Games upon which players may make wagers and win awards based on the outcome of the game have been generally known for a long time.
More recently, in order to increase player excitement and the likelihood that a player will remain at a game longer, electronic games have been linked to together to provide a progressive jackpot award. In such systems, a portion of each wager made by the players is generally added to the progressive jackpot. The progressive jackpot is typically displayed in order to generate excitement in the players as the jackpot grows.
However, this presents several problems. First, as players become more and more accustomed to “large” progressive jackpots, they may become jaded. Thus, the level of excitement may be minimum until the progressive jackpot becomes large.
Second, generally progressive jackpots are awarded when a player generates a predetermined or preset condition within the main game. Thus, there is no building of excitement between the players based on each others' play. In other words, with a typical progressive jackpot, there is no shared excitement which is generated when another player wins because it has no positive effect for the other players.
Another type of award or jackpot is a bonus award. Typically, the bonus award is presented as an award for winning or playing a bonus game. The bonus game is usually triggered by some predetermined event within the main game. The bonus game may be as simple as allowing the player to make a choice between three items. Each item may be “hiding” or representing the award amount. The bonus game may be a pseudo game. In other words, the amount of the award is predetermined and the choice made by the player does not affect the actual award amount.
However, this type of award only involves the player who triggers the bonus game, plays the bonus game and receives the bonus award. Thus, again, it generates no shared excitement.
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems identified above.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds