Amusement game

Abstract

The poker amusement game includes five rubber balls and a playing field with twenty-five openings in which the rubber balls may reside. A microprocessor has inputs connected to a plurality of switches for determining the location of the five balls, a plurality of outputs connected to solenoids to be used for ejecting the balls from the openings, and an output connected to a video display for displaying messages to the player concerning the play of the game, the points received, etc. When the microprocessor detects that a coin has been inserted and that the DEAL/DRAW switch has been pushed, the locations of the five balls are sensed and the corresponding ejectors are energized to eject the balls in a manner that causes the balls to randomly bounce in the playing area. Balls coming to rest in the openings cause switches to close which in turn, will cause the microprocessor to display on the video the identity of the poker card represented by the occupied openings. The player may discard balls by first activating appropriate DISCARD switches and then activating the DEAL/DRAW switch. In response, the microprocessor energizes the corresponding solenoids to eject the chosen discarded balls from their openings. The final hand is evaluated when the discarded balls come to rest in their new positions. Tickets or tokens are awarded based on the value of the final hand.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.