Method of conducting an interactive competition

#Aspects of the present invention are directed generally to an apparatus and method for conducting a competition. More particularly, aspects of the present invention relates to an interactive competition wherein a player competes against a celebrity.

#Consumers in the modern culture have a general fascination with public figures or celebrities. Celebrity can be related to professional and amateur sports, entertainment, business, media, or politics to name a few areas. In this modem culture, celebrity gossip and news programs are promoted to the public in print media, radio media, television media and on-line media. In the past years, game shows have been produced for television programs in which a celebrity plays for a charity or some other organization. In many television game shows, the celebrity is asked to answer garden-variety trivia related to general subject matter. While providing an entertainment outlet for a fan to watch the celebrity play such a game show, the fan has no interaction with the celebrity. Eventually, the fan may lose interest in the show by just merely watching a static game show with no interaction.

#Numerous consumers use the computer networks, for many purposes including to purchase products online, locate special events, read news stories, pay bills and play games. Online gaming is also provided over computer networks, such as the World Wide Web. Gaming web sites provide players with numerous types of computer games. In the online environment, entertainment web sites that focus and celebrity news and gossip are popular in terms of use. Some of these web sites are have subjects about celebrities, shows, or movies. In these sites and others, a devotee of the subject might be invited to take a quiz about that subject. While these sites might test the devotee's knowledge, the quizzes do not provide the experience of playing against a celebrity about the questions. Moreover, the sites with such quizzes, do not provide interactive gaming against the celebrity either in-person or in a virtual environment.

#The foregoing summary of the invention, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are included by way of example, and not by way of limitation with regard to the claimed invention.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a general-purpose digital computing environment that can be used to implement various aspects of the invention.

#FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system that can be used to implement various aspects of the invention.

#The following description is divided into sub-sections to assist the reader. The subsections include: Terms; Overview; General Purpose Computer; Gaming System; Game Flow; Representative Display Environment; Selecting a Celebrity; Preprocessing for a Game Episode; Cellular Phone Environment; Real-Time Game Show Environment, and a Summarization of the Interactive Competition.

#Terms

#As used herein, the term “celebrity” is defined as a person that has come into the community attention by way of notoriety or general fame of previous activities. A “celebrity” can be associated with industries including but not limited to professional and amateur sports, entertainment, music, motion picture, business, print and electronic media, politics, and the like.