Ticket drawing games having escalating discrete prize levels
First Claim
1. A gaming machine adapted for accepting wagers, playing primary games based on the wagers and granting monetary awards based on the results of the primary games, comprising:
- an exterior housing arranged to contain a plurality of internal gaming machine components therein;
a master gaming controller in communication with at least one of said plurality of internal gaming machine components, said master gaming controller being adapted to control one or more aspects of said primary games;
a player tracking device in communication with said master gaming controller and adapted to track both player activity and primary game results at said gaming machine,wherein said player tracking device is further adapted to facilitate the play of a first automated ticket drawing bonus game based at least in part on one or more of said primary game results, said first automated ticket drawing bonus game having a plurality of ticket entries entered during a first ticket entry period of said first automated ticket drawing bonus game that are put into an overall ticket pool from which one or more winning tickets are drawn at random and being structured to have escalating and discrete prize levels in each subsequent respective automated ticket drawing, wherein graduation from at least one of said discrete prize levels to the next prize level requires a plurality of additional ticket entries in the subsequent respective ticket drawing bonus game to said overall ticket pool; and
at least one display device in communication with said master gaming controller, said player tracking device, or both, wherein said at least one display device is adapted to display information regarding said first automated ticket drawing bonus game having escalating and discrete prize levels.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Ticket drawings having escalating discrete prize levels within a gaming environment are provided. A gaming system having an automated random ticket drawing game module provides ticket drawing bonus games in conjunction with primary wager based games. Ticket drawings can include base, intermediate and ultimate prize levels, with each level corresponding to a specific prize and range of ticket entries. The prize level escalates as more ticket entries are granted. Ticket entries can be awarded for various events, such as a 3-of-a-kind at a primary wager based game. Drawings include a time period for the acceptance of ticket entries, including a predefined start and end. Award and drawing mechanisms and multiple display devices facilitate each drawing. Multiple drawings can occur simultaneously, such as an hourly and daily drawing. Drawings may also be part of an ongoing series of continuous ticket drawings, such as 24 hourly drawings in a given day.
14 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A gaming machine adapted for accepting wagers, playing primary games based on the wagers and granting monetary awards based on the results of the primary games, comprising:
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an exterior housing arranged to contain a plurality of internal gaming machine components therein; a master gaming controller in communication with at least one of said plurality of internal gaming machine components, said master gaming controller being adapted to control one or more aspects of said primary games; a player tracking device in communication with said master gaming controller and adapted to track both player activity and primary game results at said gaming machine, wherein said player tracking device is further adapted to facilitate the play of a first automated ticket drawing bonus game based at least in part on one or more of said primary game results, said first automated ticket drawing bonus game having a plurality of ticket entries entered during a first ticket entry period of said first automated ticket drawing bonus game that are put into an overall ticket pool from which one or more winning tickets are drawn at random and being structured to have escalating and discrete prize levels in each subsequent respective automated ticket drawing, wherein graduation from at least one of said discrete prize levels to the next prize level requires a plurality of additional ticket entries in the subsequent respective ticket drawing bonus game to said overall ticket pool; and at least one display device in communication with said master gaming controller, said player tracking device, or both, wherein said at least one display device is adapted to display information regarding said first automated ticket drawing bonus game having escalating and discrete prize levels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A gaming system adapted for accepting wagers, playing primary games based on the wagers and granting monetary awards based on the results of the primary games, comprising:
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one or more master gaming controllers adapted to control one or more aspects of said primary games; a plurality of gaming terminals, each gaming terminal having at least one input device in communication with one of said one or more master gaming controllers and adapted to accept input regarding the placement of said wagers, the play of said primary games, or both, a player tracking unit adapted to accept identification indicia from players, and at least one display device in communication with said at least one master gaming controller and adapted to display information regarding said primary games; and a player tracking system in communication with each of said player tracking units and adapted to track both player activity and primary game results at each of said plurality of gaming terminals, wherein said player tracking system is further adapted to facilitate a series of automated ticket drawings based at least in part on one or more outcomes of said primary games, wherein one or more of said automated ticket drawings includes a plurality of ticket entries entered during a designated ticket entry period of the respective automated ticket drawing bonus game that are put into an overall ticket pool from which one or more winning tickets are drawn at random and is structured to have escalating and discrete prize levels in each respective automated ticket drawing, wherein graduation from at least one of said discrete prize levels to the next prize level requires a plurality of such additional ticket entries into said overall ticket pool. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification