System and method for delivering mystery awards

Abstract

A gaming system, comprising a plurality of gaming machines operating over a network, includes a bonus server for providing a promotion implementing a mystery award. The method for delivering a mystery award to a player over the computer gaming network comprises determining an award is to be delivered. A group of players eligible for the determined award is selected and notified of their eligibility to win the award. A portion of the group is then eliminated, thereby resulting in remaining eligible members. The eliminated members are notified of their elimination and the remaining eligible members are again eliminated from eligibility in subsequent steps until one or more award winners are selected. The one or more award winners are awarded the mystery award, and the eliminated players can be awarded a celebration (e.g. consolation) prize.

1 . A method for delivering an award to a player over a computer gaming network, comprising: 
 determining an award is to be delivered;    selecting a group of players eligible for the determined award;    notifying the selected group of their eligibility;    eliminating a portion of the group from eligibility;    notifying the eliminated portion of the group that they have been eliminated;    continuing to eliminate portions of the group from eligibility until a group of award winners is selected.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the group of award winners is a single player.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising awarding a celebration prize to the eliminated portion of the group.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 awarding a first celebration prize to a first eliminated portion of the group; and    awarding a second celebration prize to a second eliminated portion of the group.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein awarding a second celebration prize comprises awarding a different prize than that awarded as a first celebration prize.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein awarding a second celebration prize comprises awarding a different value than that awarded as a first celebration prize.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein awarding a second celebration prize comprises awarding a higher value of prize than that awarded as a first celebration prize.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 4  wherein awarding a second celebration prize comprises awarding the second celebration prize to more players than were awarded the first celebration prize.  
   
   
       9 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of notifying the selected group and the eliminated portion includes displaying a notification message on a display associated with the gaming machine at which the player of the selected group or eliminated portion is playing indicating whether the player is still selected or eliminated.  
   
   
       10 . A method for implementing a promotion within a gaming machine network comprising a plurality of gaming machines and a promotions server coupled to the gaming machines over the network, the method comprising: 
 allowing play to occur on the plurality of gaming machines;    detecting at the promotions server a trigger condition and transmitting through the network responsive to the detected trigger condition a notification signal to selected gaming machines forming an eligible group;    after transmitting the notification signal, transmitting an elimination signal through the network to a selected number of the eligible group machines and eliminating the selected number from the eligible group;    repeating the step of transmitting the elimination signal for a next selected number of the eligible group machines until only one or more non-eliminated, award winning machines remain from the original eligible group; and    providing an award at the one or more award winning machines.    
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , each of the plurality of gaming machines including a display, the method including displaying on the display of the selected gaming machines an eligibility message responsive to receipt of the notification signal at the gaming machine.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , further including changing the eligibility indicator on the display to an elimination message responsive to receipt at the gaming machine of the elimination signal.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 10 , further including the step of providing a celebration award to the selected number and next selected number of eligible group machines.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the celebration award for the selected number of eligible group machines is less that the celebration award for the next selected number of eligible group machines.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 10 , further including the step of selecting gaming machines for the eligible group using a selection criteria, the selection criteria selected from the group consisting of whether the player was identified by a player tracking card, an amount of theoretical or actual win/loss, recency of play, frequency of a player's visits to a casino, type of games played on the gaming machine, demographics, interests, historical behavior, specific game type, physical area of a game floor, and denomination played at the gaming machine.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the step of detecting the trigger condition includes one or more selected from the group consisting of detecting whether an award pool has reached a certain value, detecting a specific game outcome, detecting sets of game outcomes, detecting consecutive game outcomes, detecting “x” outcomes in “y” tries, detecting outcome sets per unit time, detecting outcomes relative to other players, detecting number of player points earned, detecting win/loss per unit time, detecting visit frequency, detecting handle per trip, detecting handle per unit time, detecting continuous play, detecting “Lucky Coin,” and detecting “Lucky Time.”