Interactive electronic game system

Details Interactive electronic game system Interactive electronic game system

1999-07-27

2004-06-01

Walberg, Teresa (Department: 3713)

Amusement devices: games

Including means for processing electronic data

With communication link

C463S016000, C463S017000, C463S018000, C463S021000, C463S022000, C463S025000, C463S040000, C463S043000, C463S046000, C273S269000, C273S138100, C273S14800B

Reexamination Certificate

active

06743102

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an interactive electronic game system and more particularly to an interactive electronic bingo game system wherein the system manages the game between two (2) or more players. Further, the invention relates to an interactive electronic game system wherein the winnings awarded to a winning player come from the wagers of the other players in the game and are distributed by the interactive electronic game system minus a house management fee. Further, the invention relates to an interactive electronic game system wherein in order to win, a player must interact with the game terminal he is playing in front of, by acknowledging that a number randomly selected by the game system matches the numbers that the player has selected. The winner is the first player to so acknowledges all of his selected numbers.
Bingo game machines, gaming systems and random number generating systems are well known in the art for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,913 to Hecht, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,737 to Frank, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,516 to Kolinsky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,810 to Richardson and PCT International Patent application number 98/20949.
The disadvantage with the above-mentioned prior art comprises the fact that, in some cases, the players are playing against the house, i.e. the management, operator, etc . . . , and not merely playing against each other. The systems mentioned above have an operator or house which may have a stake in who wins or loses the games. Further, the above art does not provide for an interactive game wherein a player has to physically interact with the player terminal in order to advance his game and eventually win.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide for an interactive electronic game system wherein the operator has no stake in who wins or loses the game.
It would further be advantageous to have an interactive electronic game system wherein the winnings may be awarded to the winner from a collection of the wagers from all the participants in the game, and the administration or management fees may be covered by an ante paid by the players for his participation in the game.
It would be further advantageous to provide for an interactive electronic game system wherein safeguards are in place to assure security and accountability for every play.
It would be further advantageous to provide for an interactive electronic game system wherein the players have to physically interact with the player terminal units in order to advance their game and eventually win.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Electronic games are becoming ever more popular. Bingo is a particular popular game which is played as follows. Traditionally, a player may have one or more cards showing three, four, five, etc . . . columns, each of which presents a selection of, for example, three, four, five or more numbers selected from B
1
-B
15
, I
16
-I
30
, N
31
-N
45
, G
46
-G
60
and O
61
-O
75
or 3 rows consisting of 5 numbers from a group of 1-90. However, any other number of rows or combination of rows may be used in the play of other games. A caller, usually a person associated with the organizer of the bingo game, draws numbers (i.e. balls) at random from a set of balls marked with the numbers from 1 to 75 or 1 to 90, or other range of numbers, and then calls the numbers. The players, upon hearing the numbers being called, mark the drawn numbers on their cards by apposing a chip or ink mark on the drawn numbers. In order to win, a player must be the first who has marked numbers which compose a five-number line which may be vertical, horizontal or diagonal or when the four corners are marked, or when the card is full, or when some other winning pattern or combination of numbers is matched.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided for an interactive electronic game system wherein the operator, i.e. the owner or the organizer of the game has no stakes in who wins or loses the bingo game. The operator may collect an entry (ante) for each card a player has chosen to play in each game, in order, for example, to cover overhead costs, administration costs, etc . . . When a player wins a bingo game, the player's winnings may be collected from the wagers of all of the other participants in the game. Therefore as may be understood, in accordance with the present invention, at least two (2) active players may be needed in order for a game to begin. As may be understood, this means that the players are playing against each other and not against the interactive electronic game system itself, i.e. the players are not playing against the house. In order for substantial winnings to be awarded, a large number of players participating in a game may be required, or alternatively, the players may be wagering large sums. As may be further understood, the management or house, in order to operate the system, may not need to have a large pool of money ready in advance to cover payouts to the winners, as the winnings are directly related to the number of other participants in the game and to the amount wagered. The winnings may come from the participation of the players which have put up wager chips for the game, i.e. the winnings are determined by the number of participants, and by the amount each participant wagers in that particular play. This is a tremendous advantage for an operator, who need not have (any) money, or very little money, tied up in advance in order to cover payouts to the winners.
Accordingly, the present invention, in a general aspect, may provide for an interactive electronic game system comprising a central server unit, a random number generating unit connected to the central server unit, a player tracking unit connected to the central server unit and a plurality of player terminal units interconnected to each other and the central server unit, and connected to the player tracking unit.
In a further aspect, the present invention may provide for an interactive electronic game system, wherein the games to be played are bingo, Keno, Lotto, poker or any other such type games.
In a further aspect, the present invention may provide for an interactive electronic game system, wherein the random number generating unit may comprise a ball blower unit connected to the central unit. The ball blower unit may be configured and disposed so as to be visible to some, or all of the players which have anted up to play a game, the whole in order to create the atmosphere of a traditional, i.e. non electronic, bingo game. In accordance with yet a further aspect, the random number generating unit may be integrated to or form part of the central server unit, i.e. it may be an electronic random number generating unit. As may be understood, the interactive electronic game system of the present invention may be configured and disposed so as to, as much as possible, replace human intervention by the operator of the bingo game with a mechanical or electronic intervention.
In accordance with a general aspect, there is provided for an interactive electronic game system comprising:
two or more gaming machines each having display means for displaying images thereon and interaction means for a player to interact with the game system,
a central server unit connected to said gaming machines comprising game system control means and communication control means for controlling communications between said central server unit and said gaming machines,
a random number generating means connected to said central server unit, the control server unit being arranged to play a game in which two or more players select one or more sub-sets of indicia from a set of indicia,
said selected sub-set being displayed on the display means of a each player's respective gaming machine,
said random number generating means generating a sequence of random indicia selected from said set of indicia, said control server unit displaying in turn each of said randomly generated indicia on the display screen of each said gaming machines,
wherein when a randomly generated indicia displayed on sai

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