Amusement devices: games – Surface projectile game; game element – Ball games
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-23
2001-07-10
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Surface projectile game; game element
Ball games
C273S12100R, C273S12100R, C273S12000R, C273S12000R, C273S12200A, C273S12200A, C273S138100, C273S138200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257573
ABSTRACT:
SUBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device intended to form part of a labyrinth-type game of chance, such as those used in certain recreational machines, and more specifically to a device which is capable of supplying a plurality of balls to a game board, upon each play, and of retaining them in any of the exit passages, for reckoning up the possible prize either on the basis of the value given to each one of the passages or on the basis of the various combinations of passages, also allowing a complete view of the balls during their travel and also a complete view of which passages have been taken by said balls.
The device is especially suitable for use in recreational machines offering cash prizes, especially as a basis for a game to complement the principal game of this type of machine, based on rotating drums.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Labyrinth-type games of chance have been known since time immemorial and are used in recreational machines which employ a game board, in a vertical arrangement, which defines, together with a transparent front cover, a planar housing in which there is a plurality of pivots which determine a random labyrinth-type path a ball which, gaining access to the game board via the upper zone of the board, falls under gravity between said pivots until it reaches any one of the multiple lower passages or exits which, on occasion, end in channels directed toward different points while others simply have respective scores which the player incorporates into his marker in some way.
Games of this type pose a set of problems involving, basically, the following aspects:
on occasion, the speed of fall of the ball, together with the latter's small dimensions, prevents the player having a completely clear view of which of the exit passages the ball has taken, giving rise to confused situations which may annoy the player if the latter believes that the machine has awarded him a score which is lower than the score corresponding to that passage which, in his opinion, has been taken by the ball;
the return of the ball, from its exit via the lower part of the board until its re-entry thereto via the top part, is concealed from the player who may thus be inclined to think that the ball is projected toward the game board in a specific direction which does not promote his obtaining a high score;
the mechanisms for raising the ball are located behind the game board, frequently occupying a space which is very large, in most cases greater than the thickness of the actual game board;
specific, practical embodiments of labyrinth-type games also pose particular or specific problems which, although they do not exist in other embodiments, substantially reduce the performance level of this type of machine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The device proposed by the invention fully satisfactorily solves the set of problems set forth above in terms of the various aspects commented upon.
To this end, the body in which the game board is installed and, more specifically, the game surface, is framed at the front by a circumferential channel in which there is a close-fitting ring provided with one or more housings which are open toward its inner edge and capable of being placed opposite two communication windows between the game zone and said channel, obviously on the inner wall of the latter, at extreme upper and lower levels thereof, so that the ring can receive the ball or balls under gravity when its housing or housings passes or pass beneath the lower window and can give it or them up to the game board, also under gravity, when it passes over the upper window.
This ring is actuated by a gear motor suitably fastened to the rear face of the body.
in accordance with another of the characteristics of the invention, the transparent front plate which closes the game zone extends also to the circumferential channel so that the entire path of the ball is visible.
Conventional lugs determining the labyrinth-type course for the balls and small partitions determining the passages for the exit of the balls emerge from the game surface, but with the special feature that, corresponding to said passages and on the game surface, there are transverse grooves in which there are stops or arms associated with a common support, like a comb, which is actuated by an electromagnet so that, under normal conditions, said arms or stops of said retention comb block off the exit from the respective passages, immobilizing the ball or balls in any of them for a sufficiently long period for it or them to be in full view of the player, at the same time as its or their position is detected by the play circuit of the machine, with a view to delivering the corresponding prize, if appropriate, after which the electromagnet drags said retention comb, which is also transparent in nature, across as far as a limit situation in which its arms are located beneath the partitions, leaving the passages free and, consequently, allowing the ball or balls to fall so that it or they can be picked up again by the ring during its rotary movement.
As a means whereby the game circuit of the machine can detect the path of the ball, provision has been made for the use of sensor of the photoemitter/receiver type, with the special feature that said sensor are located behind the game board, completely protected and invisible, their lightbeam being interrupted, as the ball passes, by a rocking lever placed in each one of the passages and which crosses the game board via a vertical groove thereof so that the ball, as it passes, causes the corresponding lever to rock and act on the sensor.
In accordance with the aforesaid, the machanisms for both lifting and immobilizing the ball are, in practice, incorporated in the planar body which constitutes the game board, thereby presenting a smaller volume and, consequently, facilitating its installation in any type of machine, since the ball-pass sensors, located on its rear face, are small in size and have no appreciable effect on the overall volume of the assembly.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5016879 (1991-05-01), Parker et al.
patent: 5639089 (1997-06-01), Matumoto et al.
Munoz Jesus Franco
Munoz Joaquin Franco
Layno Benjamin H.
Ostrolenk Faber Gerb & Soffen, LLP
Proindumar S.L.
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