Electronic apparatus and method of assisting in the play of a game and tickets used therewith

A ticket used in a game activity having a chance of winning or scoring in multiple plays played with an electronic apparatus assisting in the play of the game and which ticket bears indicia relating to the game of chance, said ticket comprising:

• a) a substrate having a first surface and a second surface;
• b) game ticket information bearing indicia on the first surface of the substrate;
• c) a removable cover strip disposed over said first surface making said first surface an inner surface and the second surface an exterior surface, said cover strip rendering the game ticket indicia on the first surface of the substrate completely concealed and non-viewable until the cover strip is removed from its concealing position over the game ticket indicia on the inner surface of the substrate and so that when the cover strip is removed the game ticket indicia on the inner surface of said substrate is viewable;
• d) means causing said cover strip to be releasably secured to said substrate in such manner that when the cover strip is removed from the substrate, it cannot be recombined to the substrate in the original form, such that tampering of the ticket will become apparent if the cover strip is removed from its concealing position;
• e) each of said tickets forming part of a group of said tickets and where the indicia on certain of the tickets differs from the indicia on other of the tickets and only certain of the tickets in the group containing winning indicia and where the tickets containing the winning indicia are randomly distributed throughout the group of tickets;
• and
• f) a code representative of the indicia on the inner surface of the substrate located on said ticket and which is unintelligible by visual examination and only machine readable, said code being usable to create a display representative of and corresponding to indicia on the inner surface of the substrate.

An electronic apparatus capable of playing a game having a chance of winning or scoring in multiple plays using a plurality of individual tickets with each containing indicia thereon which may represent any winning or scoring combination, and where each ticket has a machine readable code representative of or correlated to the indicia on that ticket with a cover strip removable from a position over the indicia to uncover the indicia in a specified pattern as the cover strip is removed, and where only one or more of the tickets may contain winning or scoring indicia thereon, said apparatus comprising:

• a) means for initiating a play of the apparatus with a ticket containing indicia from the plurality of tickets thereof and where the indicia are an integral part of the play of the game of chance;
• b) means for reading the machine readable code on the ticket to enable a generation of indicia generally correlated to or representative of that indicia on the ticket so that the generated indicia may be displayed;
• c) a display means on said apparatus displaying the indicia generated from the code so that the generated and displayed indicia is generally correlated to or representative of that on the ticket so that a player of the game using the apparatus may observe the indicia on the ticket and/or the indicia on the display means in the play of the game and determine whether the player won or scored in the game of chance;
• and
• d) indicia control means for causing the indicia to be displayed on the display means in the same pattern as the indicia on the ticket is displayed.

An electronic apparatus capable of playing a game having a chance of winning or scoring in multiple plays using a plurality of individual tickets with each containing indicia thereon which may represent winning or scoring combinations and where each ticket has a machine readable code representative of or correlated to the indicia on that ticket, and where only certain of the tickets may contain winning or scoring indicia thereon, said apparatus comprising:

• a) means for initiating a play of the apparatus with a ticket containing indicia from the plurality of tickets thereof and where the indicia are an integral part of the play of the game;
• b) display means on said apparatus for displaying indicia generated from the code correlated to or representative of the indicia on the tickets so that the generated indicia may be displayed;
• c) said tickets being preprinted with the indicia prior to use in said apparatus so that an element of chance in the game is determined at the time of production of the tickets, permitting the game to be played independently of and without the apparatus by enabling the player of the game to visually examine the indicia on the ticket and determine whether or not the ticket of the player is or is not a winning or scoring ticket;
• and
• d) means for causing the indicia presented on the display means to be sequentially displayed across the display means and where the indicia on the display means corresponds to a sequential display of those indicia on the ticket, such that a player of the apparatus may observe the indicia on the ticket and/or the indicia on the display means in the play of the game and determine whether the player won or scored in the game of chance.

A method of playing a game having a chance of winning or scoring in multiple plays with an electronic apparatus using a plurality of individual tickets with each containing indicia thereon which may represent any winning or scoring combination and where each ticket has a machine readable code representative of or correlated to the indicia on that ticket and where only one or more of the tickets may contain winning or scoring indicia thereon, said method comprising:

• a) playing a game with a ticket containing indicia from the plurality of tickets;
• b) removing a cover strip over the indicia so that the indicia are sequentially displayed across the ticket;
• c) determining if the indicia was a winning or scoring indicia;
• d) reading the machine readable code on a ticket which is being played and generating indicia representative of or correlated to that indicia on the ticket so that the generated indicia may be displayed;
• and
• e) displaying the indicia generated from the machine readable code sequentially across a display screen so that a player of the apparatus may observe the indicia on the ticket and/or the indicia on the display means in the play of the game in essentially the same order and determine whether the player won or scored in the game of chance.