Method, apparatus, and program product for multiple play bonus system
A gaming system provides a secondary game in which the outcome depends on the results from multiple instances of a primary game. The secondary game is associated with a particular structure that includes a number of separate locations. Each of the secondary game locations is linked to a particular instance of the primary game so that the results of a particular instance of the primary game determine the condition or state of a respective secondary game location. Additionally, each location in the secondary game structure makes up a certain component of a secondary game display. Players receive an award if a certain pattern is displayed in the secondary game structure based on the application of the multiple instances of the primary game to the secondary game structure.
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This invention relates to gaming and gaming systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a gaming system that provides players with the opportunity to participate in a bonus game related to multiple instances of another game.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONWagering games are commonly played in a format in which one game play yields one result. The game known as “bingo” is an example of such a single play-single result game. Bingo is played with predetermined bingo cards that have designations, such as numbers, letters, or other symbols, randomly arranged in a desired manner, commonly in a grid. The bingo designations on the cards are selected from a pool of available designations. In traditional bingo games, the cards are physically printed on paper or other suitable material. These traditional printed cards are purchased by players prior to the start of a game. After a buy-in period in which players purchase bingo cards for a game, designations from the available pool of designations are selected at random. As the designations are selected and announced in the game, the players match the randomly selected designations with the designations printed on their respective card or cards. This matching and marking of matched designations on the bingo card is commonly referred to as “daubing” the card. The winner of the bingo game is the player first producing a predetermined winning pattern of matches between the randomly selected designations and the printed card designations on a single card, and then announcing “bingo” to claim the win. Other players may also receive awards for achieving other predetermined patterns of matches in the course of the bingo game. In any case, each bingo card in a particular game is associated with a single result.
Bonus games are commonly used in gaming systems to provide a level of play in addition to the primary games. Some bonus games award bonus prizes that are based at least in part, on the results of the primary game, while other bonus games award bonus prizes based on the outcome of only the bonus game. The bonus prize may take various forms, with some common examples including additional game play credits, a monetary prize, or tangible items, such as jewelry. Regardless of the prizes that may be awarded in a bonus game, bonus games tend to add a certain amount of excitement to a gaming system and thus tend to increase player participation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA gaming system according to the present invention provides a secondary game having an outcome that depends on the results from multiple instances of a primary game. The secondary game is associated with a particular secondary game structure that includes a number of separate locations. Each of these secondary game locations is linked to at least one particular instance of the primary game. The result associated with each instance of the primary game linked to a particular secondary game location helps determine the state of that respective secondary game location. Players may receive a bonus prize by producing some predefined pattern or other arrangement of secondary game locations in the secondary game structure. By basing the outcome of the bonus game on multiple instances of the primary game, the secondary game encourages players to participate in multiple instances of the primary game. The secondary game according to the present invention also adds a level of excitement to game play and helps enhance player interest in the gaming system.
One preferred method according to the present invention includes conducting a primary game multiple times to produce a number of respective primary game results. Each completed game play in the primary game represents an instance of the primary game and produces a result in the primary game. A result from a particular instance of the primary game will be referred to throughout this disclosure and the accompanying claims as a “primary game result.” Each instance of the primary game is linked to a location in a secondary game structure. For example, the secondary game structure may comprise a bingo card-type structure or an arrangement of reel symbol locations in a mechanical or video reel-type game display. Regardless of the exact nature of the secondary display structure, the primary game result for at least one respective instance of the primary game is applied to control the state of a respective location in the secondary game structure. The states of the various locations in the secondary game structure correlate to the result for the secondary game and may entitle a player to a bonus prize.
A gaming apparatus according to the present invention may include a game processor and a player display. In one form of the invention, the game processor receives a number of primary game results and applies those results to control the state of locations in the secondary game structure to which the instances of the primary game are linked. The game processor also identifies a result in a secondary game correlated with the pattern in the secondary game structure produced by applying the various primary game results. The player display included in this form of the invention is operatively connected to the game processor for displaying preferably the primary game results, the secondary game structure, and the secondary game result. The game processor may comprise a general purpose data processing device the operates under the control of operational program code to perform its various functions.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The claims at the end of this application set out novel features which the Applicant believes are characteristic of the invention. The various advantages and features of the invention together with preferred modes of use of the invention will best be understood by reference to the following description of illustrative embodiments read in conjunction with the drawings introduced above.
The following description discusses the present invention as used in the context of a particular bingo gaming system disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0152499 A1 entitled “Method, System, and Program Product for Conducting Multiple Concurrent Bingo-Type Games,” the entire content of which is incorporated herein by this reference. Although the invention does have particular application to the high-speed bingo gaming system set out in this published U.S. patent application, it will be appreciated that the invention is by no means limited to use in any particular bingo gaming system or to any particular primary game. Rather, the invention may be used to provide a secondary game for any type of game, including not only bingo games, but also lottery-type games, and casino-type games such as reel-type games and video poker games.
System 100 rapidly groups players and/or game play requests and starts one game after another so that multiple games may be in play at any given time. That is, once a first group of players or game play requests has been assigned to a bingo game offered through system 100, the system proceeds to simultaneously administer a bingo game for the first group of players or game play requests and also begin grouping players or game play requests for a next bingo game. System 100 does not necessarily wait for one bingo game to be completed before starting to collect players or game play requests for, and actually beginning play in, the next bingo game. The number of players or game play requests grouped for the play of bingo games in the bingo gaming system may be limited to reduce the time required for grouping. For example, each bingo game offered through gaming system 100 shown in
Since system 100 includes an arrangement for grouping players and/or game play requests for the play of a bingo game to facilitate rapid game play, the system may dramatically reduce the time between a game play request at one of the EPSs 103 and the return of results to the respective EPS. The delay between the game play request and the return of the bingo result may be reduced sufficiently to allow a great deal of flexibility in how results in the bingo game are displayed to the player. In particular, the primary game results may be displayed in some manner unrelated to bingo. For example, the primary game results may be mapped to a display traditionally associated with a reel-type game, to a display relating to a card game, or to a display showing a race such as a horse or dog race, for example.
Regardless of the rapid play facilitated by system 100 and regardless of the manner in which the primary game results are displayed, each instance of the underlying primary game remains a standard bingo game played in the traditional sequence of play for bingo games. That is, each player obtains or is assigned a bingo card representation, all bingo card representations in play in the game are daubed or checked for matches with a draw, and the first card in the game to match the sequence of designations to produce the game ending or winning pattern represents the card that may win the bingo game, subject to any claiming action required under the rules of the game. Additional prizes may be awarded for other patterns that may be produced in the course of the bingo game. Furthermore, instances of the bingo game, that is, plays in one or more bingo games conducted in system 100 may be applied to a secondary game according to the invention and may entitle the player to additional, bonus prizes in addition to the prizes available in the bingo games.
It will be noted that in the bingo gaming system shown in
As used in this disclosure, any sequence of designations that may be matched against bingo cards or card representations in the course of a bingo game is referred to as a “draw” regardless of how the sequence is actually generated. Under this definition, it will be appreciated that a draw may be produced by a random number generator, a pseudo random number generator, or any other suitable device or system, such as a manual, semi-automatic, or fully automatic physical ball draw device.
CGS 101 may comprise a computer system such as the basic system shown in
Each LAS 102 included in system 100 as shown in
It will be appreciated that the particular configuration of devices shown in
It should again be noted that although the bingo gaming system shown in
The present invention is also not limited to a single type of primary game for providing primary game results. That is, in some implementations of the present invention, a single set of multiple primary game instances may include instances of one game type, such as a lottery-type game, and instances of an entirely different type of game, such as a bingo-type game. As used in the following discussion and in the claims, it will be understood that references to multiple instances of a primary game and multiple results from a primary game will include the situation in which the multiple instances/results are all associated with different respective games or game types. References to multiple instances of a primary game and multiple results from a primary game will also encompass the situation in which each instance of the multiple instances and each result is associated with the same game or game type, and the situation in which some instances/results of the multiple instances are associated with one game or game type and others are associated with another game or game type.
Although the example gaming systems described above with reference to
It will be appreciated that there may be very wide variations in the specific steps and processes used in a primary game to initiate the various game play requests in the primary game as indicated at block 400. For example, where the primary game comprises a bingo-type game, each game play request may require a separate set of substeps including assigning or selecting a bingo card representation for the game play request, defining a wager for the game play request, and then submitting the game play request. Alternatively, the primary game interface may allow the player to define/assign bingo card representations and define wagers for multiple game play requests and then make a single final “submit” or “play” entry to submit multiple game play requests concurrently. Of course, where the primary game comprises a game other than a bingo-type game, the game play request initiation step shown at block 400 in
It will be appreciated that the initiation of game play requests in the primary game as indicated at process block 400 in
The example process shown in
As indicated at process block 402 in
As indicated at process block 403 in
In forms of the invention in which two or more primary game results control the state of a given location in the secondary game structure, further operations may be required to apply the primary game results as indicated at process block 403. For example, the rules of a particular implementation according to the present invention may be that the state of a given secondary game structure location is dependent upon a cumulative prize value associated with two or more primary game results. In this example, applying the primary game results may include calculating the cumulative prize value of the two or more primary game results linked to the given secondary game structure location, and then looking up a state identifier correlated with the calculated value through a suitable data structure. The state identifier may then be assigned to location to which the two or more primary game results are linked. In yet another example within the scope of the present invention, two primary game results could be logically ORed such that a given primary game result in either instance of the primary game produces a given state in the secondary game structure location to which the two primary game results are linked.
Once the primary game results are applied according to the applicable rules for the given implementation of the invention, the invention includes identifying the result of the secondary game. This step is indicated at block 404 in
Results in the secondary game are based on the state of at least one respective location in the secondary game structure. Thus, the step of identifying the result of the secondary game includes analyzing the state of at least one location in the secondary game structure. For example, the secondary game according to the invention may be defined as providing a winning result if one location in the secondary game structure is at a given state. As another example, a secondary game according to the invention may be defined as providing a winning result if multiple locations, such as a row or column of locations, are each at some respective state. Specific examples of secondary game structures and location states will be described below with reference to
The results may be identified in the secondary game in any number of fashions within the scope of the invention. In one preferred arrangement, a suitable data structure includes an entry that defines each winning pattern of location states for the secondary game, and correlates each winning pattern to a prize value in the secondary game. The step of identifying the result of the secondary game in this arrangement includes comparing the pattern of secondary game location states defined by the applying the primary game results at process block 403 to the table of winning secondary structure patterns and noting any matches. The prize value for any matched pattern from the table of winning patterns would represent the prize for the secondary game and would be awarded as indicated at process block 406.
As discussed above, each game play request in the primary game may be associated with a separate wager in the primary game. The wager amount for each game play request may be the same or may vary among the different game play requests initiated as indicated at block 400 in
In some preferred implementations of the present invention, a given set of instances of a primary game are applied to control the states of locations in the secondary game structure to define a single instance of the secondary game. After the single instance of the secondary game, the entire secondary game structure is cleared and then another set of instances of the primary game are applied to the secondary game structure. Another preferred form of the invention allows a player to continue play in the secondary game without resetting the state of the locations in the secondary game structure. After a first set of instances of the primary game are applied to a secondary game structure, the player may be given the option of choosing to apply additional instances in the primary game to control the states of one or more locations in the secondary game structure, while leaving other secondary game structure locations in the state dictated by an instance of the primary game from the first set of primary game instances. In either of these implementations according to the invention, a player participating in a primary game is encouraged to participate in more instances of the primary game in order to have a chance at a result in the secondary game.
It should be noted that the present invention does not require that the multiple game play requests indicated at block 400 be initiated simultaneously in one step. Rather, initiating the multiple game play requests as indicated at block 400 may include initiating a first game play request and receiving a result for the game play request, initiating a second game play request and receiving a result for the game play request, and so forth until all of the results for the primary game which are linked to the secondary game structure have been identified. At that time, the present invention may include translating the primary game results as indicated at block 403 to control the state of each secondary game structure location, determining the result of the secondary game as indicated at decision block 404, and awarding any prize in the secondary game as indicated at block 406. Alternatively, multiple game play requests are initiated concurrently in one or more primary games, and the concurrently identified results from the primary game are applied to the secondary game structure and evaluated with respect to the secondary game structure to determine the result of the secondary game.
It will also be noted that the number of game play requests initiated at step 400 in
Some preferred forms of the present secondary game invention employ a secondary game structure that includes secondary game structure locations that are all capable of being controlled by one or more instances of a primary game. However, other forms of the present invention apply instances of a primary game to control less than all locations of a secondary game structure. For example, a secondary game structure may comprise a traditional 5×5 bingo grid structure with a “Free” space in the middle of the grid. In this case, the “Free” space would not be linked to an instance of the primary game. Another example secondary game structure may comprise a representation of a reel-type game having a number of reels and reel symbol locations to define one or more paylines. The reel symbol locations represent secondary game structure locations. In this example, all of the reel symbol locations may be controlled by one or more instances of the primary game. However, some implementations may control only a limited subset of reel symbol locations by linked instances of the primary game. The symbols that appear at the other reel symbol locations may be controlled in any suitable manner. For example, the reel symbol locations that are not linked to be controlled by one or more instances of the primary game may be controlled to present reel symbols randomly for each instance of the secondary game.
It will be appreciated that the process steps described above with reference to
The manner in which the process steps shown in
Communications to the player station such as EPS 103 in networked gaming system 100 may be quite different where the game processor functions are performed at a processing device separate from the player station. In this type of implementation, where the primary game results are applied to the secondary game structure and the result of the secondary game is identified at a processing device separate from the player station, only the secondary game result need be communicated to the player station. However, preferred forms of the present secondary game invention will also communicate sufficient data or instructions to the player station to allow the player station to produce the particular secondary game structure graphics through the player station display. In these centralized game processor forms of the invention, the award associated with a secondary game result could be communicated to the player station or the player station could look up the award using table stored at the player station correlating secondary game results with secondary game prizes. Of course, even where the secondary game processor is implemented through a network component separate form the player stations themselves, the primary game results are still preferably communicated to the player station in some fashion so that the player station can communicate the results to the player through the display device associated with the player station.
To illustrate a more concrete example of the invention, assume each location 502 in the bingo card representation 501 making up the secondary game structure is linked to a single instance of the primary game. Also assume that the primary game comprises a bingo-type game in which a variety of prizes are awarded for different patterns achieved during the course of the underlying bingo game for a respective bingo card entered in a bingo game. Assume further that the secondary game rules according to the present invention dictate that if the linked instance of the primary game achieves any prize winning pattern, that primary game result will be applied to produce a daub at that respective location 502, and that otherwise the respective location 502 will remain undaubed. Assume also that a prize will be awarded in the secondary game in the event that any straight line bingo pattern is achieved in the secondary game structure/bingo card representation 501. Given these rules and assumptions, assume further that a player participates in a group of twenty-five separate instances of a first bingo game and achieves a winning result only in instances 5, 7, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25. The remainder of the instances of the primary game achieved no winning pattern.
Under all of these assumptions and rules, a secondary game according to the present invention would result in a secondary game structure in the condition shown in
The example display shown in
The above-described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate the principles of the invention and are not meant 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 present invention. For example, although a particular hardware arrangement is shown for purposes of describing the invention, it will be appreciated that numerous hardware arrangements are possible for implementing the present invention. Also, although the operational software-controlled process steps are described as occurring at certain processing elements in the system, the processing steps may be distributed in any suitable fashion over various data processing elements.
Claims
1. A method including:
- (a) conducting multiple instances of a primary game to produce multiple primary game results, each instance of the primary game being linked to a respective location in a secondary game structure for a secondary game;
- (b) applying the primary game result for each respective instance of the primary game to control the state of the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to that respective instance of the primary game; and
- (c) identifying a result of the secondary game based on the state of at least one respective location in the secondary game structure.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the primary game is a bingo game.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the primary game is a lottery game.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary game structure is a representation of a bingo card.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein a predetermined result in a respective instance of the primary game daubs the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to that respective instance of the primary game.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary, game structure is a representation of reel-type game.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein a predetermined result in a respective instance of the primary game causes a particular reel symbol to be displayed at the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to that respective instance of the primary game.
8. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:
- (a) applying a portion of a wager for participating in multiple instances of the primary game to at least partially fund a bonus prize available in the secondary game; and
- (b) awarding the bonus prize to a player in response to the result of the secondary game.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the result of the secondary game is defined by a pattern of locations in the secondary game structure.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein two or more instances of the primary game are each linked to the respective location in the secondary game structure for the secondary game and the primary game results of the two or more instances of the primary game control the state of the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to those respective instances of the primary game.
11. A program product stored on one or more computer readable media, the program product including:
- (a) result coordinating program code executable for linking each respective instance of a primary game to a respective location in a secondary game structure for a secondary game;
- (b) secondary game program code executable for applying the primary game result for each respective instance of the primary game to control the state of the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to that respective instance of the primary game, and for identifying a result of the secondary game based on the state of at least one respective location in the secondary game structure.
12. The program product of claim 11 wherein:
- (a) the result coordinating program code links two or more instances of the primary game to at least one respective location in the secondary game structure for a secondary game; and
- (b) the secondary game program code applies the primary game results of the two or more instances of the primary game to control the state of the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to those respective instances of the primary game.
13. The program product of claim 11 wherein each respective instance of the primary game that is linked to a respective location in the secondary game structure is associated with a common game play input for play in the primary game.
14. The program product of claim 11 wherein each respective instance of the primary game that is linked to a respective location in the secondary game structure is associated with a respective distinct game play input for play in the primary game.
15. The program product of claim 11 wherein secondary game structure is a bingo card representation and the secondary game program code controls the state of the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to that respective instance of the primary game by causing the respective location in bingo card representation to be daubed.
16. The program product of claim 11 wherein secondary game structure is a reel-type game representation and the secondary game program code controls the state of the respective location in the secondary game structure linked to that respective instance of the primary game by causing the respective location in reel-type game representation to show a particular reel symbol.
17. A gaming apparatus including:
- (a) a game processor for (i) receiving a number of primary game results, each respective primary game result corresponding to a respective instance of a primary game, for (ii) applying the primary game result for each respective instance of the primary game to control the state of a respective location in a secondary game structure to which the respective primary game result is linked, and for (iii) identifying a result in a secondary game based on the state of at least one location in the secondary game structure; and
- (b) a player display operatively connected to the game processor for displaying the secondary game structure.
17. The gaming apparatus of claim 16 wherein the player display is also for displaying the primary game result for each instance of the primary game.
18. The gaming apparatus of claim 16 wherein the player display is associated with an electronic player station having an electronic player station processing device in communication with the game processor.
19. The gaming apparatus of claim 18 further including a number of additional electronic player stations, each electronic player station being in communication with the game processor and each additional electronic player station including a respective player display.
20. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the game processor is also for linking each respective instance of the primary game to the respective location of the secondary game structure.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 11, 2005
Publication Date: Jan 11, 2007
Applicant:
Inventors: Clifton Lind (Austin, TX), Jefferson Lind (Austin, TX)
Application Number: 11/178,531
International Classification: A63F 9/24 (20060101);