Arrangements for awarding future prizes in an electronic game system

Abstract

A method includes receiving a number of game play requests in a current game from one or more player stations. For some of the game play requests in the current game, a result in the current game is displayed at the respective player station from which the respective game play request was received. However, a respective future result is awarded for some game play requests. These future results may or may not have any present value, but are in any case associated with a play in a game to be conducted at some designated time in the future and thus represents at least some potential value. These future results are communicated to a respective receiving player at the player's respective player station to advise the receiving player that they have won a chance to participate in a future game.

1 . A method including:
 (a) receiving a number of game play requests in a current game, the number of game play requests in the current game being received from one or more player stations;   (b) displaying a result in the current game for a first game play request included in the number of game play requests, the result in the current game being displayed at the respective player station from which the respective first game play request was received; and   (c) awarding a future result for each of one or more second game play requests included in the number of game play requests, each future result being associated with a play in a future game to be conducted at some designated time in the future and being communicated to a respective receiving player at a respective one of the player stations.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the current game is an electronic lottery game. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the current game is an electronic sweepstakes game. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the current game is a bingo game. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the current game is a game in which results are identified employing a result identifying algorithm. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each future result has no current value. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each future result has a current value that is tradable for the respective play which is associated with the respective future result. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the respective play in the future game entitles the respective receiving player to one or more future game play requests to be entered at the player station where the respective second game play request was entered. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the respective play in the future game entitles the respective receiving player to one or more future game play requests to be entered at a different player station than the player station where the respective second game play request was entered. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein awarding a respective future result for each of one or more second game play requests includes awarding a respective future result for two or more second game play requests and further including conducting the future game as a competition between the respective receiving players. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the future game is a drawing between the respective receiving players. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10  further including displaying aspects of the competition at a public display. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus including:
 (a) one or more player stations, each player station including a respective player input device and a respective result communication device; and   (b) a result awarding arrangement for receiving a number of game play requests in a current game which have been entered at the one or more player stations, the result awarding arrangement also for awarding a current result for each of one or more first game play requests included in the number of game play requests and for awarding a future result for each of one or more second game play requests included in the number of game play requests, each future result being associated with a play in a future game to be conducted at some designated time in the future.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the result awarding arrangement awards a respective future result for each of two or more second game play requests and further including a future game arrangement for conducting the future game as a competition between the players associated with the two or more second game play requests. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14  wherein the future game arrangement includes a random drawing device. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 13  further including a public display device for displaying aspects of the future game. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 13  further including a future game player station through which the future game is conducted. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17  wherein the future game player station is distinct from any of the one or more player stations. 
     
     
         19 . A program product stored on one or more computer readable devices, the program product including:
 (a) result program code executable for awarding either a current result or a future result for each of a number of game play requests in a current game, each future result being associated with a play in a future game to be conducted at some designated time in the future, the result program code also being executable for causing each respective current result and future result to be communicated to a respective player station associated with the game play request for which the respective result was awarded; and   (b) player station program code executable for generating a respective game play request for a current game in response to a player input at a player station, for causing each respective current result and future result communicated to a respective player station executing the result program code to be received, and for causing the respective player station to provide a respective result presentation for each received result.   
     
     
         20 . The program product of  claim 19  further including future game program code executable for identifying a result in the future game to determine a value of the future result. 
     
     
         21 . The program product of  claim 19  further including future game program code executable for revealing a value for a respective future result in the future game.