CA2113705C - Slot machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A slot machine having observation windows formed in a 3 x 3 matrix on a front panel. At the back of each observation window, a reel is mounted which is rotated by a pulse motor. When a reel stops, one symbol appears at the central area of each observation window.
Eight winning lines are provided including three vertical lines, three horizontal lines, and two diagonal lines. These winning lines are made valid in accordance with the number of inserted coins. The reels are stopped in a predetermined order. If a combination of symbols on a valid winning line is a winning symbol combination, coins corresponding in number to the rank of the winning symbol combination are paid out.

Description

- ~113705 SLOT MACHINE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slot ma-chine, and more particularly to a slot machine in which a plurality of rules are arranged in a matrix.

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional slot machine, a plurality of reels, for example, three to five reels are disposed laterally. These reels are rotated at the same time, upon actuation of a start lever. The reels are thereaf-ter stopped sequentially at random timings. In a manual stop type, a stop button is provided for each reel and upon actuation of a stop button the corresponding reel stops. Various symbols such as "7", "apple", "banana", "star", and "bell" are drawn on the outer circumferen-tial frame of each reel.
In a conventional slot machine, an observation window is provided for each reel, and three symbols are fully observed through this observation window. Three winning lines are formed laterally traversing respective three symbols at the upper, middle, and lower areas of each observation window. Additional two winning lines are also formed diagonally crossing respective three symbols. A conventional slot machine has therefore five ~1137~

winning lines in total. The number of valid winning lines increases as the number of coins (including to-kens) entered from a coin inlet prior to the start of a game increases. For example, one lateral winning line is made valid if one coin is entered, lateral three winning lines are made valid if two coins are entered, and all five winning lines are made valid if three coins are entered. A slot machine which is operable with a pre-paid card has been proposed recently. With the slot machine of this type, a credit button is operated prior to starting a game, and the number of coins to be bet is determined from the number of credit button operation times.
When all the reels stop and if any combination of a plurality of symbols on a valid winning line is a winning symbol combination, a predetermined number of coins for the rank of the winning symbol combination are paid out. Alternatively, instead of paying out actual coins, a credit counter is counted up correspondingly, in some slot machines.
In order to make a player have much fun with a game, a special favor of a plurality of bonus games are given to the player if all symbols on a particular winning line are "7". The contents of a bonus game change with the type of a slot machine. In some slot machines, when one coin is entered, only one reel ro-tates. If a particular symbol appears when the reel - 21137~

stops, a win or hit is given. In such a bonus game, the reels are controlled to stop so as to make a particular symbol appear at a high probability.
Conventional slot machines such as described above have only five winning lines, thus providing less winning chance. Furthermore, if the first stopped reel does not show the symbol "7", the player knows at this time instant that there is no more chance of getting a bonus game which the player has most desired, thus loosing an interest in the game although the remaining reels are still rotating.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
- It is an object of the present invention to provide a slot machine having an increased number of winning lines and giving more winning chance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a slot machine capable of maintaining a player to have fun with a game until the last reel stops.
The above and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by arranging a plurality of reels in an M x N matrix. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, reels are arranged in a 3 x 3 matrix. If one of a plurality of reels at a corner of the matrix arrangement is adapted to be stopped last, symbol combinations on three winning lines -- 21~37~3 including a vertical line, a horizontal line, and a diagonal line are determined at the final stage of a game. If the reel at the center of the matrix arrange-ment is adapted to be stopped last, symbol combinations on four winning lines including a vertical line, a horizontal line, and two diagonal lines are determined at the final stage of a game when the center reel stops.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig.1 is a perspective view of a slot machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig.2 is a diagram explaining the relationship between observation windows and winning lines;
Fig.3 is a front view of a reel unit;
Fig.4 is a diagram explaining how symbols are observed through an observation window;
Fig.5 is a perspective view of a reel main body;
Fig.6 is an enlarged partial perspective view of the reel unit;
Fig.7 is a block diagram of the electric circuit of the slot machine;

-: 21137~
Fig.8 is a block diagram of a winning display unit;
Fig.9 is a diagram explaining the order of stopping reels; and Fig.10 is a diagram explaining another example of the order of stopping reels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to Fig.l showing an embodiment of a slot machine of the invention, a front door 3 which can be opened and closed is mounted on the main frame 2 of the slot machine. A panel 4 is mounted at the central area of the front door 3. A plurality of observation windows are disposed in an M x N (M, N is an integer) matrix. In this embodiment, as particularly shown in Fig.2, nine observation windows 5a to 5i are formed in a matrix. On the panel 4, eight winning lines 6a to 6h are formed traversing respective three observation windows. As shown in Fig.3, first to ninth reels 17a to 17i are rotatively mounted at the back of the observa-tion windows 5a to 5i.
A coin inlet 10 and a start lever 11 are mounted on the front door 3. A coin discriminator for discriminating between forged and true coins (tokens) and for ejecting a forged coin and receiving a true coin, and a coin sensor for detecting a true coin, are mounted along a coin path extending from the coin inlet ~11370~

10. Prior to starting a game, a coin is inserted into the coin inlet 10 so that start lever 11 is made active and the valid winning lines corresponding to the number of entered coins are displayed.
When the start lever 11 is operated, nine pulse motors 16a to 16i shown in Fig.3 start rotating to rotate the first to ninth reels 17a to 17i at the same time. As well known, symbols are depicted at an equal pitch on the outer circumference frames of these reels 17a to 17i, each symbol being observed via the observa-. --tion windows 5a to 5i indicated by phantom lines. Asshown in Fig.4, when a reel stops, three symbols SBl to SB3 can be observed. Of the three symbols, the center symbol SBl only appears fully, and the other two symbols SB2 and SB3 on the upper and lower sides of the center symbol SBl appear partially with two halves being shielded by the windows. The reason why the two symbols SB2 and SB3 are displayed incompletely on the upper and lower sides of the center symbol SBl which is used for judging a win, is that an impression a win could have been obtained is given to the player so that the player expects the next game.
When the first to ninth reels 17a to 17i stop and if any combination of symbols on a valid winning line is a winning symbol combination, the winning line having been illuminated continuously is flashed. There-after, a predetermined number of coins for the rank of 2il~7û~

the winning symbol combination is paid out onto a coin saucer 8. The number of pay-out coins is displayed on a display unit 19 mounted above the coin inlet 10.
Referring to Fig.5 showing the reel 17a, a cylindrical reel main body 25 is constructed of a pair of rings 26 and 27 and six stays 28. The ring 26 is integrally formed with a side stay 29 to which a coupler 30 is adhered by three screws. The coupler 30 is fitted to the shaft of the corresponding pulse motor. The ring 26 has a taper surface 31 on the side of the stays 28.
The other ring 27 is integrally formed with a flange 33 which has a recess 32. The recess 32 is used for de-tecting a home position of the reel main body 25. A
sheet 34 indicated by a phantom line is attached to the outer circumference frame of the reel main body 25. As well known, symbols such as "7", "apple", "banana", star , and ~bell~ are drawn at an equal pitch on this sheet 34.
Referring to Fig.6 showing a reel unit in an enlarged partial view, a pulse motor 16a and a photo sensor 41 for detecting the recess 32 of the reel main body 25 are fixed to a base plate 40 by means of screws.
The coupler 30 is fitted to the shaft 42 of the pulse motor 16a. In this condition, the flange 33 is inserted between a light projector 41a and a light receiver 41b of the photo sensor 41 to allow the recess 32 to be sensed.

Referring to Fig.7, the coin sensor 43 detects each true coin discriminated by the coin discriminator and sends a detection signal to a coin counter 44 which counts the detection signal and sends a count value to a CPU 45. When a game starts, the coin counter 44 is reset by CPU 45. A ROM 46 stores game programs.
CPU 45 writes the coin count value in RAM 47, and identifies winning lines corresponding to the coin count value. The valid winning line data is sent from CPU 45 to an illumination controller 48. The illumina-tion controller 40 controls drivers 49a to 49h to con-tinuously illuminate corresponding one or ones of LEDs 50a to 50h corresponding to the winning lines 6a to 6h.
For example, for the coin count value of "1", LEDs 50a of the winning line 6a are continuously illuminated.
For the coin count value of "2 , LEDs 50a to 50c corre-sponding to the winning lines 6a, 6b, and 6c are contin-uously illuminated. For the coin count value of "3", LEDs 50a to 50e corresponding to the winning lines 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and 6e are continuously illuminated. For the coin count of "4", LEDs 50a to 50h corresponding to the winning lines 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, and 6h are continuously illuminated.
After a coin or coins are inserted, CPU 45 activates a random number generator 55 and awaits a start signal from a signal generator 55 which generates the start signal when the start lever 11 is operated.

Upon reception of the start signal, CPU 45 sends it to a motor controller 57 and a sampling circuit 58. The motor controller 57 controls drivers 59a to 59i to drive the pulse motors 16a to 16i and rotate the first to ninth reels 17a to 17i at the same time. During the rotation of each reel 17, a home position detection signal is generated each time the recess 32 passes through the photo sensor 41, and sent to a pulse motor controller 57. Nine reel counters for counting pulses supplied to respective pulse motors are provided in the motor controller 57. Each reel counter is reset by the home position detection signal of the corresponding reel. The rotary position of each reel is detected by the count value of each reel counter. This rotary position data is sent to CPU 45.
The sampling circuit 58 responds to the start signal and samples one random number in a predetermined range from a train of random numbers. The sampled random number is sent via CPU to a winning judgement unit 60. A winning rank storage 61 stores therein a symbol combination and the number of pay-out coins for each of random numbers to be sampled. Referring to the winning rank storage 61, the winning judgement unit 60 determines the reel stop positions and the number of pay-out coins of the played game, in accordance with the sampled random number, and sends the reel stop position data and pay-out coin number data to CPU 45. CPU 45 ~1137(~

makes the pay-out coin number data to be stored in RAM
47 and sends the reel stop position data to the motor controller 57.
After a lapse of a predetermined time after the start lever 11 is operated, CPU 45 instructs the motor controller 57 to perform a reel stop control. The motor controller 57 performs the stop control for the pulse motors 16a to 16i in accordance with the reel stop position data, to thus stop the nine reels 17a to 171 in the order of serial numbers shown in Fig.9. With this stop control, the symbol combination determined by the winning judgement unit 60 appears on the winning line.
The symbol combination is checked by CPU 45 after all the reels 17 stop. Specifically, since CPU 45 stores data representing the relationship between a reel count value and a symbol, each symbol can be checked from the reel count value at the time when the reel stops.
This check result is sent from CPU 45 to the illumination controller 48 which controls the driver to flash LEDs of the winning line on which the winning symbol combination has been established. CPU 45 sends the pay-out coin number stored in RAM 47 to a pay-out controller 62 which drives a coin pay-out unit 63 to pay out dividend coins in the machine.
The operation of the embodiment will be de-scribed next. If for example four coins are inserted into the coin inlet 10, all the winning lines 6a to 6h 21137û~

are made valid and LEDs 50a to 50h are illuminated.
Thereafter, as the start lever 11 is operated, the nine reels 17a to 17i rotate at the same time. During the rotation of the reels, referring to the winning rank storage 61, the winning judgement unit 60 generates the reel stop position data and pay-out coin number data in accordance with the sampled random number, and sends the data to CPU 45 and motor controller 57.
After a lapse of the predetermined time, as the stop signal is supplied from CPU 45, the motor controller 57 stops the pulse motors 16a to 16i in the order of serial numbers shown in Fig.9. When all the reels 17 stop and if any winning symbol combination appears on the valid winning lines, coins corresponding in number to the winning rank are paid out. For exam-ple, if a symbol combination of "7 - 7 - 7" appears on the winning line 6c, the illumination controller 48 flashes LEDs 50c which have been continuously illuminat-ed. This winning symbol combination has the highest rank, and so a number of coins are paid out onto the saucer 18. A special bonus favor described previously is also given to allow the player to have a predeter-mined number of bonus games.
In this embodiment, even if the symbol "7"
does not appear on any observation window at the second row, there is a possibility of forming a symbol combina-tion of "7 - 7 - 7" on the bottom row, still maintaining the game fun. Furthermore, since the symbol combina-tions on the winning lines 6c, 6d, and 6h are determined when the last reel 17i stops, the game fun continues until the last reel stops. As described above, the slot machine of this invention has a number of winning lines, increasing an expectation for a win.
Fig.10 shows another example of the order of stopping reels. In this example, the center reel 17e stops last so that the four symbol combinations are completed at the end of a game. Accordingly, a greater expectation of a game win can be hoped until all the reels stop, making the player have much fun. Other different orders of stopping reels may be used.
In the above embodiment, an auto-stop type slot machine has been described. The present invention is also applicable to a manual stop type slot machine in which reels are stopped upon actuation of stop buttons.
If the same symbol appears on the nine reels or on the four corner reels, a win may be given. If the same symbols appear on the winning lines 6a and 6g in a cross shape, a win may also be given. Furthermore, the inven-tion is applicable to a slot machine of the type using a pre-paid card or a credit card. Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings, the inven-tion should not be limited by the embodiments but, on the contrary, various modifications, changes, combina-~113705 tions and the like of the present invention can beeffected without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. A slot machine comprising:
a plurality of observation windows arranged in an M x N matrix;
a plurality of rotatable reels mounted respectively at the back of said observation windows, each said reel having a train of symbols on an outer circumferential frame of said reel;
a plurality of motors respectively for driving said reels; and a plurality of winning lines formed along row lines, column lines, and diagonal lines of said matrix.

2. A slot machine according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of winning lines are made valid in accordance with the number of inserted coins.

3. A slot machine according to claim 2, wherein one symbol of each said train of symbols is positioned at the respective center of said observation windows when said reels stop.

4. A slot machine according to claim 3, wherein N and M are an integer "3".

5. A slot machine according to claim 4, wherein incomplete and partially shielded symbols appear in the upper and lower areas of each said observation window when each said reel stops.

6. A slot machine according to claim 5, wherein said plurality of reels stop sequentially one row after another, and sequentially from the left to the right on each row.

7. A slot machine according to claim 5, wherein the reel at the center of said matrix arrangement stops last of said plurality of reels.

8. A slot machine according to claim 5, wherein LEDs are disposed along each said winning line, said LEDs on said valid winning lines are continuously illuminated, and if a winning symbol combination appears on said winning line, said LEDs along each said winning line having been continuously illuminated become flashed.