Spinning Wheel with Dynamic Indicia and Magnetic Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Spinning wheel games of chance suffer from mechanical biases and wear patterns that lead to predictability, allowing skilled players or dealers to influence outcomes, compromising the integrity and fairness of the game.
Innovation Solution
A spinning wheel assembly with a base that allows the wheel to spin freely, featuring a randomizer that rearranges indicia electronically or mechanically after each round, eliminating bias and extending performance life by ensuring truly random outcomes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a mechanical connection between the spinning wheel and base is used, then the wheel can spin and determine outcomes, but mechanical biases and wear patterns develop causing predictability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical connection between the spinning wheel and base with a magnetic field-based system. Magnets embedded in the base interact with corresponding magnets on the wheel to provide contactless support and rotation control, eliminating mechanical wear patterns and friction that cause predictability. The magnetic coupling allows the wheel to spin freely without physical contact points that could develop wear biases.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a magnetic field as an intermediary between the spinning wheel and base. This magnetic field mediates the interaction, allowing the wheel to be supported, rotated, and controlled without direct mechanical contact. The magnetic intermediary eliminates the harmful mechanical wear and friction that would otherwise create predictable stopping patterns.
2Ease of operation
If fixed indicia are used on the spinning wheel, then the game structure is simple and familiar, but predictability increases over time due to wear patterns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the indicia on the spinning wheel dynamic rather than fixed. The wheel can rotate independently to present different indicia configurations during spinning, and the magnetic coupling allows for subtle rotational adjustments that prevent the wheel from consistently stopping at the same positions relative to fixed base markers, thereby maintaining randomness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a temporal dimension to the indicia positioning by allowing the wheel to rotate and present different orientations during the spin. Instead of fixed indicia aligned with fixed base markers, the system allows the wheel to achieve different angular positions, effectively adding rotational freedom as another dimension to the game outcome determination.
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional spinning wheel mechanics are used, then the game is familiar to players, but performance life is limited due to wear and friction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical bearings and axles with a magnetic field-based support system. The magnets in the base create a magnetic coupling with the wheel, providing support without physical contact. This eliminates friction and wear at the rotation point, dramatically extending the performance life of the spinning wheel while maintaining smooth rotation.
Solution Approach 2:
The magnetic field serves as an intermediary that transfers rotational motion and provides support without mechanical contact. This magnetic mediation eliminates the friction and wear that would otherwise limit the duration of action, allowing the wheel to spin indefinitely without degradation from contact-based mechanical failures.
4Measurement precision
If a pointer or detent is used to determine the stopping position, then the outcome determination is clear, but the mechanical connection creates friction that causes predictable stopping points
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical pointers and detents with an optical detection system. Sensors or cameras detect the position of indicia on the wheel relative to reference markers on the base, providing clear outcome determination without mechanical contact. This eliminates the friction between pointers and wheel surfaces that would otherwise create predictable stopping points.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an optical field as an intermediary for detecting the stopping position. Instead of mechanical pointers physically contacting the wheel, light fields detect the position of indicia through non-contact means, providing precise measurement without the friction and wear that would compromise randomness.
Data Source
AI summary
A shuffling machine for use with a game of chance having a plurality of possible outcomes includes a base structure and a wheel portion in communication with the base structure. The wheel portion includes a plurality of discrete areas corresponding in number to the plurality of possible outcomes for the game of chance. Each of the plurality of areas includes a plurality of displays configured to show an indicia corresponding to one of the plurality of possible outcomes. The machine includes a selector for identifying one of the plurality of areas and the indicia associated with the identified one of the plurality of areas. Wherein the plurality of indicia are not fixed such that they are not permanently assigned to one of the plurality of areas.