Gaming device having rate dependent game

• US 20030064770A1
• Filed: 09/28/2001
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Kaminkow, Joseph E., Hughs-Baird, Andrea C.
• Granted Patent: US 6,852,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/16
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• 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 17/3269 Timing aspects of game play, e.g. blocking/halting the operation of a gaming machine

Abstract

The present invention provides a gaming device having a game that may be implemented in a primary or bonus game. More specifically, the present invention provides a processor controlled gaming device that presents a plurality of masked value choices to the player, provides a time period in which the player can elect to accept a masked choice and reveals and provides a value associated with the choice to the player if the player accepts in time. If the player does not accept in time or decides not to accept the choice, the gaming device, in one preferred embodiment, reveals the value the player could have accepted when the time period lapses or times out. When the player has successfully accepted a predefined number of masked choices, the game adds or multiplies the values yielded by the choices to form an award for the player.

Claims

1. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a processor that communicates with the display device;

a plurality of selections that are each individually presented to a player for a limited time period by the display device, said limited time period displayed to the player by said display device;

an input in communication with the processor for enabling the player to accept each selection during said limited time period for said selection; and

an award provided to the player that includes values associated with selections accepted by the player during the limited time periods of said selections.

2. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein the award provided to the player includes the values associated with a predefined number of the selections.

3. The gaming device of claim 2, wherein one of the selection yields an increase-picks that increases the predefined number of selections that may be selected by the player.

4. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein one of the selections yields a speed-change that increases the limited time period for at least one subsequent selection.

5. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein one of the selections yields a speed-change that decreases the limited time period for at least one subsequent selection from a first length of time to a second length of time.

6. The gaming device of claim 5, which includes a first value range for each of the selections presented when the limited time period is the first length of time and a second value range for each of the selections presented when the limited time period is the second length of time.

7. The gaming device of claim 6, wherein the value ranges are weighted so that at least one value in the range is randomly selected more often than at least one other value.

8. The gaming device of claim 6, wherein the second value range includes a speed-change entry.

9. The gaming device of claim 6, wherein the second value range has a larger average value than the first value range.

10. The gaming device of claim 6, wherein the value range which is a current value range is displayed by the display device.

11. The gaming device of claim 6, wherein values of the value range which is a current value range are displayed by the display device.

12. The gaming device of claim 6, wherein the award provided to the player includes values from a predefined number of the selections accepted within the first and second lengths of time.

13. The gaming device of claim 12, wherein the award provided to the player is a mathematical combination of the values associated with a predefined number of selections, the combination selected from the group consisting of:

addition and multiplication.

14. The gaming device of claim 1, which includes a plurality of value ranges having a choice that yields a speed-change, wherein the ranges are each associated with a different length of time in which the player is enabled to accept said choices.

15. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein values associated with non-accepted selections are revealed by the display device after the limited time periods have lapsed.

16. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein the display device includes a touch screen and the input includes an area on the touch screen.

17. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein the values not accepted by the player are displayed by the display device.

18. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein the limited time period is based on a displayed movement of a selection at a predefined speed through a predefined distance.

19. The gaming device of claim 18, wherein at least one selection yields a speed-change that increases the speed of the at least one selection on the display device from a first speed to a second speed.

20. The gaming device of claim 19, which includes a first value range for one of the selection(s) moving at the first speed and a second value range for one of the selection(s) moving at the second speed.

21. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a processor that communicates with the display device;

a plurality of selections that are each individually presented to a player for a limited time period by the display device, the limited time period displayed to the player by the display device;

an input in communication with the processor for enabling the player to accept each selection during the limited time period for the selections;

a value associated with each selection, which is revealed upon an acceptance of a selection or after the time period for the selection has lapsed; and

an award provided to the player that includes values associated with selections accepted by the player during the limited time periods.

22. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a processor that communicates with a display device;

a plurality of selections that are individually presented to a player for a time period by the display device;

an input in communication with the processor for enabling the player to accept one of the selections during the time period, the time period displayed by the display device;

a speed-change associated with a selection which changes the time period for accepting selections; and

an award provided to the player that includes a value associated with the accepted selection.

23. The gaming device of claim 22, wherein the display device displays a value associated with a selection that is not accepted by the player within the time period for the selection.

24. The gaming device of claim 22, which includes a plurality of value ranges each associated with a different time period.

25. The gaming device of claim 24, wherein at least one value range includes an entry for the speed-change and is weighted so that the speed-change is weighted differently than a value in said value range.

26. The gaming device of claim 25, wherein upon acceptance of a selection that yields a speed-change, the time period decreases and a value range changes to one having a higher average value.

27. The gaming device of claim 25, wherein the award provided to the player includes values that are selected from the plurality of value ranges until a predefined number of values are accepted.

28. The gaming device of claim 25, wherein the award provided to the player includes values that are selected from the plurality of value ranges until a terminator is selected.

29. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a processor that communicates with the display device;

a plurality of selections that are each individually presented to a player for a limited time period by the display device, said limited time period based on one of the selections moving at a predefined velocity through a stationary distance;

an input in communication with the processor for enabling the player to accept each selection during said limited time period for said selection; and

an award provided to the player that includes values associated with selections accepted by the player during the limited time periods of said selections.

30. The gaming device of claim 29, which includes a revealed award selection on the display device, wherein a non-accepted selection is revealed when it moves past the predefined distance.

31. The gaming device of claim 29, wherein one of the selections yields a velocity-change that changes the velocity of the selections.

32. The gaming device of claim 29, wherein one of the selections yields a velocity-change that holds the velocity of the selections constant and decreases the predefined distance.

33. The gaming device of claim 29, which includes a plurality of value ranges that are each associated with a different selection velocity.

34. The gaming device of claim 33, wherein the award provided to the player includes values selected from the plurality of value ranges until a predefined number of values are accepted.

35. The gaming device of claim 33, wherein if a picked selection yields a velocity-change, the velocity subsequently increases and one of the value ranges having a higher average value is subsequently used by the processor.

36. The gaming device of claim 35, wherein the value range having the higher average value also has a lower probability of a velocity-change.

37. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a processor in communication with the display device;

a plurality of selections that are individually presented to a player for a time period by the display device, the time period displayed by the display device;

an input in communication with the processor for enabling the player to accept one of the selections during the time period;

a velocity-increase associated with one of the selections which changes the time period for accepting subsequent selections;

a plurality of value ranges each associated with a different time period; and

an award provided to the player that includes a value associated with at least one accepted selection.

38. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a plurality of ranges of values;

a plurality of selections, that yield either a value or velocity-change from one of said ranges of values;

a plurality of time periods each set by a selection moving at a predefined velocity through a stationary distance;

an input for enabling the player to pick the selections while moving through the stationary distance; and

a processor in communication with the display device and the input, wherein the processor causes the display device to present at least one selection having values from a first range during a first time period, causes the display device to present at least one selection having a value from a second range when a selection having a velocity-change is selected from the first range, and provides an award to the player based on the values associated with the selections picked by the player while moving through the stationary distance.

39. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a processor that communicates with the display device;

a plurality of selections that are each individually presented to a player for a limited time period by the display device, said limited time period based on one of the selections moving at a predefined velocity through a stationary distance, and wherein at least one of the selections yields a velocity-change which maintains said pre-defined velocity of said selection and which decreases the stationary distance;

an input in communication with the processor for enabling the player to accept each selection during said limited time period for said selection; and

an award provided to the player that includes values associated with selections accepted by the player during the limited time periods of said selections.