Arrangements for awarding future prizes in an electronic game system

Abstract

A method includes receiving a number of game play requests in a current game from one or more player stations. For some of the game play requests in the current game, a result in the current game is displayed at the respective player station from which the respective game play request was received. However, a respective future result is awarded for some game play requests. These future results may or may not have any present value, but are in any case associated with a play in a game to be conducted at some designated time in the future and thus represents at least some potential value. These future results are communicated to a respective receiving player at the player's respective player station to advise the receiving player that they have won a chance to participate in a future game.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to electronic games such as electronic sweepstakes games and electronic wagering games. More particularly, the invention relates to a system in such electronic games for awarding prizes having some potential future value in addition to the regular prizes having some current value. The invention encompasses both methods for awarding future value prizes in a game, and apparatus and program products for implementing these methods.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Various types of electronically implemented wagering games have become popular over the past ten to twenty years. These games include modern reel-type games or “slot machines,” video poker machines, electronic lottery games, and electronic bingo games. Electronic sweepstakes games have also proven popular. All of these games award prizes to the various players according to some prize distribution for the respective game. The prize distribution defines a number ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]A future game according to the invention may have a relatively high winning prize and thus the future result according to the invention may have a high potential value. The high potential value of the future results may attract players to the current games offering future prizes. Furthermore, because each future result may only be associated with a potential prize value in a separate game, and because the payout in the separate game may be controlled separately from the current game, a relatively large number of future results may be awarded according to the invention. The frequency with which future results may be rewarded may also be very attractive to players in the current game and encourage players to participate in the current game. These players in the current game essentially compete for the future results to have a chance at the high value prize that may be available in the future game. Also, depending upon how the future game is conducted, players may be attracted to the current game by the shear spectacle of the periodic, high-potential value future game. For example, some forms of the present invention may conduct a competition between the players obtaining a future result in the current game. One of the participants may win a single high-value prize while the other contestants may win relatively low-level consolation prizes.

[0014]Because the invention may be implemented using one or more general processing devices, the invention further encompasses a program product stored on one or more computer readable devices. One preferred program product includes result program code and player station program code. The result program code is executable for awarding either a current result or a future result for each of a number of game play requests in the current game as described above. The result program code is also executable for causing each respective current result and future result to be communicated to a respective player station. The player station program code is executable for generating a respective game play request for a current game in response to a player input at a player station. The player station program code also facilitates the receipt of each respective current result and future result communicated to the respective player station, and causes the respective player station to provide a respective result presentation for each received result. A program product according to the present invention may also include future game program code which is executable for identifying a result in the future game to determine a value of a particular future result, or for revealing a result in the future game to reveal a result that has been defined in the current game for the particular future result.

Problems solved by technology

One persistent issue with electronically implemented games such as electronic lotteries, electronic bingo games, and even modern slot machines is that players may soon tire of a given game presentation and switch to some other type of game.

The cost of producing new games and game presentations greatly increases the cost of providing the game system.

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