The present invention relates generally to a gaming system employing a plurality of gaming terminals where the gaming terminals are capable of playing one of several games stored in a vast game library preferably on a central game server. More particularly, the present invention provides a new and improved method for a player to select which game to play from the library of available games. Gaming terminals are devices which upon a player making a wager, the player may win an award. Gaming terminals include machines more commonly referred to as slot machines and video lottery terminals. There are many types of games that can be played on these gaming devices including but not limited to slots, video poker, keno, bingo, pachinko and blackjack.
Conventional gaming terminals or gaming machines typically have a cabinet and a gaming display mounted inside the cabinet. The gaming display may be mechanical, such as a series of stepper reels that carry gaming symbols on the reels, or may be electronic such as a video display that is capable of generating video images of gaming symbols. Whether mechanical or electronic, the gaming display may be capable of generating images associated with a game, such as poker, blackjack, slots, keno, pachinko or bingo. The gaming machine is controlled by a processor with an associated memory.
The gaming machine is configured for a player to input something of value used to make a wager, which can include a standard denomination of currency, a ticket, and/or any other representation of currency or credit. Once the player inputs a wager, the player may then activate the device. Upon activation, in the case of a slot machine, a plurality of reels which are either mechanical or represented on the video screen spin and ultimately stop to display a random combination of some form of symbol, for example, numbers or symbols. If the display contains one of a plurality of winning combinations, the machine issues an award. The amount of award will typically depend on the winning combination that is achieved. The gaming machine then either releases money into a payout chute, issues a ticket, issues credits onto a credit meter, or indicates and awards the winning amount to the player in any suitable manner. Often the award amount is related to the initial amount wagered.
Similarly, with respect to video poker, once a player inputs a wager, a number of cards is displayed and ultimately the player's poker hand ranking is evaluated. With respect to other types of gaming devices discussed above, the appropriate display is shown to the player upon activation of the gaming device and awards are given based on the specific rules of each game. Regardless of whether the gaming machine is displaying reels, or cards or a keno game, the activation of the game will generally be referred to herein as a spin.
Gaming machines that use a video display to display the game can easily be reprogrammed to display a different game or even a different game type by accessing a different program in the memory. For instance, it is a simple matter to change a video slot game into a video poker game—only the program being run by the processor of the gaming machine needs to be changed. Additionally, recent advances in technology now allow machines that use mechanical stepper motors to drive physical reels to change the symbols displayed on the reels via programming and therefore change the game being displayed.
For several years, gaming machines using a video display have stored a number of games, sometimes as many as ten, on internal EPROMs. EPROMs provided a level of inherent security for the gaming machine because the data stored on the EPROM could not easily be changed. However, the storage capacity of EPROMs is very limited. Therefore, in order to store up to ten games, the graphics and sounds used for the games were generally simpler and less attractive than the games on gaming machines storing only a single game program. As encryption and authentication methods have become more sophisticated however, gaming regulators have approved the use of mass storage devices such as hard drives for use in gaming machines. Gaming machines equipped with such hard drives could store literally hundreds of simple games on a single hard drive. Further, by connecting such a gaming machine to a networked system, the gaming machine could download from a central server a single “complex” game from a library of hundreds or even thousands of such games.
Obviously, when the gaming machine used EPROMs to store ten or fewer games, it was a relatively simple matter for the player to select which of the stored games he wished to play. Typically, the gaming machine would display ten icons, one corresponding to each available game, and the player would pick the desired game by selecting the associated icon. When the number of available games is far greater in number than ten, this system is inefficient and will largely result in the player wasting valuable time looking for a game to his liking. Additionally, the player may get frustrated and leave a machine if he cannot find his desired game. The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art method for game selection.
In the present invention the player is provided an improved and new method of selecting one game from a library of several games that are available for play on a gaming machine. This is accomplished by first developing a database based on the library of available games. The database and/or the library of available games may be stored on the gaming machine, but preferably both the library and the database are stored on a central server that may be accessed by the gaming machine via a network. The database includes such things as the game type, the game's title, descriptive words associated with the game, general information about the game, such as the number of lines, reel layout, denomination, bonus game types, and may include mathematical information about the game such as bonus game frequency, jackpot frequency, hit frequency and volatility. The player may enter a search term or terms that will be compared to the database to display to the player a list of the available games that match the search term(s). Preferably the search term is entered by the player using a full-size QWERTY keyboard displayed on the video display of the gaming machine coupled to a touch screen. Alternatively, an auxiliary screen, such as a screen used for a player tracking system interface may be used. The player's search may also be limited using pre-defined search-limiting items preferably comprising some of the available general and/or mathematical information.
In addition, the improved method of game selection may be performed at a location remote from the gaming machine to be used. For instance, the player may use a specialized kiosk provided by the casino to access the database of available games. The casino may even allow players to access its database of available games over the Internet. In which case, the player can chose a game at home to play on a future trip to a specific casino. When the database is accessed remotely rather than from a gaming machine, the game selected by the player may be associated with a player's player ID number stored on the player's player tracking card such that when the player inserts his card into a gaming machine capable of playing the selected game, that game is automatically loaded for play. Alternatively, the player may be provided with a ticket that, upon insertion into a gaming machine, will load the desired game.
One embodiment of the present invention may be deployed on a gaming machine or gaming device 100 as illustrated in
Gaming machine 100 can incorporate a variety of game types including, but not limited to slots, video poker, blackjack, keno or bingo. The symbols used on and in gaming machine 100 may be displayed in mechanical, electrical, electronic or video form. Gaming machine 100 shown in
It should be appreciated that the display devices may display any visual representation or exhibition, including but not limited to video images or movement of physical objects such as mechanical reels and wheels. The display devices can be a video monitor or screen, a liquid crystal display or any other display mechanism. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that these display devices may preferably include touchscreens.
As shown in
After a player inserts money in the gaming machine 100, either via the coin slot 120, the bill validator 110 or the card reader 130, or other means a number of credits corresponding to the amount deposited is shown in a credit display 140. After money is credited to the machine 100 and shown on the credit display 140, the player then determines the wager amount. The machine 100 may have any number of mechanisms known in the art for allowing a player to determine his wager. For example, in the case of a multi-line slot game as shown in
Although
The gaming machine 100 also includes a memory device 210 for storing program code or other data. This memory device 210 can include both read only memory (ROM) 205 and random access memory (RAM) 207 and preferably includes a mass storage device that can be written to in situ, such as a hard drive 206. In addition to the memory device 210, the electronic configuration of the gaming machine 100 may also include one or more input devices 220, one or more display devices 230, a sound card 240, and one or more speakers 250.
The input devices 220 may include but are not limited to a primary spin button 145, a bet one credit button 170, a max bet button 150, a cash out button 180 and a bet one line button 155. In situations where a touch screen 260 is used, a touch screen controller 265 and touch screen 260 are connected to a video controller 270 and the processor 200.
Although
Once the player has finalized his wager amount, the player may initiate play by pressing the primary spin button 145. In response to play initiation, the gaming machine 100 randomly displays a plurality of symbols on the video display 105. In the video configuration of the gaming machine 100 shown in
In the preferred operation of the gaming machine, when a player no longer wishes to play, he activates the cash out button 180, which results in any amount on the credit meter 140 being paid to the player either by crediting a player's account, issuing a ticket by a ticket printer 135 or by depositing coins or tokens into a coin tray 190 through a coin chute 195.
The gaming machine 100 may also include an auxiliary video screen such as a player tracking screen 40 and an associated player tracking keyboard 50. These devices may be associated with the card reader 130.
Referring now to
In the alternative embodiment where each gaming machine 100 stores a library of games in its memory 210 and there is no network connection 340 to a central server 300. The memory 210 of each gaming device 100 will also store a database 310 corresponding to the games on the specific memory 210.
Referring now to
In addition to using search phrases and pre-defined limitations to locate a desired game or list of possible games, the gaming system 305 may provide the player the option of selecting from a pre-arranged group of games. For instance, if the player activates the “New Games” button 440 shown on
Also shown on
As is evident on
The results for the exemplar search are shown on
It should be appreciated by those familiar with gaming machines that the description 501 for the game “Greek Heroes” differs from the description 502 for a game of the same name. One noted difference is that the first description 501 is for a nine-line game, while the second description 502 is for a twenty line game. Although these are shown as two different entries, in other embodiments, the gaming system 305 may be configured to display games of the same title as a single entry. The player may then select the entry and be presented with a sub-screen where he chooses between, for instance, the nine-line and twenty-line versions. Each description 501, 502, 503 and 504 in
It should be appreciated that the last two game descriptions 503 and 504 shown on
Although it is preferable that the games in the game library are represented in a corresponding database of games, it would be possible for the same information stored in the database to be directly stored in the game programs themselves. Thus, in response to a search query, the gaming server 300 may search the game programs in its library rather than the corresponding database.
While this invention has been described with respect to several specific embodiments thereof, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but rather that the invention is intended to cover various combinations, modifications and equivalent arrangements which will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is thus to be understood that the invention should not be limited by the description, and that modifications and variations in the present invention may be made without departing from the novel aspects of this invention as defined in the following claims.