Video gaming machine

Abstract

A video slot machine includes a display screen on which the wheels of a slot machine are simulated. The display screen is divided into an army of cells with each cell displaying an individual game element selected randomly from a group of available game elements during a game play. Pay-out lines are associated with the rows, columns and diagonals of the array of cells and visually indicate some of the pre-determined sets of cells which are examined to detect winning combinations of displayed game elements. Pay-out tables are stored in memory within the machine and hold information concerning combinations of elements in all of the pre-determined sets of cells which result in a win when displayed on the screen and the amount to be paid for each win. When the game is played and the screen displays a randomly selected game element in each of its cells, the machine consults each of the pay-out tables to determine if the game elements as displayed in the cells result in a winning combination of elements as stored in the pay-out tables and calculates the amount to be paid. Therefore, depending on the elements displayed in the army of cells, winnings from more than one pay-out table may result. The winning combinations of elements, the pre-determined sets of cells, the number of available elements and the amount paid for each winning combination of displayed elements are selected so that the expected return of the video slot machine complies with regulatory restrictions while still ensuring that the game is dynamic and appealing to a player.