Time-based casino gaming using cumulative paytables

• US 8,113,936 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Filipour, Cameron Anthony, Singer, Adam, Popovich, Alexander, De Courssou, Thierry Brunet
• Primary Examiner(s): D'Agostino, Paul A.
• Application Number:
  US12/262,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20090117962A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,201 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 463/16
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3258 Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3269 Timing aspects of game play, e.g. blocking/halting the operation of a gaming machine

Abstract

Tournament-Style casino games bring players all of the advantages of gaming tournaments such as rapid play, building excitement, and player vs. player competition in a manner that addresses limitations of existing games by: a) generating revenue for tire casino in all featured embodiments; b) being available on-demand; c) paying winners instantaneously; and d) featuring a casino hold that is stable enough to meet regulator requirements. In one embodiment of tournament style gaming, a high score progressive jackpot is provided such that players are playing against both the game'"'"'s built in pay table and against the daily performances of other players. Inefficient game play results in increasing the progressive jackpot by a value of the time wasted by such inefficient game play.

Claims

1. A method of determining rewards due to a player of an electronic game on a regulated gaming machine, wherein the regulated gaming machine is configured to carry out a plurality of processes for:

accepting money from a player and using a first portion of the money to fund a progressive jackpot to be awarded after a predetermined point in time and using a second portion of the money, to purchase a predetermined duration of game play on a primary game;

allowing the player to initiate sub-wagers during the predetermined duration and keeping a cumulative score according to outcomes of the initiated sub-wagers;

when the predetermined duration is over, determining whether the player'"'"'s cumulative score entitles the player to a reward and if so, paying the reward to the player;

determining whether the player initiated sub-wagers at a rate that is lower than an optimal rate at which the player could have placed sub-wagers during the predetermined duration and, if so, increasing the progressive jackpot, and

at or after the predetermined point in time, awarding at least a portion of the progressive jackpot to at least the player if the player'"'"'s cumulative score was a high score that remains a high score at the predetermined point in time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined point in time is one of hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the gaming machine is coupled to a plurality of other gaming machines over a network and wherein the method further includes a step of storing at least one high score from among all of the plurality of other gaming machines on a server coupled to the network and a step of determining whether the player'"'"'s cumulative score exceeds at least one high score stored on the server and a step of awarding at least a portion of the progressive jackpot to the player if one of the high scores stored on the server is the player'"'"'s high score.

4. The method of claim 1, further including a step of displaying a current size of the progressive jackpot on the gaming machine.

5. The method of claim 1, further including a step of providing a jackpot redemption ticket to the player if the player'"'"'s score is established as the high score, the jackpot redemption ticket enabling the player to check whether the player has won at least a portion of the progressive jackpot.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, the accepting step is carried out with the electronic game on which game play is enabled being a gaming console-type video game.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the accepting step is carried out with the electronic game on which game play is enabled being an arcade-type video game.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the accepting step is carried out with the electronic game on which game play is enabled being a video pinball game.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of configuring the regulated game of chance such that, on average, players that initiate a greater number of sub-wagers during the predetermined duration earn a higher cumulative score and a higher reward than players that initiate a comparatively smaller number of sub-wagers during the predetermined duration.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the keeping step is carried out with the player'"'"'s cumulative score having no cash value before the predetermined duration is over.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the keeping step is carried out with the player'"'"'s cumulative score having no cash value until after the predetermined duration is over and only having a non-zero cash value if the player'"'"'s score reaches or exceeds at least one predetermined threshold value.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the gaming machine is located in a first casino and wherein at least one of the plurality of gaming machines is located in a second casino.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the jackpot redemption ticket providing step is carried out with the jackpot redemption ticket being configured to enable the player to check whether the player has won at least a portion of the progressive jackpot at least one of at the gaming machine and remotely.

14. A regulated gaming machine configured to enable a player to play an electronic game, comprising:

a user interface, the user interface being configured to accept money from a player, a first portion of the money being used to fund a progressive jackpot to be awarded after a predetermined point in time and a second portion of the money being used to purchase a predetermined duration of game play on a primary game, the user interface being further configured to enable the player to initiate sub-wagers during the predetermined duration;

a player score meter to track a cumulative score of the player according to outcomes of the initiated sub-wagers for the predetermined duration;

wherein the gaming machine is configured, when the predetermined duration is over, to determine whether the cumulative score entitles the player to an immediate reward and if so, to pay the reward to the player and to determine whether the cumulative score matches or exceeds a pre-stored high score and if so, establishing the cumulative score as a new high score, and

wherein the gaming machine is further configured, at or after the predetermined point in time, to determine whether the player initiated sub-wagers at a rate that is lower than an optimal rate at which the player could have placed sub-wagers during the predetermined duration and, if so, to increase the progressive jackpot, the gaming machine being further configured to award at least a portion of the progressive jackpot to at least the player if the player'"'"'s cumulative score was established as a high score and remains a high score at the predetermined point in time.

15. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the predetermined point in time is one of hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

16. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the gaming machine is configured to store at least one high score on a server coupled to the network, the gamine machine being further configured to award at least a portion of the progressive jackpot to at least the player if one of the high scores stored on the server is the player'"'"'s high score.

17. The gaming machine of claim 14, further including a progressive jackpot meter to display a current size of the progressive jackpot.

18. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the gaming machine is further configured to provide a jackpot redemption ticket to the player if the player'"'"'s cumulative score is established as the new high score, the jackpot redemption ticket enabling the player to check whether he or she has won at least a portion of the progressive jackpot.

19. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the electronic game is a gaming console-type video game.

20. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the electronic game is an arcade-type video game.

21. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the electronic game is a video pinball game.

22. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the gaming machine is further configured such that, on average, players that initiate a greater number of sub-wagers during the predetermined duration earn a higher reward than players that initiate a comparatively smaller number of sub-wagers during the predetermined duration.

23. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the player'"'"'s cumulative score has no cash value before the predetermined duration is over.

24. The gaming machine of claim 14, wherein the player'"'"'s cumulative score has no cash value until after the predetermined duration is over and only has a non-zero cash value if the player'"'"'s cumulative score reaches or exceeds at least one predetermined threshold value.

25. The gaming machine of claim 18, wherein the jackpot redemption ticket is configured to enable the player to check whether the player has won at least a portion of the progressive jackpot at least one of at the gaming machine and remotely.

26. A method of determining rewards due to a player of an electronic game on a regulated gaming machine, wherein the regulated gaming machine is configured to carry out a plurality of processes for:

accepting money from a player and using a first portion of the money to purchase a predetermined duration of game play on a primary game and using a second portion of the money to fund a progressive jackpot to be awarded after a predetermined point in time;

initiating the primary game and accepting a plurality of player-initiated sub-wagers;

keeping a cumulative score across all of the plurality of sub-wagers, the cumulative score increasing whenever one of the plurality of sub-wagers has a successful outcome;

at the end of the predetermined duration, determining whether the cumulative score entitles the player to a reward and if so, paying the reward to the player;

determining whether the player wasted time by initiating sub-wagers at a rate that is lower than an optimal rate at which the player could have placed sub-wagers during the predetermined duration and, if so, increasing the progressive jackpot by a value of the wasted time, and

at or after the predetermined point in time, awarding at least a portion of the progressive jackpot to at least the player if the player'"'"'s cumulative score was established as a high score and remains a high score at the predetermined point in time.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the awarding step is carried out with the high score being updated with high scores of other players until the predetermined point in time.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the determining step is carried out with the value of the wasted time being calculated using the first portion of the money and a number of sub-wagers initiated by the player during the predetermined duration.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the accepting and rewarding steps are carried out with the progressive jackpot returning to the player, on average, an amount equal to a difference between the second portion of the money and a casino hold.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the initiating step is carried out with the primary game returning to the player, on average, an amount equal to a difference between the first portion of the money and a casino hold, provided that the player initiates sub-wagers at the optimal rate during the predetermined duration.