Abstract:
A bonus game is described having direct player interaction so that the player feels responsible for the outcome of the bonus game. In one embodiment, a gaming machine carries out a main game which initiates a bonus game for a certain outcome of the main game. In one embodiment, the bonus game displays a plurality of hidden objects in the form of icons. The objects may be credits, money, letters, symbols, or anything else. The player chooses one or more options, and the hidden values for the selected options are revealed to the player. The player&#39;s goal is to obtain the highest value amount by, for example, choosing the highest value icon, or by spelling words from accumulated letters, or by accumulating symbols. Other types of ways to achieve award values are also envisioned. After each selection by the player, the gaming machine offers the player a value (e.g., a number of credits) to end the bonus game. The player may accept the offer or continue playing the bonus game to its conclusion. In another embodiment, no offers are made to the player, and the award is based upon the accumulated objects.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to games played on a gaming machine and, in particular, to a bonus game in a gaming machine, such as a slot machine.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     A typical gaming machine found in casinos carries out a single game, such as displaying rotating reels having symbols, where the resulting symbol combinations correspond to awards to be paid to the player. Many newer gaming machines provide a bonus game as a reward for a special symbol combination, where the bonus game is different from the main game. This bonus game adds player excitement and, thus, results in a more popular and profitable gaming machine.  
         [0003]     What is needed is a bonus game that further adds player excitement and keeps the player playing the gaming machine.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0004]     A bonus game is described having direct player interaction so that the player feels responsible for the outcome of the bonus game.  
         [0005]     In one embodiment, a gaming machine carries out a main game, such as a spinning reel type game, either using physical reels or simulated reels on a video screen. A special combination of symbols activates a video bonus game. In one embodiment, the bonus game displays a plurality of hidden objects in the form of icons. The objects may be credits, money, letters, symbols, or anything else.  
         [0006]     In one embodiment, the icons represent credit awards. The player selects a first icon, where the value of the first icon remains hidden from the player. The player then chooses one or more additional icons, and the hidden values for the selected additional icons are revealed to the player. The player&#39;s goal is to win the highest value award.  
         [0007]     After each selection of additional icons by the player, the gaming machine offers the player a value (e.g., a number of credits) to end the bonus game. If the player feels that her selected first icon value is greater than the offered value, the player will reject the offer and continue with the bonus game. Depending on the probabilities of the awards that the player may win as the bonus game progresses, the offers may go up or down. If the player accepts the offer, the offered amount is added to a credit meter or otherwise paid to the player.  
         [0008]     If the player rejects all offers, the player wins the value of the first icon at the end of the bonus game.  
         [0009]     In another embodiment, the icons represent letters. Various predetermined words that may be spelled have different values associated with them. The first word that the player spells grants that associated award to the player. The player is given an offer before each selection of an additional icon to end the game. The game ends when the player either takes the offer or spells a word.  
         [0010]     Any other types of symbols may be used when accumulating combinations or sets of symbols to win an award.  
         [0011]     In another embodiment, no offers are made to the player, and awards are granted for the completion of a word or the accumulation of other types of symbols.  
         [0012]     Awards may include jackpots as well as fixed awards.  
         [0013]     In one embodiment, the hidden objects (letters, credits, etc.) behind each displayed icon are displayed to the player in an order unrelated to the order of the hidden objects. In this way the player can determine the probabilities for winning the various possible awards when deciding to accept or reject the offer.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one type of gaming machine that may be programmed to carry out the inventive game.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram showing the basic functional units in the gaming machine of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0016]      FIGS. 3-8  are successive displays on the display screen of the gaming machine of  FIG. 1  as the deal or no deal game commences.  
         [0017]      FIGS. 9-14  are possible successive display screens of a modified version of the deal or no deal game. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0018]     Although the invention can typically be implemented by installing a software program in most types of modem video gaming machines, one particular gaming machine platform will be described in detail.  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a gaming machine  10  that incorporates the present invention. Machine  10  includes a display  12  that may be a thin film transistor (TFT) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), or any other type of display. A second display  14  provides game data or other information in addition to display  12 . Display  14  may provide static information, such as an advertisement for the game, the rules of the game, pay tables, paylines, or other information, or may even display the main game or the bonus game along with display  12 . Alternatively, the area for display  14  may be a display glass for conveying information about the game.  
         [0020]     Display  12  or  14  may have a touch screen lamination that includes a transparent grid of conductors. Touching the screen changes the capacitance between the conductors, and thereby the X-Y location of the touch may be determined. The processor associates this X-Y location with a function to be performed. Such touch screens are very well known in the field of slot machines, and a detailed description of them is not required.  
         [0021]     A coin slot  22  accepts coins or tokens in one or more denominations to generate credits within machine  10  for playing games. An input slot  24  for an optical reader and printer receives machine readable printed tickets and outputs printed tickets for use in cashless gaming. A bill acceptor  26  accepts various denominations of banknotes.  
         [0022]     A coin tray  32  receives coins or tokens from a hopper upon a win or upon the player cashing out.  
         [0023]     A card reader slot  34  accepts any of various types of cards, such as smart cards, magnetic strip cards, or other types of cards conveying machine readable information. The card reader reads the inserted card for player and credit information for cashless gaming. The card reader may also include an optical reader and printer for reading and printing coded barcodes and other information on a paper ticket.  
         [0024]     A keypad  36  accepts player input, such as a personal identification number (PIN) or any other player information. A display  38  above keypad  36  displays a menu for instructions and other information and provides visual feedback of the keys pressed.  
         [0025]     Player control buttons  39  include any buttons needed for the play of the particular game or games offered by machine  10  including, for example, a bet button, a repeat bet button, a play two-ways button, a spin reels button, a deal button, hold cards buttons, a draw button, a maximum bet button, a cash-out button, a display paylines button, a display payout tables button, select icon buttons, and any other suitable button. Buttons  39  may be replaced by a touch screen with virtual buttons.  
         [0026]      FIG. 2  illustrates basic circuit blocks in a suitable gaming device. A control unit (CPU  40 ) runs a gaming program stored in a program ROM  43 . A coin/credit detector  41  enables the CPU  40  to initiate a next game. A pay table ROM  44  detects the outcome of the game and identifies awards to be paid to the player. A payout device  42  pays out an award to the player in the form of coins upon termination of the game or upon the player cashing out. A payout may also be in the form of a coded paper ticket, credits on a smart card or magnetic strip card, or in any other form. A display controller  45  receives commands from the CPU  40  and generates signals for the various displays  46 . If a display  46  is a touch screen, player commands may be input through the display screen into the CPU  40 .  
         [0027]     In one embodiment, the game described below is a bonus game that is initiated upon a special outcome of the main game displayed on machine  10  in  FIG. 1 . The main game may be the display of physical, motor-driven reels or a video simulation of motor-driven reels, where combinations of symbols across one or more pay lines are associated with awards to be granted to the player. Some symbol combinations pay credits as an award, and one or more other symbol combinations give rise to a bonus game. The main game may be displayed using any means. The main game may be any type of game and need not be limited to a symbol-type game. For example, if the main game is a card game, the bonus game may be activated after a particular hand is obtained, such as a full house or higher. Virtually any type of game may be played as the main game and any selected outcome of the main game may activate the bonus game. Such triggering events activating a bonus game are well known, and the hardware/software used to initialize the bonus game may be conventional.  
         [0028]      FIGS. 3-14  are possible images displayed on display  14  or display  12  in  FIG. 1  during operation of the bonus game after the main game has generated a particular outcome that automatically activates the bonus game.  FIGS. 3-8  illustrate one type of bonus game, and  FIGS. 9-14  illustrate an additional embodiment of a bonus game. The bonus game may be presented to the player on the same screen as the main game or on a different screen.  
         [0029]     When the special combination is obtained in the main game, the screen of  FIG. 3  is automatically displayed after an introductory screen for the bonus game.  FIG. 3  illustrates ten cash boxes  60 , where each cash box  60  represents a different number of credits. The credit value associated with each cash box  60  is unknown to the player. The various credit values hidden in the cash boxes  60  are displayed to the player as displayed values  62 . In the present example, the credit values range from 10 to 1,000 credits.  
         [0030]     The player is told to pick one of the cash boxes  60 , and the player touches one of the cash boxes  60 . In the preferred embodiment, the display screen of the gaming machine has a touch screen lamination, which is well known to those skilled in the art. Sensors throughout the lamination detect the X-Y position of the player&#39;s fingertip when it contacts the screen, and this position is correlated to a function associated with the image that the player has touched. Other types of touch sensitive devices may be used.  
         [0031]      FIG. 4  illustrates the display screen after the player has selected one of the cash boxes  60 , and the selected cash box  64 , still with its hidden value, is set aside.  
         [0032]     The screen of  FIG. 4  also tells the player to remove three additional cash boxes by touching them. The player then touches three additional cash boxes and, as they are touched, the hidden values are displayed to the player and the selected cash boxes evaporate. The values in those cash boxes are then deleted from the displayed values  62 , as shown in  FIG. 5 .  
         [0033]     In the display screen of  FIG. 5 , the player is offered 180 credits, calculated based upon the remaining possible credit awards, to stop playing the bonus game. The player is invited to either take this deal or not take the deal by pressing the appropriate buttons  66  and  68 . Had the player&#39;s first three selections of cash boxes included the 1,000, 400, and 150 value cash boxes, the deal would have been less than 180. The deal value is calculated such that is not clear to the player, based upon the remaining values, whether the deal is a very good deal or a very bad deal. It is assumed for purposes of this example that the player has pressed the no deal button  68  believing that either the 400 or 1,000 credit cash box was initially selected as cash box  64 .  
         [0034]     In  FIG. 6 , the player is told to remove two additional cash boxes  60  by touching them. After these two additional cash boxes  60  are selected, the hidden values are revealed, and these values are removed from the displayed values  62 , as shown in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0035]     In  FIG. 7 , the player is again presented with the deal or no deal option, where the offered amount is now 450 credits. The offered deal has gone up because there are fewer selections remaining, and one of the remaining cash boxes, including the one player initially chose, represents 1,000 credits. In the example of  FIG. 7 , the player has decided to take the deal by pressing the deal button  66 .  
         [0036]     In response, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the offered credit value of 450 credits is awarded to the player, and the hidden value of the player&#39;s selected cash box  64  is revealed. In this particular case, the selected cash box  64  represented 30 credits, so the player made a very good choice by taking the deal. The player could have elected in  FIG. 7  to reject the deal by pressing button  68 , and the game would have continued until the player accepted another offer or there were no more cash boxes  60  remaining, in which case the player would have been awarded the value in the initially selected cash box  64 .  
         [0037]     After the bonus game, the gaming machine then automatically reverts back to its normal operation, where the player must place an additional bet in order to play the main game. The player then presses the suitable buttons to make a wager and to spin the reels, assuming the main game is a spinning reels type game.  
         [0038]     A modification to this deal or no deal game is illustrated in  FIGS. 9-14 , where  FIGS. 9-14  illustrate successive display screens for the bonus game.  
         [0039]      FIG. 9  illustrates the first screen of the bonus game after an introductory display screen. In this particular game, the player selects one of the boxes  70  in each round by touching the box. Each box  70  contains a letter. The awards for spelling different words are identified in the table  72 . An additional table may be provided identifying the number of each type of letter in boxes  70 . If the player first spells the word “MINI,” the player wins 20 credits since this is the word most likely to be spelled first. If the player first spells the word “MAXI,” the player wins 200 credits. If the player first spells the word “GRAND,” the player wins the grand prize of 5,000 credits. The possible words to be spelled are shown in display area  74 . The player is told to choose one of the boxes  70 .  
         [0040]      FIG. 10  illustrates that the player has touched a box  70  that reveals the letter I. The letter I is highlighted in the words MINI and MAXI in area  74 . An offer of 200 credits is then made to the player within box  76  to quit the bonus game. The offer is based upon the current likelihood of the player spelling one of the three words first. For example, the offer may be determined based on the probabilities of certain letters being chosen multiplied by the base value of each award and summing all the awards, plus rounding.  
         [0041]     Since the player&#39;s selection of the letter I made it more likely that the words MINI and MAXI will be spelled before the word GRAND is spelled, the offer is relatively low. The player is presented with a take offer button  80 . The player is told to take the offer or choose another box  70 . It is assumed in this example that the player has rejected the offer by selecting another box  70 . In an alternative embodiment, the player may be presented with a reject offer button  78 .  
         [0042]      FIG. 11  illustrates that the player has touched a box  70  that reveals the letter G. The letter G in the word GRAND is now highlighted, and the offer is increased to 250 credits since the likelihood that the player will win the 5,000 credit grand prize has increased. It is assumed that the player has again rejected the offer by selecting another box  70 .  
         [0043]      FIG. 12  illustrates that the player has touched a box  70  that reveals the letter X, and the X in MAXI is highlighted. The offer in box  76  has gone up slightly to 225 credits since it is less likely that the word MINI will be spelled first. It is assumed the player again rejected the offer by selecting another box  70 .  
         [0044]      FIG. 13  illustrates that the player has touched a box  70  that reveals an M, and the M in MINI and MAXI is highlighted. The offer in box  76  has now gone down to 80 credits since it is most likely that the player will spell the word MINI (there are more N&#39;s than A&#39;s in boxes  70 .). The player has again rejected the offer. Had the player touched the take offer button  80  in  FIG. 13 , the player would have won the offered amount of 80 credits.  
         [0045]      FIG. 14  illustrates that the player selected a box  70  that reveals the letter A. This spells the word MAXI, causing the player to win 200 credits, which is displayed in box  76 . Once the bonus game is over, the credits are applied to the credit meter of the gaming machine, and the operation reverts back to the main game, in which the player typically wages a bet and spins reels or plays another game.  
         [0046]     The number of letters of each type in boxes  70  is determined by the designer to achieve certain probabilities that a particular letter will be chosen. For example, having more M&#39;s and I&#39;s in the boxes  70  makes it more likely that MINI or MAXI will be spelled before GRAND.  
         [0047]     Instead of the words having fixed values, the spelling of a word may award a certain progressive jackpot to the player. Any other type of award may be granted. There may be three or more progressive jackpots, each with a different average level determined by a different percentage allocation of the wagers.  
         [0048]     In another embodiment, no offers are given to the player. The player just wins the amount associated with the first word spelled (or other type of game). The amount won may be a fixed amount, or a progressive amount, or some unknown amount. If numbers or other symbols are used, the player may win an amount based on accumulated symbols. For example, the player may win an amount based on the numbers selected before reaching a goal, such as collecting five ones. Many other type of games are envisioned.  
         [0049]     The game of  FIGS. 9-14  has been illustrated with specific values, boxes, words, and other features. It would be understood that any word may be spelled having any value, and any number of boxes may be used. It is not important that the hidden objects in boxes  70  are letters; such boxes may contain numbers, symbols or anything else. The selection of the boxes or any other type of icon is used to complete one or more patterns or sets having different award values, and offers are made to the player to quit the game or take the offered credits depending on how the bonus game is progressing for the player.  
         [0050]     The various games described are easily implemented by a software programmer programming the game and suitable graphics into a memory, such as program ROM  43  in  FIG. 2 . The CPU  40  carries out the game, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.  
         [0051]     The above-described game may be played as a main game instead of a bonus game. The game may be played on a stand-alone machine, or on a machine connected to a server, or on-line via the Internet, or on any device having a display and a processor, such as a telephone. All such devices may be considered gaming devices.  
         [0052]     Having described the invention in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, given the present disclosure, modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit of the inventive concepts described herein. Therefore, it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated and described.