US20060033281A1

US20060033281A1 - Method and apparatus for the casino Feng Shui slot machine game

Info

Publication number: US20060033281A1
Application number: US10/941,513
Authority: US
Inventors: Jacob Wong
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-08-16
Filing date: 2004-09-15
Publication date: 2006-02-16

Abstract

A slot machine that allows a player to make multiple bets of differing amounts for a simulated roll of three dice, and also allows the player to bet upon the selection of a given Feng Shui indictor from a set of Feng Shui indicators. The slot machine contains a display mechanism that includes a carousel wheel having inner and middle wheels divided into 6 segments and an outer wheel divided into six pairs of segments. Each wheel contains the numbers 1 to 6 and the outer wheel also contains the Feng Shui indicators. The carousel can be spun so that its wheels rotate with different degrees of freedom and independently of one another; the inner and middle wheels can spin in opposite directions of each other while the outer wheel can remain stationary while its designators are shuffled. The slot machine is controlled by a computer software program and the length of time that the control mechanism takes to create the session spin of the carousel can be at least partly dependent upon the total number of betting units wagered by a player for a session spin. The input mechanism of the slot machine allows a player to make session bets selected from a group of Sic Bo bets tied to the outcome of the simulated roll of three dice, and these bets can be represented by certain numbers related to the Sic Bo bets.

Description

NOTICE OF RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/919,092, filed Aug. 16, 2004, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference, and is related to another patent application being filed concurrently herewith entitled “Method and Apparatus for the Casino Feng Shui Sic Bo Game,” the disclosure of which is also specifically incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is in the field of games of chance. In particular, this invention discloses a method and apparatus for creating a slot machine concept based upon the ancient Chinese dice game of Sic Bo (Tai Sai). This is accomplished by adding the game feature of the Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui, the use of new apparatus and a novel summing representation for the betting rules of the old game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sic Bo (table game), known to some people as Tai Sai, means dice pair in Chinese. It is an ancient Chinese game of chance. It may have originally used a pair of dice shaken between a plate and an overturned bowl, but today it commonly has three dice in a cage for tumbling. Extremely popular in Asian cultures, this exciting and engaging game is winning new converts in many casinos around the world. Sic Bo (table game, Tai Sai) is easy to play. The object is to pick the numbers or combinations that will appear on the dice when they come to rest after tumbling. There are 50 different ways to place bets, so players have plenty of choices with a range of payouts—some as high as 180-to-1.
Most casino Sic Bo tables offer the following types of bets (described below from top to bottom of the betting summary chart layout as depicted in FIG. 1):
Small Bet (Under 11)
Small bets win when the point total of the three dice is between 4 and 10 (also expressed as “Under 11”). The payout is 1-to-1 unless there is a low Triple (Triple 1s, 2s or 3s), in which case the Small bet loses. There are 108 possible combinations of the three dice that add up to point totals under 11, and only 3 of them are Triples.
Specific Double
To win a Specific Double bet, two of the three dice must show the Double one selects. The payout is 10-to-1. There are six Specific doubles bets that one can make (and one can place bets on any or all of them for any tumbling). If the third dice also matches the Specific double number (in other words, when the result is a Triple), the Specific Double bet still wins.
Specific Triple
To win a Specific Triple bet, all three of the dice must show the Specific Triple one selects. The payout is 180-to-1. There are six Specific Triples bets one can make (and one can place bets on any or all of them for any tumbling).
Any Triple
To win the Any Triple bet, all three of the dice must show the same number, but it can be any of the six possible numbers. This bet wins on any triple result. The payout is 30-to-1.
Big Bet (Over 10)
Big bets win when the point total of the three dice is between 11 and 17 (also expressed as “Over 10”). The payout is 1-to-1 unless there is a high Triple (Triple 4s, 5s or 6s), in which case the Big bet loses. There are 108 possible combinations of the three dice that add up to point totals over 10, and only 3 of them are Triples.
Specific Total
To win a Specific Total bet, all three of the dice must add up to the Specific Total one selects. The payout varies depending on the total selected, from 6-to-1 to 60 to-1 (as indicated in the betting chart layout shown in FIG. 1 and the payout summary table shown in FIG. 2). There are fourteen Specific Total bets one can make: total so 4 through 17 (and one can place bets on any or all of them for any tumbling). For any given tumbling, only one of the fourteen totals can win.
Pair Match
To win a Pair match bet, two of the three of the dice must make the pair selected. The payout is 5-to-1 on each pair. There are fifteen Pair Match bets one can make (and one can place bets on any or all of them for any tumbling). Note that for a result with three single (for example 1, 4, 5), three of the Pair match bets will win (in this example: 1&4, 1&5 and 4&5).
Numbers Bet
If one places a wager on any of the six numbered boxes in the “Numbers Bet” area at the bottom of the betting summary chart layout shown in FIG. 1 (the largest die labeled one, two, three, four, five or six) one can win according to how many of the three dice come up with the selected number.

Matching Number Payout

1 of 3 (a Single) 1:1

2 of 3 (a Double) 2:1

3 of 3 (a Triple) 10:1

Thus, if all three dice come up 4, any wager on the Number 4 die bet would pay 10-to-1. One can bet on as many individual Numbers as one likes.
Despite the fact that the game of Sic Bo could be found in Las Vegas casinos since the early 1950's, albeit only in a few small gambling joints, the game has never gained the same kind of popularity over the years as other casino games such as Black Jack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat and Poker. There are several reasons to explain this fact. First and foremost, Sic Bo has always been identified as a game of Chinese origin. From before the 1950's up till the time when Congress finally passed the Civil Rights Act of 1962, racial segregation existed, to various degrees and in various forms, in the United States, and this segregation helps to explain why the game of Sic Bo has been largely ignored by the general public until recently.
Second, the Sic Bo game itself is indeed very unique when compared with the other popular casino games. Sic Bo can be played very simply, like making the Small and Big bets as explained earlier above. On the other hand, playing the game can also be exceedingly complex as there are 50 different ways to make bets and it will take most players quite a long time to develop the kind of betting strategies that they would individually enjoy.
Third, Sic Bo is an ancient Chinese game played with very unsophisticated apparatus like three dice, a plate and a bowl. Virtually no changes have been made to this ancient apparatus as the game was passed down from hundreds of years ago to today. Usually there is an operator, one of the casino staff, who is responsible for the tumbling of the three dice using a relatively small “cage” and announcing the result. Players gather around the operator and place bets on a long and narrow table top displaying all the betting possibilities for the game. The result of the tumbling dice, as made known to the players by the operator, can only be verified by those few players immediately in the vicinity of the operator. The rest of the players, especially when there are many playing the game, who can be many feet away from the operator, have literally to take the operator's word for granted. This is perhaps the most serious weakness of the Sic Bo game, not to mention the remote yet realistic chance of encountering the “loaded dice” fraud, that must be dealt with if ever it can become a popular casino game in the business.
Finally, as more and more gambling visitors from Asia, especially from China, come to play in casinos in the U.S., the original game of Sic Bo, which albeit is by far their favorite game to play, carries with it a bad stigma as a reminder to them of the racially segregated America of yesteryears. Thus, something has to be done about this game in order to shift the attention of these Asian visitors coming to visit the US from America's imperfect past to being recognized as the cradle of racial diversity in the world of today.
The present inventor recognizes a golden opportunity, based upon the unique circumstances surrounding the Sic Bo game in America, viz. the American society from the early 1950's to the present time and the recent emergence of China as a world economical power as discussed earlier, to create a slot machine for the first time based upon the Sic Bo game. In order to accomplish this feat successfully, the Sic Bo game is first rendered grandiose by replacing the tumbling of the three dice with the spinning motion of a beautiful multicolor carousel controlled by computer software and projected onto a computer monitor or a big screen. Next, a novel summing representation for all the betting rules of the game is devised. Finally, in order to entice a new generation of Chinese visitors to play this slot machine game in America or elsewhere in the world, a feature of their beloved folk culture Feng Shui is added to the game. This is most opportune since not only are the growing numbers of Asian tourists, especially from China, very important to America's tourist industry and economy, their understanding of the American people, particularly of their diverse societal culture and behavior, serves to sustain a strong relationship between the US and China, thus contributing directly to the future stability and harmony of the world.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to a slot machine that allows a player to make multiple bets of differing amounts for a simulated roll of three dice, and also allows the player to bet upon the selection of a given Feng Shui indicator from a set of Feng Shui indicators, such as a set associated with luck, wealth, wind, longevity, health and fertility.
In a first, separate group of aspects of the present invention, the slot machine contains a display mechanism that includes a carousel wheel having an inner wheel divided into x inner wheel segments, each of which bears an inner wheel designation, a middle wheel divided into y segments, each of which bears a middle wheel designation, and an outer wheel divided into z outer wheel segments, each of which bears an outer wheel designation, wherein y is greater than or equal to x, z is greater than or equal to y and both y and z are divisible by x. After the carousel is spun, and each of inner, the middle and the outer wheels have rotated, the wheels will stop such that each of the inner wheel segments will align itself moving outwardly from the inner wheel with (y÷x) of the middle wheel segments and (z÷x) of the outer wheel segments, and they can each stop at different times. When the carousel is displaying a Sic Bo game, x and y will be 6 while z will either be 12 or six pairs, each of which will contain a number designation and a Feng Shui designation, and all of the inner and middle wheel designations will be number designations representing dice. The carousel can be spun so that each of the inner, the middle and the outer wheels rotate with different degrees of freedom and independently of one another; the inner and middle wheels can spin in opposite directions of each other while the outer wheel can remain stationary and its designators are shuffled.
In other, separate aspects of the present invention, the slot machine is controlled by a computer software program, a pseudo random number generation program is used to simulate roll of the three dice and selection of the Feng Shui indicator and the length of time that the control mechanism takes to create the session spin of the carousel is at least partly dependent upon the total number of betting units wagered by the player for the session spin.
In still other, separate aspects of the present invention, the input mechanism of the slot machine allows a player to make session bets selected from a group of Sic Bo bets tied to the outcome of the simulated roll of three dice, and these bets can be represented by certain numbers related to the Sic Bo bets.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved slot machine.
This and further objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art in connection with the drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the betting summary chart layout for the traditional Sic Bo game.
FIG. 2 shows the payout summary table for the traditional Sic Bo game.
FIG. 3 shows the design of a computer software conceived carousel emulating exactly the tumbling action of the three dice in the Sic Bo game.
FIG. 4 shows the design of a computer software conceived carousel for the currently invented Feng Shui Slot Machine game.
FIG. 5 lists the alphanumeric codes for all the possible bets for the currently invented Feng Shui Slot Machine game.
FIG. 6 shows a possible representation for the currently invented Feng Shui Slot Machine showing a summary of all possible bets with their alphanumeric codes and payout odds, display screen and the buttons A-F and 0-9 for entering various bets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention takes advantage of the fact that, to the best of the inventor's knowledge, there are no slot machines existing today which are devised based upon the concept of the ancient Chinese dice game of Sic Bo. However, in order for one to be able to implement the Sic Bo game as a slot machine game, its extensive betting possibilities (exactly 50 ways) must first be systematically and logically coded using a novel representation scheme. In addition, since the Sic Bo game is a heavy favorite among Chinese gamblers, the Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui (wind and water) is opportunistically introduced as an added playing feature to the game in order to entice the growing number of Chinese visitors to play this slot machine game in Las Vegas (and elsewhere). Finally, the tumbling of the three dice in a cage is replaced with the spinning motion of a carousel whose design is based upon the use of a computer software program.
Feng Shui in Chinese means wind and water. Its origins date back several thousand years to ancient China. The geography of that vast land requires careful consideration when constructing a building since the mountain winds can be severe and the lower areas are prone to flooding. Thus for the ancient Chinese, Feng Shui literally means “luck engineering”. However, the ancient Chinese did not consider luck as synonymous with chance. To them luck was opportunity and they believed that even if presented with opportunity many of us do not act and grasp it with both hands. Today Feng Shui remains as both a fascinating and a revered living concept for the Chinese. They not only believe in Feng Shui, but also strive to improve it whenever and wherever possible in order to increase their opportunity, thereby enhancing their luck in whatever they are doing.
Practically speaking, this Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui could therefore be interpreted as an “art of professional placement” or “opportunity engineering”. For the modern Chinese, it is most important for them to seek harmony with Feng Shui, meaning for them to find or identify opportunities for themselves and then to pursue them. The six opportunities most recognized with Feng Shui are, respectively: 1) Wind or the ability to trend events; 2) Longevity; 3) Health; 4) Fertility, as in the ability to have a male baby; 5) Luck, as in the winning of a lottery; and 6) Personal Wealth. Thus, one is advised to constantly seek out these opportunities in the hope that they can be realized by executing the right strategies.
The incorporation of the concept of Feng Shui as an added playing feature to the ancient game of Sic Bo to Chinese gamblers is likened to the addition of butter to a steamed ear of fresh corn before eating to corn lovers. After all, if they can win more money at the gambling table or slot machine by identifying and pursuing the prevailing Feng Shui, it would be the best of two worlds for them.
The “computer software carousel”, or simply referred to as the “carousel”, is created by custom computer software programs designed to meet the desired performance characteristics selected in conjunction with the inventive concepts set forth herein. In an especially preferred embodiment, the carousel is essentially a coplanar structure of three wheels, designated as the inner, the middle and outer wheel, respectively, all sharing a common axis and also commonly “geared” to only six possible angular positions. Each of the three wheels can rotate with their own degree of freedom. In other words, each wheel can either independently rotate in a clockwise direction, a counterclockwise direction or remain stationary. Both the inner and the middle wheel are divided up into six equal sectors (or segments) each of which spans an angular extent of 60 degrees out of a possible 360 degrees for a circle. The outer wheel is divided into twelve (12) equal sectors each spanning an angle of 30 degrees. The top 60° sector or quadrant is designated as the House's or Casino's domain pointer.
Because of the fact that the three wheels are commonly “geared” to rotate in only intervals of 60 degrees, the wheels cannot arbitrarily be stopped with their sectors randomly registered in angles other than exactly 60 degrees. To add contents to the respective wheels, both the inner and the middle wheel are populated with the numbers of the six faces of a dice, namely, one, two, three, four, five and six. For the outer wheel, six sectors are filled with the numbers of the six faces of a dice, like the inner and middle wheels. The other six sectors are filled with the six opportunity designators of Feng Shui discussed earlier, namely, Wind, Longevity, Health, Fertility, Luck and Health. The opportunity designators might be depicted by various symbols, or words, or a combination of the two, but it is especially preferred, for machines geared to cater to Chinese or Asian visitors, that the opportunity designators include a Chinese character representing the Feng Shui opportunity. When the three wheels of the carousel are made to rotate and stop randomly according to random number generator software (or, for those skilled in the art of computer programming, a pseudo random number generation program), their final positions with respect to the House's 60° domain pointer will also be random. Accordingly, with the exception of the addition of the six Feng Shui opportunity designators, the spinning and subsequent stopping of the three independent wheels of the carousel with respect to House's domain pointer is exactly likened to, and thus simulates, tumbling of three dice with each wheel being identified as one of three dice. Furthermore, a particular Feng Shui opportunity designator will also be randomly selected as indicated by the same pointer for every spin of the carousel or the tumbling for the three dice.
By replacing the tumbling of the three dice in a traditional Sic Bo game with the spinning of the computer software carousel, not only will a Feng Shui designator be randomly determined for a particular spin, the outcome of the tumbling for the Sic Bo game will also be determined by the stopping position of the carousel at the House's designated domain pointer. In this way, the Chinese folk culture of Feng Shui can readily be incorporated into the traditional Sic Bo game.
To complete the implementation of the Sic Bo game into a slot machine game, a novel representation or coding scheme for the 300 possible bets to play the Sic Bo game including the Feng shui feature is devised. This scheme, along with further objects and advantages of the present invention, will be described in greater detail below with the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show, respectively, the betting summary chart layout and the payout summary table for the traditional Sic Bo game. By simply surmising these two tables, one can readily appreciate the dynamic range of betting for this game, from the very simple Small and Big bets to 50 ways of betting the various combinations of the three dice. No wonder the Chinese have been playing this game for centuries and continue to love playing it even until today.
FIG. 3 shows the design of a carousel that simulates the results of the tumbling action of the three dice in the Sic Bo game. The carousel 1 is a coplanar structure of three wheels, designated as the inner wheel 2, the middle wheel 3 and the outer wheel 4, respectively, all sharing a common axis 5 and also commonly “geared” to only six possible angular positions or quadrants 6-11 as shown in FIG. 3. Each wheel has its own degree of freedom in rotation or spinning. In other words, each wheel can either be made to independently rotate in a clockwise direction, a counterclockwise direction or remain stationary. Because of the fact that the three wheels are commonly “geared” to rotate in only angular increments of 60 degrees, the wheels cannot be arbitrarily stopped with their sectors randomly registered in angles other than exactly 60 degrees.
All three wheels, 2, 3 and 4, are divided up equally into six segments, and of which 12 is an example for the inner wheel 2. The face number of a dice, namely, one, two, three, four, five and six, occupy, respectively, the six segments of each of the three wheels as shown in FIG. 3. The top 60 degrees quadrant 6 is designated as the Casino or House pointer. In other words, the contents of the three segments belonging respectively to the three wheels, namely 13 (face number “one” of dice) of the inner wheel 2, 14 (face number “three” of dice) of middle wheel 3 and 15 (face number “four” of dice) of outer wheel 4 are deemed the result of a particular spin for the Casino or House. This is equivalent to and simulates a three-dice tumbling outcome when the Casino or the House is doing the tumbling of the dice. Thus, every time carousel 1 is made to spin, which simulates the tumbling of the three dice, the contents (face numbers of the three wheels) of the spin as represented by the Casino or House's quadrant pointer are the outcome of the tumbling. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the dice numbers showing up after the tumbling of the three dice are 1, 3 and 4, respectively.
The presently invented Feng Shui slot Machine game takes advantage of the computer software carousel for incorporating the concept of Feng Shui into the Sic Bo game. In order to accomplish this, the outer wheel 16 of carousel 17 is divided equally into twelve (12) equal segments (or six pairs of segments) as shown in FIG. 4. Six of the 12 segments are alternately occupied by the six face numbers of a dice and the other six segments are alternately occupied by the six designated opportunities of Feng Shui, which in this case are, starting from the top 60° quadrant pointer 18 with a dice face number six 19 and going clockwise, Health 20, Fertility 21, Luck 22, Wealth 23, Wind 24 and Longevity 25, all represented in Chinese characters. The top 600 quadrant 18 will be designated as the pointer for the Casino (House) as in the case for carousel 1 (quadrant 6) depicted in FIG. 3.
Unlike the carousel 1 portrayed in FIG. 3 to simulate the tumbling of the three dice when all three wheels are spinning to establish an outcome, only the middle wheel 26 and the inner wheel 27 of the carousel 17 spin while the outer wheel remains stationary. However, the positions of the six dice face numbers on the outer wheel 16 will be shuffled during the time when the other two wheels of the carousel are spinning and the positions of the six Feng Shui opportunity designators will also be shuffled independently in the same manner. The end result is that both the dice face numbers and the Feng Shui opportunity designators will be randomly rearranged in the outer wheel 16 via computer software program and activation of carousel 17 can be exactly likened to simulated tumbling of three dice in the traditional Sic Bo game but with the addition of the new Feng Shui playing feature, namely, a particular Feng Shui opportunity designator rendered real by being included in the House's domain pointer 18.
It is relatively easy and straight forward to play the presently invented Feng Shui Slot Machine game, especially for those who are already familiar with how Sic Bo is played. To play the Feng Shui Slot Machine game, one simply follows the way that a traditional Sic Bo game is played with only an additional Feng Shui opportunity designator bet. For example, instead of placing a Big bet, one now can place a Big bet with a Feng Shui opportunity designator like Fertility with it, or Big bet Fertility. If after the spinning of the carousel 17, the total sum of the three dice (4,1,6) is 11 and the Feng Shui opportunity designator is Health 20 (see FIG. 4), then the bet is lost on account of the Feng Shui even though the Big bet wins. On the other hand, if the outcome of the carousel 17 spin is (4,1,6) Fertility, then the payout is five (5) times the Big bet odds which normally pays only 1:1 in the traditional Sic Bo game. The factor of five (5) additional payout is arbitrarily determined here and the real payout factor will be ultimately decided by the casino operator running the Casino Feng Shui Slot Machine game. In summary, the payout for the presently invented Feng Shui slot Machine game is exactly as shown in FIG. 2 with the additional payout of five (5) or a factor decided by a particular casino operator for the Feng Shui opportunity designator win.
In order to facilitate incorporation of all 50 possible bets of the traditional Sic Bo game plus independently the six (6) additional Feng Shui bets, a grand total of 300 possible bets, into the Feng Shui Slot Machine, a novel code is devised to represent all the 300 possible bets with a leading indicator, which is preferably a letter in an especially preferred embodiment (six of them), followed by no more than 3 numerical digits or numbers. The six letters arbitrarily chosen are A, B, C, D, E and F representing respectively the Feng Shui Opportunity Designators “Luck”, “Wealth”, “Wind”, “Longevity”, “Health” and “Fertility”. For the 50 possible bets of the traditional Sic Bo game, the 1-3 digit numeric codes representing them, namely NNN, where N can be any number from “0” to “9”, are preferably selected in such a way so as to enable the player to naturally identify and easily remember them.
For example, with reference to the betting summary chart layout for the traditional Sic Bo game, the numbers “1” and “2” are used to represent, respectively, the Small and Big Sic Bo bets (first row of bets in FIG. 1). The number “3” is used to represent the Sic Bo bet for Any Triples (middle of first row). The digits from “4” to “17” are used to denote, respectively, the Sic Bo bets for the sum of numbers from 4 to 17 (second row bets of FIG. 1). The digits “21”, “22” through “26” are used to represent the Sic Bo Double bets (first row) for pairs of 1, 2, through 6, respectively. The digits “31”, “32” through “36” are used to represent the Sic Bo Triple bets (first row) for triples of 1, 2 through 6, respectively. Finally, the 3-digit numerical codes with a leading zero are used to represent both the third row (see FIG. 1) two-number Sic Bo bets and the fourth row single number Sic Bo bets as follows. The code “012” represents the two-number bet that dice numbers “1” and “2” will show up. Similarly, the code “056” represents the two-number bet that dice numbers “5” and “6” will show up. In the same manner, the code “01” represents the single-number bet that dice number “1” will show up and “06” represents the single-number bet that dice number “6” will show up (row 4 in FIG. 1).
Alphanumeric codes for all possible bets for the Feng Shui Slot Machine game are listed in FIG. 5. For example, the bet “A1” means that the Feng Shui opportunity designator A or “Luck” is bet along with the Small bet. The bet “A2” means that the Feng Shui “Luck” is bet along with the Big bet. Similarly, the bet “A36” means the Feng Shui “luck” is bet along with the Triple bet for the number “6” and so on. Note that one can bet the Feng Shui opportunity designators independently of the dice numbers. Thus, one can bet a simple “F” for Fertility without any dice number bets. The payout in this case is 5:1. Note also that the dice numbers themselves can also be bet without the Feng Shui opportunity designators. Thus, a bet “13” would mean a bet for the total sum of the three dice add up to 13 and with no Feng Shui bets.
FIG. 6 shows a possible conceptual representation for the currently invented Feng Shui Slot Machine game showing a top section 28 displaying a summary of all the possible bets with their alphanumeric codes and payout odds, the display screen 29 and two rows of buttons 30 depicted as A-F and 0-9 for entering the various particular bets to the slot machine. In addition, an actual slot machine would require a means by which betting units (or money) can be collected, and this could be accomplished by a traditional slot for coins, or a slot for bills, or even by some other means, such as a method for reading a stored value, credit or debit card (either by a magnetic stripe reader or a smart card reader, or by some physically contactless connection). Also, it is especially desirable that the slot machine be able to accommodate, identify, and account for multiple bets, so that players can make multiple bets, with varying betting units or amounts wagered on different bets, for the same spin. This could be done by adding an additional bet tab in the row of buttons 30, and by designing the display screen (or at least its software) to allow it to list bets for a particular spin, along with amounts bet in connection with each bet, and then to also provide a summary of the results of the bets for each spin. Thus, by way of example only, the screen might have a column identifying wagers, the amount wagered for each bet, the odds associated with each bet, the results of the wager (either win or loss, after the spin), the payout (if any) for each wager, plus a cumulative payout (if any) for all bets and the spin.
In a variant of the preferred embodiment, a player could be allowed to select any of the six possible 60 degrees quadrants as the Casino or House quadrant (thus, effectively, changing the location of the pointer), or a player could be allowed to make one or more bets based upon the outcome of multiple 60 degrees quadrants, in which case all of the bets for a single 60 degrees quadrant would be determined based upon what designators are within said quadrant, and this determination would not affect the results of the betting in another 60 degrees quadrant, except for the fact that the designators in one 60 degrees quadrant obviously could not end up in another 60 degrees quadrant. Thus, for example, if a player was allowed to place bets for six 60 degrees quadrants, and a Feng Shui bet was placed in each of the six 60 degrees quadrants, one of the Feng Shui bets would have to win (if it was not combined with a losing Sic Bo bet), while five would have to lose.
A Feng Shui slot machine, in accordance with the teachings set forth herein, can be designed to enhance many aspects of a player's gaming experience. Because traditional slot machines have wheels that rotate three-dimensionally out of the viewing plane of a player, the upcoming symbols for a given selection point are not visible; also, because slot machines traditionally rotate very fast, the result is a blur, which is not especially pleasing or interesting to watch. In newer electronic slot machines, there is no “wheel” to rotate at all, so the machines create a blur by moving through possible frames or selections so fast that they create a blur. Not only does such a display suffer from the drawbacks of mechanical wheel slot machines, but it is also hard to watch and can create eye strain for viewers after prolonged periods. The present invention helps to eliminate these problems by creating an aesthetically pleasing, and interesting, display in which the player's attention is captured, and the player's enjoyment is increased, by watching the two dimensional rotation of the wheels through different possibilities. In this sense, the present invention, or at least its display, is more akin to the spinning of a traditional money wheel or a roulette wheel, as opposed to a traditional slot machine, and thus it adds the enjoyment of anticipating exactly where the wheels will stop, while the player can view his or choices slowing spinning and coming close to, or in, or moving beyond, the designated selection point. Accordingly, in designing the software for the carousel, a designer can control the speed and timing of spinning the wheels to enhance a player's experience. In an especially preferred embodiment, the inner wheel will be designed to stop its rotation first, so the result of that spin (or simulated roll) is made known to the player, and then, after another brief period, the middle wheel stops its rotation, and then, after another brief period, the results for the outer wheel are displayed. It is believed that this presentation heightens the expectation and anticipation, and thus the pleasure of the player's gaming experience, especially since the Feng Shui indicator is not determined initially. This timing aspect of the present invention, as well as the anticipation tied to viewing spinning wheels, is different from traditional Sic Bo, when all three dice are rolled simultaneously, and believed to be an improvement.
Because many aspects of the design of a Feng Shui slot machine can be controlled by a designer of its software and thus customized to particular goals, such a slot machine offers many different opportunities for variances and customization. In this regard, given that the timing and speed of rotation of the wheels can be controlled, a designer might also wish to provide players with options concerning these parameters. For example, a hard core impatient gambler might not want to enjoy the anticipation of spinning wheel, and might want to just get to the end result. To accommodate such wishes, the Sic Bo slot machine could be designed to allow a player to provide input into how long the carousel will spin. However, because it is believed that the spinning enhances player enjoyment, instead of detracting from it, it might be desirable to either increase, or allow the player the option of increasing spin time, with increased bets. Because increased spin time means less potential revenue to an operator of the Sic Bo slot machine, increased betting for a single spin would compensate the operator for increased spin time. So, for example, if the carousel spins for a period of x time for a minimum bet of one betting unit, the carousel might spin for a period of x plus y time for a bet that exceeds a preselected threshold over the minimum bet, or the increased time might be stepped up in accordance with preselected thresholds. This type of variation might be especially appropriate if the player is allowed to choose multiple 60 degree quadrants for which bets are made, in which case the player might also enjoy increased spin time.
From the foregoing, it should be readily apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure sets forth a novel slot machine that can be customized to take advantage of, and appeal to, a specific niche demographic group—Chinese and Asian persons who enjoy gambling. While the novel slot machine can also be enjoyed by persons of different heritage, it is particularly well-suited to Chinese and Asian persons because of their familiarity with Sic Bo and the appeal of Feng Shui. As such, it offers something enjoyable and appealing to a demographic group that has heretofore been largely neglected, or to which no specific appeal has been made in terms of traditional slot machines.
While the invention has been described herein with reference to certain preferred embodiments, those embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and not to limit the scope of the invention. Additional embodiments thereof will be obvious to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this detailed description. Further modifications are also possible in alternative embodiments without departing from the inventive concepts described herein. For example, although the preferred embodiment has been described as using a carousel wheel in which the inner and middle wheels are rotated, while the outer wheel remains stationary and its designators are shuffled, a slot machine can be designed, based upon the teachings set forth herein, in which all three wheels remain stationary, all of their designators are shuffled, and then they start to populate the wheels in a preselected order. Although such an embodiment is believed to be less desirable than the especially preferred embodiment described herein, especially because it lacks the unique aesthetic appeal of two wheels spinning in opposite directions, it would certainly be an improvement over what exists today. Similarly, while the preferred embodiment has been described in connection with the Sic Bo game, a slot machine could be designed, based upon the teachings set forth herein, that uses three wheels that rotate as described herein, that are populated with designators other than dice numbers or Feng Shui indicators, and such a slot machine would still take advantage of the novel aesthetic appeal of two wheels spinning in opposite directions in a two-dimensional plane, as opposed to the three-dimensional spinning of wheels contained in traditional slot machines in which only a portion of the wheel is visible at any given time. In such a slot machine, the number of designators located in the inner wheel can be defined by x, the number of designators located in the middle wheel can be defined by y, and the number of designators located in the outer wheel can be defined by z, where y is greater than or equal to x, z is greater than or equal to y and both y and z are divisible by x.
Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that further changes and modifications in the actual concepts described herein can readily be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed inventions as defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A slot machine, comprising:

a display mechanism for representing the results of a simulated roll of three dice and a selection of a Feng Shui indicator from a set of Feng Shui indicators in which each indicator represents a single unique Feng Shui designation, for a given simulated roll of three dice and selection of the Feng Shui indicator;

an input mechanism for allowing a player to make one or more session bets for the given simulated roll of three dice and selection of the Feng Shui indicator;

a control mechanism that provides for the simulated roll of the three dice and selection of the Feng Shui indicator and then calculates a result of the one or more session bets; and

a player feedback mechanism that provides the player with the result of the one or more session bets.

2. The slot machine of claim 1, wherein the set of Feng Shui indicators is comprised of six Feng Shui indicators.

3. The slot machine of claim 2, wherein the six Feng Shui indicators are associated with luck, wealth, wind, longevity, health and fertility.

4. The slot machine of claim 2, wherein the selection of the Feng Shui indicator is made by a simulated roll of a dice containing one of each of the six Feng Shui indicators on each of the dice's six faces.

5. The slot machine of claim 2, wherein the display mechanism displays:

a carousel wheel with an inner wheel divided into six inner wheel segments, each of which bears a unique inner wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6; a middle wheel divided into six segments, each of which bears a unique middle wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6; and an outer wheel divided into at least six outer segments, each of which bears a unique outer wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6; and the set of Feng Shui markers can be randomly distributed in the inner wheel, middle wheel and outer wheel segments; and

wherein the carousel can be spun so that each of the inner, the middle and the outer wheels rotate with different degrees of freedom and independently of one another; and

wherein after the carousel is spun, and each of inner, the middle and the outer wheels have rotated, said wheels will stop such that one of the inner wheel segments will align itself moving outwardly from the inner wheel with one of the middle wheel segments, one of the outer wheel segments and one Feng Shui indicator.

6. The slot machine of claim 5, wherein the outer wheel is rotated by shuffling the position of the unique outer wheel designations relative to one another when the carousel is spun.

7. The slot machine of claim 6, wherein the rotation of each of the inner wheel, the middle wheel and the outer wheel stop at different points in time.

8. The slot machine of claim 2, wherein the simulated roll of the three dice and selection of the Feng Shui indicator is performed by a computer software program.

9. A slot machine, comprising:

an input mechanism for allowing a player to make two or more session bets of differing amounts of betting units for a given session event involving a simulated roll of three dice;

a display mechanism for representing the results of the given session event;

a control mechanism for accepting the session bets from the player, generating the given session event, and settling the session bets from the player based upon the results of the given session event; and

a player feedback mechanism for providing the player with the results of settling the session bets from the player based upon the results of the given session event.

10. The slot machine of claim 9, wherein the input mechanism allows the player to make any of the following group of Sic Bo bets tied to the outcome of the simulated roll of three dice:

a Small Sic Bo bet;

a Big Sic Bo bet;

an Any Triple Sic Bo bet;

a Sic Bo bet of the total number of the session roll of 3 dice;

a Sic Bo bet for a pair of dice with the number x;

a Sic Bo bet for triples of the number x;

a Sic Bo bet for the number x, which may be from 1 to 6; and

a Sic Bo bet for both the numbers x and y;

wherein x and y can be from 1 to 6.

11. The slot machine of claim 9, wherein the input mechanism allows the player to make session bets selected from a group of Sic Bo bets tied to the outcome of the simulated roll of three dice by using the following designations:

a number 1 is used to represent a Small Sic Bo bet;

a number 2 is used to represent a Big Sic Bo bet;

a number 3 is used to represent an Any Triple Sic Bo bet;

a number from 4 to 17 is used to represent a Sic Bo bet of the total number of the session roll of 3 dice;

a number selected from the group consisting of 2x is used to represent a Sic Bo bet for a pair of dice with the number x;

a number selected from the group consisting of 3x is used to represent a Sic Bo bet for triples of the number x;

a number 0x is used to represent a Sic Bo bet for the number x, which may be from 1 to 6; and

a number 0xy is used to represent a Sic Bo bet for both the numbers x and y;

wherein x and y can be from 1 to 6.

12. The slot machine of claim 9, wherein the input mechanism also allows the player to make a bet, as one of the session bets, that one of a set of Feng Shui indicators will be selected for the given session event, and wherein each of the set of Feng Shui indicators uniquely represents a single unique Feng Shui designation.

13. The slot machine of claim 12, wherein the display mechanism displays:

a carousel wheel with an inner wheel divided into six inner wheel segments, each of which bears a unique inner wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6; a middle wheel divided into six segments, each of which bears a unique middle wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6; and an outer wheel divided into six pairs of outer wheel segments, each of which bears a unique outer wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6 and one of the set of Feng Shui markers; and

wherein the carousel can be spun so that the inner and the middle wheels rotate in different directions and stop at different times from each and outer wheel designations are all shuffled relative to one another; and

wherein after the carousel is spun, and each of inner and the middle and wheels have rotated, and the outer wheel designations have been shuffled, the inner wheel, the middle wheel and the outer wheel will be aligned such that a chosen inner wheel designation will be aligned with a chosen middle designation and a chose pair of outer wheel segments.

14. The slot machine of claim 13, wherein shuffling of the outer wheel stops after the inner and middle wheels have stopped rotating.

15. The slot machine of claim 14, wherein the simulated roll of the three dice and selection of the Feng Shui indicator is performed by a computer software program.

16. A slot machine, comprising:

a display mechanism that includes a carousel wheel, comprising:

an inner wheel divided into x inner wheel segments, each of which bears an inner wheel designation;

a middle wheel divided into y segments, each of which bears a middle wheel designation; and

an outer wheel divided into z outer wheel segments, each of which bears an outer wheel designation;

wherein y is greater than or equal to x, z is greater than or equal to y and both y and z are divisible by x;

an input mechanism for allowing a player to make one or more session bets for a session spin of the carousel;

a betting collection device for collecting betting units wagered by the player in association with the one or more session bets;

a control mechanism that creates the session spin of the carousel and then calculates a result of the one or more session bets based upon the session spin; and

a player payout device for distributing betting units to the player based upon the result of the one or more session bets.

17. The slot machine of claim 16, wherein x is equal to 6 and each of the inner wheel segments bears a unique inner wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6, wherein y is equal to 6 and each of the middle wheel segments bears a unique middle wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6; and wherein z is equal to 6 and each of the outer wheel segments bears a unique outer wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6.

18. The slot machine of claim 16, wherein a is equal to 6 and each of the inner wheel segments bears a unique inner wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6, wherein y is equal to 6 and each of the middle wheel segments bears a unique middle wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6; and wherein z is equal to 12 and each pair of contiguous outer wheel segments bears a unique outer wheel designation representing the numbers 1 through 6 and a unique Feng Shui indicator.

19. The slot machine of claim 16, wherein the inner wheel and the middle wheel rotate in opposite directions when the carousel is spun.

20. The slot machine of claim 16, wherein the length of time that the control mechanism takes to create the session spin of the carousel is at least partly dependent upon the total number of betting units wagered by the player for the session spin.

21. The slot machine of claim 16, wherein after the carousel is spun, and each of inner, the middle and the outer wheels have rotated, said wheels will stop such that each of the inner wheel segments will align itself moving outwardly from the inner wheel with (y÷x) of the middle wheel segments and (z÷x) of the outer wheel segments.

22. The slot machine of claim 16, wherein the slot machine provides a mechanism for allowing the player to vary the length of time it takes for the carousel to perform the session spin.