MULTI-CABINET GAME BUILD AND GAMING MACHINES USING SAME

• US 20190318570A1
• Filed: 04/15/2019
• Published: 10/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia PTY Limited (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Original Assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia PTY Limited (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Inventors: Marks, Daniel, Dua, Dinesh
• Granted Patent: US 10,930,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3216 Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3267 Game outcomes which determine the course of the subsequent game, e.g. double or quits, free games, higher payouts, different new games

Abstract

A multi-cabinet game build is disclosed. The multi-cabinet game build includes common game play assets and tailored game play assets. The common game play assets are shared by gaming machines across multiple cabinet types. The tailored game play assets are used by gaming machines of a certain cabinet type. A configuration tool is also disclosed which permits a technician to specify a game build configuration for a gaming machine, which configures the gaming machine to present a game of a multi-cabinet game build using the common game play assets and appropriate tailored game play assets for the gaming machine.

Claims

1. A gaming system, comprising:

a storage media storing a multi-cabinet game build of a game, the multi-cabinet game build comprising at least one or more common game play assets which are used by gaming machines of a plurality of cabinet types, one or more first tailored game play assets which are used by gaming machines of a first cabinet type, and one or more second tailored game play assets which are used by gaming machines of a second cabinet type; and

a gaming machine comprising a cabinet having a type selected from the plurality of cabinet types, a display device, a non-volatile memory, a game controller, and a memory that stores a game program and other instructions;

wherein the other instructions, when executed by the game controller, cause the game controller to at least;

select one or more tailored game play assets for the cabinet from the one or more first tailored game play assets and the one or more second tailored game play assets per a game build configuration stored in the non-volatile memory;

store the one or more common game play assets and the one or more tailored game play assets selected for the cabinet to the memory; and

wherein the game program, when executed by the game controller, further causes the game controller to at least present a game and game outcomes of the game on the display device per the one or more common game play assets and the one or more tailored game play assets stored in the memory.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the game controller is further configured to read the game program from the multi-cabinet game build of the storage media and store the read game program to the memory.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the game controller is further configured to initiate execution of the game program from the memory after determining that the gaming machine and the multi-cabinet game build support the game build configuration stored in the non-volatile memory.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the one or more common game play assets include paytables used across the plurality of cabinet types.

5. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the one or more first tailored game play assets include reelstrips specific to a landscape orientation of the display device and the one or more second tailored game play assets include reelstrips specific to a portrait orientation of the display device.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, further comprising:

a removable storage reader;

a removable storage media configured to be coupled to the removable storage reader, the removable storage media storing comprising a configuration tool executable by the game controller after the removable storage media is coupled to the removable storage reader;

wherein, execution of the configuration tool, causes the game controller to;

present a user interface of the configuration tool on the display device of the gaming machine;

receive, via the user interface, one or more selections that specify the game build configuration for the gaming machine; and

store the game build configuration in the non-volatile memory of the gaming machine.

7. The gaming system of claim 6, wherein the game controller, in response to presenting the user interface, presents game build options for the plurality of cabinet types.

8. The gaming system of claim 7, wherein the game build options presented by the game controller include options for one or more of:

number of pay lines, bet denominations, bet multipliers, matrix sizes, symbol sets, jackpot levels, return-to-player (RTP) options, pay methods, languages, display size, display resolution, aspect ratios, and game features.

9. A method of configuring a gaming machine comprising a cabinet having a type, the method comprising:

presenting, on a display device of the gaming machine, a user interface of a configuration tool;

receiving, via the user interface of the configuration tool, one or more selections that specify a game build configuration for a game of the gaming machine;

storing the game build configuration in a non-volatile memory of the gaming machine;

reading a storage media storing a multi-cabinet game build of the game, the multi-cabinet game build comprising at least one or more common game play assets which are used by gaming machines of a plurality of cabinet types, one or more first tailored game play assets which are used by gaming machines of a first cabinet type, and one or more second tailored game play assets which are used by gaming machines of a second cabinet type;

transferring to a memory of the gaming machine the one or more common game play assets and one or more tailored game play assets for the cabinet from the one or more first tailored game play assets and the one or more second tailored game play assets per the game build configuration stored in the non-volatile memory; and

executing the game of the per the one or more common game play assets and the selected one or more tailored game play assets.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining that the gaming machine and the multi-cabinet game build support the game build configuration prior to said launching of the game.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein transferring to the memory the one or more common game play assets and the one or more tailored game play assets further comprises storing to the non-volatile memory the one or more common game play assets and the one or more tailored game play assets.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising retrieving artwork from the one or more common game play assets of the multi-cabinet game build.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising retrieving artwork of the one or more first tailored game play assets that is specific to an orientation of the display device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said presenting the user interface includes presenting game build options for the plurality of cabinet types.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the game build options include options for one or more of:

number of pay lines, bet denominations, bet multipliers, matrix sizes, symbol sets, jackpot levels, return-to-player (RTP) options, pay methods, languages, display size, display resolution, aspect ratios, and game features.

16. A gaming machine, comprising:

a cabinet having a type selected from a plurality of cabinet types;

a display device;

a non-volatile memory;

a memory that stores a game program and other instructions;

a removable storage reader; and

a game controller;

wherein the other instructions, when executed by the game controller, cause the game controller to at least;

select, per a game build configuration stored in the non-volatile memory, one or more tailored game play assets for the cabinet from one or more first tailored game play assets and one or more second tailored game play assets of a multi-cabinet game build stored on a removable storage media that is coupled to the removable storage reader; and

store the one or more common game play assets and the one or more tailored game play assets selected from the multi-cabinet game build to the memory; and

wherein the game program, when executed by the game controller, further causes the game controller to at least present the game and game outcomes of the game on the display device per the one or more common game play assets and the one or more tailored game play assets stored in the memory.

17. The gaming machine of claim 16, wherein the game controller is further configured to read the game program from the multi-cabinet game build of the removable storage media and store the read game program to the memory.

18. The gaming machine of claim 16, wherein the game controller is further configured to initiate execution of the game program from the memory after determining that the gaming machine supports the game build configuration stored in the non-volatile memory.

19. The gaming machine of claim 16, wherein the game controller, per the game build configuration, is configured to select the one or more tailored game play assets such that the one or more tailored game play assets include artwork specific to an orientation of the display device.

20. The gaming machine of claim 16, wherein the game build configuration includes game build options selected from one or more of:

number of pay lines, bet denominations, bet multipliers, matrix sizes, symbol sets, jackpot levels, return-to-player (RTP) options, pay methods, languages, display size, display resolution, aspect ratios, and game features.