Systems and methods for determining a level of reward
A gaming system and method which includes enabling a player to initiate a play of a game, for the initiated play of the game: (i) randomly generating a game outcome, (ii) displaying to the player the randomly generated game outcome, (iii) determining any award associated with the displayed game outcome, and (iv) displaying to the player any determined award, enabling the player to invite a quantity of other players to each initiate a play of at least one game, the quantity of other players being greater than zero, and if the player invited the quantity of other players, providing the player a benefit, an amount of the benefit being based on the quantity of other players invited.
1. A gaming system comprising:
a housing;
a plurality of input devices supported by the housing, said plurality of input devices including:
(i) an acceptor,
(ii) a validator, and
(iii) a cashout device;
at least one display device supported by the housing;
at least one processor; and
at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the plurality of input devices to:
(a) if a physical item is received via the acceptor:
(i) identify, via the validator, the received physical item, and
(ii) establish a credit balance based, at least in part, on a monetary value associated with the received and identified physical item,
(b) during a first period of time:
(i) associate a first rate of earning loyalty points with a player, said first rate being based, at least in part, on a first team rate of earning loyalty points associated with a team which the player is a member of,
(ii) for at least one play of a game:
(A) randomly determine a game outcome,
(B) display the randomly determined game outcome,
(C) determine any award associated with the displayed game outcome, and
(D) display any determined award,
(iii) determine any loyalty points based, at least in part, on the first rate of earning loyalty points, and
(iv) cause any determined loyalty points to be accumulated,
(c) during a second, subsequent period of time following an occurrence of a team rate modification event:
(i) associate a second, different rate of earning loyalty points with the player, said second rate being based, at least in part, on a second, different team rate of earning loyalty points associated with the team,
(ii) for at least one play of the game:
(A) randomly determine a game outcome,
(B) display the randomly determined game outcome,
(C) determine any award associated with the displayed game outcome, and
(D) display any determined award associated with the displayed game outcome,
(iii) determine any loyalty points based, at least in part, on the second rate of earning loyalty points, and
(iv) cause any determined loyalty points to be accumulated, and
(d) if a cashout input is received via the cashout device, cause an initiation of any payout associated with the credit balance.
2. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the determinations of any loyalty points occurs independent of at least one of: any player activity, any team activity, and any of the outcomes determined in association with any of the plays of any of the games.
3. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the determinations of any loyalty points occurs based on at least one: at least one player activity, at least one team activity, and at least one of the outcomes determined in association with at least one of the plays of at least one of the games.
4. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the first period of time and the second period of time are part of a team gaming session includes a plurality of plays of the game.
5. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the occurrence of the team rate modification event includes a modification of at least one play characteristic of at least one player of the team, a modification of a quantity of players on the team, and a modification of a quantity of players on the team playing at least one of the plays of at least one of the games.
6. A gaming system server comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
(a) during a first period of time:
(i) associate a first rate of earning loyalty points with a player, said first rate being based, at least in part, on a first team rate of earning loyalty points associated with a team which the player is a member of,
(ii) for at least one play of a game:
(A) randomly determine a game outcome,
(B) cause at least one display device to display the randomly determined game outcome,
(C) determine any award associated with the displayed game outcome, and
(D) cause the at least one display device to display any determined award, wherein a credit balance is increasable based on any award associated with said displayed game outcome, and said credit balance is:
(I) increasable via:
(1) an acceptor of a physical item associated with a monetary value, and
(2) a validator configured to identify the physical item, and
(II) decreasable via a cashout device configured to receive an input to cause an initiation of a payout associated with the credit balance,
(iii) determine any loyalty points based, at least in part, on the first rate of earning loyalty points, and
(iv) cause any determined loyalty points to be accumulated, and
(b) during a second, subsequent period of time following an occurrence of a team rate modification event:
(i) associate a second, different rate of earning loyalty points with the player, said second rate being based, at least in part, on a second, different team rate of earning loyalty points associated with the team,
(ii) for at least one play of the game:
(A) randomly determine a game outcome,
(B) cause the at least one display device to display the randomly determined game outcome,
(C) determine any award associated with the displayed game outcome, and
(D) cause the at least one display device to display any determined award associated with the displayed game outcome, wherein the credit balance is increasable based on any award associated with said displayed game outcome,
(iii) determine any loyalty points based, at least in part, on the second rate of earning loyalty points, and
(iv) cause any determined loyalty points to be accumulated.
7. The gaming system server of claim 6 , wherein the determinations of any loyalty points occurs independent of at least one of: any player activity, any team activity, and any of the outcomes determined in association with any of the plays of any of the games.
8. The gaming system server of claim 6 , wherein the determinations of any loyalty points occurs based on at least one: at least one player activity, at least one team activity, and at least one of the outcomes determined in association with at least one of the plays of at least one of the games.
9. The gaming system server of claim 6 , wherein the first period of time and the second period of time are part of a team gaming session includes a plurality of plays of the game.
10. The gaming system server of claim 6 , wherein the occurrence of the team rate modification event includes a modification of at least one play characteristic of at least one player of the team, a modification of a quantity of players on the team, and a modification of a quantity of players on the team playing at least one of the plays of at least one of the games.
11. A method of operating a gaming system, said method comprising:
(a) during a first period of time:
(i) causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions to associate a first rate of earning loyalty points with a player, said first rate being based, at least in part, on a first team rate of earning loyalty points associated with a team which the player is a member of,
(ii) for at least one play of a game:
(A) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to randomly determine a game outcome,
(B) causing at least one display device to display the randomly determined game outcome,
(C) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine any award associated with the displayed game outcome, and
(D) causing the at least one display device to display any determined award, wherein a credit balance is increasable based on any award associated with said displayed game outcome, and said credit balance is:
(I) increasable via:
(1) an acceptor of a physical item associated with a monetary value, and
(2) a validator configured to identify the physical item, and
(II) decreasable via a cashout device configured to receive an input to cause an initiation of a payout associated with the credit balance,
(iii) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine any loyalty points based, at least in part, on the first rate of earning loyalty points, and
(iv) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to cause any determined loyalty points to be accumulated, and
(b) during a second, subsequent period of time following an occurrence of a team rate modification event:
(i) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to associate a second, different rate of earning loyalty points with the player, said second rate being based, at least in part, on a second, different team rate of earning loyalty points associated with the team,
(ii) for at least one play of the game:
(A) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to randomly determine a game outcome,
(B) causing the at least one display device to display the randomly determined game outcome,
(C) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine any award associated with the displayed game outcome, and
(D) causing the at least one display device to display any determined award associated with the displayed game outcome, wherein the credit balance is increasable based on any award associated with said displayed game outcome,
(iii) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to determine any loyalty points based, at least in part, on the second rate of earning loyalty points, and
(iv) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to cause any determined loyalty points to be accumulated.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determinations of any loyalty points occurs independent of at least one of: any player activity, any team activity, and any of the outcomes determined in association with any of the plays of any of the games.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determinations of any loyalty points occurs based on at least one: at least one player activity, at least one team activity, and at least one of the outcomes determined in association with at least one of the plays of at least one of the games.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first period of time and the second period of time are part of a team gaming session includes a plurality of plays of the game.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the occurrence of the team rate modification event includes a modification of at least one play characteristic of at least one player of the team, a modification of a quantity of players on the team, and a modification of a quantity of players on the team playing at least one of the plays of at least one of the games.
16. The method of claim 11 , which is provided through a data network.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the data network is an internet.