Physical-virtual game board and content delivery system

A method for determining a specific logical location, from amongst a multiplicity of possible logical locations comprising a game overlay, upon which a game piece associated with a unique game player is currently located in an on-going game, where the game piece comprises an electronically determinable identifier, where the game overlay comprises an identification code and is overlaid upon a game board base, where the game board base comprises an identification code and a multiplicity of electronically determinable physical locations, and where game electronics determines current physical location datum at least including a specific physical location substantially over which the game piece has been determined to be currently located, comprising the steps of:

• preestablishing a mapping dataset to relate physical locations on the game base to logical locations on the game overlay, where the mapping dataset is stored in a database and is retrievable or accessible based at least in part upon the combination of the game base's identification code and the game overlay's identification code;
• providing a game app for communicating with the game electronics to receive the current physical location datum, and using the game app to:
• determine an identifier associated with a unique game player for associating with the game piece identifier;
• receive or determine the game base's identification code, receive or determine the game overlay's identification code, and receive, retrieve or otherwise access the mapping dataset associated with the combination of the game base's identification code and the game overlay's identification code, and
• determine the specific logical location upon which the game piece is currently located based at least in part upon the mapping dataset and in part upon the current physical location datum such that the specific logical location upon which the unique game player is currently located is also determined.

A physical/virtual gaming system, comprising:

• game board means for providing a layout of physical game locations for use in playing any of various games, where the physical layout is identifiable by a physical layout identification code;
• game overlay means for providing a replaceable layout of logical game locations for use in playing or extending play in an on-going game, where the replaceable logical layout is identifiable by a logical layout identification code;
• means for providing any combination of physical game locations with any combination of logical game locations by overlaying a replaceable logical layout onto a physical layout;
• game electronic means for electronically determining a specific physical location of a game piece placed substantially over a combination of a specific physical game location and a specific overlaid logical game location, where the game electronic means includes electronic means for determining information for uniquely identifying the specific physical game location and electronic means for identifying the game piece;
• physical-to-logical mapping means comprising a mapping dataset of pre-known mapping information relating physical game locations with logical game locations, where the mapping dataset is associated with a combination of the physical layout identification code associated with the game board comprising the specific physical game location over which the game piece is substantially located and the specific logical layout identification code associated with the game overlay comprising the specific logical game location upon which the game piece is substantially located;
• a game database comprising game datum;
• a game app for determining a specific logical location of the game piece placed substantially over the combination of a physical game location and a logical game location, where the game app includes means for:
• a) receiving, retrieving or otherwise determining the physical layout identification code and the logical layout identification code;
• b) receiving, retrieving or otherwise accessing the mapping dataset associated with the combination of the physical layout identification code and the logical layout identification code;
• c) communicating with the electronic means for receiving the current specific physical location of the game piece;
• d) determining the specific logical location of the game piece based at least in part upon the mapping dataset and at least in part upon the current specific physical location, and
• e) determining and otherwise updating the game database with game datum, where game datum includes any one of or any combination of:
• (1) an association between a game player and a game piece identifier;
• (2) the current or any prior physical locations of a game piece;
• (3) the current or any prior logical locations of a game piece, and (4) any other game information or status including accumulated game play, awarded points and accumulated scores, where accumulated game play includes information provided by players in response to game clues, questions, messages and other communications.