GB2348818A

GB2348818A - A roulette wheel

Info

Publication number: GB2348818A
Application number: GB0010129A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Daniel Anthony Lynch
Original assignee: Coinmaster Gaming Ltd
Current assignee: Coinmaster Gaming Ltd
Priority date: 1999-09-13
Filing date: 2000-04-27
Publication date: 2000-10-18
Anticipated expiration: 2020-04-27
Also published as: GB2348822B; GB0010136D0; GB2349098A; GB0010130D0; GB2349004A; GB2348820A; GB2348821B; GB2348819B; GB2349096B; GB0010135D0; GB2348820B; GB2348822A; GB2348818B; GB2349097A; GB0010129D0; GB0010138D0; GB0010143D0; GB2349098B; GB2349096A; GB2348819A

Abstract

A gaming apparatus comprises a wheel 2 mounted for rotation about its axis in a horizontal plane, a peripheral region of the upper surface of the wheel being divided into a plurality of compartments 14, each compartment being formed with an aperture in its base which exposes the static surface of a track 24 extending below the wheel, a portion of the track 32 being displaceable away from the underside of the wheel to allow a ball held in an overlying compartment to fall through the aperture of that compartment. The track surface may be roughened or can have an annular strip of abrasive material embedded into it. The wheel is designed to be used in an automatic roulette machine. Also described are sensing means 40, 42 and 44 for determining which compartment the ball lands in and what value that compartment has been assigned.

Description

Gaming Apparats The present invention relates to a gaming apparatus and more particularly to a gaming apparatus based on the game of roulette.

The game of roulette has, for many years, provided entertainment in casinos and other gaming establishments.

To play the game of roulette, a horizontally-oriented circular wheel, having a peripheral region divided into a plurality of numbered compartments, is spun in either a clockwise or an anti-clockwise direction about its axis. A ball is released onto the surface of the spinning wheel where it is randomly deflected before eventually coming to rest in one or other of the compartments.

Players of the game bet on which compartment or subgroup of compartments the ball is going to fall into by placing tokens or"chips"at appropriate locations on a betting table.

Traditionally, a croupier has been required to manually operate the roulette wheel and to supervise betting. However, with the advent of affordable electronic technology, it has now become possible to provide a fully automated roulette wheel based gaming apparatus and a number of such systems are already in use.

In existing automated gaming apparatus, to facilitate the recovery of a ball from a compartment of a roulette wheel, the base of each compartment is formed with an aperture. A disc, mounted to the underside of the wheel, is formed with a plurality of apertures corresponding to those formed in the compartments of the wheel.

The wheel and the disc are normally arranged such that their corresponding apertures are misaligned, but are rotatable with respect to one another to align the apertures when it is required that the ball should drop through the aligned apertures to be recovered.

However, such an arrangement is limited in that any accumulation of detritus between the opposed surfaces of the wheel and the disc will cause the disc to jam.

We have now devised an arrangement which overcomes this limitation.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a gaming apparatus comprising a wheel mounted for rotation about its axis in a horizontal plane, a peripheral region of the upper surface of the wheel being divided into a plurality of compartments, each compartment being formed with an aperture in its base which exposes the static surface of a track extending below the wheel, a portion of the track being displaceable away from the underside of the wheel to allow a ball held in an overlying compartment to fall through the aperture of that compartment.

Preferably at least a portion of the surface of the track is roughened to scour the surface of a ball rolling across it. Most preferably, an annular strip of abrading material is formed on, or is embedded into, the surface of the track.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of an example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an automated gaming apparatus in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the roulette wheel of the gaming apparatus of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a section through a sub-assembly of the apparatus.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, an automated roulette-wheel based gaming apparatus is shown comprising a roulette wheel 2 encased beneath a domed canopy 4, a plurality of operating consoles 6, each having a respective touch sensitive screen interface 8, and an elevated screen display 10.

The roulette wheel 2 of the apparatus is shown in detail in Figure 2 and comprises an inclined peripheral region 12 encircling a plurality of compartments 14. The base of each compartment 14 is formed with an aperture 16 having a diameter slightly greater than that of the ball used to play the apparatus.

The wheel 2 is also formed with a reference aperture 18 and a circular arrangement of apertures 20, each corresponding with a respective compartment 14, the apertures 20 being used to determine the number corresponding with an occupied compartment, as will be explained in more detail below.

When the wheel 2 is fitted in place to an upright rotatable shaft 22, as shown in Figure 3, the apertures 16 of the compartments 14 overlie the static surface of an annular track 24 such that a ball, e. g. 26, coming to rest in one of the compartments will roll along the surface of the track 24 as the wheel 2 is rotated. The shaft 22 is rotated by an electric motor 28, which drives the shaft via a gearbox 30.

An annular strip of abrading material 31 is embedded into the surface of the track 24 for scouring the surface of a ball rolling across it.

A portion 32 of the track 24 is pivotally mounted and connected to a solenoid or pneumatically operated plunger 34 such that when the plunger 34 is retracted by the solenoid 36, the pivotally mounted portion 32 is displaced away from the underside of the wheel 2 (as shown) to allow a ball, e. g. 38, carried in a compartment 14 passing over the pivotally mounted portion 32, to fall through the aperture 16 in the base of that compartment to be recovered.

As shown in Figure 3, a first optical sensor 40 mounted below the wheel 2 is arranged to detect the apertures 20 in the wheel 2 as they pass overhead. A second optical sensor 42 mounted adjacent the first sensor 40 is arranged to detect the reference aperture 18 of the wheel as it passes overhead. An optical transmitter 44 is arranged to transmit a light beam, through opposed apertures 46,48 formed respectively in the inner and outer walls of each compartment 14, to a third optical sensor 50, such that the beam is broken by a ball sitting (as shown) in a passing compartment 14.

The arrangement of three optical sensors 40,42,50 allows the number corresponding to an occupied compartment to be determined by counting the number of apertures 20 to pass the first sensor 40 in the time interval between the reference aperture 18 being detected by the second sensor 42 and the occupied compartment being detected the third sensor 50.

The arrangement of optical sensors 40,42,50 also allows the apparatus to automatically reconfigure itself when the wheel 10 is replaced with one having a greater or lesser number of compartments 14, by counting the number of apertures 20 detected by the first sensor 40 between successive detections of the reference aperture 18 by the second sensor 42.

The apparatus thus described provides a convenient means for recovering a ball from the roulette wheel of a gaming apparatus.

Whilst typically the different compartments carry respective numbers to identify them, they may be identified by any other appropriate system of indicia. Also, whilst the apparatus has been described in the form of a roulette apparatus, it may be arranged to play any other game requiring a rotary wheel provided with a series of compartments to receive a ball released onto the wheel.

Claims

Claims 1) A gaming apparatus comprising a wheel mounted for rotation about its axis in a horizontal plane, a peripheral region of the upper surface of the wheel being divided into a plurality of compartments, each compartment being formed with an aperture in its base which exposes the static surface of a track extending below the wheel, a portion of the track being displaceable away from the underside of the wheel to allow a ball held in an overlying compartment to fall through the aperture of that compartment.
2) A gaming apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the surface of the track is roughened to scour the surface of a ball rolling across it.
3) A gaming apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, wherein an annular strip of abrading material is formed on, or is embedded into, the surface of the track.