Enhanced Payline Feature for Wagering Game Outcomes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gaming terminals lack features to enhance player excitement and entertainment value beyond the addition of more paylines, necessitating innovative approaches to create new winning opportunities.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of an enhanced payline that can be activated by players under specific criteria, offering a separate paytable with unique winning symbol combinations, allowing low-value symbols to become high-value winners when aligned along this payline.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If more basic paylines are added to increase winning opportunities, then player excitement is enhanced, but the device complexity and payline configuration become more cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides paylines into two distinct segments: basic paylines with standard configurations and an enhanced payline with special properties. This segmentation allows the enhanced payline to provide additional winning opportunities without complicating the basic payline structure, as each segment operates with its own rules and symbol requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The enhanced payline serves multiple functions: it acts as a traditional payline for winning symbol evaluation, simultaneously functions as a trigger mechanism for bonus games through specific symbol combinations, and provides a pathway for additional winnings through the enhanced paytable. This multi-functionality increases versatility without requiring separate dedicated mechanisms for each function
2Adaptability or versatility
If an enhanced payline with separate paytable is introduced to create new winning opportunities, then player excitement and entertainment value increase, but the game rules and paytable complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The enhanced payline implements local quality by having specific symbol combinations trigger enhanced outcomes only when they appear on this particular payline, rather than requiring the same combinations on all basic paylines. For example, certain symbol arrangements that may not form winning combinations on basic paylines can trigger bonus games or enhanced payouts when aligned on the enhanced payline, creating localized special conditions that simplify overall rule structure
3Adaptability or versatility
If the enhanced payline uses different symbol combinations with high value to increase player excitement, then entertainment value is enhanced, but the measurement precision of symbol value evaluation becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic symbol evaluation where the value and significance of symbols change based on their position and context. A symbol combination that has low or zero value on basic paylines can have high value on the enhanced payline if it matches the enhanced paytable patterns or triggers bonus conditions. This dynamic reevaluation simplifies the overall system by allowing the same symbol set to serve multiple value tiers without requiring separate physical symbol sets
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is a method of conducting a wagering game having a plurality of symbol-bearing reels, comprising allowing a player to select one or more of a plurality of basic paylines (70) to define active paylines and, in response to the player meeting certain criteria, allowing a player to activate an enhanced payline (75). The method further includes randomly selecting a game outcome from a plurality of outcomes in response to a wager input, and displaying the game outcome as symbols aligned along the active paylines and the enhanced payline. Symbol combinations appearing along the active payline indicate awards according to a first paytable, while symbol combinations appearing along the enhanced payline (75) indicate awards according to a second paytable. The second paytable includes at least one winning symbol combination that is different from symbol combinations within the first paytable.