Patent Grant
6971954
This application is related to the following commonly-owned co-pending patent applications: “GAMING DEVICE HAVING SEPARATELY CHANGEABLE VALUE AND MODIFIER BONUS SCHEME,” Ser. No. 09/626,045, and “GAMING DEVICE HAVING SELECTIVELY ACCESSIBLE BONUS SCHEME,” Ser. No. 09/657,916, “GAMING DEVICE HAVING MULTIPLE AWARD ENHANCING LEVELS.: Ser. No. 09/967,016.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device having multiple award enhancing levels.
The popularity of a gaming device depends in part upon the level of enjoyment and excitement that the game provides to its players. Gaming device manufacturers constantly strive to make gaming devices that provide as much enjoyment and excitement as possible. Providing a bonus round in which a player has an opportunity to win potentially large awards or credits in addition to the awards associated with the base game of the gaming device is one way to enhance player enjoyment and excitement.
Known gaming devices having bonus rounds employ a triggering event that occurs during the base game operation of the gaming device. The triggering event temporarily stalls or halts the base game play and enables a player to enter a second, different game, which is the bonus game. The player plays the bonus game to its fruition, likely receives an award, and returns to the base game. In most instances, the bonus game or round is relatively short in relation to the time that the player spends playing the base game. The player may play the bonus game or round a number of times while playing the base game of the gaming device.
An example of the bonus game or round just described is the TOP DOLLAR™ game, which is manufactured and distributed by IGT, the assignee of this application. In the TOP DOLLAR™ game, the player plays a primary game until reaching the bonus round, which occurs when a combination of the reels of the gaming device matches a combination programmed into the controller of the gaming device. The player enters the bonus round, plays the bonus round to its fruition and then returns to the normal or base game of the gaming device. There is no limit to the amount of times that the player can enter the bonus round.
Another example of the above described bonus game or round is disclosed in European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. Here, the device operates in a basic game until a “start bonus” event occurs, which causes the device to shift to a bonus game. The player plays the bonus game by selecting and uncovering awards until the player selects and uncovers a bonus round terminator, at which point the bonus round ends and the player returns to the base game.
In both of the examples, the gaming device randomly determines when the bonus round begins by incorporating certain symbols or combinations of symbols into the reels or random generation mechanism of the base game. Thus, while the player is playing the base game, the player desires to obtain symbols or combinations thereof that yield base game awards. The player also desires to obtain the symbols or combinations thereof that enable the player to enter the bonus game or round.
It should be appreciated that but for the symbols that the base game generates to enable the player to enter the bonus round, known bonus games or rounds are relatively independent of, and have little interaction with, the base game. The European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 discloses a “bonus resource” that a player obtains during the base game, which the player can thereafter apply during the bonus round. However, the level of interaction between the base game and the bonus game is limited to the function assigned to the bonus resource, such as overriding an event that would otherwise end the bonus round.
Other known games include bonus rounds which are generally self-contained and do not interact with the base game. Such bonus rounds award the player an additional award and then end. A particular bonus round has no further affect on the outcome of the base game or upon the outcome of a future bonus round. It is thus desirable to create a bonus scheme or additional game that is separate and apart from the base game, but that operates along side or in conjunction with the base game. It is also desirable to have such a game that is separable from the base game, but that is on-going rather than self-contained. Providing an ongoing and interactive bonus or additional game increases enjoyment and excitement because the player, in essence, plays two games wherein the player can be successful at either.
The present invention overcomes the above shortcomings by providing an interactive, continuous bonus game that operates in conjunction with the base game of the gaming device and enhances the player's award. The game of the present invention provides and displays a plurality of graduating modifiers (preferably multipliers) and designates or highlights one of the modifiers. When one or more activating symbols appear on the payline of the reels, the game uses the designated or highlighted modifier to change (preferably increase) the player's award. The present invention contemplates providing any number of modifiers, each of which have a value and a function or action, and changing the modifiers based on one or more triggering events.
More specifically, the player plays the base game of the gaming device, which involves spinning a set of reels and randomly producing and displaying a plurality of symbols on at least one payline. Certain symbols or sets of symbols predetermined and preprogrammed into the controller of the gaming device invoke or activate one or more of the modifiers. Each modifier has an associated activator, which is a symbol or set of symbols.
The activators activate the modifiers, which modify or operate upon a number of base game credits. The present invention contemplates two different modifiable groupings or numbers of base game credits. The first number of base game credits that the present invention contemplates modifying is the player's base game wager. That is, the present invention multiplies or modifies the player's wager (which is normally a number of credits) by the activated modifier.
The second number of base game credits that the present invention contemplates modifying is a payout from a base game award. When the player spins the reels, the symbols generated alone or in combination may produce a base game award for the player. When this happens, and the player also generates an activator, the present invention enhances or increases the award by modifying the award by the designated modifier associated with the activator.
The modifiers preferably have a value and a function or action. The value is typically a number while the function or action can be one of many things desired by the implementor. The modifiers can multiply, add or perform any other mathematical function to the number of base game credits, such as squaring them. The modifier can also perform other functions such as choosing a number of picks that the player will have from a later group of award producing selections.
After the present invention modifies a number of base game credits, the present invention resets itself by generating or designating at least one new modifier. This auto-regeneration is preferably weighted so that the lowest modifier is not always designated and so that the highest modifiers are rarely designated. The higher value modifier provides an incentive, which provides excitement and enjoyment and motivates the players to play or continue playing the gaming device to achieve an enhanced payout.
The game also changes the highlighted or designated modifiers to modifiers having higher values. The reels of the present invention contain incrementor symbols or combinations. When a player receives an incrementor symbol or combination of symbols, the present invention changes the designated modifiers and displays the new modifiers in a modifier display. The present invention preferably increases the modifiers until the player wins or the highest valued modifier is designated, at which point the incrementors have no effect. The incrementors preferably change or reassign more than one or all the modifiers simultaneously, however, an incrementor can change only one modifier.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gaming device with a bonus game that operates in conjunction with the base game of the gaming device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a bonus game that is on-going rather than self-contained, and which increases the player's award as the player continues to play the gaming device.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.
Referring now to the drawings,
Gaming device 10 can incorporate any game such as slot, poker or keno in addition to any of their bonus triggering events which trigger the bonus game of the present invention. The symbols and indicia used on and in gaming device 10 may be in mechanical, electrical or video form.
As illustrated in
As shown in
Gaming device 10 also has a paystop display 28 which displays at least one symbol from a plurality of reels 30. Gaming device 10 preferably contains three to five reels in mechanical or video form. Each reel 30 contains a plurality of symbols such as bells, hearts, fruits, numbers, letters, bars or other images preferably corresponding to a theme of the gaming device 10. If the reels 30 are in video form, the gaming device 10 preferably displays the video reels 30 on the video monitor 32 instead of on the paystop display 28. The paystop display 28 of
At any time during the game, a player may “cash out” and thereby receive a number of coins corresponding to the number of remaining credits by pushing a cash out button 26. When the player “cashes out,” the player receives the coins in a coin payout tray 36. The gaming device 10 may employ other payout mechanisms such as credit slips redeemable by a cashier or electronically recordable cards which keep track of the player's credits.
With respect to electronics, gaming device 10 preferably includes the electronic configuration generally illustrated in
As illustrated in
It should be appreciated that although a processor 38 and memory device 40 are preferable implementations of the present invention, the present invention can also be implemented using one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC's) or other hard-wired devices, or using mechanical devices (collectively referred to herein as a “processor”). Furthermore, although the processor 38 and memory device 40 preferably reside on each gaming device 10 unit, it is possible to provide some or all of their functions at a central location such as a network server for communication to a playing station such as over a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), Internet connection, microwave link, and the like. The processor 38 and memory device 40 are generally referred to herein as the “computer.”
With reference to
Referring now to
The modifiers of groups 54 and 54a modify a number of base game credits. In
The gaming device 10 designates new modifiers when the player receives an incrementor, such as the “+” “+” incrementor 55 on a payline of the paystop display 28. The incrementor as well as the activator can be one symbol from a reel 30 or a combination of symbols from more than one reel 30. The incrementors change the designated modifier, preferably increasing the modifier value and preferably still, increasing the modifier value to the next highest modifier. If a player thus receives the “+” “+” incrementor 55 on a payline, the gaming device 10 preferably increases, for example, the modifier of group 54 from 2× to 3× or the modifier from the group 54a from 16× to 25×. As discussed below, the receipt of an incrementor can increase modifiers from one or a plurality of modifier groups. Further, the game can maintain the designated modifiers at the same relative position for two or more groups (e.g. 2× and 4×) or at different relative positions (e.g. 2× and 25×). It should be appreciated that if the designated modifier is already at the highest position, i.e., 5× or 25×, the receipt of an incrementor has no effect.
Referring now to
The present invention at all times designates a modifier or modifiers as indicated by block 104. When the player inserts money into the gaming device, the player preferably begins play with the modifier or modifiers that remain from the previous player. That is, when a player stops playing the gaming device of the present invention, the game preferably does not change the designated modifiers before another player arrives. The present invention likewise maintains the designated modifiers after a player begins play until the modifiers are activated or changed as described below.
Referring also to
Referring still to
In
Each modifier has a function, and different modifiers can have different functions. As alluded to by the symbols “X” and “XX,” the modifiers can act as multipliers. That is, the gaming device 10 multiplies the appropriate number of base game credits to determine the player's award as described below. The present invention also contemplates the modifiers adding to the number of base game credits. The present invention contemplates the modifiers functioning in any way that can increase or aid the increase of the player's award. For example, the modifiers can function as to define a number of turns, tries, or picks that a player has at an award generating means such as a group of award selections.
Referring again to
Referring to
Referring to
An activator is preferably a symbol or combination of symbols. Each modifier has an associated activator, and one activator can activate more than one designated modifier. For example, the preferred embodiment includes an activator for each group of modifiers, wherein the activator activates each group's designated modifier. The symbol or symbols comprising the activators preferably relate to a theme presented by the modifier display 32a. Referring to
Referring still to
The number of base game credits acted upon or modified are either the amount of a player's wager, shown in the bet display 22, or an amount that a player would otherwise win, i.e., a payout, from a winning symbol or combination of symbols displayed on the reels 30. The game preferably employs one or the other base game credits in conjunction with the modifiers and does not vary or switch from a bet to a payout or vice versa during the gaming device operation.
Referring to
Alternatively, if the number of base game credits of the present example is a payout from a symbol or a winning combination of symbols, the receipt of an activator does not automatically signal an additional award. In this alternative, the player must also receive a winning combination. For example, if the oriental fan symbol 62 displayed on reel 30b of
The gaming device of the present invention preferably predetermines at least some of the payout generating winning combinations of the reels 30 to include one or more of the activators, so that the receipt of an activator has an effect on the outcome of an award. For example, the present invention can make a winning combination of symbols be the oriental fan 62 and the “XX” activator 60, or the fan, the “X” activator and the “XX” activator, etc.
Referring again to
The present invention preferably employs a weighted system in randomly regenerating newly designated modifiers, so that it is more likely that the game will designate a lower value modifier to the player, but not the lowest value. For example, there can be a 5% chance that the player begins with a designated “X” modifier of 1×, a 20% chance of 2×, a 25% chance of 3×, a 16% chance of 4×, a 10% chance of 5×, an 8% chance of 6×, a 6% chance of 7×, a 5% chance of 8×, a 3% chance of 9× and a 2% chance of 10×. It is preferably conceivable, yet unlikely, that a player would obtain an initial 1×, 7×, 8×, 9× or 10×. To increase enjoyment and excitement, the present invention preferably entices the player with a designated multiplier greater than one and provides a challenge to the player to achieve the maximum multiplier.
Referring to diamond 116 of
Referring to
In the embodiment of
In this example, the receipt of the incrementor 64 causes the bonus game to re-designate both the “X” modifier of the group 54 and the “XX” modifier of the group 56, however, the present invention contemplates the receipt of the incrementor 64 re-designating less than all the modifiers. In the modifier display 32a of
Referring to
While the present invention is described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, and is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the claims. Modifications and variations in the present invention may be made without departing from the novel aspects of the invention as defined in the claims, and this application is limited only by the scope of the claims.
This application is a continuation and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/626,720, filed Jul. 27, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,649.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4624459 | Kaufman | Nov 1986 | A |
| 4991848 | Greenwood et al. | Feb 1991 | A |
| 5342047 | Heidel et al. | Aug 1994 | A |
| 5456465 | Durham | Oct 1995 | A |
| 5823874 | Adams | Oct 1998 | A |
| 5848932 | Adams | Dec 1998 | A |
| 5882261 | Adams | Mar 1999 | A |
| 5980384 | Barrie | Nov 1999 | A |
| 5997400 | Seelig et al. | Dec 1999 | A |
| 6004207 | Wilson, Jr. et al. | Dec 1999 | A |
| 6089977 | Bennett | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6089978 | Adams | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6117009 | Yoseloff | Sep 2000 | A |
| 6142873 | Weiss et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
| 6149521 | Sanduski | Nov 2000 | A |
| 6328649 | Randall et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
| 6638164 | Randall et al. | Oct 2003 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 0688002 | Dec 1995 | EP |
| 0874337 | Oct 1998 | EP |
| 0926645 | Jun 1999 | EP |
| 0944030 | Sep 1999 | EP |
| 0945837 | Sep 1999 | EP |
| WO 0012186 | Mar 2000 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20020019255 A1 | Feb 2002 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09626720 | Jul 2000 | US |
| Child | 09967016 | US |
