Electronic sweepstakes system providing multiple game presentations for revealing results from a single sweepstakes game
View Patent ↗A system, apparatus, and method are disclosed wherein a reveal request is initiated through a result reveal station by a person (user) who has previously made some purchase or donation and has been assigned one or more sweepstakes entries in an assignment order from a set of available sweepstakes entries for a sweepstakes game. This reveal request represents a request to reveal one or more of the results associated with the corresponding sweepstakes entries that have been assigned to the user. The reveal station employs a game presentation including various graphics and audio effects to show sweepstakes results in an entertaining fashion. In response to the reveal request, or perhaps even prior to the reveal request, one or more sweepstakes entries are selected to be revealed for the reveal request. The sweepstakes entries are selected in an order different from the order in which the sweepstakes entries were assigned to the user. The selection of entries is based on a set of game characteristics associated with the game presentation provided at the reveal station through which the reveal request is initiated.
1. A game system including:
a first game of chance operable to provide a set of first game results, one or more of the first game results respectively associated with one or more awards in accordance with one or more first game characteristics;
a set of sweepstakes entries assigned to a player for the play of a sweepstakes game, each sweepstakes entry as assigned to the player being associated with a respective sweepstakes result, one or more of the sweepstakes results associated with one or more sweepstakes prizes in accordance with a sweepstakes prize distribution for the sweepstakes game; and
one or more player stations operable by the player who has been assigned the set of sweepstakes entries, the one or more player stations being operable to play the first game of chance using one or more of the sweepstakes entries assigned to the player, and being operable to display one or more of the first game results, each displayed first game result correlating to the respective sweepstakes results associated with the one or more sweepstakes entries used to play the first game of chance.
2. The game system of claim 1 , the game system including:
an assignment controller configured to assign the one or more sweepstakes entries to the player following an initiating event for the player.
3. The game system of claim 2 , the initiating event comprising a purchase.
4. The game system of claim 2 , the initiating event comprising a financial transaction.
5. The game system of claim 1 , the sweepstakes entries assigned to the player being in a first order, the one or more player stations being operable to use the assigned sweepstakes entries in a second order different from the first order in order to substantially imitate one or more of the first game characteristics.
6. The game system of claim 1 , the first game of chance comprising a reel-based game.
7. The game system of claim 1 , the first game of chance comprising a playing card-based game.
8. The game system of claim 1 , the one or more player stations each comprising a respective wireless device.
9. The game system of claim 1 , the one or more player stations each comprising a respective computer.
10. The game system of claim 1 , the one or more player stations operative to read a card and obtain information to provide game presentations corresponding to the assigned sweepstakes entries.
11. The game system of claim 10 , the card comprising a credit card.
12. The game system of claim 10 , the card comprising a gift card.
13. The game system of claim 10 , the card comprising a player card assigned to the player and associated with a player account.
14. The game system of claim 10 , the card comprising a smart card.
15. The game system of claim 10 , further including
a game server connected in a network with the one or more player stations.
16. A player station including:
a display device and a processor;
a first game of chance operable to provide a set of first game results, one or more of the first game results respectively associated with one or more awards in accordance with one or more first game characteristics; and
set of sweepstakes entries which have been assigned to a player for the play of a sweepstakes game, each sweepstakes entry as assigned to the player being associated with a respective sweepstakes result, one or more of the sweepstakes results associated with one or more sweepstakes prizes in accordance with a sweepstakes prize distribution for the sweepstakes game;
the processor configured to play the first game of chance at the request of the player using one or more of the sweepstakes entries and to present one or more of the first game results on the display device in accordance with the first game characteristics, each displayed first game result correlating to the respective sweepstakes results associated with the one or more sweepstakes entries used to play the first game of chance.
17. The game system of claim 16 , the set of sweepstakes entries have been assigned to the player in a first order, the processor operable to use the assigned sweepstakes entries in a second order different from the first order in order to substantially imitate one or more of the first game characteristics.
18. The game system of claim 16 , wherein the player station includes a card reader operative to read a card and obtain information from the card to provide game presentations corresponding to the assigned sweepstakes entries.
19. A method including:
(a) receiving a reveal request at a player station, the reveal request being initiated by a user through a user input device of the player station;
(b) selecting a number of sweepstakes entries that have previously been assigned to a user account for the user, the selecting being performed by a data processing system, and each previously assigned sweepstakes entry being associated with a respective individual entry result at the time of the selection;
(c) with the data processing system, identifying a cumulative result for the selected number of sweepstakes entries, the cumulative result being equal to at least a portion of a total of the respective individual entry results for the selected number of sweepstakes entries; and
(d) at a display device of the player station, revealing the cumulative result for the selected number of sweepstakes entries as a result responsive to the reveal request.