GAMING DEVICE AND METHOD PROVIDING SLOT GAME HAVING VIRTUAL MAP DRIVEN REEL STOP POSITION DETERMINATIONS

• US 20100234091A1
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Baerlocher, Anthony J., Wolf, Bryan D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,702,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/20
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

Various embodiments of the disclosed gaming device include a housing which supports a plurality of mechanical reels and a plurality of stop input devices which are configured to provide a Pachisuro-style slot game. Each of the plurality of reels is associated with a different one of the plurality of stop input devices. Each stop input device enables a player to stop the respective reel when the reel is spinning by activating the stop input device. Each reel includes a plurality of stop positions and each stop position includes a symbol. The gaming device also includes a processor and a memory device. For each reel, the processor randomly determines the stop position at which the reel ultimately stops based on a virtual map stored in the memory device for an initiating stop position of that reel which is selected by the player'"'"'s activation of the stop input device for that reel.

Claims

1. A gaming system including:

a display device including a plurality of mechanical reels, each of the plurality of mechanical reels including a plurality of stop positions and each stop position including a symbol;

an input device including, for each of the plurality mechanical reels, a separate stop input device, each of the plurality of mechanical reels being associated with an initiating stop position for each spin of the reel which is selected based on the position of the mechanical reel when said stop input device is activated;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device storing;

(i) a virtual map for each stop position of each mechanical reel, each of said virtual maps including a range of stop positions and a weight associated with each respective stop position in said virtual map,

(ii) a paytable including a plurality of predetermined winning symbol combinations, and for each predetermined winning symbol combination, an award associated with said predetermined winning symbol combination, and

(iii) a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one input device and the at least one display device, for a play of a game upon a placement of a wager, to;

(a) spin each of the plurality of mechanical reels;

(b) for each of the plurality of mechanical reels, when said mechanical reel is spinning;

(i) enable the player to cause the mechanical reel to stop spinning by activating the stop input device associated with said mechanical reel, which causes a selection of the initiating stop position for the spin of the reel;

(ii) determine which of the stop positions following the initiating stop position the mechanical reel will stop at based on the weights in the virtual map associated with the initiating stop position and a randomly determined number; and

(iii) cause the stopping of the mechanical reel based on the random determination;

(c) after the initiating stop position has been selected for each of the reels;

(i) determine if one of a plurality of designated combinations of initiating stop positions was selected;

(ii) if one of the designated combinations of initiating stop positions was selected, add a designated amount of the wager to at least one bonus pool; and

(iii) determine if at least one of the plurality of predetermined winning symbol combinations of the paytable are displayed;

(d) determine any awards associated with any displayed predetermined winning symbol combinations of the paytable;

(e) if any displayed predetermined winning symbol combinations are associated with an award, display and provide any determined awards to the player;

(f) determine if any designated combination of bonus symbols is displayed; and

(g) if the designated combination of bonus symbols is displayed, provide the player with at least a portion of credits in at least one of the bonus pools.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein each of the stop input devices are separate electromechanical input devices.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the symbols is a blank symbol.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein for each of a plurality of the virtual maps, each of the stop positions of said virtual map in the range of stop positions is associated with a different weight.

5. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein for at least one of the virtual maps, a plurality of stop positions in the range of stop positions of said virtual map are associated with a same weight.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, for at least one of the reels, randomly determine the number before the player activates the stop input device for that reel.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, for at least one of the reels, randomly determine the number after the player activates the stop input device for that reel.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein each combination of stop positions of the plurality of mechanical reels is associated with a component paytable, each component paytable having an average expected payback percentage within a designated range of average expected payback percentages.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to determine the designated amount of the wager to add to one or more of the plurality of bonus pools using a bonus pool addition look-up table including:

(a) one or more combinations of initiating stop positions and (b) a designated percentage associated with each respective combination of initiating stop positions.

10. The gaming system of claim 9, wherein each combination of initiating stop positions of the plurality of mechanical reels is associated with a component paytable and wherein:

(i) for a first plurality of the component paytables, each component paytable has an average expected payback percentage within a designated range of average expected payback percentages; and

(ii) for a second plurality of the component paytables, the sum of the average expected payback percentage of the component paytable and the designated percentage associated with the respective combination of initiating stop positions in the bonus pool addition look-up table is within the designated range of average expected payback percentages.

11. The gaming system of claim 9, wherein the designated amount of the wager equals the designated percentage of the wager associated with the combination of initiating stop positions.

12. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device to add a designated amount of the wager to a plurality of bonus pools.

13. The gaming system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to add a first percentage of the designated amount of the wager to a first bonus pool of the plurality of bonus pools and a second percentage of the designated amount of the wager to a second bonus pool of the plurality of bonus pools.

14. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to enable the player to select one of the plurality of bonus pools by playing a bonus selection game.

15. The gaming system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to randomly associate each of the plurality of bonus pools with a different selection.

16. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to persistently accumulate credits in each of the at least one bonus pool over multiple plays of the game by multiple players, until a player receives the credits in the bonus pool.

17. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to reset a bonus pool meter after the player receives credits from the bonus pool associated with the bonus pool meter.

18. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the game includes a plurality of levels, wherein a first mechanical reel spin speed for at least one of the plurality of reels in a first one of the plurality of levels is different than a second mechanical reel spin speed for at least one of the plurality of reels in a second one of the plurality of levels.

19. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to enable the player to wager an amount in addition to a base wager to receive a free spin if a designated predetermined symbol combination is displayed when all of the mechanical reels stop spinning.

20. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one input device and the at least one display device to enable the player to wager an amount in addition to a base wager to receive assistance from the gaming system for one or more plays of the game.

21. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the memory device stores an additional virtual map for each entire reel including each of the stop positions of the respective reel and a weight associated with each respective stop position in said virtual map for the entire reel.

22. The gaming system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to for at least one of the plurality of mechanical reels, if the player has not activated the stop input device associated with said mechanical reel after a predetermined amount of time, determine which of the stop positions said mechanical reel will stop at using said additional virtual map for said mechanical reel, based on the weights in said additional virtual map for the entire reel and a randomly determined number.

23. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to for at least one of the plurality of mechanical reels, if the player has not activated the stop input device associated with the mechanical reel after a predetermined amount of time, randomly determine the initiating stop position for the reel when the reel is spinning.

24. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device to provide the player with a hint regarding when to activate the stop input device for at least one of plurality of mechanical reels.

25. The gaming system of claim 24, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device to provide the player with the hint based on the stop positions displayed for at least one stopped reel.

26. The gaming system of claim 25, wherein the hint indicates the time at which the player should activate the stop input device for a respective reel to have a maximum probability of receiving a highest available award.

27. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the memory device stores a second paytable, the second paytable including relatively higher awards than the paytable.

28. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(i) use the paytable to determine any awards to provide the player based on any predetermined winning symbol combinations if the player activates the stop input device of each of the plurality of mechanical reels within a first designated amount of time, and

(ii) use the second paytable to determine any awards to provide the player based on any predetermined winning symbol combinations if the player activates the stop input device of each of the plurality of mechanical reels within a second designated amount of time, the second designated amount of time being less than the first designated amount of time.

29. The gaming system of claim 28, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(i) if one of the designated combinations of initiating stop positions was selected within the first designated amount of time, add the designated amount of the wager to the at least one bonus pool; and

(ii) if one of the designated combinations of initiating stop positions was selected within the second designated amount of time, add a second different designated amount of the wager to the at least one bonus pool, wherein the second different designated amount of the wager is less than the designated amount of the wager.

30. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device to use a displayed wheel to randomly select at least one of:

(a) one or more of the plurality of bonus pools, and (b) a portion of credits in one of the plurality of bonus pools.

31. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to select the initiating stop position for each of the plurality of mechanical reels by determining the stop position which is displayed at a designated symbol display area when the stop input device associated with the mechanical reel is activated for the reel.