This invention relates to slot machines and, more specifically, to slot machines which are customizable by the player.
One of the main goals of a casino is to keep its customers playing as long as possible, since longer play generates higher revenues. Casinos are thus interested in maintaining player interest and excitement, especially with regard to slot machine play, which encompasses a large portion of the casino""s revenues and profits.
There are several ways in which casinos currently attempt to maintain player interest in slot machines. One of these ways is the provision of various slot machines that pay out different prizes or jackpots. If a player is tired of playing for the $10,000 jackpot with low odds of winning, he or she can go to another slot machine that has a smaller payout but better odds of winning. The disadvantage of this is that the player must leave one machine and walk across the casino floor in search of another. The casino is not generating any revenue from that player while he or she is searching for a new machine having the desired payout. There is also the risk that the patron may get distracted during the walking time and never make it to another slot machine, or find some other game which does not provide as high a return to the casino. Players may also not find a convenient unoccupied slot machine with a desired payout and leave the casino in search of another machine in another casino. They can also simply change their minds and decide not to play the slots anymore.
Another way casinos currently attempt to keep player interest is to have slot machines with a menu of available games from which the player can choose. While this may provide some variety to a novice player, the choices are limited and will not keep the interest of a regular casino patron for long, since he or she will eventually become familiar with the games.
One video poker game allows for altered payout tables because each card is drawn from an independent deck. U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,784 to Furry (xe2x80x9cMethod And Apparatus For Directly Generating A Random Final Outcome Of A Gamexe2x80x9d) describes a system which modifies odds and potential payout between games based on the most recent games played. Furry also suggests that it may be preferable to modify the odds to make it harder to obtain a larger payout immediately after a large payout has been issued. This can be done without modifying any tables within memory and is also done by the gaming device without direct player input.
People generally are more likely to be interested in something over which they have some say or control. They are more likely, on the other hand, to get easily frustrated, or bored, with something that they perceive to be determined purely by chance or luck, pre-defined, or in some other way completely out of their influence. Many players are also illustrated after losing for many spins in a row. They would love to improve their odds of winning but have no way of doing so. Players on a xe2x80x9chot streakxe2x80x9d, on the other hand, sometimes believe that they are almost certain to hit a jackpot soon. The only way to get higher payouts is to move to a different machine, but this means abandoning the xe2x80x9cluckyxe2x80x9d machine.
There is, therefore, a need for a slot machine that induces the player to continue playing for extended periods of time.
In accordance with the present invention, a gaming device such as a slot machine provides a player the ability to modify at least one parameter of the slot machine. The slot machine then modifies other parameters to ensure a desired house advantage. In one embodiment, the slot machine allows the player to customize odds, payout schedules, or wager amount by trading off one variable for another to maintain a constant house advantage.
In a further embodiment, in order to compensate for a higher or lower payout chosen by the player, a gaming device alters the probability of attaining certain payouts, the amounts of payouts not customized by the player, or the amount of coins required per pull (wager amount), while keeping the house advantage constant. In one embodiment, gaming device software implements an equation that takes into account pertinent parameters or variables such as size of jackpot, amount of payment taken in at each pull, and probability of hitting the jackpot at each pull. Based on the equation, the software adjusts parameters other than the one(s) specified by the player so that the house advantage would remain constant with each pull. If, for example, the xe2x80x9chousexe2x80x9d decided that for every $1.00 wagered the machine was to give out $0.87, that payout ratio would remain true no matter what the choices made by the player were and the casino would not need to worry about increasing or decreasing the payout ratio. The player could also be given the ability to customize combinations needed for the smaller prizes. For instance, a player could specify that cherry-cherry-cherry will pay out 50 coins, not 30, or the player could specify how many times the combination with the low payout comes up.
In one embodiment, a touch screen provides an easy to use method of modifying selected parameters. This enables the player to control the slot machine and reconfigure it to provide desired characteristics. By providing players this control, they are less likely to leave a machine in search of a different machine having the characteristics desired. This in turn may prevent them from moving to a different casino, thus optimizing the overall return of the casino.