Horseshoe payline system and games using that system

[0001] This application is a non-provisional patent application of, claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/497,658, filed on Aug. 25, 2003.

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to gaming equipment, especially multi-line and multicolumn wagering displays, particularly reel-type wagering apparatus and displays, and most particularly to the pay lines that are used on such gaming apparatus and displays.

[0004] 2. Background of the Art

[0005] Gaming apparatus where symbols are randomly displayed and predetermined sets of symbols are awarded prizes have been used for entertainment for over one hundred years. These types of systems are generally referred to as slot machines or slot-type machines and the like. These machines had originally been limited to their style and format to the available physical structures that could be used to provide and display the symbols, relying primarily upon the mathematical relationships of a) wagering odds/payouts and the b) statistical distribution of symbols to control the amount of awards provided to players.

[0006] Even prior to 1900, machines were available with three reels with symbols provided on each reel at various positions where the reel was allowed to stop spinning (referred to as a stop position in the art), rotating pointers that would identify symbols or awards, rotating racks of cards that would display one card in each of five windows (much like the original digital clocks with each number on a panel), cash machine displays where cards would pop-up just as sales amounts would pop-up in a cash register and spinning wheels that would stop at a pointer. The classic slot machine format of three axially aligned reels having multiple sets of images on each reel became the standard in the industry for many years and still receives the majority of play in today's casinos.

[0007] The advent of video gaming technology and touch-screens has advanced the theoretical limits of the types of games and displays that can be used on gaming apparatus. Initially, there was some resistance to the newer video format games, except in the venue of poker-type video games. It has become lore in the industry that the main reason for this is that players wanted the machines to look and act the same as the old machines as a matter of trust in the old gaming apparatus and technical inertia.

[0008] Video games are now widely accepted in the industry across many different game styles, from poker games, blackjack, three-reel slots, keno, 3×5 slots (three rows and five columns), bonus events on gaming apparatus and the like. The industry has been slow, however, to take advantage of all the potential opportunities and formats available on gaming apparatus.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,053 describes a series of pay lines for use in video gaming. That invention consists in a gaming machine having display means arranged to display a plurality of symbols in an array of a predetermined number of rows and columns of symbol locations, game control means arranged to control images displayed on the display means, the game control means being arranged to pay a prize when a predetermined combination of symbols is displayed on a predetermined line of symbol locations of the array characterized in that the number of possible predetermined lines recognized by the control means is greater than the number of rows plus a number of diagonals of the array, there being at least n+1 lines that use no symbols in at least 1 row, where n is the number of rows.

[0010] The downside of many new pay line arrangements is the confusing and unclear definitions of the pay lines. Players may not easily detect a winning combination, and the anticipation of the win is minimized. A new clear, concise shape or pattern is desired.

[0011] There is also a desire in the industry for the player to take advantage of all the pay lines available, since playing more pay lines increases the wager. An enticement should be implemented to encourage play of all available pay lines.

[0012] It is still desirable in the industry to provide additional formats and variations so that manufacturers can offer the player new games to maintain and stimulate their interest and enjoyment in play. The addition of easily detected pay line shapes and systems will add to the player's enjoyment, anticipation and ultimately more time on the machine.

[0013] A pay line system is provided in which at least one pay line does not extend across all columns in a gaming display. This type of pay line can be provided in a variety of different display systems, including at least 3×3 reel-type displays, 3×4, 4×3, 3×5, 5×3, 4×5 and 5×4 displays. The pay lines are preferably displayed on 3×5 or 5×3 window formats and comprise horseshoe arrays of frames. The horseshoe arrays may be provided with the horseshoe opening at 00, 90 0, 180 0, 2700 with respect to vertical on the screen or with respect to the vertical orientation of a column, and the horseshoe may have three adjacent frames parallel to three of the four sides of the rectangular display created by the columns and rows. In a 3×5 display format, this allows for the horseshoe pay lines to provide twelve new pay lines. These twelve new pay lines may be in addition to other pay lines or as alternatives to other pay lines. The preferred pay line is a series of three lines of equal dimensions (e.g., three frames along each line) in which only one line is a connecting line that is perpendicular to two lines and only two lines are parallel to each other (forming a horseshoe or U-shape, or forming an H-shape).

[0031] In addition to game formats, the present invention provides a new format for pay lines that can be used on both a mechanical reel slot machine and a video slot machine wagering system. The system may be used on any size of frame display (e.g., 3×3; 3×4; 4×3; 4×4; 3×5; 5×3; 4×5; and 5×4, but is preferably used in a 3×5 or 5×3 frame array (that is 3 rows and 5 columns or five rows and 3 columns). The preferred pay line is a series of three lines of equal dimensions (e.g., three frames along each line) in which only one line is a connecting perpendicular to two lines and only two lines are parallel to each other (forming a horseshoe or U-shape, or forming an H-shape). Each pay line would consist of 7 symbols. The preferred method of determining wins is assessing symbol combinations from both ends of the horseshoe, allowing for two chances to win on each pay line. Winning symbol combinations may also be determined from one end, both ends, or anywhere on the horseshoe or H-shape itself. One sample of a specific pay line of each of the Horseshoe and H-configuration is shown below on a 3×5 reel display:

[0032]

Horseshoe
X		X
X		X
X	X	X
H-Configuration
X		X
X	X	X
X		X

[0033] There are fewer available pay lines with the H-configuration because of its symmetry, so the U-Configuration or Horseshoe Configuration is preferred. However, the U-Configuration can be combined with conventional pay lines, unconventional pay lines and/or the Horseshoe Configuration to provide unique pay line displays, visual effects, and game formats.

[0034] The pay lines of the invention (both the U-Configuration and/or the H-Configuration) can be used in bonus events also. The symmetry of the pay lines (one way symmetry with the Horseshoe Configuration and two-way symmetry with the H-Configuration) also provides a natural showcase or frame for alphanumeric displays, notices, animation, and the like during the game, while many of the unusual pay lines of the prior art (e.g., as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,053) are difficult to read, do not always follow a logical reading order, and do not lend themselves to such a framing display.

[0035] The games of the present invention and the pay lines of the present invention may be played on mechanical reels or video displays. The visual display may be any image display system, by way of non-limiting examples being CRT displays, plasma displays, Liquid Crystal displays, LED displays, and any other digital or analog display system. The processor system used in the present invention may be a unique game synthesized processor (hardware and software), or the wide range of commercially available and modifiable hardware and software systems on the market (by way of non-limiting examples, PC-based hardware and software, MAC-based hardware and software, LINUX systems, UNIX systems, and any other hardware and software and processors) may be used. Player controls may include buttons, touch-screens, mouse, joy stick, light rod, voice control, roller ball, throttle or any other user interface user-active control known to the computer industry.

[0036] The systems of the invention may use value in the play of the games derived from coins, currency, credit cards, ticket-in/ticket-out systems, player control cards, central computerized record systems, or any other acceptable source of value. Various in-machine and machine-external security systems may be available with the systems of the invention such as bio-recognition systems (by way of non-limiting examples, facial recognition, retinal scans, voice recognition, fingerprints, etc.), validation and verification software and hardware for the transmission of data, security cameras, security personnel and the like.

[0037] The actual use of the pay lines of the invention in the play of wagering games is further enabled and described by reference to the Figures. Although the examples in the Figures use the preferred mode of a visual display, almost all of the features in that play can be mechanically reproduced in a mechanical reel system, with halo or highlight effects being provided by lighting arrangements or a teleprompter panel or liquid crystal panel over the mechanical reels.

[0038] FIG. 1 shows the twelve Horseshoe Configuration pay lines that can be available on a 3 (Column)×5 (Row) slot-type apparatus.

[0039] FIG. 2 shows the display screen 4 of a 3×5 format reel-type display 2 on the video gaming equipment at rest. There are 15 frames shown that are labeled for convenience as frames 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, and 34. The frames may provide their symbol images as visual representation of reels that rotate vertically or horizontally, or the individual frames (e.g., 36) may spin independently in place. The total credits 38, credits bet 40, credits won 42, number of pay lines bet 44, number of credits bet per pay line 46, maximum bet 47 or spin button 48, and any other desired functions may be provided on the apparatus. The existing buttons or touch screen positions may also allow the player to select which of the specific pay lines wagers are desired on, rather then allowing the machine to place the wagers in only specific orders. For example, the series of wagering events can enable not only the selection of how many pay lines can be wagered on, but also which pay lines are to be wagered on. For example, when signaled to Select Pay Lines, a player may elect to select pay lines 1, 5, and 7 from FIG. 1 (alone or in addition to conventional pay lines such as the, horizontal pay lines 6-14; 16-24; and 26-34) and select how much to wager on each pay line, although this last would be time consuming.

[0040] FIG. 3 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 in virtual spinning motion 50 after the spin button 52 has been selected.

[0041] FIG. 4 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 after it has stopped its virtual spin to display a new screen arrangement 54 of symbols.

[0042] FIG. 5 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 as a particular pay line 56 is evaluated for wins and a winning arrangement of symbols 12, 14, 24 and 34 is highlighted on the pay line display 58.

[0043] FIG. 6 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 with a winning pay line 58 also highlighted with a horseshoe 60.

[0044] FIG. 7 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 with win amounts 62 displayed and the winning combination 58 highlighted.

[0045] FIG. 8 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 with a second pay line 80 evaluated for wins and a winning arrangement 82 highlighted.

[0046] FIG. 9 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 highlighting the winning arrangement 82 of FIG. 8 with a horseshoe 70.

[0047] FIG. 10 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 with the win amount 62 for the combination 14, 24 and 34 that is highlighted on the screen 4.

[0048] FIG. 11 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 with a second new screen arrangement 90 displayed after a virtual spin.

[0049] FIG. 12 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 highlighting the winning pay line 92 of FIG. 11 with a horseshoe 102.

[0050] FIG. 13 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 with win amounts 62 for the combination 6, 16, 26 of FIG. 11 displayed along with a free spin display 94.

[0051] FIG. 14 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 highlighting a second winning pay line 96 of FIG. 11 with a horseshoe 104.

[0052] FIG. 15 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 highlighting a winning combination 6, 16, 26, 28, 30 and highlighted arrangement 106 of FIG. 14 and displaying both an amount of the win 62 and a number of free spins won 98.

[0053] FIG. 16 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 highlighting the first winning pay line 108 of a free spin being highlighted with a horseshoe 114, a bonus amount 110 won for pay line 108, and the bonus win total so far in the game 112 FIG. 17 shows the display screen 4 of video gaming equipment 2 highlighting the second winning pay line 116 with a horseshoe 124, a bonus amount 120 won for pay line 116, the winning bonus total 122 for both pay lines 108 and 116. A wagering system of the invention may provide symbols and predetermined arrangements of symbols that are used to determine wins or losses along pay lines. The system should have at least one pay line of seven frames aligned with three sets of three frames in each set, wherein one set is connected perpendicularly to two sets, and those two sets are parallel to each other. The terms perpendicular and parallel are relative terms and not precise mathematical terms. For example, the sets may be wavy or arcuate rather than straight lines, so exact geometric or mathematical perpendicularity or parallelism is not achieved. Only when the columns and rows are in a pure matrix array of vertical and horizontal square or rectangular frames would precise geometric perpendicular and parallel relationships be established. Although many specific examples have been provided in the description of the invention, there are options, alternatives and equivalents that have been and will be recognized by those skilled in the art with respect to elements of the practice of the invention and it is the intent of this description to include those elements within the scope of the invention as described and claimed. For example, scatter pay symbols may also be used with the pay lines of the invention, bonus events may be used with the practice of the invention on the same display, mechanically attached display, or separate video screen.

[0054] Although many specific examples have been provided in the description of the invention, there are options, alternatives and equivalents that have been and will be recognized by those skilled in the art with respect to elements of the practice of the invention and it is the intent of this description to include those elements within the scope of the invention as described and claimed. For example, scatter pay symbols may also be used with the pay lines of the invention, bonus events may be used with the practice of the invention on the same display, mechanically attached display, or separate video screen.