US3606337A - Poker machine having binary coded rotatable drums - Google Patents

Abstract

A POKER MACHINE OF THE TYPE HAVING FIVE REELS ON WHICH INDICIA OF CARDS ARE DISPLAYED AND WINNING COMBINATIONS DETERMINED ACCORDING TO PARTICULAR COMBINATIONS DISPLAYED IN A WINDOW CHARACTERIZED BY CODING EACH OF THE REELS ON A SIDE SURFACE THEREOF WITH ELECTRICAL INFORMATION IN DIGITAL FORM CORRESPONDING TO THE INDICIA ON THE ADJACENT PERIPHERY. THE DIGITAL INFORMATION OF THE STOPPED REELS IS FED TO A LOGIC UNIT TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF WINNING COMBINATIONS AND CAUSE THE APPROPRIATE PAY OFF.

Description

Sept. 20; 1971 ARSEN ETAL ODE A M 2 R w s .w ma 7au A MQM 8 h s m m 6 T A v 0 m EH Y fi v N Sept. 20, 1971 LARSEN ETAL 3,606,337

POKER MACHINE HAVING BINARY CODED ROTATABLE DRUMS Filed March 24, 1969 1 a Sheets-Sheets Mnm/ fncookra X X X 0r Or 0r X X X Or 01' Or x 1 Or 1 Or from A \K from! r; ff ff Ff r/ A 6 C D E f x 1 1 1 1 1 I I 1 I I if ff ffif H F G h J K Fig. 5

g Q [p /v Par-(415mm) I 54 F, v 1

Sept. 20, 1971 LARSEN EFAL 3,606,337

' roman MACHINE HAVING BINARY CODED ROTATABLE DRUMS Filed March 24, 1969 a Sheets-Sheet :x-rn- Sept, 20, 1 .71] r E1 LA E'N HAL- 3,606,331

roman momma HAVIN BINARY ccnmdnonmam nnuus Filed March 24, 1969 s Sheeis-She'et 5 11 7 1 AIffiJfAFfECfl/lifD sen/ mama m. v V

u gas h ha. om an. on; a x v Sept. 20,1971

POKER MACHINE HAVING BINARY CODED ROTATABLE DRUMS Filed March 24, 1969 w fncodw-s Fig.

L c. as! Pulses &

I g I 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 Fig. /0

Nosf Pulses Mos f2: L oasf To Royal Roof/n0 Tea 2 Sept. 20,1971 L R EN Em 3,606,337

POKER MACHINE HAVING BI NARY CODED ROTATABLE DRUMS Filed Ma rch 24, 1969 s Sheets-Sheet s v Sfmighf Hush Q Panning Flush Fig. /3

T M from 'Sfra/Qhf rm I United States Patent Office 3,606,337 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 3,606,337 POKER MACHINE HAVING BINARY CODED ROTATABLE DRUMS Laurie Edward Larsen, Auburn, New South Wales, and Roger Mark Michie, Wentworthville, New South Wales, Australia, assignors to Standard Telephones and Cables Pty, Limited, Alexandria, New South Wales, Australia Filed Mar. 24, 1969, Ser. No. 809,511 Int. Cl. A631? N18 US. Cl. 273143R 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A poker machine of the type having five reels on which indicia of cards are displayed and winning combinations determined according to particular combinations displayed in a window characterized by coding each of the reels on a side surface thereof with electrical information in digital form corresponding to the indicia on the adjacent periphery. The digital information of the stopped reels is fed to a logic unit to determine the presence of winning combinations and cause the appropriate pay otf.

This invention relates to poker machines. Mechanical limitations on present day poker machines prevent the use of more than four reels or wheels. The present invention enables poker machines having five reels to be manufactured, thus enabling pay-outs to be based on ordinary winning combinations in poker. However the invention can also be applied to poker machines having only three or four reels.

According to this invention a poker machine of the type having reels on which indicia are displayed, winning combinations being characterised by particular combinations of indicia displayed in a window, is characterised in that electrical information in digital form corresponding to the indicia displayed is taken from the stopped reels and fed into a logic unit, an output being obtained from the logic unit if a paying combination is shown by the stopped reels, said output causing a pay-out of the prescribed amount to be made.

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view from the front of a set of five poker-machine reels,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of one reel looking in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of portion of a reel at the sensing position, showing a pattern corresponding to the ten of clubs in one possible coding system,

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the logic and payout mechanism,

FIGS. 5 to 15 are logic diagrams of equipment in the logic unit of FIG. 4,

FIG. 5 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used to determine inequality or equality existing in the ten possible unique pairs,

FIG. 6 shows the logic diagram of the equipment which makes the pairs test to ascertain whether a pair of cards exists on any two adjacent wheels,

FIG. 7 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for two pairs of cards,

FIG. 8 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for Full House,

FIG. 9 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test Three of a Kind,

FIG. 10 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for Four of a Kind.

FIG. 11 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for a Straight,

FIG. 12 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for a Flush,

FIG. 13 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for a Straight or Running Flush,

FIG. 14 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for a Royal Routine,

FIG. 15 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for Gold Award.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 3, a poker machine is represented diagrammatically by the five reels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 each of which bears on its circumference representations of the cards in a pack of cards, such as is indicated on wheel 5 by marking -10 clubs.

The mechanism for causing the reels to spin when a coin has been inserted and for stopping the spinning reels to give a result have not been shown since they may be of any conventional type. Each reel carries on one fiat face a copper-clad laminate ring 6 which is etched according to a predetermined binary code. The information provided by the etched patterns is extracted by the spring wire or strip contacts 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 which bear on what are in effect seven concentric tracks. Contacts 7 to 12 are for sensing, while contact 13 applies a supply voltage to the innermost ring, which ring is continuous. In the machine shown the sensing position is at the top of the reel, while the viewing position is at right angles thereto, as shown by the viewing window 14 in FIG. 2.

To enable the computer to examine the group of five cards showing in the viewing window of the machine, the Face Value and Suit of each card is coded, a Binary Coded number being allotted for each card in a normal pack of cards, and sensing means translates the Binary Coded number into an electrical signal suitable for computation.

To facilitate computation, the Binary Coded Number is divided into a four bit number for the Face value giving 16 possible numbers, and a two bit number for the Suit giving 4 possible Suits. A typical arrangement is as follows:

Ace 1000 2 0100 3 1100 4 0010 5 1010 6 0110 7 1110 8 0001 9 1001 10 0101 Jack 1101 Queen 0011 King 1011 Hearts 00 Clubs 01 Spades 11 Diamonds ..v 10

so that, for example 10 of Clubs=010101 as is shown in the example of FIG. 3.

When a spring contact makes contact with a conducting part of a track, it is energised from the supply contact and supply track: this voltage is interpreted as a binary 1. If however, the contact touches an area where the conducting surface has been removed by etching, then no voltage will appear on it and the computer will interpret it as a binary 0. In FIG. 3 the shaded areas represent etched or non-conducting areas, so that, reading from the top, the contacts would sense the binary number 010101, which is the 10' of clubs.

Referring now to FIG. 4, positional informatilon from the stopped reels 1 to is processed in the reel encoder 1' to 5', the outputs of which are fed to a logic unit 15. In the logic unit a decision is made according to which cards are displayed in the viewing window, and, if a paying combination exists, an output from the logic unit appears on one of ten lines 16 to 25 which are one of ten paying combinations. These wires are examined sequentially starting with the pay having the most significance, and proceeding to the lowest significance. If any of these examinations show that a particular pay exists, a pay-up mechanism is initiated at the same time as a number is generated corresponding to the number of coins allotted to that particular pay. When the number of coins has been ejected by the machine corresponding to that pay value a comparison mechanism causes the pay mechanism to stop and the machine is then ready for another operation.

To achieve the examination of the pay-out lines 16 to 25 a shift register 26 containing ten stages is preset so that the first stage is energised. The output from the first stage is combined with the pay line used for the most significant pay in a logical AND function 27. If both inputs to the AND function are at logical 1 the corresponding line 28 in the pay-out matrix is energised thus energising the appropriate number into the comparison mechanism 29. Simultaneously the logical OR 30- function examines all ten outputs from the logic unit to determine'whether a pay actually exists. When a pay exists the pay-out mechanism 31 is inititaed which ejects coins from the machine and simultaneously causes a counter 32 to record the number of coins. When the electrical content of the counter equals the number set by the pay-out matrix the comparison mechanism stops the payout mechanism.

The clock unit 33 of FIG. 4 contains timing information to control the sequence of events in the computer. This can be roughly divided into two equal periodsthe first period being allotted to encode the reel position into information suitable for processing in the logic unit. The second period is allotted to controlling the stepping on of the shift register 26 to examine sequentially the payout wires 16 to 25 from the logic unit 15.

Referring to FIG. 5 the positional information from the poker machine reel after processing electronically by the S-reel encoders numbered 1' to 5 is examined by the ten exclusive OR functions A to K to determine equality or inequality existing in the ten possible unique pairs which may be selected from the encode information from the reel. In this comparison only the electrical signals corresponding to the four bit numbers for the face value of the cards is used since the information regarding the suit is not relevant. At the beginning of the sequence of events during one play of the machine the ten bistable elements labelled FF sufiix A to FF sufiix K are reset to their logical 1 state. The outputs from the exclusive OR functions labelled A through to K are connected to the corresponding bistable elements such that if an inequality exists between any pair selected from the encode information the bistable element is set to a logical O.

As previously described each reel encoder is presented with a 4 binary word representing the number displayed on the associated reel and derived from the positional sensing mechanism on the reel. This 4 bit binary word is processed in the reel encoder 1 to 5' so that a train of pulses containing a number of pulses equal to the 4 original decimal number is presented to the logic unit 15. Thus we have the S-reel encoders presenting the logic unit with a train of pulses from each representative of the card number information. These trains of pulses are then examined by the exclusive OR functions for equality as previously described.

For convenience the arrangement to be described, in the case of one pair, pays only when pairs exist on adjacent reels, and the equipment required for this is shown in FIG. 6. Referring first to FIG. 5 if the outputs from reel 1 and reel 2 have the same value the bistable element labelled FF will remain in the one state. Similarly if the outputs from reels 2 and 3, 3 and 4, and 4 and 5 are equal bistable elements FF PF and FF will remain in the one state. Accordingly the outputs A, B, C, D from bistable elements FF FF FF -FF respectively are applied to the OR function 34 in FIG. 6. If a pair of cards exists on any two adjacent reels the OR function 34 will present to the output line the information that a pair does in fact exist. The amplifiers marked 1 in this and other figures are inverting amplifiers.

FIG. 7 shows the test for 2 pairs of cards. Referring again to FIG. 5, if for example the outputs from reel encoders 1' and 2' are equal and the outputs from the reel encoders 3' and 4 are also equal, the bistable elements FF and PF will remain at the logical 1 state. Referring to the uppermost section of FIG. 7 it can be seen that the outputs A and C from FF and FF are applied to a logical AND function 38 such that if they are both at the one state they will combine to produce a logical 1 state at the input to the OR function 37 showing that two pairs exist on the output line, the two pairs being reels 1 and 2 being equal and 3 and 4 being equal. All possible combinations of tWo pairs are similarly determined in the logic diagram of FIG. 4. Reading from the top one of the AND functions in FIG. 7, an output from the respective AND function will represent pairs on the reels as set out in the following table.

AND function: Reels Reels 38 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 39 1 and 2 and 3 and 5 40 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 41 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 42 1 and 3 and 2 and 5 43 1 and 3 and 4 and 5 44 1 and 4 and 2 and 3 45 1 and 4 and 2 and 5 46 1 and 4 and 3 and 5 47 1 and 5 and 2 and 3 48 1 and 5 and 2 and 4 49 1 and 5 and 3 and 4 50 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 51 2 and 4 and 3 and 5 52 2 and 5 and 3 and 4 It will be noted that if one input A to K to an AND function relates to a particular pair of reels, then the other input must not relate to either of those reels. Thus since the input A relates to reels 1 and 2 it is combined only with inputs C, H and D since the other inputs B, E, F, G, J and K all are dependent upon one or other of reels 1 and 2.

The equipment for testing for three-of-a-kind is shown in FIG. 9. If the outputs from reel encoders 1, 2', 3 are equal, for example, the outputs from bistable elements FF and FF will be at logical 1. These outputs are combined in the logical AND function 60- of FIG. 9 to produce a logical 1 input to the 0R function 53. This will present to the output line a logical 1 indicating that reels 1, 2 and 3 have the same number. Similarly the other nine logical AND functions 61 to 69 shown in this figure test for all possible combinations of three-of-a-kind. In descending order of the AND functions, an output represents three cards of the same number on AND function: Reels 60 1, 2 and 3 61 1, 2 and 4 62 1, 2 and 63 1, 3 and 4 64 1, 3 and 5 65 1, 4 and 5 66 2, 3 and 4 67 2, 3 and 5 68 2, 4 and 5 69 3, 4 and 5 It will be noted that the pairs compared all have one reel in common. Thus the inputs to the AND function 60 are A and B which relate to reels 1, 2 and 2, 3 respectively-they thus have in common reel 2.

FIG. 8 shows the logical diagram to determine the presence of a Full House. The requirement for a full house is that three cards be of the same number and the remaining two be of the same number, not necessarily all cards be of the same number. Thus to determine whether a full house is present in the reel positions information from the three of a kind test and each one of the possible pairs is combined in the logic diagram of FIG. 8 to determine the presence of a full house. Thus the output A, B from the three-of-a-kind test of FIG. 9 is applied along with the output from the bistable element FF of FIG. 5, whose output depends upon the state of the two reels not involved in the three-of-a-kind test, to the logical AND function 70. If logical 1 is applied to both inputs of 70, then an output will appear indicating three-of-a-kind on reels 1, 2 and 3 and a pair on reels 4 and 5. Outputs appearing on the other AND functions indicate the following Full Houses.

AND function Three-of-a-kind, reels Pair, reels 70 1, 2, 3 4, 5 71 1, 2, 4 3, 5 72 1, 2, 5 3, 4 73 1, 3, 4 2, 5 74 1, 3, 5 2, 3 75 1, 4, 5 2, 3 76 2, 3, 4 1, 5 77 2, 3, s 1, 4 7S 2, 4, 5 1, 3 79 3 4, 5 1, 2

FIG. determines the presence of 4 cards of the same number, the four of a kind test. Referring to FIG. 5, if reel encoders 1', 2', 3' and 4' have the same number then bistable elements FF FF FF will remain on the one state. These three logical 1 levels A, B, C are combined in the logical AND function 80 which presents a logical 1 level to the OR function 85 which indicates on the output lines that reels 1, 2, 3 and 4 have the same number. Similarly outputs from the remaining AND functions 81 to 84 represent four-of-a-kind on the reels according to the following table.

AND function: Reels FIG. 11 contains the logical mechanism to determine the presence of a straight. A straight in poker is a running sequence of cards, a typical example being 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, not necessarily in that order in the window of the poker machine. The outputs of each reel encoder are combined in a logical AND function 86 and also in a logical OR function 87. Due to the fact that reel positions are encoded in a train of pulses the logical AND function will only present a logical one output when all five pulses are present. Thus the number of pulses coming from the logical AND function 86 must be equal to the least number of pulses presented to all its inputs. Thus we have determined the smallest number from the reel encoders. The OR function 87 will give a logical 1 level when any of its inputs is at logical 1. Thus from the logical OR function is presented the biggest number from the reel encoders. The lines containing the smallest and biggest number are compared in an exclusive OR function 88A which determines the difference between them. This difference is applied to a 4 stage binary counter 88, 89, 90, 91 which had been previously reset to the 0 state at the beginning of the sequence of operations in the machine cycle. The counter then proceeds to count the number of pulses from the exclusive OR function 88A. Then the content of the counter is examined by the AND function 92 to determine whether or not this count is equal to four. This AND function is inhibited if any pair exists i.e. if any two wheels have the same number. This is achieved by the OR function 93 to which are applied all of the inputs A to K from the bistable elements FF to FF of FIG. 5. If any pair exists a logical 1 level will appear at the output from the OR function 93 which is applied to the AND function 92. Thus the condition for a straight has been established, that is, that the smallest and biggest number from the reels are separated by four and they must be in a running sequence because the possibility of a pair existing has been eliminated. When all these conditions are met the output from the straight test would be a logical 1 level.

The logic diagram of FIG. 12 performs the necessary examination of the reel positions to determine the presence of a flush. A flush is defined as 5 cards of the same suit displayed in the viewing window. The number of the card shown is immaterial. As described earlier the suit information is contained on the reels as a 2 bit binary word forming the last 2 characters on the 6 bit information on the reel. These 2 bits allow 4 possible combinations covering the four suits of the playing cards such as combinations set out in the table at the top of FIG. 12. The two bits from the wheel encoder 1 are represented by X1 and Y1 in the wheel pickups 94, 95, the two bits from the wheel encoder 2' and X2 and Y2 in the wheel pickups 96, 97, and so on. The output from pickup 94 is applied to the inverting amplifier 104 to provide the complement X1 is also applied to the inverting amplifier 105 to provide the output X1. Similarly is connected to the inverting amplifiers 106 and 107 to provide the outputs Y 1 and Y1. It will be seen that it is only if the output from 94 is 0 that the output X1 is a logical l, and similarly for all the outputs from the pickups 94 to 103. In the code chosen, hearts is represented by a logical 0 for both bits, and a flush in hearts is indicated only if all the outputs from 94 to 103 are Os. Accordingly a flush in hearts is indicated if all the complements X1 to Y5 are at logical 1. These complements are applied to the 10 input AND gate 124 which will therefore present a logical 1 to the OR gate 126 only if a flush in hearts exists. Similarly all the outputs X1 to X5 and T1 to Y5 are applied to the AND gate 125, which will present a logical 1 if a fiush in diamonds exist, the outputs X 1 to X 5 to Y1 to Y5 are applied to the AND gate 127 which will present a logical 1 if a flush in clubs exists, and the outputs X1 to X5 and Y1 to Y5 are applied to the AND gate 128 which will present a logical 1 only if a flush in spades exists. As before the logical 1 at the output of the OR gate 126 is amplified and fed to the Pay logic section of the computer.

FIG. 13 contains the logic necessary to determine the presence of a running flush. A running flush consists of a straight in the same unit. Thus the outputs from the straight test and flush test of FIGS. 11 and 12 are examined in the logical AND function 129. If they are both at logical 1 a running flush exists.

FIG. 14 contains a logic necessary to determine the presence of a royal routine. A royal routine is defined as five cards in the same suit being 10 Jack Queen King Ace. It can be seen that the sequence of cards is the same as a straight but starting at a particular point greater than 9. Thus the logic will only respond to an output from the straight test if that output has occurred for any reel encoder being greater than 9. This output has to be coincident with a logical 1 from the flush test to comply with the requirements for a royal routine. If all these conditions are fulfilled the logical 1 appears at the output for the royal routine test.

Referring to the logic diagram, Toggle circuit U is set by the 9th clock pulse, and this enables the AND gate 131 Which is fed from point M in the straight test( FIG. 11). This part of the logic permits signals from cards 10 or higher only entering the three- stage binary counter 132, 133, 134. These signals are counted and if the r e are four input pulses the levels at point V, W and Z will enable the five input AND gate 135. The other 2 inputs: one from the Plush test and the other N from the Straight test (which performs the same safeguard against a Pair) complete the logic requirement for a Royal Routine.

FIG. 15 contains a logical function for determining a gold award. A gold award is a paying combination not found in poker but sometimes found desirable for certain customers of poker machines. This test is achieved by allotting the number 15 to the gold award card on the reel. The test is carried out by a logical AND function 136 which combines the outputs from each reel encoder 1 to 5' with the 15th pulse from the timing clock. If all inputs to the logical AND function exist then a logical 1 appears on the output of the gold award test. It will be seen that all reel encoder outputs have to be a train of 15 pulses for the six input AND gate 136 to open at the 15th pulse from the clock. If this occurs toggle circuit 137 is set and a logical l is passed on to the pay logic section of the computer.

The preferred distribution of card faces on the 5 reels of the machine is so calculated as to provide as random an occurrence of cards as possible consistent with a true hand of poker and the statistical payment required. Each reel may accommodate 16 cards (excluding gold award) giving a total of 80 positions to be filled by only 52 cards in a standard pack. This may be done for example by duplication of 28 cards, preferably in the higher suits, with identical cards occurring on the same reel to avoid the same card occurring twice in the one hand. Duplication of every card is a possible alternative by using sevens and up in each suit as indeed many other combinations may be determined. However this latter distribution provides the least range of hands, which is undesirable. The general concept nevertheless remains the guide namely to provide as many different S-card hands as possible.

What is claimed is:

1. A poker machine comprising five reels on which indicia representing individual cards of a deck of cards are displayed, winning combinations being characterized by particular combinations of indicia displayed in a window, each reel having on one side thereof a plurality of concentric tracks each formed by conductive parts and nonconductive parts, means to apply a potential to the conductive parts, said potential on a conductive part corresponding to a logical bit of digital information, means for sensing the potentials on the tracks at the position corresponding to the indicia displayed, a logic unit connected to receive said sensed potentials as electrical information in binary digital form, means for examining outputs from the logic unit sequentially starting with the combination having the most significance and proceeding to the lowest significance, means to generate a number corresponding to the number of coins allotted to a particular combination if the examination shows that that particular combination exists, and means to dispense a number of coins equal to said number generated.

2. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the indicia comprises the values of the cards encoded on said tracks as a four bit binary number, the suits of the cards encoded on said tracks as a two bit binary number and a pictorial representation of the cards about the circumference of said reels.

3. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the logic unit comprises means to determine pairs comprising exclusive OR circuits equal in number to the number of combinations of the reels taken two at a time, means to apply the digital information from the reels in pairs to the exclusive OR circuits, and one means for each exclusive OR circuit giving a pair output when two identical pieces of digital information are applied to the exclusive O'R circuits.

4. A poker machine as claimed in claim 3, in which means to generate a number comprises an OR circuit, means to apply said pairs output corresponding to the comparisons between adjacent reels to the OR circuit, means to generate a number equal to the number of coins for a pair when the OR circuit gives an output.

5. A poker machine as claimed in claim 4, in which the logic unit further comprises means to determine two pairs comprising a plurality of AND circuits, means to apply said pairs outputs in pairs to the AND circuits in such manner that the second pair output does not include digital information from either of the reels which provided information for the first pair output, an OR circuit fed by said AND circuits, and means responsive to the output from said OR circuit to generate a two pair output from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that two sets of equal information have been taken from the reels.

6. A poker machine as claimed in claim 5, in which the logic unit further comprises means to determine three of a kind comprising a second plurality of AND circuits, means to apply said pairs outputs in pairs to said second plurality of AND circuits in such manner that the second pair output includes digital information for the first pair output, an OR circuit fed by all said AND circuits, and means responsive to the output from said OR circuit to generate a three of a kind output from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that three sets of equal information have been taken from the reels.

7. A poker machine as claimed in claim 6, in which the logic unit further comprises means to determine a full house comprising a first set of ten AND circuits, means to apply said pairs outputs in pairs to said first set of AND circuits in such manner that the second pair output includes digital information on the state of one reel which provides digital information for the first pair output, a second set of ten AND circuits, each AND circuit of the second set having applied to it the output from one of the AND circuits of the first set that output of the pair outputs which indicates the states of the two reels which have not provided information for the first set of AND circuits, an OR circuit fed by all said second set of AND circuits, and means responsive to the output from said OR circuit to generate a full house output from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that two sets of equal information and three sets of equal information have been taken from the reels.

8. A poker machine as claimed in claim 7, in which the logic unit further comprises means to determine four of a kind comprising a plurality of AND circuits equal to the number of combinations of the reels taken four at a time, each AND circuit having applied to it three of the pair outputs, such that in each set of three outputs the first and second outputs are derived from digital information which includes information from a common reel, and the second and third outputs are derived from digital mformation which includes information from a second common reel, and an OR circuit fed by all of said AND clrcuits, and means responsive to the output from said OR circuit to generate an output from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that four identical sets of digital information have been taken from the reels.

9. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reels bear indicia corresponding to the cards of a deck of playing cards, the suits of the cards being encoded on said tracks as a two bit binary number, and in which said logic unit further comprises means to determine the suits comprising four AND circuits, means to apply the encoded suit information from the reels to the AND circuit which relates to said suit, an OR circuit fed by all said AND circuits, and means responsive to an output from said OR circuit to generate an output from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that five identical sets of suit information have been taken from the reels.

10. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, in which said logic unit further comprises means to determine a straight comprising an AND circuit to which the digital outputs from all reels are applied, an OR circuit to which the digital outputs from all reels are applied, an exclusive OR circuit to which the output of the AND circuit and the OR circuit are applied, a counter to which the output from the exclusive OR circuit is applied, an AND circuit to examine the state of the counter and determine whether the count is equal to four, means to inhibit the last mentioned AND circuit if a pair exists, and means responsive to the output from the last mentioned AND circuit to generate an output from the logic unit when this last mentioned output indicates information denoting a straight has been taken from the reels.

1 1. A poker machine as claimed in claim 10, wherein the reels bear indicia corresponding to the cards of a deck of playing cards, the suits of the cards being encoded on said tracks as a two bit binary number, and in which said logic unit further comprises means to determine the suits comprising four AND circuits, means to apply the encoded suit information from the reels to the AND circuit which relates to said suit, an OR circuit fed by all said AND circuits, and flush determining means responsive to an output from said OR circuit to generate an output from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that five identical sets of suit information have been taken from the reels, further comprising a further AND circuit to which the output from the straight determining means is applied, a three stage binary counter fed from the said further AND circuit, a five input AND circuit fed from the three counter stages with the outputs from the flush determining means and the straight determining means, whereby an output from the logic unit is generated when a straight flush is displayed by the machine.

12. A poker machine as claimed in claim 11, further comprising means for generating a series of clock pulses, each pulse being indicative of a higher sequential numerical value of a suit, and means to enable said further AND circuit only after a ninth clock pulse so that the lowest numerical value of the suit displayed is ten whereby an output from said logic unit is generated when a straight flush of low number 10, called a royal routine, is displayed by the machine.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,812,182 11/1957 Fiorino 273143 FOREIGN PATENTS 280,649 2/ 1968 Australia. 60,734 3/1943 Denmark. 785,313 5/1935 France. 1,107,552 3/1968 Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner A. W. KRAMER, Assistant Examiner

Images