Progressive Award System with Event-Driven Growth Logic

Solution Overview

Problem

Traditional progressive awards in casino games increase automatically with each eligible wager, leading to a lack of excitement and player engagement, as well as potential negative financial impact on casinos, since increases are routine and not directly tied to player actions or outcomes.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a system where progressive awards only increase based on specific primary or secondary game outcomes, such as symbol appearances or bonus rounds, allowing for personal tracking and reset mechanisms, and varying increase amounts based on wager levels, to create a psychological reward and encourage player interaction.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If progressive awards increase automatically with each eligible wager, then the progressive award grows continuously, but player engagement and excitement are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprogressive award growth rateVSAvoidplayer engagement degradation

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The progressive award increases periodically based on specific game outcomes (wins, bonus rounds, special symbols) rather than continuously with each wager. This creates discrete, event-driven increments that generate excitement and anticipation among players, transforming the routine continuous growth into meaningful periodic advancements tied to actual player success.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback by linking progressive award increases directly to player actions and outcomes. The award grows in response to observable player successes (wins, bonus round activations, special symbol appearances), creating a reinforcing loop where player effort and luck directly contribute to jackpot growth, thereby maintaining engagement and excitement.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Productivity

If progressive awards increase with each eligible wager, then the jackpot grows smoothly, but the financial impact on casinos increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvejackpot growth rateVSAvoidcasino financial impact

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The progressive award increases periodically based on specific game outcomes (wins, bonus rounds, special symbols) rather than continuously with each wager. This creates discrete, event-driven increments that generate excitement and anticipation among players, transforming the routine continuous growth into meaningful periodic advancements tied to actual player success.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback by linking progressive award increases directly to player actions and outcomes. The award grows in response to observable player successes (wins, bonus round activations, special symbol appearances), creating a reinforcing loop where player effort and luck directly contribute to jackpot growth, thereby maintaining engagement and excitement.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Quantity of substance

If progressive awards are linked across multiple machines, then the jackpot pool increases, but the complexity of the system increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetotal progressive award poolVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The progressive award system is segmented into separate, independently controllable components at each machine. Each machine maintains its own game logic and outcome determination, while the progressive award pooling is handled through a centralized management system. This segmentation allows for simplified individual machine design while achieving the benefits of linked progressives through modular architecture.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A centralized progressive award management system acts as an intermediary between individual machines. This intermediary handles the complexity of tracking, pooling, and distributing progressive awards across multiple machines, while presenting simple interfaces to each machine's game logic. The intermediary abstracts the complexity away from individual machines while enabling the collective progressive award pool to grow.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS8408993B2Gaming method and device involving progressive wagers

Publication Date: 2013.04.02 INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY INC

AI summary

A method of gaming is disclosed wherein progressive award values may be increased in response to certain pre-established game outcomes, wager amounts or random events. The increased progressive award values may be based on a primary game or secondary game outcome. Another innovation is the resetting of progressive awards upon completion of a bonus event whether or not award actually won in said bonus event. Player tracking systems permit progressive award values to be linked to a particular player such that the progressive award values remain personal to the player. Re-setting increased progressive award values is also disclosed.