Gaming system and method for providing bingo wins

• US 8,025,561 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2005
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Thome, Connie L., Reddicks, Christopher D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau; Ronald
• Assistant Examiner(s): Williams; Ross A.
• Application Number:
  US11/224,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20070060287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,206 Days
• Field of Search: 463/16, 463/20, 463/42, 463/40, 463/24, 463/25, 463/29
• US Class Current: 463/19
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements

Abstract

A gaming system includes a plurality of gaming machines and a continual game sequence including a plurality of symbols and a plurality of sessions. Each session includes a number of games. At the beginning of a game sequence, the gaming system draws all of the symbols. When the number of games of the current session has been played without a winner, the game sequence proceeds to the next session. For each session, the gaming system activates a number of the drawn symbols based on the session number. Upon player activation, a gaming machine generates a symbol subset, marking each symbol in the subset which matches the activated symbols. If the marked symbols match a predetermined pattern, the gaming system provides an award for a player, basing the award on an award pool amount and the session number. As the session number increases, the award provided to the player decreases.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

a controller; and

a plurality of gaming devices configured to operate with the controller to;

(a) provide a designated game sequence including a plurality of bingo games, each of said bingo games including at least one bingo card, each bingo card having a subset of bingo symbols arranged in a pattern selected and from a set of a plurality of different bingo symbols; and

(b) for the plurality of bingo games at each of the plurality of gaming devices in the designated game sequence;

(i) determine the total number of bingo games previously played in the designated game sequence on all of the plurality of gaming devices;

(ii) determine a session number based upon the total number of bingo games previously played on all of the plurality of gaming devices in the designated game sequence;

(iii) activate a predetermined number of bingo symbols from the set of bingo symbols based on the determined session number;

(iv) for each bingo card of the bingo game, compare the subset of bingo symbols of the bingo card to a plurality but not all of the activated plurality of bingo symbols to determine if the bingo card includes a primary bingo winning pattern of the plurality of activated bingo symbols, and if so, provide a primary bingo award to a player associated with said bingo card; and

(v) additionally, for each bingo card of the bingo game, compare the subset of bingo symbols of the bingo card to the activated predetermined number of bingo symbols to determine if the bingo card includes a secondary bingo winning pattern of the associated bingo symbols which is different from the primary bingo winning pattern, and if so, provide a secondary bingo award to a secondary player associated with said bingo card, wherein an amount of the secondary bingo award is based on the session number.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the primary bingo winning pattern and the secondary bingo winning pattern each include a different bingo winning pattern selected from the group consisting of:

four corners;

a blackout;

a plurality of bingo symbols arranged adjacently in a row;

a plurality of bingo symbols arranged adjacently in a column; and

a plurality of bingo symbols arranged adjacently and diagonally in a straight line.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of gaming devices includes a display device operable to display the bingo cards.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein a probability of having an occurrence of the secondary bingo winning pattern increases as the session number increases.

5. The gaming system of claim 4, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award decreases as the session number increases.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award decreases as the session number increases.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is equal to an award pool amount multiplied by (one divided by (two plus the session number)).

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is equal to an award pool amount multiplied by (one divided by the session number).

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the controller activates at least one additional bingo symbol for a next session than the number of bingo symbols activated for a previous session.

10. The gaming system of claim 9, wherein an award pool increases with each bingo game played in a game sequence.

11. The gaming system of claim 9, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is equal to an award pool amount multiplied by (one divided by (two plus the session number)).

12. The gaming system of claim 9, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is equal to an award pool amount multiplied by (one divided by the session number).

13. The gaming system of claim 9, wherein a probability of having an occurrence of the secondary bingo winning pattern increases as the session number increases.

14. The gaming system of claim 13, wherein an award pool increases with each bingo game played in a game sequence.

15. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is additionally based on an award pool.

16. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is additionally based on the number of activated bingo symbols.

17. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is additionally based on a minimum win percentage.

18. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the bingo cards each include a different plurality of bingo symbols.

19. A gaming system comprising:

a controller; and

a plurality of gaming devices configured to operate with the controller to;

(a) provide a designated game sequence including a plurality of bingo games, each of said bingo games including at least one bingo card, each bingo card having a subset of bingo symbols arranged in a pattern and selected from a set of a plurality of different bingo symbols; and

(b) for the plurality of bingo games at each of the plurality of gaming devices in the designated game sequence;

(i) determine the total number of bingo games previously played in the designated game sequence on all of the plurality of gaming devices;

(ii) activate a predetermined number of bingo symbols from the set of bingo symbols based on the total number of previously played bingo games on all of the plurality of gaming devices;

(iii) for each bingo card of the bingo game, compare the subset of bingo symbols of the bingo card to a plurality but not all of the activated plurality of bingo symbols to determine if the bingo card includes a primary bingo winning pattern of the plurality of activated bingo symbols, and if so, provide a primary bingo award to a player associated with said bingo card; and

(v) additionally, for each bingo card of the bingo game, compare the subset of bingo symbols of the bingo card to the activated predetermined number of bingo symbols to determine if the bingo card includes a secondary bingo winning pattern of the associated bingo symbols which is different from the primary bingo winning pattern, and if so, provide a secondary bingo award to a secondary player associated with said bingo card, wherein an amount of the secondary bingo award is based on the number of previously played bingo games.

20. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein the primary bingo winning pattern and the secondary bingo winning pattern each include a different bingo winning pattern selected from the group consisting of:

four corners;

a blackout;

a plurality of bingo symbols arranged adjacently in a row;

a plurality of bingo symbols arranged adjacently in a column; and

a plurality of bingo symbols arranged adjacently and diagonally in a straight line.

21. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of gaming devices includes a display device operable to display the bingo cards.

22. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein a probability of having an occurrence of one of the secondary bingo winning pattern increases as the number of previously played bingo games increases.

23. The gaming system of claim 22, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award decreases as the number of previously played bingo games increases.

24. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award decreases as the number of previously played bingo games increases.

25. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award decreases as the number of activated bingo symbols increases.

26. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein an award pool increases with each bingo game played in a game sequence.

27. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is additionally based on an award pool.

28. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is additionally based on the number of activated bingo symbols.

29. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein the amount of the secondary bingo award is additionally based on a minimum win percentage.

30. The gaming system of claim 19, wherein a plurality of the bingo cards each include a different plurality of bingo symbols.