Gaming apparatus and method for providing enhanced player participation in lottery games
View Patent ↗A lottery gaming system utilizes one or more pools of predetermined game play records. In response to a game play request, the gaming system allocates a number or set of game play records. A representation for each allocated game play record is then displayed to the player in some fashion that does not indicate the result of the respective game play record, and the requesting player is allowed to select one or more of the allocated game play records through the respective representations. The selected game play record or records are assigned to the player and the player ultimately sees the result associated with each selected game play record. However, the allocated game play records that are not selected by the player, and thus remain unassigned, are collected or otherwise made available for use in response to another game play request.
1. A method including the steps of:
(a) allocating a game play record set in response to a game play request initiated for a first player, the game play record set including two or more game play records and being allocated from at least one game play record file that is available for supplying game play records to satisfy the game play request, wherein allocating the set of game play records includes changing the status of each allocated game play record in the respective game play record file to indicate that each respective allocated game play record is unavailable for use in satisfying an additional game play request;
(b) assigning to the first player one or more of the allocated game play records in response to a player choice input from the first player, the player choice input being distinct from any player input to initiate the game play request, and the one or more game play records assigned to the first player identifying a result for the first player, each allocated game play record other than the one or more allocated game play records assigned to the first player representing an unassigned game play record;
(c) changing the status of each unassigned game play record to indicate that the respective unassigned game play record is available for use in satisfying an additional game play request; and
(d) assigning one of the allocated, unassigned game play records to a respective player in response to an input initiated by the respective player.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of assigning to the first player one or more game play records from the game play record set includes assigning multiple game play records.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of allocating the set of game play records includes communicating information associated with each allocated game play record to a player terminal through which the game play request was initiated.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of allocating the set of game play records for the game play request includes allocating one or more game play records from each of two or more different files of game play records.
5. The method of claim 1 further including the step of displaying to the first player a set of representations and wherein the player choice input is generated from the first player's selection of one or more of the representations.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein each representation is mapped to a respective allocated game play record.
7. A gaming system including:
(a) a player input device through which a player may initiate a play in a game and a player choice input which is distinct from a game play request in the game;
(b) a data storage device storing a game play record file including a number of game play records available for satisfying the game play request;
(c) a game play record allocation arrangement for allocating a set of game play records from the number of game play records in response to the game play request, the set of game play records including two or more game play records, wherein the allocating includes changing a respective status indicator in the game play record file for each allocated game play record to indicate that each respective allocated game play record is unavailable for use in satisfying an additional game play request;
(d) a game play record assignment arrangement for assigning one or more of the allocated game play records to the player in response to the player choice input, each allocated game play record other than the one or more allocated game play records assigned to the first player representing an unassigned game play record; and
(e) a game play record collection arrangement for making at least one unassigned game play record available for response to a future player input, wherein the game play record collection arrangement makes the at least one unassigned game play record available for response to a future player input by changing the respective status indicator associated with the respective unassigned game play record.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 further including a player choice display for presenting to the player a set of representations and wherein the player choice input represents a selection of one or more of the representations.
9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the game play record allocation arrangement and game play record collection arrangement are implemented in a first data processing system and wherein the player input device is included with a player terminal separate from the first data processing system and in communication with the first data processing system across a network communications link.
10. A program product stored on a computer readable medium, the program product including:
(a) record allocation program code for allocating a set of game play records from one or more game play record files in response to a game play request initiated for a first player, wherein the record allocation program code changes a respective status for each respective allocated game play record from a first status to a second status in the respective game play record file from which that game play record was allocated, the second status indicating that the respective game play record is unavailable for allocation or assignment for a later input initiated for a respective player;
(b) record assignment program code for assigning one or more of the allocated game play records to the first player in response to a player choice input initiated by the first player, the player choice input being distinct from any input which initiated the game play request, and the assigning of one or more of the allocated game play records leaving one or more allocated game play records that remain unassigned and represent unassigned game play records; and
(c) record collection program code for making each unassigned game play record available to be allocated or assigned in response to an input for a respective player, wherein the record collection program code makes a respective unassigned game play record available for allocation or assignment for a later input initiated for a respective player by changing the status of the respective unassigned game play record from the second status to the first status.
11. The program product of claim 10 wherein the record collection program code makes a respective unassigned game play record available for allocation or assignment for a later input initiated for a player by collecting the respective unassigned game play record in a collection data file separate from the respective game play record file from which the respective unassigned game play record was allocated by the record allocation program code.
12. The program product of claim 10 wherein the record collection program code makes a respective unassigned game play record available for allocation or assignment for a later input initiated for a player by collecting the respective unassigned game play record in the respective game play record file from which the respective unassigned game play record was allocated by the record allocation program code.