Wagering Game with Incremental Unlocking of Content

• US 20120122531A1
• Filed: 11/10/2011
• Published: 05/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Aoki, Dion K., Gomez, Benjamin T., Hornik, Jeremy M., Louie, Daniel P., Moll, Jeremie D., Vann, Jamie W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,070,254 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/7
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3258 Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots
• 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 17/34 depending on the stopping of moving members in a mechanical slot machine, e.g. "fruit" machines

Abstract

A gaming system includes a credit detector adapted to detect a wager to play a wagering game, one or more displays adapted to display, in response to the wager, a base game and a secondary game, the base game providing a trigger that provides an opportunity to play the secondary game, the secondary game including a plurality of decision points, each decision point requiring a selection of one of a plurality of paths and a controller operative to respond to the selection of the path at the one decision point and provide a next decision point for a subsequent selection of another path, a state of the secondary game remaining persistent during repeated plays of the base game so that selected paths in the secondary game are combined to provide non-linear unlocking of a bonus award.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

a credit detector adapted to detect a wager to play a wagering game;

one or more displays adapted to display, in response to the wager, a base game and a secondary game, the base game providing a trigger that provides an opportunity to play the secondary game, the secondary game including a plurality of decision points, each decision point requiring a selection of one of a plurality of paths; and

a controller operative to respond to the selection of the path at the one decision point and provide a next decision point for a subsequent selection of another path, a state of the secondary game remaining persistent during repeated plays of the base game so that selected paths in the secondary game are combined to provide non-linear unlocking of a bonus award.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the path selected at the one decision point is selected by a player.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the path selected at the one decision point is selected by the controller.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the path selected at the one decision point is randomly selected.

5. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the secondary game provides a plurality of bonus awards, each bonus award being awarded according to one or more corresponding combination of selected paths.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of paths at each decision point depends on previously selected paths at previous decision points.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the base game provides a randomly determined outcome, the randomly determined outcome of the base game providing an opportunity to play the secondary game and select a path at one of the decision points.

8. A gaming device comprising:

a credit detector adapted to detect a wager to play a wagering game;

one or more displays adapted to display, in response to the wager, a base game and a secondary game, the base game providing a trigger that provides an opportunity to play the secondary game, the secondary game requiring an incremental action to be taken, the incremental action producing a variable result, a state of the secondary game remaining persistent during repeated plays of the base game so that the secondary game awards a bonus award based on a plurality of incremental actions; and

a controller operative to respond to the incremental action in the secondary game and determine the variable result for the incremental action.

9. The gaming device of claim 8, wherein the variable result is random.

10. The gaming device of claim 8, wherein the variable result is generated by player action in a skill based game.

11. The gaming device of claim 8, wherein the variable result depends on a randomly determined outcome of the base game.

12. The gaming device of claim 8, wherein the secondary game presents a wall and the incremental action includes directing an object to the wall, and the variable result corresponds to a variable amount of damage to the wall, the bonus award being awarded when the plurality of incremental actions causes a threshold amount of damage to the wall.

13. The gaming device of claim 8, wherein the incremental action is one of a plurality of types of incremental actions in the secondary game.

14. The gaming device of claim 8, wherein the base game provides a randomly determined outcome, the randomly determined outcome of the base game providing an opportunity to take an incremental action in the secondary game.

15. A method of conducting a wagering game for a human player, the wagering game including a game sequence in which the player provides an input and a wagering game outcome is determined, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving, via an input device, a wager to play the wagering game;

displaying, on one or more display devices, a base game and a secondary game, the base game providing a trigger that provides an opportunity to play the secondary game, the secondary game including a plurality of decision points, each decision point requiring a selection of one of a plurality of paths; and

using one or more processors to respond to the selection of the path at the one decision point and provide a next decision point for a subsequent selection of another path, a state of the secondary game remaining persistent during repeated plays of the base game so that selected paths in the secondary game are combined to provide non-linear unlocking of a bonus award.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the path selected at the one decision point is selected by a player.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the path selected at the one decision point is selected by at least one of the processors.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the path selected at the one decision point is randomly selected.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the secondary game provides a plurality of bonus awards, each bonus award being awarded according to one or more corresponding combination of selected paths.

20. A method of conducting a wagering game for a human player, the wagering game including a game sequence in which the player provides an input and a wagering game outcome is determined, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving, via an input device, a wager to play the wagering game;

displaying, on one or more displays, a base game and a secondary game, the base game providing a trigger that provides an opportunity to play the secondary game, the secondary game requiring an incremental action to be taken, the incremental action producing a variable result, a state of the secondary game remaining persistent during repeated plays of the base game so that the secondary game awards a bonus award based on a plurality of incremental actions; and

using at least one of the processors to respond to the incremental action in the secondary game and determine the variable result for the incremental action.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the variable result is random.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the variable result is generated by player action in a skill based game.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the variable result depends on a randomly determined outcome of the base game.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the secondary game presents a wall and the incremental action includes directing an object to the wall, and the variable result corresponds to a variable amount of damage to the wall, the bonus award being awarding the bonus award when the plurality of incremental actions causes a threshold amount of damage to the wall.

25. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having an instruction set borne thereby, the instruction set being configured to cause, upon execution by a controller, the acts of:

receiving, via an input device, a wager to play the wagering game;

displaying, on one or more displays, a base game and a secondary game, the base game providing a trigger that provides an opportunity to play the secondary game, the secondary game requiring an incremental action to be taken, the incremental action producing a variable result, a state of the secondary game remaining persistent during repeated plays of the base game so that the secondary game awards a bonus award based on a plurality of incremental actions; and

using one or more processors to respond to the incremental action in the secondary game and determine the variable result for the incremental action.