Gaming machine, control method for machine, and program for gaming machine having a bonus feature event

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10733845-B2
Application number	US-201815928902-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2018
Priority date	Mar 22, 2018
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

A gaming machine is described herein. The gaming machine includes a control unit programmed to initiate an instance of a primary game and spin and stop virtual reel strips to display an outcome of the primary game. The control unit detects an appearance of a winning combination of game symbols in the outcome and provides an initial award based on the winning combination, and detects an appearance of the collect symbol and a credit prize symbol in the outcome, determines an amount of credits associated with the credit prize symbol, and a bonus award including the determined amount of credits.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gaming machine, comprising:
an operation unit configured to receive an operation input of a player;
a display unit configured to display a game screen including computer generated graphics, the game screen including a display area including a plurality of cells arranged in a grid and configured to display a respective symbol in each cell;
a memory device storing a game execution program including computer instructions for generating a plurality of virtual reel strips including a plurality of game symbols and generating and displaying game instances with the virtual reel strips, wherein the game symbols include a plurality of credit prize symbols indicating various credit amounts and a collect symbol indicating an award of credits; and
a game control unit for executing the game, the game control unit including a processor programmed to:
initiate an instance of a primary game upon detecting an operation input of the player via the operation unit including executing the game execution program to generate and display the plurality of virtual reel strips on the game screen, and randomly select stop positions for each of the virtual reel strips;
spin and stop the virtual reel strips based on the randomly selected stop positions to display an outcome of the primary game including game symbols displayed in each cell of the grid;
detect an appearance of a winning combination of game symbols in the outcome and provide an initial award based on the winning combination;
detect an appearance of the collect symbol and at least one credit prize symbol in the outcome and responsively determine an amount of credits associated with the at least one credit prize symbol and provide a bonus award including the determined amount of credits associated with the at least one credit symbol;
adjust a primary credit balance associated with the player based on the initial award and the bonus award;
initiate an instance of a bonus feature game including a bonus game credit meter having an initial credit balance based on the bonus award;
spin and stop the virtual reel strips to display an outcome of the bonus feature game; and
upon detecting an appearance of one or more credit prize symbols in the outcome of the bonus feature game, increase a credit balance of the bonus credit meter based on an amount of credits associated with each of the one or more credit prize symbols appearing in the outcome of the bonus feature game; and
upon detecting a reset symbol, reset the bonus game credit meter to the initial credit balance for use with a subsequent instance of the bonus feature game.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
initiate the bonus feature game upon detecting a triggering condition occurring with the primary game; and
display the bonus game credit meter on the game screen.

3. The gaming machine of claim 2 , wherein the triggering condition includes a predefined number of credit prize symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game.

4. The gaming machine of claim 2 , wherein the reel generation program includes instructions for generating a plurality of bonus virtual reel strips including a plurality of bonus game symbols, the bonus game symbols including the plurality of credit prize symbols and a mystery feature event symbol indicating an occurrence of a feature event; and
wherein the processor is programmed to:
initiate the instance of the bonus feature game including executing the game execution program to generate and display the plurality of bonus virtual reel strips on the game screen, and randomly select stop positions for each of the bonus virtual reel strips; and
spin and stop the bonus virtual reel strips to display an outcome of the instance of the bonus feature game including bonus game symbols displayed in each cell of the grid.

5. The gaming machine of claim 4 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
detect an appearance of the collect symbol appearing in the outcome of the instance of the bonus feature game; and
transfer a current credit balance of the bonus game credit meter to the primary credit balance associated with the player; and
reset the bonus game credit meter to the initial credit balance for use with the subsequent instance of the bonus feature game.

6. The gaming machine of claim 4 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
detect an appearance of the mystery feature event symbol in the outcome of the instance of the bonus feature game; and
upon detecting the appearance of the mystery feature event symbol, randomly select an event trigger symbol from a group of symbols including the collect symbol indicating an award of credit values, an end symbol indicating a termination of the bonus feature game, and the reset symbol indicating a reset of a balance of the bonus credit meter; and
remove the mystery feature event symbol from the displayed outcome to reveal the selected event trigger symbol.

7. The gaming machine of claim 6 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
upon selecting the collect symbol:
transfer a current credit balance of the bonus game credit meter to the primary credit balance associated with the player; and
reset the bonus game credit meter to the initial credit balance for use with a subsequent instance of the bonus feature game.

8. The gaming machine of claim 6 wherein the processor is programmed to:
upon selecting the reset symbol, reset the bonus game credit meter to the initial credit balance for use with a subsequent instance of the bonus feature game.

9. The gaming machine of claim 6 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
upon selecting the end symbol, terminate the bonus feature game and display the primary game on the game screen.

10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by a processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:
display a game screen including computer generated graphics on a display unit, the game screen including a display area including a plurality of cells arranged in a grid and configured to display a respective symbol in each cell;
initiate an instance of a primary game including executing a game execution program including computer instructions for generating a plurality of virtual reel strips including a plurality of game symbols, wherein the game symbols include a plurality of credit prize symbols indicating various credit amounts and a collect symbol indicating an award of credits;
generate and display the plurality of virtual reel strips on the game screen, and randomly select stop positions for each of the virtual reel strips;
spin and stop the virtual reel strips based on the randomly selected stop positions to display an outcome of the primary game including game symbols displayed in each cell of the grid;
detect an appearance of a winning combination of game symbols in the outcome and provide an initial award based on the winning combination;
detect an appearance of the collect symbol and at least one credit prize symbol in the outcome and responsively determine an amount of credits associated with the at least one credit prize symbol and provide a bonus award including the determined amount of credits associated with the at least one credit symbol;
adjust a primary credit balance associated with the player based on the initial award and the bonus award;
initiate an instance of a bonus feature game including a bonus game credit meter having an initial credit balance based on the bonus award;
spin and stop the virtual reel strips to display an outcome of the bonus feature game; and
upon detecting an appearance of one or

Assignees

• Konami Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Suda Satoshi
• Langston William

Classifications

• G07F17/3267 Primary

  Game outcomes which determine the course of the subsequent game, e.g. double or quits, free games, higher payouts, different new games · CPC title

• G07F17/3244

  Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes · CPC title

• G07F17/3213 Primary

  Details of moving display elements, e.g. spinning reels, tumbling members · CPC title

• G07F17/3227

  Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters · CPC title

• G07F17/34

  depending on the stopping of moving members {in a mechanical slot machine}, e.g. "fruit" machines · CPC title