Gaming apparatus and game control method thereof

Abstract

A roulette wheel includes a plurality of pockets each previously associated with a number. The roulette wheel is controlled on the basis of a control data set used for controlling rotation of the roulette wheel and timing of the launch of a ball. Thereby, there is a variation in probabilities of receiving the ball in each of the pockets among the pockets. The control data set is changed to another one according to a betting history indicating a history of pockets on which players have bet. Accordingly, the probability of each pocket receiving the ball is appropriately changed. This makes it possible to provide new entertainment value and to avoid the following situation: players read a bias in which the ball lands in some pockets more often than in the other pockets, and bets are concentrated in a certain region including the concerned pockets.

1 . A gaming apparatus, comprising:
 a roulette wheel including a plurality of pockets each previously associated with a number;   a memory storing a plurality of control data sets each used to perform control so that there is a variation in probabilities of receiving a ball in each of the pockets among the pockets; and   a controller operable to:
 control rotation of the roulette wheel and launch of the ball, with reference to one of the plurality of control data sets; and 
 select another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, according to a betting history indicating a history of the pockets on which bets have been made. 
   
   
   
       2 . A gaming apparatus, comprising:
 a roulette wheel including a plurality of pockets each previously associated with a number;   a memory storing a plurality of control data sets each used to perform control so that any one of a plurality of groups has a relatively higher probability of receiving a ball, each group including a predetermined number of pockets among the plurality of pockets; and   a controller operable to:
 control rotation of the roulette wheel and launch of the ball, with reference to one of the plurality of control data sets; 
 monitor a betting history indicating a history of the pockets on which bets have been made; and 
 select another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, in response to a fact that a bet has been made on a pocket included in one of the groups which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets. 
   
   
   
       3 . A gaming apparatus, comprising:
 a roulette wheel including a plurality of pockets each previously associated with a number;   a memory storing a plurality of control data sets each set used to perform control so that there is a variation in probabilities of receiving a ball in each of a plurality of groups among the groups, each group including a predetermined number of pockets among the plurality of pockets, and each set including at least one of data on control of rotation of the roulette wheel, data on timing of launch of a ball, and data on initial launch velocity of the ball; and   a controller operable to:
 control the rotation of the roulette wheel and the launch of the ball with reference to one of the plurality of control data sets; 
 monitor a betting history indicating a history of the pockets on which bets have been made; and 
 select another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, in response to a fact that bets have been made a predetermined number of times on pockets included in one of the groups which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets. 
   
   
   
       4 . The gaming apparatus of any one of  claims 1  to  3 , further comprising:
 a betting history memory accumulatively storing the pockets on which bets have been made or the groups including the pockets on which bets have been made,   wherein the controller resets the betting history memory each time a pocket on which the immediately previous bet has been made is changed to another one of the pockets, or each time a group including a pocket on which the immediately previous bet has been made is changed to another one of the groups.   
   
   
       5 . The gaming apparatus of any one of  claims 1  to  3 , wherein the controller selects another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, according to the number of credits bet on one of the pockets which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets, or according to the number of credits bet on one of the pockets included in one of the groups which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets. 
   
   
       6 . A method of controlling a gaming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
 controlling rotation of a roulette wheel and launch of a ball with reference to one of a plurality of control data sets, the roulette wheel including a plurality of pockets each previously associated with a number, each control data set being used to perform control so that there is a variation in probabilities of receiving the ball in each of the pockets among the pockets; and   selecting another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, according to a betting history indicating a history of the pockets on which bets have been made.   
   
   
       7 . A method of controlling a gaming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
 controlling rotation of a roulette wheel and launch of a ball with reference to one of a plurality of control data sets, the roulette wheel including a plurality of pockets each previously associated with a number, each control data set being used to perform control so that any one of a plurality of groups has a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball, each group including a predetermined number of pockets among the plurality of pockets;   monitoring a betting history indicating a history of the pockets on which bets have been made; and   selecting another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, in response to a fact that a bet has been made on a pocket included in one of the groups which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets.   
   
   
       8 . A method of controlling a gaming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
 controlling rotation of a roulette wheel and launch of a ball with reference to one of a plurality of control data sets, the roulette wheel including a plurality of pockets each previously associated with a number, each set used to perform control so that there is a variation in probabilities of receiving the ball in each of a plurality of groups among the groups, each group including a predetermined number of pockets among the plurality of pockets, and each set including at least one of data on control of the rotation of the roulette wheel, data on timing of the launch of a ball, and data on an initial launch velocity of the ball;   monitoring a betting history indicating a history of the pockets on which bets have been made; and   selecting another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, in response to a fact that bets have been made a predetermined number of times on pockets included in one of the groups which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets.   
   
   
       9 . The method of any one of  claims 6  to  8 , further comprising the steps of:
 storing accumulatively on a betting history memory the pockets on which bets have been made or the groups including the pockets on which bets have been made; and   resetting the betting history memory each time a pocket on which the immediately previous bet has been made is changed to another one of the pockets, or each time a group including a pocket on which the immediately previous bet has been made is changed to another one of the groups.   
   
   
       10 . The method of any one of  claims 6  to  8 , wherein in the step of selecting another one of the plurality of control data sets, which is different from the one of the control data sets, another control data set which is different from the one of the control data sets is selected, according to the number of credits bet on one of the pockets which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets, or according to the number of credits bet on pockets included in one of the groups which is set to have a relatively higher probability of receiving the ball by using the one of the control data sets.