Method, system, and program product for conducting multiple concurrent bingo games
View Patent ↗A method for conducting bingo games includes using a server to collect game play requests from a plurality of electronic player stations. The server determines if a group of the collected game play requests meets one or more predefined conditions for establishing a quorum, and if so conducts a game with the group of game play requests. Even after the game is started, the server continues to collect game play requests in preparation for conducting additional games. When enough game play requests are collected, the server starts the next game, even if previous games are still in progress.
1. A method including:
(a) collecting game play requests from a number of player stations into a first group of game play requests at a gaming server in communication with each of the number of player stations, wherein:
(i) each game play request in the first group of game play requests is transmitted to the gaming server from a respective one of the player stations responsive to a respective input for a respective player at that respective player station;
(ii) each game play request in the first group of game play requests constitutes a request to enter any one of a number of bingo games to be conducted through the gaming server, and is associated with a respective wager for the respective player in the respective bingo game to be entered;
(iii) each game play request in the first group of game play requests represents a request for a respective result in the bingo game to be entered; and
(iv) each game play request in the first group of game play requests being associated with a respective bingo card representation stored in a data storage device associated with the gaming server;
(b) determining if the first group of game play requests meets a predefined condition for a first quorum required to conduct a first bingo game for the first group of game play requests;
(c) responsive to meeting the predefined condition for the first quorum, conducting the first bingo game at the gaming server with the first group of game play requests, the first bingo game being conducted by matching a plurality of bingo designations against the bingo card representations associated with the game play requests in the first group of game play requests and identifying a respective result for each bingo card representation associated with a respective game play request in the first group of game play requests;
(d) collecting game play requests from the number of player stations into a second group of game play requests at the gaming server while conducting a portion of the first bingo game, wherein:
(i) each game play request in the second group of game play requests is transmitted to the gaming server responsive to a respective input for a respective player at a respective one of the player stations;
(ii) each game play request in the second group of game play requests constitutes a request to enter any one of the number of bingo games to be conducted through the gaming server, and is associated with a respective wager for the respective player in the bingo game to be entered;
(iii) each game play request in the second group of game play requests represents a request for a respective result in the bingo game to be entered; and
(iv) each game play request in the second group of game play requests being associated with a respective bingo card representation in the data storage device associated with the gaming server; and
(e) while conducting a portion of the first bingo game, determining if the second group of game play requests meets a predefined condition for a second quorum.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, while at least a portion of the first bingo game is being conducted, beginning to conduct a second bingo game at the gaming server with the second group of game play requests responsive to meeting the predefined condition for the second quorum.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising dynamically determining the minimum number of game play requests required to establish the first quorum, the dynamic determination being based upon system utilization conditions.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein dynamically determining the minimum number of game play requests required to establish the first quorum further comprises decreasing the number of game play requests required to make the first quorum based at least in part on the payouts available in the first bingo game.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein dynamically determining the minimum number of game play requests required to establish the first quorum further comprises decreasing the number of game play requests required to make the first quorum based at least in part on a permissible delay between a time a player makes a game play request and a time that a result for that game play request is available to be displayed to the player.
6. The method of claim 1 further including, responsive to identifying a predefined low system utilization condition, decreasing conditions for the second quorum, including the number of game play requests required for the second quorum, to a minimum level before determining if the second group of game play requests meets the condition for the second quorum.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the first group of game play requests meets the predefined condition for the first quorum includes checking if a queue location has been allocated.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the first group of game play requests meets the predefined condition for the first quorum includes checking for the first quorum at the end of a predetermined period of time.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the first group of game play requests meets the predefined condition for the first quorum includes checking for the first quorum responsive to the collection of each respective game play request in the first group of game play requests.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the gaming server stores a group of bingo card representations and wherein each game play request transmitted to the gaming server includes a respective card identifier, each respective card identifier identifying a particular one of the stored bingo card representations so as to associate that bingo card representation with the respective game play request.
11. A gaming system including:
(a) a number of player stations, each player station including a display system adapted to display game results;
(b) a gaming server in communication with each player station included in the number of player stations, the gaming server including at least one processor and associated data storage storing instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
collect game play requests into a first group of game play requests at the gaming server, wherein:
(i) each game play request in the first group of game play requests is transmitted to the gaming server responsive to a respective input for a respective player at a respective one of the player stations;
(ii) each game play request in the first group of game play requests constitutes a request to enter any one of a number of bingo games to be conducted through the gaming system and is associated with a respective wager for the respective player in the gaming system;
(iii) each game play request in the first group of game play requests represents a request for a respective result in the gaming system; and
(iv) each game play request in the first group of game play requests being associated with a respective bingo card representation in the data storage associated with the at least one processor included in the gaming server;
determine if the first group of game play requests meets a predefined condition for a first quorum required to conduct a first bingo game;
in response to meeting the predefined condition for the first quorum, conducting the first bingo game at the gaming server with the first group of game play requests, the first bingo game being conducted by matching a plurality of bingo designations against the bingo card representations associated with the game play requests included in the first group of game play requests and identifying a respective result for each bingo card representation associated with a respective game play request in the first group of game play requests;
collecting game play requests from the number of player stations into a second group of game play requests at the gaming server while conducting a portion of the first bingo game, wherein:
(i) each game play request in the second group of game play requests is transmitted to the gaming server responsive to a respective input for a respective player at a respective one of the player stations;
(ii) each game play request in the second group of game play requests constitutes a request to enter any one of the number of bingo games to be conducted through the gaming system, and is associated with a respective wager for the respective player in the gaming system;
(iii) each game play request in the second group of game play requests represents a request for a respective result in the gaming system; and
(iv) each game play request in the second group of game play requests being associated with a respective bingo card representation in the data storage associated with the at least one processor included in the gaming server; and
while conducting a portion of the first bingo game, determining if the second group of game play requests meets a predefined condition for a second quorum.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein the data storage also stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to begin to conduct a second bingo game with the second group of game play requests responsive to meeting the predefined condition for the second quorum, the conduct of the second bingo game beginning while at least a portion of the first bingo game is being conducted.
13. The system of claim 11 wherein the data storage also stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to dynamically determine the minimum number of game play requests required to establish the first quorum, the dynamic determination being based upon system utilization conditions.
14. The system of claim 11 wherein the data storage also stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to decrease the number of game play requests required to make the first quorum based at least in part on payouts available in the first bingo game.
15. The system of claim 11 wherein the data storage also stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to decrease the number of game play requests required to make the first quorum based at least in part on a permissible delay between a time of a respective game play request and a time that results are available to be displayed to the respective player in response to the respective game play request.
16. A program product stored on one or more tangible, non-transitory computer readable devices, the program product including:
(a) collection program code executable to collect game play requests from a number of player stations into a first group of game play requests and an additional group of game play requests at a gaming server, the additional group of game play requests being collected while a portion of a first bingo game is being conducted for the first group of game play requests, wherein:
(i) each game play request is transmitted to the gaming server from a respective one of the player stations responsive to a respective input for a respective player at that respective player station;
(ii) each game play request constitutes a request to enter any one of a number of bingo games to be conducted through the gaming server, and is associated with a respective wager for the respective player in the respective bingo game to be entered;
(iii) each game play request represents a request for a respective result in the bingo game to be entered; and
(iv) each game play request being associated with a respective bingo card representation stored in a data storage device associated with the gaming server;
(b) quorum checking program code executable to determine if the first group of game play requests meets a predefined condition for a first quorum required to conduct the first bingo game, and to determine if the additional group of game play requests meets a predefined condition for an additional quorum required to conduct an additional bingo game for the additional group of game play requests; and
(c) game program code executable to (i) responsive to meeting the predefined condition for the first quorum, conducting the first bingo game at the gaming server with the first group of game play requests, the first bingo game being conducted by matching a first plurality of bingo designations against the bingo card representations associated with the game play requests in the first group of game play requests and identifying a respective result for each bingo card representation associated with a respective game play request in the first group of game play requests, and to (ii) responsive to meeting the predefined condition for the additional quorum, conducting an additional bingo game at the gaming server with the additional group of game play requests, the first bingo game being conducted by matching a first plurality of bingo designations against the bingo card representations associated with the game play requests in the first group of game play requests and identifying a respective result for each bingo card representation associated with a respective game play request in the first group of game play requests, and the additional bingo game being conducted by matching a second plurality of bingo designations against the bingo card representations associated with the game play requests in the additional group of game play requests and identifying a respective result for each bingo card representation associated with a respective game play request in the additional group of game play requests.
17. The program product of claim 16 wherein at least a portion of the additional bingo game is conducted concurrently with at least a portion of the first bingo game.
18. The program product of claim 16 wherein the quorum checking program code is also executable to dynamically determine a minimum number of game play requests required to establish the first quorum, the dynamic determination being based upon system utilization conditions.
19. The program product of claim 16 wherein the quorum checking program code is also executable to decrease the number of game play requests required to make the first quorum based at least in part on payouts available in the first bingo game.
20. The program product of claim 16 wherein the quorum checking program code is also executable to decrease the number of game play requests required to make the first quorum based at least in part on a permissible delay between a time a player makes a game play request and a time that a result for that game play request is available to be displayed to the player.