Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a chance application
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-21
2002-09-10
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a chance application
C463S017000, C273S269000, C273S139000, C283S903000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06447395
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article of manufacture and its method of use. In particular, the invention relates to a game ticket system comprising one or more play results being concealed and provided to players on a ticket, the play results potentially leading to an opportunity to win prizes dependant on the outcome of a live-action game.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Game ticket systems provide both a popular form of entertainment to players of the game and a source of income to providers of the tickets. These providers include state governmental bodies, charities, and private organizations. The providers may sell the tickets, or they may distribute them as promotions.
For players, the greater the entertainment value, the more they enjoy playing the game. For providers, the greater the entertainment value, the more effective the game ticket system is in generating ticket sales or promotional affects. For providers selling the tickets in conjunction with other products or services, the entertainment value also provides an incentive to bring in players, who in turn use the other products or services. Thus, the entertainment value is directly related to the successful use of game ticket systems.
Accordingly, modifications of game ticket systems that provide enhanced entertainment value can benefit both the players and the providers. Therefore, it is a desideratum to design game ticket systems with novel features to enhance their entertainment value.
A basic and popular form of a game ticket system consists of a plurality of tickets, each ticket having a single exposure device concealing printed indicia of one or more play results until the exposure device is removed. Pull-tabs and scratch-off surfaces are two common forms of exposure devices. For a pull-tab, removal entails opening the pull-tab to display the play result or results lying underneath. For a scratch-off surface, removal entails scraping off a portion of the surface to display the play result or results lying underneath.
Once exposed, a play result displays the value of the play. Different types of play results present the values in different formats. For example, a direct play result presents the value explicitly by showing the prize, if any. Other types of play results depict an encoded value, which must be interpreted. A common example of an encoded play result is a plurality of symbols associated with the display of a slot machine. Certain combinations of symbols correspond to winning plays. Regardless of format, with this basic form of game ticket system, each ticket has a predetermined play result value. And, since there is but a single exposure device, the player always knows if the ticket includes a winning value once the exposure device is removed.
A disadvantage of this type of game ticket system is that all opportunity for winning prizes is determined immediately, i.e. as soon as the exposure device is removed. This results in either immediate satisfaction or immediate disappointment on the part of the player, with no ability for the ticket provider to create a period of heightened anticipation or excitement during which the player knows the play outcome which he or she has selected or been assigned, but must wait for a period of time to determine if that play outcome will result in a winning play. Consequently, this type of game ticket system results in only being able to provide limited and immediate entertainment value and enjoyment for players.
In the unrelated field of live action gaming systems, the game of keno is well known. In keno, a player uses a keno game card to select a plurality of numbers between one and eighty, which in the game are know as “spots.” Normally the player may select as many as ten spots, or as few as four. Naturally, variations in the amount of spots which may be chosen occur from gaming establishment to gaming establishment. Normally, the game card is then submitted to the official of the gaming establishment, such as the agent of a state lottery at a bar or restaurant, prior to the beginning of the game play period. During the game play period, the gaming establishment draws twenty numbers between one and eighty in some random fashion, and if all, or some previously identified fraction of the player's spots are drawn, he or she wins a pay amount. The odds against winning, and the corresponding payout for a winning keno game card, increase as the number of spots selected by a player increases. Game play periods last for a few minutes, and normally occur consecutively throughout the day or evening, with short breaks between each game to allow players to purchase additional tickets or refresh themselves prior to the commencement of another game play period.
A disadvantageous feature of this system is that once the player decides how many spots to choose, and then chooses the spots themselves, the player's participation in the game ends. This situation means that the player often has little or no reason to remain in the gaming establishment after submitting his or her keno game card, and it is common practice for keno players to purchase and submit keno game cards for multiple consecutive games, then leave the gaming establishment during the game play to engage in other activities, and only return after the game play periods for their keno game cards are concluded, to determine their winnings. Ultimately, this results in the disadvantage of reduced excitement and enjoyment for players.
This feature also results in the disadvantage of reduced revenues for gaming establishments. Reduced revenues occur because players often fail to purchase additional keno game cards upon their return to the gaming establishment and, because players are not physically present during the game play, they do not purchase additional products and services, such as food and drinks, when they leave the Keno gaming establishment during game play.
Another disadvantage with keno-type games is that at some point during the game play period, enough numbers will have been randomly selected to make it impossible for certain keno players to win with the keno game card they hold for the current game. For example, with a keno game card on which ten spots have been selected, after the gaming establishment has already randomly drawn eleven out of twenty numbers, and none of those eleven numbers match the player's chosen spots, it then becomes impossible for the player to win a significant payout on that keno game card. Among players who have stayed in the gaming establishment during the game play period, the knowledge of this certainty often causes frustration and disappointment, and frequently results in the player leaving the gaming establishment and refraining from purchasing additional keno game cards, products or services.
Some attempts have been made by providers of keno-type games to maintain player interest and attendance by offering free promotional items during the game play or tying receipt of these promotional items to the presentation of a current keno game card when the player's name is randomly draw and announced during the game play period. However, these efforts have met with only limited success, because the promotional items offered often fail to create excitement among keno players. Additionally, the offering of these free promotional items reduces the profitability of a given keno game period, because the gaming establishment is forced to purchase the promotional items in the hope that they will stimulate the player's interest and attendance, however the promotional items provide no direct financial return to the gaming establishment. Thus, these promotional items serve as a financial drain on the gaming establishment, while not providing significant added excitement and enjoyment for the keno players.
It is known within the bingo game industry to increase revenues by offering a game ticket system which consists of a plurality of game tickets, each having a single exposure device concealing printed indicia of on
Brocketti Julie
Cheng Joe H.
International Gamco, Inc.
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
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