Patent ID: 8303397

Claim:
A computer-controlled gaming machine comprising: a processor; a memory; and a display device displaying a lottery region having plural cell columns arranged in a transverse direction, each of said plural cell columns having at least one cell serving as a symbol stop position; said processor and memory configured to implement: a lottery unit that controls a plurality of symbol columns with symbols arranged there on so as to chooses a symbol to appear in each cell of the lottery region at a predetermined game opportunity; a symbol column movement control unit that moves symbols in each symbol column along the cell column at the game opportunity and stops the symbols of each symbol column in a cell of the lottery region on the basis of a lottery result of the lottery unit; and a prize winning determining unit that determines whether a combination of the symbols stopped in a cell group of a determination target forms a prize winning pattern, wherein a partial reduction state is at least temporary generated, in which the lottery region is defined such that the plural cell columns include at least one normal cell column where plural normal cells, each of which has a predetermined size and consists of one symbol, are arranged and at least one reduced cell column where plural reduced cells, each of which is obtained by equally dividing one normal cell in a cell arrangement direction and has at least one reduced symbol, are continuously arranged in at least a portion of the reduced cell column, and in each of the symbol columns, the size of each symbol is set so as to accord with the size of each cell of the corresponding normal cell column or reduced cell column, wherein the symbol column movement control unit stops the symbols of each symbol column in a cell of the lottery region in each cell column, regardless of whether a current state is the partial reduction state or not, and wherein the prize winning determining unit recognizes, when the current state is the partial reduction state, that at least one normal cell and the plural reduced cells continuously spanning over the portion of the reduced cell column in the cell arrangement direction are included in the cell group of the determination target, individually selects the plural reduced cells that are included in the cell group of the determination target, and determines whether a combination of the symbols stopped in the selected reduced cells and the symbols stopped in the normal cells included in the cell group of the determination target forms the prize winning pattern.