Bingo Gaming System Progressive Award Transparency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bingo systems confuse players by providing progressive awards as mystery awards, lacking transparency on how these awards are achieved, which can lead to player dissatisfaction and a lack of understanding regarding the award mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
The gaming system introduces a method where bingo patterns are associated with specific symbol combinations, allowing progressive awards to be displayed as symbol-driven outcomes, ensuring consistency and transparency by linking each progressive award with a corresponding symbol combination, and providing residual awards as mystery awards when both interim and progressive patterns are covered.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If progressive awards are provided as mystery awards in bingo systems, then the award mechanism remains simple and automated, but player transparency and understanding of award mechanisms deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the award display into two distinct types: symbol-driven awards (for progressive patterns) and mystery awards (for interim patterns). This segmentation allows different award types to be presented differently, providing transparency for progressive awards while maintaining simplicity for interim awards, thus resolving the contradiction between automation and player understanding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different display qualities to different award types locally. Progressive awards receive detailed symbol-driven presentation with clear explanations of how the pattern was achieved, while interim awards receive simplified mystery presentation. This local differentiation ensures player understanding where needed without complicating the overall system.
2Loss of information
If bingo systems display symbol combinations for all award types, then player transparency improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies symbol-driven display only locally to progressive awards where transparency is beneficial, while using mystery award presentation for interim awards where simplicity is preferable. This selective application maintains player transparency for progressive patterns without unnecessarily complicating the display system for all award types.
Solution Approach 2:
By segmenting awards into two categories with different display requirements, the system avoids the complexity of implementing uniform transparent display for all awards. The segmentation allows the system to be simple where simplicity works and transparent where transparency is needed.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple interim patterns are covered in a single bingo game, then player winning opportunities increase, but award determination complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes predetermined paytables that list multiple interim patterns and their corresponding symbol combinations before the bingo game begins. This preliminary preparation allows the system to automatically determine awards by simple pattern matching during play, increasing winning opportunities without significantly complicating the determination process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of award presentation by providing multiple symbol combination options for each interim pattern in the paytable. This allows players to win multiple awards within a single game by matching different patterns, increasing versatility while the structured paytable approach keeps determination manageable.
Data Source
AI summary
The gaming system and method disclosed herein provides a bingo game wherein a single bingo pattern is associated with a plurality of outcomes. In one such embodiment, a first bingo pattern is associated with a static outcome, such as an award of a designated value, and a second bingo pattern is associated with an open-ended outcome, such as a progressive award. If a bingo pattern associated with a progressive award is covered, the disclosed gaming system and method causes the bingo game to display, a symbol combination associated with the progressive award. In one embodiment, the disclosed gaming system and method selects the symbol combination from a plurality of symbol combinations associated with the progressive award.