Pseudo-commodities interactive futures trading game

• US 6,390,472 B1
• Filed: 02/02/2000
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Perception Digital Limited (Atom Xquare Corp. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Perception Digital Limited (Atom Xquare Corp. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Vinarsky, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Layno, Benjamin H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MENDIRATTA, VISHU K
• Application Number:
  US09/496,485
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 273/274, 273/138.1, 273/278, 273/256
• US Class Current: 273/278
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/80 Special adaptations for executing a specific game genre or game mode
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8094 Unusual game types, e.g. virtual cooking
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00069 Stock-market games

Abstract

The disclosed trading game is comprised of a clearing house setting up specific contracts defined as issues each having no innate financial value but of local, national or international interest and involving social, financial, business, political, sports, or general, etc. matters that can be influenced by the actual or potential occurrence of different events or factors. The value of the issue contract might change in value, up or down, depending on how the participants, individually and collectively, believe the resolution of the issue has been advanced, via bids/offers tendered on the contract and trading via the Internet. An important aspect of the trading would be the periodic polling by the clearing house of the interested traders as how-each believes the known current events or factors might influence the subsequent trading prices of the contract, tabulating and reporting the poll results, giving a predicted bias for all participants to evaluate and act on, and monitoring continued open trading of the contract at bid/ask/traded prices.

Claims

1. A futures trading game played by a plurality of participants utilizing data terminals and the Internet, comprising the combination of

means for providing a pseudo commodity contract displayed on and available for trading via said data terminals;

said contract being defined by a word description of an issue of interest to the participants, with said contract having no intrinsic financial value;

said contract issue

having no immediate resolution, no timetable for resolution, and no accurate means of scoring during play;

being influenced toward a partial or complete resolution, for the better or worse, by the possible or actual occurrence of different random events or factors including information, that could be real or fantasied;

means for setting an arbitrary price for initially trading the contract, at the then degree of issue resolution, and for setting an arbitrary termination date for trading the contracts;

means for subsequently and periodically reporting via said data terminals of the occurrences of any such potentially influencing events, factors or information, where;

the participants, based on the significance each places on such ongoing events, factors or information, can individually

reevaluate each'"'"'s opinion of the comparative current contract price and degree of issue resolution versus a possible or probable shift, higher or lower, of subsequently traded contract prices, and

trade the contract accordingly via said data terminals, with each participant'"'"'s profit or lose being the differences between the each'"'"'s entry and exit trade prices;

monitoring all contract trading and reporting such traded prices via said data terminals.

2. A futures trading game according to claim 1, further comprising the combination of means for periodically polling via said data terminals all participants, whether or not trading the contract, for each'"'"'s opinion on a sliding scale as to how currently occurring, possible or fantasied events or factors might influence subsequent contract trading prices, and tabulating and reporting via said data terminals the collective responses.

3. A futures trading game according to claim 2, further comprising the combination of means for determining each participant'"'"'s eligibility to trade contracts including having an account of initial equity value.

4. A futures trading game according to claim 3, further comprising the combination of said pseudo commodity contract issue being of a local, national and/or international significance involving social, financial, business, political, or general matters.

5. A futures trading game according to claim 4, further comprising the combination of said data terminals providing visuals illustrating a trading pit and participants thereon trading the contracts, and means for illustrating specific unique identities of participants at the trading pit.