Casino game with pay line multipliers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9401071-B2
Application number	US-201514833966-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2015
Priority date	Oct 24, 2007
Publication date	Jul 26, 2016
Grant date	Jul 26, 2016

Abstract

A poker machine apparatus has a pay line multiplier that is randomly selected for each active pay line. The pay line multiplier varies for each round of play. An extra wager may be required from the player to activate this feature during the play of a casino game. A player makes a wager to activate at least two pay lines to be played in the casino game. For each active pay line, a multiplier is randomly selected from a group of various multipliers and the selected multiplier is assigned to the activated pay line. The casino game is then played to achieve an outcome on each pay line. Each pay line that has a winning outcome has any associated award increased by the multiplier for that pay line.

First claim

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A video poker machine comprising:
a housing;
a plurality of input devices supported by the housing, the plurality of input devices including an acceptor;
at least one display device supported by the housing;
at least one processor; and
at least one memory device that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the plurality of input devices to:
(a) establish a credit balance based at least in part on a monetary value associated with a physical item after the physical item is received by the acceptor;
(b) place a wager on a play of a card game after an actuation of a wager button is received, the credit balance being decreasable by the wager, the card game associated with a plurality of paylines;
(c) activate one or more of the paylines based on the wager;
(d) for a first active payline, randomly determine and display face-up a first hand including a plurality of cards;
(e) if the first hand satisfies a multiplier condition, for each active payline, randomly determine a multiplier from a set of a plurality of different multipliers and associate said randomly-determined multiplier with said active payline;
(f) enable selection of none, one, a plurality, or all of the cards of the first hand to be held;
(g) for each of any additional active paylines, display one or more additional hands each including each of any held cards of the first hand;
(h) if all of the cards of the first hand are held, designate each hand as complete;
(i) if fewer than all of the cards of the first hand are held:
(1) discard each non-held card of the first hand;
(2) complete the first hand by, for each discarded card of the first hand, randomly selecting a card and replacing said discarded card with the randomly-selected card; and
(3) for each of any additional active paylines, complete the additional hand associated with said active payline such that the additional hand includes the same quantity of cards as the first hand;

(j) for each active payline, determine any awards for the complete hand associated with said active payline based at least in part on any multiplier associated with said active payline, the credit balance being increasable by any determined awards; and
(k) initiate a payout associated with the credit balance after an actuation of a cashout button is received.

2. The video poker machine of claim 1 , wherein the multiplier condition is satisfied when the first hand includes a designated combination of cards.

3. The video poker machine of claim 1 , wherein the multiplier condition is satisfied when the first hand has a designated poker hand ranking.

4. The video poker machine of claim 1 , wherein the multiplier condition is satisfied when the first hand has one of a plurality of different designated poker hand rankings.

5. The video poker machine of claim 1 , wherein the multiplier condition is satisfied when the first hand has a poker hand ranking of at least a designated value.

6. The video poker machine of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to provide (e) if the wager is a designated wager.

7. The video poker machine of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to randomly determine the cards of the first hand from a set of a plurality of cards.

8. The video poker machine of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, if fewer than all of the cards of the first hand are held, complete the first hand by, for each discarded card of the first hand, randomly selecting one of the remaining cards of the set of the plurality of cards and replacing said discarded card with the randomly-selected card.

9. The video poker machine of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to, if fewer than all of the cards of the first hand are held, for each of any additional active paylines, complete the additional hand associated with said active payline by randomly selecting one or more of cards and adding said one or more randomly-selected cards to said additional hand, wherein if the one or more additional hands include a plurality of additional hands, the one or more cards added to the additional hands are randomly selected from different card sets.

10. A method of operating a video poker machine, said method comprising:
(a) establishing, by at least one processor, a credit balance based at least in part on a monetary value associated with a physical item after the physical item is received by an acceptor of the video poker machine;
(b) placing, by the at least one processor, a wager on a play of a card game after an actuation of a wager button is received, the credit balance being decreasable by the wager, the card game associated with a plurality of paylines;
(c) activating, by the at least one processor, one or more of the paylines based on the wager;
(d) for a first active payline, randomly determining, by the at least one processor, and displaying face-up, by at least one display device, a first hand including a plurality of cards;
(e) if the first hand satisfies a multiplier condition, for each active payline, randomly determining, by the at least one processor, a multiplier from a set of a plurality of different multipliers and associating, by the at least one processor, said randomly-determined multiplier with said active payline;
(f) enabling selection of none, one, a plurality, or all of the cards of the first hand to be held;
(g) for each of any additional active paylines, displaying, by the at least one display device, one or more additional hands each including each of any held cards of the first hand;
(h) if all of the cards of the first hand are held, designating, by the at least one processor, each hand as complete;
(i) if fewer than all of the cards of the first hand are held:
(1) discarding, by the at least one processor, each non-held card of the first hand;
(2) completing, by the at least one processor, the first hand by, for each discarded card of the first hand, randomly selecting a card and replacing said discarded card with the randomly-selected card; and
(3) for each of any additional active paylines, completing, by the at least one processor, the additional hand associated with said active payline such that the additional hand includes the same quantity of cards as the first hand;

(j) for each active payline, determining, by the at least one processor, any awards for the complete hand associated with said active payline based at least in part on any multiplier associated with said active payline, the credit balance being increasable by any determined awards; and
(k) initiating, by the at least one processor, a payout associated with the credit balance after an actuation of a cashout button is received.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the multiplier condition is satisfied when the first hand includes a designated combination of cards.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the multiplier condition is satisfied when the first hand has a designated poker hand ranking.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the multiplier condition is satisfied when the first hand has one of a plurality of different designated poker hand rankings.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the multiplier condition is sa

Assignees

• Igt Reno Nev

Inventors

• Moody Ernest W

Classifications

• G07F17/32

  for games, toys, sports, or amusements · CPC title

• G07F17/3293

  Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack · CPC title

• A63F1/00

  Card games · CPC title

• G07F17/3244 Primary

  Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes · CPC title

• A63F13/005

  Human Necessities · mapped topic