GAMING MACHINE WITH BUY FEATURE GAMES

• US 20080214292A1
• Filed: 01/23/2008
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Aristocrat Technologies Australia PTY Limited (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Inventors: Bryant, Natalie, Bennett, Nicholas Luke
• Granted Patent: US 8,038,524 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3213 Details of moving display elements, e.g. spinning reels, tumbling members
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3262 Player actions which determine the course of the game, e.g. selecting a prize to be won, outcome to be achieved, game to be played
• 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 17/3286 Type of games
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A gaming machine including a display. The display includes a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols. A controller controls operation of the machine. The controller includes a processor for processing data and displaying selected data on the display. A selector is operable by the player of the machine for enabling the player to select at least one feature which can be added to a base game played on the machine.

Claims

1. A gaming machine that provides a base game in which a player stakes a wager on an outcome of the base game, and if a winning outcome occurs, the gaming machine awards that player a prize, the gaming machine including:

a display that under the control of a game controller displays a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

the game controller controlling operation of the gaming machine, and displaying selected images on the display; and

a selector operable by a player of the gaming machine to enable the player to select at least one feature which can be added to the base game,

wherein the gaming machine requires the player to stake an additional wager in order to be eligible for the selected feature,

wherein there is no guarantee that the selected feature will eventuate merely by having staked the additional wager,

and wherein when the selected feature eventuates, it includes the award of a series of a plurality of game events from which a prize provided by the feature may be won.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1 in which the additional wager staked by the player in order to be eligible for the selected feature is a multiple of the wager staked on an outcome of the base game.

3. The gaming machine of claim 2 in which there are at least two different features that can be added to the base game and different multiples of the wager staked on an outcome of the base game purchase different features.

4. The gaming machine of claim 3 wherein the selector includes a plurality of selector parts operable by the player to select one of said at least two different features before making the wager staked on an outcome of the base game.

5. The gaming machine of claim 4 in which the selector enables a player to select from a range of features to enable the player to tailor the game to the player'"'"'s requirements.

6. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the base game provides a plurality of outcomes and the selector further enables the player to specify both the number of outcomes of the base game on which to stake a wager and the amount wagered on each said outcome, wherein the additional wager staked by the player in order to be eligible for the selected feature is a multiple of the amount wagered on each outcome of the base game.

7. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the game controller provides the base game so that it is not possible for a player of the gaming machine to be provided with the series of a plurality of game events without the player staking the additional wager.

8. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the game controller provides the base game so that it is possible for a player of the gaming machine to be provided with the series of a plurality of game events without the player staking the additional wager and wherein the additional wager increases the probability of occurrence of the series of a plurality of game events.

9. The gaming machine of claim 8, wherein the series of a plurality of game events is provided by the game controller on occurrence of a first trigger and a second trigger and wherein when the player has not staked the additional wager only the first trigger is active and when the player has staked the additional wager both the first trigger and the second trigger are active.

10. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the base game is a spinning reel game and the series of a plurality of game events is a plurality of re-spins of at least one, but less than all of the reels.

11. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the series of a plurality of game events is a plurality of plays of the base game modified so that on the occurrence of a particular combination of symbols the gaming machine awards a bonus, the bonus not being awardable for that particular combination in the base game without modification.

12. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the series of a plurality of game events is a plurality of plays of the base game modified so that a particular symbol acts as a substitute or scatter symbol for other symbols, the symbol not acting as a substitute or scatter symbol in the base game without modification.

13. A gaming machine which includes

a display that under the control of a game controller displays a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

the game controller displaying selected data on the display; and

a selector operable by a player of the machine that enables the player to select at least one feature which can be added to a base game played on the machine, an additional wager being staked by the player in order to be eligible for said at least one feature being a fixed amount multiplied by a bet wagered per line or per draw, there being no guarantee that a benefit provided by the feature will eventuate merely by having staked the additional wager.

14. The gaming machine of claim 13 in which the selector is operable by the player to select the feature required before making a base bet.

15. The gaming machine of claim 14, in which the selector enables a player to select a range of features to enable the player to tailor the game to the player'"'"'s requirements.

16. The gaming machine of claim 15 wherein the gaming machine also provides further features that do not require the staking of an additional wager.

17. A gaming machine which includes

a display that under the control of a game controller displays a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

the game controller controlling operation of the gaming machine, and displaying selected data on the display; and

a selector including a plurality of selectors operable by a player of the gaming machine that enable the player prior to making a base bet, to select a range of features to be added to a base game played on the machine to enable the player to tailor the game to the player'"'"'s requirements, there being no guarantee that a benefit provided by any of the selected features will eventuate merely by having made the selection.

18. A gaming machine which includes:

a display that under the control of a game controller displays a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

the game controller controlling operation of the gaming machine, and displaying selected symbols on the display; and

a selector operable by a player of the gaming machine to enable the player to select a feature which can be added to a base game played on the gaming machine, and to make a wager on the game, the wager including a base game component and an additional wager component, the additional wager component required by the game controller to be staked by the player in order for the player to be eligible for the feature, there being no guarantee that a benefit provided by the feature will eventuate merely by having staked the additional wager,

wherein when the benefit eventuates, the size of the benefit provided by the feature is dependent on the wager on the game.

19. The gaming machine of claim 18, wherein the size of the benefit provided by the feature is dependent on the base game component of the wager.

20. The gaming machine of claim 19, wherein the base game base is one in which a player stakes a wager on an outcome of the base game, and if a winning outcome occurs, the gaming machine awards that player a prize, and wherein the selector is further operable by the player to control the base game component of the wager by selecting both the size of the wager per outcome and the number of outcomes on which that wager is placed, wherein the size of the benefit provided by the feature is dependent on the size of the wager per outcome.

21. The gaming machine of claim 20, wherein the size of the additional wager is dependent on the size of the wager per outcome.

22. The gaming machine of claim 21, wherein the additional wager is the product of the size of the wager per outcome and a constant.

23. The gaming machine of claim 20, wherein the game controller only allows the additional wager component to be staked when a particular number of said outcomes is also selected.

24. The gaming machine of claim 18, wherein the feature includes a series of a plurality of free games and the number of free games provided by the feature is dependent on the size of the base game component of the wager.

25. The gaming machine of claim 18, wherein the base game is a spinning reel game and the benefit provided by the feature includes a re-spin of one or more reels in the spinning reel game, wherein the number of re-spins provided is dependent on the size of the base game component of the wager.

26. The gaming machine of claim 18, wherein the benefit provided by the feature is the availability of one of a substitute symbol and a scatter pays symbol to form a winning combination, there being at least two options for substitute or scatter pays symbols, with different symbols requiring different sized wagers.

27. A gaming machine which includes

a display that under the control of a game controller displays a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

the game controller controlling operation of the gaming machine, and displaying selected symbols on the display, the gaming machine paying a prize when the symbols displayed on the display represent a winning combination; and

a selector operable by a player of the machine to enable the player to select at least one feature which can be added to a base game played on the machine, an additional wager being staked by the player in order to be eligible for said at least one feature, there being no guarantee that a benefit provided by the feature will eventuate merely by having staked the additional wager,

wherein at least one of the features includes a reselection of some of the selected symbols so as to define additional combinations of symbols and determination whether the additional combinations of symbols represent a winning combination.

28. The gaming machine of claim 27, wherein the number of reselections performed is dependent on a wager placed by the player.

29. A gaming machine adapted to play a base game in which a player stakes a wager on an outcome of the game, and if a winning outcome occurs, the gaming machine awards that player a prize, the gaming machine including:

a display that under the control of a game controller displays a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

a game controller for controlling operation of the gaming machine, the game controller selecting one or more outcomes of the base game and displaying selected symbols on the display,

a selector operable by a player of the gaming machine to enable the player to select at least one feature which can be added to the base game, an additional wager being staked by the player in order to be eligible for said at least one feature,

wherein when the selector is operated to select a said feature and the additional wager has been staked, the game controller varies the operation of one or more symbols available for the game controller to select by one of making a symbol a scatter pays symbol when the symbol previously was not a scatter pays symbol or making a symbol a substitute symbol when the symbol previously was not a substitute symbol so as to define one or more additional possible winning outcomes and wherein there is no guarantee that a said additional possible winning outcome will eventuate merely because the additional wager has been staked.

30. A gaming machine adapted to play a base game in which a player stakes a wager on an outcome of the base game, and if a winning outcome occurs, the gaming machine awards that player a prize, the gaming machine including:

a display that under the control of a game controller displays plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

the game controller controlling operation of the gaming machine, and displaying selected images on the display; and

a selector operable by a player of the gaming machine to enable the player to select at least one feature which can be added to the base game,

wherein the gaming machine requires the player to stake an additional wager of a constant multiplied by the wager staked by the player per outcome in the base game in order to be eligible for the selected feature,

wherein there is no guarantee that the selected feature will eventuate merely by having staked the additional wager, and

wherein the feature eventuates on the occurrence of a trigger event and wherein occurrence of the trigger event is determined independently of any outcome of the base game.

31. The gaming machine of claim 30, wherein on occurrence of the trigger event an animated character is displayed on the display to communicate information to the player, the character being arranged to appear super imposed over any game screen currently displayed at the time the character is displayed.

32. The gaming machine of claim 31, wherein when the character is displayed on the display, it appears to award a bonus prize or appears to dispense or control the dispensing of the prize.

33. The gaming machine of claim 32, wherein the character appears to award a bonus prize and the bonus prize includes a bonus game or bonus feature that has an outcome that is at least partially independent of the outcome of the current base game.

34. The gaming machine of claim 32, wherein the character appears on the display to be independent of and asynchronous to the base game.

35. The gaming machine of claim 30, wherein the display is a first display on which play of the base game is represented and the gaming machine further includes an auxiliary display, and wherein on occurrence of the trigger event an animated character is displayed on the auxiliary display to communicate information to the player, and wherein the character appears on the auxiliary display to be independent of and asynchronous to the base game and appears superimposed over any other information displayed on the auxiliary display at that time.

36. A gaming machine adapted to play a base game in which a player stakes a wager on the outcome of the game and if a winning outcome occurs, the gaming machine awards the player a prize, the gaming machine including:

a display that under the control of a game controller displays a plurality of display positions for displaying combinations of symbols;

the game controller controlling operation of the gaming machine, and displaying selected symbols on the display; and

a selector operable by a player of the gaming machine to enable the player to purchase a variable number of said outcomes and to select at least one feature which can be added to a base game played on the machine, an additional wager being staked by the player in order to be eligible for said at least one feature, there being no guarantee that a benefit provided by the feature will eventuate merely by having staked the additional wager;

wherein the gaming machine enables the player to select from at least two different options for the number of outcomes to purchase in the base game, and wherein the feature can only be added to the base game when the player has selected one of the options.

37. The gaming machine of claim 36, wherein the selector includes a plurality of selecting parts that specify the different numbers of outcomes to purchase, and a further selecting part that results in both a particular number of outcomes to be purchased and the additional wager to be staked.