US 12,002,334 B2Granted

Gaming machine, control method for machine, and program for gaming machine

AssigneeKonami Gaming, Inc.

InventorsAdam Bland, Yuji Ono

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A gaming machine is described herein. The gaming machine includes a game control unit programmed to display a game screen including a primary game area a plurality of primary game reels and a bonus feature event area including a plurality of bonus prize cells. Each bonus prize cell is configured to display a randomly selected bonus prize, and is operable as one of an active bonus prize cell and an inactive bonus prize cell. Each bonus prize cell is associated with a wager amount value. The game control unit initiates an instance of the game by receiving a wager being placed on the game by the player, selecting bonus prize cells having associated wager amount values equal to or less than the wager amount of the received wager, and operating the selected bonus prize cells as active bonus prize cells.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A gaming machine, comprising:

a gaming cabinet;
a display device mounted to the gaming cabinet and configured to display computer-generated images of game screens;
a game control unit operably coupled to the display device, the game control unit including a processor programmed to execute an algorithm to display an animated sequence of computer-generated images on the display device including the steps of:
rendering a game screen on the display device including:
a plurality of primary columns displaying a plurality of primary reels therein;
and
a plurality of bonus columns positioned above the primary columns, each bonus column including modifiable cells displayable in a hidden mode in which game symbols of a corresponding primary reel are obscured and a reveal mode in which game symbols of the corresponding primary reel are visible;
rendering a bonus prize cell above each bonus column;
and
animating an instance of a game by:
displaying each modifiable cell in the hidden mode prior to spinning the primary reels;
animating the primary reels to spin and stop to display the plurality of game symbols;
selecting modifiable cells to be displayed in the reveal mode in each bonus column;
transforming the selected modifiable cells from the hidden mode to the reveal mode such that the game symbols of the corresponding primary reels are visible within the bonus columns;
and
animating a corresponding bonus prize cell to display a bonus prize symbol upon determining each modifiable cell of a corresponding bonus column are displayed in the reveal mode.

13 more elements

A method of operating a gaming machine including a gaming cabinet, a display device mounted to the gaming cabinet and configured to display computer-generated images of game screens, and a game control unit including a processor operably coupled to the display device, the method including the processor executing an algorithm to display an animated sequence of computer-generated images on the display device including the steps of:

rendering a game screen on the display device including:
a plurality of primary columns displaying a plurality of primary reels therein;
and
a plurality of bonus columns positioned above the primary columns, each bonus column including modifiable cells displayable in a hidden mode in which game symbols of a corresponding primary reel are obscured and a reveal mode in which game symbols of the corresponding primary reel are visible;
rendering a bonus prize cell above each bonus column;
and
animating an instance of a game by:
displaying each modifiable cell in the hidden mode prior to spinning the primary reels;
animating the primary reels to spin and stop to display the plurality of game symbols;
selecting modifiable cells to be displayed in the reveal mode in each bonus column;
transforming the selected modifiable cells from the hidden mode to the reveal mode such that the game symbols of the corresponding primary reels are visible within the bonus columns;
and
animating a corresponding bonus prize cell to display a bonus prize symbol upon determining each modifiable cell of a corresponding bonus column are displayed in the reveal mode.

10 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon to operate a gaming machine including a gaming cabinet, a display device mounted to the gaming cabinet and configured to display computer-generated images of game screens, and a game control unit including a processor operably coupled to the display device, when executed by the processor the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to execute an algorithm to display an animated sequence of computer-generated images on the display device including the steps of:

rendering a game screen on the display device including:
a plurality of primary columns displaying a plurality of primary reels therein;
and
a plurality of bonus columns positioned above the primary columns, each bonus column including modifiable cells displayable in a hidden mode in which game symbols of a corresponding primary reel are obscured and a reveal mode in which game symbols of the corresponding primary reel are visible;
rendering a bonus prize cell above each bonus column;
and
animating an instance of a game by:
displaying each modifiable cell in the hidden mode prior to spinning the primary reels;
animating the primary reels to spin and stop to display the plurality of game symbols;
selecting modifiable cells to be displayed in the reveal mode in each bonus column;
transforming the selected modifiable cells from the hidden mode to the reveal mode such that the game symbols of the corresponding primary reels are visible within the bonus columns;
and
animating a corresponding bonus prize cell to display a bonus prize symbol upon determining each modifiable cell of a corresponding bonus column are displayed in the reveal mode.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 18/120,194Filed 10 Mar 2023 · continuation
Priority: 5 Oct 2018
Published: US 2023/0290230 A114 Sep 2023
Granted: 4 Jun 2024
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification3 codes

G07F 17/34
For games, toys, sports, or amusements: depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines
G07F 17/3213
Display means: details of moving display elements, e.g. spinning reels, tumbling members
G07F
Coin-freed or like apparatus

Family

Application16/152,747Parent of this continuation · filed 5 Oct 2018
US 2023/0290230 A1Pre-grant publication · published 14 Sep 2023
US 11,640,750 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2020/0111328 A1Published application
US 12,002,334 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key