Patent ID: 8323096
Filing Date: 2012-12-04
Classification: G07F

Abstract:
1. A method for providing a supplemental electronic game to a plurality of players, the supplemental game being associated with a main game, the supplemental game being in the form of a bingo game, comprising: establishing, by a game controller, a plurality of bingo cards for the supplemental bingo game, each bingo card having a predetermined number of columns and a predetermined number of rows defining a grid having a plurality of locations, each location having an assigned number, for each column across the plurality of bingo cards the game controller performing the steps of: (a) establishing a set of numbers, the number of numbers in the set of numbers being equal to the number of rows; and, (b) randomly assigning one of the numbers from the set of numbers to each location in the associated column, each number being used only once in each column, the numbers in each column being the same as the corresponding columns in the other bingo cards arranged in a random order; assigning, by the game controller, a supplemental bingo card to any player in the supplemental game; establishing, by the game controller, a bingo ball draw of a predetermined number of bingo numbers; comparing, by the game controller, the bingo ball draw against the supplemental bingo cards associated with players and identifying any matches; and, awarding, by the game controller, a supplemental award to any player whose associated supplemental bingo card includes a predefined interim matching pattern, the predefined interim match pattern being column based.