Composite Progressive Jackpot Award Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Partial pay progressive jackpot systems in gaming machines lead to confusion among players, increased overall payouts, and adverse effects on game mathematics, as players may win a portion of the jackpot regardless of wager amount, reducing motivation to wager maximum and prolonging jackpot intervals.
Innovation Solution
A progressive jackpot system that includes a controller and gaming machines, where a triggering event triggers a message specifying the desired progressive jackpot payout percentage, allowing the system to calculate and award a composite jackpot from both base and incremental components, while replenishing the base component to maintain game balance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If partial pays are awarded to players who did not wager maximum amount, then player engagement is improved, but game mathematics integrity deteriorates and overall payouts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The jackpot pool is segmented into two distinct components: a base component that funds partial pay awards and an incremental component that funds only maximum wager awards. This segmentation allows the system to provide partial pays to non-maximum wagers while preserving the integrity of the progressive jackpot mathematics by ensuring that only maximum wagers can win the incremental portion.
Solution Approach 2:
Different quality rules are applied to different portions of the jackpot pool. The base component allows partial pays with proportional awards based on wager amount, while the incremental component maintains strict maximum wager requirements. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction by allowing flexibility in one area while maintaining rigor in another.
2Productivity
If partial progressive jackpot awards are made to non-maximum wagers, then player motivation to wager is improved, but jackpot award intervals are prolonged
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the jackpot into base and incremental components, the system enables more frequent awards through partial pays from the base component while preserving the traditional progressive jackpot reset mechanism through the incremental component. This maintains healthier jackpot award intervals.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic partial pay awards from the base component that occur more frequently than full progressive jackpot awards. This periodic action keeps players engaged with regular wins while the incremental component continues to accumulate, creating a rhythm of frequent small awards and less frequent large awards.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the base component is replenished from operator funds, then jackpot pool stability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service funding where a portion of each wager automatically contributes to replenishing the base component through the hidden pool mechanism. This eliminates the need for manual operator contributions and reduces system complexity while maintaining jackpot pool stability.
Data Source
AI summary
A progressive jackpot system includes a progressive jackpot system controller, and a plurality of gaming machines coupled to the progressive jackpot system controller and participating in a progressive jackpot game in which a progressive jackpot is awarded in response to a triggering event at one of the gaming machines. A method of operating the progressive jackpot system includes maintaining data in the progressive jackpot system controller representing a composite progressive jackpot pool comprising a predetermined base component, and an incremental component funded by a portion of wagers made at the gaming machines. A message is sent from the gaming machine to the progressive jackpot system controller in response to the occurrence of a triggering event on the gaming machine. The message indicates that the triggering event has occurred and includes data representing a desired proportion of the progressive jackpot pool to award to the player. The progressive jackpot system controller calculates a composite progressive jackpot award for the player based on the desired progressive jackpot proportion. The composite progressive jackpot award comprises a first component funded from the predetermined base component of the progressive jackpot poll, and a second component funded from the incremental component of the progressive jackpot pool. A message is sent from the progressive jackpot system controller to the gaming machine indicating the amount of the progressive jackpot award for the player. The progressive jackpot system controller replenishes the base component of the progressive jackpot pool to the predetermined amount.