Systems and methods for playing a game of chance with bonus feature

• US 9,067,131 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2013
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gaming Arts LLC
• Original Assignee: Gaming Arts LLC
• Inventors: Colvin, David, Colvin, Eric D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre E
• Application Number:
  US13/788,070
• Publication Number:
  US 20140073401A1
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• Field of Search: 463/18, 463/19, 463/22
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/0645 Electric lottos or bingo games
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3209 Input means, e.g. buttons, touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• 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 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/326 Game play aspects of gaming systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3262 Player actions which determine the course of the game, e.g. selecting a prize to be won, outcome to be achieved, game to be played
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3267 Game outcomes which determine the course of the subsequent game, e.g. double or quits, free games, higher payouts, different new games
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3286 Type of games
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards

Abstract

Systems and methods enable one or more players to play a game of chance. A system includes a processor and a memory device for storing instructions to provide a game of chance in which house indicia are selected from a pool of house indicia, and wherein a payout from a first pay table is awarded if a player matched a plurality of player indicia with the house indicia. The processor randomly selects a plurality of house indicia, provides a random chance of selecting at least one bonus indicia, determines whether player indicia within a pattern match the house indicia, and provides a payout to the player if the bonus indicia matches at least one player indicia within the pattern and if each player indicia within the pattern are matched by the house indicia. The payout is based on a second pay table that is different from the first pay table.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory device configured to store instructions that are executable by a processor to provide a game of chance that includes a first pay table and a second pay table different from the first pay table;

a randomization device comprising at least one of a mechanical indicia selector, an electromechanical indicia selector, a permutation generator, a hardware-based random number generator (RNG), a firmware-based RNG, and a software-based RNG, wherein said randomization device is configured to;

randomly select a plurality of house indicia from a pool of house indicia; and

provide a random chance of selecting no bonus indicia; and

a processor coupled to said memory device for executing the instructions, wherein, when said processor executes the instructions, said processor is programmed to;

provide at least one player card comprising a plurality of player indicia;

determine whether each player indicia within at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia and provide a payout to the player based on the first pay table if each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched;

if at least one bonus indicia is selected, determine whether the at least one bonus indicia matches at least one player indicia within the at least one pattern;

enable the game to be ended with 0 or more of the at least one pattern being matched; and

increase the payout to the player upon the determination that the at least one bonus indicia matches at least one player indicia within the at least one pattern, wherein the increased payout is based on the second pay table.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said randomization device is further programmed to select at least one of the plurality of house indicia to be the at least one bonus indicia.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to continue the game after said processor determines that each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to end the game after a predetermined number of the house indicia have been selected.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia for use in determining whether each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by the selected plurality of house indicia.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to select the at least one pattern to be used during the game, wherein the at least one pattern is a grouping of spaces for displaying player indicia within a player card matrix.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia to be displayed within the at least one pattern.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the game is a first game of a plurality of games, said processor is further programmed to enable the player to switch from the first game to a second game of the plurality of games.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said memory device comprises a wrapper program module comprising instructions that, when executed by said processor, program said processor to transfer gameplay data from the first game to the second game.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to start the game on a first device and obtain the result of the game on a second device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the increased payout based on the second pay table is a multiple of the payout based on the first pay table.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one bonus indicia is at least one of a plurality of bonus indicia that are randomly selectable by said randomization device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said randomization device is further programmed to select each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia to be one of the selected house indicia.

14. A method of providing a game of chance that includes a first pay table and a second pay table different from the first pay table, said method comprising:

providing at least one player card that includes a plurality of player indicia;

randomly selecting, by a randomization device, a plurality of house indicia from a pool of house indicia, wherein the randomization device includes at least one of a mechanical indicia selector, an electromechanical indicia selector, a permutation generator, a hardware-based random number generator (RNG), a firmware-based RNG, and a software-based RNG;

providing, by the randomization device, a random chance of selecting no bonus indicia;

determining, by a processor, whether each player indicia within at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia and providing a payout to the player based on the first pay table if each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched;

if at least one bonus indicia is selected, determining whether the at least one bonus indicia matches at least one player indicia within the at least one pattern;

enabling the game to be ended after 0 or more of the at least one pattern is matched;

increasing the payout to the player upon the determination that the at least one bonus indicia matches at least one player indicia within the at least one pattern, wherein the increased payout is based on the second pay table; and

displaying the payout to the player on a display device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising selecting at least one of the plurality of house indicia to be the at least one bonus indicia.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising continuing the game after each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising ending the game after a predetermined number of the house indicia have been selected.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising enabling the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia for use in determining whether each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by the selected plurality of house indicia.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising enabling the player to select the at least one pattern to be used during the game, wherein the at least one pattern is a grouping of spaces for displaying player indicia within a player card matrix.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising enabling the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia to be displayed within the at least one pattern.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the game is a first game of a plurality of games, said method further comprising enabling the player to switch from the first game to a second game of the plurality of games.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising transferring gameplay data from the first game to the second game.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising enabling the player to start the game on a first device and obtain the result of the game on a second device.

24. The method of claim 14, further comprising selecting the increased payout based on the second pay table to be a multiple of the payout based on the first pay table.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one bonus indicia is at least one of a plurality of bonus indicia that are randomly selectable, said method further comprising selecting each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia to be one of the selected house indicia.

26. A system comprising:

a memory device configured to store instructions that are executable by a processor to provide a game of chance that includes a first pay table and a second plurality of pay tables that are different from the first pay table;

a randomization device comprising at least one of a mechanical indicia selector, an electromechanical indicia selector, a permutation generator, a hardware-based random number generator (RNG), a firmware-based RNG, and a software-based RNG, wherein said randomization device is configured to;

randomly select a plurality of house indicia from a pool of house indicia; and

provide a random chance of selecting no bonus indicia; and

a processor coupled to said memory device for executing the instructions, wherein, when said processor executes the instructions, said processor is programmed to;

provide at least one player card comprising a plurality of player indicia;

determine whether each player indicia within at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia and provide a payout to the player based on the first pay table if each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched;

if a plurality of bonus indicia is selected, determine whether each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia matches a player indicia within the at least one pattern;

enable the game to be ended after 0 or more of the at least one pattern is matched; and

increase the payout to the player upon the determination that each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia matches a player indicia within the at least one pattern, wherein the increased payout is based on the second plurality of pay tables.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said randomization device is further programmed to select a portion of the plurality of house indicia to be the plurality of bonus indicia.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein said processor is further programmed to continue the game after said processor determines that each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein said processor is further programmed to end the game after a predetermined number of the house indicia have been selected.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia for use in determining whether each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by the selected plurality of house indicia.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to select the at least one pattern to be used during the game, wherein the at least one pattern is a grouping of spaces for displaying player indicia within a player card matrix.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia to be displayed within the at least one pattern.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein the game is a first game of a plurality of games, said processor is further programmed to enable the player to switch from the first game to a second game of the plurality of games.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein said memory device comprises a wrapper program module comprising instructions that, when executed by said processor, program said processor to transfer gameplay data from the first game to the second game.

35. The system of claim 26, wherein said processor is further programmed to enable the player to start the game on a first device and obtain the result of the game on a second device.

36. The system of claim 26, wherein the increased payout based on the second plurality of pay tables is a multiple of the payout based on the first pay table.

37. The system of claim 26, wherein the plurality of bonus indicia is randomly selectable by said randomization device.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein said randomization device is further programmed to select each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia to be one of the selected house indicia.

39. A method of providing a game of chance that includes a first pay table and a second plurality of pay tables that are different from the first pay table, said method comprising:

providing at least one player card that includes a plurality of player indicia;

randomly selecting, by a randomization device, a plurality of house indicia from a pool of house indicia, wherein the randomization device includes at least one of a mechanical indicia selector, an electromechanical indicia selector, a permutation generators hardware-based random number generator (RNG), a firmware-based RNG, and a software-based RNG;

providing, by the randomization device, a random chance of selecting no bonus indicia;

determining, by a processor, whether each player indicia within at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia and provide a payout to the player based on the first pay table if each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched;

if a plurality of bonus indicia is selected, determining whether each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia matches a player indicia within the at least one pattern;

enabling the game to be ended with 0 or more of the at least one pattern being matched; and

increasing the payout to the player upon the determination that each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia matches a player indicia within the at least one pattern, wherein the increased payout is based on the second plurality of pay tables.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising selecting a portion of the plurality of house indicia to be the plurality of bonus indicia.

41. The method of claim 39, further comprising continuing the game after each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by one of the selected plurality of house indicia.

42. The method of claim 39, further comprising ending the game after a predetermined number of the house indicia have been selected.

43. The method of claim 39, further comprising enabling the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia for use in determining whether each player indicia within the at least one pattern is matched by the selected plurality of house indicia.

44. The method of claim 39, further comprising enabling the player to select the at least one pattern to be used during the game, wherein the at least one pattern is a grouping of spaces for displaying player indicia within a player card matrix.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising enabling the player to select at least a portion of the player indicia to be displayed within the at least one pattern.

46. The method of claim 39, wherein the game is a first game of a plurality of games, said method further comprising enabling the player to switch from the first game to a second game of the plurality of games.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising transferring gameplay data from the first game to the second game.

48. The method of claim 39, further comprising enabling the player to start the game on a first device and obtain the result of the game on a second device.

49. The method of claim 39, further comprising selecting the increased payout based on the second plurality of pay tables to be a multiple of the payout based on the first pay table.

50. The method of claim 39, wherein each bonus indicia of the plurality bonus indicia is randomly selectable by the randomization device, said method further comprising selecting each bonus indicia of the plurality of bonus indicia to be one of the selected house indicia.