WAGERING GAME HAVING GAME ASSETS WITH MULTIPLE LEVELS OF ENHANCEMENT

• US 20120115593A1
• Filed: 11/04/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Vann, Jamie W., Gobe, Alexander J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,506,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/26
• 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 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A gaming system includes an input device, at least one display, and at least one controller. The input device receives a wager input for playing a wagering game. The at least one display displays a basic wagering game and a community bonus game. The at least one controller is operative to provide a player with a bonus-game asset that is usable in at least a first play of the community bonus game. The bonus-game asset is capable of having at least a first level and a second level that provides a higher bonus-game enhancement than the first level. The at least one controller is further operative to determine if that the bonus-game asset is available to the player for use in a second play of the community bonus game and to alter the level of the bonus-game asset from the first level to the second level for use in the second play.

Claims

1. A method of conducting a wagering game having a basic game providing access to a community bonus game, comprising:

receiving, via at least one input device, a wager from a player to play the basic game, the basic game including a plurality of randomly selected outcomes, at least one of the randomly selected outcomes being a bonus-game-asset outcome;

in response to the player achieving the bonus-game-asset outcome in the basic game, providing, via one or more processors, the player with a bonus-game asset that is usable in the community bonus game, the bonus-game asset capable of having at least a first level and a second level, the second level providing a higher bonus-game enhancement than the first level;

in response to a bonus-game triggering condition, conducting, via the one or more processors, a first play of the community bonus game in which the bonus-game asset at the first level is used by the player, the bonus-game asset being either available or unavailable to the player for use in a second play of the community bonus game based on a random outcome associated with the first play of the community bonus game; and

in response to the bonus-game asset being available to the player for use in the second play of the community bonus game, altering, via the one or more processors, the level of the bonus-game asset from the first level to the second level such that the bonus-game asset is usable in the second play of the community bonus game at the second level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the conducting the first play further comprises:

(i) displaying, on at least one display, a plurality of groups of player-selectable elements, each group providing a different bonus award range, and

(ii) receiving, via the at least one input device, a player selection of a first one of the plurality of groups of player-selectable elements, the first one of the plurality of groups of player-selectable elements being associated with a first bonus award range.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising in response to the receiving the player selection of the first one of the plurality of groups of player-selectable elements, displaying, on the at least one display, a plurality of player-selectable elements, each one of the plurality of player-selectable elements being associated with a bonus award included in the first bonus award range and receiving, from the at least one input device, a player selection of one of the plurality of player-selectable elements.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying, on the at least one display, the bonus award associated with the selected one of the plurality of player-selectable elements and applying the bonus-game asset at the first level to the displayed bonus award to modify the bonus award and result in an enhanced bonus-game award.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising awarding the enhanced bonus-game award to the player.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the bonus-game asset at the first level is a first multiplier, and wherein the conducting the first play of the community bonus game includes displaying a first bonus award that is a first amount of credits, and wherein the use of the bonus-game asset at the first level by the player includes multiplying the first bonus award by the first multiplier.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein in response to another bonus-game triggering condition, conducting the second play of the community bonus game in which the bonus-game asset at the second level is used by the player.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the bonus-game asset at the second level is a second multiplier, wherein the conducting the second play of the community bonus game includes displaying a second bonus award that is a second amount of credits, and wherein the use of the bonus-game asset at the second level by the player includes multiplying the second bonus award by the second multiplier that is larger than the first multiplier.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising prior to conducting the first play of the community bonus game, displaying a timer indicating the start of the community bonus game.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the timer indicates that the first play of the community bonus game will begin in a predetermined amount of time.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the player is allowed to continue play of the basic game while the timer counts down from a predetermined number to zero, after which the community bonus game is conducted.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the bonus-game-asset outcome is indicated by a predetermined group of one or more bonus-game-asset symbols.

13. A method of conducting a community bonus game, the community bonus game permitting a player to use a bonus-game asset to modify a bonus game award, comprising:

in response to a bonus-game triggering condition, displaying, on at least one display, a first play of the community bonus game that includes the bonus-game asset of the player, the bonus game asset being used by the player of the community bonus game at a first level during the first play;

determining, based on a random outcome from at least one processor, whether the bonus-game asset is available or unavailable to the player for use in a second play of the community bonus game; and

in response to the bonus-game asset being available to the player for use in the second play of the community bonus game, altering the level of the bonus-game asset from the first level to a second level;

in response to another bonus-game triggering condition, displaying, on the at least one display, a second play of the community bonus game that includes the bonus-game asset of the player, the bonus-game asset being used by the player of the community bonus game at the second level during the second play, the second level providing a higher bonus-game enhancement than the first level.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising in response to the bonus-game asset being unavailable to the player for use in the second play of the community bonus game, removing the bonus-game asset from the player such that the player lacks the bonus-game asset in the second play.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the bonus-game asset at the first level is a first multiplier, wherein the displaying the first play of the community bonus game includes displaying a first bonus award that is a first amount of credits, and wherein the use of the bonus-game asset by the player of the community bonus game at the first level during the first play includes multiplying the first bonus award by the first multiplier.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the bonus-game asset at the second level is a second multiplier, wherein the displaying the second play of the community bonus game includes displaying a second bonus award that is a second amount of credits, and wherein the use of the bonus-game asset by the player of the community bonus game at the second level during the second play includes multiplying the second bonus award by the second multiplier that is larger than the first multiplier.

17. A method of conducting a wagering game having a basic game providing access to a community bonus game, comprising:

receiving, via at least one input device, a wager from a player to play the basic game, the basic game including a plurality of randomly selected outcomes, the randomly selected outcomes including at least one bonus-game-asset outcome;

in response to the player achieving the at least one bonus-game-asset outcome in the basic game, providing, via one or more processors, the player with a first portion of a bonus-game asset, the bonus-game asset including “

n”

portions that must be collected by the player to use the bonus-game asset;

in response to a first bonus-game triggering condition and in response to the player not having collected all of the “

n”

portions of the bonus-game asset, conducting, via the one or more processors, a first play of the community bonus game without the player;

in response to the player achieving the at least one bonus-game-asset outcome at a later time in the basic game, providing, via the one or more processors, the player with a second portion of the bonus-game asset such that the bonus-game asset being available for use by the player at a first level;

in response to a second bonus-game triggering condition and in response to the player having collected the “

n”

portions of the bonus-game asset, conducting, via the one or more processors, a second play of the community bonus game in which the bonus-game asset is used by the player of the community bonus game at the first level, the bonus-game asset is either available or unavailable to the player for use in a third play of the community bonus game; and

in response to the bonus-game asset being available to the player for use in the third play of the community bonus game, altering, via the one or more processors, the level of the bonus-game asset from the first level to a second level such that the bonus-game asset is usable in the third play of the community bonus game at the second level, the second level providing a higher bonus-game enhancement than the first level.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing the first and the second portions of the bonus-game asset in a bonus-game-asset inventory of the player.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein “

n”

is five and the second portion is the n^th portion and the first portion is the n-1 portion.

20. A gaming system for playing a wagering game having a basic game providing access to a community bonus game, the gaming system comprising:

an input device for receiving a wager input for playing the wagering game;

at least one display for displaying the basic game and the community bonus game; and

at least one controller coupled to the display and operative to;

provide a player with a bonus-game asset that is at least usable in a first play of the community bonus game, the bonus-game asset capable of having at least a first level and a second level, the second level providing a higher bonus-game enhancement than the first level;

determine that the bonus-game asset is available to the player for use in a second play of the community bonus game; and

alter the level of the bonus-game asset from the first level to the second level such that the bonus-game asset is usable in the second play of the community bonus game at the second level.

21. The gaming system of claim 20, further comprising a memory device having a bonus-game-asset inventory configured to store the bonus-game asset of the player therein.

22. The gaming system of claim 20, wherein the at least one display is operative to display a timer for indicating that a community bonus game is about to be played.

23. The gaming system of claim 20, wherein the bonus-game asset has two or more portions, and wherein the bonus-game asset is provided to the player in response to the player collecting all of the portions of the bonus-game asset.