Amusement and gaming machines

Abstract

An amusement or gaming machine has a gamble wheel assembly which comprises a gamble wheel rotatably mounted in a machine cabinet about an axis inclined at an acute angle or at a right angle to the vertical, the wheel being formed with a plurality of circumferentially arranged ball carrying pockets, so arranged that when a ball is in a pocket at least part of the ball is visible from the front side of the wheel, a fixed part-annular ball retainer extending circumferentially about the wheel axis adjacent to the pockets to retain captive a ball that has been captured in a pocket in a ball capture region of the rotational path of the pockets, a ball supply unit for delivering a ball directly or indirectly to the ball capture region for capture in a pocket. Controllable release means is provided for releasing a captured ball from the pockets to be received in a ball outlet.

1 . A gamble wheel assembly for use in an amusement or gaming machine comprising a gamble wheel rotatably mounted with respect to a stationary support about an axis inclined at an acute angle or at a right angle to the vertical, the wheel being formed with a plurality of circumferentially arranged ball carrying pockets, so arranged that when a ball is in a pocket at least part of the ball is visible from the front side of the wheel, a part-annular ball retainer mounted on the support and so arranged to extend circumferentially about the wheel axis adjacent to the pockets to retain captive a ball that has been captured in a pocket in a ball capture region of the rotational path of the pockets, a ball supply unit mounted on said support and so arranged so as to deliver a ball to the wheel, the arrangement being such that the delivered ball is fed directly or indirectly to said ball capture region for capture in a pocket, controllable release means for releasing a captured ball from the pockets, and ball outlet means for receiving balls released from the pockets. 
   
   
       2 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  in which the pockets are defined at least in part by a plurality of circumferentially equally-spaced radial vanes projecting from the body of the wheel. 
   
   
       3 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  in which the pockets are each defined in part by respective concave pocket surfaces provided on the radially outwardly facing side-wall of a hub of the wheel. 
   
   
       4 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  in which the radially outer region of the wheel face adjacent to each pocket is marked with indicia and/or a symbol to allot a value or property to the pocket. 
   
   
       5 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  comprising means to determine the identity of the pocket in which a ball has become trapped. 
   
   
       6 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  in which a ball settling chamber is provided adjacent to said ball capture region, the ball settling chamber being configured to permit some bouncing around and/or oscillation of a ball before the ball settles in a pocket to be captured by the wheel. 
   
   
       7 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 6  in which the ball settling chamber is defined by chamber walls that extend upwardly from the top of the wheel, and the ball supply delivers balls into the chamber which can then bounce around and/or oscillate in the chamber until they are captured by pockets exposed to, or fed by, the lower end of the ball settling chamber. 
   
   
       8 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 6  in which the ball settling chamber is defined by a chamber wall that is positioned in front of the upper portion of the wheel and is sufficiently spaced therefrom to allow balls to bounce around in the chamber before settling in a pocket. 
   
   
       9 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 6  in which the ball settling chamber is positioned on or adjacent to a region of the wheel margin that is laterally displaced from the top of the wheel. 
   
   
       10 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 6  in which the ball settling chamber is positioned adjacent to the bottom of the wheel. 
   
   
       11 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 7  in which the ball settling chamber is defined by a pair of oppositely directed ramp surfaces extending upwardly and outwardly from one another, and connected by an intermediate platform provided with a cut-out slot that overlies an arcuate portion of the path of the disc pockets and extends over one or more of the pockets, the slot being of a transverse dimension greater than the diameter of a ball to enable a ball to drop into a pocket. 
   
   
       12 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 11  in which the ball is led to the ramp surfaces by falling through a labyrinth assembly. 
   
   
       13 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  in which the ball retainer comprises a transparent plate and a part-annular ball track which encircles the wheel pockets, said slot being bounded on one side by the transparent plate. 
   
   
       14 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 8  in which the ball settling chamber is defined between the wheel face and an arcuate hopper wall mounted on said support to confront the wheel face in said upper region of the wheel. 
   
   
       15 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 14  in which a front wall of the hopper defines with the front face of the disc face a downwardly tapering gap, and the hopper comprises two hopper end walls that lie substantially in radial planes of the wheel. 
   
   
       16 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 14  in which the dimensions of the hopper are such that the hopper extends across a plurality of pockets of the wheel. 
   
   
       17 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  in which the dimensions of the hopper are such that a ball fed into the hopper can bounce between pockets within said chamber before settling in a pocket. 
   
   
       18 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 1  in which the pockets in the wheel face radially inwardly of the wheel axis. 
   
   
       19 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 18  in which an air jet is provided for removing a ball from the wheel. 
   
   
       20 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 10  in which the ball supply is arranged to deposit a ball onto the outer face of the wheel so that the ball proceeds down the wheel face to reach the ball settling chamber. 
   
   
       21 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 20  in which the front face of the wheel is provided with one or more protrusions that can be struck by a ball, so as to provide some randomness in the path followed by a ball in proceeding to the ball settling chamber. 
   
   
       22 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 20  in which the ball supply is a tube issuing through the centre of a hub on which the wheel is journalled. 
   
   
       23 . An assembly as claimed in  claim 20  in which the ball settling chamber is bounded by an arcuate upwardly facing ball track surface, and the ball track surface slopes towards the wheel so as to direct a ball that has lost momentum, through oscillation and/or bouncing in the chamber, into a pocket exposed to the chamber. 
   
   
       24 . An automatic gamble wheel machine comprising a credit means for release of the machine, a gamble wheel rotatably mounted within a machine cabinet about an axis inclined at an acute angle to the vertical, or about an axis directed horizontally, and visible to a player through the cabinet window, a motor for rotating the gamble wheel, a tortuous ball supply unit mounted in the cabinet above the wheel, the ball supply unit defining one or more tortuous paths down which a ball or balls fed to the upper end of the ball supply unit passes under gravitational force in order to reach the lower end of the ball supply unit, the tortuous path or paths being visible to a player through a cabinet window, the lower end of the ball supply unit leading to the wheel, a part-annular ball retainer mounted on the support in register with the disc, closely spaced therefrom, and so arranged as to retain balls in the pockets once captured, detection means for detecting a pocket of the gamble wheel in which a ball comes to rest, and reward means responsive to the detection means to provide a player with a reward in dependence upon which pocket or pockets the ball or balls comes to rest, controllable release means for releasing balls from the pockets in a lower region of the wheel, and ball outlet means for receiving balls released from the pockets, ball return means for returning a ball from the wheel to a ball elevating means, the ball elevating means being adapted, when operated, to deliver a ball to the upper end of the ball supply unit. 
   
   
       25 . A machine as claimed in  claim 24  in which the ball elevating means is a ball projecting means. 
   
   
       26 . A machine as claimed in  claim 24  in which the ball supply unit comprises a zig-zag, or spiral, ball pathway. 
   
   
       27 . A machine as claimed in  claim 24  in which the ball supply unit comprises a labyrinth which defines a plurality of tortuous paths between an array of protrusions. 
   
   
       28 . A machine as claimed in  claim 24  in which the lower end of the ball supply unit leads into a ball guiding unit in register with an arcuate portion of the path of the pockets, the ball guiding unit being adapted to guide a ball received in the ball guiding unit into a pocket of the wheel. 
   
   
       29 . A machine as claimed in  claim 28  in which the ball guiding unit accommodates some initial bouncing of the ball from the pockets until the ball can settle in a pocket. 
   
   
       30 . A machine as claimed in  claim 24  in which the ball guiding unit comprises a stationary ball supply chamber defined between the disc face and an arcuate hopper mounted on said support to confront the disc face in said upper region of the disc. 
   
   
       31 . A machine as claimed in  claim 24  in which the ball guiding unit comprises a pair of oppositely directed ramp surfaces extending upwardly and outwardly from one another, and connected by an intermediate platform provided with a cut-out slot that overlies an arcuate portion of the path of the disc pockets and extends over one or more a plurality of the pockets, the slot being of a transverse dimension greater than the diameter of a ball to enable a ball to drop into a pocket. 
   
   
       32 . A machine as claimed in  claim 31  in which the slot is provided along one margin of the platform, and the platform is sloped to direct the ball into the slot. 
   
   
       33 . A machine as claimed in  claim 31  in which the ball retainer comprises a transparent plate and a part-annular ball track which encircles the wheel pockets, said slot being bounded on one side by the transparent plate, and said ball track extending substantially from opposite ends of the slot, whereby a ball that has entered said slot and settled in a pocket is then retained in the pocket as the pocket moves away from the slot, by the ball being trapped between the pocket wall, the transparent plate and the ball track.