Player selectable/definable promotional events in electronic video game environments

Abstract

Promotional events are made available to players on video gaming machines. Certain parameters of the promotional events can be selected and/or defined by the player, such as the triggering events, type of event, type of award, type of award progression and other parameters. The system selects performance criteria and award traversing algorithms based at least in part on the player selected parameters and the probability of the occurrence of the trigger event.

1 . A method for providing player-defined promotional events to a player of a video gaming machine, the method comprising the actions of:
 detecting the occurrence of an event for requesting a player-defined promotional event;   presenting on the display of a video gaming machine an interface for a player to enable a player-defined promotional event, wherein the player-defined promotional event defines a trigger event that if hit, results in granting of an award to the player;   selecting a minimum award and a maximum award to be associated with the promotional event, wherein the minimum and maximum reward are selected at least in part, based on the probability of the occurrence of the trigger event;   defining performance requirements for traversing a current award to a value between the minimum award and the maximum reward;   monitoring the play actions of the player and applying the performance requirements to the play actions to traverse the current award value;   detecting the occurrence of the trigger event; and   granting the current award value to the player.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the action of presenting on the display of a video gaming machine an interface for a player to enable a player-defined promotional event, further comprises displaying one or more promotional events that a player may select. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the action of presenting on the display of a video gaming machine an interface for a player to enable a player-defined promotional event, further comprises displaying a user interface that enables the player to define the trigger event. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the action of initiating a timer to restrict the promotional event to a particular period of time. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the action of setting at least one threshold award value that once the current award reaches the threshold, it cannot be decremented below the threshold. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the action of, prior to granting the award to the player after the action of detecting the occurrence of the trigger event, presenting on the display of a video gaming machine that is in use by the player the option to receive the current award or, gamble to wait for the occurrence of the trigger event when the current award is larger. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising the action of modifying the performance criteria in response to the user electing to gamble to wait for the occurrence of the trigger event when the current award is larger. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performance criteria includes a frequency of play threshold and, if the player's frequency of play is above the frequency of play threshold, increasing the current award value towards the maximum award value. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performance criteria includes a frequency of play threshold and, if the player's frequency of play is below the frequency of play threshold, decreasing the current award value towards the maximum award value. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performance criteria can be modified based on a payment by the player. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performance criteria can be modified as a player selected option rather than traversing the current award value. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the action of presenting on the display of a video gaming machine an interface for a player to enable a player-defined promotional event, further comprises displaying a user interface that enables the player to define the trigger event, further comprising the action of setting at least one threshold award value that once the current award reaches the threshold, it cannot be decremented below the threshold and the performance criteria establishes a delay period which if the player does not actuate the video gaming machine for the delay period, the current award will revert to the threshold. 
     
     
         13 . A system for providing player-defined promotional events to a player of a video gaming machine, the system comprising:
 a display interface for displaying a user interface to the player on the display of the video gaming device, thereby enabling the player to participate in and define a promotional event, provide status information pertaining to the event, and provide results information regarding the outcome of the event;   an interface to one or more actuation devices on the video gaming machine to receive promotional event definition information from the player; and   an interface to a promotional event monitor for obtaining status information pertaining to the promotional event.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising the components of:
 a controller box that directly interfaces to the video gaming machine display and actuation devices; and   a promotional server that provides status information regarding the promotional event.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising a bonus-bar that is displayed on the display of the video gaming machine, the bonus-bar identifying the trigger event, the status of the promotional event, and the current award achievable by the player if the trigger event occurs. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the bonus-bar is displayed periodically on the display of the video gaming machine. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the bonus-bar is displayed on the display of the video gaming machine in response to user actions. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the interface to one or more actuation devices on the video gaming machine to receive promotional event definition information from the player enables the player to define the trigger event for the promotional event and then, the system calculates a minimum award, a maximum award and performance criteria based at least in part on the probability of the occurrence of the defined trigger event. 
     
     
         19 . A method for providing player-defined promotional events to a player of a video gaming machine, the method comprising the actions of:
 receiving at the user interface of a video gaming machine, player selected information for defining a promotional event, the player selected information including information to define a trigger event;   identifying a probability of the occurrence of the trigger event;   selecting, based on the probability of the occurrence of the trigger event, a minimum award, a maximum award, and performance criteria to be associated with the promotional event;   monitoring the playing activity of the player and applying the performance requirements to the play actions to traverse a current award value between the minimum and maximum awards;   detecting the occurrence of the trigger event; and   granting the current award value to the player.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the action of monitoring the playing activity of the player includes monitoring the player activity across a plurality of video gaming machines. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising the action of setting at least one threshold award value that once the current award reaches the threshold, it cannot be decremented below the threshold and the performance criteria establishes a delay period which if the player does not actuate any of a plurality of video gaming machines for the delay period, the current award will revert to the threshold. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising the action of initiating a timer to restrict the promotional event to a particular period of time. 
     
     
         23 . A system for providing player-defined promotional events to a player of a video gaming machine, the system comprising:
 an input interface for receiving a promotional event definition from a player;   a display interface for displaying a user interface to the player on the display of the video gaming device, thereby enabling the player to participate in the promotional event, to provide status information pertaining to the event, and to provide results information regarding the outcome of the event;   an actuator interface to one or more actuation devices on the video gaming machine to receive promotional event definition information from the player; and   an interface to a promotional event monitor for obtaining status information pertaining to the promotional event.   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the input interface is a network based interface allowing the player to provide the promotional event definition without interfacing directly to the gaming machine. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the input interface is wireless allowing the player to provide the promotion event definition from a wireless device. 
     
     
         26 . A system for providing player-defined promotional events to a player of a video gaming machine, the system comprising:
 an input interface for receiving a promotional event definition from a player;   a display interface for displaying a user interface to the player on the display of the video gaming device, thereby enabling the player to participate in the promotional event, to provide status information pertaining to the event, and to provide results information regarding the outcome of the event;   an actuator interface to one or more actuation devices on the video gaming machine to receive promotional event definition information from the player; and   an interface to a promotional event monitor for obtaining status information pertaining to the promotional event.