WO2007036806A2

WO2007036806A2 - Electronic device for playing bingo

Info

Publication number: WO2007036806A2
Application number: PCT/IB2006/003273
Authority: WO
Inventors: Johnny De Viveiros Ortiz; Alejandro De Viveiros Ortiz
Original assignee: Mytos, S.A.R.L.
Priority date: 2005-09-29
Filing date: 2006-09-28
Publication date: 2007-04-05
Also published as: TW200727961A; WO2007036806A3; AR061396A1

Abstract

Electronic device for the game of bingo having the distinctive feature that it permits new gaming possibilities and additional prizes to the already existing and known ones in the game of bingo. The device of the invention permits to face the high complexity of determining the new prizes and includes means for managing the game events and determining said prizes.

Description

BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention develops an electronic bingo game device, with the particularity that it allows new modalities that grant game possibilities and additional prizes to those existing and known in the bingo game. The device of the invention allows to face the high complexity in determining the new prizes without resisting the development of the game with delays or errors that would be unacceptable.

BACKGROUND

The game of bingo, as is well known, consists in establishing a lottery of limited numbers, or balls, from which users choose an ordered subset of these balls, reflected in cartons containing a grid of their own numbers. A random mechanism, usually a bass drum and an extractor towards a stick of the balls, grants a succession of balls taken that may or may not correspond to the numbers of the users who, if so, strike them out of their cards. The prizes are awarded when someone announces ^λλ line ", that is, when the balls that correspond to a whole horizontal sequence of numbers of a card have already left, prize that is paid and follows the game; or when ^w bingo is announced" if the balls have come out ^{.correspondientes'} all numbers a card. When "bingo" is announced the game is over, which can be resumed. returning all the balls to the hype and distributing new cards.

Although the usual prizes in this type of game are line and bingo, more prizes are usually offered to attract the interest of the players to the bingo halls. The most common are the accumulated which usually gives different names, such as jackpot, bonus, etc, and the special.

Jackpots (accumulated prize) are awarded when someone has obtained a bingo (or line) before a certain number of balls, the top ball. So the jackpot prize (or line) is added to the jackpot prize. The jackpot is formed in each play that is not awarded a prize, in which a jackpot with a percentage of sales of each play is accumulated, so that the jackpot grows with each play without a prize or with each game without a prize.

The special prize consists of another accumulated of plays without a prize, but without the existence of a top ball, and in which the Bingo manager decides on a discretionary basis to grant it when a figure is reached or, alternatively, he decides to offer it a certain day at a certain time, with in order to announce it and attract more players with the incentive of a substantial prize.

The jackpots can reach very high figures in relation to the usual prizes of the game, - so that - as in the case of the special prize, you can announce that it will occur on a given day .. If the jackpot does not fall from a number of games, the value of the top ball is gradually increased to favor its fall.

Bingo can be played both in family gatherings or social clubs with more or less manual operation of the game, as in modern bingo halls with draw machines, TV screens for the public, TV monitors for the draw and videos showing the extracted balls on TV screens. In the usual constructions of this type of manual or automatic raffle machines, the balls that have been obtained enter in a grid, arranged where a video camera shows them in a closed circuit of TV so that the players can make sure of the balls already extracted.

Added to the classic possibilities of bingo game there is currently the possibility of electronic bingo game both in an isolated machine, in a machine that participates in a simultaneous departure of a room of said machines, or even with a device of game that participates in a collective bingo game that takes place on the internet.

The present invention relates to an electronic device that allows it to offer the range of new awards characteristic of the invention, play bingo against the machine, against a set of players from other machines in the same room, or against a number v-ary of machines, located remotely and linked through an extensive network, both private and Open nature, like the internet.

Thus, the present invention applies both to electronic machines for bingo games in which the user can play individually against the machine, participate in a joint game with other players of the same game room, or play a joint game with room players different connected through any extensive network, such as internet.

The device of the present invention makes it possible to carry out a type of novel prize that incorporates a great incentive to the game of bingo, allowing to attract the attention of the players in a much more evenly distributed between sessions, and without the need to establish special sessions that force the exit of prize. All this thanks to the inconvenience that the normal development of the game would entail the incorporation of the new prizes of high calculation and cost in process times of the electronic bingo machines, are corrected and managed by the means provided by the device of the game. invention.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention develops an electronic bingo game device that incorporates the possibility of additional games to the already known line, bingo, jackpot and special games, such as cardboard and extra ball, wild card and prize figure. The extra ball is a prize that is calculated by averaging the prizes that would be obtained if each of the cards were added after each prize ball each of the balls that remain without leaving. The electronic device of the invention recalculates for all the cards in play said extra ball prize each time a ball leaves the drum.

The extra cardboard is a virtual cardboard that fills the device of the invention with sporadic balls. Once it has been completed, if the player has not obtained another prize, it allows to participate in a fortune roulette in which the rotation of the cursor of the fortune stops in any sector determining the prize to receive.

The wild card is a ball that represents each of the possible values, so that when the user of the electronic bingo game device of the invention is awarded, he will eventually receive the jackpot that can be constructed with the most favorable number that can be represented. wild card.

The prize figure is represented by a pre-established set of geometric figures that associated with a value allows the user to receive a prize if their cardboard marked with winning balls matches any of these figures. For example, these figures may be "no prize ball", a form of "X", a form of "+", etc., since the essence of the invention is not limited to a particular form but to the fact of using a pre-established set in different ways awarded of the "line" or "bingo".

The device of the invention requires, in order to satisfy the high calculation needs related to the prizes that are characteristic of it, a considerable working power and adequate organization of the processes inherent to the game being performed.

For example, to calculate the extra ball for a cardboard, it has been required to compute the possible prizes with each of the remaining balls. In addition, these prizes that in the known game were reduced to line or bingo, are now more numerous when having to control the different figures that are the object of prize. This process must be repeated with each of the cards in play and in the hands of each of the players participating in the same game, which can give an idea of the difficulties in the process time involved in the incorporation of the new prizes.

In fact, in these types of situations, the calculation needs of an electronic device intended to implement them increases as the number of players and cards increases. ^• . -.

Therefore, the device of the invention incorporates a management of events, delays and synchronization signals of the game sequences that allows a

• Proper development of the bingo game without the user suffering the consequences of the existence of new types prize, avoid delays, blockages and even errors in the game machine.

Said means incorporated in the system can be divided into different types, such as delay or delay, delayed , ^• award automation user responses and synchronization filters.

The device of the invention includes the appropriate means for the interface of the new prizes with the user who decides whether or not to access said game modes by means of the appropriate user input means.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better interpretation of the invention, two sheets of drawings are attached to the present specification, by way of explanation and not limitation of the invention.

Figure 1 shows a simple representation of ^• a device according to one of the possible embodiments of the present invention, numbering the constituent parts.

Figure 2 is a representation of one of the possible sets of ordered sets of prize figures. The invention, of course, is not limited to said example, in the same way that said prize sets can have any other size of rows or columns. DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The invention consists of an electronic device (1) for the game of bingo in which to the already known prizes of "line", "bingo" or "cardboard", and the accumulated or jackpots and specials, the ability to generate new ones, and at least a new one among those of "extra ball", "extra cardboard", "wild card" and "figure".

The invention applies an electronic device; (1) bingo game whether it is intended for the individual game, user against the machine, or if it is used to play with other users participating in a collective game in the same game room with different game machines, as if, in the most general case, it is used to make a collective game with players who are both in the same game room and in distant and linked locations, to the collective game through a wide area network such as It is internet.

The electronic device (1) referred to in the invention has sufficient calculation capacity to determine the different prizes * that are characteristic of the invention.

In the known electronic devices of bingo game some process capacity is incorporated to manage the different phases of the game, the determination of the classic prizes, its concession, the control of the bets of the users, etc. In the present invention, in addition to said known methods, the need to determine the new awards that are awarded, lo. which represents a high effort to calculate the game machine that must be generated, in general, every time a ball from the bass drum comes out. The invention aims to manage said calculation requirements so that bingo can be played in said electronic device incorporating said new prizes without resisting the operation and evolution of the game, which would be inadmissible. ^•

The device of the invention as described above incorporates new prizes that represent new game modes and reinforce the interest of the user in the game of bingo, making it not only more entertaining and agile, but also offering new possibilities to win by participating in the game.

In fact, the bingo game that develops an electronic device according to the present invention is characterized by incorporating at least some of the following new prizes or game modes.

Extra ball

The prize of the extra ball is a prize calculated with the average of the prizes that would be obtained if each of the cards (3) were alternately added to each of the remaining balls to leave the drum. This prize is individualized for each card- (3) and must be calculated for all the cards in play each time an extraction of a ball from the drum takes place, which represents an enormous calculation effort that forces the device of the invention (1) to have a high process capacity, superior to the conventional ones of the known technique.

The extra ball prize may be awarded rounded up or down, as desired; even increased or decremented in a fixed or proportional amount as deemed convenient and in accordance with the prize policy that you wish to establish.

An additional modality of said extra ¹ ball prize is to grant it as a "free extra ball". ..Here the rounding of the prize is always carried out upwards and the decimals are accumulated in an internal counter with the objective of when said counter reaches a certain value that coincides with that of the extra ball, it allows reducing the cost to zero.

Extra carton

It consists of filling an auxiliary cardboard with balls that

^• leave sporadically. Once filled out if there is no prize, a bonus screen, type roulette of fortune, is accessed in which your cursor determines the prize according to the sector in which it stops.

Wild card

^• .The wild card corresponds to a ball, which.- se-. becomes the most appropriate value to get the maximum prize available. For example if the device of the invention is configured to extract 6 balls, from the range of values from 0 to 9, the wild card is a colored ball that can accept any value from 0 to 9. Therefore it allows to mark all the positions corresponding to the exit order of the ball. The price of the ball is free and the ball is obtained randomly based on a statistical calculation.

Figure

This type of new prize represents an important conceptual modification to the classic bingo prizes, the "line" and the "cardboard" or bingo, which can be considered a concrete case of the new more general type of "figure. ^" Thanks to the working power of the device of the invention (1) and to the means of controlling and managing the sequence of events that it includes, more winning figures than the classic "line" or "bingo" (all marked) can be resolved.

In fact, the innovation of the present invention provides a new set of prize figures (4) that can be adopted in response to any pre-established combination of prize balls in a cardboard according to certain patterns or figures.

For example, successes can be rewarded in the form of "X", "+", and in general in any way desired. The graphs in Figure 2 represent a sample of said new award-winning figures, although the invention is not limited to said combinations and can be made with any others within the same principle. The new prizes mentioned are either automatically paid to the player within the same sequence of the game, as is the case, for example, of the "figure prize", or in fact they represent a new game sequence to which the player chooses, when in general it has not obtained any prize, through an entry in any of the means of user input (11). A new game thread is then opened, as in the "extra cardboard" in which on a roulette screen of fortune or bonus a cursor randomly determines the prize to be obtained.

The electronic cards in the electronic device of the present invention can adopt different sizes: 3x4, 3x5, 4x4, 5x5. This is another of the novel and characteristic elements of the present invention. Figure 2 shows any one of the possible embodiments of said predetermined sets of winning balls (4).

All these new modalities of bingo game and determination of new prizes incorporated in the device (1) of the present invention require enormous calculation capabilities that measure. that grow the number of cards in play multiply. This represents the bottlenecks in the process of the game transformed into delays in sequences of the game, which could be unacceptable.

The electronic device (1) of the invention incorporates different mechanisms for the efficient management of the new awards, which in general are of the type of delay or message delay, prize delays, user response automation, synchronization filters and data volume filters.

The electronic device (1) of the invention includes a display device (2) showing ball assemblies in selected game (3) ^'player, the predetermined sets of winning balls

^• (4) and the values (5) associated with them, the sequence extracted from prize balls (β), as well as the prizes (7) generated as a result of the game, the messages corresponding to the game sequences.

The traditional cartons of said material or similar have been replaced with the sets of balls selected (3) by the player, by electronic cards shown in the display device (2) to which the player accesses.

The present invention provides, for example, that a user may be simultaneously playing more than one selected cardboard or set of balls (3), so that the electronic device (1) of the present invention is responsible for controlling the winning balls (6 ) and go marking the cards (3) and automatically announcing the prizes, - and paying, where appropriate, the amount thereof, of which it is worthy, provided that the player does not choose to prefer a lower level of automation of the process of prizes, for example, preferring to mark those prizes himself.

The device (1) incorporates identification means and- validation of player bets (9), both with. means of payment on credit with electronic cards or other means of payment, accepting the income of amounts in cash, bills or coins. 5

It also incorporates the device of the invention, in addition, means for the payment of the prizes to the player (10), both by means of a container for the collection of cash, and by using other means of payment, such as deposit into 10 account or payment to a credit account, etc.

The electronic device (1) also includes a processor (8) which in communication with said display device (2) manages and controls the different events and sequences of the game.

Specifically, said processor (8) allows the player to make a plurality of entries or choices associated with the events and situations of the game. The processor (8) generates as a result a plurality of outputs related to the player's inputs.

Said processor (8) ^is' responsible for generating the next value in the sequence awarded ball bearings

^• 25- winners (6) generated at random. Applies the mathematical calculations necessary to determine all the characteristic prizes of the game developed by the device

(1) of the invention. Generate game termination events. Provide the _. necessary means of management and

30 Event control and game sequence. .Media that are delayed or delayed in the game messages, delays in the prizes, automation of the responses of the player, synchronization filters between different calculation threads or game processes, and data volume filter.

Within the aforementioned means of automating user responses, facilities for the game by the user are provided in the present invention. For example, by means of the "turbo game" mode, the user is allowed not to press the Start button or push-button (Start) in each game, thereby achieving greater comfort. ε

Under certain interesting conditions for the user, said automatic game start mechanism is deactivated so that he can freely decide on the game options.

The result of the "turbo game" is faster in the game and suppress or decrease the waiting time in it.

Similarly, the invention provides a "double or nothing" option that allows access to a game of doubling or losing the prize won. To achieve this option, the electronic device (1) is usually configured so that it is necessary to obtain a prize of a minimum value and it is not allowed to exceed a preset maximum prize.

Also, once within the folding option, it can be set in the device configuration to limit the number of times it can be folded when the maximum bending value has not been reached. W 2

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Another of the mechanisms that incorporates the device (1) of the invention is the "delay time" between the exit of the prize ball and its reflection showing automatically in the electronic board. One of the objects 5 of this "delay time" is to reinforce, the realism of the game and prevent a sequence of events too fast in which the user could lose track of what is happening and perhaps the appeal of the game itself. Additionally, the paralysis of the

The sequence of events in the game allows the machine that develops the system of the present invention to continue with the computation and determination of other prize possibilities without the eventual game actions of the user having to be addressed.

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Similar delay mechanism is produced by awarding prizes of singular relevance that apparently stop all gaming devices or machines showing the event produced with solemnity, and that at the

20 also paralyze the admissible sequences of play, ^• allows progress in the calculation and determination of prizes.

The present invention also provides for the existence of 2.5 filters or blocking doors in the sequence of game events in order to ensure a unique event. ^• For example, a gaming machine may calculate a special prize, but other threads of operation and calculation of the system on the same machine or others connected to the same item could produce a similar result in the interval in which the first machine or thread of. calculation finds the prize and that it is announced. The door mechanism of. filter or door lock in the sequence of events allows each calculation thread in the same or different game machines to calculate and determine their own prizes, but before giving them a valid prize, the established filter must be exceeded, so that only one thread or machine can determine said prize. The rest simply omit that preliminary result as valid and continue in the calculation of game events, for example by generating another random ball and determining its prize incidents.

Finally, the potential increase of players that in the system contemplated by the invention may even come from extensive networks such as the Internet, also the

^• Increase in possible bets in the form of cards, would reach a point that would collapse the capabilities of any electronic machine to produce delays considered unacceptable in the sequence of events. The invention therefore provides for establishing limits on the number of machines connected to the same game, the number of players in play in the same game, and the number of cards in play in the same game, which are established as optional parameters by part of the owner of the electronic bingo game machine and that allows him to avoid unwanted delays in the sequences of the game.

It is understood that any characteristic, detail and construction may not alter or modify the essence of the invention.

Claims

1.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE comprising - a plurality of ordered sets of balls in play or player bets

- a predetermined plurality of ordered sets of winning balls

- a predetermined plurality of values associated with each of said winning sets a display device to show ^* the sets of balls in play, the sets of winning balls, the values associated therewith. ,, the sequence of the winning balls and the prizes generated and obtained by the game, and the messages corresponding to the sequences of the game.

- a processor in communication with said display device that: a) allows the player to make a plurality of choices or entries b) generates a plurality of outputs relative to said plurality of player inputs c) randomly generates a next ball value awarded in the sequence of winning balls d) applies the mathematical calculations necessary to determine the prizes of the game e) generates the events of start, development and termination of the game f) provides means for the management and control of the process of events and sequence of the game game, which are delayed or delayed in game messages, delays in prizes, automation of the player's responses, synchronization filters between different calculation threads in the game, and data volume filters g) awards at least one prize that relates said sets of balls in play (3) with said predetermined plurality of ordered sets of balls awarded (4), or with each of the pending remaining balls to leave sequence balls awarded (6), or with a random set of balls drawn on _to: czar, or using a any wildcard value to add to each of said sets of balls in play (3).

2. ELECTRONIC DEVICE BINGO GAME, according to claim, wherein said prize related said sets of balls in play ^•

(3) with said predetermined plurality of ordered sets of prize balls (4) consists of a "figure" prize, which is awarded by determining whether • each of the ordered sets of cards in play or player bets (3) match any of said elements of the ordered sets of winning balls (4), a prize that is awarded based on the said value (5) associated with each of said winning sets (4)

3.- BINGO ELECTRONIC GAME DEVICE, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED because said prize that relates said ball sets-in play (3) with each of the remaining balls- pending by. going out in the sequence of prize balls (6) consists of -a bonus ball prize, calculated taking into account for each card stakes (3) the prize ^' would be obtained with an additional ball of each of the balls remains out and by averaging all these possible awards for each array of balls in play or bets the player (3).

4, - BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that said prize that relates said sets of balls in play (3) with a random set of balls drawn at random consists of an extra cardboard prize, in which said processor (8) of the device of the invention (1) generates a virtual cardboard with balls that leave sporadically, and that once filled out if another prize has not been obtained, allows access to a fortune roulette in which its cursor determines the prize according to the roulette sector in which it stops.

5.- BINGO ELECTRONIC GAME DEVICE, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that said prize that relates said sets of balls in play (3) with the help of any wildcard value to be added to each of said sets of balls in play ( 3) consists of a wild card prize, in which said wild card represents any number and awards the highest prize based on that number.

6.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED because said ordered sets of balls in play or bets of the

--player '(3) are represented' in matrices of different sizes, such as 3x3, 3x5, 4x4, 5x5, etc. ^• 7.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED because a "turbo game" mode is established whereby the user is exempted from pressing each time the start button or "start" starts. ", starting these automatically and stopping said automation only when an interesting choice is presented to the user in the sequence of the game.

10 8.- BINGO ELECTRONIC GAME DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED because there are input means (11) operated by the player that allow doubling the bet in relation to the game sequences.

fifteen

9.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED because a "delay time" is established between a game action and its reflection in the next game action, such

20 as for example corresponds to the exit of the winning balls (6) and their eventual reflection in the cards in play (3).

10.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the

-25 previous claims, CHARACTERIZED in that said plurality of values calculated for each ordered set of balls in play (3) and related to the prize balls extracted (6) from the random sequence of balls to be extracted, obtains a plurality of values in

30 function of the balls that have not yet been extracted and each of said ordered sets of balls in play or player bets (3).

11.- BINGO ELECTRONIC GAME DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED in which a value associated with the random and sequential creation of an ordered set of balls related to the game sequences is obtained.

12.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED in that said synchronization filters between different calculation threads in the game establish a first value of said plurality of calculated values for each ordered set of balls in play (3 ) related to the awarded balls extracted (6) from the random sequence of - «balls to be extracted and obtained by said different calculation threads in the game, rejecting the following values.

13, - BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED in which said data volume filters can establish a limit value for the number of sets of balls in play (3), the number of players attending a game same bingo game, the number of devices (1) that relate to each other to perform the same bingo game.

14.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED in that there are means of collection and validation (9) of the player's bets (3).

15.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the preceding claims, CHARACTERIZED because they exist W 2

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means of credit management of the player's bets (3) and validation of his identity.

16.- BINGO GAME ELECTRONIC DEVICE, according to the 5 previous claims, CHARACTERIZED because there are means of payment (10) of the prizes obtained as a game reward.