Gaming system and method for enabling a player to select progressive awards to try for and chances of winning progressive awards

• US 7,682,248 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2007
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Cohen, Alexdander Casey Naglestad, Ferry, Tonja Marie, Koby, Adam, Baerlocher, Anthony J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hotaling, II; John M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): D'AGOSTINO, PAUL ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US11/759,046
• Publication Number:
  US 20070298875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,021 Days
• Field of Search: 463/27
• US Class Current: 463/27
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• 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

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a gaming device, a gaming system and a method for operating a gaming device or gaming system with a plurality of progressive awards. The gaming device enables a player to select one of the progressive awards. The player'"'"'s selection of which progressive award to play for is based, at least in part, on a relative probability of the player winning the selected progressive award compared to the relative probabilities of the player winning the non-selected progressive awards. After selecting which award to play for, the gaming device either provides the selected progressive award to the player or modifies the relative probability that the player will win the selected progressive award with one or more of any award selections remaining. Such a configuration enables the player to strategically select which award to play for and the order that the player will play for the awards.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

at least one central controller programmed to maintain a plurality of progressive awards which increment based, at least in part, on a plurality of wagers placed on a plurality of plays of a plurality of wagering games; and

a plurality of gaming machines, each gaming machine configured to communicate with the at least one central controller, each gaming machine including;

at least one display device;

at least one gaming machine processor;

at least one input device; and

at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by said at least one gaming machine processor after an occurrence of a random triggering event, cause said at least one gaming machine processor to operate with said at least one input device and said at least one display device to control a play of a secondary game by;

(i) causing the at least one display device to display an indication of the plurality of progressive awards and a plurality of game components,

(ii) maintaining a plurality of supplemental awards, each of the supplemental awards being greater than zero,

(iii) for each one of the progressive awards, associating said progressive award with a separate one of the maintained supplemental awards,

(iv) for each of a plurality of the maintained supplemental awards, associating said supplemental award with a separate one of a plurality of the game components,

(v) causing a selection of one of the progressive awards and one of the game components,

(vi) determining whether to provide the selected progressive award to a player, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the selected game component,

(vii) if the determination is to provide the selected progressive award, providing the selected progressive award and the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the player,

(viii) if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, modifying the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award, wherein said modification is based on the supplemental award associated with the selected game component,

(ix) determining whether an ending condition occurs, and

(x) if the ending condition does not occur, repeating (v) to (ix) until the ending condition occurs.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one gaming machine processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one gaming machine processor to control the play of the game by determining a probability of being provided for each progressive award, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the selected game component.

3. The gaming system of claim 2, wherein the determination of whether to provide the selected progressive award to the player is based on the probability of being provided for the selected progressive award.

4. The gaming system of claim 3, wherein when executed by the at least one gaming machine processor, the, plurality of instructions cause the at least one gaming machine processor, if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, to control the play of the game by modifying the associated probability of being provided for the selected progressive award.

5. The gaming system of claim 4, wherein the associated probability of being provided for the selected progressive award either increases or decreases.

6. The gaming system of claim 2, wherein the probability of being provided one of the progressive awards is greater than the probability of being provided another one of the progressive awards.

7. The gaming system of claim 2, wherein the probability of being provided each of the progressive awards is different.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein for each of the plurality of the progressive awards, said progressive award is associated with a different one of the maintained supplemental awards, and wherein for each of a plurality of the maintained supplemental awards, said supplemental award is associated with a different one of the plurality of the game components.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, the modification of the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award increases the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award.

10. The gaming system of claim 9, wherein if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, the modification of the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award includes adding the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the supplemental award associated with the selected game component.

11. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, the modification of the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award includes adding the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the supplemental award associated with the selected game component.

12. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein for each progressive award, the progressive award is added to the supplemental award associated with that progressive award when the ending condition occurs.

13. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one gaming machine processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one gaming machine processor to control the play of the game by designating at least one of the progressive awards as unavailable for selection until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

14. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the predetermined condition includes the determination to provide the selected progressive award.

15. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one gaming machine processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one gaming machine processor to control the play of the game by enabling the player to directly select at least one of (i) the progressive awards, (ii) the game components, and (iii) the progressive awards and the game components.

16. A gaming device operable under control of at least one processor, said gaming device comprising:

at least one display device;

at least one input device; and

at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor after an occurrence of a random triggering event, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to;

(a) cause the at least one display device to display a plurality of game components,

(b) maintain a plurality of supplemental awards, each of the supplemental awards being greater than zero,

(c) for each one of a plurality of progressive awards, associate said progressive award with a separate one of the maintained supplemental awards, wherein the progressive awards increment based, at least in part, on a plurality of wagers placed on a plurality of plays of a plurality of wagering games,

(d) for each of a plurality of the maintained supplemental awards, associating said supplemental award with one of a plurality of the game components,

(e) cause a selection of one of the game components and one of the progressive awards,

(f) determine whether to provide the selected progressive award to a player, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the selected game component,

(g) if the determination is to provide the selected progressive award, provide the selected progressive award and the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the player,

(h) if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, modify the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award, wherein said modification is based on the supplemental award associated with the selected game component,

(i) determine whether an ending condition occurs,

(j) if the ending condition does not occur, repeat (e) to (i) until the ending condition occurs, and

(k) after the occurrence of the ending condition, for each one of the progressive awards which were not previously provided, increase said progressive award based on the supplemental award associated with said progressive award when the ending condition occurs.

17. The gaming device of claim 16, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to cause the at least one display device to display an indication of a plurality of the progressive awards.

18. The gaming device of claim 16, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to associate:

(i) a first one of the progressive awards with a first one of the supplemental awards, and a second one of the progressive awards with a second, different one of the supplemental awards, and (ii) a first one of the game components with a third, different one of the supplemental awards, and a second one of the game components with a fourth, different one of the supplemental awards.

19. The gaming device of claim 16, wherein the modification adds the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the supplemental award associated with the selected game component.

20. The gaming device of claim 16, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to designate at least one of the progressive awards as unavailable for selection until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

21. The gaming device of claim 20, wherein the predetermined condition includes the determination to provide one of the selected progressive awards.

22. The gaming device of claim 16, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to enable the player to directly select at least one of (i) the progressive awards, (ii) the game components, and (iii) the progressive awards and the game components.

23. A method of operating a gaming system, said gaming system including a controller in communication with a plurality of gaming machines wherein each gaming machine includes a primary game operable upon a wager placed by a player, said method comprising:

(a) after an occurrence of a random triggering event;

(i) cause at least one display device to display an indication of a plurality of progressive awards and a plurality of game components, the progressive awards being incremented based, at least in part, on the wagers placed on plays of the primary games;

(ii) maintaining a plurality of supplemental awards, each of the supplemental awards being greater than zero;

(iii) for each one of the progressive awards;

associating said progressive award with a separate one of the maintained supplemental awards;

(iv) for each of a plurality of the maintained supplemental awards, associating said supplemental award with one of a plurality of the game components;

(v) causing a selection of one of the progressive awards and one of the game components;

(vi) determining whether to provide the selected progressive award to a player, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the selected game component;

(vii) if the determination is to provide the selected progressive award, providing the selected progressive award and the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the player;

(viii) if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, modifying the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award, wherein said modification is based on the supplemental award associated with the selected game component;

(ix) determining whether an ending condition occurs; and

(x) if the ending condition does not occur, repeating (v) to (ix) until the ending condition occurs.

24. The method of claim 23, which includes determining a probability of being provided for each progressive award, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the selected game component.

25. The method of claim 24, which includes basing the determination of whether to provide the selected progressive award to the player on the probability of being provided for the selected progressive award.

26. The method of claim 25, which includes modifying the associated probability of being provided for the selected progressive award if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award.

27. The method of claim 26, which includes either increasing or decreasing the probability of being provided for the selected progressive award.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the probability of being provided one of the progressive awards is greater than the probability of being provided another one of the progressive awards.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the probability of being provided each of the progressive awards is different.

30. The method of claim 23, which includes for each of the plurality of the progressive awards, associating said progressive award with a different one of the maintained supplemental awards, and for each of a plurality of the maintained supplemental awards, associating said supplemental award with a different one of the plurality of the game components.

31. The method of claim 23, which includes increasing the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award.

32. The method of claim 31, which includes adding the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the supplemental award associated with the selected game component if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award.

33. The method of claim 23, which includes adding the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the supplemental award associated with the selected game component if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award.

34. The method of claim 23, which includes, for each progressive award, adding the progressive award to the supplemental award associated with that progressive award when the ending condition occurs.

35. The method of claim 23, which includes designating at least one of the progressive awards as unavailable for selection until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the predetermined condition includes the determination to provide the selected progressive award.

37. The method of claim 23, which includes enabling the player to directly select at least one of (i) the progressive awards, (ii) the game components, and (iii) the progressive awards and the game components.

38. The method of claim 23, which is provided through a data network.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the data network is an internet.

40. A method of operating a gaming device, said method comprising:

(a) after an occurrence of a random triggering event;

(i) causing at least one display device to display a plurality of game components;

(ii) maintaining a plurality of supplemental awards, each of the supplemental awards being greater than zero;

(iii) for each one of a plurality of progressive awards, associating said progressive award with a separate one of the maintained supplemental awards, wherein the progressive awards increment based, at least in part, on a plurality of wagers placed on a plurality of plays of a plurality of wagering games;

(iv) for each of a plurality of the maintained supplemental awards, associating said supplemental award with one of a plurality of the game components;

(v) causing a selection of one of the game components and one of the progressive awards;

(vi) determining whether to provide the selected progressive award to a player, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the selected game component;

(vii) if the determination is to provide the selected progressive award, providing the selected progressive award and the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award to the player;

(viii) if the determination is not to provide the selected progressive award, modifying the supplemental award associated with the selected progressive award, wherein said modification is based on the supplemental award associated with the selected game component;

(ix) determining whether an ending condition occurs;

(x) if the ending condition does not occur, repeating (v) to (ix) until the ending condition occurs; and

(xi) after the occurrence of the ending condition, for each one of the progressive awards which were not previously provided, increasing said progressive award based on the supplemental award associated with said progressive award when the ending condition occurs.

41. The method of claim 40, which includes displaying an indication of a plurality of the progressive awards.

42. The method of claim 40, which includes;

(i) associating a first one each of a plurality of the progressive awards with a first one of the supplemental awards, and a second one of the progressive awards with a second, different one of the supplemental awards, and (ii) associating a first one of the game components with a third, different one of the supplemental awards, and a second one of the game components with a fourth, different one of the supplemental awards.

43. The method of claim 40, which includes adding the supplemental award of the selected progressive award to the supplemental award associated with the selected game component.

44. The method of claim 40, which includes designating at least one of the progressive awards as unavailable for selection until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the predetermined condition includes the determination to provide one of the selected progressive awards.

46. The method of claim 40, which includes enabling the player to directly select at least one of (i) the progressive awards, (ii) the game components, and (iii) the progressive awards and the game components.

47. The method of claim 40, which is provided through a data network.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the data network is an internet.