GAMING SYSTEM AND METHOD WHICH ENABLES MULTIPLE PLAYERS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY PLAY MULTIPLE INDIVIDUAL GAMES OR GROUP GAMES ON A CENTRAL DISPLAY

• US 20080102916A1
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Baerlcoher, Anthony, Kovacs, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,109,821 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/16
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3216 Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3269 Timing aspects of game play, e.g. blocking/halting the operation of a gaming machine
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3272 Games involving multiple players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a gaming system including a central controller, a central display which includes a plurality of display segments and a plurality player stations. The display segments are configured to each separately display one of a plurality of games, to co-act to display a plurality of games, or to co-act to display one game. Each player station is configured to enable a player to play one or more of the games displayed by the display segments. The gaming system enables a plurality of players to play a group game on the central display, a plurality of players to simultaneously play multiple group games on the central display, and a plurality of players to each simultaneously play multiple individual games on the central display.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

a display device including a plurality of display segments, each display segment configured to display one of a plurality of different games;

a plurality of player stations, each player station including at least one input device and at least one display device;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to;

(a) during a participation period, for each of a plurality of players, enable the player to individually wager using the at least one input device of the player station on different ones of the games displayed by the display segments;

(b) upon termination of the participation period, simultaneously display a play of at least the wagered on games on the display segments of the display device;

(c) display randomly determined game outcomes for each of the displayed plays of the games on the display segments of the display device, wherein each of the game outcomes can be a winning game outcome or a losing game outcome, and wherein a determination of whether the game outcome is a winning game outcome for each play of each game is independent from the determinations of whether each of the other game outcomes of the plays of the different games displayed by the display segments of the display device are winning game outcomes; and

(d) for each player, for each game wagered on by the player, display at the player station and provide the player any awards based on;

(i) the game outcome associated with said wagered on game; and

(ii) an amount the player wagered on said game.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein each of the games are simultaneously displayable by the display segments.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the display device is a single device.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the games is an interactive game.

5. The gaming system of claim 4, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable a single player to control the interactive game.

6. The gaming system of claim 4, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable multiple players to control the interactive game.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the at least one input device of each of the player stations enables the selection of the games to play and the amount wagered per game.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to display an indication at least of one player with who received one of the winning outcomes.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the different games includes a plurality of different types of games.

10. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations for to provide a next participation period to enable a plurality of players to each individually wager using the at least one input device of the player station on different ones of the games displayed by the display segments, wherein said next participation period begins before any awards are displayed at the player stations for the wagered on games.

11. A gaming system comprising:

a display device including a plurality of display segments, each display segment configured to display one of a plurality of different games;

a plurality of player stations, each player station including at least one input device and at least one display device;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to;

(a) for each of a plurality of players, enable the player to individually wager using the at least one input device of the player station on the different games of the games displayed by the display segments;

(b) upon initiation of a wager on a play of one of the games, begin a participation period for said game;

(c) enable other players to place wagers for said play of said game using the at least one input device of the player station during the participation period;

(d) upon termination of the participation period, randomly determine and display a game outcome for said play of said game on one of the display segments of the display device, wherein said game outcome can be a winning game outcome or a losing game outcome, and wherein a determination of whether said game outcome is a winning outcome for the play of each of the games displayed by the display segments is independent from determinations of whether each of the other game outcomes of the plays of the other games displayed by the display segments are winning game outcomes; and

(e) for each player, for each game wagered on by the player, display at the player station and provide the player any awards based on;

(i) the game outcome associated with said wagered on game; and

(ii) an amount the player wagered on said game.

12. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the display device is a single device.

13. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein each of the games are simultaneously displayable by the display segments.

14. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the games is an interactive game.

15. The gaming system of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable a single player to control the interactive game.

16. The gaming system of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable multiple players to control the interactive game.

17. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the at least one input device of each of the player stations enables the selection of the games to play and the amount wagered per game.

18. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations for to display at least one winner of at least one of the plays of the games on the display device.

19. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the different games include a plurality of different types of games.