Centralized Bonus Pool for Gaming System Return
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gaming systems face challenges in providing bonus awards that contribute a significant percentage to the total average expected return to players, especially in server-based network environments, while complying with jurisdictional minimum payback percentages and offering unique experiences to players without requiring extensive custom game software or content development.
Innovation Solution
A gaming system and method that allows gaming device triggered bonus games to be skipped and their payouts contributed to a central bonus accumulation pool, which is then used to provide gaming system triggered bonuses, increasing the percentage of total return to players and enabling delivery to multiple game types without special software, while ensuring compliance with jurisdictional requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If gaming device triggered bonus games are provided to players, then player engagement and excitement are improved, but the average expected total return to players remains limited and jurisdictional minimum payback percentages cannot be exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central server as an intermediary between gaming devices and bonus game delivery. The central server manages bonus game triggers, outcomes, and payouts across multiple gaming devices, eliminating the need for each device to have custom bonus game software. This mediator approach allows the system to achieve higher total return percentages while reducing individual device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal bonus game platform that can be deployed across multiple gaming devices with different base games. The same bonus game infrastructure serves multiple functions: triggering from different game types, managing accumulated triggers, and delivering bonuses through a single centralized system rather than requiring separate implementations for each device.
2Productivity
If mystery bonus games are triggered without apparent reason to players, then bonus awards can be provided independently of base game events, but the contribution to total gaming machine return is limited to less than 1%
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where players can see the accumulation of bonus triggers even if they don't immediately receive bonus games. The system tracks and displays accumulated triggers, providing feedback to players that their play is contributing to future bonus opportunities. This maintains player engagement while allowing the system to control bonus delivery timing for optimal return contribution.
3Productivity
If gaming system triggered mystery bonus games are implemented, then bonus awards can be delivered across multiple gaming devices, but the average expected bonus award requires many gaming machines and long time between payouts to be substantial
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having gaming devices accumulate bonus triggers in advance before actual bonus delivery. Instead of waiting for random system-triggered bonuses that may take a long time to materialize, the system collects triggers from player play and then delivers bonuses based on this accumulated pool. This allows for more frequent and substantial bonus payouts without requiring an excessive number of gaming machines.
4Adaptability or versatility
If symbol-driven secondary or bonus games are activated by flagged symbols in base game, then bonus games are integrated into the game design, but the frequency and payouts are fixed by game design and cannot be dynamically adjusted
Solution Approach 1:
The central server acts as an intermediary that receives trigger signals from gaming devices and makes centralized decisions about whether to award bonus games. This separates the trigger detection function (at the device level) from the bonus award decision function (at the server level), allowing flexible, dynamic control of bonus frequency and payouts without requiring custom software modifications to each gaming device.
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming system and method which provides for one or more gaming device triggered bonus games to be skipped or otherwise not provided to the players at the gaming devices which triggered such bonus games. The average expected payouts of skipped gaming device triggered bonus games are contributed to a bonus accumulation pool or fund. The accumulation pool is subsequently utilized to provide one or more gaming system triggered bonuses to one or more players at one or more of the gaming devices in the gaming system.