Universal overlay games in an electronic gaming environment
View Patent ↗A method is disclosed herein for displaying winning and non-winning game results in a traditional gaming environment. The system uses an overlay game to present an entertaining display to a player upon the occurrence of a win or trigger event. An overlay game has limited capabilities and additionally is engineered to be usable on a variety of gaming machines. To be usable on a variety of gaming machines, the overlay game is intentionally kept simple; in one case, it comprises a visual display that is shown to a player upon the occurrence of a trigger event. In another embodiment, it requires a simple button press to start the overlay game. The overlay games are downloaded on an as-needed basis, run on the gaming machine, and then discarded.
1. A method for presenting an overlay event on a display of a gaming machine independent from a base game being displayed on the display, wherein the gaming machine is one of a plurality of networked gaming machines, comprising:
triggering an overlay module to request the overlay event, wherein a server is connected to the gaming machine via a network;
accessing the overlay event at the server via the overlay module;
downloading the overlay event to the gaming machine after initiation and during play of the base game, wherein the overly module stores the overlay event to a memory;
initiating presentation of the overlay event with the overlay module on the display of the gaming machine, wherein the overlay event is independent of the base game and has associated therewith a result that is a winning or a non-winning event; and
preserving a state of the overlay event for later restoration of the overlay event at the preserved state on another gaming machine in the network.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay event is a different theme than the base game, and wherein the overlay event is displayed over the display of the base game.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay module is connected to the server and the gaming machine via the network, and wherein the overlay event is transferred from the server to the overlay module.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay module is a component of the gaming machine.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay module stores the overlay event in memory.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising erasing the overlay event from memory and restarting the base game on the display of the gaming machine.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein triggering the overlay module to request the overlay event occurs based on a game event on the base game.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein triggering the overlay module to request the overlay event occurs based on a factor separate from the base game.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein triggering the overlay module to request the overlay event occurs based on player information.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein triggering the overlay module to request the overlay event occurs based on a preset number of plays or a preset number of plays in a certain time period.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein triggering the overlay module to request the overlay event occurs based on time of day or size of a prize fund for an overlay game.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay event is an overlay game.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay event is a promotion.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating presentation of the overlay event is performed in a window of the display of the gaming machine.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the window of the display of the gaming machine is a picture-in-picture mode on the display.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating presentation of the overlay event on the entire display of the gaming machine.
17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising halting the base game before initiating presentation of the overlay event, wherein the base game is halted at a play boundary.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay module is enabled to use input and output devices of the gaming machine for operation of overlay events.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the input and output devices include printers, touch screens, game terminal displays, cabinet buttons, bill validators, speakers, spin buttons, coin acceptors, coin payout hoppers, or combinations thereof.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay module communicates with gaming machine components via the server.
21. The method of claim 1 , wherein an arrangement of the gaming machine and the server in the network allows the overlay event on the gaming machine to be operated and loaded centrally from the server without affecting the integrity or operation of the base game.
22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server allows automatic transfer of funds to and from the gaming machine in response to overlay event awards and overlay event wagers placed by players.
23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overlay event is designed to require player input that is visually distinguishable from player input for the base game.
24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the visibly distinguishable player input involves buttons for the base game being visually distinguishable from buttons for the overlay event only while the overlay event is occurring.
25. A method for presenting an overlay event on a display of a gaming machine independent from a base game being displayed on the display, wherein the gaming machine is one of a plurality of networked gaming machines, comprising:
accessing the overlay event via an overlay module, wherein a server is connected to the gaming machine via a network;
downloading the overlay event from the server to the gaming machine after initiation and during play of the base game;
storing the overlay event on a memory;
presenting the overlay event on the display of the gaming machine, wherein the overlay event is independent of the base game and has associated therewith a result that is a winning or a non-winning event; and
preserving a state of the overlay event for later restoration of the overlay event at the preserved state on another gaming machine in the network.
26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay event is a different theme than the base game, and wherein the overlay event is displayed over the display of the base game.
27. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay module is connected to the server and the gaming machine via the network, and wherein the overlay event is transferred from the server to the overlay module.
28. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay module is a component of the gaming machine.
29. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay module stores the overlay event in the memory.
30. The method of claim 25 , further comprising halting play of the base game.
31. The method of claim 25 , further comprising erasing the overlay event from memory and restarting the base game on the display of the gaming machine.
32. The method of claim 25 , further comprising requesting the overlay event from the server when a triggering event occurs.
33. The method of claim 25 , wherein presenting the overlay event in a window of the display of the gaming machine.
34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the window of the display of the gaming machine is a picture-in-picture mode on the display.
35. The method of claim 25 , wherein presenting the overlay event on the entire display of the gaming machine.
36. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay event is an overlay game.
37. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay event is a promotion.
38. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay module is enabled to use input and output devices of the gaming machine for operation of overlay events.
39. The method of claim 38 , wherein the input and output devices include printers, touch screens, game terminal displays, cabinet buttons, bill validators, speakers, spin buttons, coin acceptors, coin payout hoppers, or combinations thereof.
40. The method of claim 25 , wherein the overlay module communicates with gaming machine components via the server.
41. The method of claim 25 , wherein an arrangement of the gaming machine and the server in the network allows the overlay event on the gaming machine to be operated and loaded centrally from the server without affecting the integrity or operation of the base game.
42. The method of claim 25 , wherein the server allows automatic transfer of funds to and from the gaming machine in response to overlay event awards and overlay event wagers placed by players.
43. The method of claim 25 , wherein the preserved the state of the overlay event is later restored on another gaming machine.
44. The method of claim 25 , wherein the preserved the state of the overlay event is later restored on the same gaming machine.
45. A method for presenting a displayable event on a display of a gaming machine independent from a base game being displayed on the display, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of networked gaming devices, each gaming device including a display for displaying a base game and a displayable event thereon;
storing one or more displayable events in a memory on a server, wherein the server is connected to the plurality of networked gaming devices via a network, and wherein a displayable event is distributed to at least one gaming device via the network in response to a request from the gaming device;
receiving the displayable event from the server at an overlay module after initiation and during play of the base game, wherein the overlay module utilizes a memory, and is connected to the one or more gaming devices and the server via the network;
initiating presentation of the displayable event on the display of the gaming device, wherein the displayable event is presented independent of the base game and has associated therewith a result that is a winning or a non-winning event; and
preserving a state of the displayable event for later restoration of the displayable event at the preserved state on another gaming machine in the network.
46. The method of claim 45 , wherein the overlay event is a different theme than the base game, and wherein the overlay event is displayed over the display of the base game.
47. The method of claim 45 , wherein the overlay event is an overlay game.
48. The method of claim 47 , wherein the overlay module is enabled to use input and output devices of the gaming machine for operation of the overlay game.
49. The method of claim 48 , wherein the input and output devices include printers, touch screens, game terminal displays, cabinet buttons, bill validators, speakers, spin buttons, coin acceptors, coin payout hoppers, or combinations thereof.
50. The method of claim 45 , wherein the overlay module communicates with gaming machine components via the server.
51. The method of claim 45 , wherein an arrangement of the gaming machine and the server in the network allows the overlay event on the gaming machine to be operated and loaded centrally from the server without affecting the integrity or operation of the base game.
52. The method of claim 45 , wherein the server allows automatic transfer of funds to and from the gaming machine in response to overlay event awards and overlay event wagers placed by players.
53. The method of claim 45 , wherein the preserved the state of the displayable event is later restored on another gaming machine.
54. The method of claim 45 , wherein the preserved the state of the displayable event is later restored on the same gaming machine.