Apparatus and method for mapping multiple bingo game results to a common display
View Patent ↗A bingo game player may participate in a number of bingo games and obtain results for each of those games. These bingo game results are combined to amount to a cumulative result and a common graphic display is produced that is representative of the cumulative result. The common graphic display is then shown to the player on the display device of a particular electronic player station.
1. A method including:
(a) identifying with a game processor a respective bingo game result for each of a number of respective bingo game play requests, the respective bingo game results combining to amount to a cumulative result for the number of bingo game play requests; and
(b) producing a common graphic display representative of the cumulative result for the number of bingo game play requests, wherein the common graphic display comprises a two-dimensional matrix of graphic symbol locations having multiple rows and multiple columns, and defining multiple lines of graphic symbol locations, and wherein a result representation for a respective first one of the bingo game results is represented in the two-dimensional matrix as a selected first line of graphic symbol locations, the two-dimensional matrix not comprising a bingo card representation of a bingo card associated with any of the respective bingo game play requests, and a result representation for a respective second one of the bingo game results is represented in the two-dimensional matrix as a selected second line of graphic symbol locations.
2. The method of claim 1 further including selecting a respective result representation for each respective bingo game result, and wherein the common graphic display includes each respective result representation.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein selecting the respective result representation for at least one respective bingo game result includes selecting from a set of equivalent result representations, each equivalent result representation in the set of equivalent result representations being associated with a single result value.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein two respective result representations are each made up of a series of graphic symbols with each series of graphic symbols including a common graphic symbol, and wherein producing the common graphic display includes arranging the two respective result representations in an overlapped fashion so as to share the common graphic symbol.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein each line of graphic symbol locations provides the respective result representation for a respective one of the bingo game results.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a respective bingo game result for each of a number of respective bingo game play requests further comprises grouping each game play request submitted by a first player in a different bingo game group.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a respective bingo game result for each of a number of respective bingo game play requests further comprises dividing related game play requests submitted by a first player so that they are included in at least two different bingo game groups.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a respective bingo game result for each of a number of respective bingo game play requests further comprises dividing related game play requests up so that each game group includes game play requests from at least two different players.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein producing the common graphic display includes selecting a respective cumulative result representation from a set of cumulative result representations associated with the particular cumulative result.
10. An apparatus including:
(a) a bingo game processor for identifying a respective bingo game result for each of a number of bingo game play requests;
(b) a result display engine for defining a common graphic display representative of a cumulative result for the number of bingo game play requests; and
(c) a display device for presenting a respective common graphic display corresponding to the cumulative result for the number of bingo game play requests, wherein the common graphic display comprises a two-dimensional matrix of graphic symbol locations having multiple rows and multiple columns and defining multiple lines of graphic symbol locations, and wherein a result representation for a respective first one of the bingo game results is represented in the two-dimensional matrix as a selected first line of graphic symbol locations, the two-dimensional matrix not comprising a bingo card representation of a bingo card associated with any of the respective bingo game play requests, and a result representation for a respective second one of the bingo game results is represented in the two-dimensional matrix as a selected second line of graphic symbol locations.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 further including a display controller, the display controller for determining the graphic images associated with the respective common graphic display.
12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the result display engine defines the common graphic display representative of the cumulative result for the number of bingo game play requests by selecting a respective result representation for each respective bingo game result and wherein the common graphic display includes each respective result representation.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the result display engine selects the respective result representation for at least one respective bingo game result from a set of equivalent result representations, each equivalent result representation in the set of equivalent result representations being associated with a single result value.
14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the result display engine defines the respective common graphic display by selecting two respective result representations that are each made up of a series of graphic symbols with each series of graphic symbols including a common graphic symbol, and wherein the result display engine further defines the common graphic display by arranging the two respective result representations in an overlapped fashion so as to share the common graphic symbol.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein each line of adjacent graphic symbol locations provides the result representation for a respective one of the bingo game results.
16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein identifying a respective bingo game result for each of a number of respective bingo game play requests further comprises grouping each game play request submitted by a first player in a different bingo game group.
17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein identifying a respective bingo game result for each of a number of respective bingo game play requests further comprises dividing related game play requests submitted by a first player so that they are included in at least two different bingo game groups.
18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein identifying a respective bingo game result for each of a number of respective bingo game play requests further comprises dividing related game play requests up so that each game group includes game play requests from at least two different players.
19. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the result display engine defines the common graphic display representative of the cumulative result for the number of bingo game play requests by selecting a respective cumulative result representation from a set of cumulative result representations associated with the respective cumulative result.
20. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the result display engine defines the common graphic display representative of the cumulative result for the number of bingo game play requests by assigning a display code for the respective cumulative result.