A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or may contain material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device having independent bonus reels.
Gaming devices provide enjoyment and excitement to players, in part, because they may ultimately lead to monetary awards for the players. Gaming devices also provide enjoyment and excitement to the players because they are fun to play. Bonus games, in particular, provide gaming device manufacturers with the opportunity to add enjoyment and excitement to that which is already expected from a base game of the gaming device. Bonus games provide extra awards to the player and enable the player to play a game that is different than the base game.
Known gaming devices having bonus games employ a triggering event that occurs during play of the base game operation of the gaming device. The triggering event temporarily stalls or halts the base game play and enables a player to enter a second, different game, which is the bonus game. The player plays the bonus game, likely receives an award, and returns to the base game. In most instances, the bonus game is relatively short in relation to the time that the player spends repeatedly playing the base game. The player may play the bonus game several times while playing the base game of the gaming device.
Different types of bonus games are described in European Patent Application No""s EP 0874337A1, EP 0945837A2 and EP 0984409A2, each of which are assigned to WMS Gaming, Inc. These games are generally versions of a xe2x80x9cDo Untilxe2x80x9d type bonus game.
Patent Application No. EP 0874337A1 discloses a gaming device having a bonus game where the player spins a plurality of reels including several symbols. In the bonus game, if the player obtains a winning symbol combination on the reels, the player receives an award and spins again. The probability for obtaining a winning symbol combination on the reels is greater than fifty percent. Therefore, a player will likely have multiple opportunities to spin the reels in the bonus game and receive several awards. If the player does not obtain a winning symbol combination, the bonus game ends and the player receives the total accumulated award for the game. Thus, the player spins the reels in the bonus game until the player does not obtain a winning combination.
Patent Application No. EP 0984409A2 discloses a gaming device wherein the game enables the player to spin a plurality of reels having various symbols attempting to obtain awards. In this bonus game, the player starts the bonus game with a limited number of spins. Then, the player spins the reels until there are no spins remaining. The player receives an award after each spin. The final award in the bonus game is the total of all of the accumulated awards by the player in the game.
Patent Application No. EP 09454837A2 discloses a gaming device wherein the game presents the player with a plurality of selections in the bonus game. The selections include masked or hidden awards and end bonus outcomes or terminators. The player receives an award for each selection picked by a player that is not a terminator. The player continues to pick selections until the player selects a terminator. The terminator ends the bonus game and the player receives the total of all the awards they obtained during the game.
The above gaming machines employ a xe2x80x9cDo-Untilxe2x80x9d style bonus game where a player spins reels or picks from a player selectable grid or board until the player obtains a terminator or runs out of picks. In these games, players can obtain multiple awards. While such bonus games offer advantages in player appeal and excitement, there is a continuing need to develop new types of bonus games that allow players to accumulate larger awards and increase the level of player excitement and enjoyment.
The present invention provides a gaming device and in particular a bonus game of a gaming device that enables players to accumulate awards by spinning a plurality of independent reels having a plurality of award symbols at least one award indicator associated with each reel. The reels are independently activated and deactivated. Additionally, in one embodiment, a terminating condition is associated with each reel. It should be appreciated, however, that the terminating condition may be associated with a plurality of reels, all of the reels or none of the reels. In one embodiment, the terminating condition deactivates a reel when a terminator or terminator symbol is indicated on the reel. In this embodiment, the gaming device starts the game by activating all of the reels displayed to the player and then randomly stops one of the reels. It should be appreciated that activation of the reels includes, but is not limited, spinning mechanical reels, or simulating the spinning of the reels on a video display device. If an award symbol is indicated on the stopped reel, the gaming device provides the player with an award associated with the indicated award symbol. The gaming device then re-activates the reel. If a terminator symbol is indicated on the reel the gaming device deactivates the reel and that reel is not activated again in the bonus game. The gaming device continues to re-activate the other reels and provide awards to the player until all of the reels are deactivated. The gaming device provides the total accumulated award to the player and the bonus game ends.
In another embodiment, the gaming device randomly selects and activates one reel. If an award symbol is indicated on the reel when the reel stops the gaming device provides an award to the player. The gaming device then randomly selects and activates another reel. It should be appreciated that the gaming device may subsequently activate the same reel or a different reel. If a terminating condition occurs, the gaming device does not provide an award to the player and deactivates that reel. It should also be appreciated that a terminating condition such as a terminator symbol may be associated with an award. Furthermore, once a reel is deactivated, the reel may no longer be re-activated in the game. The bonus game continues as described above until a terminator symbol is indicated on each reel. Therefore, the bonus game ends when all the reels are deactivated.
In another embodiment, a plurality of terminators or terminator symbols are included on the reels. Each reel may have one or more terminator symbols. The additional terminator symbols increase the likelihood that a player will receive a terminator.
In another embodiment, a probability of deactivation or a deactivation probability is associated with each reel. It should be appreciated that an equivalent or corresponding probability of activation may be associated with each reel instead of a probability of deactivation. The gaming device randomly determines whether a stopped reel will be re-activated based on the deactivation probability associated with the stopped reel. A reel with a higher deactivation probability will be less likely to be re-activated by the processor than a reel with a lower deactivation probability. When all of the reels are deactivated, the game ends. In one embodiment, the probability of deactivation associated with a reel increases after each activation of that reel. In another embodiment, the probability of deactivation of a reel increases after a plurality of activations of that reel. One or more deactivation probabilities may alternatively be used for one or more of the independently activated reels.
In a further embodiment, the terminating condition is determined by the processor where the processor randomly determines a number of activations for each reel. When the number of activations of a reel equals the determined number of activations for that reel, the reel is deactivated. The game ends when all of the reels are deactivated.
In another embodiment, the terminating condition is determined by the processor where the processor randomly determines a total number of activations for a game. The processor ends the game when the total number of activations in the game equals the determined total number of activations for that game.
In a further embodiment, the processor provides an award to a player if the player reaches a pre-determined number of activations for a reel before a terminating condition occurs for that reel. In another embodiment, the processor provides an award to a player if the player reaches a pre-determined number of activations for a plurality of reels before a terminating condition occurs for the plurality of reels. In a further embodiment, the processor provides an award to a player if the player reaches a pre-determined total number of activations in a game before all of the reels are deactivated and the game ends.
In another embodiment, the reels and the award symbols are associated with probabilities of being indicated and the terminating conditions are associated with probabilities of occurring such that one reel, award symbol or terminating condition has a greater probability of being indicated or occurring in a game than another reel, award symbol or terminating condition.
In a further embodiment, the gaming device includes reels having relatively low award values and reels having relatively large award values. The reels are associated with activation probabilities such that the probability of the gaming device activating a reel having relatively low award values is higher than the probability of the gaming device activating a reel having relatively large award values. Thus, each of the different reels can have different awards, different probabilities associated with the awards, and different probabilities associated with the reels.
In another embodiment, a number of activations is determined by the processor and associated with at least one reel in the bonus game. The number of activations may be associated with one reel, a plurality of reels or all of the reels. Furthermore, the number of activations may be the same for each reel or different for each reel. The processor deactivates a reel or reels, when the number of activations occurs for that reel or reels. When all of the reels are deactivated the bonus game ends.
In a further embodiment, a probability of deactivation is associated with at least one reel where the processor determines whether to deactivate a reel based on the probabilities. The deactivation probability may be the same or different for each reel. In one embodiment, the deactivation probability increases after each activation of a reel or after a plurality of activations of a reel or reels. In another embodiment, a number of activations is associated with a reel, a plurality of reels or all of the reels. In this embodiment, the player receives an award if the number of activations occurs for the reel, plurality of reels or all of the reels.
In another embodiment, the awards associated with the award symbols on the reels increment by a predetermined or random amount after the gaming device re-activates the reels.
Although the present invention is discussed relative to a bonus game of a gaming machine, it should be appreciated that the present invention could be employed as a primary game in a gaming device.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide a gaming device having a plurality of independent bonus reels that include a plurality of award symbols and at least one terminating condition that deactivates a reel where a player obtains awards until all of the reels are deactivated.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide players with several opportunities to accumulate and obtain larger awards.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.