Abstract:
A gaming apparatus with geometrically oriented elements is disclosed. Specifically, an array of game elements are displayed, each of which has a discrete geometric orientation, and whose relative geometric orientations, in addition to relative placement of each gaming element, determines winning patterns which result in payout to a player.

Description:
BENEFIT CLAIM 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/007,603, filed Dec. 14, 2007. 
    
    
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide a gaming apparatus with geometrically oriented game elements. 
     A second object of the invention is to provide a gaming apparatus with geometrically oriented game elements which is integrated into a gaming experience in which the geometric orientation of the gaming elements is appropriate. 
     A third object of the invention is to provide a new and improved gaming experience by integrating new methods of play into familiar archetypes to allow players to easily understand the new gaming experience. 
     Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following disclosure. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a gaming system having geometrically oriented game elements. Whereas in a traditional slot machine, whether electronic, mechanical, or a hybrid of both, the game elements are formed into a two-dimensional array and the relative positions of gaming elements (e.g., the gaming elements may form a horizontal line of like elements) determines whether the player has won a prize, in the invention, the gaming elements have individual geometric orientations, the asymmetrical gaming elements having a fixed number of distinguishable orientations within their individual locations in the array and the orientation of an element or elements is itself determinative of the prize, if any, paid to a player. This allows both a new and novel form of presentation and the integration of games that logically call for a horizontal movement of game elements. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The characteristic features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims. The descriptions of the preferred embodiment refer to the preceding drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is an abstract representational view of the entire apparatus. 
         FIG. 2  is an abstract representational view of an embodiment of the display of the apparatus. 
         FIG. 3  is an abstract representational view of an embodiment of the display of the apparatus showing an alternative proper geometric orientation of game elements. 
         FIG. 4  is an abstract representational view of an embodiment of the display of the apparatus showing the proper geometric orientation of game elements. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The description of the preferred embodiment uses the invention in a gaming apparatus of the type usually referred to as a “slot machine.” It could be used in any appropriate gaming or entertainment device, including but not limited to such things as a video poker game, a video keno game, a combination gaming machine, or even a coin-operated or bartop amusement device. 
     By referring to  FIG. 1 , the basic concept of the invention may be easily understood. Gaming Unit  10  comprises cabinet  16 , which contains user control array  12  and display  14 , which displays the gaming elements during play. (See  FIGS. 2 ,  3 ,  4 .) Display  14  could be a cathode-ray tube, an LCD or LED monitor, or any other suitable display means. The player uses control array  12  to control the game, after either having inserted money or electronically provided the game with the player&#39;s account information for cashless play. Here control array  12  comprises a fixed number of rectangular buttons, but it could be a keyboard, a touch-screen, or any other desired combination of controls able to accept input from a player. The game uses any desired means of selecting gaming elements, either through the operation of chance, the exercise of skill, or both, and displays the results on the display  14 , after which the player is rewarded for winning combinations if any are present. Within cabinet  16 , as is customary with gaming machines in the art, is a computer unit with a processor, a main memory which contains dynamic information processed by the processor during operation, and a static memory which contains the fixed information, such as an operating system, game programs, and configuration information, necessary for the processor to consistently process input from the control array  12  and produce output to the display in response to a player&#39;s action. 
       FIG. 2  shows an abstracted possible outcome of a game played on gaming unit  10  (Not shown: see  FIG. 1 .) Here, all the symbols are the same—simple rectangles. For purposes of simplicity no other symbols are shown: in a similar gaming apparatus under the prior art, additional symbols would be present, or every pull would be a winning combination. Similarly, while not shown, as discussed below other symbols would typically be present in an actual real-world application of the invention, some of which would have individual geometric orientations which varied and some of which might not have such individual geometric orientations and/or might only ever be represented in a single geometric orientation. While all these rectangles are otherwise identical, they have been rotated about their geometric centers to varying degrees, giving each an individual geometric orientation. While there is no theoretical limit to the number of orientations possible, it is preferred to keep the number of individual orientations limited so as to make the number of outcomes reasonably low and the individual outcomes easily distinct to the player. Normally, this would present a completely winning field on a typical slot machine, since proximity of identical symbols is all that is required to make a winning combination. However, in the invention, the proximity of individual symbols only produces a winning combination if the line connecting them is oriented in the same direction as their individual geometric orientations as it passes through them. Only the rectangles connected by line  21  are in the geometric orientation necessary to make a complete line of three oriented elements with the line connecting them in the same orientation as their individual geometric orientations, and using the invention, only this constitutes a winning combination. It is preferred, but not required, that the total universe of symbols in actual practice include multiple types of symbols. It is acceptable for some of the symbols to have no orientation at all, including “nulls” which cannot form part of a winning combination, “bonus elements” which might by their singular presence cause the player to win a prize, or multiple elements having individual orientations which are not allowed to form winning geometric orientations. For instance, if part of the universe of potential symbols were stylized representations of current U.S. paper currency, their rectangular shapes would correspond to the described embodiment of  FIG. 2 , with some added indication of denomination, but could have the additional requirement that only shapes comprised of identical denominations would be considered winning combinations. Although it does not form part of the claimed invention, it is further disclosed herein that such usages could also control the amount of a paid prize—a line of $10 bills might pay ten times the prize paid by a line of $1 bills. Obviously it is required that there be some means of defining an individual geometric orientation for each symbol. Symbols must either be asymmetric in shape, or have some patterning or other graphic indication of which orientation they are in. It is preferred, as shown, that the symbols whose individual geometric orientation is relevant to the outcome of the game be asymmetrical in shape. 
     It will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that adding geometric orientation allows for a far larger number of total possible outcomes without adding additional symbols to the universe of possible selections. Among other advantages, this allows a larger sub-universe of winning combinations than is practical without the invention. For instance, a line of two properly oriented elements might win a small prize, even in a game with a relatively small universe of symbols, whereas this might not be practical in a game where only the proximity of similar symbols is evaluated when determining winning combinations. While there are any number of potential means for evaluating the outcome of a game, in general, the computer unit in Cabinet  16  contains, within its static memory, either an algorithm for examining a particular outcome against a fixed set of rules to determine whether it is a winning outcome, or a list of all possible winning outcomes against which the particular outcome of a game can be compared. The computer unit would determine the outcome of a particular game using the rules stored in the static memory, and recognize the outcome as a particular individual outcome. As is typical in the art, it would start from some first configuration, typically the configuration produced by the particular individual outcome of the prior game, randomly reorganize the game elements, and display the reorganized game elements as a second configuration which would be the particular individual outcome of the current game. In the prior art, the individual game elements would be symbols whose individual geometric orientation within a fixed geometric pattern never changed, only their relative location within the fixed geometric pattern. In the invention, both the relative location and the individual geometric orientations of the game elements can change, and the computer unit recognizes the relative locations and individual geometric orientations of the game elements and compares them to possible winning outcomes to determine if the particular individual outcome is a winning outcome. 
       FIG. 3  shows an alternate possible combination of game elements detailing one of the possibilities that the invention makes practical. Rows  20   a ,  20   b , and  20   c  and columns  22   a ,  22   b ,  22   c ,  22   d , and  22   e  contain game elements (in this case, abstract geometric figures.) While it is permissible to use abstract game elements and symbols, it is also permissible and may be desirable to style the game elements as objects that might have similar multiple orientations in the real world, e.g. the elements could be dollar bills or other monetary notes folded into a variety of shapes. Other possibilities include people or animals oriented at different angles, only one of which represents a line of sight, vehicles which move in a fixed direction relative to their orientation, or any other desired representation. 
       FIG. 4  shows the game elements of  FIG. 3  in a final position and demonstrates the winning and non-winning orientation of game elements. First game element  34  is oriented to form a downward-opening ninety-degree angle, with parts of the element oriented to one hundred and thirty five degrees from the vertical and two hundred and twenty five degrees from the vertical. Second game element  36  is oriented at three hundred and fifteen degrees from the vertical, which aligns it with the one of the downward parts of first game element  34 . Similarly, third game element  38  is oriented at forty five degrees from the vertical, aligning it with the other downward part of first game element  34 . Together, first game element  34 , second game element  36 , and third game element  38  form a larger coherent pattern of aligned elements, emphasized by the heavy black line. This might be considered a winning configuration and produce a prize of some type. While a traditional slot machine might offer a prize for a similar configuration of non-geometrically-oriented elements—to analogize to the described embodiment, it might “pay on triangles of matching symbols”—a slot machine incorporating the invention allows the player to easily envision such winning combinations and understand intuitively why a given combination is a winning combination. Furthermore, the incorporation of the invention allows a greater diversity of total combinations, in that without the geometric orientation requirement, a given combination of matching symbols is either a winning combination or it is not. With the invention, a combination of matching symbols could be a winning combination if the symbols are in the proper orientation to form a geometric figure, or a non-winning combination if they are in the proper places but not in the proper orientation to form a geometric figure. 
     It will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention can be practiced either as a mechanical device by using “reels” or other spinning mechanisms which are oriented in a horizontal and/or vertical manner, or by using a video display controlled by a computer of some kind and simply drawing the elements and the virtual motion thereof. While it is theoretically possible to incorporate both a simple horizontal, a simple vertical, and/or a multidimensional movement in a mechanical device, it is strongly preferred, but not required, to practice the invention as a video display controlled by a computer of some kind. This would allow infinitely variable motion and varied game elements, all of which could incorporate, to whatever desired degree, the elements of traditional slot machine play, but incorporate the invention&#39;s teaching of geometrically aligned game element placement. It would also allow players to easily exercise some form of skill to control, or influence, the outcome of any particular game by programming input opportunities for players based on memory, dexterity, knowledge, or any other player skill or combination of skills. 
     While the description above details the preferred and best mode(s) of practicing the invention, many other configurations and variations are possible. For example:
         1) The invention need not be practiced as a gaming unit, but could be a coin-operated amusement device, a home gaming system, or any other appropriate system.   2) The invention could be incorporated into a larger system of games which communicate with each other, allow play against other players, or form a competition or a cooperative of competing teams rather than an exercise of individual chance or skill.       

     Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiment(s) illustrated, but by the claims below and their equivalents.