Slot machine with symbol save feature

United States Patent [w]

Crawford

US005997401A [ii] Patent Number: [45] Date of Patent:

5,997,401 Dec. 7,1999

[54] SLOT MACHINE WITH SYMBOL SAVE FEATURE

[75] Inventor: Curtis J. Crawford, Henderson, Nev. [73] Assignee: Sigma Game, Inc., Las Vegas, Nev.

[21] Appl. No.: 08/735,908 [22] Filed: Oct. 25, 1996

[51] Int. CI. G07F 17/34

[52] U.S. CI 463/20; 463/21; 463/19;

273/143 R

[58] Field of Search 463/16, 17, 20,

463/21; 273/138.1, 143 R

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,648,600 3/1987 Olliges 463/20

5,580,053 12/1996 Crouch 463/20

5,609,524 3/1997 Inoue 463/20

5,630,753 5/1997 Fuchs 463/20

5,704,835 1/1998 Dietz, II 463/20

5,807,172 9/1998 Piechowiak 463/20

5,839,956 11/1998 Takemoto 463/20

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

0 609 637 8/1994 European Pat. Off. .
2 050 028 12/1980 United Kingdom .
2 243 236 10/1991 United Kingdom .

Primary Examiner—-Jessica J. Harrison

Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Skjerven, Morrill, MacPherson,

Franklin & Friel LLp; Brian D. Ogonowsky

[57] ABSTRACT

A method for operating a rotating reel type slot machine, or a video machine which depicts rotating reels, is described herein which allows a player to save in memory one or more symbols from one or more previous games and use those symbols in a current game to obtain a winning combination. The display glass ol the slot machine contains an area for displaying the symbols which have been saved.

13 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets