Multi-play card game gaming system with predetermined game outcomes

• US 8,758,106 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2013
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Wolf, Bryan D., Swift, Lesley S., Krum, Justin M., Montross, John M., Powell, Tracy L.
• Primary Examiner(s): GARNER, WERNER G
• Application Number:
  US13/912,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20130273991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 382 Days
• Field of Search: 463/13, 463 9- 11, 463/20, 463/22, 463/25, 463/30, 463/43
• US Class Current: 463/13
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

A gaming system which provides the player a plurality of playing cards to form an initial primary card hand and also displays one or more other card hands. The player selects one or more of the initially dealt cards in the primary card hand to hold or to discard. The held cards are also held in one, more or each of the other simultaneously displayed hands. The gaming device evaluates the held cards and determines which card game outcomes are possible based on the held cards and the remaining cards in the deck. The gaming device utilizes a stored table of different distributions of card game outcomes which would result in each payout amount and a table regarding which card game outcomes are possible based on the player'"'"'s held cards to determine a distribution of outcomes that provides a total payout equal to the payout of the predetermined game outcome.

Claims

1. A gaming system comprising:

at least one display device;

at least one input device;

at least one processor; and

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

(a) display a plurality of playing cards to form a primary card hand and at least one secondary card hand, wherein said displayed playing cards are based on a selected predetermined game outcome associated with a predetermined payout amount, and different pluralities of said playing cards form a plurality of different card hands that are each associated with one of a plurality of payout amounts,

(b) enable a player to select at least one of said displayed playing cards in at least one of the card hands to hold,

(c) determine, based on the displayed playing cards selected by the player to hold in each card hand, a distribution of card game outcomes associated with a total payout amount equal to the predetermined payout amount of the selected predetermined game outcome,

(d) assign each one of the displayed card hands one of the payout amounts of the determined distribution,

(e) display, for each of the card hands, the playing cards which would result in the assigned payout amount for that card hand, and

(f) provide the predetermined payout amount of the selected predetermined game outcome to the player.

2. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to replace at least one of the playing cards the player designated to hold.

3. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein said predetermined game outcome is at least one selected from the group consisting of:

selected from a plurality of different predetermined game outcomes, stored in the at least one memory device, and received from a central controller.

4. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to enable the player to select at least one of said displayed playing cards in the primary card hand to hold, wherein said at least one selected playing card is respectively held in each of the secondary card hands.

5. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to evaluate the playing cards selected by the player to hold in each card hand to identify a list of which card game outcomes are available based on which playing cards the player designated to hold in said card hand.

6. The gaming system of claim 5, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to determine the distribution of card game outcomes based on the identified list and a predefined table which includes data representing a plurality of said payout amounts and the distributions of possible card game outcomes which correlate to each of the payout amounts.

7. The gaming system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined payout amount is at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a quantity of monetary credits, a quantity of non-monetary credits, a quantity of promotional credits, and a quantity of player tracking points.

8. A method of operating a gaming system, said method comprising:

(a) causing at least one display device to display a plurality of playing cards to form a primary card hand and at least one secondary card hand, wherein said displayed playing cards are based on a selected predetermined game outcome associated with a predetermined payout amount, and different pluralities of said playing cards form a plurality of different card hands that are each associated with one of a plurality of payout amounts,

(b) enabling a player to select at least one of said displayed playing cards in at least one of the card hands to hold,

(c) causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions to determine, based on the displayed playing cards selected by the player to hold in each card hand, a distribution of card game outcomes associated with a total payout amount equal to the predetermined payout amount of the selected predetermined game outcome,

(d) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to assign each one of the displayed card hands one of the payout amounts of the determined distribution,

(e) causing the at least one display device to display, for each of the card hands, the playing cards which would result in the assigned payout amount for that card hand, and

(f) providing the predetermined payout amount of the selected predetermined game outcome to the player.

9. The method of claim 8, which includes causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to replace at least one of the playing cards the player designated to hold.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said predetermined game outcome is at least one selected from the group consisting of:

selected from a plurality of different predetermined game outcomes, stored in the at least one memory device, and received from a central controller.

11. The method of claim 8, which includes enabling the player to select at least one of said displayed playing cards in the primary card hand to hold, wherein said at least one selected playing card is respectively held in each of the secondary card hands.

12. The method of claim 8, which includes causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to evaluate the playing cards selected by the player to hold in each card hand to identify a list of which card game outcomes are available based on which playing cards the player designated to hold in said card hand.

13. The method of claim 12, which includes causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine the distribution of card game outcomes based on the identified list and a predefined table which includes data representing a plurality of said payout amounts and the distributions of possible card game outcomes which correlate to each of the payout amounts.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined payout amount is at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a quantity of monetary credits, a quantity of non-monetary credits, a quantity of promotional credits, and a quantity of player tracking points.

15. The method of claim 8, which is provided through a data network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the data network is an internet.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium including a plurality of instructions, which when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(a) cause at least one display device to display a plurality of playing cards to form a primary card hand and at least one secondary card hand, wherein said displayed playing cards are based on a selected predetermined game outcome associated with a predetermined payout amount, and different pluralities of said playing cards form a plurality of different card hands that are each associated with one of a plurality of payout amounts,

(b) enable a player to select at least one of said displayed playing cards in at least one of the card hands to hold,

(c) determine, based on the displayed playing cards selected by the player to hold in each card hand, a distribution of card game outcomes associated with a total payout amount equal to the predetermined payout amount of the selected predetermined game outcome,

(d) assign each one of the displayed card hands one of the payout amounts of the determined distribution,

(e) cause the at least one display device to display, for each of the card hands, the playing cards which would result in the assigned payout amount for that card hand, and

(f) provide the predetermined payout amount of the selected predetermined game outcome to the player.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to replace at least one of the playing cards the player designated to hold.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein said predetermined game outcome is at least one selected from the group consisting of:

selected from a plurality of different predetermined game outcomes, stored in the at least one memory device, and received from a central controller.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to enable the player to select at least one of said displayed playing cards in the primary card hand to hold, wherein said at least one selected playing card is respectively held in each of the secondary card hands.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to evaluate the playing cards selected by the player to hold in each card hand to identify a list of which card game outcomes are available based on which playing cards the player designated to hold in said card hand.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the plurality of instructions cause the at least one processor to determine the distribution of card game outcomes based on the identified list and a predefined table which includes data representing a plurality of said payout amounts and the distributions of possible card game outcomes which correlate to each of the payout amounts.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the predetermined payout amount is at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a quantity of monetary credits, a quantity of non-monetary credits, a quantity of promotional credits, and a quantity of player tracking points.