Tournament network for linking amusement games
OwnerJeffrey L. Alleninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods for coordinating tournaments among multiple amusement games are disclosed. Tournaments of differing geographic and temporal scope are accomplished using communications systems linking amusement games at multiple sites. Player interactivity is enhanced through the communication of player game statistics and other player information between amusement game devices and also through the availability of such information over the Internet. Specialized tournament servers may be used to coordinate tournaments among multiple users, including tournaments involving different genres of games.
Claims30
A system for providing tournaments for players of amusement game machines comprising:
- one or more amusement game machines located at each of a plurality of game machine sites, each of the amusement game machines being adapted for electronic communication via the Internet;
- and
- one or more web servers adapted for communication via the Internet and further adapted to locate and communicate with the amusement game machines via the Internet.
A system for providing tournaments for players of amusement game machines comprising:
- one or more amusement game machines disposed at a plurality of game machine sites;
- one or more amusement game machine site servers disposed at each of the game machine sites, the amusement game machine site servers being adapted to communicate with one or more of the amusement game machines and with an outside network;
- and
- one or more tournament servers adapted to communicate with the game machine site servers and further adapted to provide tournaments for players of the amusement game machines.
A method for providing a tournament for players of amusement game machines comprising:
- providing a plurality of game machines at game machine sites for play by tournament players, the game machines including communication devices;
- sending game and player information from the game machines via the communication devices to one or more tournament servers, the tournament servers being adapted to accept the information;
- and
- performing operations on the game and player information at the tournament servers, the operations including tracking game and player information and updating game and player information.
A system for providing tournaments among players of game devices comprising:
- one or more game devices adapted for communication over a network;
- one or more servers adapted for communication with the game devices over the network, one or more of the servers being adapted to display a tournament web page allowing player selection of awards;
- and
- one or more databases adapted for communication with the servers over the network, the databases storing player information and information pertaining to game tournaments.
The system of claim 18 wherein the predetermined criteria comprise player rankings.
A network for providing tournaments among players of amusement game devices, the network comprising:
- a plurality of amusement game devices located at game device locations, each amusement game device having a communication device attached thereto;
- at least one server configured for communication with the communication devices, the server being adapted to group the amusement game devices based on the game device locations and to provide tournaments for players of the amusement game devices;
- and
- at least one database connected to the server, the database adapted to store information regarding players of the amusement game devices and game results from the amusement game devices.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.