GAMING SYSTEM WITH TOURNAMENT COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS AND METHODS
Various methods for managing a tournament game in a gaming system are disclosed herein. According to one method, a player is identified at a gaming device. After the player is identified, the player interface unit receives player-related and tournament-related data from the tournament server, in which the player interface unit and the tournament server communicate via a web service protocol. The player unit interface increments a tournament counter in response to play of the base game, and play of the tournament game is initiated when the tournament counter reaches a predetermined value.
1 . A method for managing a tournament game in a gaming system having a tournament server in direct communication with a player interface unit associated with one of a plurality of gaming devices, a gaming device presenting a base game, each player interface unit having a display and an embedded processor, the method comprising:
identifying a player at the gaming device;
receiving player-related and tournament-related data at the player interface unit from the tournament server, wherein the player interface unit and the tournament server are in communication via a web service protocol;
incrementing a tournament counter in response to play of the base game; and
initiating play of the tournament game when the tournament counter reaches a predetermined value.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
creating a unique session identification at the player interface unit in response to identifying the player, wherein the unique session identifier includes data specific to the player and the gaming machine; and
sending the session identifier to the tournament server.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the player is identified via a player tracking card.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising terminating the tournament counter in response to removal of the player tracking card from the gaming device.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the player-related data is player rank, player identification, player account data, or a combination thereof.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the player account data includes session account data, the session account including all currencies and credits associated with the player identification.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tournament-related data is a pay table, tournament scores, tournament leader board, threshold counter for tournament game start, tournament rules, available tournament games, game settings, game objects, or any combination thereof.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the web service protocol is hypertext transfer protocol or hypertext transfer protocol over secure socket layer.