Gaming Machine Sequential Reel Stop with Dynamic Symbol Addition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gaming machines that expand symbol display positions do not provide new prizes based on the types of symbols displayed, leading to decreased player interest and expectations.
Innovation Solution
A gaming machine that sequentially stops reels after spinning, adds a randomly determined number of special symbols to a column forming a winning combination, and awards a prize for the arrangement of special symbols displayed after all reels have stopped, increasing the chances of winning new prizes and maintaining player engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the symbol display positions are expanded to show more symbols, then the quantity of displayed symbols increases, but new prizes are not awarded based on the displayed symbols leading to decreased player interest
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit determines in advance whether to add special symbols to the reel column and how many to add, before the reels complete their spinning. This preliminary determination creates player anticipation and maintains interest by ensuring that expanding the symbol display will potentially create new winning combinations.
Solution Approach 2:
When special symbols form a winning combination in a reel column, the system automatically adds more special symbols to that column without requiring additional player input. This self-service mechanism continuously generates new prizes based on the displayed symbols, keeping players engaged.
2Adaptability or versatility
If special symbols are added to reel columns dynamically during spinning, then new prizes can be awarded, but the game mechanism becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The gaming machine processes each reel column independently, determining and adding special symbols to one column at a time as each reel stops. This segmentation simplifies the overall complexity by breaking down the dynamic symbol addition process into manageable, sequential steps rather than attempting to manage all columns simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the number of displayed symbols in each reel column based on winning combinations formed during the spinning process. This dynamic adaptation allows the game to award new prizes while maintaining a relatively simple control structure that processes changes incrementally as reels stop.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the reels are stopped sequentially rather than simultaneously, then special symbols can be added during the process, but the game duration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sequential stopping of reels allows the system to continuously evaluate each column for winning combinations and add special symbols immediately when wins are detected. This continuous useful action ensures that prize awarding opportunities are not lost while the overall game duration extension is minimized by processing columns in sequence rather than requiring multiple complete spin cycles.
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming machine is described herein. The gaming machine includes a control unit that spins and stops a plurality of reels in response to an operation performed by a player, wherein the control unit sequentially stops the reels after spinning of the reels has been started, adds, when special symbols displayed in a column formed by a reel that has already stopped and a column formed by a newly stopped reel in the display area form a winning combination, a randomly determined number of special symbols is added to the column formed by the newly stopped reel in the display area before stopping the next reel, and awards a prize for the arrangement of the special symbols displayed after all the reels have been stopped.