Gaming System Bonus Feature Normalization via Supplemental Awards
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gaming devices often require strategic combinations of bonus game features to maximize payouts, leading to unequal experiences for players, as certain combinations non-linearly increase average expected payouts, favoring strategic players and reducing excitement for less knowledgeable ones.
Innovation Solution
A gaming system that maintains a normalization table to ensure average expected payouts remain constant regardless of feature combinations, using supplemental awards to normalize payouts and allow players to combine features without advantage or disadvantage, maintaining a consistent total average expected payout per feature.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If players are allowed to combine multiple independent features for the same play of the bonus game, then player excitement and enjoyment increase, but the average expected payout non-linearly increases making the game unfair for less strategic players
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of payout structure by introducing a normalization mechanism. Instead of allowing feature combinations to naturally produce non-linear payout increases, the system adjusts and normalizes the average expected payout across different feature combinations to a predetermined target value, ensuring fairness while preserving player choice and excitement
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by calculating the average expected payout for each feature combination and comparing it against a target normalization value. Based on this comparison, the system adjusts payouts or feature availability to ensure that no combination provides an unfair advantage, maintaining game integrity while allowing strategic variety
2Adaptability or versatility
If the gaming device enables players to select and combine different bonus game features, then player control and excitement increase, but the complexity of managing and normalizing payouts across combinations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and storing normalization values for all possible feature combinations before the bonus game is played. This allows the system to quickly reference and apply the correct normalization factor during gameplay, reducing real-time computational complexity while maintaining accuracy across all feature combinations
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the bonus game into independent selectable features, each with predetermined normalization values. This segmentation allows players to freely combine features while the system manages complexity by handling each feature's normalization independently through pre-computed values, rather than recalculating entire combination payouts in real-time
Data Source
AI summary
In various embodiments, the gaming system, gaming device, and gaming method disclosed herein provides a bonus game which enables players to combine different, independent features without introducing any significant advantage or significant disadvantage to players for combining certain features over other features. The gaming system utilizes one or more bonus game supplemental awards to insure that the average expected payout per selected feature remains the same or substantially the same regardless of which bonus game features or combinations of features are employed for a play of a bonus game.