Central determination gaming system with incrementing awards

• US 10,614,669 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2018
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Selegue, Dylan
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US16/109,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20200066101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 594 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/34 Betting or bookmaking, e.g. Internet betting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3258 Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3267 Game outcomes which determine the course of the subsequent game, e.g. double or quits, free games, higher payouts, different new games
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A central determination gaming system which provides predetermined game outcomes with an incrementing award feature.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

responsive to an occurrence of a game triggering event, communicate, to a server, a game outcome seed request, and

responsive to a game outcome seed randomly selected from a pool of game outcome seeds being associated with a win of a free game progressive award;

receive, from the server, data associated with the game outcome seed,

for each of a quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award, receive, from the server, data associated with a free game outcome seed randomly selected from a pool of free game outcome seeds,

cause a display device to display a predetermined game outcome associated with the game outcome seed, and

for each of the received free game outcome seeds, cause the display device to display a free game outcome associated with that free game outcome seed.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of free games exceeding a default quantity of free games.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the occurrence of the game triggering event comprises a placement of a wager.

4. The gaming system of claim 3, wherein a portion of the wager is associated with incrementing the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award.

5. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the occurrence of the game triggering event comprises a spinning of a plurality of reels and the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of spins of the plurality of reels.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of picks of selections of a selection game.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of modifiers.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the processor responsive to the game outcome seed not being associated with any win of any free game progressive awards, the instructions cause the processor to cause the display device to display the predetermined game outcome associated with the game outcome seed.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, further comprising an acceptor, wherein when executed by the processor, the plurality of instructions cause the processor to, responsive to a physical item being received via the acceptor, establish a credit balance based on a monetary value associated with the received physical item, and responsive to a cashout input being received, cause an initiation of any payout associated with the credit balance.

10. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the display device comprises part of a mobile device in communication with the processor via a wireless network.

11. A gaming system server comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

maintain a first pool comprising a plurality of game outcome seeds,

maintain a second pool comprising a plurality of free game outcome seeds,

responsive to receiving, from an electronic gaming machine, a request for a game outcome seed, randomly select one of the game outcome seeds from the first pool, and

responsive to the randomly selected game outcome seed being associated with a win of a free game progressive award;

randomly select a quantity of free game outcome seeds from the second pool, wherein the quantity of free game outcome seeds is based on a quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award, and

communicate, to the electronic gaming machine, data associated with the randomly selected game outcome seed and the quantity of randomly selected free game outcomes seeds.

12. The gaming system server of claim 11, wherein when executed by the processor, the instructions cause the processor to:

prevent the randomly selected game outcome seed from being randomly selected again from the first pool, and

prevent the quantity of randomly selected free game outcome seeds from being randomly selected again from the second pool.

13. A method of operating a gaming system, the method comprising:

responsive to an occurrence of a game triggering event, communicating, to a server, a game outcome seed request,

responsive to a game outcome seed randomly selected from a pool of game outcome seeds being associated with a win of a free game progressive award;

receiving, from the server, data associated with the game outcome seed,

for each of a quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award, receiving, from the server, data associated with a free game outcome seed randomly selected from a pool of free game outcome seeds,

displaying, by a display device operating with a processor, a predetermined game outcome associated with the game outcome seed, and

for each of the received free game outcome seeds, displaying, by the display device operating with the processor, a free game outcome associated with that free game outcome seed.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of free games exceeding a default quantity of free games.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the occurrence of the game triggering event comprises a placement of a wager.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a portion of the wager is associated with incrementing the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the occurrence of the game triggering event comprises a spinning of a plurality of reels and the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of spins of the plurality of reels.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of picks of selections of a selection game.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the quantity of free games associated with the free game progressive award comprises a quantity of modifiers.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising, responsive to the game outcome seed not being associated with any win of any free game progressive awards, displaying, by the display device operating with the processor, the predetermined game outcome associated with the game outcome seed.