TRAJECTORY-BASED 3-D GAMES OF CHANCE FOR VIDEO GAMING MACHINES

• US 20110165931A1
• Filed: 03/14/2011
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: LeMay, Steven G., Benbrahim, Jamal, Beaulieu, Nicole M., Schlottmann, Greg A., Nelson, Dwayne R., Mincey, Jeff, Brosnan, William R., Escalera, Anthony R., Kryuchkov, Alexey, Rogers, Andy
• Granted Patent: US 8,500,535 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/16
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/573 using trajectories of game objects, e.g. of a golf ball according to the point of impact
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/64 for computing dynamical parameters of game objects, e.g. motion determination or computation of frictional forces for a virtual car
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/643 by determining the impact between objects, e.g. collision detection
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/20 3D [Three Dimensional] animation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/326 Game play aspects of gaming systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/38 Ball games; Shooting apparatus

Abstract

Trajectory-based games of chance are described that may be implemented on a video gaming machine. In a trajectory-based game of chance, a trajectory of a game object may be generated in a 3-D gaming environment. A wager may be made on an aspect of the game object'"'"'s trajectory in the gaming environment such as a termination location for the trajectory of the game object. The aspect of the game object'"'"'s trajectory may occur according to a known probability. Hence, an award for the trajectory-based game of chance may be proportional to the probability of the aspect of the game object'"'"'s trajectory occurring.

Claims

1. A gaming machine comprising:

a master gaming controller designed or configured i) to control a game of chance played on the gaming machine, ii) to generate a trajectory of a 3-D game object in a 3-D gaming environment used in a trajectory-based game of chance, iii) to render a sequence of two-dimensional images from the 3-D gaming environment wherein the sequence of two-dimensional images comprises one or more two-dimensional images of the 3-D game object along its trajectory and iv) to generate a game outcome for the trajectory-based game of chance; and

a video display for displaying the sequence of two-dimensional images as part of a game outcome presentation for the trajectory-based game of chance.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory storage device for storing at least one of i) instructions, ii) data and iii) combinations thereof for generating the 3-D gaming environment, said 3-D gaming environment comprising data and/or instructions for generating;

a plurality of 3-D objects;

a plurality of trajectory rules for determining the trajectory of a moving 3-D object in the 3-D gaming environment;

a plurality of collision rules for determining effects of a collision between 3-D objects in the 3-D gaming environment; and

a plurality of exit rules for removing the 3-D game object from the 3-D gaming environment.

3. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a user interface for the trajectory-based game of chance, said user interface comprising;

a first input device; and

one or more sensors connected to the first input device used to detect an operational parameter of the input device and generate an output signal corresponding to the operational parameter wherein the output signal is used to at least one of i) to initiate the trajectory-based game of chance, ii) to generate an initial state of the 3-D object for its trajectory in the 3-D gaming environment, and iii) combinations thereof.

4. The gaming machine of claim 3, wherein the first input device is a plunger and wherein the one or more sensors are designed to generate an output signal with information indicating at least one of i) an amount of force applied to the plunger, ii) an actuation of the plunger has been initiated and iii) combinations thereof.

5. The gaming machine of claim 4, further comprising:

a ball;

a ball conduit for the ball; and

one or more sensors designed to measure a position of the ball along the ball conduit wherein the plunger is designed to strike the ball at an initial position on the ball conduit such that the ball is propelled along the ball conduit away from its initial position and wherein the ball conduit is designed to return the sphere to the initial position on the ball conduit.

6. The gaming machine of claim 4, further comprising:

a sound projection device wherein the sound projection device emits a sound in response to the plunger striking the ball.

7. The gaming machine of claim 6, wherein the volume of the sound is proportional to the force applied to the plunger.

8. The gaming machine of claim 4, further comprising:

a light panel comprising a plurality of lights wherein a number of lights are lit on the light panel in proportion to the amount of force applied to the plunger.

9. The gaming machine of claim 4, further comprising:

a graphical force meter on the display screen where the amount of force applied to the plunger is displayed on the graphical force meter.

10. The gaming machine of claim 3, wherein the first input device is a touch screen display and wherein the one or more sensors are touch screen sensors.

11. The gaming machine of claim 6, wherein the touch screen sensors generate an output signal with information indicating a selected amount of force displayed on the touch screen display.

12. The gaming machine of claim 3, further comprising:

a second input device wherein the second input device is for selecting a rate at which a plurality of trajectory-based games of chance are automatically initiated.

13. The gaming machine of claim 12, wherein the second input device is a touch screen display.

14. The gaming machine of claim 12, wherein the second input device is a control knob and wherein a position of the control knob is used to select the rate at which a plurality of trajectory-based games of chance are automatically initiated.

15. The gaming machine of claim 3, further comprising:

a second input device wherein the second input device is for selecting a wager amount for each of a plurality of trajectory-based games of chance.

16. The gaming machine of claim 15, wherein the second input device is a touch screen display.

17. The gaming machine of claim 3, further comprising:

a second input device wherein the second input device is for selecting one or more of a shape of the 3-D game object, a property of the 3-D game object and a property of the 3-D gaming environment.

18. The gaming machine of claim 17, wherein the second input device is a touch screen display.

19. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a sound projection device wherein the sound projection device is used to at least emit sounds in response to collisions between the 3-D game object and 3-D objects along its trajectory in the 3-D gaming environment.

20. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory storage device for storing a pay table for the trajectory-based game of chance.

21. The gaming machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory storage device for storing a trajectory table for the trajectory-based game of chance wherein the trajectory table contains data that relates one or more initial trajectory states for the 3-D game object to the game outcome for the trajectory based game of chance.

22. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the trajectory-based game of chance is a pachinko game.

23. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the 3-D game object is a sphere.

24. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the 3-D game object is a polyhedron.

25. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the trajectory of the 3-D game object is planar.

26. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein a plurality of trajectory-based games of chance are played in parallel.

27. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the game of chance controlled by the gaming machine is selected from the group consisting of a slot game, a keno game, a poker game, a pachinko game, a blackjack game, a bingo game, a baccarat game, a roulette game, a dice game, a card game and a trajectory based game of chance.

28. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the sequence of images rendered from the 3-D gaming environment are displayed simultaneously on a plurality of displays.

29. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein an aspect ratio of the video display is selected from the group of 16 by 9 and 9.times.16.

30. A product comprising at least one of i) data, ii) instructions and iii) combinations thereof for representing a 3-D gaming environment for a trajectory-based game of chance, the 3-D gaming environment being provided on a computer readable medium and comprising data and/or instructions for generating:

a plurality of 3-D objects;

a plurality of trajectory rules that are used to determine the trajectory of a moving 3-D object in the 3-D gaming environment;

a plurality of collision rules that are used to determine effects of a collision between 3-D objects in the 3-D gaming environment; and

a plurality of exit rules that are used to remove the moving 3-D object from the 3-D gaming environment wherein the 3-D gaming environment is for rendering a sequence of two-dimensional images that are used as part of a game outcome presentation for the trajectory-based game of chance.

31. The product of claim 30, wherein the 3-D gaming environment comprises a plurality of game levels.

32. The product of claim 30, wherein the trajectory rules are defined at each location in the 3-D gaming environment.

33. The product of claim 32, wherein the trajectory rules at a first location are different than the trajectory rules at a second location in the 3-D gaming environment.

34. The product of claim 30, the 3-D gaming environment comprises one or more bonus areas that are for rendering a bonus game presentation.

35. The product of claim 30, wherein one or more of the trajectory rules, the collision rules and the exit rules change as a function of time.

36. The product of claim 30, wherein a location of one or more of the plurality of 3-D game objects changes as a function of time in the 3-D gaming environment.

37. The product of claim 30, wherein a property of one or more of the plurality of 3-D objects changes as a function of time.

38. The product of claim 37, wherein the property is selected from the group consisting of a mass property, a geometry property, a physical property, a graphical rendering property, a sound property and a bonus property.

39. A user interface for a gaming machine, said user interface comprising:

an input device; and

a sensor connected to the input device used to detect an operational parameter of the input device and generate an output signal corresponding to the operational parameter wherein the output signal is used to at least one of i) to initiate a trajectory-based game of chance, ii) to generate an initial state of a 3-D game object for its trajectory in a 3-D gaming environment, and iii) combinations thereof wherein the 3-D gaming environment is for rendering a sequence of two-dimensional images that are used as part of a game outcome presentation for the trajectory-based game of chance

40. The user interface of claim 39, wherein the first input device is a plunger and wherein the one or more sensors are designed to generate an output signal with information indicating at least one of i) an amount of force applied to the plunger, ii) an actuation of the plunger has been initiated and iii) combinations thereof.

41. The user interface of claim 40, further comprising:

a ball;

a ball conduit for the ball; and

one or more sensors designed to measure a position of the ball along the ball conduit wherein the plunger is designed to strike the ball at an initial position on the ball conduit such that the ball is propelled along the ball conduit away from its initial position and wherein the ball conduit is designed to return the ball to the initial position on the ball conduit.

42. The user interface of claim 41, further comprising:

a sound projection device wherein the sound projection device emits a sound in response to the plunger striking the ball.

43. The user interface of claim 42, wherein the volume of the sound is proportional to the force applied to the plunger.

44. The user interface of claim 41, further comprising:

a light panel comprising a plurality of lights wherein a number of lights are lit on the light panel in proportion to the amount of force applied to the plunger.

45. The user interface of claim 39, wherein the trajectory-based game of chance is a pachinko game.