Arcade game

• US 6,494,456 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2001
• Issued: 12/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Faith, William B.
• Original Assignee: Faith, William B.
• Inventors: Faith, William B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chiu, Raleigh W.
• Application Number:
  US09/973,851
• Publication Number:
  US 20020016198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 434 Days
• Field of Search: 273/440, 273/447, 273/448, 273/454, 273/459, 273/460
• US Class Current: 273/440
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3262 Player actions which determine the course of the game, e.g. selecting a prize to be won, outcome to be achieved, game to be played

Abstract

An arcade game accepts player selection of a specific prize before the game is started. Preferably, the difficulty level of the game is proportional to the value of the selected prize. In addition, the difficulty level of the game is preferably proportional to the number of monetary units inserted into the machine by the player, such that the game becomes less difficult as the player inserts additional monetary units into the machine. The machine preferably dispenses the selected prize to the player when the player inserts monetary units into the machine equivalent to the value of the prize.

Claims

1. An arcade game, comprising:

a cabinet;

a skill game in said cabinet;

a receiver in said cabinet for receiving monetary units from a player;

a dispensing unit within said cabinet adapted to hold a plurality of prizes;

controls for selecting a specific prize within said dispensing unit before the player starts to play said skill game; and

a game controller in said cabinet electrically connected to said skill game, said dispensing unit and said controls.

2. The arcade game of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of vending lights, each vending light associated with a specific prize.

3. The arcade game of claim 2, wherein said controls are adapted to cause a particular vending light to illuminate to indicate the selected prize.

4. The arcade game of claim 1, wherein said game controller is adapted to change the difficulty level of said game based on the specific prize selected by the player.

5. The arcade game of claim 1, wherein said skill game has a plurality of difficulty levels, further comprising a slow lights control electrically connected to said game controller, said slow lights control adapted to decrease the difficulty level of the game when pressed by the player if sufficient monetary units have been deposited into said receiver.