Gaming System Progressive Award Growth via Supplemental Fund
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Progressive award gaming systems face issues such as slow growth rates when initially implemented with a small number of gaming devices, jackpot fatigue due to prolonged periods between high-value increments, and uneven growth rates across peak and off-peak hours, leading to decreased player engagement and slower progressive award growth.
Innovation Solution
A gaming system that includes a central server maintaining progressive awards with a supplemental fund to ensure a designated growth rate, independent of player wagers, by periodically injecting value into the progressive award if it's not incrementing at the desired rate, and utilizing an escrow fund to smooth growth rates across different play periods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a progressive award is initially implemented with a small number of gaming devices, then the system complexity is reduced, but the progressive award growth rate becomes slow
Solution Approach 1:
A supplemental fund is introduced as an intermediary mechanism between the gaming devices and the progressive award. This supplemental fund acts as a mediator that injects value into the progressive award to maintain a designated growth rate, even when the number of active gaming devices is small. The supplemental fund bridges the gap between limited device participation and the desired award growth trajectory.
2Quantity of substance
If the progressive award grows solely based on player wagers, then the system requires less external funding, but the growth rate becomes uneven during peak and off-peak hours
Solution Approach 1:
The progressive award growth mechanism is made dynamic by incorporating both wager-based contributions and supplemental fund injections. The system adjusts the growth rate dynamically based on the balance between these two sources, allowing the progressive award to maintain a consistent growth trajectory regardless of whether players are active during peak or off-peak hours. This dynamic adjustment resolves the uneven growth problem while maintaining flexibility in funding requirements.
3Quantity of substance
If the progressive award increments slowly during off-peak hours, then the external funding requirement is reduced, but player engagement decreases due to jackpot fatigue
Solution Approach 1:
The supplemental fund is used to implement periodic action by injecting value into the progressive award at specific intervals or conditions. This periodic injection maintains the progressive award's growth momentum during off-peak hours when player activity is low, preventing the award from stagnating and thereby maintaining player engagement. The periodic action ensures that the progressive award continues to increment at an attractive rate regardless of the current player population.
4Reliability
If the progressive award growth is driven entirely by wager contributions, then the system is more self-sustaining, but the award may take too long to reach desirable values during low-play periods
Solution Approach 1:
The supplemental fund performs preliminary action by pre-positioning value that can be injected into the progressive award when needed. This preliminary preparation allows the system to quickly restore the progressive award's growth trajectory during low-play periods without waiting for wager contributions to accumulate. The supplemental fund acts as a pre-positioned resource that bridges the time gap between player inactivity and the next period of high wager activity.
Data Source
AI summary
A gaming system including a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines. The gaming system includes at least one and preferably a plurality of progressive awards which are each associated with a supplemental fund or pool. If the gaming system determines that the progressive award is not growing at a designated incremental rate (due to a lack of wagers placed on gaming devices associated with the progressive award), the gaming system utilizes part or all of the amount in the supplemental fund to make up for this lack of wager based growth. Such a configuration provides that even if players are not actively playing gaming devices associated with the progressive award, the progressive award will still increment at a designated rate to at least a desirable value.