Reel for gaming machine and gaming machine including the same, and method of manufacturing reel
AssigneesUniversal Entertainment Corporation, Aruze Gaming America, Inc.
InventorsJun Hirato, Kou Kobayashi, Motomichi Sato, Takuto Nakayama, Yoshitomo Sasaki, Satoshi Joko
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a reel for a slot machine according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: forming an opening in a reel strip on which a plurality of first symbols are printed; forming a second symbol on an optical sheet by vacuum forming the optical sheet to form a symbol piece, the second symbol including a protrusion and a depression; attaching the symbol piece to the reel strip such that the second symbol is exposed through the opening of the reel strip; and attaching the reel strip to a reel frame for the slot machine.
Claims23
A method of manufacturing a reel for a slot machine, the method comprising:
- forming an opening in a reel strip on which a plurality of first symbols are printed;
- forming a second symbol on an optical sheet by vacuum forming the optical sheet to form a symbol piece, the second symbol including a protrusion and a depression;
- attaching the symbol piece to the reel strip such that the second symbol is exposed through the opening of the reel strip;
- and
- attaching the reel strip to a reel frame for the slot machine such that the protrusion and the depression form a shadow along a circumference of the protrusion and the depression to highlight the second symbol when the reel is illuminated.
A reel for a slot machine, the reel comprising:
- a reel frame configured to rotate around a rotational axis;
- a reel strip disposed on a circumference of the reel frame, having a front surface including a plurality of first symbols thereon, and having an opening;
- and
- a symbol piece including:
- a first surface attached to a rear surface of the reel strip, and
- a second surface including a second symbol thereon and at least one step configured to make a shadow along a circumference of the at least one step when the symbol piece is illuminated, the shadow highlighting the second symbol,
- wherein the front surface of the reel strip including the plurality of the first symbols is substantially flat except for the opening.
A gaming machine comprising:
- a reel unit comprising a plurality of rotatable cylindrical reels that include a plurality of symbols having different patterns for a game;
- a lighting unit configured to illuminate the reel unit;
- and
- a controller configured to control the reel unit,
- wherein
- one of the plurality of reels comprises:
- a reel frame configured to rotate around a rotational axis;
- a reel strip disposed on a circumference of the reel frame, having a front surface including a plurality of first symbols thereon, and having an opening;
- and
- a symbol piece including:
- a first surface attached to a rear surface of the reel strip, and
- a second surface including a second symbol thereon and at least one step configured to make a shadow along a circumference of the at least one step when the symbol piece is illuminated by the lighting unit, the shadow highlighting the second symbol.
A reel unit for a slot machine, the reel unit comprising:
- a reel frame configured to rotate around a rotational axis;
- a reel strip disposed on a circumference of the reel frame, including a plurality of flat symbols thereon, and having an opening;
- a three-dimensional symbol piece disposed between the flat symbols on the reel strip, the symbol piece including a first transparent area attached to a rear surface of the reel strip and a symbol area exposed through the opening;
- and
- a lighting unit disposed on the reel frame and configured to illuminate the rear surface of the reel strip such that images of the flat symbols and the symbol piece are recognized by light transmission through the reel strip and the symbol piece from the lighting unit,
- wherein the symbol area includes a transparent convex area and a opaque concave area adjacent to the transparent convex area, and
- a background of the reel strip is darker than the flat symbols.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.