Patent ID: 7815505

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a logic device, a first symbolic representation of a position-dependent game arrangement; determining, by the logic device, whether a symbol can appear more than once in the game arrangement; determining, by the logic device, a first numeric representation of the game arrangement based on the following: symbol positions and values of the game arrangement; and for each symbol value set at a given position, a number of sequentially arranged symbolic representations of game arrangements passed over to reach a game arrangement that includes the symbol value set at the given position, wherein the number of sequentially arranged symbolic representations of game arrangements that are passed over is calculated with a permutation function when a symbol cannot appear more than once in the game arrangement, and wherein the number of sequentially arranged symbolic representations of game arrangements that are passed over is calculated with an exponential function when a symbol can appear more than once in the game arrangement; and storing the first numeric representation of the game arrangement.