Gaming System and Method with Wager Variability

• US 20080081688A1
• Filed: 10/01/2007
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia PTY Limited (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Original Assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia PTY Limited (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Inventors: Plowman, Gregory
• Granted Patent: US 8,147,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/20
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3213 Details of moving display elements, e.g. spinning reels, tumbling members
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• 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 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A gaming machine that provides a wagering game, including a user interface in communication with a game controller, through the operation of which a player selects one of a plurality of wager options that determine a number of symbols to be active and inactive in the wagering game. For at least one said wager option at least one, but not all of the plurality of symbols that define a possible said winning combination are rendered inactive for forming the winning combination.

Claims

1. A method of providing a wagering game on a gaming machine, the wagering game including a plurality of symbols that are displayed on a display to represent at least one outcome of the game, the plurality of symbols including a plurality of symbol classes, wherein a winning combination in the wagering game is represented as an occurrence of a combination of a plurality of symbols in the same class, the wagering game including a plurality of different winning combinations within two or more of the symbol classes, the method including:

determining which one of a plurality of available wager options has been placed in a game play of the wagering game;

forming at least one outcome from the plurality of symbols by displaying a symbol in each of a plurality of symbol display positions; and

awarding an award according to a pay table of the gaming machine if a winning combination occurs;

wherein the method further includes, for at least one wager option, defining at least one, but less than all of the symbols in at least two different symbol classes as inactive for forming a winning combination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one said winning combination is available for each and every one of the plurality of symbol classes irrespective of the wager option that is placed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein for at least one wager option, the symbols that are rendered inactive have the effect of approximately at least one third of the symbols being defined as inactive for forming a said winning combination.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein for at least one of the wager options all or substantially all of the symbol classes have at least one symbol that is defined as inactive for forming a said winning combination.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wagering game is a spinning reel game having a plurality of reels, each reel having a plurality of symbols that are each located in a symbol position on the reel, wherein forming at least one outcome includes determining the stopping position of the reels to display symbols on the reels in the symbol display positions, and wherein on at least one of the reels symbols from at least two different symbol classes are defined as inactive.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a plurality of said winning combinations are defined from left to right across the spinning reels and of those winning combinations at least one consists of r symbols, wherein r is less than the number of spinning reels, and for at least one of the wager options, between one third and one half of the symbol positions on a reel within the r leftmost reels are rendered inactive.

7. A method of providing a wagering game on a gaming machine, the wagering game including presenting symbols on a display according to a random selection process, the method including:

determining which one of a plurality of wager options has been placed in a game play of the wagering game;

rendering at least one symbol that is available to be selected for presentation o the display inactive, the number of symbols rendered inactive depending on the wager option that has been placed;

forming at least one outcome from a plurality of symbols, the number of outcomes formed being fixed, regardless of the said wager option that is placed; and

awarding an award if a winning combination of symbols occurs in a said outcome formed by active symbols in the formed at least one outcome and not awarding an award for the combination if one or more the symbols are inactive.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the wagering game is a spinning reel game and wherein the outcomes are defined across an array of symbols presented by the spinning reels, and wherein the number of outcomes is equal to n^m, wherein n is the number of rows in the array and m is the number of columns in the array.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein for at least one wager option, the number of inactive symbols is selected so that the effective number of outcomes for every game play played at that wager option, the number of outcomes is effectively less than n^m.

10. A method of providing a wagering game on a gaming machine, the wagering game including presenting a plurality of symbols on a display to form one or more outcomes, which are evaluated for a winning outcome, the method including:

determining which one of a plurality of wager options has been placed in a game play of the wagering game;

selecting at least one symbol dependent on the wager option that has been placed and rendering each selected symbol inactive for forming a winning outcome, wherein at least two different classes or types of symbol are rendered inactive for a single wager option;

selecting in a random selection process symbols for display in symbol display positions to form the one or more outcomes, the selection made from a combined set including both active and the inactive symbols, whereby whether a symbol display position displays an active or inactive symbol is randomly determined;

paying an award for winning outcomes that occur which are defined by symbols that are active and not any symbols that have been rendered inactive.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the selection of symbols to be rendered inactive is random or includes a random component.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the process of selecting at least one symbol includes selecting a different number symbols for different wager options placed in the wagering game.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the process of selecting at least one symbol is constrained so that every possible winning outcome remains achievable in the wagering game for every possible selection of symbols to be rendered inactive.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the process of selecting symbols for display includes randomly determining the stopping position of a reel including a plurality of symbol positions, with at least one symbol position indicating an active symbol position and at least one other symbol position indicating an inactive symbol position.

15. A method of providing a spinning reel wagering game on a gaming machine, the wagering game including presenting on a display of the gaming machine a plurality of symbol positions on reels on a display to represent as symbols one or more outcomes of the game method including:

determining which one of a plurality of wager options has been placed in a game play of the wagering game;

rendering the symbols in a variable number of symbol positions inactive for forming a winning outcome, the number of symbol positions in which a symbol is made inactive being dependent on the wager option that was placed;

during game play presenting the reels so that the inactive and active symbols are distinguishable to the eye of a player of the gaming machine;

playing the wagering game and not paying an award for winning outcomes that occur which are defined by one or more symbols that have been rendered inactive.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of symbol positions presented on the display form an array having m rows and n columns, and wherein the number of outcomes of the game is n^m.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the number of outcomes of the game is fixed at n^m.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the symbols that are rendered inactive is an ordinary game symbol, not a bonus symbol or special symbol.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein a plurality of the symbols that are rendered inactive are ordinary game symbols, not a bonus symbol or special symbol.

20. A gaming system including or consisting of a gaming machine that provides a wagering game in which a plurality of symbols are presented on a display to represent one or more outcomes, play of the wagering game being controlled by a game controller in communication with the display, the gaming machine including a user interface in communication with the game controller, through the operation of which a player selects one of a plurality of wager options that determine a number of symbols to be active and inactive in the wagering game, wherein for at least one said wager option at least one, but not all of the plurality of symbols that define a possible said winning combination are rendered inactive for forming the winning combination and wherein for at least one said wager option the symbols presented on the display to represent one or more outcomes always includes at least one inactive symbol.

21. The gaming system of claim 20, wherein for a said wager option in which the symbols presented on the display to represent one or more outcomes always include at least one inactive symbol, at least one symbol from substantially every possible winning combination is inactive and wherein the number of inactive symbols decreases as wager options having higher values are selected.

22. The gaming system of claim 20, wherein the user interface and game controller are adapted to allow the player to select another wager option, which includes at least one of:

a) selection of the number of outcomes purchased, wherein an award is paid if a winning combination occurs in the purchased outcomes but not the outcomes that have not been purchased; and

b) selection of an amount to wager on each outcome,

which is made independently of the selection of the number of inactive symbols.

23. The gaming machine of claim 20, wherein the wagering game is a spinning reel game including a plurality of reels each including a plurality of reel positions that carry a said symbol and wherein the game controller randomly selects the stopping position of the reel to display the symbols in a portion of the reel positions so as to display an array of symbols, across which a plurality of pay lines are defined that indicate the plurality of possible outcomes, wherein the symbols that are rendered inactive are defined by their position on the reels.

24. The gaming machine of claim 23, wherein on at least one reel the inactive symbols are distributed along the reel so that the ratio of active and inactive symbols that are displayed randomly varies as a result of the random selection of the stopping position of that reel.

25. The gaming machine of claim 20, wherein sufficient active symbols to form a winning combination are always presented on the display for every game play regardless of which wager option is selected.