Gaming device having main game activating a bonus event

• US 7,618,316 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2003
• Issued: 11/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Tarantino, Elia Rocco, Cole, Joseph W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Suhol; Dmitry
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOSSER, ROBERT E
• Application Number:
  US10/728,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20040082373A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,174 Days
• Field of Search: 463/27, 463/1, 463/13, 463 16- 21, 463/25, 273/138.1, 273/143.R
• US Class Current: 463/21
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions
• 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 17/3258 Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots
• 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 game and gaming apparatus include a main game and a bonus game. A player is entitled to participate in the bonus game without an additional wager beyond that required to play the main game. Winning outcomes of the main game determine the indicia used to play the bonus game. In one embodiment upon a winning outcome of the main game, an indicia, such as an image of a winning amount, is transferred to the bonus game. In another embodiment, the bonus event includes categories associated with winning outcomes of the main game, the categories activated based upon wins of the main game. In one embodiment, the main game is a game of video poker. Winning hands are associated with or activate positions of the bonus game. Play of the bonus game comprises selection of at least one of the indicia or positions/categories which have been activated.

Claims

1. A method of operating a gaming system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) accepting a wager from a player using at least one input device;

(b) causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions to present a play of a main game including randomly generating and causing at least one display device to display at least a first set of cards to generate a main game hand;

(c) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine an outcome of said play of the main game comprising comparing said main game hand to a set of different predetermined winning hands;

(d) if said main game hand is one of the predetermined winning hands, awarding said player a winning amount and causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine if said winning hand corresponds to any corresponding one of a plurality of different predetermined bonus categories and, if so, associating a value greater than zero with the corresponding bonus category;

(e) if a bonus condition occurs, after determining said outcome of said play of the main game, enabling the player to make an input using the at least one input device to cause a play of a bonus event regardless of whether said main game hand is one of the predetermined winning hands, the bonus condition occurring when a designated number of values is associated with a designated number of the predetermined bonus categories, the designated number of values being at least one, and the designated number of the predetermined bonus categories being at least one;

(f) repeating (a) through (e) until receiving said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event; and

(g) if said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event is received, thereafter causing the at least one display device to display the play of the bonus event, said play of said bonus event comprising causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to randomly select at least one of the bonus categories after receiving said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event, said random selection of at least one of the bonus categories being in addition to and independent of any previously displayed play of the main game, and if any value is associated with the at least one selected bonus category, awarding a bonus win according to said associated value.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said main game comprises a game of video poker and said predetermined winning hands comprise poker hands.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2 wherein said predetermined bonus categories comprise one or more of said predetermined winning hands.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1 which includes automatically causing the at least one display device to display said play of the bonus event once at least one value is associated with each of said predetermined bonus categories.

5. The method in accordance with claim 1 including multiplying said bonus win by a multiplier to generate a score.

6. The method in accordance with claim 5 wherein said multiplier comprises a sum of a roll of two dice.

7. The method in accordance with claim 5 including the step of awarding a progressive award in the event said score meets a predetermined criteria.

8. The method in accordance with claim 5 including the step of awarding a progressive award if said score is at least one of the highest scores of a group of scores generated during a period of time.

9. The method in accordance with claim 1 including permitting play of said main game if the wager is of a first amount, and permitting play of the main game and the bonus event only if said wager is of a second amount which exceeds said first amount.

10. The method in accordance with claim 1 including the step of funding said bonus win from a portion of said wager.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each time a value is associated with any one of the predetermined bonus categories, a probability of awarding a bonus win as a result of the play of the bonus event increases.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each time a value is associated with any one of the predetermined bonus categories, an average expected payout of the play of the bonus event increases.

13. A method of operating a gaming system, said method comprising:

(a) accepting a wager from a player using at least one input device;

(b) causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions to display a play of a main game, said play of the main game including randomly generating and causing at least one display device to display at least a first set of cards to generate a main game hand;

(c) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine an outcome of the play of the main game including comparing the main game hand to a set of different predetermined winning hands;

(d) if the main game hand is one of the predetermined winning hands;

(i) awarding the player a winning amount, and

(ii) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine if the winning hand corresponds to any corresponding one of a plurality of different predetermined bonus categories and, if so, associating one of a plurality of award values greater than zero with the corresponding bonus category, wherein said bonus categories include at least one bonus category associated with an award value which represents a combination of all of the values associated with the remaining bonus categories;

(e) if a bonus condition occurs, after determining said outcome of said play of the main game, enabling the player to make an input using the at least one input device to cause a play of a bonus event regardless of whether said main game hand is one of the predetermined winning hands, the bonus condition occurring when a designated number of award values is associated with a designated number of the predetermined bonus categories, the designated number of award values being at least one, and the designated number of the predetermined bonus categories being at least one;

(f) repeating (a) through (e) until receiving said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event; and

(g) if said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event is received, thereafter causing the at least one display device to display the play of the bonus event, the play of the bonus event including;

(i) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to randomly select at least one of the bonus categories after receiving said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event, said random selection of at least one of the bonus categories being in addition to and independent of any previously displayed play of the main game, and

(ii) if any award value is associated with the at least one selected bonus category, awarding a bonus win according to said associated value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the main game is a game of video poker and the predetermined winning hands are poker hands.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined bonus categories include one or more of the predetermined winning hands.

16. The method of claim 13, which includes automatically causing the at least one display device to display said play of the bonus event once at least one award value is associated with each of the predetermined bonus categories.

17. The method of claim 13, which includes multiplying the bonus win by a multiplier to generate a score.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the multiplier is the sum of a roll of two dice.

19. The method of claim 17, which includes awarding a progressive award if the score meets a predetermined criteria.

20. The method of claim 17, which includes awarding a progressive award if the score is at least one of the highest scores of a group of scores generated during a period of time.

21. The method of claim 13, which includes permitting the player to play the main game if the wager is of a first amount, and permitting play of the main game and the bonus event only if the wager is of a second amount which exceeds the first amount.

22. The method of claim 13, which includes funding the bonus win from a portion of the wager.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein each time one of the plurality of award values is associated with any one of the predetermined bonus categories, a probability of awarding a bonus win as a result of the play of the bonus event increases.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein each time one of the plurality of award values is associated with any one of the predetermined bonus categories, an average expected payout of the play of the bonus event increases.

25. A method of operating a gaming system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) accepting a wager from a player using at least one input device;

(b) causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions to present a play of a main game including randomly generating and causing at least one display device to display at least a first set of cards to generate a main game hand;

(c) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine an outcome of said play of the main game comprising comparing said main game hand to a set of different predetermined winning hands;

(d) if said main game hand is one of the predetermined winning hands, awarding said player a winning amount and causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine if said winning hand corresponds to any corresponding one of a plurality of different predetermined bonus categories and, if so, associating a value greater than zero with the corresponding bonus category;

(e) if a bonus condition occurs, after determining said outcome of said play of the main game, enabling the player to make an input using the at least one input device to cause a play of a bonus event regardless of whether said main game hand is one of the predetermined winning hands, the bonus condition occurring when a designated number of values is associated with a designated number of the predetermined bonus categories, the designated number of values being at least one, and the designated number of the predetermined bonus categories being at least one;

(f) repeating (a) through (e) until receiving said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event or until at least one value is associated with each one of the predetermined bonus categories; and

(g) if said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event is received or if at least one value is associated with each one of the predetermined bonus categories, thereafter causing the at least one display device to display the play of the bonus event, said play of said bonus event comprising causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to randomly select at least one of the bonus categories after receiving said input from the player to cause the play of the bonus event or after at least one value is associated with each one of the predetermined bonus categories, said random selection of at least one of the bonus categories being in addition to and independent of any previously displayed play of the main game, and if any value is associated with the at least one selected bonus category, awarding a bonus win according to said associated value.

26. The method of claim 25, which includes, after awarding the bonus win, deleting each of the values, if any, associated with the predetermined bonus categories.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the main game is a game of video poker and the predetermined winning hands are poker hands.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the predetermined bonus categories include one or more of the predetermined winning hands.

29. The method of claim 25, which includes multiplying the bonus win by a multiplier to generate a score.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the multiplier is the sum of a roll of two dice.

31. The method of claim 29, which includes awarding a progressive award if the score meets a predetermined criteria.

32. The method of claim 29, which includes awarding a progressive award if the score is at least one of the highest scores of a group of scores generated during a period of time.

33. The method of claim 25, which includes permitting the player to play the main game if the wager is of a first amount, and permitting play of the main game and the bonus event only if the wager is of a second amount which exceeds the first amount.

34. The method of claim 25, which includes funding the bonus win from a portion of the wager.

35. The method of claim 25, wherein each time a value is associated with any one of the predetermined bonus categories, a probability of awarding a bonus win as a result of the play of the bonus event increases.

36. The method of claim 25, wherein each time a value is associated with any one of the predetermined bonus categories, an average expected payout of the play of the bonus event increases.