US20060148553A1

US20060148553A1 - Method for variable speed gaming

Info

Publication number: US20060148553A1
Application number: US11/028,282
Authority: US
Inventors: Clifford Dodge
Original assignee: Summit Amusement and Distributing Ltd
Current assignee: SUMMIT AMUSEMENT & DISTRIBUTION Ltd; GameTech International Inc
Priority date: 2005-01-03
Filing date: 2005-01-03
Publication date: 2006-07-06

Abstract

A variable speed gaming machine is disclosed with which a player may ad just the speed of game play to satisfy their individual desires. Prior to the start of game play a player can vary the length of time reels spin before they are stopped and/or the player can vary the rotational speed of the reels. An inexperienced slot machine player may want to slow the speed of game play, and an experienced slot machine player may want to increase the speed of game play.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates generally to amusement and gaming machines and more specifically to gaming machines having rotating reels on which are gaming indicia. The game is started by a player and the reels spin. When the reels stop the displayed indicia are analyzed for winning combinations of indicia. More particularly, the game is an electronic game implemented by a game program running on a computer and having a video display on which are displayed the rotating reels as well as other game elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the prior art gaming machines in the form of slot machines with rotating reels having indicia such as plums, cherries melons, etcetera are well known in the art. A player places one or more bets and commences the spinning of the reels by pulling a handle. When the reels stop spinning the displayed indicia are analyzed for winning combinations of indicia.
Early slot machines were mechanical devices that had an operating handle to initiate reel spin. These evolved into electromechanical slot machines. A player pulling the operating handle initiates spinning of the reels, resulting in the reels spinning at a generally constant initial speed, whether the rotation initiating force was produced through a strictly mechanical drive mechanism or from an electrical drive motor or solenoid based drive mechanism. This meant that the initial speed of rotation or angular velocity that was imparted to the reels was generally constant regardless of the speed with which the operating handle was pulled.
This purely mechanical operation evolved into electromechanical implementations using electronic circuitry to detect the speed of movement of the operating handle through its operating stroke and thereafter apply an electrical signal to an electrical motor means associated with a reel drive mechanism, where the amplitude of the electrical signal is proportional to the detected pull speed of the operating handle and thereby varies the speed of initial rotation that is imparted to the reels of the gaming machine. The electronic circuitry is also adapted to vary or alter the issuance of the electrical signals and cause the reels to be stopped, with the duration of the period of rotation or spin time for each reel varying in accordance with the detected speed of the pulling of the handle. Whether purely mechanical, or electro-mechanical, such approaches to implementing player control of reel spin speed are very complex and costly.
Many modern slot machines do not utilize mechanical or electro-mechanical reels or mechanisms, or pull handles. Instead they are electronic video games that utilize a game program running on a computer having a video display of the rotating reels and on-screen buttons and other displays that are touched to provide player input to the gaming machine and feedback to the player. The ability of a player to affect personal control of the spin of the reels of the slot machine is lost because there is no pull handle that may be pulled at different speeds to effect personal control of the spinning of the reels.
Typical prior art slot machines take a predetermined amount of time to get all the reels spinning, the spin of each reel takes a predetermined amount of time, and takes a predetermined amount of time to stop each of the spinning reels. These times are cumulatively called the speed of game play. The speed of game play is fixed and is picked to satisfy an average person. However, inexperienced slot machine players often find the speed of game play too fast and an experienced slot machine player finds the speed of game play too slow.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a new, simple and less expensive way to provide a player a way to control the speed of game play on an electronic slot machine game with a video display to meet their own individual tastes as to the speed of game play.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The need in the prior art for a new, simple and less expensive way to provide a player a way to control the speed of game play on an electronic slot machine with a video display is satisfied by the present invention. There is no pull handle, with associated complex and costly mechanical or electromechanical mechanism, for a player to pull to play the same or to affect control over the speed of spin of the reels of slot machine. This is particularly advantageous to elderly or other people who have arthritis or other joint problems that make it difficult or impossible for them to raise their arm and pull the handle of a slot machine. Even if a player has some shoulder and elbow joint mobility problems continuous pulling of a handle over a period of time results in pain in those joints.
As mentioned in the Background of the Invention typical prior art slot machines typically have a fixed, average speed of game play that does not satisfy all players. With the present invention a player has the ability to select the speed of game play. The player can vary the length of time the reels spin before they are stopped, and/or they call vary the rotational speed of the reels during game play. An inexperienced slot machine player can slow the speed of game play, and an experienced slot machine player can increase the speed of game play, to satisfy their individual desires.
To implement the present invention with an electronic slot machine with video display a new combination on-screen button and display entitled “Speed” is provided. Each time a player touches the on-screen Speed button the display integrated with the button steps through a number of speed settings in a cyclical manner. The display integrated with the button indicates that the player has selected one of a plurality of speed of game play settings. At the slowest speed of game play setting the length of time that the reels spin before stopping is the longest and the reels of the video slot machine individually spin at a slowest rotational rate of speed. At the highest speed of game play setting the length of time that the reels spin before stopping is the shortest, and the reels of the video slot machine individually spin at the fastest rotational rate of speed. The electronic slot machine monitors the touch of the Speed button and records the player's choice of speed of game play before game play commences. At the commencement of each round of game play the software program implementing the slot game uses the player selected speed of game play to spin the reels accordingly.
An experienced player will most likely want to play the slot game faster in order to increase their odds of winning over a given period of time and will select to play at the fastest selectable speed of game play. A casual player that is playing for fun as well as to win will most likely choose to play at a slower rate of game play that is most enjoyable to them. All players are satisfied.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will be better understood upon reading the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the drawing in which:
FIG. 1 shows the display screen of an electronic video implementation of a slot machine incorporating the teaching of the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a computer based system used to implement an electronic video implementation of a slot machine incorporating the teaching of the present invention; and
FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of steps in a software game program used to implement the teaching of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1 is shown the display screen of a computer controlled video implementation of a slot machine incorporating the teaching of the present invention. Some standard features of a slot machine that are well known in the art are deliberately not shown in FIG. 1 to avoid detracting from the teaching of the present invention and to avoid cluttering the drawing. They are as follows. Typically there is a slot for inserting coins or tokens for placing a number of wagers or bets for a round of game play. In addition, there may be a slot for the insertion of a debit card from which the game debits the number of wagers or bets placed by a player, and to which the game credits any winnings. These are shown as Money/Card Sensor 22 in FIG. 2. Also, if there is a slot for insertion of coins or tokens there will be a tray into which winnings in the form of coins or tokens are dispensed. This is shown as Payoff Device 23 in FIG. 23. The video screen display may include information such as, but not limited to, copyright and trademark notices, manufacturer of equipment, name of game, fancy graphics, and an indication of winnings at the end of each round of game play. Only the winnings indication is shown at display block 18.
On display screen 10 are shown five reels R1-R5 each with three rows of typical slot machine symbols. The symbols show are a bell, plum, strawberry, watermelon, cherries, and the number 7. More, less or different slot symbols may be used. There are several on-screen displayed buttons 14-17, display blocks 11, 12 and 18, and a combination button/display block 17. Other buttons and display blocks may be displayed on display screen 10 that are not necessary to the understanding of the present invention so they are not shown in FIG. 1 so as not to detract from the description of the present invention. Display block 12 indicates the number of credits a player has as read from a debit card inserted into the slot machine before commencement of play. Display block 11 indicates the number of bets placed, or pay lines selected to be played, by player for each round of game play. Bet Up button 15 is used by a player to select a number of wagers or bets being placed on a round of game play. This may apply when there is a single winning line on the 3×5 display of slot symbols, or when a player is selecting multiple ones of a plurality of predefined pays lines through the 3×5 display. Each time Bet Up button 15 is touched the number of bets shown in display block 11 is incremented. In a converse manner a player touches on-screen Bet Down button 16 to decrease the select a number of wagers or bets being placed on a round of game play. Each time Bet Down button is touched the number of bets shown in display block 11 is decremented. A player may also touch on-screen button Bet Max button 14 to place the maximum number of wagers or bets on a round of game play. For example, with the description herein there are a total of nine pay lines that may be played by a player. Nine pay lines is only an example and the actual number of pay lines may be higher, such as twenty-seven. The player may touch Bet Up button 15 nine times to play all nine pay lines and each time button 15 is touched the number displayed in block 11 is incremented up to the maximum of nine. Alternatively, the player may touch Bet Max button 14 once and the number nine is displayed in block 11 indicating that the maximum number of pay lines have been selected to be played. When game play commences the number of wagers or bets shown in block 11 is subtracted from the number of credits the player has as shown by the number displayed in display block 12. With the numbers shown in blocks 11 and 12, after the player commences game play the number of bets shown in block 11 will be decremented from the 900 credits shown in block 12 to read 893 credits remaining. There is also an on-screen Start button 17 which a player touches after they have placed their wagers or bets, and has selected a speed of game play, to commence a round of game play. At the end of a round of game play any winnings that a player has won are displayed in display block 18. In FIG. 1 the number fifteen is displayed for illustration only even though a game has not yet been played.
In accordance with the teaching of the invention there is a new Speed button/display 13 that is used by a player prior to the start of game play to indicate the speed of game play at which they wish to play the slot game. Button/display 13 has a total of seven circles of different size displayed thereon in ascending order of size, as shown in FIG. 1, indicating the player selected speed of game play, but may have more or less circles. Each time a player touches button 13 the number of circles displayed is incremented until all seven circles are displayed as shown. The display of seven circles indicates that the fastest speed of game play has been selected. Upon the player touching button 13 again the display reverts to display only one circle, the smallest circle, indicating that the slowest speed of game play has been selected by the player.

One set of examples of the speed of game play that are represented by the circles in Speed display/button 13, but by no means tie exclusive range or levels of speeds of game play, are shown in the following Table 1. While three of the seven possible speeds of game play levels are shown the other levels are easily derived by interpolating between the numbers given.

	TABLE 1


	Slowest Speed (1 circle)
	Period of game play - 30.0 seconds
	Start Reel 1 Spin - 3.0 seconds
	Start Reel 2 Spin - 5.0 seconds
	Start Reel 3 Spin - 7.0 seconds
	Start Reel 4 Spin - 9.0 seconds
	Start Reel 5 Spin - 11.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 1 - 15.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 2 - 16.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 2 - 17.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 2 - 18.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 5 - 19.0 seconds
	Reel Rotational Speed - 1
	Intermediate Speed (4 circles)
	Period of game play - 14.0 seconds
	Start Reel 1 Spin - 3.0 seconds
	Start Reel 2 Spin - 3.5 seconds
	Start Reel 3 Spin - 4.0 seconds
	Start Reel 4 Spin - 4.5 seconds
	Start Reel 5 Spin - 5.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 1 - 5.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 2 - 6.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 3 - 7.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 4 - 8.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 5 - 9.0 seconds
	Reel Rotational Speed - 4
	Fastest Speed (7 circles)
	Period of game play - 9.0 seconds
	Start Reel 1 Spin - 3.0 seconds
	Start Reel 2 Spin - 3.5 seconds
	Start Reel 3 Spin - 4.0 seconds
	Start Reel 4 Spin - 4.5 seconds
	Start Reel 5 Spin - 5.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 1 - 2.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 2 - 2.5 seconds
	Spin Reel 2 - 3.0 seconds
	Spin Reel 2 - 3.5 seconds
	Spin Reel 5 - 4.0 seconds
	Reel Rotational Speed - 7

At the slowest speed of game play (one circle shown), when a player touches Start button 17 all the reels R1-R5 jiggle for about three seconds, then the first reel R1 briefly spins slowly, emulating a mechanical slot machine, and then the first reel R1 commences spinning at the slowest rotational speed (Reel Rotational Speed-1). Within two second thereafter all five reels R1-R5 are spinning. The first reel R1 stops after spinning for thirteen seconds. The fifth reel R5 stops after spinning for twenty-four seconds. Reels R2-R4 stop after spinning for intermediate periods of time as indicated in Table 1. All reels spin vertically at the same, slowest rotational speed when they are spinning.
At the intermediate or middle speed of game play (four circles shown), when a player touches Start button 17 the reels R1-R5 jiggle for about three seconds, then the first reel R1 briefly spins slowly, emulating a mechanical slot machine, and then the first reel R1 commences spinning at a faster, intermediate rotational speed. In less than two second thereafter all five reels R1-R5 are spinning. The first reel R1 stops after spinning for six seconds. The fifth reel R5 stops after spinning for eight seconds. Reels R2-R4 stop after spinning for intermediate periods of time as indicated in Table 1. All reels spin vertically at the same, intermediate rotational speed when they are spinning.
At the fastest speed of game play (seven circles shown), when a player touches Start button 17 the reels jiggle for four seconds, then the first reel R1 briefly spills slowly emulating a mechanical slot machine, and then the first reel R1 commences spinning at the fastest rotational speed. In about one second thereafter all five reels R1-R5 are spinning. The first reel R1 stops after spinning for two seconds. The fifth reel R5 stops after spinning for three seconds. Reels R2-R4 stop after spinning for intermediate periods of time as indicated in Table 1. All reels spin vertically at the same, fastest rotational speed when they are spinning.
At speeds of game play between those described in the previous three paragraphs the speed of game play is adjusted accordingly.
An experienced player will most likely want to play the slot game faster in order to increase their odds of winning over a given period of time and will select seven circles in block/button 13 in FIG. 1 for the fastest speed of game play. A casual player that is playing for fun as well as to win will most likely choose to play at a slower rate of game play and will choose one or mole circles, depending on rate of game play that is most enjoyable to them.
In FIG. 2 is shown a block diagram of the electronics used to implement a computer controlled video implementation of a slot machine game incorporating the teaching of the present invention. The heart of the computer controlled slot machine is central processor unit (CPU) 20 running a slot machine game program that is stored in memory 21. The basic operations of a slot game are well known in the art and are not repeated here for the sake of brevity. Responsive to the slot machine game program CPU 20 causes a display on display 10, such as shown in FIG. 1. That display includes the rotation of reels R1-R5 on display 10 in FIG. 11 the buttons 13-17, and the information shown in displays 11, 12, 13 & 18. Coupled with display 10 is a touch screen 24 that is well known in the art and indicates to CPU 20 when and where a player has touched ones of buttons 13 through 17 displayed on display 10 as previously described.
As is described at the beginning of the Detailed Description the electronic slot machine may have a slot for inserting coins or tokens for placing a number of wagers or bets for each round of game play. Alternatively, there may be a slot for the insertion of a debit card from which CPU 20 debits the number of wagers or bets placed by a player, and to which CPU 20 credits any winnings. These monetary functions are shown at the box entitled Money/Card Sensor 22 which is connected to CPU 20 to receive indications of coin or token insertions, and to read and write a debit card under control of CPU 20. Also, if there is a slot for insertion of coins or tokens there will be a tray into which winnings in the form of coins of tokens are dispensed. This tray is shown as Payoff Device 23 which is controlled by CPU 20 to dispose winnings in the form of coins or tokens.
Using, touch screen 24 CPU 20 monitors a player touching buttons 13 through 17 and responds accordingly to implement pre-game functions as previously) described and the start of game play. More particularly, CPU 20 monitors the touch of Speed button 13 and records the players final choice of speed of game play when game play commences by the player touching Start button 17. Responsive to the player selected speed of game play CPU 20, under control of the slot software program it is running, spins reels R1-R5 as previously described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of the steps involved in the software program used to implement the teaching of the present invention in the electronic video implementation of a slot machine, and emphasizing the speed of game play. Basic electronic slot games are known in the art and it is not attempted to describe the details of how they are implemented using a program running on CPU 20. Rather, prior art steps are grouped into broad steps Such as Run Slots Program block 30, Determine Winnings block 36 and Pay Winnings block 47. The focus in the block diagram in FIG. 3 is on the implementation of the novel player selected, variable speed of reels R1-R5.
Referring back to Table 1, therein is shown one example, but not the only example, of the timing of three of seven player selected speeds of game play. They are the slowest, intermediate and fastest speeds of game play. Speeds of game play in between these numbers may easily be interpolated. All speed of game play timing numbers that are pre-determined for game play are stored in memory 21 in FIG. 2. At the start of a game a set of speed of game play times are recalled from memory 21 that match the player selected speed of game play (Reel Rotational Speed 1-7). The program uses the recalled times to start and stop the reels R1-R5 accordingly for game play.
The video slot machine is a computer as described with reference to FIG. 2 and when it is first turned on it boots up, the slot game program is read from memory 21 and is run by CPU 20 at block 30. The slot game display is placed on display 10 and the computer awaits for a player to play the slot game. When a person wishes to play the slot game they must first deposit tokens or coins, or insert a debit card, at block 22 in FIG. 2, in manner, well known in the art. At Game? decision block 31 in FIG. 3 the slot program periodically checks for an input from Money/Card sensor 22 in FIG. 2 to determine when a player has inserted coins, tokens or a debit card. Until that time the program periodically cycles out of block 31 at NO and backs to its input to again check for the insertion of coins, tokens or debit card.
After the detection of the insertion of coins, tokens or a debit card the program exits Play? block 31 at YES and progresses to Read Buttons block 32 where it reads the operation of on-screen buttons 13-17 prior to the player touching Start button 17. The player's final bet is detected by the operation of buttons 14-16.
A player selected speed of game play is detected by the program as the number of times that the player touches Speed button/display 13 prior to the start of game play. Initially, the number of circles for the previous round of game play are displayed on Speed button/display 13 and each time this button is touched by the player the speed of game play is incremented by one step until seven circles are displayed (fastest speed of game play). See Table 1 above. Another touch of Speed button 13 by the player changes the number of displayed circles to one (slowest speed of game play), and subsequent touches of Speed button 13 increase the Count to two, three, etcetera, back to seven circles. The program responds to the count of the number of times that Speed button 13 is touched to change the number of circles that are displayed in button/display 13.
In this manner a player has the ability to select a speed of game play that suits their individual desires. An inexperienced slot machine player can slow the speed of game play down, and an experienced slot machine player can increase the speed of game play. The timings of three of seven player selected speeds of game play are shown in Table 1. By selecting a particular speed of game play, a player can vary the rotational speed of the five reels R1-R5 during game play, vary the length of time of rotation of the reels spin before they are stopped, and vary length of play of a round of game play.
After a player has placed their bets and has selected their speed of game play they will touch Start button 17 in FIG. 1. The touching of button 17 is periodically sensed for by the program at Start Game? decision block 33. As long as the player does not touch Start button 17 the program exits block 33 at NO and cycles back to its input. CPU 20 continues to watch for the touch of any of buttons 13-17. When the player touches Start button 17 the program exits block 33 at YES and progresses to block 34. No further button touches are sensed and recorded.
At Read Speed Settings block 34 CPU 20 reads the player selected speed of game play and retrieves the corresponding stored timing figures as represented in Table 1. It should be kept in mind that the timing figures in Table 1 are for only three of the seven possible speeds of game play and the other four sets, not shown are also stored and those timing figures are interpolated between the timing figures shown in Table 1. In addition, the actual number of steps of player selected speeds of game play may be fewer than or more than the seven levels described herein. Further, the timing figures may be different than those shown in Table 1 while not departing from the teaching of the invention.
The program then progresses to Spin Reels block 35 where the program uses the retrieved timing figures and generates signals that are sent to display 10 in FIG. 2 to cause the display of the slot game on display 10 at the player selected speed of game play.
At Spin Finished? decision block 36 CPU 20 waits for the end of spinning of the reels R1-R5 which indicates the end of the game and time to determine any winnings the player may have. Per Table 1 the period of game play may be between nine seconds for the fastest speed of game play and thirty seconds for the slowest speed of game play so CPU 20 must wait accordingly.
When the reels R1-R5 have stopped spinning on display 10 the program progresses to Determine Winnings block 37 where any player winnings are determined. The slot game as described herein has a number of pay lines that are fixed and are selected by a player by the number of bets that they place. If the player places one bet they get one predetermined pay line, if they place nine bets they get nine predetermined pay lines, and so forth up to the maximum number of pay lines. The combination of slot symbols along each of the pay lines played by the player are checked to determine if there are any winning combinations of slot symbols. Using a pay table, not shown but well known in the art, any winning combinations of slot symbols are used to determine the winnings of the player for the round of game play.
The program then progresses to Pay Winnings block 38 where the winnings of the player are paid. If the video slot machine utilizes coins or tokens a signal is sent to payoff device 23 in FIG. 2 indicating how may coins or tokens to dispense. If the video slot machine utilizes debit cards, payoff device 23 will increment the number of credits on the player's debit card inserted at Money/Card Sensor block 22 in FIG. 2.
A round of game play having been completed, the program being run in CPU 20 progresses to Card/Coin? decision block 39 to determine if the present player's debit card is still inserted into the debit card slot at Money/Card Sensor block 22, or of if they have inserted additional coins or tokens. If the player's debit card has been removed, or if no coins or tokens are inserted within a finite period of time, the program exits block 39 at NO and goes to the input of Play? decision block to await a player to insert coins, tokens or debit card. The operation thereafter is as described above. If the player's debit card has not been removed, or if coins or tokens are inserted within the finite period of time, it is assumed that the same player is playing and the program exits block 39 at YES and goes to the input of Read Buttons block 32 to read button operations as previously described.
While what has been described herein is a preferred embodiment of the invention it will be understood that numerous changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, while a single speed of game play selection described herein determines a few factors such as the length of a round of game play and how long each of the reels will rotate, a variant of the game can provide a player with the ability to individually change all these parameters.

Claims

1. A method for a player to set the length of time during which a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be rotated during game play for a video game being played by the player, the method comprising, the steps of:

the player providing an indication of the length of time for rotation of the plurality of reels for the video game being played before the reels are rotated during play of the video game; and

rotating the reels displayed on the video screen for a length of time corresponding to the player provided indication, wherein a player provides the indication of the length of time for rotation of the reels for the video game to satisfy the player's desire of how to play the video game.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 for a player to set the length of time during which a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be rotated during game play further comprising, the step of:

determining the actual time for which the plurality of reels will be rotated responsive to the player provided indication;

wherein the reels displayed on the video screen are rotated for the determined actual time.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2 for a player to set the length of time during which a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be rotated during game play, further comprising the step of:

storing a set of times indicating the actual time for which the plurality of reels will be rotated;

wherein the step of determining the actual time for which the plurality of reels will be rotated further comprises the step of using the player provided indication to retrieve stored times to be used in the step of rotating the reels.

4. The method in accordance with claim 3 for a player to set the length of time during which a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be rotated during game play wherein the player provided indication includes information of how fast the reels are to be spun and further comprising the step of spinning the reels displayed on a video screen during game play at a speed of rotation based on the last mentioned indication from the player.

5. The method in accordance with claim 1 for a player to set the length of time during which a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be rotated during game play wherein the player provided indication includes information of how fast the reels are to be spun and further comprising the step of spinning the reels displayed on a video screen during game play at a speed of rotation based on the last mentioned indication from the player.

6. A method for a player to indicate how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be spun during game play for a video game being played by the players, the method comprising the steps of:

the player providing an indication of how the plurality of reels are to be spun during game play; and

rotating the reels displayed on the video screen dependent on the player provided indication to satisfy the player's desire of how to play the video game.

7. The method in accordance with claim 6 for a player to indicate how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be spun during game play wherein the player provided indication indicates the length of time for rotation of the plurality of reels for the video game being played before the reels are rotated during play of the video game.

8. The method in accordance with claim 7 for a player to indicate how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be spun during game play further comprising the step of:

9. The method in accordance with claim 8 for a player to indicate how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be spun during game play further comprising the step of:

10. The method in accordance with claim 9 for a player to indicate how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine ale to be spun during game play wherein the player provided indication includes information of how fast the reels are to be spun and further comprising the step of spinning the reels displayed on a video screen during game play at a speed of rotation based on the last mentioned indication from the player.

11. The method in accordance with claim 7 for a player to indicate how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be spun during game play wherein the player provided indication includes information of how fast the reels are to be rotated and further comprising the step of spinning the reels displayed on a video screen during game play at the indicated speed of rotation.

12. The method in accordance with claim 6 for a player to indicate how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be spun during game play wherein the player provided indication includes information of how fast the reels are to be rotated and further comprising the step of spinning the reels displayed on a video screen during game play at the indicated speed of rotation.

13. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions for indicating how a plurality of reels displayed on a video screen of a video gaming machine are to be spun during game play for a video game being played by a player, the executable program instructions comprising instructions for:

sensing an input from the player indicating of how the plurality of reels are to be spun during game play; and