Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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E 7.ESS MAIL LABEL NO:
EL 375 515 921 US
SLOT MACHINE HAVING MULTIPLE PROGRESSIVE JACKPOTS
James P. Jackson
Robert J. Piechowiak
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to gaming machines, such as slot machines, and in
particular to a
progressive jackpot feature on such gaming machines.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Slot machines having progressive jackpots are well known. Examples of such
machines
are found in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,048,833; 5,249,800, and 5,280,909,
incorporated herein by
reference. In existing devices, a small percentage of each amount bet in
either one machine or a
group of machines is allocated to a progressive jackpot. A special symbol
combination is
designated as the progressive jackpot winner. When this jackpot symbol
combination is obtained
by a slot machine, the progressive jackpot is awarded to that player, and the
jackpot is reset to an
initial amount. The initial amount may be zero or any other predetermined
amount. In such
machines, there is typically only one progressive jackpot.
Slot machines which generate higher revenues for the machine owner are more
valuable
to the machine owner. Thus, any feature that makes a slot machine more
enticing to a player and
causes the player to deposit more money into the machine is desirable.
SUMMARY
A progressive jackpot slot machine, or a group of slot machines, is described
herein,
where multiple progressive jackpots may be won. In one embodiment, a single
coin bet on a
game entitles the player to win a first progressive jackpot if a special
symbol combination is
obtained by the machine. If the player chooses to deposit two coins for a
single game, the player
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can then win a second progressive jackpot. This second progressive jackpot may
be in addition
to the first progressive jackpot. If the player deposits three coins for a
single game, the player has
an opportunity to win a third progressive jackpot, or the total amount of the
first, second, and
third progressive jackpots. The invention envisions any number of progressive
jackpots and any
required monetary amounts to qualify for the various jackpots.
In one embodiment, the first progressive jackpot is built upon allocating 0.5%
of all bets
wagered in the various machines in the group. The second progressive jackpot
allocates 1 % of
all the bets wagered, and the third progressive jackpot allocates 2% of all
the bets wagered. This
concept may be applied to other percentages such that the second progressive
jackpot is larger
than the first progressive jackpot, and the third progressive jackpot is
larger than the second
progressive jackpot. In this manner, the player has a further incentive to
play the maximum
number of coins to win the largest jackpot.
This concept may be applied to single slot machines or slot machines within a
group.
This concept may also be applied to single payline slot machines, 3-payline
slot machines, or
other types of slot machines, such as 9-payline slot machines.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 illustrates the functional components of a mechanical reel-type slot
machine
incorporating the multiple progressive jackpot feature.
Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the basic steps performed by the slot
machine of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a slot machine incorporating the
invention and
having a display for three different jackpots.
Fig. 4 is a front view of a slot machine having five paylines and an external
display for
displaying the different progressive jackpots.
Fig. 5 illustrates the paylines for a 9-payline machine.
Fig. 6 illustrates the functional components of a video slot machine
incorporating the
present invention.
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Fig. 7 is a front view of a video slot machine incorporating the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
Fig. 1 illustrates the primary functional units in a slot machine in
accordance with one
embodiment of the invention. In slot machine 10, each of the reels 12, 13, and
14 has a variety of
symbols printed on its periphery. Each of the reels 12-14 is driven by a
separate stepper motor
16 which rotates in response to pulses from a CPU 18. When the pulses to a
stepper motor 16
are terminated, the reel stops abruptly.
In one embodiment, the stopping positions of the reels 12-14 are predetermined
using a
random number generator consisting of a random number generator program in the
program
ROM 20 carried out by the CPU 18. The required number of pulses to the three
stepper motors
after a zero position of each reel are then generated to display the
predetermined symbol
combination. In another embodiment, each of the reels has tabs that are sensed
by a
photodetector to determine the angular displacement of the reel and thus the
final displayed
symbol. Other means for detecting the positions of the reels exist and are
well known.
1 S A money detector 22, which may detect coins or other currency, issues a
command to the
CPU 18 that the slot machine 10 is ready to be played. The player may then
pull a handle 24 or
press a button to initiate play.
After the reels have stopped, the CPU 18 conveys the stop positions to a pay-
table ROM
26, which cross-references the final displayed symbols with a monetary payout
to the player.
This payout is then conveyed to a payout mechanism 28 which issues coins or
credits to the
player. A display 30 may also be activated, signaling a win to the player.
The above general description of a modern slot machine would be well known in
the art,
and such a programmable machine offers great advantages. Slot machines are
varied by simply
changing the operating program in the program ROM 20 and the award program in
the pay-table
ROM 26. The front glass of the slot machine is also changeable to convey
particular features of
the machine.
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Examples of such conventional portions of slot machines are found in U.S.
Patent Nos.
4,095,795 to Saxton et al.; 4,448,419 to Telnaes; and 4,573,681 to Okada, all
incorporated herein
by reference.
In addition to conventional portions of a slot machine, the slot machine in
accordance
with the present invention includes circuitry, or a program, that generates
multiple progressive
jackpots that may be won by the player. In one embodiment, there are three
different progressive
jackpots, each jackpot being accumulated at a different rate. This jackpot
circuitry is designated
as circuitry 32 in Fig. 1. Each of the jackpots is displayed on display 30,
which may be a display
in the slot machine itself or a public display viewable by anyone playing a
slot machine
connected in a group such that any slot machine in the group which achieves
the particular
jackpot combination receives the designated jackpot displayed.
In one embodiment, each of the jackpots is based upon allocating a percentage
of each
amount bet by the players of the group of slot machines or, in the case of an
individual slot
machine incorporating the invented feature, a percentage of the money
deposited into that
1 S individual slot machine. Such an accumulation of the progressive jackpots
may be by counting
the monetary units deposited into the slot machines and performing simple
mathematical
calculations to obtain the amounts to be added to the various jackpots. In one
embodiment,
modulo X counters count the monetary units bet, and the respective jackpot is
only incremented
upon each zero detection of the counter.
Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating one possible method performed by the slot
machine of
Fig. 1. In step 1, coins or other monetary units are deposited. Any type of
monetary credit may
also be used. In the simplest embodiment, one coin enables the player to win
the first
progressive jackpot if a special combination of symbols is displayed by the
slot machine 10. In
conventional slot machines, depositing another coin simply doubles the
winnings for any
winning combination of symbols, not including the progressive jackpot. For
example, two
cherries displayed after betting a single coin may pay off three coins, and
two cherries displayed
with a two coin bet pays off six coins. In order to provide further incentive
for the player to
deposit two coins, a second jackpot is offered which is typically higher than
the first jackpot. In
one embodiment, with a two coin bet, if the player obtains the special symbol
combination that
pays the jackpot, the player will win the second jackpot plus the first
jackpot. In another
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embodiment, the player will only win the second jackpot. As in conventional
machines, the
winning of a jackpot resets the jackpot amount to either zero or an initial
predetermined amount.
This concept may be extended to additional jackpots corresponding to
additional coins
being played. Further, additional special symbol combinations may be
designated that win the
second jackpot but not the first jackpot, providing further incentive to bet
additional coins.
Referring back to Fig. 2, after the player deposits the desired monetary
amount, which
will determine the possible jackpots that may be won upon achieving the
special combination,
the various jackpots are incremented according to the particular algorithm
used. In the
embodiment of Fig. 2, the progressive jackpot 1 is incremented by 0.5% of the
amount bet, the
jackpot 2 is incremented by 1 % of the amount bet, and the jackpot 3 is
incremented by 2% of the
amount bet. Thus, jackpot 2 will typically be twice as large as jackpot l, but
jackpot 3 will be
four times as large as jackpot l, providing an added incentive to play three
coins.
The jackpots are displayed to all the players, thus providing added incentive
to play the
machines over other machines which do not provide a jackpot or only provide a
single jackpot.
In step 3, the player initiates the game by either pressing a button or
pulling a handle.
The reels rotate and stop at a predetermined combination, determined by a
random number
generator, as previously described.
In step 4, it is determined whether the symbol combination is a winner. If the
symbol
combination is not a winner, the game is over (step 5).
If the symbol combination is deemed a winner, the method proceeds to step 6,
which
determines whether the symbol combination is a progressive jackpot winner. If
not, the method
proceeds to step 7, whereby the player's winnings are determined by the pay-
table ROM 26
(Fig. 1 ), and CPU 18 controls the payout mechanism 28 to pay the appropriate
number of coins
to the player or credit the player's account.
If the result of step 6 is that the symbol combination is a progressive
jackpot winner, it is
determined in step 8 how many coins (or credits) were bet by the player in
order to determine
which jackpots) to pay the player.
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In one embodiment, a 3-coin play will pay the highest progressive jackpot. In
another
embodiment, a 3-coin play will only pay jackpot 3. In another embodiment, a 3-
coin play will
pay the total of all three jackpots. Similarly, in one embodiment, a 2-coin
play will pay the
higher of jackpot 1 or jackpot 2. In another embodiment, a 2-coin play will
only pay jackpot 2.
In an alternate embodiment, a 2-coin play will pay the sum of jackpots 1 and
2.
The control signals to pay the various jackpots are applied to the payout
mechanism 28
(steps 9, 10, and 11 ) or, alternatively, an alarm is sounded and an attendant
pays the jackpots) to
the player.
In one embodiment, the slot machine is a single payline machine, where only
symbols
across payline 34 (Figs. 1 and 3) are used for determining a winning
combination. In another
type of machine, there are three paylines 34, 35, and 36 (Figs. 1 and 3). In
such a device, each
coin activates a corresponding payline so that a 3-coin play will activate all
three paylines 35-36
as well as activate all the jackpots. In another embodiment, a three coin play
activates the three
paylines 34-36 and jackpot 1. An additional three coins doubles the awards as
well as enables
1 S the winning of jackpot 2. An additonal three coins triples the base awards
and enables the
winning of jackpot 3.
In one embodiment of the game, jackpot 1 is only achievable with the special
combination of symbols along the payline 34, jackpot 2 is only achievable
across the payline 35,
and jackpot 3 is only achievable across the payline 36. In other embodiments,
a jackpot
combination of symbols across any of the paylines 34-36 (assuming 3 coins have
been bet) pays
the player jackpot 3, whether by itself or in addition to jackpots 1 and 2,
depending upon the
particular embodiment.
Fig. 3 is a front view of a 3-payline slot machine 10 incorporating the
functional units of
Fig. 1. Jackpot displays 30A, 30B, and 30C display the three jackpots,
respectively. A coin slot
37 and game play button 38 are also shown.
The technique described with respects to Figs. 1-3 may apply to either a
single slot
machine or a group of linked slot machines. Fig. 4 illustrates a slot machine
39 connected in a
group of linked gaming machines, each machine having five possible ways of
winning across
horizontal and diagonal paylines 40.
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Fig. 4 illustrates other slot machines 42 connected to slot machine 39. In
such a group of
linked gaming machines, it is often desirable to have a large display 44
external to the slot
machines so that all players in the group may see the jackpots. A central
processor polls all the
machines in the group and calculates the jackpots.
Using a 5-payline machine, in one embodiment, the player inserts five coins to
obtain the
benefits of all 5 paylines and a chance at the first jackpot. The player must
insert an additional
five coins in order to double all award amounts and to be eligible for a
second jackpot. The
machine may require the player to insert a total of 15 coins to triple all
award amounts and have
the capability to win the third jackpot. Of course this concept may be
extended to any number of
jackpots.
This concept may be applied to a 9-line slot machine (Fig. 5), having a
display 45. Such
a machine is described in U.S. Patent No. 5,807,172, incorporated herein by
reference. With a 9-
payline machine, each additional set of nine coins allows the player to win
another progressive
jackpot as well as multiply the standard awards. In Fig. S, the activated
paylines 48 are
illuminated.
The above-described concept of multiple jackpots can also be applied to a
video slot
machine, which is essentially the same as that described with Fig. 1 except
for the display
portion. Fig. 6 illustrates the circuitry used in a video slot machine 60
which displays an
animated version of rotating reels on a CRT 62. Other types of displays may
also be used. A
video controller 64 controls CRT 62 and receives commands from CPU 36. One
skilled in the
art would understand the requirements for video controller 64 and CPU 36,
since these devices
would be generic to a wide variety of slot machines. Functional units in Figs.
1 and 6 labeled
with the same numerals may be identical. The video controller 64 receives
simple codes from
CPU 36, then converts these codes into the pixel control signals used by CRT
62 to illustrate the
rotating reels.
A progressive jackpot memory 54, which may use counters or simply store values
calculated by CPU 36, identifies the jackpot amounts for the plurality of
jackpots. The flowchart
for this video slot machine is identical to that of Fig. 2. Video machines may
be linked together
as described with respect to Fig. 4.
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Fig. 7 is a front view of the video slot machine 60 that houses the functional
units of
Fig. 6. A control panel 70 provides a player interface for entering such
information as the bet
amount. A touch screen may also be used as a player input device.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and
described, it
will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may
be made without
departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the
appended claims are to
encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as fall within
the true spirit and
scope of this invention.
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