Abstract:
A slot machine game that customizes winning combinations based on the player&#39;s year of birth. In this way, the player&#39;s gaming experience can be tailored to themes such as the Chinese Zodiac. The player&#39;s year of birth can be inputted directly into the machine or the machine can automatically query the casino database if the player uses his or her player&#39;s card to find out the year of birth.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present general inventive concept is directed to a method, apparatus, and computer readable storage medium for a personalized slot machine paytable. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Casinos are constantly installing new varieties of slot machines in order to attract and retain players. Some players are superstitious and feel that personal characteristics about them may invoke a lucky result. 
     Therefore, what is needed is a slot machine game that can be personalized to a player in order that the player feels that they may have a connection to the slot machine game. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an aspect of the present invention to provide more innovative slot machine games. 
     The above aspects can be obtained by a gaming machine that includes (a) executing a following instructions on a processor on a digital computer: (b) determining a birthyear for the player; (c) determining a particular paytable based on the birthyear; (d) displaying the particular paytable; (e) receiving a wager from a player; (f) spinning reels and stopping the reels to a random final combination; and (g) determining if the final combination is a winning combination on the paytable and paying any earned award to the player based on the final combination. 
     These together with other aspects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is drawing illustrating one type of slot machine that can be used to implement the present inventive concept, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method to implement a slot machine game, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 3A  is a drawing illustrating a first configuration of a slot machine, according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 3B  is a drawing illustrating a second configuration of the slot machine, according to an embodiment; and 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating hardware that can be used to implement the present inventive concepts, according to an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. 
     The present general inventive concept is directed to a slot machine game, (such as the kind described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,553,231 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety), that can have a payout structure that is customized based on personalized player information, such as the year the player was born. 
     Slot machines typically have paytables that are compared to a final symbol combination after the player purchases a spin. A player would typically pay for a spin (by using coins, cash, or credits), spin the reels, and watch the result. The resulting symbols can be grouped into predetermined paylines, and symbols that fall along particular paylines are compared to the paytable to see if there are any winning combinations. 
     Some players feel that their year of birth is lucky, and thus they may wish to play a slot machine that can incorporate their birth year into the overall slot machine play. This can be done in numerous ways. For example, the player can input their birth year into a machine (or the machine can ascertain the birth year automatically by using the player&#39;s inserted comp card and the casino database), and this information can be used to customize the player&#39;s gaming experience. 
       FIG. 1  is drawing illustrating one type of slot machine that can be used to implement the present inventive concept, according to an embodiment. 
     While a mechanical slot machine is illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a video slot machine can also be used as well. 
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method to implement a slot machine game, according to an embodiment. 
     The method can begin with operation  200 , which receives the player&#39;s birth-year. This can be done in numerous ways. For example, the player can enter in their respective birth-year on a keypad or using a touch screen. Alternatively, they can enter a category associated with their birth-year, for example their particular sign of the Chinese-zodiac. Alternatively, the system may be able to automatically identify the player&#39;s birth-year if the player has inserted their player&#39;s card (also known as loyalty card, comp card, etc.) into a card reader associated with the slot machine they are playing. The slot machine can use an identifier on the player&#39;s card to query a casino database to determine the player&#39;s birth-year (or other personal information). 
     In another embodiment, instead of the birth-year, other aspects about the player can be received and used, such as the player&#39;s birthday. This information can be used to associate the player with the player&#39;s astrological sign which is based on the player&#39;s birthday but not year of birth. All of the embodiments described herein that apply to birth-year and the Chinese Zodiac can also be applied to the player&#39;s birthday and their astrological sign as well (e.g., Scorpio, Leo, etc.) 
     In a further embodiment, instead of using the player&#39;s actual birth-year (or birthday), the player can pick a birth-year or birthday of their preference (even if it is not their actual birth-year or birthday). For example, if a player feels that rabbits are lucky they can select rabbit for their birth-year symbol even though they were born in the year of the ox. 
     From operation  200 , the method proceeds to operation  202 , which generates a personal payout structure based on the player&#39;s birth-year (or in another embodiment, based on the astrological sign which is based on their birthday). 
     For example, a table such as Table I can be used to put the player&#39;s birth-year into a category. 
     
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE I 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 birth-year 
                 category 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 1973 
                 ox 
               
               
                 1985 
                 ox 
               
               
                 1997 
                 ox 
               
               
                 1974 
                 tiger 
               
               
                 1986 
                 tiger 
               
               
                 1998 
                 tiger 
               
               
                 1975 
                 rabbit 
               
               
                 1987 
                 rabbit 
               
               
                 1999 
                 rabbit 
               
               
                 1976 
                 dragon 
               
               
                 1988 
                 dragon 
               
               
                 2000 
                 dragon 
               
               
                 1965 
                 snake 
               
               
                 1977 
                 snake 
               
               
                 1989 
                 snake 
               
               
                 1966 
                 horse 
               
               
                 1978 
                 horse 
               
               
                 1990 
                 horse 
               
               
                 1967 
                 sheep 
               
               
                 1979 
                 sheep 
               
               
                 1991 
                 sheep 
               
               
                 1968 
                 monkey 
               
               
                 1980 
                 monkey 
               
               
                 1992 
                 monkey 
               
               
                 1969 
                 rooster 
               
               
                 1981 
                 rooster 
               
               
                 1993 
                 rooster 
               
               
                 1970 
                 dog 
               
               
                 1982 
                 dog 
               
               
                 1994 
                 dog 
               
               
                 1971 
                 pig 
               
               
                 1983 
                 pig 
               
               
                 1995 
                 pig 
               
               
                 1972 
                 rat 
               
               
                 1984 
                 rat 
               
               
                 1996 
                 rat 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Of course, instead of a table such as that in Table , a formulaic approach can be used to determine the category as well. Once the category is determined, a paytable associated with that category can be determined/retrieved. Table II illustrates different paytables for some of the categories in Table I. The payouts illustrated in Table II are for a three reel game, although any number of reels can be used with the inventive concepts described herein. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE II 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Category 
                 Combination 
                 payout 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 Rat 
                 rat/rat/rat 
                 $1,000   
               
               
                   
                   
                 7/7/7 
                 $100  
               
               
                   
                   
                 star/star/star  
                 $10 
               
               
                   
                   
                 any two stars 
                  $2 
               
               
                   
                   
                 any one star 
                  $1 
               
               
                   
                 Ox 
                 ox/ox/ox 
                 $1,000   
               
               
                   
                   
                 7/7/7 
                 $100  
               
               
                   
                   
                 star/star/star 
                 $10 
               
               
                   
                   
                 any two stars 
                  $2 
               
               
                   
                   
                 any one star 
                  $1 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     An entry should exist in Table II for each category. Typically, different categories should not have a different house advantage so that the players will not be rewarded or penalized because of their particular characteristics. In an alternative embodiment, different characteristics (e.g., birth-year) may have an effect on the house advantage of the respective paytable for that category. Additionally, other paytables or payouts can be used such that getting three (or another number) of identical symbols that don&#39;t correspond to the selected category (e.g., animal year or zodiac symbol) can generate a payout of 0 or a lesser amount (e.g., 1-10 or other numbers) than getting the same number of identical symbols of the category. 
     Thus, for example, according to the paytables in Table II, if the category is “rat” and the player gets three rats, then the player wins $1,000. But if the player were to get three oxen while the player&#39;s category is rat, the player would win nothing. 
     The reels for the game should typically not change based on the player&#39;s category. Table III below illustrates one sample reel mapping which can be used for all three reels in a three reel game. The reel in table III has only 16 stops, although reels commonly have 64 reel stops. 
     
       
         
               
               
             
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE III 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 reel stop # 
                 symbol 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 1 
                 blank 
               
               
                 2 
                 star 
               
               
                 3 
                 rat 
               
               
                 4 
                 ox 
               
               
                 5 
                 tiger 
               
               
                 6 
                 rabbit 
               
               
                 7 
                 dragon 
               
               
                 8 
                 snake 
               
               
                 9 
                 horse 
               
               
                 10 
                 sheep 
               
               
                 11 
                 monkey 
               
               
                 12 
                 rooster 
               
               
                 13 
                 dog 
               
               
                 14 
                 pig 
               
               
                 15 
                 star 
               
               
                 16 
                 star 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     From operation  202 , the method can proceed to operation  204  which receives the player&#39;s wager. This can be done as known in the art, such as the player presenting cash or a voucher to credit the machine, and then pressing a ‘spin’ button to wager particular credits. 
     From operation  204 , the method proceeds to operation  206 , which spins the reels on the slot machine. In a mechanical machine, this is typically done by activating a stepper motor to stop at particular randomly determined symbols. In a video machine, this is done by using computer generated animation to animate spinning reels until they stop at random positions. 
     From operation  206 , the method proceeds to operation  208 , which determines whether the final combination displayed in operation  206  is a combination on the customized paytable determined in operation  202 . If the final combination is not a winning combination, that is, no active payline on the final combination contains a combination in the customized paytable, then the method can return to operation  204  wherein the player can place another wager, or the method can return to operation  200 , when a new player plays and a new birth-year is entered. 
     If the determination in operation  208  determines that there is an award earned, then the method proceeds to operation  210 , which pays a respective award for the combination earned. Then the method can return to either operation  204 , wherein the player can place another wager, or the method can return to operation  200 , when a new player plays and a new birth-year is entered, or the same player continues to play but changes the category. 
       FIG. 3A  is a drawing illustrating a first configuration of a slot machine, according to an embodiment. 
     A birth-year output  300  displays that the year of birth for the player is 1960, which puts the player in the category of the “rat” according to Table I. A particular paytable  301  for the rat category is displayed (which can be retrieved from a table such as Table II), which can be displayed using LCD (or other) technology. The reels  302  of the slot machine are also displayed. The reels  302  can be video or mechanical. 
       FIG. 3B  is a drawing illustrating a second configuration of the slot machine, according to an embodiment. 
     A birth-year output  310  shows that the year of birth for this player is 1981, which puts the player in the category of the “hen” according to Table I. A particular paytable  311  for the hen category is displayed (which can be retrieved from a table such as Table II), which can be displayed using LCD (or other) technology. The reels  312  of the slot machine are also displayed, which can be video or mechanical reels. 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating hardware that can be used to implement the present inventive concepts, according to an embodiment. 
     A processing unit  400  can be a microprocessor and associated structure (e.g., cache, bus, etc). The processing unit  400  can be connected to an output device  401  (which can be a touch-screen, LCD, speaker, etc.), and an input device  402  (which can be a touch-screen, mouse, keyboard, etc.) The processing unit  400  can also be connected to a coin/bill acceptor  403  which can receive coins and/or bills from a player, as well as vouchers (e.g., TITO) to credit the machine with credits. The processing unit  400  can also be connected to a ROM  405  and RAM  404 . The processing unit  400  can also be connected to a network connection  406 , which can connect the unit to a computer communications network such as the Internet, WIFI, WAN, LAN, etc. The processing unit  400  can also be connected to a storage device (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, hard drive, floppy drive, etc.) which can also read a physical storage medium  408  (e.g., CD, DVD, etc.) 
     It is also noted that any and/or all of the above embodiments, configurations, variations of the present invention described above can mixed and matched and used in any combination with one another. This also includes any prior document incorporated by reference, and any feature described herein can also be applied to any such documents. 
     Moreover, any description of a component or embodiment herein also includes hardware, software, and configurations which already exist in the prior art and may be necessary to the operation of such component(s) or embodiment(s). 
     Further, the operations described herein can be performed in any sensible order. Any operations not required for proper operation can be optional. Further, all methods described herein can also be stored on a computer readable storage to control a computer. 
     The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.