Gaming machine with multiple independent display gaming areas

• US 5,890,962 A
• Filed: 06/27/1996
• Issued: 04/06/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Ace Denken
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Ace Denken
• Inventors: Takemoto, Takatoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): ONEILL, MICHAEL W
• Application Number:
  US08/666,451
• Time in Patent Office: 1,013 Days
• Field of Search: 463/20, 463/12, 463/13, 463/16, 273/143 R, 273/138 A, 273/85 CP, 364/412, 364/410
• US Class Current: 463/20
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A plurality of display areas 110A-110I change and display a plurality of predetermined types of symbols in sequence, and a control section performs display control for causing each of the display areas to make a transition from display in a symbol stop condition to that in a dynamic condition in which the symbols change dynamically and further to make a transition from the display in the dynamic condition to that in the stop condition. An active gaming area determination section determines at least one display area used as an active gaming area among the plurality of display areas. A determination section determines whether or not a combination of the symbols displayed in each of the display areas selected by the active gaming area determination section is a predetermined combination when the display in the dynamic condition produced in the display areas determined by the active gaming area determination section becomes the display in the stop condition. A win processing section executes a predetermined game win process when the determination section determines that the combination of the symbols is the predetermined combination.

Claims

1. A gaming machine wherein a plurality of types of symbols are dynamically displayed in sequence and a win or loss is determined based on a combination of the symbols displayed when the dynamic display is stopped, said gaming machine comprising:

a display section having a plurality of display areas for dynamically displaying predetermined types of symbols in sequence and displaying a stop condition of the dynamic display, each of the display areas is for displaying a respective game;

a control section for performing display control to cause each of the display areas to make a transition from display in a symbol stop condition to that in a dynamic condition in which the symbols change dynamically, and further to make a transition from the display in the dynamic condition to that in the stop condition;

an active gaming area determination section for selecting at least one display area as an active gaming area among the plurality of display areas;

a judgment section for judging whether or not a respective combination of the symbols displayed in said at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section is a respective first predetermined combination when the display in the dynamic condition produced in said at least one display area transitions to the display in the stop condition;

a win processing section for executing a first predetermined win process when said judgment section judges that the respective combination of the symbols is the respective first predetermined combination;

a definition section for defining a plurality of betting lines each indicating positions of symbols whose combination is judged by said judgment section;

a betting line determination section for determining at least one of the betting lines defined by said definition section to be an active betting line used for gaming in the at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section;

wherein said judgment section makes the judgment whether the symbol combination is the respective first predetermined combination for each of the betting lines determined by said betting line determination section;

a betting line selection acceptance section for accepting selection specification of at least one active betting line used for gaming among the betting lines defined by said definition section in the at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section; and

wherein said betting line determination section determines the betting line corresponding to the selection specification accepted through said betting line selection acceptance section to be the active betting line for gaming.

2. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1 further including a selection acceptance section for accepting selection specification of the at least one display area among the plurality of display areas, wherein

said active gaming area determination section selects the at least one display area corresponding to the selection specification accepted through said selection acceptance section as the active gaming area.

3. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein said selection acceptance section accepts the selection specification in response to said control section causing the at least one display area to make the transition from the display in the symbol stop condition to that in the dynamic condition.

4. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1 further including:

media acceptance means for accepting input of game play media used for playing a game; and

count means for counting the number of game play media accepted through said media acceptance means, wherein

said active gaming area determination section selects as the at least one display area as many display areas as the number defined in response to the number of game play media counted by said count means.

5. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said display section further produces a predetermined display indicating that the at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section is an active gaming display area in the display section.

6. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1 further including an indicator for producing a predetermined display indicating that the at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section is an active gaming display area.

7. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said win processing section causes the at least one display area, when displaying the plurality of symbols whose combination is judged to be the respective first predetermined combination by said judgment section, to produce a predetermined win display as the predetermined win process.

8. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 2 further including information means for informing a player that the selection can be accepted through said selection acceptance section.

15. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein when there is more than one display area determined by said active gaming area determination section, said determination section further determines whether or not a combination of the symbols displayed in the display areas is a predetermined combination of symbols.

16. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 15 wherein said control section only performs the control for the at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section.

9. A gaming machine wherein a plurality of types of symbols are dynamically displayed in sequence and a win or loss is determined based on a combination of the symbols displayed when the dynamic display is stopped, said gaming machine comprising:

a display section having a plurality of display areas for dynamically displaying predetermined types of symbols in sequence and displaying a stop condition of the dynamic display, each of the display areas is for displaying a respective game;

a control section for performing display control to cause each of the display areas to make a transition from display in a symbol stop condition to that in a dynamic condition in which the symbols change dynamically, and further to make a transition from the display in the dynamic condition to that in the stop condition;

an active gaming area determination section for selecting at least one display area as an active gaming area among the plurality of display areas;

a judgment section for judging whether or not a respective combination of the symbols displayed in said at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section is a respective first predetermined combination when the display in the dynamic condition produced in said at least one display area transitions to the display in the stop condition;

a win processing section for executing a first predetermined win process when said judgment section judges that the respective combination of the symbols is the respective first predetermined combination;

a selection acceptance section for accepting selection specification of the at least one display area among the plurality of display areas;

a definition section for defining a plurality of betting lines, each indicating positions of symbols whose combination is judged by said judgment section;

a betting line determination section for determining at least one of the betting lines defined by said definition section to be an active betting line for gaming in the at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section;

a betting line selection acceptance section for accepting selection specification of at least one active betting line used for gaming among the betting lines defined by said definition section in the at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section;

wherein said active gaming area determination section selects the at least one display area corresponding to the selection specification accepted through said selection acceptance section as the active gaming area; and

wherein said betting line determination section determines the betting line corresponding to the selection specification accepted through said betting line selection acceptance section to be the active betting line for gaming.

10. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 9 wherein said win processing section causes said display section to produce a predetermined win display as the predetermined win process.

11. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 9 wherein there is more than one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section, and wherein said judgment section further judges whether or not a combination of the symbols displayed in two or more of the display areas is a respective second predetermined combination of symbols.

12. A gaming machine wherein a plurality of types of symbols are dynamically displayed in sequence and a win or loss is determined based on a combination of the symbols displayed when the dynamic display is stopped, said gaming machine comprising:

a display section having a plurality of display areas for dynamically displaying predetermined types of symbols in sequence and displaying a stop condition of the dynamic display, each of the display areas is for displaying a respective game;

a control section for performing display control to cause each of the display areas to make a transition from display in a symbol stop condition to that in a dynamic condition in which the symbols change dynamically, and further to make a transition from the display in the dynamic condition to that in the stop condition;

an active gaming area determination section for selecting at least one display area as an active gaming area among the plurality of display areas;

a judgment section for judging whether or not a respective combination of the symbols displayed in said at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section is a respective first predetermined combination when the display in the dynamic condition produced in said at least one display area transitions to the display in the stop condition;

a win processing section for executing a first predetermined win process when said judgment section judges that the respective combination of the symbols is the respective first predetermined combination;

a display area combination judgment section for determining whether or not a combination of selected display areas that each display a plurality of symbols whose combination is judged to be the respective first predetermined combination by said judgment section is a respective second predetermined combination; and

wherein said win processing section further executes a second predetermined win process different from the first win process when said display area combination judgment section judges that the combination of selected display areas is the respective second predetermined combination.

13. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 12 wherein said win processing section causes the display areas in the combination of display areas to produce a predetermined win display as the second win process.

14. A gaming machine wherein a plurality of types of symbols are dynamically displayed in sequence and a win or loss is determined based on a combination of the symbols displayed when the dynamic display is stopped, said gaming machine comprising:

a display section having a plurality of display areas for dynamically displaying predetermined types of symbols in sequence and displaying a stop condition of the dynamic display, each of the display areas is for displaying a respective game;

a control section for performing display control to cause each of the display areas to make a transition from display in a symbol stop condition to that in a dynamic condition in which the symbols change dynamically, and further to make a transition from the display in the dynamic condition to that in the stop condition,

an active gaming area determination section for selecting at least one display area as an active gaming area among the plurality of display areas;

a judgment section for judging whether or not a respective combination of the symbols displayed in said at least one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section is a respective first predetermined combination when the display in the dynamic condition produced in said at least one display area transitions to the display in the stop condition;

a win processing section for executing a first predetermined win process when said judgment section judges that the respective combination of the symbols is the respective first predetermined combination;

wherein there is more than one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section, and wherein said judgment section further judges whether or not a combination of the symbols displayed in two or more of the display areas is a respective second predetermined combination of symbols;

a plural display area betting line definition section for defining a plurality of betting lines which are judged by said judgment section and which indicate respective positions of the plurality of symbols displayed in a plurality of selected display areas;

a plural display area betting line determination section for determining at least one active betting line from among the betting lines defined by said plural display area betting line definition section when there is more than one selected display area, and

wherein said judgment section makes the judgment as to whether the symbol combination corresponding to the at least one active betting line is the respective second predetermined combination.

17. A gaming machine, comprising:

a display section that is operable to display a plurality of display areas for changing and displaying a plurality of predetermined types of symbols in sequence,

a control section for performing display control that causes selected display areas to make a transition from display in a symbol stop condition to that in a dynamic condition in which the symbols change dynamically and further to make a transition from the display in the dynamic condition to that in the stop condition;

an active gaming area determination section for selecting one or more display areas as respective active gaming areas among the plurality of display areas;

a judgment section for judging, when there is more than one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section, whether or not a combination of the plurality of symbols displayed in the selected display areas is a predetermined combination of symbols;

a win processing section for executing a predetermined win process when said judgment section judges that the combination of the symbols is the predetermined combination;

a plural display area betting line definition section for defining a plurality of betting lines which are judged by said judgment section and which indicates positions of the plurality of symbols displayed in the plurality of display areas;

a plural display area betting line determination section for determining at least one active betting line used for gaming among the betting lines defined by said plural display area betting line definition section when there is more than one display area selected by said active gaming area determination section;

wherein said judgment section makes the judgment as to whether the symbol combination is the predetermined combination of symbols for each of the betting lines determined by said plural display area betting line determination section;

a plural display area betting line selection acceptance section for accepting selection specification of at least one active betting line used for gaming among the betting lines defined by said plural display area betting line definition section; and

wherein said plural display area betting line determination section determines the betting line corresponding to the selection specification accepted through said plural display area betting line selection acceptance section to be the active betting line used for gaming.

18. The gaming machine according to claim 17 wherein when a plurality of said selected display areas displays a predetermined combination of symbols, said judgment section further judges whether a combination of the plurality of said selected display areas matches a predetermined combination of the display areas;

and

said win processing section executes a predetermined big win process when said combination of the plurality of said selected display areas is the predetermined combination of the display areas.