Systems for coordinating a distributed game in a gaming environment

Abstract

Various embodiments of a gaming system for coordinating a distributed game in a gaming environment are disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the gaming system includes a network of game managers. In the network, each game manager is dynamically interconnected with one or more of the other game managers, and the dynamic interconnections are based on a game manager criteria or gaming data. The gaming system also includes a plurality of groups of gaming machines. The first game manager receives game requests from the first group of gaming machines to initiate a game. The first game manager initiates the game if a sufficient number of game requests are received by the first game manager. Alternatively, the first game manager forwards the game requests to an appropriate game manager if the first gaming machine manager receives an insufficient number of game requests.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A gaming system, comprising:
 a wireless network of game managers, each game manager being connected with other game managers in the network, wherein none of the game managers is a central device configured to act as a hierarchical master, and dynamic interconnections between game managers are based on a game manager criteria or gaming data, wherein the gaming data is a local game request rate at the game manager, a local game session rate occurring at the game manager, a local forward rate occurring at the game manager, or a local provide rate occurring at the game manager; and   a plurality of groups of gaming devices, a first group of gaming devices being in communication with a first game manager, the first game manager receiving game requests from the first group of gaming devices to initiate a game,   the first game manager initiating the game when a sufficient number of game requests are received by the first game manager, and   the first game manager forwarding the game requests to an appropriate game manager if the first game manager receives an insufficient number of game requests, the appropriate game manager decided based off the gaming data.   
     
     
         2 . The gaming system of  claim 1 , wherein the game manager criteria includes an IP address of each game manager. 
     
     
         3 . The gaming system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of groups of gaming devices are located at different gaming establishments. 
     
     
         4 . The gaming system of  claim 1 , wherein the game is a Class 2 bingo game, lotto game, or lottery game. 
     
     
         5 . The gaming system of  claim 1 , further comprising an accounting system in communication with the plurality of groups of gaming devices. 
     
     
         6 . The gaming system of  claim 1 , further comprising a player tracking system in communication with the plurality of groups of gaming devices. 
     
     
         7 . A gaming system, comprising:
 a plurality of groups of gaming devices, each group of gaming devices being in communication with a dedicated game manager; and   a network comprising a plurality of dedicated game managers, each dedicated game manager being dynamically interconnected with one or more other dedicated game managers in the network, the dedicated game managers operating in a cooperative manner to gather a sufficient number of game requests from the plurality of groups of gaming devices in order to initiate a gaming session, wherein none of the dedicated game managers is a hierarchical master,   wherein dynamic interconnections are based on gaming data, the gaming data being a local game request rate at the game manager, a local game session rate occurring at the game manager, a local forward rate occurring at the game manager, or a local provide rate occurring at the game manager, and game requests are forwarded to an appropriate game manager based off the gaming data.   
     
     
         8 . The gaming system of  claim 7 , further comprising a plurality of game controllers, the gaming controllers being intermediary devices between the gaming devices and the game managers. 
     
     
         9 . The gaming system of  claim 7 , wherein each game manager further comprises a processor for operating a selection algorithm for dynamically designating a dedicated game manager as a session host for the gaming session. 
     
     
         10 . The gaming system of  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of groups of gaming devices are located at different gaming establishments. 
     
     
         11 . The gaming system of  claim 7 , wherein the game is a Class 2 bingo game, lotto game, or lottery game. 
     
     
         12 . The gaming system of  claim 7 , further comprising an accounting system in communication with the plurality of groups of gaming devices. 
     
     
         13 . The gaming system of  claim 7 , further comprising a player tracking system in communication with the plurality of groups of gaming devices. 
     
     
         14 . The gaming system of  claim 8 , wherein the network is a wireless network. 
     
     
         15 . A gaming system, comprising:
 a plurality of groups of gaming devices;   a plurality of game controller devices, each game controller device being in communication with a group of gaming devices; and   a plurality of game managers in communication with the plurality of game controller devices, each game manager being dynamically interconnected with one or more other game managers in the plurality of game managers, the game managers operating in a cooperative manner to gather a sufficient number of game requests from the plurality of groups of gaming devices in order to initiate a gaming session,   wherein dynamic interconnections are based on gaming data, the gaming data being a local game request rate at the game manager, a local game session rate occurring at the game manager, a local forward rate occurring at the game manager, or a local provide rate occurring at the game manager, and game requests are forwarded to an appropriate game manager based off the gaming data.   
     
     
         16 . The gaming system of  claim 15 , wherein each game manager further comprises a processor for operating a selection algorithm for dynamically selecting a game manager to execute the game requests for the gaming session. 
     
     
         17 . The gaming system of  claim 15 , wherein the plurality of groups of gaming devices are located at different gaming establishments. 
     
     
         18 . The gaming system of  claim 15 , wherein the game is a Class 2 bingo game or lottery game. 
     
     
         19 . The gaming system of  claim 15 , further comprising an accounting system in communication with the plurality of groups of gaming devices. 
     
     
         20 . The gaming system of  claim 15 , further comprising a player tracking system in communication with the plurality of groups of gaming devices.