Skill based games of chance

• US 8,430,733 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leena Hannonen
• Original Assignee: Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., Inc. (Caesars Entertainment, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Christopher, Byrne, Steven, Lane, Katrina, Rassweiler, Thomas, Rosenblatt, Kenny
• Primary Examiner(s): Laneau, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US13/248,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20130084930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 579 Days
• Field of Search: 463 11- 13, 463/16, 273/244.2
• US Class Current: 463/11
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3295 Games involving skill, e.g. dexterity, memory, thinking
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/38 Ball games; Shooting apparatus

Abstract

Described are casino games that incorporate a player'"'"'s physical dexterity into gameplay, thus adding a physical skill component to a game, beyond any mental skill components the underlying games already posses. Similarly to the manner in which a player'"'"'s knowledge of a game'"'"'s rules and strategies allows the player to increase their chance of winning traditional casino games, the dexterity, or skill based games allow the player to increase their chance of winning by performing game-oriented physical tasks. Examples of games with this feature are a poker game where a player shoots a game gun at a display device to add cards to their hand in hopes of forming a winning hand, and a three dimensional mahjong game where a player rotates a tile structure to find and removing matching tiles in order to increase their score.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a virtual card game within a gaming machine, comprising:

receiving a bet from a player;

determining a shot count based on the bet;

randomly selecting a card to enter gameplay;

displaying the card on a display of the gaming machine, the display of the card comprising moving the card along a path on the display for a limited period of time during which the player can attempt to select the card, such that after the expiration of the time period the card cannot be selected by the player;

receiving a shot input at the gaming machine during the limited time period, the shot input comprising a shot location on the display, the shot input occurring responsive to the player pointing a pointing device at the shot location on the display and activating a game trigger on the pointing device;

responsive to the shot location matching a current location of the card on the display, adding the card to a player hand; and

reducing the player shot count.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the shot count decreases as an amount of the bet increases.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the card selected to enter gameplay is based on an amount of the bet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein moving the card along the path on the display comprises a motion behavior comprising at least one of:

a start point, an end point, a velocity of travel, a display duration, a rotation behavior, a card size, and a flip behavior.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the motion behavior is based on an amount of the bet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the shot location matches a current location of the card on the display comprises determining whether the shot location falls within a border of the edge of the displayed card.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising

determining that the shot location matches a current location of a held card in the player hand;

and

removing the held card from the player hand.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising adding a free card to the player hand after the bet is received.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising

determining that the player hand matches a win condition in a pay table;

and

increasing a player credit total based on the matching win condition and an amount of the bet.

10. A method for implementing a virtual tile game within a gaming machine, comprising:

receiving a bet from a player;

selecting a plurality of bonus tiles to enter gameplay, each of the bonus tiles having a bonus symbol on at least one face;

constructing a tile structure comprising a plurality of tiles, each tile having a symbol on at least one face, the tile structure including the bonus tiles;

displaying the tile structure on a display of the gaming machine and beginning gameplay by decrementing a game time over time;

rotating the displayed tile structure in one or more dimensions based on a received rotation input;

receiving a first and second tile selection at the gaming machine;

determining that the first and second tile selections are valid;

responsive to a first symbol of the first tile and a second symbol of the second tile matching, removing the first and second tiles from the tile structure; and

increasing a player credit total if the removed tiles are bonus tiles.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of bonus tiles increases as an amount of the bet increases.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the bonus tiles comprises at least four bonus tiles, the bonus tiles comprising a first plurality of bonus tiles, each of the first bonus tiles having a first bonus symbol on at least one face, and a second plurality of bonus tiles, each of the second bonus tiles having a second bonus symbol on at least one face.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein a number of bonus symbols assigned to bonus tiles increases as an amount of the bet increases.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein constructing a tile structure comprises organizing the tiles in a structure.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the structure is a cube.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the structure is a plurality of layers of tiles wherein each layer includes a different number of tiles.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein each symbol is applied to tiles in multiples of two tiles.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein each symbol is applied to tiles in multiples of three.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the tile selection is valid comprises determining that there are no tiles on at least one of the left or the right of the tile selection.

20. The method of claim 10, comprising increasing a game time if the removed tiles are time extension tiles.

21. A gaming machine configured to implement a virtual card game, comprising:

a processor configured to execute programming instructions; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing the programming instructions, the programming instructions configured to;

receive a bet from a player;

determine a shot count based on the bet;

randomly select a card to enter gameplay;

display the card on a display of the gaming machine, the display of the card comprising moving the card along a path on the display for a limited period of time during which the player can attempt to select the card, such that after the expiration of the time period the card cannot be selected by the player;

receive a shot input at the gaming machine during the limited time period, the shot input comprising a shot location on the display, the shot input occurring responsive to the player pointing a pointing device at the shot location on the display and activating a game trigger on the pointing device;

responsive to the shot location matching a current location of the card on the display, add the card to a player hand; and

reduce the player shot count.

22. A gaming machine configured to implement a virtual tile game, comprising:

a processor configured to execute programming instructions; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing the programming instructions, the programming instructions configured to;

receive a bet from a player;

select a plurality of bonus tiles to enter gameplay, each of the bonus tiles having a bonus symbol on at least one face;

construct a tile structure comprising a plurality of tiles, each tile having a symbol on at least one face, the tile structure including the bonus tiles;

display the tile structure on a display of the gaming machine and beginning gameplay by decrementing a game time over time;

rotate the displayed tile structure in one or more dimensions based on a received rotation input;

receive a first and second tile selection at the gaming machine;

determine that the first and second tile selections are valid;

responsive to a first symbol of the first tile and a second symbol of the second tile matching, remove the first and second tiles from the tile structure; and

increase a player credit total if the removed tiles are bonus tiles.