode from a plurality of card data; selection of card data for assignment to a first group and card data for assignment to each group from a plurality of second groups, from a predetermined amount of allocated card data; performing a comparison between a winning combination based on the card data of the first group and a winning combination based on the card data of at least two second groups; and calculating a payout based on a comparison result of winning combinations.