US 4,781,377 AGranted

Hybrid sporting event and game show

OwnerCharles D. McVean, David R. Kimeinventors

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Abstract

A method of conducting a racing event and a hybrid sporting event and game show based on the sporting event. Robotic jockeys are used to control racing animals, preferably miniature horses or Hackney ponies, in a racing event made up of one or more races. Players holding race cards that contain pairings of a race identification and an indicium identifying an animal in the corresponding race. The players may win individual races or the entire event or both, depending upon the outcome of the races, the content of the race cards held by the players, and other factors. The animal-identifying indicium borne by each animal may be selected by chance prior to each race. Race cards may be distributed in advance of the event, either at the racing facility where the event is held, at remote locations such as supermarkets, or both. The event may be broadcast live, and winners may be present at the event, or in the broadcast audience, or both.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method of conducting a racing event comprising the steps of:

providing a racing facility;
providing a plurality of animals, each animal bearing a distinct animal-identifying indicium;
providing a controlling unit of a robotic jockey mounted on and controlling each animal;
providing remote control means of the robotic jockeys for controlling each of the controlling units;
providing a plurality of race cards, each race card bearing a plurality of race pairings, each race pairing including a race-identifying indicium and a corresponding indicium which is one of said animal-identifying indicia, no two of said race cards bearing identical race pairings for every race of the event;
distributing to each of a plurality of players at least one of said race cards;
using the remote control means and controlling units to conduct a racing event comprising a plurality of races of at least two of said animals from a start to a finish;
for each race of the event, declaring one of said animals to be the winner of the race;
for each race of the event, declaring every race card to be a winning race card for the race which bears a race pairing corresponding to the race that includes an animal-identifying indicium matching the animal-identifying indicium borne by the winning animal;
declaring an event-winning race card to be a card which has been declared to be a winning race card for every race of the event.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.