The invention relates to a game playing device comprising a vertical play panel forming a plane of movement for coins, the play panel comprising ports by hitting which the coins control the delivery of prizes of the game playing device; vertical coin stacks on the play panel; a prize delivering mechanism for each coin stack; means for controlling the prize delivering mechanisms to deliver prizes from the coin stacks; an inserting means for a coin; and a launching means for launching a coin into the play panel, whereupon the means for controlling the prize delivering mechanisms comprise means for determining the degree of fullness of the coin stacks; and a microprocessor for guiding the prize delivery to occur from certain coin stacks on the basis of the port launching the prize delivery and the degree of fullness of the coin stacks.

The prize delivering mechanism in slot-machine- "type amusement devices is either a mechanical lever mechanism wherein a so-called launching coin that has passed the winning port releases with its kinetic energy one or more coins from a coin stack on the play area, or in known electrical amusement machines it is a separate so-called hopper mechanism that is situated behind the play area.

The disadvantages of a mechanical mechanism include a complicated structure and a very limited possibility of regulating the size of the prizes. Known mechanisms comprise a large number of small precision components that are usually made of plastic, and springs that are made of thin steel wire. This kind of structure does not fulfil the requirements presently set for reliable operation. Also, in such mechanical prize delivering mechanisms the sizes of the prizes paid from

the coin stacks according to the launching of each winning port have already been set in the factory, and it is not easy to change them in situ, let alone change them during a game. Therefore it is also clear that the mechanism cannot detect whether a prize has really been delivered. The operation of such a mechanical prize delivering mechanism is based on the idea that after a win the machine tries to deliver a certain number of coins from a certain coin stack regardless of whether the stack contains any coins. Therefore this kind of prize delivering mechanism cannot correct its operation and deliver a payout from an adjacent stack that is possibly full of coins.

Anelectromechanical arrangement fordelivering the prizes is known from Finnish Patent 82993. In this arrangement, every coin stack is provided with a sensor indicating to a microprocessor if the stack in question has coins up to a certain level. The microprocessor controls the delivery of the prizes so that a prize is not paid from a stack in which there are no coins up to the level of the sensor, but the prize delivery is shifted to a stack which has coins up to the level of the sensor. The arrangement does not, however, contain any sensors which could make sure that the prize delivery really has succeeded. Further, the arrangement does not allow the prize delivery if none of the stacks has coins up to the level of the sensor, although there still are coins in the stacks.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a game playing device in which the aforementioned disadvantages have been eliminated. This aim is achieved with the game playing device according to the invention, characterized in that the means for determining the degree of fullness of the coin stacks comprise a microprocessor, provided with an algorithm

based on fuzzy logic, for distributing by means of calculation each coin arriving at the coin stacks into different coin stacks, and a sensor arranged in association with each coin stack for detecting a coin leaving the coin stack during prize delivery and for simultaneously ensuring successful prize delivery.

In the arrangement according to the invention, the actual positioning of the coins remaining on the play panel in the different coin stacks is not sensed at all, but this distribution is inferred by means of an algorithm based on fuzzy logic. Since the number of coins paid from the stacks is simultaneously sensed, the degree of fullness of the coin stacks is known at all times at least by means of calculation. On the other hand, monitoring the coins leaving the stacks also ensures that if the machine tries to deliver a prize from a coin stack, the stack also contains a necessary number of coins, and it is thus made sure that the prize delivery is successful. In order that the prizes in the game playing device according to the invention can be paid primarily from the area of the play panel where the winning port was launched, the means for controlling the prize delivery to occur from certain coin stacks comprise a microprocessor, provided with an algorithm based on fuzzy logic, for calculating preferential coefficients for each coin stack on the basis of the port launching the prize delivery and the degree of fullness of the coin stacks, and for providing control signals for the prize delivering mechanisms having the highest preferential coefficients. Utilizing such a preferential coefficient produces a situation, agreeable to a player, in which a prize is paid from the winning port if possible, and only when the number of the coins situated at the winning port decreases, prizes gradually begin

to be paid also from the other coin stacks on the play panel.

In the following, the game playing device according to the invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which

Figure 1 is a simplified general front view of the game playing device according to the invention, and

Figure 2 is a simplified schematic view of the control electronics of the game playing device according to the invention, particularly with respect to the control of the prize delivery.

The game playing device according to the invention, shown in Figure 1, comprises a play panel 1, which forms a plane of movement for coins 2. These coins may either be conventional coins or flat tokens or the like, manufactured especially for the game. The upper portion of the play panel 1 comprises a plurality of attached ports 3, comprising associated sensors that are arranged to act on prize delivering mechanisms 12 at the back of the play panel 1 in such a way that the passage of a coin 2 through a port 3 affects the prize received by a player. Below the ports 3, the play panel 1 comprises vertical coin stacks 6, bordered by intermediate strips 5, for delivering the prizes. The game playing device further comprises an inserting means 8 for a coin 2 required for starting a game, a launching means 9 for launching a coin to circulate on the plane of movement of the play panel, and a prize delivering chute 10 for a potential prize.

When a coin 2 is launched to circulate on the plane of play, it passes either through or by the ports 3 and arrives either at one of the coin stacks 6 or, when the coin stacks are full, via ports 21 at a container situated behind the play panel. The

distribution of the coins 2 into the different coin stacks is controlled by means of slanting strips 4 situated in the centre area of the play panel, control tongues 13 located on the sides of the play panel, and an extension 7 of the intermediate strip 5 situated in the middle of the play panel. These components allow the coins arriving at the coin stacks to travel mainly along four different paths if the coin stacks 6 situated in the centre area of the play panel are examined. The strips 4 guide the coins via the extension 7 primarily to the two midmost coin stacks of the play panel. When these stacks become full, coins also settle down in the stacks situated closer to the sides. From the tongues 13 the coins are in turn directed to two or three of the outermost stacks.

The preferred embodiment of the invention employs no sensors monitoring the filling of the coin stacks, wherefore there will be no costs due to the equipment or installation of the sensors. In this embodiment, the filling of the coin stacks is monitored by means of an algorithm based on fuzzy logic, the calculation of the algorithm being the function of either a central processing unit shown in Figure 2 or a microprocessor 13. The algorithm, based on fuzzy logic, used in the calculation has been determined on the basis of performance tests conducted in practice with the game playing device. The probabilities for different paths along which coins arrive at the coin stacks have been determined by means of feeding a large number of coins into the device.

The operation according to the invention proceeds in such a way that by means of the algorithm, whenever a coin is inserted into the game playing device and it arrives at the coin stacks of the play panel, the coin is distributed through calculation into one or

several coin stacks. When the calculated value of a coin stack shows that the stack is full, coins are naturally no longer placed in this stack but they are distributed into other coin stacks. In this manner, the filling of the coin stacks of the play panel can be imitated by means of calculation. Furthermore, since the play panel is provided with suitable sensors for detecting especially the coins guided via the ports 21 to the back of the play panel, the degrees of fullness calculated for the coin stacks can also be corrected to a certain extent. If a coin is directed through a port 21, it means that the coin stacks on that side of the play panel are highly probably all full, and that at least the outermost stacks are most likely full. Further, since the number of coins leaving the coin stacks is monitored by means of sensors, it is possible through calculation to keep up-to-date about how many coins each stack contains, and the prize delivery can thus be controlled in such a way that there will be no attempt to deliver a prize from empty coin stacks, and, on the other hand, a prize can be delivered as near the winning port as possible.

Figure 2 is a general schematic view of the structural components related to controlling the prize delivery, and of the electrical coupling between the components. In Figure 2, reference numeral 13 denotes a microprocessor or a central processing unit, which attends to distributing, by means of calculation, the coins arriving at the coin stacks into different stacks, and which also controls the prize delivering mechanisms 12. As control information, the microprocessor 13 receives data first of all from sensors 17, which are connected to the winning ports and which inform the microprocessor that a prize of a certain size should be delivered. The microprocessor 13 also receives input

data from associated sensors 18, which are situated near the lower portion of the coin stacks below the prize delivering mechanisms and which detect a coin leaving a coin stack so that, on the one hand, the degree of fullness of the coin stack can be decreased accordingly, and on the other hand, successful prize delivery is ensured. Sensors 19, which also provide the microprocessor 13 with input data, are in turn connected to the ports 21, and they detect when a coin arrives at the container behind the play panel and therefore indicate that the side of the play panel is full.

In order that the microprocessor 13 can direct the prize delivery to occur, as far as possible, at the winning port 3, the microprocessor 13 is arranged to calculate also another algorithm, based on fuzzy logic, calculating preferential coefficients for each coin stack on the basis of the port 3 launching the prize delivery and the degree of fullness of each coin stack. The starting point is that for each winning port there is a recommendation about the coin stacks from which the prizes of that port should be delivered. Therefore the preferential coefficients calculated for these stacks are higher in so far as the degree of fullness of these stacks is sufficient. However, if the degree of fullness of a coin stack is low, i.e. the stack comprises only a few coins, its preferential coefficient will be so low that the prize delivery takes place from a coin stack having a higher preferential coefficient and therefore a clearly higher degree of fullness. By means of fuzzy logic, the preferential coefficients calculated for different coin stacks can be determined substantially faster and also with a simpler program than if a detailed mathematical model and calculation based thereon were used for the preferential coefficients.

Based on the calculated preferential coefficients, the microprocessor 13 transmits serial messages 20 the information content of which consists of both identification data concerning the coin stacks performing the prize delivery and of data concerning the number of coins to be paid at a given moment from these coin stacks. In the schematic representation of Figure 2, these serial messages are directed both to a selector unit 14 and to a sequencer 15, which may be for example a RAY5092-ASIC chip. The selector unit selects the coin stacks participating in the prize delivery, and the sequencer produces a control sequence which is combined with the selection information in a block 16, thus resulting in a control sequence which is directed at a certain prize delivering mechanism 12 and which causes the mechanism to deliver one or several coins. The prize delivering mechanisms themselves may be conventional commercially available prize delivering mechanisms used in the field, such as the prize delivering mechanisms according to Finnish Patent 82993 or Finnish Patent Application 950113, wherefore they will be not described in greater detail here.

The game playing device according to the invention is described above by means of only one exemplary embodiment, and it should be understood that the device may be slightly modified without departing, however, from the scope of protection defined in the appended claims. Therefore the invention can be applied in many alternative ways in slot-machine-type game playing devices within the scope of the accompanying claims.