AU2013254908A1 - A method of gaming and a gaming system - Google Patents

Abstract

A gaming system (100) comprising a plurality of player terminals (110), each comprising a player display 5 (112) and a player instruction input mechanism (114), and a game controller (120) coupled to the player terminals (110) and arranged to cause each player display to display at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player terminal (110) 10 independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player terminals (110), whereby each player may seek to complete the task independently of each other player by operating their respective player instruction input mechanism (114), receive one or more player 15 instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players, and process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria. 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 =1 co a E v;-| o a E o o cn ca EnE C~Cd E o 01r V)~ CCd a -c a 0hes

Description

Title A METHOD OF GAMING AND A GAMING SYSTEM 5 Related Application This application is a divisional application of Australian application no. 2012200365, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 10 Field This application relates to a method of gaming, a gaming system, and a game controller. 15 Background to the Invention In general electronic gaming machines are played individually by players for the opportunity to be awarded 20 prizes based on the game outcomes on the machine they are playing. However, there have been proposed some ways in which players may interact with one another. For example, some venues host tournaments where players of 25 individual machines compete against each other by seeking to obtain the largest score in the tournament on the gaming machine they are playing (for example, as reflected by their credit balance). 30 Some electronic gaming machines are linked to provide each of a plurality of players with a chance to play a bonus game individually. For example, each player plays a base game and may be awarded a chance to play a bonus game having a progressive jackpot contributed to by the 35 machines of all participating players. There is a need for other gaming systems where players can 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 2 interact with one another. Summary of the Invention 5 In a first aspect, there is disclosed a method of gaming in a gaming system, the method comprising: displaying a starting portion of a task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event occurring in a base game and caused by at least one player; 10 determining a first player that originally triggered the bonus game; determining a plurality of players eligible to play the bonus game in response to the original triggering by the first player; 15 displaying on each eligible player's at least the starting portion of the task for completion by the eligible player independently of other eligible players associated with one or more other player displays; providing the first player with an advantage to 20 complete the task relative to the other players of the plurality of eligible players; receiving one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the eligible players; and 25 processing the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria. Thus, players compete against one another while completing the task independently. 30 In an embodiment, one criterion is the time taken to complete the task. Thus, players may obtain enjoyment by seeking to complete 35 the displayed task in the shortest period of time. In an embodiment, the task is identical. 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 3 In an embodiment, the method comprises awarding a prize to the winning player. For example, clue data, a time adjustment or an adjusted 5 starting time may be provided to provide the first player with an advantage. In the case of a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time, at least one of these may be an additional criterion to determining a winning player. 10 Thus, while each player can win the bonus game, the player who triggered the bonus game is provided with an advantage over other players. In an embodiment, the method comprises displaying a 15 starting instruction to each player at the same time. In an embodiment, the sole criterion is which player takes the least time to complete the task. 20 In an embodiment, the task is to complete a memory game. In an embodiment, the task is to complete a labyrinth game. 25 In a second aspect, there is disclosed a gaming system comprising: a plurality of player terminals, each comprising a player display and a player instruction input mechanism; and 30 a game controller coupled to the player terminals and arranged to: display a starting portion of a task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event occurring in a base game and caused by at least one player; 35 determine a first player that originally triggered the bonus game; determine a plurality of players eligible 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 4 to play the bonus game in response to the original triggering by the first player; display on each eligible player's at least the starting portion of the task for completion by the 5 eligible player independently of other eligible players associated with one or more other player displays; provide the first player with an advantage to complete the task relative to the other players of the plurality of eligible players; 10 receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the eligible players; and process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria. 15 In a third aspect there is disclosed a game controller configured for coupling to a plurality of player terminals, the game controller arranged to: display a starting portion of a task as a bonus 20 game in response to a trigger event occurring in a base game and caused by at least one player; determine a first player that originally triggered the bonus game; determine a plurality of players eligible to play 25 the bonus game in response to the original triggering by the first player; display on each eligible player's at least the starting portion of the task for completion by the eligible player independently of other eligible players 30 associated with one or more other player displays; provide the first player with an advantage to complete the task relative to the other players of the plurality of eligible players; receive one or more player instructions related 35 to completion of the task from at least one of the eligible players; and process the player instructions to determine a 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 5 winning player based on one or more criteria. In a fourth aspect, there is disclosed computer program code which when executed by a computer causes the computer 5 to carry out the above method. In a fifth aspect, the invention provides a computer readable medium comprising the program code of the fourth aspect. 10 Brief Description of the drawings An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be describe in relation to the accompanying drawings in 15 which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of a gaming system; Figure 2 is a perspective drawing of an electronic gaming 20 machine; and Figure 3 is a flow chart of the method of the embodiment. Detailed Description 25 Referring to the drawings, there is shown a gaming system of an embodiment arranged such that during a bonus game, the same task is presented to each player of the bonus game and the players compete to see who can complete the 30 task in the shortest amount of time. Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of the gaming system 100 comprising a plurality of player terminals 110A,110B,110C,110D in data communication with a game 35 controller 120 over a data network. Players operate the 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 6 individual player terminals to play a base game. A terminal in the gaming system may take the general form of an electronic gaming machine 10 as illustrated in 5 Figure 2. The gaming machine 10 includes a console 12 having a display 14 on which is displayed representations 16 of a base game and the bonus game that can be played by a player. A mid-trim 20 of the gaming machine 10 houses a bank of buttons 22 for enabling a player to interact with 10 the gaming machine, in particular during game play. The mid-trim 20 also houses a credit input mechanism 24 which in this example includes a coin input chute 24A and a bill collector 24B. Other credit input mechanisms may also be employed, for example, a card reader for reading a smart 15 card, debit card or credit card. A reading device may also be provided for the purpose of reading a player tracking device, for example as part of a loyalty program. The player tracking device may be in the form of a card, flash drive or any other portable storage medium capable 20 of being read by the reading device. A top box 26 may carry artwork 28, including for example pay tables and details of bonus awards and other information or images relating to the game. Further 25 artwork and/or information may be provided on a front panel 29 of the console 12. A coin tray 30 is mounted beneath the front panel 29 for dispensing cash payouts from the gaming machine 10. 30 The display 14 shown in Figure 2 is in the form of a video display unit, particularly a cathode ray tube screen device. Alternatively, the display 14 may be a liquid crystal display, plasma screen, or any other suitable video display unit. The top box 26 may also include a 35 display, for example a video display unit, which may be of the same type as the display 14, or of a different type. In one embodiment, the bonus game is displayed on the top 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 -7 box. The display 14 may be a touch screen display on which are displayed icons that may be touched by the player to issue 5 player instructions. Thus, depending on the specific nature of the terminal or the features of the game being played on the gaming machine, buttons 22, a touch screen component of display 14, or a combination thereof provide the player instruction input mechanisms 114 shown in 10 Figure 1. That is, each player terminal comprises a player instruction input mechanism 114 operable by the player to play the base game and the bonus game and a display 112 on 15 which the base and bonus games are displayed. Players play the base game independently using player terminals. Depending on the embodiment, the base game may be implemented on the terminals 110 with each terminal 110 being provided with a respective game controller, on the 20 game controller 120 (or on another game controller) or a combination thereof. In the embodiment, the player terminals are clients and the game controller 120 is embodied on a server. That is, all game outcomes are calculated by the game controller 120 in response to 25 player instructions input by the players of terminals 110 and communicated to game controller 120. To this end, game controller 120 is configured to run a plurality of separate base game instances, one for each player terminal 110 that is being operated. Thus, the base game instances 30 are in effect separate game controllers for each terminal 110. It will thus be appreciated that in this embodiment, the game controller 120 is constituted by the processor or 35 processors of the server executing program code stored in a memory accessible by the processor to thus carry out the various functions of the base game controller 125 and 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 8 bonus game controller 140. Person skilled in the art will appreciate that in other embodiments, the game controller could be constituted differently, for example, in or more of the components 142,144,146,148 could be provided by a 5 dedicated circuit. It will also be appreciated that each terminal has a processor arranged to execute code in a memory to implement the functions required of the terminal. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminals and the server will have other standard 10 computing and/or gaming machine components to enable the embodiment to be put into effect, such as network cards, power supplies etc. Rules for communication between the server and the gaming 15 machines enable the bonus system to operate within a "machine time scale" and a "player perceptible time scale". In the machine time scale the system is capable of detecting events and determine consequences for the different players in the base game mode as well as in the 20 bonus game mode before events or player actions have occurred in the player perceptible time scale. For example, this makes it possible to send messages to the gaming terminals and prepare for selected actions before the player has come to the actual stage in his player 25 action. The base game controller 125 has a bonus game monitor 130 that monitors each base game instance to determine whether the specified criteria for initiating a bonus game are 30 met. In the embodiment, the criterion is that a particular game outcome occurs in one base game instance. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that any appropriate criteria can be used to trigger the bonus game, for example, an amount wagered, an amount 35 contributed to an elapsed time or the like. When the criterion is met, the bonus game monitor 130 communicates to the bonus game controller 140 that the bonus game 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 9 should be started. In some embodiments, this may involve setting up the bonus game controller by executing the bonus controller code. In other embodiments, the bonus game controller may already exist in a wait state. 5 Bonus game controller 140 initiates the action required to start the bonus game. This includes negotiating with the base game controller 125 as to when the bonus game is to start. That is, while one player has triggered the game 10 and will be expecting the bonus game to begin, the other players need to be "interrupted" in a manner that does not unduly interfere with game play in their base game instance. In the embodiment, the base game controller 125 instructs each base game instance that the base game is to 15 be paused and saved in a memory of the game controller at the end of the next game round and the bonus game announced to the player by displaying on each player display that a bonus game is about to start. 20 Once each base game is paused and saved, the base game controller 125 communicates data to the bonus game controller 140 specifying the identity of the participating player terminals and that they are ready to begin, thus passing control to the bonus game controller 25 140. A bonus game generator of the bonus game controller 140 generates a bonus game instance for each participating player based on bonus game data 144. The bonus game 30 controller confirms that each bonus game instance is ready to proceed, then starts the bonus game by controlling each display 112 to display the starting portion of the task to be completed by the player in the bonus game at substantially the same time. 35 In the embodiment, the bonus game is a memory game. The display controller 142 of bonus game controller 140 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 10 controls each display to briefly display a number of symbols on each display 112, there being two of each symbol. The symbols are then "covered" so that they are not visible to the player but there is an icon 5 corresponding to each symbol. The players' task is to be the first to pair all the symbols. That is, the player inputs player instructions via instruction input mechanism 114 to specify two symbols the player believes match. The instructions are processed by instruction processor 146 10 and each symbol is "revealed" to the player on display 112. If they match, the symbols are maintained in a revealed state otherwise they are returned to a covered state and the player may then select another two symbols. The player is required to continue to try to select pairs 15 of symbols until all pairs have been revealed. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that in some cases not every player will input player instructions. For example, one player may complete the task before another has entered any instructions. 20 When a player matches all the pairs, a completion monitor 148 of the bonus game controller 140 determines that they are the winning player for being the first to complete the task and awards the player a prize, for example an amount 25 of credits. The display controller 142 controls each display 112 to display that the game has been won before returning control to the base game controller 125 which restarts each base game instance. 30 In the embodiment, the player who triggered the bonus game is provided with an advantage to complete the bonus game first. For example, by having one or more symbols permanently revealed or a first pair of symbols revealed. 35 This process is summarised in the flowchart of Figure 3. The process starts 310 when players begin playing the base game and monitoring 320 occurs for triggering of the base 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 11 game. Until the base game is triggered, the bonus controller 140 waits 325 for a trigger command. When a bonus game is triggered, it is determined that all participants are ready 330 (if not the process waits 335), 5 a bonus game is generated 340 for each participant, and the bonus game is started 350. The bonus game controller 140 monitor 360 then determines whether a player has finished and waits 365 until a player has finished. The bonus game controller awards 370 a prize to the winning 10 player. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that in the above embodiment, players compete in real-time to be the first to complete the memory task thus making an exciting 15 competition. Thus, the first person to complete the game in real-time will be the winner. In other embodiments, implementation requirements may lead to an off-set in starting time between players. This can 20 be dealt with by generating timing information corresponding to when each player starts and finishes and determining a winning player to be the player who took the least time. 25 In some embodiments other information may be displayed to players during play of the bonus game, for example, the status of other players, for example the top 5, can be displayed on each of the displays of the gaming machines that participate in the bonus game. 30 In some embodiments, other criteria may be used to determine the winner as an alternative to, or in addition to time taken. For example, a time adjustment may be awarded to the player who triggered the bonus game (or 35 this player's game may be started first to give the player a head start). In another example, accuracy (e.g. the fewest errors) may be the key criterion taken into account 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 12 or may be used as an additional criterion to, for example by providing a time bonus to be used as a criteria for deciding the game. In another example, players may be given a time limit to complete the task and the criterion 5 may be degree of completion of the task in the time period. In the above description it is assumed that players are provided with the same task but it would also be possible 10 to provide the players with different tasks of equivalent difficulty to prevent players from copying one another. It would also be possible to provide an advantage by making one of these tasks easier than the others such that at least two of the terminals have different tasks 15 Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that a number of different tasks can be employed. For example, an alternative memory game where a set of symbols are presented to each player briefly before being removed so 20 that a player can learn the symbols. A larger number of symbols can then be displayed, with the task being to be the first to find and mark the originally displayed set of symbols. Another example, is a labyrinth game, where a series of alternative "doors" are displayed to the player 25 and the player is required to be the first to successfully navigate to the end point. It will be appreciated from the above that a distributed architecture is provided wherein some of the components 30 required for implementing the game are present in a player operable gaming machine and some of the components required for implementing the game are located remotely relative to the gaming machine. The above embodiment employs a "thin client" architecture wherein most of the 35 game is executed remotely by a gaming server and a player operable gaming machine is used only to display audible and/or visible gaming information to the player and 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 13 receive gaming inputs from the player. In an alternative embodiment, a "thick client" architecture may be used wherein part of the game is executed on a player operable gaming machine and part of the game is executed remotely, 5 such as by a gaming server. However, it will be understood that other arrangements are envisaged. For example, an architecture may be provided wherein a gaming machine is networked to a gaming server 10 and the respective functions of the gaming machine and the gaming server are selectively modifiable. For example, the gaming system may operate in stand alone gaming machine mode, "thick client" mode or "thin client" mode depending on the game being played, operating conditions, 15 and so on. For example, the base game may be executed on the gaming machine with the bonus game executed by the server - i.e. a base game controller could be provided on each of the player terminals and a player terminal could communicate with the base game controller once the bonus 20 game is triggered Other variations will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that the method of the embodiment could be embodied in program code 25 arranged to be executed by the game controller. The program code could be supplied in a number of ways, for example on a computer readable medium, such as a disc or a memory (for example, that could replace part of memory 103) or as a data signal (for example, by downloading it 30 from a server). Many other variations and modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and should be considered as falling within the scope of the invention described 35 herein. In the claims which follow and in the preceding 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 14 description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, 5 i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication 10 is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country. 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13

Claims (33)

1. A method of gaming in a gaming system, the method comprising: 5 displaying a starting portion of a task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event occurring in a base game and caused by at least one player; determining a first player that originally triggered the bonus game; 10 determining a plurality of players eligible to play the bonus game in response to the original triggering by the first player; displaying on each eligible player's at least the starting portion of the task for completion by the 15 eligible player independently of other eligible players associated with one or more other player displays; providing the first player with an advantage to complete the task relative to the other players of the plurality of eligible players; 20 receiving one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the eligible players; and processing the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria. 25

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a criterion is the time taken to complete the task.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, 30 wherein the task displayed on each display is identical to each other task.

4. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising awarding a prize to the winning player. 35

5. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising providing the first player with a clue to 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 16 provide the advantage.

6. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising providing a time adjustment or an adjusted 5 starting time to the first player to provide the advantage and employing the time adjustment or adjusted starting time as an additional criterion to determining a winning player. 10

7. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 comprising displaying a starting instruction to each eligible player at the same time.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sole 15 criterion is which player takes the least time to complete the task.

9. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the task is to complete a memory game. 20

10. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the task is to complete a labyrinth game.

11. A gaming system comprising: 25 a plurality of player terminals, each comprising a player display and a player instruction input mechanism; and a game controller coupled to the player terminals and arranged to: 30 display a starting portion of a task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event occurring in a base game and caused by at least one player; determine a first player that originally triggered the bonus game; 35 determine a plurality of players eligible to play the bonus game in response to the original triggering by the first player; 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 17 display on each eligible player's at least the starting portion of the task for completion by the eligible player independently of other eligible players associated with one or more other player displays; 5 provide the first player with an advantage to complete the task relative to the other players of the plurality of eligible players; receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the 10 eligible players; and process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.

12. A gaming system as claimed in claim 11, wherein a 15 criterion is the time taken to complete the task.

13. A gaming system as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the task displayed on each display is identical to each other task. 20

14. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the game controller is arranged to award a prize to the winning player. 25

15. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the game controller is arranged to provide the first player with a clue to provide the advantage. 30

16. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the game controller is arranged to provide the first player with a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time and employ the time adjustment or adjusted starting time as an additional criterion to 35 determining a winning player.

17. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 18 11 to 16, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display a starting instruction to each player at the same time. 5

18. A gaming system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the sole criterion is which player takes the least time to complete the task.

19. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 10 11 to 18, wherein the task is to complete a memory game.

20. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 18, wherein the task is to complete a labyrinth game. 15

21. A gaming system as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 20, wherein the game controller is constituted by a processor executing program code stored in a memory. 20

22. A game controller configured for coupling to a plurality of player terminals, the game controller arranged to: display a starting portion of a task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event occurring in a base 25 game and caused by at least one player; determine a first player that originally triggered the bonus game; determine a plurality of players eligible to play the bonus game in response to the original triggering by 30 the first player; display on each eligible player's at least the starting portion of the task for completion by the eligible player independently of other eligible players associated with one or more other player displays; 35 provide the first player with an advantage to complete the task relative to the other players of the plurality of eligible players; 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 19 receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the eligible players; and process the player instructions to determine a 5 winning player based on one or more criteria.

23. A game controller as claimed in claim 22, wherein a criterion is the time taken to complete the task. 10

24. A game controller as claimed in claim 22 or claim 23, wherein the task displayed on each display is identical to each other task.

25. A game controller as claimed in any one of claims 15 22 to 24, wherein the game controller is arranged to award a prize to the winning player.

26. A game controller as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the game controller is arranged to 20 provide the first player with a clue to provide the advantage.

27. A game controller as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the game controller is arranged to 25 provide the first player with a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time and employing the time adjustment or adjusted starting time as an additional criterion to determining a winning player. 30

28. A game controller as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 27, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display a starting instruction to each player at the same time. 35

29. A game controller as claimed in claim 22, wherein the sole criterion is which player takes the least time to complete the task. 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13 - 20

30. A game controller as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 29, wherein the task is to complete a memory game. 5

31. A game controller as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 29, wherein the task is to complete a labyrinth game.

32. Computer program code which when executed by a 10 computer causes the computer to carry out a computer implemented method of gaming in accordance with the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

33. A computer readable medium comprising the program 15 code of claim 32. 4844488_1 (GHMatters) P71102.AU.4 6/11/13