Gaming sidekick

Abstract

Electronic games of chance are growing increasingly more complex, with each successive generation of games adding a wealth of new features and bonus schemes to enhance the player's gaming experience. Created in part to help players better enjoy this new, more complex brand of gaming, the present Gaming Sidekick may include an animated onscreen character who is able to help the player navigate his or her way through game play and to provide a number of exciting services that have never before been offered within a game of chance. The Gaming Sidekick may serve as a friend and ally to the player by providing tips on basic game strategy as well as gifts and encouragement. Gaming Sidekicks may be fully customizable, giving the player the capability to shape the image and behavior of his or her Gaming Sidekick or to use no Gaming Sidekick at all. Gaming Sidekicks may function across a whole suite of games, with a player's Gaming Sidekick preferences stored on his or her player loyalty card or other player identification device, mechanism or method.

1 . A method for offering enhanced game play within an electronic game of chance, comprising the steps of: 
 monitoring game play on the electronic game of chance for an occurrence of at least one of a plurality of predefined events during game play;    responsive to the occurrence of one of the plurality of predefined events during the game play,    displaying an onscreen character;    causing the displayed onscreen character to deliver, to a player of the electronic game of chance, situation-specific information or game play alternatives related to the predefined event that caused the onscreen character to be displayed, and    enabling the player to take one of a predetermined plurality of actions that affect an outcome of the electronic game of chance responsive to the onscreen character providing the situation-specific information or game play alternatives.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising a step of enabling the player to control at least one aspect of the onscreen character's appearance or behavior.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the causing step is carried out with the delivered situation-specific information or game play alternatives including customized advice based on at least one of pre-stored player information, game play history of the player and sequence of recent player actions by the player.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further including a step of providing a plurality of potential onscreen characters, and accepting a choice by the player of a preferred onscreen character.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the causing step is carried out with the delivered situation-specific information including player encouragement.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the causing step is carried out with the delivered game play alternatives including a tip on game strategy.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising steps of: 
 storing player information on a player loyalty card, and    retrieving the stored information from the player loyalty card, the retrieved information thereafter affecting at least one of a behavior of the displayed onscreen character and the delivered situation-specific information or game play alternatives.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the retrieving step is carried out with the information stored on the loyalty card including at least one of the player's name, the player's birth date, the player's game preferences, and a history of the player's wagers.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predefined events includes a detection of an activation of a player-driven activation mechanism.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the detecting step is carried out with the player-driven activation mechanism being responsive to: 
 the player knocking on a predetermined active area of a gaming screen of the electronic game of chance,    the player pushing a help button provided on the electronic game of chance, and    the player touching a displayed element on the gaming.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising a step of enabling the player to choose which of the player-driven activation mechanisms to use to summon the onscreen character during game play.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predefined events includes a determination by the electronic game of chance to display the onscreen character without any involvement from the player.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predefined events includes the player not taking action for a predetermined period of time.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predefined events includes the player attempting an invalid action.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the displaying step is carried out using alphablending technology to render the onscreen character.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the displaying step includes a step of selecting one of a plurality of potential onscreen characters based upon the information retrieved from the player loyalty card.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the displaying step is carried out with the onscreen character bearing a likeness of one of a celebrity, a character from a movie, a character from a television show and a character from a comic book.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the delivering step delivers the situation-specific information or game play alternatives to the player via at least one of a synthesized voice, a pre-recorded celebrity voice, graphics and text.  
     
     
         19 . A regulated gaming machine programmed to carry out steps of: 
 monitoring game play on the electronic game of chance for an occurrence of at least one of a plurality of predefined events during game play;    responsive to the occurrence of one of the plurality of predefined events during the game play    displaying an onscreen character;    causing the displayed onscreen character to deliver, to a player of the electronic game of chance, situation-specific information or game play alternatives related to the predefined event that caused the onscreen character to be displayed, and    enabling the player to take one of a predetermined plurality of actions that affect an outcome of the electronic game of chance responsive to the onscreen character providing the situation-specific information or game play alternatives.    
     
     
         20 . A method for conducting a game session on a regulated gaming machine, the method comprising the steps of: 
 providing a game on the gaming machine;    displaying graphical content on a touch sensitive display screen of the gaming machine during game play of the provided game;    detecting when a player of the gaming machine knocks on the touch sensitive screen during game play and,    displaying a selected onscreen character on the touch sensitive screen responsive to the detected knock by the user.    
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising the step of causing the displayed selected onscreen character to provide the player with situation-specific information or game play alternatives.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the detecting step is carried out by detecting when the player knocks on predetermined area of the screen.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising a step of enabling the player to control at least one aspect of the onscreen character's appearance or behavior.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the causing step is carried out with the situation-specific information or game play alternatives including customized advice based on at least one of pre-stored player information, game play history of the player and sequence of recent player actions.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 20 , further including a step of providing a plurality of potential onscreen characters, and accepting a choice by the player of a preferred onscreen character.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the causing step is carried out with the delivered situation-specific information including player encouragement.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the causing step is carried out with the delivered game play alternatives including tips on game strategy.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising steps of: 
 storing player information on a player loyalty card, and    retrieving the stored information from the player loyalty card, the retrieved information thereafter affecting at least one of a behavior of the displayed onscreen character and the delivered situation-specific information or game play alternatives.    
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the retrieving step is carried out with the information stored on the loyalty card including at least one of the player's name, the player's birth date, the player's game preferences, and a history of the player's wagers.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising steps of detecting, during game play, when 
 the player pushes a help button provided on the electronic game of chance, or    the player touches a displayed element on the gaming screen.    
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 20 , further including a step of selectively displaying the selected onscreen character even when the detecting step does not detect the player knocking.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the selectively displaying step is carried out when the player has not taken any action during game for a predetermined period of time.  
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the selectively displaying step is carried out when the player attempts an invalid action during game play.  
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the second displaying step is carried out using alphablending technology to render the onscreen character.  
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the second displaying step includes a step of selecting one of a plurality of potential onscreen characters based upon the information retrieved from the player loyalty card.  
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the second displaying step is carried out with the onscreen character bearing a likeness of one of a celebrity, a character from a movie, a character from a television show and a character from a comic book.  
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 1 , further including the step of the displayed onscreen character delivering situation-specific information or game play alternatives to the player via at least one of a synthesized voice, a pre-recorded celebrity voice, graphics and text.  
     
     
         38 . A regulated gaming machine programmed to carry out steps of: 
 providing a game on the gaming machine;    displaying graphical content on a touch sensitive display screen of the gaming machine during game play of the provided game;    detecting when a player of the gaming machine knocks on the touch sensitive screen during game play and,    displaying a selected onscreen character on the touch sensitive screen responsive to the detected user knock.    
     
     
         39 . A regulated gaming machine, comprising: 
 a display;    a card reader configured to read a loyalty card of a player;    first programming to configure the gaming machine to enable game play;    second programming to configure the gaming machine to read player information stored on the loyalty card when the player insert the loyalty card into the card reader, and responsive to the read player information,    selecting one of a plurality of onscreen characters depending upon the read player information;    displaying the selected onscreen character on the display, and    causing the displayed onscreen character to deliver at least one of a personalized greeting, situation-specific information and game play alternatives to the player.    
     
     
         40 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to enable the player to control at least one aspect of the onscreen character's appearance or behavior.  
     
     
         41 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to deliver the personalized greeting, situation-specific information or game play alternatives including customized advice based on at least one of pre-stored player information, game play history of the player and sequence of recent player actions.  
     
     
         42 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to provide a plurality of potential onscreen characters, and to accept a choice by the player of a preferred onscreen character.  
     
     
         43 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to deliver encouragement to the player.  
     
     
         44 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to deliver tips on game strategy to the player.  
     
     
         45 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to read at least one of the player's name, the player's birth date, the player's game preferences, and a history of the player's wagers from the loyalty card inserted into the card reader and to cause the displayed onscreen character to use said at least one of the read player's name, the player's birth date, the player's game preferences in the personalized greeting, situation-specific information and game play alternatives delivered to the player.  
     
     
         46 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to detect of an activation of a player-driven activation mechanism.  
     
     
         47 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 46 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to display the selected onscreen character responsive to: 
 the player knocking on a predetermined active area of the display;    the player pushing a help button provided on the gaming machine, and    the player touching a displayed element on the display.    
     
     
         48 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 46 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to enable the player to choose which of the player-driven activation mechanisms to use to summon the onscreen character during game play.  
     
     
         49 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to display the selected onscreen character during game play without any involvement from the player.  
     
     
         50 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to display the selected onscreen character during game play when the player has not taken any action for a predetermined period of time.  
     
     
         51 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to display the selected onscreen character during game play when the player attempts an invalid action.  
     
     
         52 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to display the selected onscreen character using alphablending technology.  
     
     
         53 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to display the selected onscreen character such that the selected onscreen character bears a likeness of one of a celebrity, a character from a movie, a character from a television show and a character from a comic book.  
     
     
         54 . The regulated gaming machine of  claim 39 , wherein the second programming further configures the gaming machine to deliver the personalized greeting, situation-specific information or game play alternatives to the player via at least one of a synthesized voice, a pre-recorded celebrity voice, graphics and text.