Gaming device having independent reel columns
AssigneeIgt
InventorsAnthony J. Baerlocher, Bayard S. Webb
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a gaming device having unisymbol display reels, wherein each symbol on a display of the gaming device represents or is included on a different reel. The present invention structures the paylines of the gaming device in such that the gaming device can include different reel strips having different winning symbols or different proportions of winning symbols, while still maintaining payout symbols and payout combinations that have uniform odds and uniform payouts.
Claims45
A gaming device for playing a game comprising:
- a plurality of first unisymbol display reels, each first unisymbol display reel including a first set of symbols;
- a plurality of second unisymbol display reels, each second unisymbol display reel including a second set of symbols, said second set of symbols being different than said first set of symbols;
- and
- a winning combination of symbols from the first and second sets of symbols occurring in said game, wherein the winning combination has an equal likelihood of appearing on at least two different combinations of the first and second unisymbol display reels.
A gaming device for playing a game comprising:
- a first group including at least two unisymbol display reels each having a first set of symbols;
- a second group including at least two unisymbol display reels each having a second set of symbols, said second set of symbols being different than said first set of symbols;
- and
- a plurality of winning combinations of symbols from the first and second sets of symbols occurring in said game, wherein each winning combination has an equal likelihood of appearing on at least two different combinations of unisymbol display reels from the first and second groups.
A gaming device comprising:
- a plurality of unisymbol display reels;
- a plurality of groups each including at least two of said unisymbol display reels;
- at least one symbol in each group of reels, wherein at least one of said groups has different odds of generating said symbol than another one of said groups;
- and
- a plurality of paylines that each include one of the unisymbol display reels from each group.
A gaming device comprising:
- a plurality of unisymbol display reels each including a plurality of symbols;
- a plurality of groups of said unisymbol display reels, each group including at least two of said unisymbol reels;
- at least one symbol included in at least one but not all of said groups of said unisymbol reels;
- and
- a plurality of paylines that each include one of the unisymbol display reels from each group.
A gaming device comprising:
- a first plurality and a second plurality of unisymbol display reels;
- a symbol on the first unisymbol reels appearing in a quantity proportionally different than a quantity of said symbol on the second unisymbol reels;
- a plurality of paylines, wherein each payline includes a same number of the first and second unisymbol reels;
- and
- a winning combination including said symbol, wherein odds of obtaining said winning combination are the same for each payline.
A gaming device comprising:
- a first plurality and a second plurality of unisymbol display reels;
- a symbol that appears on the first unisymbol display reels that does not appear on the second unisymbol display reels;
- a plurality of paylines, wherein each payline includes a same number of the first and second unisymbol reels;
- and
- a winning combination including said symbol, wherein odds of obtaining said winning combination are the same for each payline.
A gaming device including a game comprising:
- a plurality of unisymbol display reels;
- a plurality of paylines, wherein each payline includes a same group of at least two different unisymbol display reels;
- and
- a plurality of winning combinations of symbols from the unisymbol display reels occurring in the game, wherein odds of obtaining said winning combinations are the same for each payline.
A gaming device comprising:
- a plurality of unisymbol display reels, wherein at least one of said unisymbol reels has different symbols or a different probability of generating a symbol than does another one of said unisymbol display reels;
- a plurality of columns having X number of said unisymbol display reels;
- a plurality of rows having Y number of said unisymbol display reels;
- and
- a plurality of paylines, wherein each payline includes one of each of the unisymbol display reels with different symbols or different probabilities.
A gaming device comprising a plurality of unisymbol display reels, wherein at least one unisymbol reel has different symbols or a different probability of generating a symbol than does another one of said reels, and wherein at least one column of the unisymbol reels has a different number of the reels than does another of the columns or at least one row of the unisymbol reels has a different number of the reels than does another of the rows.
A gaming device including a game comprising:
- a plurality of unisymbol display reels;
- a plurality of groups of said unisymbol display reels, wherein each group includes a set of symbols that is different from a set of symbols in each of the other groups;
- a plurality of paylines that each include one unisymbol display reel from each group;
- and
- a plurality of winning combinations of symbols from the unisymbol display reels occurring in said game, wherein odds of obtaining said winning combinations are the same for each payline.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.