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 facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all rights of copyright whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gaming systems and to gaming machines used to present gaming results. More particularly, the invention is directed to gaming systems, machines, and methods for modifying payouts in a game.
2. Description of the Related Art
A large number of different gaming machines have been developed to provide various games and game results.
Various games, such as those played with predetermined cards or displays, include a number of designations randomly arranged in a grid, matrix, or other layout of locations. The game board or display may be represented by a data structure which defines a representation having various card or display locations and designations associated with the locations.
For example, in a traditional bingo game sequence, a number of the predetermined bingo cards are first sold for a particular bingo game. After the sale of bingo cards is closed for a given game, designations are randomly selected from a pool of available designations and matched to the designations on each bingo card that is in play in the bingo game. This matching of bingo designations randomly selected for a game and bingo designations associated with a bingo card in play in the game is commonly referred to as daubing the card.
One problem with various games is that the probability of winning or losing with a particular card or display may be determined by a fixed set of constraints. These constraints include the number of designations available in the pool of designations, the predetermined pattern or patterns to be matched, and the number of locations on the card or display. For a given set of constraints, the probabilities of winning and losing are generally fixed.
The present invention includes gaming systems, machines and methods wherein a first game outcome is randomly or pseudo-randomly generated with a set of indicia, followed by an offer or presentation of one or more randomly or pseudo-randomly generated indicia to enhance the first game outcome and modify or improve the original payout.
According to the invention, after identifying a set of initial game designations to produce a game ending result, one or more additional game designations may be offered or provided in order to achieve a possible winning outcome. For example in a bingo game, considering these additional game designations together with the set of initial game designations may produce additional matched locations on a bingo card and may produce a winning pattern that would not have been produced considering only the set of initial game designations. Thus, the invention provides additional opportunities for players to obtain a winning result.
As used in this disclosure and the accompanying claims, “game designations” refer to the designations or symbols randomly drawn, selected, generated, or identified in a game to present a game outcome. The “set of initial game designations” will refer to those game designations used to identify an initial game outcome, and the “set of additional game designations” will refer to those game designations considered according to the present invention after the set of initial game designations. Finally, unless otherwise specified, a “set” of some element may comprise one or more of those elements.
One method according to principles of the invention includes conducting a community game for a set of players to produce a game ending pattern for a game winning player included in the set of players. The game ending pattern may be a predefined pattern that, when achieved on a card or display, such as by matching the game designations included in the set of initial game designations for the game, signifies an end to that particular game. This method according to the invention also includes identifying a final result for a respective player included in the set of players. For example, this final result may be identified based on a pattern achieved with the respective player's card or display upon matching both the set of initial game designations and a set of additional game designations to that card or display.
A system according to the present invention includes a game result controller and a player station. The game result controller conducts a game to produce the game ending pattern and to identify the final result for a player. The player station includes a display device for displaying the final result to the player at the player station. A supplemental designation controller may be included in the system for determining whether one or more additional game designations will be considered. A prize assignment controller may be included in the system to identify any prize to be awarded to a player after considering the set of initial game designations and the set of additional game designations.
These and other features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings.
The following description of the present invention will be made in reference to a particular gaming system disclosed fully in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004-0152499 entitled “Method, System, and Program Product for Conducting Multiple Concurrent Bingo-Type Games,” which is incorporated in this application by this reference. However, it should be noted that this particular gaming system is used only as a convenient example and reference point for disclosing the features of the present invention. The present invention is by no means limited to use in the particular gaming system disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004-0152499. Rather, the invention may be used in connection with any gaming system, and particularly those utilizing an electronic player station to present results to a game participant.
Gaming system 100 shown in
CGS 101 may include one or more computer systems, each including one or more processors, nonvolatile memory, volatile memory, a user interface arrangement (for system operator access), and a network communications interface. Each LAS 102 included in system 100 may also include one or more computer systems each having one or more processors, nonvolatile memory, volatile memory, a user interface arrangement for system operator access, and a network communications interface. Each EPS 103 also preferably includes at least one processing device and a suitable network communication arrangement. Each EPS 103 also includes a player interface arrangement that allows a player to enter bingo games offered through gaming system 100 and display results in an exciting and attractive format. This player interface may include one or more player input devices, one or more displays or touch screen displays, a sound system, a convenient arrangement for dispensing winnings and allowing the player to make wagers, and perhaps other features such as alarms or special displays or alerting devices.
The details of CGS 101, LASs 102, and EPSs 103 in
In operation, a player in system 100 shown in
The particular configuration of devices shown in
The preferred form of the invention shown in
As indicated in
It will be appreciated that the arrangement of controllers shown in
The flow diagram shown in
It will be appreciated that the process shown in
In the example gaming system 100 shown in
Identifying the set of initial game designations as indicated at process block 304 preferably includes matching one game designation after another to each bingo card in play in the respective bingo game, and noting card designation matches until one of the bingo cards in play in the bingo game produces a game ending pattern. In this form of the invention, the number of game designations required to first produce this game ending pattern is considered the set of initial game designations. A player who owns a bingo card that produces the game ending pattern considering the designations included in the set of initial game designations is considered a game ending winner. Although using the number of game designations required to produce a game ending pattern is a preferred form of the invention, other preferred embodiments may use a predetermined number of game designations as the set of initial game designations. Regardless of specifically how the set of initial game designations is determined, in the example system 100 of
The decision as to whether additional game designations are to be considered as indicated at decision block 306, may be made in any suitable fashion within the scope of the present invention. In one preferred embodiment, the decision is based on a random number generated by a random number generator associated with supplemental designation controller 202 shown in
The decision indicated at decision block 306 in
In some forms of the invention, the value of a bingo pattern produced with a player's bingo card may be influenced by the number of game designations that are considered to produce the bingo pattern. For example, in one embodiment, a straight line bingo pattern produced by considering five game designations is associated with a higher prize/value than the same straight line pattern that is produced by considering twenty-five game designations. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, a player may be given the opportunity to forego any potential for considering additional game designations because of the potential detrimental effect additional game designations may have on the value of a given pattern. The player may be given this choice either after it is determined whether additional game designations may be considered or before this determination is made. That is, the number of additional game designations that may be considered may be determined and presented to the player in some fashion prior to the time that the player is required to choose whether to accept the additional game designations or stick with the result produced considering only the initial game designations. In any of the embodiments in which a player is given a choice as to whether additional game designations will be considered, at the point in play at which the player must make their choice, the player may or may not be shown the result that would be produced considering only the initial game designations.
The invention encompasses any way to identify additional game designations to be considered in a bingo game as shown at process block 310. In some forms of the invention, an initial ball draw/random designation generator sets a sequence for the entire universe of designations that may be drawn in a bingo game. In these forms of the invention, the set of initial game designations may comprise the initial part of the sequence required to produce the game ending pattern and any additional game designation comprises simply the next designation in that sequence. Other forms of the invention may remove the set of initial game designations and then select any additional game designations at random from that limited set of designations. Furthermore, the number of additional game designations that may be considered may be determined in any suitable fashion. Some forms of the invention may consider some fixed number of additional game designations in response to an affirmative result at decision block 306 in
The process of identifying the pattern of matched card locations shown at process block 307 in
Results in the game for a given player are identified at process block 307 in
The step of presenting the results to the player as indicated at process block 308 in
Especially in the embodiments of the invention in which the decision on whether to consider additional game designations is at least partially based on a player's choice input, an initial graphic presentation may be used to present the result to the player, whether a winning result or a losing result, that is achieved in the bingo game considering only the set of initial game designations. This initial graphic presentation may also comprise a bingo-related or a non-bingo graphical presentation, and preferably includes a graphic indicating that the player has a choice of standing on the initial results or continuing with a chance for one or more additional game designations to be considered. Following the presentation of the result considering only the set of initial game designations, the player's display device 206 may produce special graphics to announce that additional game designations are being considered. The graphics associated with the presentation indicated at block 308 in
The process shown in
In the example of
The example modifications of bingo patterns 402, 404, and 406 demonstrate three general modification possibilities that exist in the present invention. First, as illustrated by bingo card 401, a bingo pattern could remain the same after an additional ball draw and no modification of the matched pattern would occur in the bingo game. Thus, for example, bingo card 401 remains valued at 10 credits for the ‘X’ bingo pattern 402. Second, as illustrated by bingo card representation 403, a bingo pattern could be modified after the additional game designations and a new prize could be associated with the modified pattern. In this example, two additional card locations are matched to produce bingo pattern 412. The prize associated with bingo card 403 is also modified from the prize correlated to pattern 404, for example five credits, to an ‘X’ pattern, which may be worth ten credits for example. Third, as illustrated by bingo card 405, a bingo pattern could be modified but with no prize modification. In this example, the straight line pattern 406 is modified to pattern 414 with one additional location matched. However, because the only paying pattern contained in modified bingo pattern 414 is still only a straight line pattern, the prize is not modified.
In other embodiments, for example, where the number of additional designations that are drawn in a bingo game affect the prize that is awarded to a player, the prize associated with bingo pattern 406 could be reduced from five credits to four credits for bingo pattern 414 because additional game designations were considered but still only produced a straight line bingo pattern. Likewise, the ten credit prize associated with the ‘X’ bingo pattern could be reduced to nine credits, for example, when additional game designations fail to change the ‘X’ pattern of bingo card 401 or when the ‘X’ bingo pattern 412 is produced only after considering additional game designations after the initial game designations. In some forms of the invention, a player may or may not improve their overall prize by the additional ball draw even if another winning pattern is produced considering the additional game designation.
As discussed above with reference to
In Table I, three different number ranges are illustrated for numbers between 0-100. The different number ranges each correspond to a different number of additional game designations to consider. In operation, a random number between 0 and 100 is generated and then used to identify the number of additional game designations to be considered. In this particular example, if the randomly generated number falls in the range from 98-100, four additional game designations will be considered, and if the randomly generated number falls in the range from 95-97, two additional game designations will be considered. Finally, if the randomly generated number falls in the remaining range, that is, the range from 0-94, no additional game designations will be considered.
It should be appreciated that the additional game designations considered according to the present invention may not match any of the designations on a given bingo card. In the example of bingo card 401 in
As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, further variations for considering additional game designations in a bingo game are possible and are within the scope of the following claims. The above described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate the principles of the invention, but not to limit the scope of the invention. Various other embodiments and modifications to these preferred embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, although traditional five-by-five bingo cards are shown for purposes of example in
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/084,282, filed Mar. 18, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,708,634 B2.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4743022 | Wood | May 1988 | A |
5042818 | Weingardt | Aug 1991 | A |
5129652 | Wilkinson | Jul 1992 | A |
5242163 | Fulton | Sep 1993 | A |
5577727 | Brame et al. | Nov 1996 | A |
5651735 | Baba | Jul 1997 | A |
5657991 | Camarato | Aug 1997 | A |
5679077 | Pocock et al. | Oct 1997 | A |
5727786 | Weingardt | Mar 1998 | A |
5935002 | Falciglia | Aug 1999 | A |
6186892 | Frank et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6280325 | Fisk | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6315290 | Roethel et al. | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6315663 | Sakamoto | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6368214 | Luciano | Apr 2002 | B1 |
6398645 | Yoseloff | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6581935 | Odom | Jun 2003 | B1 |
6702668 | Banyai | Mar 2004 | B2 |
6722978 | Valenti | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6832956 | Boyd et al. | Dec 2004 | B1 |
7056212 | Boyd et al. | Jun 2006 | B2 |
20020086725 | Fasbender et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020094860 | Itkis et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020132661 | Lind et al. | Sep 2002 | A1 |
20020155873 | Berman et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20020177478 | Glasson et al. | Nov 2002 | A1 |
20030104853 | Tessmer et al. | Jun 2003 | A1 |
20030178771 | Banyai | Sep 2003 | A1 |
20040009806 | Odom | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040152499 | Lind et al. | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040152508 | Lind et al. | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040173962 | Cheery | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20050043079 | Huang | Feb 2005 | A1 |
20050059471 | Cannon | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050096113 | Gabuchian | May 2005 | A1 |
20050233798 | Van Asdale | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050266915 | Isogai et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
Entry |
---|
International Search Report dated Sep. 21, 2007 issued in PCT application No. PCT/US06/06268 (2 pages). |
Written Opinion of the International Search Authority dated Sep. 21, 2007 issued in PCT application No. PCT/US06/06268 (4 pages). |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100222126 A1 | Sep 2010 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 11084282 | Mar 2005 | US |
Child | 12770917 | US |