Method for players to play a tournament of games where game scores are obtained

• US 5,779,242 A
• Filed: 02/07/1997
• Issued: 07/14/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: BOYD Gaming Corporation
• Original Assignee: BOYD Gaming Corporation
• Inventors: Kaufmann, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoll, William E.
• Application Number:
  US08/796,594
• Time in Patent Office: 522 Days
• Field of Search: 273/429, 273/440, 273/454, 273/459
• US Class Current: 273/459
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/06 Indicating or scoring devices for games or players , or for other sports activities
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0616 Means for conducting or scheduling competition, league, tournaments or rankings

Abstract

A method for determining the winner of an event in which there are numerous players involves the players playing in groups in a first round, with the half of the players in each group having the highest scores advancing to a winners bracket, and the half of the players in each group having the lowest totals moving to a losers bracket. Play in the winners bracket proceeds in rounds until sixteen players remain, with half of the players in each round moving to the next winners round, and half moving to a selected round in the losers bracket. Play continues in the losers bracket in rounds with half of the players advancing and half being eliminated upon receipt of their second loss, until a single player with only one loss remains. The sixteen players with no losses in the winners bracket start a separate double-elimination bracket and play until four players remain. These four players and the single player from the losers bracket play in a championship bracket to determine the winner of the event.

Claims

1. A method for multiple players to play a tournament of games where scores are obtained comprising:

ascertaining the number of players for the tournament;

determining from the number of players the number of rounds to be played in a winners bracket and a losers bracket;

the players playing an initial game;

using approximately the median score of the players of the initial game to declare approximately half of the players winners and half losers of the initial round, said declared winners advancing to the winners bracket and the declared losers falling to play in the losers bracket;

in the winners bracket, the advancing field of players playing the game in each round to each obtain a score, using the players'"'"' individual scores to determine a dividing score to divide the field of each round into winners having individual scores at or above said dividing score and the remainder losers, the winners advancing to fill the next round in the winners bracket and the losers falling to the losers bracket;

in the losers bracket, the advancing field of players and those declared losers from each round in the winners bracket merging and playing the game at a predetermined round in the losers bracket to each obtain a score, using the players'"'"' scores to determine a score to divide the field of each round in the losers bracket into winners and losers, the declared winners advancing to the next round in the losers bracket to play with players falling from the winners bracket and merged into said next round, it any, and eliminating the losers of the round in the losers bracket from the tournament;

playing corresponding rounds in the winners and losers brackets to advance at least one player from the winners bracket having not once been declared a loser and one player from the losers bracket having only once been declared a loser and eliminating the remainder of players, said advancing players playing to determine the tournament champion.

2. The method of claim 1 including determining and using a score in at least one round to declare winners and losers, such as to divide the field of players into approximately half winners and the remainder losers.

3. The method of claim 1 further including the awarding of prize money to the declared winners of each round.

4. The method of claim 3 further including awarding increasing amounts of prize money to declared winners for each succeeding round.

5. The method of claim 4 including awarding prize money for the declared winners of a round in the losers bracket in an amount less than the amount awarded to the declared winners of a corresponding round in the winners bracket.

6. The method of claim 5 further including dropping declared losers from rounds of the winners bracket and inserting them into later rounds of the losers bracket such that the accumulated prize money for players in the field for the round in the losers bracket is substantially the same.

7. The method of claim 6 of dropping declared losers from a predetermined winners bracket rounds to a losers bracket round according to the following equation,

8. The method of claim 1 wherein rounds of the winners bracket are played until sixteen players not once having been declared losers are determined, the method further including playing a sub-tournament in rounds with the said sixteen players advancing in the winners bracket, using the players'"'"' individual scores in each round of the sub-tournament to determine a dividing score to divide the field of each round into approximately half winners having individual scores at or above the dividing score and the remaining half losers, said sub-tournament having a winners bracket and a losers bracket, the declared winners in the sub-tournament winners bracket advancing to the next sub-tournament winners bracket round and said declared losers dropping to play in rounds in the sub-tournament losers bracket, the declared losers in any round in the sub-tournament losers bracket eliminated from the tournament, said sub-tournament reducing the field of sixteen players to two players not once having been declared losers in the sub-tournament and two players from the sub-tournament losers bracket only once having been declared losers, said four players advancing with a player advancing from the loser'"'"'s bracket to play in a championship bracket to determine a champion.

9. The method of claim 8 further including seeding the two players advancing from the sub-tournament winners bracket for the championship round by the players playing a game, the winner seeded number 1 and the loser seeded number 2.

10. The method of claim 9 further including seeding the two players advancing from the sub-tournament losers bracket for the championship round by the players playing a game, the winner seeded number 3 and the loser seeded number 4.

11. The method of claim 10 further including seeding the player advancing from the losers bracket number 5 for the championship round.

12. The method of claim 8 further including playing the championship round as match play with the following games, (1) the fifth seed playing the fourth seed, (2) the winner of game (1) playing the third seed, (3) the winner of game (2) playing the second seed, and (4) the winner of game (3) playing the first seed, the winner of game (4) declared the champion.

13. A method for tournament play by a plurality of players playing a game of the type where scores are obtained, the method comprising:

establishing a championship bracket to be played by five players, four who advance from a winners bracket and one from a losers bracket;

all players playing an initial round for the game, each obtaining a score;

determining a median for the scores of the initial round and based upon that median first round score, declaring approximately half the first round players winners and the remainder losers, said first round winners advancing to the first round of the winners bracket and said losers advancing to play a first round in the losers bracket;

determining for at least a plurality of succeeding rounds in the winners bracket the median score and based thereon declaring approximately half of the players winners and half losers, the declared winners playing in the next winners bracket round and the declared losers falling to play in a predetermined losers bracket round;

said first initial round losers playing in the first round of the losers bracket, determining for at least the first round of the loser'"'"'s bracket and a plurality of succeeding rounds the median score and based thereon declaring approximately half of the players winners and half losers, the declared winners advancing to the next losers bracket round to play with other advancing players in the losers bracket and players merged as a result of being declared losers in a winners bracket round, the declared losers of each round of the losers bracket eliminated from the tournament;

continuing play in the winners bracket until sixteen players remain who have not once been declared losers in any previous round and one player remains in the losers bracket having only once been declared a loser, said one player advancing to the championship bracket;

playing a sub-tournament in rounds with the remaining sixteen players advancing in the winners bracket, using the players'"'"' individual scores in each round of the sub-tournament to determine a dividing score to divide the field of each round into approximately half winners having individual scores at or above the dividing score and the remaining half losers, said sub-tournament having a winners bracket and a losers bracket, the declared winners in the winners bracket advancing to the next sub-tournament winners bracket round and said declared losers dropping to play in rounds in a sub-tournament losers bracket, the declared losers in any round in the sub-tournament losers bracket eliminated from the tournament, said sub-tournament reducing the sixteen players to two players not having been declared losers in the sub-tournament and two players only once having been declared losers in the sub-tournament, said four players advancing with said player advancing from the loser'"'"'s bracket to play in a championship bracket to determine a champion;

seeding said four players advancing from the sub-tournament bracket one through four and seeding the player advancing from the losers bracket five; and

playing the championship bracket with match play with the following games, (1) the five seed playing the four seed, (2) the winner of game (1) playing the three seed, (3) the winner of game (2) playing the two seed, and (4) the winner of game (3) playing the one seed, the winner of game (4) declared the champion.

14. The method of claim 13 further including the awarding of prize money to the declared winners of each round.

15. The method of claim 14 further including awarding increasing amounts of prize money for each round.

16. The method of claim 15 further including awarding prize money for the declared winners of a round in the losers bracket in an amount less than the amount awarded to the declared winners of a corresponding round in the winners bracket.

17. The method of claim 16 further including dropping declared losers from rounds of the winners bracket into later rounds of the losers bracket such that the accumulated prize money for players playing the in the round in the losers bracket is substantially the same.

18. A method for a number of players to play a tournament of games to determine a champion, said games of the type where each player playing the game receives a score, the method comprising:

ascertaining the number of players for the tournament;

determining from the number of players the number of rounds to be played in a winners bracket and a losers bracket;

all players playing an initial round R1 of at least one game, the players scores and the number of rounds to be played determining a score to declare winners and losers, said declared winners advancing into a winners bracket played according to the following format, ##STR1## and the declared losers falling to play the losers bracket played according to the following format, ##STR2## wherein R2W-RnW are the rounds to be played in the winners bracket and R1L-RnL are rounds to be played in the losers bracket, using the player'"'"'s scores in each round R2W-RnW to determine a score to declare winners to advance to the next round in the winners bracket with the remainder declared losers A, losers A in round R2W falling to play in round R2L and losers A in succeeding rounds in the winners bracket falling to play in losers bracket rounds according to the following equation

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">RL=(RW×

2)+1

where RL is the round in the losers bracket and RW is the winners bracket round producing losers A, and using the scores in each round R1L-RnL to determine a score to declare winners to advance and, with any declared losers A, fill the next round in the losers bracket and the remainder and eliminating declared losers E from the tournament;

and at least one player F₁ not having been declared a loser in the winners bracket and one player F₂ having been declared a loser once advancing from the losers bracket to play in a championship bracket, and declaring the winner of the championship bracket the tournament champion.

19. The method of claim 18 further including using a median score to declare winners and losers which and define approximately half of the players winners and the remainder losers.

20. The method of claim 18 further including the awarding of prize money to the declared winners of each round.

21. The method of claim 20 further including awarding increasing amounts of prize money for each round.

22. The method of claim 20 including awarding the prize money awarded for the declared winners of a round R1L-RnL in the losers bracket in an amount less than the amount awarded to the declared winners of a corresponding round R2W-RnW in the winners bracket.

23. The method of claim 22 further including dropping declared losers A from rounds of the winners bracket into later rounds to the losers bracket such that the accumulated prize money for players in the round is approximately the same.

24. The method of claim 23 including dropping declared losers A from rounds R3W-R5W to rounds in the losers bracket according to the following formula

25. The method of claim 18 wherein sixteen players F₁ are advanced from the winners bracket and one player F₂ from the losers bracket, the method further including said sixteen players F₁ playing a sub-tournament to advance two players not having been declared losers and two players having been declared losers once, said four players advancing to a championship bracket with the player F₃ advancing from the losers bracket.

26. The method of claim 25 further including seeding the players advancing to the championship bracket.

27. The method of claim 26 including seeding the player F₃ advancing from the losers bracket fifth, seeding the players from the sub-tournament having been declared losers once, third and fourth and seeding the players advancing not having been declared losers, first and second.

28. The method of claim 27 including the players advancing from the sub-tournament playing one game to determine said fourth through first seeding.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein the players advancing from the sub-tournament not having been declared losers playing a game to determine first and second seeding.

30. The method of claim 26 including playing the championship bracket as match play with the following games, (1) the fifth seed playing the fourth seed, (2) the winner of game (1) playing the third seed, (3) the winner of game (2) playing the second seed, and (4) the winner of game (3) playing the first seed, the winner of game (4) declared the champion.