Gaming System Bonus Distribution via Wager Monitoring
Solution Overview
Problem
Current gaming systems face challenges in providing bonus awards that accurately reflect a player's level of play, leading to skewed participation and award distribution, as players often keep their gameplay at minimum levels to remain eligible, which does not correspond with their actual play levels.
Innovation Solution
A gaming system with a central server that monitors wagers and determines bonus events and award distribution based on relative play levels, ensuring that active players with higher wagers have a higher probability of participating in and winning bonus awards, while enrolled but inactive machines are excluded from award eligibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If players keep their gameplay at minimum levels to remain eligible for bonus awards, then more players can participate in bonus events, but the award distribution does not accurately reflect actual play levels
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter used for bonus eligibility from a binary active/inactive state to a continuous measure based on wager amount or play frequency. This allows players to be eligible for bonuses while their participation probability and award sizes are scaled according to their actual level of play, resolving the contradiction between broad eligibility and accurate play level reflection.
2Ease of operation
If bonus awards are distributed to all active players regardless of play level, then player excitement is maintained, but the system does not accurately reward higher wagering activity
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different quality levels of bonus awards to different players based on their wagering activity. High-wagering players receive larger bonuses or more frequent bonus events, while low-wagering players receive smaller bonuses. This local differentiation maintains system simplicity while accurately reflecting play levels through varied award qualities.
3Measurement precision
If the system monitors and tracks detailed wagering data to determine bonus eligibility, then award distribution accurately reflects play levels, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the existing wagering monitoring infrastructure already present in gaming machines for primary game accounting and applies it additionally for bonus eligibility determination. This multi-functional use of existing tracking systems achieves accurate play level measurement without adding separate complex monitoring systems.
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, wherein at least one gaming machine may be provided a plurality of bonus awards.