System and Method for Providing a System Generated In-Game Bonus in a Gaming Environment

• US 20120142409A1
• Filed: 11/07/2011
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kelly, Bryan, Brahmandam, Kiran, Lyons, Martin, Keenan, Theordore
• Granted Patent: US 9,275,514 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• 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, terminal and method where a bonus is derived from multiple sources including system based and local sources and is delivered to a gaming machine by providing one or more additional game(s), altered games or altered features at the gaming machine instead of a direct award of the prize. The gaming system, terminal and method also provides for selection between various game features with different expected values for delivery of the bonus.

Claims

1. An improved system for funding and issuing a bonus to a user of a gaming terminal presenting a game having play and award features comprising:

a plurality of fund pools having values V₁-V_N;

a server configured to derive from said pools V₁-V_N an available bonus fund pool value X;

at least one of said terminal and server configured to issue a bonus from the bonus fund pool X to the user based upon established criteria;

at least one of said terminal and server adapted to configure at least one of said terminal to deliver said bonus to the user through one of said game of feature play characteristics and deduct said bonus amount from X.

2. The system of claim 1 comprising said fund pools include funds derived from one or more of (i) wagers made during the play of the terminal, (ii) the user'"'"'s commercial activity unrelated to said wagers, and (iii) promotional funds.

3. The system of claim 1 comprising at least a plurality of said fund pools V₁-V_N are in units having different values according to predetermined criteria, said server is configured to determine said bonus pool value X in a standard unit value.

4. The system of claim 1 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to deduct said award from said bonus pool value X by deducting said bonus award value from at least a plurality of said fund pools V₁-V_N according to a predetermined protocol.

5. The system of claim 1 comprising one of said terminal and server configured to randomly issue said award.

6. The system of claim 1 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to issue a bonus to the user based upon established criteria including selecting a plurality of thresholds T1-TN for said bonus fund pool X and for said thresholds randomly determine to issue said bonus according to different established probability criteria.

7. The system of claim 1 where said terminal includes a free game feature to the user in response to a predetermined event, said improvement comprising configuring at least one of said terminal and server to award said bonus as at least one free game.

8. The system of claim 1 where said terminal has a feature with a plurality of award structures AS₁ and AS₂ having different expected values, said improvement comprising configuring at least one of said terminal and server to randomly select one of said award structures for delivering said determined bonus.

9. The system of claim 8 where said terminal has a feature with a plurality of award structures AS₁ and AS₂ having different expected award values of EV₁ and EV₂ respectively and said selected bonus award is B where EV₁<

B<

EV₂, said improvement comprising configuring at least one of said terminal and server to randomly select between said award structures.

10. The system of claim 9 comprising configuring at least one of said terminal and server to randomly select a value Z between AS₁ and AS₂ and to select to provide the award through the feature associated with AS₂ if EV1≦

Z<

B and otherwise select the feature associated with AS₁.

11. The system of claim 1 comprising said pools are selected from a group consisting of (i) a pool derived based upon a percentage of money wagered by the user, (ii) a pool derived from a hotel loyalty system, (iii) a pool derived from a food and beverage loyalty system, (iv) a pool derived from a user'"'"'s retail activities and (iv) a pool derived from marketing and promotional funds.

12. The system of claim 11 comprising said server is configurable to apply a value conversion factor to convert the value of at least a plurality of said pools to a common bonus pool currency value.

13. The system of claim 1 comprising said server is configurable to establish bonus award criteria.

14. The system of claim 1 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to randomly trigger said bonus with a determined probability of occurrence.

15. The system of claim 14 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to randomly trigger said bonus where the bonus amount relates to the probability of said trigger occurring.

16. The system of claim 1 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to issue said bonus amount in a series of at least one of said terminal play and award features.

17. The system of claim 1 comprising at least one of said terminal and server is configured to provide a bonus award B between a minimum and a maximum value.

18. The system of claim 17 comprising at least one of said terminal and server is configured to randomly select said bonus award.

19. The system of claim 18 comprising at least one of said terminal and server is configured to weight the selection of the award toward a predetermined average award.

20. The system of claim 1 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to randomly trigger said bonus award based upon at least one criteria.

22. The system of claim 20 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to increase the probabilities for triggering said bonus award as said fund pool value X increases in value.

23. The system of claim 20 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to base the probabilities for triggering said bonus award in relation to player-centric data including one or more of the gaming terminal played by the player and the game being played by the player.

24. The system of claim 23 comprising at least one of said terminal and server configured to increase the probabilities for triggering said bonus award as said fund pool value X increases in value.

25. A method for providing a bonus to a user of a gaming terminal presenting a game having play and award features comprising:

deriving from one or more of funded pools V₁-V_N an available bonus fund pool value X;

determining a bonus trigger condition and a bonus amount to award to the user based upon predetermined criteria in an amount which is at least a portion of the bonus fund pool X;

configuring at least one of said terminal play and award features to deliver said determined bonus amount to the user during the play of the terminal or award feature.

26. The method of claim 25 comprising deriving said bonus fund pool X from funded pools V₁-V_N having different unit values according to conversion criteria.

27. The method of claim 25 where said terminal has a feature including the award of a set of free game, said method comprising configuring said terminal to issue said determined as additional one or more free games to said set of free games.

28. The method of claim 25 where said terminal has a feature with a plurality of award structures AS₁ and AS₂ having different expected values, said method comprising configuring at least one of said terminal and server to randomly select one of said award structures for delivering said determined bonus.

29. The method of claim 28 where said terminal has a feature with a plurality of award structures AS₁ and AS₂ having different expected award values of EV₁ and EV₂ respectively and said selected bonus award is B where EV₁<

B<

EV₂, said method comprising randomly selecting between said award structures.

30. The method of claim 29 comprising randomly selecting a value Z between AS₁ and AS₂ and to select to provide the award through the feature associated with AS₂ if EV1≦

Z<

B and otherwise select the feature associated with AS₁.

31. The method of claim 25 comprising selecting said pools from a group consisting of (i) a pool derived based upon a percentage of money wagered by the user, (ii) a pool derived from a hotel loyalty system, (iii) a pool derived from a food and beverage loyalty system, (iv) a pool derived from a user'"'"'s retail activities and (iv) a pool derived from marketing and promotional funds.

32. The method of claim 31 comprising applying a value conversion factor to convert the value of at least a plurality of said pools to a common bonus pool currency value.

33. A gaming terminal for awarding a bonus having a value of B comprising:

a display

a game processor configured to randomly select and display at said display game symbols defining a winning or losing outcome;

a data structure storing data corresponding to winning outcomes and awards to be issued for winning outcomes, said data structure storing data corresponding at least a plurality of different outcome-award structures AS₁ and AS₂ having predetermined equivalent values EV₁ and EV₂;

a bonus processor to select AS1 where B is substantially equal to EV₁, AS₂ where A is substantially equal to EV₂ and to randomly select between AS₁ and AS₂ where EV₁<

B<

EV₂, said gaming processor configured to award said bonus B according to the selected one of AS₁ and AS₂.

34. The gaming terminal of claim 33 comprising said bonus processor configured to randomly select a value Z between EV₁ and EV₂ and to select to provide the award through the feature associated with AS₂ if EV1≦

V<

B and otherwise select the feature associated with AS₁.