Electronic tag game

Details Electronic tag game Electronic tag game

2001-06-26

2003-03-11

Moulis, Thomas N. (Department: 3713)

Amusement devices: games

Including means for processing electronic data

With communication link

Reexamination Certificate

active

06530841

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to electronic games. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic game of tag using wireless devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The children's game of tag has many variations. Typically one player is designated “it” and must find and tag another player. Once tagged, the new player becomes it. Methods of tagging vary amongst tag games. For example, Shadow Tag is played with the “it” player tagging another player not by touching them, but by stepping on their shadow. (See, Chapter 28, “Tag Games” in
Active Games and Contests
by Bernard S. Mason, Ph.D. and Elmer D. Mitchell, Ph.D., A. S. Barnes and Company, New York, Copyright 1935, Twelfth Printing.)
Two successful real time contemporary tag games include Paint Ball and Laser Tag. Paint Ball players shoot non-toxic exploding paintballs at opposing players to record hits. Players or teams may use color-coded paint to register credit for hits. These paintballs leave a tag mark on their opponents, sometimes damaging clothing or even leaving welts on the skin of the tagged players. Therefore, Paint Ball can involve highly undesirable physical contact even in a “game” environment. Laser Tag solves the undesirable contact problem in Paint Ball. Specifically, in Laser Tag, players wear special equipment consisting of three pieces: a shooting or tagging device (e.g. a gun), a receiving sensor that is worn over the player's clothing and records another player's tag of him, and a computer pack including a battery pack and micro-processor that tallies the hits and wounds. Each weapon may be coupled to the damage inflicted by that weapon for scorekeeping purposes. Laser Tag has two modes of play. In one mode, one team plays against at least one other team and the team with the highest number of hits on the other team's sensors create a win. The other mode of Laser Tag play is a free-for-all version where a single player with the most hits on the sensors of the other player (hits) and the least hits on the player's own sensors (wounds) wins. In arcades that have laser tag rooms, the information from the computer pack is wirelessly downloaded onto a score server, which then prints out the score for all the players at the end of the session. Although Laser Tag eliminates undesirable contact during the game, it requires special equipment that is not typically used in public spaces.
Another form of modern tag closely resembles a “hide-and-seek” game, which can be played in public spaces. In these games, one or more “hiding” players perform tasks in a given space and “seeking” players attempt to tag them during the performance of these tasks. For example, the RUNNER, an American reality TV series, is, in part, a computer and Internet mediated game where viewers and Internet players are given clues to pursue and tag an individual who is trying to cross the country from West to East without detection. Another game, HIDE/SEEK played in New York City, December, 2000, required hiding players to perform tasks in a public place. The locations of these tasks were also broadcast over the Internet so that seeking players (anyone on the Internet or in the general location of the task with or without a cell phone) would have a chance to locate them, tag them and collect a reward. Unfortunately, these types of games distinguish players as either “it” (e.g. the players performing the tasks and being targeted by the seeking players) or as players seeking the it players. Similarly, these types of games run for a specified period of time and then end, requiring players to adjust their schedules to play the game. It would be desirable to have a game of tag that allows all players to tag and be tagged. It would additionally be desirable to have an ongoing game, rather than a game that is played for only a limited time.
SUMMARY
Accordingly, a wireless device-enabled tag game is presented. The game allows players to find and tag each other with their wireless devices. When one player's device is in close proximity to the device of another player, the tag is enabled by the wireless devices, thereby eliminating the need for physical contact to make the tag. The wireless device of either player can display the status and results of the game. Because the game can be defined in a particular space and can include anyone with an appropriate wireless device, the game may remain ongoing such that players may join and part at will without greatly affecting the game.
The present invention will be more fully understood in view of the following description and drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4296930 (1981-10-01), Fredricksen
patent: 2002/0111201 (2002-08-01), Lang
Mason et al.; “Active Games and Contests”; A. S. Barnes and Company; New York; pp. 250; Apr. 1940.

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