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US 12,548,405 B2Granted
Spinning skilled-based game that dispenses prizes
OwnerRonald Halliburtoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An amusement game is characterized by a wheel mounted for rotation in a vertical plane on a support member and a control arm to rotate the wheel which also has a plurality of prize containers at winning positions located at angular positions around the wheel wherein each of the containers has a radial passage that may align with a winning position and in alignment with a prize distribution area so when the wheel stops at a winning location, a prize retainer member is moved out of the passage allowing a prize in the container to drop from the wheel to the prize distribution area.
Claims17
An amusement game device comprising
- a wheel, said wheel mounted for rotation on an axis and in a vertical plane on a support member, said wheel having a front surface, a rear surface and a circumferential surface and having a plurality of winning positions located at angular positions around said wheel,
- said wheel having a plurality of containers also associated with said winning positions on said wheel, and each said container having passages in a radial direction from said container,
- a dispensing assembly, said dispensing assembly comprising a dispensing actuator connected to a retainer member and said dispensing actuator configured to displace said retainer member and thereby open said passage,
- a wheel drive assembly comprising, an arm, a pawl attached to said arm in a manner to allows for pivotal movement, and a device to effect engagement and disengagement of said pawl with said drive elements on said wheel, wherein when said pawl is engaged with said drive element on said wheel, movement of said arm can impose a force on said pawl and said force is transferred to said wheel drive elements to cause said wheel drive elements to cause said wheel to rotate,
- a winning position detector for detecting the position of said winning positions on said wheels with respect to a fixed position on said support member, wherein said winning position is a location when a container comes to rest at a location when it is directly centered at the bottom of the wheel, and a controller, that in response to a signal from said winning position detector, is configured to activate a motor in said dispensing assembly to cause said retainer member to open a passage and thereby release any item in said container in a vertical direction.
2 more elements
An amusement machine comprising
- a wheel mounted for rotation in a substantially vertical plane on a support member, said wheel comprising a front surface, a rear surface and a circumferential surface, a plurality of prize containers located at angular positions on said wheel,
- a winning position location at a fixed position at the bottom of said wheel, a winning position detector to detect wheel position when wheel comes to stop at said winning position,
- a drive arm and drive arm engagement actuator, said drive arm engagement actuator configured to cause said arm to engage said wheel in response to a signal from a central controller and allow said arm to impose a force on said wheel to rotate said wheel,
- a prize retainer member and prize release actuator, said prize release actuator configured to move said prize retainer member in response to a signal from said controller to open a passage from a container at said winning position to a prize accessible area, and allow an item in said container at said winning position to drop to said prize accessible area, and
- a credit detector in communication with said central controller, wherein in response to the detection of a credit, said central controller activates said drive arm engagement actuator to engage said drive arm to said wheel.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.