Gaming machine having plural gaming modes
View Patent ↗A gaming machine which can control the tempo of the game to refresh the player while maintaining continuity of the game, enhancing entertainingness and amusement of the game, and encouraging the player's sense of achievements. The input unit receives an instruction related to a game. The memory stores a first symbol determination table causing that a specific symbol appears among rearranged symbols on the symbol display unit with a first probability and a second symbol determination table causing that the specific symbol appears among the rearranged symbols with a second probability higher than the first probability. The controller starts the game in response to the instruction received through the input unit to execute the game in a normal mode and shifting the normal mode to a chance mode according to the game result in the normal mode.
1. A gaming machine, comprising:
a symbol display unit for displaying/rearranging a plurality of reels including a plurality of symbols including a specific symbol;
an input unit for inputting an instruction related to a game;
a memory for storing a first symbol determination table causing the specific symbol to appear among the rearranged symbols on the symbol display unit with a first probability and a second symbol determination table causing the specific symbol to appear among the rearranged symbols on the symbol display unit with a second probability higher than the first probability; and
a controller for starting the game in response to an instruction received through the input unit to execute the game in a first game mode and shifting the first game mode to a second game mode according to a game result in the first game mode,
wherein the controller is programmed to execute processing of:
(A) executing a game by the first game mode based on the first symbol determination table;
(B) when the game result in the first game mode satisfies a predetermined condition, executing a game by the second game mode based on the second symbol determination table;
(C) rearranging each of the plurality of reels in games in each of the first and second game modes;
(D) when the specific symbol does not appear in the awardable form in the second game mode executed in the processing (B), executing a subsequent chance game mode based on the second symbol determination table wherein a predetermined number of successive games are played until the specific symbol appears in the awardable form; and
(E) when the specific symbol appears in the awardable form among the rearranged symbols in the subsequent chance game mode executed in the processing (D), awarding a benefit and terminating the subsequent chance game mode;
wherein the second symbol determination table includes a predetermined number of mapping relationships between random numbers and symbol codes for each successive game in the subsequent chance game mode, and the probability that the specific symbol will appear in the awardable form increases as the number of successive games in the subsequent chance game mode increases.
2. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the symbol display unit comprises a transparent window protecting the symbol display unit and indicating a possible position of the specific symbol that establishes the awardable form.
3. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the transparent window indicates at least one active pay line.
4. A gaming machine, comprising:
a symbol display unit for displaying/rearranging a plurality of reels including a plurality of symbols including a specific symbol;
an input unit for inputting an instruction related to a game;
a memory for storing a first symbol determination table causing the specific symbol to appear among the rearranged symbols on the symbol display unit with a first probability and a second symbol determination table causing the specific symbol to appear among the rearranged symbols on the symbol display unit with a second probability higher than the first probability and including a case that the specific symbol does not establish an awardable form after a rearrangement of the symbols, and a third symbol determination table bringing about a third probability of the specific symbol higher than the second probability and guaranteeing the awardable form after the rearrangement of the symbols; and
a controller for starting the game in response to an instruction received through the input unit to execute the game in a first game mode and shifting the first game mode to a second game mode according to a game result in the first game mode,
wherein the controller is programmed to execute processing of:
(A) executing a game by the first game mode based on the first symbol determination table;
(B) when a game result in the first game mode satisfies a predetermined condition, executing a game by the second game mode based on the second symbol determination table;
(C) rearranging each of the plurality of reels in each of the games executed in the first and second game modes;
(D) when the specific symbol does not appear in the awardable form in the second game mode executed in the processing (B), executing a subsequent chance game mode based on the second symbol determination table, and when the specific symbol appears in the awardable form in the subsequent chance game mode, awarding a benefit and determining that a first termination condition is established to terminate the subsequent chance game mode; and
(E) when a game result reaches a final value, determining that a second termination condition is established and executing a final chance game mode based on the third symbol determination table to rearrange the symbols.
5. The gaming machine as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the awardable form comprises a predetermined winning combination including at least one specific symbol, and
wherein the symbol display unit comprises a transparent window protecting the symbol display unit and indicating a possible position of the predetermined winning combination.
6. A gaming machine comprising:
a symbol display unit for displaying a plurality of symbols including a specific symbol;
a memory for storing plural kinds of data including data controlling appearance probability of the specific symbol, and a program for executing a game; and
a controller for reading out the plural kinds of data from the memory, executing a normal game based on read-out data, and depending on a result of the normal game, executing a continuation mode wherein a predetermined number of continuation games are played until the specific symbol appears in an awardable form, wherein an appearance probability of the specific symbol is higher in the continuation mode than the normal game,
and the controller temporarily increases the appearance probability of the specific symbol as the number of executed continuation games increases.
7. A method of controlling a gaming machine comprising:
a symbol display unit configured to display/rearrange a plurality of reels including a plurality of symbols including a specific symbol;
a memory storing a plurality of symbol determination tables, each of which define an appearance probability that a specific symbol will be displayed to the symbol display unit based on a relationship between a generated random number and a symbol code; and,
a controller;
the method comprising:
executing a plurality of successive games with the controller based on a symbol determination table stored in the memory and selected in response to the random number generated and the symbol code corresponding thereto;
wherein the appearance probability that the specific symbol will be displayed to the symbol display unit increases as the number of successive games increases.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to execute a predetermined number of successive games based on the symbol determination table and determine whether the specific symbol appears during any of the successive games.