Abstract: A wagering system such as a lottery with a central computer communicating with agent terminals at which tickets are issued, for example in convenience stores and the like, has a player-operated win-checking system coupled to the communications network, preferably as a peripheral to the agent terminal but possibly as a separate network terminal. Player choices and game identifications are bar coded on the tickets. A player scans the ticket automatically to trigger comparison of the bar coded data with winning entry data kept in a past game memory, such that the system need not resort to stored data on individual wager transactions to check for wins. This reduces the burden on the agent and the network because most issued tickets need not be checked by attempting to validate them for a payout. A limited number of past games are stored, e.g., the most recent thirty Keno game cycles of a game run at five minute intervals.

Abstract: A multi-pay video poker machine includes a microprocessor based video display system. The program permits higher payoffs when compared to conventional video poker games. In accordance with the present invention, it is recognized that each of the winning poker hands include constituent winning sub-hands for which the player may be compensated to increase the payoff level of winning hands. For example, a player is compensated for the values of a royal flush, a straight flush, a flush and a straight when a royal flush is obtained. The computer instructions required to play the game are stored in a read-only memory inside the machine which are executed by the microprocessor unit.

Abstract: A system utilizing an array of high speed video cameras with image processors coupled to data microprocessors, data memory devices, video monitors, control terminals, printout devices, and related hardware and software. The system functions to identify, track, display and record all or selected portions of the path of one or more golf balls from the time each ball is struck, or after it is in flight, until it reaches its final point of rest. The recorded tracking information may be displayed in selected forms such as video or audio replays of the actual golf shot or selected portions thereof, or by printed data in character or graphic form. The tracking information may be reviewed for detailed study of all or portions of the track of the golf shot as well as the final resting place of the ball with respect to the intended target of the shot.

Abstract: An electronic video game requires the player to match the location of information on a video screen with the correct location of a pushbutton in a corresponding array. Initially, the video screen produces a display showing nine object character icons located in nine different locations in a tic-tac-toe arrangement. The display is flashed on for a few seconds and then discontinued. Next, the video screen displays one of the characters in a clue box and challenges the player to correctly match the clue character with its previous location on an array of nine pushbuttons laid out in the same tic-tac-toe fashion. The player then chooses one pushbutton corresponding to where the player believed the character had appeared in the original video display.

Abstract: The game includes a device for randomly selecting a sequence of musical notes for game playing purposes. Another device enables a player to preview a recognition sequence of a portion of the sequence of musical notes prior to game play. A switch device actuated by the player causes a signal to be generated indicative that the player identified the recognition sequence of notes embedded within sequence of musical notes during game play.

Abstract: An arcade game simulating a baseball game. A player hits a ball suspended in front of him or her at a known initial position towards a detector assembly, such as an x-y grid of light beams. The initial velocity of the ball is accurately determined by calculating the speed of the ball by measuring the time it took the ball to travel between its initial and final positions, and by calculating the direction of the ball from the known initial and final positions of the ball. Audio and visual feedback may be provided to the player of the game unit based upon the results of the hit ball and based upon a baseball game environment. Awards can also be dispensed to the player by the game unit based upon a score accumulated during the game.

Abstract: A dart game and a method of controlling a dart game wherein numbers corresponding to targets to be aimed at by a player are randomly generated throughout the play of the game until a predetermined number of target values have become fixed by being marked by a dart hit on the dart board. Prior to the start of a game, a predetermined number of target values are randomly generated and displayed. After each player's turn, the target values that have been marked by a dart hit on a corresponding section of the dart board are fixed for the remainder of the game. However, any unmarked target value is changed to a new, randomly generated value prior to the next player's turn. The random generation of target numbers continues until the predetermined number of target values have been marked.

Abstract: A method for conducting racing events begins with the determination of the number of lanes to be utilized in all of the individual races of the overall competition. Each racing competition includes a plurality of individual sprint races preferably equal in number to the predetermined number of lanes being utilized. Each competitor for the entire racing competition is assigned a predetermined speed ranking, and then the competitors are aligned for the individual sprint races. The competitor with the highest speed ranking is aligned in the first lane of the first sprint, and subsequent competitors in order of descending speed ranking are aligned in the first lane of subsequent sprints until the first lane of each individual sprint is filled. The remaining competitors are then aligned in the second lane of each sprint, again in descending speed ranking order. Any subsequent lanes are aligned in the same fashion.

Abstract: A gaming device is provided which supplies winning players with the opportunity to receive payouts in at least two distinct forms, both of which are inherently valuable. One form of winning payout comprises a national currency, such as U.S. quarters, while another form of payout comprises tokens formed of a precious metal such as silver and/or gold.

Abstract: A memory cartridge for use in a video game console includes an interface and a compact game cartridge removably attachable to the interface. The compact game cartridge has a Read Only Memory in it storing at least one game program to be executed by the game console. The compact game cartridge may also include other components dedicated to the at least one game program necessary for the game console to execute the game program. The interface has electrical circuitry therein such as for example, a bank switching controller, graphics memory, a security circuit to satisfy a security system in the gaming console etc., which is not dedicated to any specific game program but which nonetheless, is necessary for the game console to execute a game program stored in a compact game, cartridge.

Abstract: A simulated golf game in which a remotely controlled golfer plays on a miniature course, The physical mechanisms and methods of control of the game are directed to heighten its realism. The course has all the characteristics of a real golf course, e.g., hills, valleys, sand traps, and trees. The golfer is a model human figure who plays a miniature ball free that is to roll anywhere on the course. The golfer is remotely controlled through an overhead gantry positioning mechanism that connects to the golfer's back by way of a small-diameter rigid tube. The gantry simulates walking by moving the tube, with the golfer attached, about the golf course. Animation of the golfer itself (bending at the waist, swinging the club, etc.) is effected by a set of electric motors driving cables running inside the tube. Many of the motors are operated simultaneously to give the golfer a lifelike look. The motor operations are controlled by a computer.

Abstract: The present invention is a word game to be played by two or more persons, in which the object of the game is to assemble solutions to word transformation puzzles. The game of the present invention requires the use of a computer (or processor), a display, and a keyboard (or other input device). At the beginning of the game and at various times during the game, the processor must find a solution to a word transformation puzzle or determine that one does not exist. Efficient solution of puzzles by the processor is accomplished by creating two minimum-length search trees, each tree having a number of nodes that contain words generated via a predetermined relationship with respect to one another. The first tree is based on the first Doublet word (the source), while the second tree is based on the second Doublet word (the destination). An intersection of the two search trees is discovered by repeatedly comparing at least one word of the first search tree with at least one word of the second search tree.

Abstract: A golf simulator includes a target screen that receives a projected image of a golf hole from a player's view. As a player hits a ball into the target screen, a main controller analyzes the swing and displays the path of the golf ball using a spotlight generated by a tracer. A slice/hook determining apparatus includes a clubhead impact angle sensor for determining the clubhead impact angle at impact with the ball. A controller in the slice/hook determining apparatus calculates a theoretical impact point where the ball would hit the impact screen if no side spin were imparted on the ball. The main controller compares the theoretical impact point with the actual impact point and accurately determines a slice/hook component of the ball trajectory based on the difference between the actual impact point and the theoretical input point.

Abstract: A system of remotely actuated novelty devices is disclosed having triggering and actuating components packaged in separate, interchangeable modules. The system includes several interchangeable trigger modules, each of which detects the occurrence of an activating event and in response generates a trigger signal of finite duration, and several interchangeable action modules, each of which performs a prank in response to a trigger signal. Each action module includes a battery that powers the action module and any trigger module connected to it.

Abstract: A video game apparatus includes simulated cylindrical housings that are filled with simulated numbered balls that are apparently mixed by a simulated upflowing stream of air through the cylinders. After the passage of a predetermined amount of time, the mixing stops and a simulated ball having a simulated number appears in a simulated ball trapping member above each cylinder to create the impression that the trapped simulated balls escaped their associated cylinders by riding the simulated upflowing airstream. Mechanical buttons are pressed by a player to select a player's random number, and a random number generator in the game apparatus picks a random number and determines the respective numbers of the balls trapped in the simulated ball trapping members. A monetary award is mechanically dispensed by the apparatus if the random number selected by the player matches the random number generated by the random number generator.

Abstract: A toy assembly 10 including a ray gun 12 capable of projecting a focused beam of light 25, and an electro-mechanically actuatable target figurine 14 including a body 46, a support 48 for supporting the body of the figurine in an upright position upon a surface, a light receiver 58, a toppling mechanism 60 for causing the figurine to topple over when operated, an energy source 82 within the figurine for powering the toppling mechanism, and a control circuit 78 for initiating the operation of the toppling mechanism when the light receiver is struck by a beam of light projected by the ray gun.

Abstract: An electronic apparatus breaks a stream of recorded sound into discrete segments. The apparatus randomizes the order of the sound segments and will allow the sound segments to be re-ordered to their original order or to some desired order. The apparatus allows re-ordering of the sub-segments of a sound segment to create additional sounds (i.e. playing a sound segment backwards). The apparatus includes a control that will record and playback individual or groups of sound segments. A memory or skills game can be played in which the object is to re-assemble the sound segments to some determined order in a limited or unlimited amount of time. Levels of difficulty can be changed to make the game more challenging. The apparatus allows a player to create silly and entertaining stories by arranging the sound segments in some order and then playing some or all of them back to the player.

Abstract: In a shooting game machine, a projector projects a shooting video image, in which a target appears, on a screen. A player may fire a laser gun to emit a light beam to the target on the screen. A video camera photographs the screen, irrespective of any display scanning of the projector, and outputs its picture signal to coordinate computing means. The coordinate computing means counts clock pulses, which are output from a pulse generator, during a period from when a vertical synchronous signal of the picture signal is output until a beam point signal is output, and divides the count value by a predetermined reference pulse number to compute and output the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the beam point on the screen.

Abstract: A person simultaneously plays a video game and operates an exercise device, such as an exercise bicycle. A first sensor generates an output level signal indicative of the output level (e.g., pedal speed) of the exercise device. A second sensor generates an aerobic activity level (e.g., heart rate) signal indicative of the aerobic activity level of the exerciser. The output level signal affects the play of the video game. If the aerobic activity level signal is too low, the exercise device is made more difficult to operate and the play of the video game is altered to encourage the exercise to increase the output level of the exercise device. The play of the video game is also affected by signals generated by joystick controls operated by the exerciser's hands.

Abstract: A game cartridge includes a main cartridge which has a primary graphics memory unit, a first edge-board contact that is connected removably to a television game console and that enables the television game console to address and receive data from different storage locations in the primary graphics memory unit, and an edge-board connector that is connected electrically to the primary graphics memory unit and to the first edge-board contact. An auxiliary card has a secondary graphics memory unit and a second edge-board contact that is connected removably to the edge-board connector. A logic select circuit detects an address input from the television game console corresponding to a predetermined one of the storage locations in the primary graphics memory unit.