Central Server Bonus Distribution via Wager Pooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gaming systems lack innovative methods to provide new and varied bonus awards to players, with existing systems often relying on traditional triggers and limited player interaction, and there is a need for more dynamic and random distribution of bonus awards across multiple gaming machines.
Innovation Solution
A gaming system featuring a central server that monitors wagers across multiple gaming machines, determines when a bonus event will occur, and selects machines to provide bonus awards based on wager activity, allowing each selected machine to contribute to the award determination, incorporating an accumulated wager pool and probability-based selection processes to ensure randomness and player engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional trigger-based bonus systems are used, then bonus awards are provided based on specific game events, but the system lacks dynamic randomness and player engagement variety
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static trigger-based bonus activation to dynamic probability-based selection. The central server continuously monitors wager activity and dynamically selects gaming machines for bonus awards based on real-time wager pools and probability calculations, making the bonus distribution adaptive and unpredictable rather than predetermined by specific game events
Solution Approach 2:
A central server is introduced as an intermediary between the gaming machines and the bonus award system. This central controller pools wagers from multiple machines, calculates probabilities, and selectively activates bonuses on specific machines based on the accumulated wager pool, enabling coordinated multi-machine bonus distribution without requiring complex peer-to-peer communication between machines
2Productivity
If bonus awards are limited by the actual wager pool amount, then the system maintains financial control, but the awards are smaller and less exciting for players
Solution Approach 1:
The system accumulates wagers in a pooled reserve before bonus awards are distributed. By collecting wagers from multiple gaming machines over time and holding them in an accumulated wager pool, the system prepares sufficient funds in advance to support larger bonus awards, ensuring that when a bonus is triggered, there are adequate resources to provide exciting, high-value awards
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of bonus award sizing by using probability-based selection to determine both which machine receives the bonus and the amount awarded. The central server can adjust bonus amounts based on the accumulated wager pool size, allowing awards to be larger and more variable rather than fixed, thereby increasing player excitement while maintaining overall financial control through the pooled reserves
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple gaming machines are coordinated for bonus distribution, then the system provides more random and exciting awards, but the system complexity and monitoring requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The central server performs multiple functions: it collects wagers from all connected gaming machines, maintains the accumulated wager pool, calculates probability-based selections, determines bonus award amounts, and coordinates the actual bonus distribution to selected machines. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single centralized controller, managing complexity while enabling sophisticated multi-machine coordination
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming system including a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines and a plurality of bonus awards. The central server monitors wagers on the gaming machines. Based at least in part on the wagers the central server determines when bonus events will occur and which gaming machine(s) will provide the bonus awards. In one embodiment, the central server determines which gaming machine will provide a primary bonus award and any secondary bonus awards. In one embodiment, the number of secondary bonus awards is determined based on the number of active gaming machines. The selected gaming machine then determines a component of or the amount of the bonus award to be provided to the gaming machine selected by the central server.