Electronic amusement device offering secondary game of chance and method for operating same

• US 8,480,467 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2009
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Jorasch, James A., Mik, Magdalena, Tulley, Stephen C., Lech, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEICHLITER, CHASE E
• Application Number:
  US12/430,373
• Publication Number:
  US 20090209320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,534 Days
• Field of Search: 463/20, 463/16, 463/25, 463/13, 463/21, 463/1, 463/42, 273/138.1, 273/139
• US Class Current: 463/16
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3234 about the performance of a gaming system, e.g. revenue, diagnosis of the gaming system
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3239 Tracking of individual players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00

Abstract

An electronic amusement device and a method for operating the device are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, a slot machine server controls a secondary game of chance played at a client slot machine. The server receives a player identifier corresponding to a player and a client identifier corresponding to a client slot machine. The server retrieves registration data relating to a secondary game of chance corresponding to the player identifier and the client identifier. The server further receives an outcome from the client slot machine and analyzes the outcome based on game requirements associated with the secondary game of chance, thereby determining whether the outcome satisfies at least one of the game requirements. Once all of the game requirements have been satisfied, the server updates a session status indicating the completion of the game requirements.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining that a player has completed a game of chance, the game being associated with a plurality of gaming devices;

wherein completing the game includes a requirement that a player of the game must play at more than one of the gaming devices, and further

wherein the requirement that the player must play at more than one of the gaming devices comprises a requirement that the player must insert an identifier at each of the more than one of the gaming devices and thus be physically present at each of the more than one of the gaming devices during completion of the game, and a requirement that the player collect specific outcomes from designated gaming devices of the more than one of the gaming devices; and

providing a reward to the player in response to determining that the player has completed the game.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the player has registered for the game before completing the game.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining that the player has completed the game includes determining whether the player has received a favorable outcome in the game;

and

wherein the reward is only provided to the player if the player has received a favorable outcome in the game.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein completing the game includes a requirement that a player of the game must not exceed a maximum number of plays to complete the game.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein completing the game includes a requirement that a player of the game must not exceed a maximum duration of time to complete the game.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein completing the game includes a requirement that a player of the game must not play on more than a maximum number of gaming devices.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein completing the game includes a requirement of a minimum number of occurrences of a symbol output to the player via at least one gaming device associated with the game.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein completing the game includes a requirement that the player collect a minimum number of outputs of a specified symbol along a respective payline of the gaming devices associated with the game.

9. A system, comprising:

a plurality of gaming devices, each of the plurality of gaming devices being configured to facilitate a primary game of chance and a secondary game of chance; and

an apparatus operable to communicate with the plurality of gaming devices, the apparatus further operable to;

determine that a player has completed a game of chance, the game being associated with a plurality of gaming devices;

wherein completing the game includes a requirement that a player of the game must play at more than one of the gaming devices; and

further

wherein the requirement that the player must play at more than one of the gaming devices comprises a requirement that the player must insert an identifier at each of the more than one of the gaming devices and thus be physically present at each of the more than one of the gaming devices during completion of the game, and a requirement that the player collect specific outcomes from designated gaming devices of the more than one of the gaming devices; and

provide a reward to the player in response to determining that the player has completed the game.

10. A method, comprising:

determining that a player has completed a game of chance, the game being associated with a plurality of online gaming devices;

wherein completing the game includes a requirement that a player of the game must play at more than one of the online gaming devices, and further

wherein the requirement that the player must play at more than one of the online gaming devices comprises a requirement that the player must present an identifier for each of the more than one of the online gaming devices during completion of the game, and a requirement that the player needs to collect specific outcomes from designated online gaming devices of the more than one of the online gaming devices; and

providing a reward to the player in response to determining that the player has completed the game.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method for directing a computing device to perform a method, said processing instructions for directing a computer to perform the method of:

determining that a player has completed a game of chance, the game being associated with a plurality of online gaming devices;

wherein completing the game includes a requirement that a player of the game must play at more than one of the online gaming devices, and further

wherein the requirement that the player must play at more than one of the online gaming devices comprises a requirement that the player must present an identifier for each of the more than one of the online gaming devices during completion of the game, and a requirement that the player needs to collect specific outcomes from designated online gaming devices of the more than one of the online gaming devices; and

providing a reward to the player in response to determining that the player has completed the game.