Methods and apparatus for providing a lottery game

• US 7,766,740 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scientific Games Corporation
• Original Assignee: Scientific Games International Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Penrice, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Coburn; Corbett B
• Application Number:
  US11/580,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20070066382A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,390 Days
• Field of Search: 463/18
• US Class Current: 463/18
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• 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 17/3262 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

A gaming apparatus and method of play including a value input device and a controller operatively coupled to the value input device. The controller receives wager data in response to a wager made by a person on a game, with the wager data including a first plurality of indicia of a first type, a second plurality of indicia of the first type, where the second plurality of indicia potentially randomly selected to replace one or more of the indicia of a first type in at least one of the first plurality of indicia, and the second plurality of indicia also having an indicia of a second type. A winner is determined from matching any of the first plurality of indicia of the first type with any of the second plurality of indicia of the first type, including any replaced indicia, and a value payout is associated with the level of matching.

Claims

1. A computer implemented gaming method comprising:

receiving wager data with a controller that is in communication with a plurality of gaming apparatuses in response to a wager made by persons on a game at the gaming apparatuses, said wager data comprising a first plurality of indicia selected by the person from a first defined pool of indicia;

displaying the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia;

subsequent to displaying the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia from the first pool of indicia, the controller randomly substituting at least one of the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia with a wild card indicia selected from second pool of a different type of indicia, and displaying the results of the substitution to the player;

the controller randomly generating a second plurality of indicia from a third pool of indicia that is coextensive with the first sot pool of indicia and displaying the second plurality of indicia to the player, the second plurality of indicia from the third pool of indicia being greater in number than the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia from the first pool of indicia;

determining matches between the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia and the randomly generated second plurality of indicia with the controller, the wild card indicia from the second pool of a different type of indicia being deemed a match with any one of the randomly generated second plurality of indicia; and

determining a prize payout with the controller as a function of the number of matches between the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia and the randomly generated second plurality of indicia.

2. The gaming method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of wild card indicia are randomly generated from the second pool of a different type of indicia and randomly substituted for a corresponding number of the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia.

3. The gaming method of claim 2, wherein up to all of the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia are substituted with wild card indicia.

4. The gaming method of claim 1, wherein the prize payout is also a function of order of the matches between the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia and the randomly generated second plurality of indicia.

5. The gaming method of claim 1, wherein the gaming method is conducted by video images presented to the player, the video images presenting the player'"'"'s initial selected first plurality of indicia from the first pool of indicia, the player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia with substituted wild card indicia from the second pool of indicia, and the randomly generated second plurality of indicia from the third pool of indicia.

6. The gaming method of claim 1, further comprising associating a multiplier factor with the wild card indicia, the multiplier factor being applied to the prize payout.

7. The gaming method of claim 6, wherein the multiplier factor is randomly generated from a range of possible multiplier factors.

8. The gaming method of claim 1, wherein the gaming method is conducted with multiple players and the randomly generated second plurality of indicia from the third pool of indicia is common to all of the players, and further comprising at least one of the randomly generated second plurality of indicia being a wild card indicia that is used by the players as a match for any one of the respective player'"'"'s selected first plurality of indicia from the first pool of indicia.