Keno board ball reduction and reel keno

• US 9,460,585 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2014
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Wenker, Ross D., Allen, Thomas W. II, Humphrey, Thomas J., Wolf, Bryan D.
• Primary Examiner(s): LIDDLE, JAY TRENT
• Application Number:
  US14/203,424
• Publication Number:
  US 20150254925A1
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: 463/18
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided keno game play. A keno board is displayed showing a set of available spots. A player selection of a plurality of player selected spots is received. A set of removed spots to be removed from play is determined from the set of available spots. A plurality of drawn spots is selected from at least some of the set of available spots, where the plurality of drawn spots exclude the set of removed spots.

Claims

1. A gaming machine comprising:

a housing;

at least one display device supported by the housing;

an acceptor supported by the housing;

at least one input device supported by the housing;

at least one processor supported by the housing; and

a game controller having one or more data processors and one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to operate with the at least one display device, the acceptor, and the at least one input device to;

establish a credit balance based at least in part on a monetary value associated with a physical item following receipt of the physical item by the acceptor;

place a wager on a play of a keno game responsive to an actuation of a wager button, the credit balance decreasable by the wager;

display a keno board including a plurality of available spots;

for the play of the keno game, randomly select a plurality of drawn spots from the plurality of available spots;

display an indicator in association with each drawn spot;

select a subset of a plurality of the available spots on the keno board, the subset of spots including a first drawn spot;

display the indicator associated with the first drawn spot moving to a randomly-selected one of the spots of the subset of spots and designate that randomly-selected spot as a drawn spot;

determine any awards for the play of the keno game based at least in part on a comparison of the drawn spots and a plurality of player selected spots, the credit balance increasable by any determined awards; and

initiate a payout responsive to an actuation of a cashout button.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the first drawn spot is one of the plurality of player selected spots.

3. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the subset of spots includes a column of the available spots in the keno board.

4. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein the subset of spots includes a row of the available spots in the keno board.

5. The gaming machine of claim 1, wherein each spot in the subset of spots is located adjacent on the keno board to at least one other spot from the subset of spots.

11. The gaming machine of claim 1, which includes:

(1) a player tracking device including a player tracking card reader configured to receive and read a player tracking card to facilitate storing tracked game play data with a player associated with that player tracking card, and (2) a ticket printer configured to print a ticket associated with a value representative of the credit balance following receipt of the actuation of the cashout button.

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

receiving, by an acceptor, a physical item associated with a monetary value;

establishing, by at least one processor, a credit balance based at least in part on the monetary value associated with the received physical item;

receiving an actuation of a wager button;

placing, by the at least one processor, a wager on a play of a keno game responsive to the actuation of the wager button, the credit balance decreasable by the wager;

displaying, by at least one display device, a keno board including a plurality of available spots;

receiving, by at least one input device, a player selection of a plurality of player selected spots from the plurality of available spots;

for the play of the keno game, randomly selecting, by the at least one processor, a plurality of drawn spots from the plurality of available spots;

displaying, by the at least one display device, an indicator in association with each drawn spot;

selecting, by the at least one processor, a subset of a plurality of the available spots on the keno board, the subset of spots including a a first drawn spot;

displaying, by the at least one display device, the indicator associated with the first drawn spot moving to a randomly-selected one of the spots of the subset of spots and designate that randomly-selected spot as a drawn spot;

determining, by the at least one processor, any awards for the play of the keno game based at least in part on a comparison of the drawn spots and a plurality of player selected spots, the credit balance increasable by any determined awards;

receiving an actuation of a cashout button; and

initiating, by the at least one processor, a payout associated with the credit balance responsive to the actuation of the cashout button.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first drawn spot is one of the plurality of player selected spots.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the subset of spots includes a column of the available spots in the keno board.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the subset of spots includes a row of the available spots in the keno board.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein each spot in the subset of spots is located adjacent on the keno board to at least one other spot from the subset of spots.

12. The method of claim 6, which includes:

(1) receiving, by a player tracking card reader of a player tracking device, a player tracking card;

(2) reading, by the player tracking card reader, the received player tracking card to facilitate storing tracked game play data with a player associated with that player tracking card; and

(3) printing, by a ticket printer, a ticket associated with a value representative of the credit balance responsive to the received actuation of the cashout button.

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

establish a credit balance based at least in part on a monetary value associated with a physical item following receipt of the physical item by an acceptor;

place a wager on a play of a keno game responsive to an actuation of a wager button, the credit balance decreasable by the wager;

cause at least one display device to display a keno board including a plurality of available spots;

randomly select a plurality of drawn spots from the plurality of available spots;

cause the at least one display device to display an indicator in association with each drawn spot;

select a subset of a plurality of the available spots on the keno board, the subset of spots including a first drawn spot;

cause the at least one display device to display the indicator associated with the first drawn spot moving to a randomly-selected one of the spots of the subset of spots and designate that randomly-selected spot as a drawn spot;

determine any awards for the play of the keno game based at least in part on a comparison of the drawn spots and a plurality of player selected spots, the credit balance increasable by any determined awards; and

initiate a payout responsive to an actuation of a cashout button.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first drawn spot is one of the plurality of player selected spots.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the subset of spots includes a column of the available spots in the keno board.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the subset of spots includes a row of the available spots in the keno board.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein each spot in the subset of spots is located adjacent on the keno board to at least one other spot from the subset of spots.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

(1) cause a player tracking card reader of a player tracking device to read a player tracking card received by the player tracking card reader to facilitate storing tracked game play data with a player associated with that player tracking card, and (2) cause a ticket printer to print a ticket associated with a value representative of the credit balance following the actuation of the cashout button.