Promotional game method and apparatus therefor
First Claim
1. A promotional gaming method for inducing potential customers to come to a particular establishment, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing a game machine which is played for no consideration;
b) establishing at least two separate series of images on said game machine, said images including representations of products, services or a combination of products and services, at least some of said representations being present in two of said series;
c) randomly moving said at least two series with respect to one another so that one representation of a product or service in one series may at times be aligned with one representation of said product or service in another series to form a match; and
d) awarding a prize to playing patrons upon the formation of said match, said prize being selected from the group consisting of said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, a product or service which is related to said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, and a retail product or service which is available from said establishment.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A patron inserts a coded game card into a game machine which reads the code and determines whether the game card has been played within a designated time period. If the game card has been played within such period, the game machine is not permitted to operate and displays that game card'"'"'s previous time of play. If the card has not been played within the time period, the machine operates and randomly positions a number of product or services representations with respect to one another. Prescribed combinations of the representations, including at least one pair of matched representations, permits the patron to obtain as a prize the product or service whose representations matched In addition to bearing a unique patron code, the game card can also contain establishment codes which only permit a game card to be played at particular establishments. Other game cards can be specially coded to provide maintenance instructions to the game machine.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A promotional gaming method for inducing potential customers to come to a particular establishment, comprising the steps of:
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a) providing a game machine which is played for no consideration; b) establishing at least two separate series of images on said game machine, said images including representations of products, services or a combination of products and services, at least some of said representations being present in two of said series; c) randomly moving said at least two series with respect to one another so that one representation of a product or service in one series may at times be aligned with one representation of said product or service in another series to form a match; and d) awarding a prize to playing patrons upon the formation of said match, said prize being selected from the group consisting of said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, a product or service which is related to said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, and a retail product or service which is available from said establishment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A promotional game apparatus for inducing potential customers to come to a particular establishment, comprising:
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a) display means for establishing at least two separate series of images including representations of products, services or a combination of products and services, at least some of said representations being present in two of said series, said at least two series being capable of random movement with respect to one another so that at least one representation of a product or service in one of said series at times may be aligned with at least one representation of said product or service in another of said series to form a match; b) movement means for moving said at least two series with respect to one another; c) activating means for activating said movement means for no consideration; d) means for signaling that said match exists at a read-out point; and e) means for awarding a prize upon the occurrence of said match, said prize being selected from the group consisting of said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, a product or service which is related to said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, and a retail product or service which is available from said establishment. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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27. A promotional game apparatus for inducing potential customers to come to a particular establishment, comprising:
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a) display means for establishing three separate series of images including product representations, service representations, manufacturer symbols, establishment symbols and combinations thereof, at least some of said representations being common to at least two of said three series, said three series being capable of random movement with respect to one another so that at least one representation of a product or service in one of said three series at times may be aligned with at least one representation of said product or service in at least one other of said three series to form a match; b) movement means for moving each of said three series independently of one another; c) activating means for activating said movement means for no consideration; d) means for signaling that said match exists at a read-out point; and e) means for awarding a prize upon the occurrence of said match, said prize being selected from the group consisting of said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, a product or service which is related to said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, and a retail product or service which is available from said establishment. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A promotional game apparatus for inducing potential customers to come to a particular establishment, comprising:
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a) a game card coded with a unique code to identify a receiving patron; b) display means for establishing three separate series of images including product representations, service representations, manufacturer symbols, establishment symbols and combinations thereof, at least some of said representations being common to at least two of said three series, said three series being capable of random movement with respect to one another so that at least one representation of a product or service in one of said three series at times may be aligned with at least one representation of said product or service in at least one other of said three series to form a match; c) movement means coupled to said display means for moving said three series independently with respect to one another and for causing each one of said three series to present a single one of said images at a read-out point; d) reading means connected to said movement means for reading said unique code and for signaling said movement means to move said three series in response to said unique code; e) detection means for determining when said match has been formed at said read-out point; and f) means responsive to said detection means for indicating the award of a prize upon the formation of said match, said prize being selected from the group consisting of said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, a product or service which is related to said products or services whose representations on said at least two series match, and a retail product or service which is available from said establishment. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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31. A promotional game apparatus for inducing potential customers to come to a particular establishment, comprising:
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a) a game card coded with a unique code, a first portion of said unique code comprising a patron code for identifying a receiving patron and a second portion of said unique code comprising an establishment code for identifying said establishment; b) display means for establishing three separate series of images including product representations, service representations, manufacturer symbols, establishment symbols and combinations thereof, at least some of said representations being common to at least two of said three series, said three series being capable of random movement with respect to one another so that at least one representation of a product or service in one of said three series at times may be aligned with at least one representation of said product or service in at least one other of said three series to form a match; c) movement means coupled to said display means for moving said three series independently with respect to one another and for causing each one of said three series to present a single one of said images at a read-out point; d) reading means connected to said movement means for reading said first and second portions of said unique code and for said three series in response to predetermined establishment codes; e) detection means for determining when said match has been formed at said read-out point; and f) means responsive to said detection means for indicating the award of a prize upon the formation of said match, said prize being selected from the group consisting of said product or service whose representations on said at least two series match, a product or service which is related to said products or services whose representations on said at least two series match, and a retail product or service which is available from said establishment. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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Specification