NETWORKED COMMUNITY CHEST

• US 20110065495A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Jaffe, Joel R., Hornik, Jeremy M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,435,120 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3213 Details of moving display elements, e.g. spinning reels, tumbling members
• 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

Abstract

A wagering game in which a bonus event is triggered and during the bonus event possible bonus awards are displayed on corresponding displays of electronic gaming devices (EGDs) and eliminated one at a time until the predetermined bonus award remains and is revealed to the player. The EGDs are linked together to a main controller, and a predetermined bonus award is randomly determined for each EGD. The main controller stores all of the predetermined bonus awards for all of the EGDs participating in the bonus event, and communicates a subset of possible bonus awards to each of the EGDs, where each subset includes the predetermined bonus award to be awarded at each EGD and at least one decoy bonus award that will not be awarded. The EGDs display a bonus award show in which the decoy bonus awards are eliminated, one at a time, preferably such that the highest valued decoy bonus awards are eliminated last, until one remaining predetermined bonus award is revealed to the player.

Claims

1. A gaming system, comprising:

a wager input device for receiving an indication of a wager;

a plurality of electronic gaming devices communicatively linked together, each having a video display and each displaying on the corresponding video display a primary wagering game; and

a main controller in communication with each of the gaming devices and operative to;

in response to triggering a bonus event during which the gaming devices participate, store in a memory device a plurality of predetermined bonus awards, each of the predetermined bonus awards being associated with a respective one of the gaming devices, and

communicate to a first of the gaming devices possible bonus awards, the possible bonus awards including the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device and a plurality of decoy bonus awards corresponding to some of the predetermined bonus awards that will not be awarded at the first gaming device, causing the first gaming device to display on the video display of the first gaming device (a) the possible bonus awards, (b) an indication of which of the decoy bonus awards that will not be awarded at the first gaming device during the bonus event, and (c) an indication of the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device as the predetermined bonus award to be awarded to a player of the first gaming device.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the bonus decoy awards are obscured or removed sequentially, one at a time, from display on the video display of the first gaming device in a bonus award show lasting a duration of time until the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device remains displayed, whereupon the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device is known to the player for the first time since the triggering of the bonus event.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the main controller is further operative to:

communicate to a second first of the gaming devices a second set of possible bonus awards, the second set of possible bonus awards including the predetermined bonus award associated with the second gaming device and a second set of decoy bonus awards corresponding to some of the predetermined bonus awards that will not be awarded at the second gaming device, causing the second gaming device to display on the display of the second gaming device (a) the second set of possible bonus awards, (b) an indication of which of the second set of decoy bonus awards will not be awarded at the second gaming device, and (c) an indication of the predetermined bonus award associated with the second gaming device as the predetermined bonus award to be awarded to a player of the second gaming device.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein each of the gaming devices includes a controller that is operative to:

randomly determine an outcome that is associated with the respective predetermined bonus award; and

communicate to the main controller the respective predetermined bonus award.

5. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the main controller is further operative to randomly determine a plurality of outcomes, each of which is associated with the predetermined bonus award associated with the respective ones of the gaming devices.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the main controller is further operative to determine, for each of the gaming devices, a subset of the predetermined bonus awards to be communicated to each of the gaming devices as a subset of possible bonus awards for display on the corresponding video display of each of the gaming devices, wherein each subset of possible bonus awards includes the predetermined bonus award associated with the respective gaming device and decoy awards corresponding to some of the predetermined bonus awards that will not be awarded at the respective gaming device during the bonus event.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device represents an opportunity to participate in a second bonus round in which bonus awards available to be won in the second bonus round are more valuable than the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the main controller is further operative to:

determine which of the predetermined bonus awards is the largest bonus award having the highest value among all the predetermined bonus awards, and

communicate, to the gaming device associated with the largest bonus award, an indication that the gaming device associated with the largest bonus award is associated with the largest bonus award to cause the gaming device associated with the largest bonus award to produce enhanced visual or audio effects relative to the visual or audio effects produced by the other gaming devices in response to the largest bonus award being revealed on the video display of the gaming device associated with the largest bonus award.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the main controller is in one of the gaming devices.

10. A method of conducting a wagering game, comprising:

receiving an indication of a wager at a wager input device;

displaying a primary wagering game on a corresponding video display of each of a plurality of electronic gaming devices;

associating a plurality of predetermined bonus awards with respective ones of the gaming devices;

in response to triggering a bonus event during which the gaming devices participate, receiving possible bonus awards that include at least some of the predetermined bonus awards; and

responsive to receiving the possible bonus awards, displaying on the video display of a first of the gaming devices (a) the possible bonus awards, which include the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device and a plurality of decoy bonus awards corresponding to some of the predetermined bonus awards that will not be awarded at the first gaming device, (b) an indication of which of the decoy bonus awards will not be awarded at the first gaming device, and (c) an indication of the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device as the predetermined bonus award to be awarded to a player of the first gaming device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising obscuring or removing sequentially each of the decoy bonus awards, one at a time, from display on the video display of the first gaming device in a bonus show lasting a duration of time until the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device remains displayed, whereupon the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device is known to the player for the first time since the triggering of the bonus event.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the duration of the award show is dependent upon at least the types or values of the predetermined bonus awards to be awarded.

13. The method of claim 10, responsive to the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device being the largest bonus award among the predetermined bonus awards, producing enhanced visual or audio effects relative to the visual or audio effects produced by the other gaming devices in response to the largest bonus award being revealed on the video display of the first gaming device.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

randomly determining an outcome that is associated with the respective predetermined bonus award; and

communicating to a main controller communicatively linked to the gaming devices the respective predetermined bonus award.

15. A gaming system, comprising:

a wager input device for receiving an indication of a wager;

a plurality of electronic gaming devices communicatively linked together, each having a video display, each displaying on the corresponding video display a primary wagering game, and each including a corresponding controller; and

a main controller in communication with each of the gaming devices and operative to;

in response to triggering a bonus event during which the gaming devices participate, store in a memory device a plurality of predetermined bonus awards, each of the predetermined bonus awards being associated with a respective one of the gaming devices, and

communicate to a first of the gaming devices possible bonus awards, which include the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device and a plurality of decoy bonus awards corresponding to some of the predetermined bonus awards that will not be awarded at the first gaming device during the bonus event,

wherein the controller of the first gaming device is operative to;

display on the video display of the first gaming device (a) the possible bonus awards, (b) an indication of which of the decoy bonus awards will not be awarded at the first gaming device during the bonus event, and (c) an indication of the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device as the predetermined bonus award to be awarded to a player of the first gaming device.

16. The gaming system of claim 15, wherein the controller of the first gaming device is further operative to obscure or remove sequentially the decoy bonus awards, one at a time, from display on the video display of the first gaming device in a bonus award show lasting a duration of time until the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device remains displayed, whereupon the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device is known to the player for the first time since the triggering of the bonus event.

17. The gaming system of claim 15, wherein each of the controllers is operative to:

randomly determine an outcome that is associated with the respective predetermined bonus award; and

communicate to the main controller the respective predetermined bonus award.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media encoded with instructions for directing a gaming system to perform a method of conducting a wagering game, comprising:

receiving an indication of a wager at a wager input device;

displaying a primary wagering game on a corresponding video display of each of a plurality of electronic gaming devices;

associating a plurality of predetermined bonus awards with respective ones of the gaming devices;

in response to triggering a bonus event during which the gaming devices participate, receiving possible bonus awards; and

responsive to receiving the possible bonus awards, causing the video display of a first of the gaming devices to display (a) the possible bonus awards, which include the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device and a plurality of decoy bonus awards corresponding to some of the predetermined bonus awards that will not be awarded at the first gaming device during the bonus event, (b) an indication of which of the decoy bonus awards will not be awarded at the first gaming device, and (c) an indication of the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device as the predetermined bonus award to be awarded to a player of the first gaming device.

19. The computer-readable storage media encoded with instructions for directing the gaming system to perform the method of claim 18, the method further comprising:

obscuring or removing sequentially each of the decoy bonus awards, one at a time, from display on the video display of the first gaming device in a bonus show lasting a duration of time until the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device remains displayed, whereupon the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device is known to the player for the first time since the triggering of the bonus event.

20. The computer-readable storage media encoded with instructions for directing the gaming system to perform the method of claim 18, wherein the duration of the award show is dependent upon at least the types or values of the predetermined bonus awards to be awarded.

21. A method of conducting a wagering game, comprising:

receiving an indication of a wager;

displaying a primary wagering game on each of a plurality of gaming apparatuses;

associating a plurality of predetermined bonus awards with respective ones of the gaming apparatuses;

in response to triggering a bonus event during which the gaming apparatuses participate, receiving possible bonus awards that include at least some of the predetermined bonus awards; and

responsive to receiving the possible bonus awards, displaying on a first of the gaming apparatuses (a) the possible bonus awards, which include the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming device and a plurality of decoy bonus awards corresponding to some of the predetermined bonus awards that will not be awarded at the first gaming apparatus, (b) an indication of which of the decoy bonus awards will not be awarded at the first gaming apparatus, and (c) an indication of the predetermined bonus award associated with the first gaming apparatus as the predetermined bonus award to be awarded to a player of the first gaming apparatus.