A GAME PLAYING APPARATUS

Abstract: A game playing apparatus comprising a lottery-type lot drawing device which starts at least one lot drawing event by means of a coin, the lot drawing device drawing for each lot drawing event an individual outcome (11) among prize-winning and losing outcomes; and a display device (3) for displaying the outcome of the lot drawing. In order to make a lottery-type game more interesting, the display device (3) is arranged to visually display the outcome (11) of the lot drawing in terms of the rules of a card game (12) or other similar game known per se.

Description: A game playing apparatus This invention relates to a game playing apparatus comprising - a lottery-type lot drawing device starting at least one lot drawing event by means of a coin or other similar token, the lot drawing device drawing, for each lot drawing event, an individual outcome among prizewinning and losing outcomes; and - a display device for displaying said outcome. Various apparatuses for playing a game of skill are previously known in which a coin is used to initiate a game event and in which the course of the game affects the outcome of the game in such a way that the player either wins a prize or loses the coin. In this kind of game playing apparatuses, the player is able to influence the outcome of the game by his own skill so that in the worst case an un¬ skillful player may constantly lose his stake. For this reason, devices for playing games of skill of the type described above are not permitted in certain countries. In some of these countries, however, lotteries and other similar games, such as "scraping cards", are permitted. In lottery-type games, one lottery round includes a predetermined number of prizewinning as well as losing lots or marks appearing in random order. The outcome of the game is thereby usually shown as a sequence of numbers which indicates whether the player is en- titled to a prize or not, or with words or symbols which indicate the amount to be paid out or the losing of the stake. A drawback of lottery-type games is, however, that the player knows in advance that he cannot influence the course of the game by his own skill but the outcome of the game is predetermined by the random occurrence of the prizes. This is a factor which considerably reduces the interest of the player in this type of game. The object of the present invention is to provide a lottery-type game playing apparatus which avoids the above-mentioned drawback and which is con¬ siderably more interesting for the player in spite of the fact that the player's skill does not actually influence the course of the game. This object is achieved by a game playing apparatus according to the invention, which is characterized in that the display device is arranged to visually display the outcome of the lot drawing in terms of the rules of a card game or other similar game known per se. The invention is based on the idea that by com¬ bining a lottery event with a card playing event, the player's interest in a simple lottery game is con¬ siderably increased as the player in the first place has the feeling that he is playing a card game familiar to him. It is obvious that it is con¬ siderably more interesting for the player who has started the game to see the outcome of the game in terms of the rules of a well-known card game, such as poker ("full house", "pair", a non-winning combina- tion of cards, etc. ) instead of seeing the outcome indicated with such signs as "PRIZE 20,-" or "NO PRIZE". In this way a less interesting lottery game is made more attractive by associating it with game playing apparatuses giving high prizes. The game it- self, however, is a lottery game permitted in countries which do not permit slot machines, such as fruit machines, in which the player is able to influence the amount of money to be paid out as a prize. In the following the invention will be de- scribed in greater detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which Figure 1 illustrates schematically the oper¬ ating principle of one embodiment of a game playing apparatus of the invention; and Figure 2 shows the display panel of the game playing apparatus. The main parts of the game playing device shown . ' .n the drawings include a coin slot 1, a central pro- cessing unit 2, a display panel 3, a cash 4, a ieceipt machinery 5 and a lottery ticket delivering device 6. The coin slot 1 is connected to the cash 4 and provided with means 7 for causing the processing unit / to effect one lot drawing event. The processing unit is connected through means 8 to the display panel 3 to display the outcome of the lot drawing on the display panel. The processing unit is also con¬ nected through means 9 to the receipt machinery 5 to write out a lottery ticket 10. The receipt machinery is connected to the delivering device 6, which delivers the lottery ticket to the player. In this specific case, the outcome of the lot drawing is shown by five cards 11, and the prizes 12 fc.. low the winning combinations of the poker game. Other combinations of cards do not entitle to a prize. The distribution of prizes between the dif¬ ferent winning combinations, the amounts to be paid out, and the number of the prizes for the different combinations can be selected as desired with respect to the total number of lot drawing events included in one lottery round. The winning scheme is permanently programmed in the memory of the central processing unit as well as the lot drawing program. The memory of the unit con- tains a table which comprises one element for each lottery ticket and another table which shows the amount to be paid out as a prize. When one particular element has once been selected, it is marked so that it cannot be used again. The same applies to each prize which has already been won. If the outcome of the lot drawing does not entitle to a prize, the dis¬ play panel shows five randomly selected cards which do not form a winning combination. A prizewinning lottery ticket causes a corresponding winning com¬ bination to appear in the display. The operation of the lot drawing program is ail the time controlled by a random number generator 13 the state or * which can¬ not be calculated from outside. When the lots are drawn, they are all of equal value. This kind of lot drawing devices are known per se. For each lot drawing event, the receipt machinery writes out a lottery ticket in which the possible prize is indicated. The prize will be paid out to the player against the lottery ticket. Prizewinning lot numbers can be distributed in two different ways. The lot numbers included in one lottery round are fed to a data cassette 14 in the order in which they are selected by the random number generator. The cassette is then positioned in the processing unit. When the player inserts a coin into the coin slot 1, the unit applies a signal to the receipt machinery so that it writes out, on the lottery ticket to be given to the player, information on whether the player wins a prize or not. The information to be written on the lottery ticket is in each case positioned uppermost in the memory. Instead of allowing the random number generator to feed the lot numbers included in one lottery round in advance and in random order into the cassette, the random number generator can be positioned in the central processing unit to select the lot numbers at the moment when a coin is inserted into the device. In other respects the device operates similarly as the first alternative. In both cases the lottery ticket is not printed until during the lot drawing, and the device does not comprise any preprinted lottery tickets which might tempt to theft. It can be seen that as the outcome of the lot drawing is shown in terms of the rules of a card game requiring special skill, the player gets an idea that he is playing a ame of skill. The lot drawing pro¬ cess itself is nevertheless controlled by a lottery- type game playing device. The drawings and the description related there¬ to are only intended to illustrate the idea of the invention. In its details, the device of the inven¬ tion may vary within the scope of the claims. In place of the card combinations of the poker game the outcome of the game can be shown in terms of any other well-known card game or other similar game. The receipt machinery may alternatively be controlled by the display device 3. Even though the invention has been described above in connection with a game in which the outcome of the lot drawing is shown in terms of combinations of cards, the outcome can also be shown by means of combinations of numbers, letters or symbols. In some countries, certain numbers or combinations of numbers, for instance, may be considered to bring luck or have some other favorable effects, whereas in some other countries certain figures or combinations of figures may have a positive symbolic meaning. The definition "card game or other similar game" is therefore intended to also include such ways of dis¬ playing the outcome of the lot drawing. The definition "coin or other similar token" is intended to include bank notes if the game playing apparatus can be started with a bank note for at least one lot drawing event.

Claims: Claims : 1. A game playing apparatus comprising a lottery-type lot drawing device (2) starting at least one lot drawing event by means of a coin (K) or other similar token, the lot drawing device drawing for each lot drawing event an individual outcome (11) among prizewinning and losing outcomes; and - a display device (3) for displaying said out¬ come, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that - the display device (3) is arranged to visual¬ ly display the outcome (11) of the lot drawing in terms of the rules of a card -jame (12) or other ' similar game known per se. 2. A game playing apparatus according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the display device (3) is arranged to display during each lot drawing event the outcome (11) drawn by the lot draw¬ ing device (2), which outcome (11) is next among prizewinning (12) and losing outcomes positioned in an order selected by a random number generator ( 13 ) . 3. A game playing apparatus according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the display device (3) is arranged to display during each lot drawing event the outcome (11) drawn by the lot draw¬ ing device (2), which outcome (11) is selected among prizewinning (12) and losing outcomes by a random number generator (13). 4. A game playing apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the display device (3) displays the outcome (11) of the lot drawing in terms of the combinations of cards of the poker game. 5. A game playing apparatus according to any of claims l to 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the display device (3) displays the outcome (11) of the lot drawing by means of combinations of numbers, letters or figures. 6. A game playing apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it is provided with a receipt machinery (5) controlled by the lot drawing device (2) and/or the display device (3), whereby the outcome (11) of the lot drawing displayed on the display device (3) is printed on a lottery ticket (10) by means of said receipt machinery.

Inventors: MARTTI LAURI, MARTTI, LAURI
Applicants: RAHA AUTOMAATTIYHDISTYS, RAHA-AUTOMAATTIYHDISTYS
Application year: 1990
Main classification: G07F17
IPC codes: A63F3, A63F13, G07C15, G07F17