U.S. patent application number 10/261341 was filed with the patent office on 2003-04-10 for gaming machine with interactive story line.
Invention is credited to DeFrees-Parrott, Troy.
Application Number | 20030069057 10/261341 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26948539 |
Filed Date | 2003-04-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030069057 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
DeFrees-Parrott, Troy |
April 10, 2003 |
Gaming machine with interactive story line
Abstract
A gaming machine with interactive story line. In a preferred
embodiment of the invention, the player will advance to an
interactive bonus game after achieving a certain combination of
symbols on a base game. Once the player has advanced to the bonus
game, he or she will have the opportunity to play a video based
animated or real-life bonus game that varies depending on the
player's input. In a preferred embodiment, the player's input is
through the base game display, which is a touch screen LCD or video
monitor and which has the dual purpose of displaying the base game
during base game play and functioning as the player interface
during the bonus play which is displayed on an LCD or video monitor
in the top-box of the gaming device. The player's input in the
preferred embodiment includes answering questions posed by the
characters in the game, making decisions for the characters in the
game or assisting the characters in the game whether such
assistance is in the form of shooting targets, picking up objects,
choosing paths, steering vehicles or basically interacting with the
primary characters of the storyline.
Inventors: |
DeFrees-Parrott, Troy; (Las
Vegas, NV) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LAW OFFICES OF RAYMOND A. NUZZO, LLC
579 THOMPSON AVENUE
EAST HAVEN
CT
06512
US
|
Family ID: |
26948539 |
Appl. No.: |
10/261341 |
Filed: |
September 30, 2002 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60325923 |
Sep 28, 2001 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/16 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F 17/3267 20130101;
G07F 17/3244 20130101; G07F 17/32 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/16 |
International
Class: |
A63F 009/24 |
Claims
Thus, having described the invention, what is claimed is:
1. A gaming machine comprising: a display device for displaying
animated or real-life characters; a player interface for receiving
data inputted by a player; a processor in data communication with
the player interface and the display device, the processor
outputting data to the display device so as to cause the display
device to display a particular story-line segment based on the data
inputted by the player, said processor determining a monetary award
after the display device displays at least one story-line segment
outcome; means responsive to the processor for indicating the
monetary award; and means for providing the monetary award to the
player.
2. The gaming device of claim 1, where the different story-line
segments have randomly chosen monetary award amounts which are
awarded at any point within the specific story-line segment.
3. The gaming device of claim 1, where the different possible
story-line segments are chosen randomly by the processor.
4. The gaming device of claim 1, where the different possible
story-line segments change according to player input.
5. The gaming device of claim 2, where the randomly chosen monetary
award amounts are chosen by the processor after player input has
occurred.
6. The gaming device of claim 2, where the randomly chosen monetary
award amounts are chosen by the processor prior to player
input.
7. The gaming device of claim 4, where player input is communicated
to the processor by a player interface which communicates all
player input to the processor.
8. The gaming device of claim 7, where the player interface can be
linked by the internet, a LAN, WAN and allows the communication of
multiple player input.
9. The gaming device of claim 1, where the player or players are
depicted as characters within the real-life or animated
storyline.
10. The gaming device of claim 2, where the monetary award amounts
are predefined in the paytable of the gaming device and the
animated or real-life storyline serves only to entertain the player
or players.
11. The gaming device of claim 7, where the player interface is a
touch screen.
12. The gaming device of claim 7 where the player interface is a
computer mouse, button, pistol, microphone or any other mechanical
device that allows the player to effectively input decisions,
answers or actions to the processor.
13. The gaming device of claim 1 where the player is not only
making decisions affecting the storyline but also leading or
changing the story-line by action.
14. The gaming device of claim 13 where the players action can be
any form of play commonly known in the art of video game
development be it driving a race car, sword-fighting, boxing,
shooting, flying, skiing, surfing or any other method of
interacting with the game.
15. The gaming device of claim 14 where the players direct action
changes the storyline.
16. The gaming device of claim 14 where the players action is
communicated to the processor via any known form of hydraulic
platform, shooting mechanism or other input device known in the art
of video game development.
Description
[0001] This application claims the benefit of commonly owned and
copending U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. No. 60/325,923,
filed Sep. 28, 2001. The invention disclosed in this application is
related to Disclosure Document No. 497692 filed on Jul. 30,
2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention generally relates to gaming
machines.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] In a standard bonus-game gaming machine, animation is
utilized on a video screen or other display device to award
monetary prizes in an entertaining fashion. The players interaction
with the animated bonus event is limited to choosing symbols,
characters etc. to reveal bonus credit amounts. The primary game
animation or bonus animation may display intricate bonus events to
the player and then award the player with the bonus prize. In
addition the player may make a choice in the primary or bonus game
that causes an animated or recorded real-life video loop to be
played which will entertain and award the player with a prize.
Alternately, the player may be presented by a randomly chosen and
displayed number of characters, symbols or images which will reveal
bonus amounts when chosen by the player said quantity of images
displayed and corresponding bonus amounts randomly changing each
time the player reaches the bonus round.
[0006] One particular interactive scenario used with gaming
machines is IGT's "Little Green Men". In the bonus event, the
player is instructed to choose one of five characters sitting in
front of a small farm house. Once the player has chosen a
character, an alien space ship beams up the character and flies
away. A few seconds later a newspaper spins toward the screen and
stops once it grows large enough to cover the monitor. The
newspaper displays the character that the player chose with a
"Reward" amount displayed under the character's picture. The
"Reward" amount equals the bonus credits won by the player. The
player's choice in this game causes the game to display five
different newspapers with different "Reward" amounts. The key
premise or story-line in IGT's Little Green Men and similar other
games does not change.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention offers far greater entertainment value
to players than current gaming machines because the player has the
opportunity to interact with characters in a base or preferably a
bonus game and through this interaction, alter or advance the
story-line of the game. The ability to alter the story-line of the
bonus game ensures that the players level of entertainment stays
very high even if they have played the same game many times
over.
[0008] In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the player
will advance to an interactive bonus game after achieving a certain
combination of symbols on a base game. Once the player has advanced
to the bonus game they will have the opportunity to play a video
based animated or real-life bonus game that varies depending on the
players input. The player's input in the preferred embodiment will
be via the base game display, which will be a touch screen LCD or
video monitor and which has the dual purpose of displaying the base
game during base game play and being the player interface during
the bonus play which will be displayed on an LCD or video monitor
in the top-box of the gaming device. The players input in the
preferred embodiment will include but not be limited to answering
questions posed by the characters in the game, making decisions for
the characters in the game or assisting the characters in the game
whether such assistance is in the form of shooting targets, picking
up objects, choosing paths, steering vehicles or basically
interacting with the primary characters of the storyline.
[0009] In an alternative embodiment the gaming machine based on the
present invention has standard stepper motor driven reels for the
base game, an LCD or video monitor to display the bonus game and
buttons, joystick, track-ball or other mechanical input device for
the player to interface with the bonus game.
[0010] In the preferred embodiment the gaming machine has ample
storage in the form of hard-disk, DVD-ROM, or CD-ROM on which the
bonus game scenes are stored and sufficient random access memory to
allow for the seamless integration and display of the scenes that
correspond the player interactivity.
[0011] In the preferred embodiment there will be many different
variations of story-line, action within the story-line and monetary
awards awarded within the story-line. The number of different
story-line variations, monetary awards and action within the
story-line can be in the thousands, tens of thousands or millions
depending on the desire of the game designers.
[0012] In the preferred embodiment the processor will award
monetary prizes for all story-line segments prior to play of the
interactive story-line bonus game. In this embodiment a player that
fails to kill a dragon allowing the dragon to fly away with the
princess will be awarded a monetary award that was chosen randomly
by the processor prior to the play of the bonus game. If the player
had killed the dragon and saved the princess then the monetary
award associated with this success would also have been chosen by
the game processor prior to the play of the bonus game.
[0013] In the preferred embodiment the story-line advancement is a
mixture of player interaction, randomly chosen scenes and preset
scenes. The result of the mixture is that the player's successful
interaction can be awarded with monetary awards if the game is
skill based but if a skill based game is not desired the player can
still interact for entertainment value but the game processor can
randomly choose scenes that correspond to the player's interaction.
In the latter case the player's skill or lack thereof has no affect
on the monetary award received in the bonus game. For example if
the game desire wanted the player involved in the slaying of the
dragon but did not want the player's skill involved then the game
characters would ask the player "Slay the dragon?" or "don't slay
the dragon?". If the player chose "slay the dragon" then the hero
in the story-line would slay the dragon, the princess would be
saved and a monetary award would be awarded to the player.
[0014] The primary object of the present invention is to provide a
gaming machine that allows players to play an intricate bonus game
where they can interact with characters in many different ways, win
randomly assigned, skill based or pre-assigned monetary awards and
through their interaction and alter the story-line of the bonus
game.
[0015] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
gaming machine where the player has the perception that their skill
in the bonus game has advanced the game to a monetary award though
even without skill or interaction on the player's part the monetary
award would still have been received.
[0016] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a
gaming machine bonus game where the player makes a few key choices
in the beginning of the bonus game thereby changing the overall
story-line but not requiring constant interaction with the
characters in the bonus game. In this embodiment the player
slightly changes the story-line but they do not have to do much but
sit back and watch the story-line play out per their initial
decisions.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment of
the gaming device of the present invention.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating how a player can win
monetary awards during a interactive story-line bonus game in
accordance with the present invention.
[0019] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the basic electronic
configuration of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] In the interactive story-line gaming machine of the present
invention, the player interacts with the animated or real life
character or characters. The interaction with the animated or
recorded real-life character can be led by the character and or the
player. When the player interacts with the character, the
story-line of the primary or bonus game changes as a result of the
interaction and the monetary amount awarded to the player changes
as a direct result of the players interactive choices or
decisions.
[0021] For example, a character may greet the player and ask the
player a series of questions the answers to which are communicated
by the player to the game via a button, voice recognition, touch
screen input, mouse pad, mouse ball, joy-stick, sword, pistol or
any other form of player input commonly known and associated with
player interactive games. The player's answers to the character's
questions or the players decisions will cause the story-line of the
game to change. For example, a player's answer of "yes" to whether
or not they like sports and an answer of "no" to whether or not
they like dessert may cause the bonus game to display a sporting
event where animated or real-life baseball player tries to hit a
home run with their success equaling the bonus payment to the
player. If the player had answered "yes" to both questions, then
the bonus game may have displayed animated or real characters
playing a bowling game where the pins are characters and the bowler
throws a pie at the pins in an effort to get a strike. Regardless
of the players answer the gaming machine will award the player with
a predefined or randomly chosen monetary award which will be
awarded prior to, during or following the animated or real-life
segment that is controlled by the processor and displayed to the
player via the display device.
[0022] The purpose of the interactive story-line is to create an
environment where the player has greater entertainment value
because he or she is actively involved in the story-line of the
game. The player gets to script or direct the story-line through
the interaction with the characters. If the storyline is about
police chasing the bad guys then the player gets to join in the
chase as one of the policemen and the players decisions, answers to
questions and actions change the storyline of the chase. One
important benefit is that casino machines that incorporate this
invention will be able to offer players many different versions of
the primary and bonus games thereby ensuring that the player does
not get bored.
[0023] The ensuing example illustrates one embodiment of the
present invention. However, it is to be understood that this is
just one example and that other more interactive examples and
embodiments are possible.
EXAMPLE I
[0024] The ensuing example pertains to the use of the well-known
character Betty Boop.TM. as one of the interactive characters in
the gaming machine though any well known or new character could be
used.
Scene 1: Opening Scene
[0025] Opening Scene: Betty is sitting in a traditional movie star
style dressing room getting ready for the day. She greets the
player and continues picking up one script and throwing it down,
picking up another and throwing it down".
[0026] Betty Boop: "Oohh this is too difficult. I have three great
roles offered by the studio and I can't decide which one to
take."
[0027] Action: Betty looks into the mirror and notices that the
player has walked into the room.
[0028] Betty Boop: "I am so happy you're here. I really need a good
agent to help me with my career."
[0029] Action: Betty spins around in her chair and looks at the
player head on.
[0030] Betty Boop: "Please be my agent and pick the best movie to
star in and I will pay you a bonus for your choice."
[0031] Scene 2: Three Movie Posters--The player picks the
movie.
[0032] Poster #1: "Betty in Circus Extravaganza"
[0033] Poster #2: "Betty in Cook-n-Cookies"
[0034] Poster #3: "Betty in Game Show Babe"
[0035] Action: The poster choice fades and reveals a small
"signing" bonus amount.
[0036] Scene 3: Betty Boop back in her dressing room.
[0037] Action: Betty is still sitting in her dressing chair.
[0038] Betty Boop: "I love your choice, it will make me a bigger
star than ever"
[0039] Betty Boop: "Now I have another offer for you. Why don't you
be my director? The studio will pay you well."
[0040] Action: Betty gets up out of her chair and walking out of
the room glances back at the player.
[0041] Betty Boop: "See you on the set"
[0042] Action: Betty closes the door behind her.
[0043] Betty in Circus Extravaganza
[0044] Scene 4: Betty Enters the Circus
[0045] Action: Betty walks down on of the hallways to the center of
the circus.
[0046] Circus Announcer--The Clown: "Ladies and gentleman the
incredible, the great, the fearless, the woman you all have been
waiting for . . . . Betty Boop".
[0047] Action: Betty bows to the crowd and waives her hand in the
air.
[0048] Betty Boop: "Thank you, thank you, thank you"
[0049] Circus Announcer--The Clown: "Now ladies and gentleman, I
would like to ask you to choose the act that Betty will
perform.
[0050] Action: The player decides whether Betty will be:
1 a) Riding the Elephants b) Taming the "nasty" tigers" c) Swinging
on the Trapeze d) Cannon Fodder
[0051] Betty Boop: Statements by Betty vary depending on the
player's choice of the act.
[0052] Bonus Payouts: The manner in which Betty completes the act
affect the bonus amounts won.
[0053] Scene 5--Taming the "nasty" Tigers:
[0054] Action: Betty keeps the tigers at bay with the whip and the
chair.
[0055] Betty Boop: "Stay away you big, nasty beasts"
[0056] Action: As the tigers roar and swipe at Betty and she
counters with the whip and chair, the player accumulates bonus
points.
[0057] Scene 6--Cannon Fodder:
[0058] Action: Betty puts on her helmet and climbs up the ladder,
climbs into the end of the cannon and waives to the crowd.
[0059] Action: The announcer walks up the cannon, lights the fuse
and shoots Betty through the air.
[0060] Betty Boop: "Weeeeeeeeeeee"
[0061] Action: Betty lands on her feet, takes off the helmet and
bows to the crowd.
[0062] Betty Boop: "Thank you, thank you, thank you"
[0063] Bonus Win: The bonus amount won depends on how far Betty
flew out of the cannon.
[0064] Scene 7--Swinging on the Trapeze:
[0065] Premise: Betty's will ask the player to choose which trapeze
to swing from and which flips and tricks to perform. The player's
choices will alter the outcome of this scene allowing the player to
win different bonus amounts depending on the final outcome.
[0066] Scene 8--Riding the Elephants:
[0067] Premise: Betty rides around the ring on the back of an
elephant grabbing rings from circus members. Once Betty has the
rings in her hands she will ask the player questions such as but
not limited to how many she should juggle and should she balance on
one foot while juggling. The player's choices will alter the
outcome of this scene allowing the player to win different bonus
amounts depending on the final outcome.
[0068] Betty in Cook-n-Cookies
[0069] Scene 9--The scene is Betty's kitchen. The kitchen door
opens and Betty enters singing a tune.
[0070] Betty Boop: "I want to cook some cookies for my friends.
[0071] Action: Betty continues singing while she starts to roll the
cookie dough.
[0072] Betty Boop: "Where is my cookie sheet?"
[0073] Action: Betty turns around to grab the cookie sheet from one
of the lower cupboards. While turned around, Betty accidentally
bumps into the table and knocks it over.
[0074] Action: The cookie dough, rolling pin and bag of flour go
flying.
[0075] Action: Betty swings back around, catches her foot on the
end of the table and falls down with her face going straight into
the pile of flour.
[0076] Action: The flour goes flying up in a cloud and blankets
Betty, covering her hair and face.
[0077] Action: Betty stands up and tries in vain to brush the flour
off of herself.
[0078] Action: Pudgy the dog starts laughing.
[0079] Action: The little boy starts laughing.
[0080] Betty Boop: "You two be quiet. This isn't funny"
[0081] Action: The chair at the far end of the room morphs into a
human character and starts laughing.
[0082] Betty Boop: "Everyone stop laughing or there will be no
cookies for anyone".
[0083] Action: Betty stamps her feet and pulls at her hair.
[0084] Action: The clock at the far end of the room morphs into a
humanistic character and joins in the laughter.
[0085] Betty Boop: "Ooohh, I am getting so mad"
[0086] Action: Betty picks up the cookie dough and breaks off a
piece.
[0087] Action: The screen tells the player to choose one of the
four laughing characters.
[0088] Betty Boop: "You want a cookie, I will give you a
cookie"
[0089] Action: Betty throws the cookie dough at the target.
Sometimes hitting the target, sometimes missing the target causing
her to throw again.
[0090] Action: Once the character is hit with the cookie dough,
they continue to laugh and then they throw it back at Betty. A food
fights ensues and Betty, while laughing, starts to through the
dough back at the characters. Every throw by Betty and the other
characters starts racking up bonus points as all characters are
laughing and having a great time.
[0091] Action: The characters finally tire out and start to eat the
cookie dough.
[0092] Betty in the Game Show Babe
[0093] Scene 10--A game show set with a large wall of 10-12 squares
that can be spun around to reveal an image on their backside.
[0094] Action: Betty Boop walks out onto the floor in a game show
host outfit and greets the crowd.
[0095] Betty Boop: "Hello everyone and welcome to the best game
show in the world" "Today we have one luck contestant that can win
a lot of money if they match the images on the big board.
[0096] Action: Betty walks over to the big boards.
[0097] Betty Boop: "If you can match three of the images on the
rear of the squares, you will be a winner. The more matches you
have the more you will win."
[0098] Action: The player starts to touch the squares causing them
to spin around and reveal images of Betty, Pudgy, the clown, the
boy, Gramps, etc.
[0099] Betty Boop: Every spin of the square causes Betty of the
characters in the symbols to say something funny.
[0100] Action: The images on the squares morph into animated
characters and start to say things to Betty.
[0101] Action: The player continues to spin squares until they hit
a stop square.
[0102] Bonus Amounts: Bonuses depend on the images matched. Certain
images are worth more than others as depicted on a bonus win
paytable.
[0103] Scene 11: Closing Scene:
[0104] Scene: Betty is back in the dressing room.
[0105] Action: Betty spins around in the chair and faces the
player.
[0106] Betty Boop: "Thank you so much being my agent and director".
"I had a great time working with you and hope that we can work
together on another film project sometime soon."
[0107] The ensuing example illustrates yet another embodiment of
the present invention. This example is more interactive than the
first example, however, it is to be understood that this is just
another example and that other more increasingly interactive
examples and embodiments are possible.
EXAMPLE II The ensuing example pertains to a new character "Joe
Jackpot.TM." that could be used as the central character in an
interactive gaming machine.
[0108] Scene: Joe Jackpot is sitting in the drivers seat of a
Ferrari sports-car. The Ferrari is idling in the middle of a
freeway that branches like a "Y" to the right and left. The player
who has reached the bonus round by lining up three Joe Jackpot
symbols in the base game has been transported into the game so that
they are now sitting in the passenger seat looking at Joe Jackpot
from a first person perspective.
[0109] Action: Joe Jackpot looks at the player.
[0110] Joe Jackpot: "Hey ya big winner, we need to get to Casino
Island quicker than a buzzard to road kill". Joe points out the
front window to the left and to the right and asks the player, "You
choose our path, the road to the left leads to the bridge and the
road on the right leads to the ferry?".
[0111] Action: The player uses a physical button on the machine,
the touch screen or a voice command to choose the road to the right
that leads to the ferry.
[0112] Joe Jackpot: "I guess you don't get seasick . . . lets
boogie"
[0113] Action: Joe Jackpot floors the Ferrari which burns rubber
for a few seconds and then rockets towards and down the road to the
right. The Ferrari flies down the hilly road for a few seconds and
when it comes over the top of the third hill, the player can see a
brightly lit ferry tied at the dock. Joe expertly pulls the Ferrari
up the ramp and onto the ferry.
[0114] Joe Jackpot: "You still awake big winner?"
[0115] Action: The player is prompted to respond with a yes or no
and the player used a button, the touch screen or a voice command
to respond with a yes.
[0116] Joe Jackpot: "I'm mighty glad for your sake. If you had been
asleep I would have pushed you out of the car and backed up off of
the ferry but since you are awake, you can tell me if we should
stay in the car for the short trip or go upstairs to get some
chow?"
[0117] Action: The player chooses "Upstairs for Chow" instead of
"sitting in the car".
[0118] The preceding example reflects the possible beginning of an
interactive bonus event in an interactive story line gaming machine
although it could also be used as the beginning of a base game in
an interactive story line gaming machine.
[0119] In this example, we see that the player is making decisions
for a game character, in this case Joe Jackpot. Thus, the game
character and story line is altered by the player's decisions. If
the player had chosen the road to the left which was the bridge to
Casino Island, then perhaps the player and Joe Jackpot would have
run into traffic or the drawbridge could have been up to allow a
cruise ship to pass. The player in this example of course chose the
road to the right which led to the ferry to Casino Island. When Joe
Jackpot asked the player whether or not they were asleep, the
player could have answered "yes" instead of the "no" used in this
example. A "yes" answer could have resulted in the bonus event
ending with the player winning a smaller "participant" award or it
could have resulted in Joe Jackpot turning up the stereo of the car
to awaken the player. The player in this example of course answered
"no" and then "upstairs for chow" instead of "sitting in the car".
"Upstairs for chow" may result in no more questions from Joe
Jackpot or interaction from the player until they reach the food
section of the ferry or perhaps Joe Jackpot will ask the player
whether or not "they want some fresh air before they eat?".
[0120] As seen in both examples, the interactive story-line can be
very short and basic with only a few possible endings to the story
as a result of the player's interaction or the interactive
story-line can be much more intricate and involved resulting not
only in longer base or bonus game playing time but also many
different possible endings or variations to the story. The players
level of involvement could also be far greater including but not
limited to the player driving the Ferrari in the second example or
shooting a gun from the passenger seat of the Ferrari if Joe
Jackpot were a policeman and the player and Joe were chasing bad
guys. Monetary bonus awards in both examples can be awarded
immediately after the player has made a decision or during a
particular segment of the interactive storyline game. If the player
was driving the Ferrari and steering via a steering wheel mounted
on the gaming machine they could drive over "cash bags" lying on
the road and score bonus amounts every time they successfully drove
over a bag.
[0121] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the existing
standard gaming machine hardware is used for an interactive
story-line game and modifications are made only to the software
programming. In this embodiment the standard gaming machine
includes a video screen to play a video slot game and a second
video screen to display the interactive story-line bonus. The
software of the interactive story-line game will establish branches
in the display of the story-line of the base or bonus game. The
player's input causes the software to retrieve from a standard
storage medium animated or recorded real-life video segments that
correspond to the players input. In this embodiment the software
may choose segments that directly respond to the player's input or
the software may randomly choose from a series of segments that
could correspond to the player's input. The number of branches in
the story-line or segments that could be displayed is limited only
by the intended average length of the base game or bonus game.
[0122] Hardware and software that may be used to implement the
present invention are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,611,694,
5,873,057, 5,737,527, 5,161,034, 5,848,934, 4,445,187, 4,333,152,
4,569,026, and 4,305,131, the disclosures of which are herein
incorporated by reference.
[0123] Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown one possible
configuration of the invention gaming device 10 which is a standard
video gaming machine with a video screen 12 in the top-box 13 which
is used to display the present invention. It should be noted that
this configuration is only one embodiment as the gaming device
cabinet can be in any of the forms commonly known in the industry
including but not limited to slant-top, upright, in-bar or sit-on
bar style.
[0124] The base game of gaming device 10 is played in the video
screen 11 and could be any base game including but not limited to
video reel, poker, blackjack or keno as well as being a mechanical
reel slot machine in which case stepper reels would take the place
of video screen 11 in gaming device 10. The base game may also be
linked to a wide area progressive, local area progressive or any
other type of bonus game.
[0125] Gaming device 10 can include the standard array of player
input devices including but not limited to a handle 14, coin-out
button 16, bet max button 17, spin button 18 and for the present
invention, a "yes" button 19 and a "no" button 20 in addition to a
coin-in head 21.
[0126] Gaming device 10 also includes belly glass 15 to display the
game name. This belly glass could be replaced with an LCD screen or
other display device in an alternative embodiment of the present
invention.
[0127] FIG. 2 illustrates a general diagram of the electronic
design of the present invention which includes RAM memory 20 and
ROM memory 21 which are used to store game data, player decisions
or actions, the story-line content of the present invention and a
processor 27, touch screen 26 which can be configured as the player
interface for the player to interact with the characters in the
present invention and speakers 22 to project sounds of the base
game and bonus game to the player, standard player interface 23,
such as buttons or other mechanical devices which are used when the
touch screen 26 is not used and coin/bill acceptor 24 which the
player uses to input money into the gaming device and the display
devices 25 which as seen in FIG. 1, can include but not be limited
to two video displays to display the base game and the bonus game
of the present invention.
[0128] Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown the players' interaction
with the story-line Example II above. In step 40, the character
asks the player to decide whether to take the bridge or ferry to
get to an island. In step 41, the player chooses the bridge. The
alternative step is step 42 wherein the player chooses the ferry.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, processor 27
randomly picks awards for different player decisions prior to the
start of the interactive story-line bonus game. Thus, if the player
chooses the bridge (step 41), the player wins 100 credits. As a
result, the player's choice of the bridge leads to one of three
randomly chosen scenes, indicated by steps 43, 44 and 45, from the
database of possible story-line segments. Step 43 describes a
randomly chosen scene wherein the Ferrari jumps the drawbridge so
that the Ferrari reaches the island (step 50) and the player wins a
total of 200 credits in step 60. In step 44, the Ferrari drives
across the bridge and reaching the island (step 50) resulting in
the player to win 175 credits in step 61. In step 45, the Ferrari
is delayed by traffic on the bridge and therefore, does not reach
the island. As a result, the player wins only 125 credits in step
62.
[0129] If the player chooses the ferry (step 42) instead of the
bridge (step 41), then there are three possible story-line
segments, indicated by steps 46, 47, 48, that are randomly chosen
by processor 27 (see FIG. 2) with different randomly chosen award
amounts. If the player reaches the island (step 50) because
processor 27 randomly chooses the step 47, then the player wins 275
coins in step 64 and the game will continue. If processor 27
chooses the other story-line segments, indicated by steps 46 and
48, then the player does not reach the island, the game ends and
the player wins the credit amounts in step 63 or step 65.
[0130] It is important to note that this is a very basic example of
the present invention as any number of segments in the story-line
can be chosen as well as the level of player interactivity can be
enhanced so that the player is constantly making decisions or
inputting actions via the player interface. The story-line segments
can be preset or randomly chosen by the processor and the monetary
awards can be preset or randomly chosen. The level of randomness
not only in the story-line but also the monetary awards is limited
only by the desired length of play of a base or bonus game
incorporating the present invention.
[0131] While the present invention has been particularly described,
in conjunction with a specific preferred embodiment, it is evident
that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be
apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing
description. It is therefore contemplated that the appended claims
will embrace any such alternatives, modifications and variations as
falling within the true scope and spirit of the present
invention.
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