Gaming system and method which enables multiple players to simultaneously play multiple individual games or group games on a central display

• US 8,109,821 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Kovacs, James K., Baerlocher, Anthony J., Oberberger, Michael M., Wolf, Bryan D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Suhol, Dmitry
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUFFY, DAVID W
• Application Number:
  US11/847,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20080102916A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,622 Days
• Field of Search: 463 16- 20, 463 40- 42
• US Class Current: 463/16
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3216 Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3269 Timing aspects of game play, e.g. blocking/halting the operation of a gaming machine
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3272 Games involving multiple players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a gaming system including a central controller, a central display which includes a plurality of display segments and a plurality player stations. The display segments are configured to each separately display one of a plurality of games, to co-act to display a plurality of games, or to co-act to display one game. Each player station is configured to enable a player to play one or more of the games displayed by the display segments. The gaming system enables a plurality of players to play a group game on the central display, a plurality of players to simultaneously play multiple group games on the central display, and a plurality of players to each simultaneously play multiple individual games on the central display.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

a display device including a plurality of display segments, each display segment configured to display one of a plurality of different games;

a plurality of player stations, each player station including at least one input device and at least one player station display device;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to;

(a) during a participation period, for each of a plurality of players at one of the player stations, for each of the different games displayed by the display segments, enable the player using the at least one input device of that player station to make at least one input to individually wager on a play of said different game;

(b) after termination of the participation period, for each of the displayed different games;

(i) randomly determine a game outcome; and

(ii) independently determine if said randomly determined game outcome is a winning game outcome or a losing game outcome, wherein each of the determined game outcomes can be the winning game outcome or the losing game outcome;

(c) simultaneously display said plays of the displayed different games including displaying the randomly determined game outcomes on the display segments of the display device; and

(d) for each wagered on play of the displayed different games, cause the player station where any wager was placed on said play of said game to;

(A) display said randomly determined game outcome associated with said wagered on play of said game; and

(B) display any awards based on said displayed game outcome and an amount the player wagered on said game.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the display device is a single device.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the games is an interactive game.

4. The gaming system of claim 3, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable a single player to control the interactive game.

5. The gaming system of claim 3, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable multiple players to control the interactive game.

6. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the at least one input device of each of the player stations enables the player at said player station to select which of the plurality of plays of the games to play and the amount to wager per play.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to display an indication of at least of one player who received one of the winning outcomes.

8. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the different games include a plurality of different types of games.

9. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to provide a next participation period to enable a plurality of players to each individually wager using the at least one input device of the player station on the plays of the different games displayed by the display segments, wherein said next participation period begins before any awards are displayed at the player stations for the plays of the wagered on games.

10. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein upon termination of the participation period, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device to simultaneously cause a display of plays of all of the games displayed on the display segments of the display device.

11. A gaming system comprising:

a display device including a plurality of display segments, each display segment configured to display one of a plurality of different games;

a plurality of player stations, each player station including at least one input device and at least one player station display device;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to;

(a) for each of a plurality of players, for each of the plurality of different games displayed by the display segments, enable the player to individually wager using the at least one input device of the player station on a play of said different game;

(b) upon initiation of a wager on a play of one of said displayed games, begin a participation period for said play of said wagered on game;

(c) enable other players to place wagers for said play of said wagered on game using the at least one input devices of the player stations during the participation period;

(d) after termination of the participation period, randomly determine a game outcome for said play of said wagered on game;

(e) display said determined game outcome on one of the display segments of the display device;

(f) determine if said displayed game outcome is a winning game outcome, wherein said displayed game outcome can be the winning game outcome or a losing game outcome, wherein the determination of whether said displayed game outcome is the winning outcome is independent from determinations of whether any other game outcomes of plays of other games displayed by the display segments are winning game outcomes; and

(e) for each player who wagered on said play of said game, cause the player station where the wager was placed to;

(i) display the determined game outcome associated with said wagered on play of said game; and

(ii) provide the player any award based on an amount the player wagered on said play of said wagered on game and said displayed game outcome.

12. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the display device is a single device.

13. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein each of the games are simultaneously displayable by the display segments.

14. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the games is an interactive game.

15. The gaming system of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable a single player to control the interactive game.

16. The gaming system of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to enable multiple players to control the interactive game.

17. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the at least one input device of each of the player stations enables the player to select each of the different games to play and the amount to wager per play of each selected game.

18. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory device stores the plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the player stations to display at least one winner of at least one of the plays of the games on the display device.

19. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein the different games include a plurality of different types of games.

20. The gaming system of claim 11, wherein upon termination of the participation period, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device to simultaneously cause a display of plays of all of the games displayed on the display segments of the display device.

21. A gaming system comprising:

a display device including a plurality of display segments, each display segment configured to separately display one of a plurality of different games;

a first player station and a second player station, each player station including at least one input device and at least one player station display device;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the display device and the first player station and the second player station to;

(a) during a participation period, enable a first player at the first player station to use the input device at the first player station to place a wager on a first payline and a second payline of a designated one of the displayed different games, and to wager on each of the other displayed different games;

(b) during the participation period, enable a second player at the second player station to use the input device at the second player station to place a wager on the first payline and the second payline of said designated game, and to wager on each of the other displayed different games;

(c) upon termination of the participation period, display

(i) a play of said wagered on designated game on one of the display segments of the display device including displaying a randomly determined game outcome of said wagered on designated game;

(ii) for each of the other displayed different games, display a play of said game on one of the other display segments of the display device including a randomly determined game outcome of said game;

(d) independently determine if the said displayed game outcome for the designated game is a winning game result or a losing game result for each of the first player and the second player, wherein the first player and the second player may each have the winning game result or the losing game result based on whether the first player and the second player wagered on the same or different paylines of said designated game;

(e) if said first player'"'"'s game result is the winning game result, cause the first player station to provide the first player an award based on said displayed game outcome and the wager placed by the first player on said designated game; and

(f) if said second player'"'"'s game result is the winning game result, cause the second player station to provide the second player an award based on said displayed game outcome and the wager placed by the second player on said designated game.