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AssigneeWilliams Electronics Games, Inc.
InventorsGeorge A. Gomez, Charles R. Bleich, Bradley D. Cornell, Andrew W. Eloff, Bradley A. Hume, John R. Krutsch, James M. L. Shird, Thomas W. Uban
Estimating the term…
A pinball machine has been designed with several novel mechanical and electrical features such that it is easily retrofittable or convertible between a first pinball game and a second pinball game. The pinball machine includes a cabinet, a playfield, a panel, an electronics system, and a video display. The playfield is mounted in the cabinet with the panel mounted to the cabinet and overlaying at least a portion of the playfield. The video display is mounted generally above the cabinet and is disposed to project video images onto the panel for viewing by the player. The electronics system includes a control unit and a plurality of input/output elements which are mounted to the playfield. The control unit, which includes a controller and memory for storing game instructions and video images, is coupled to the plurality of input/output elements. The controller executes the game instructions to cause the video images to be displayed upon the video display. A retrofitting kit for the pinball machine provides a replacement memory that stores second game instructions and second game video images therein for operation in is the pinball machine. Thus, the types of video images of displayed by the pinball machine, the times the video images are displayed, and the manner in which they are displayed can be entirely modified. The kit may also include a new playfield to alter the physical environment which the rolling ball of the machine interacts to complement the new video images.
A method of retrofitting an amusement machine, said amusement machine including a cabinet, a first playfield, a projection arrangement, a game piece, a first sensor, and a control unit, said first playfield being mounted in said cabinet, said projection arrangement projecting a virtual video image to appear to be superimposed upon said first playfield, said virtual video image including a virtual video target, said game piece being movable relative to said first playfield, said first sensor being mounted to said first playfield and generating a first sensor signal in response to sensing at least one of the presence and absence of said game piece at a location on said first playfield, said control unit selecting said virtual video image from first image data partly in response to said first sensor signal, said method comprising:
A method of retrofitting an amusement machine, said amusement machine including a playfield, a projection arrangement, a game piece, a sensor, and a control unit, said projection arrangement projecting a virtual video image to appear to be superimposed upon said playfield, said virtual video image including a virtual video target, said game piece being movable relative to said playfield, said sensor being mounted to said playfield and generating a sensor signal in response to sensing at least one of the presence and absence of said game piece at a location on said playfield, said control unit selecting said virtual video image from first image data partly in response to said sensor signal, said method comprising modifying said control unit to select said virtual video image from second image data partly in response to said sensor signal.
A kit for retrofitting an amusement machine playing a first game with a second game, said amusement machine including a cabinet, a first playfield, a projection arrangement, a game piece, a first sensor, and a control unit, said first playfield being mounted in said cabinet, said projection arrangement projecting a virtual video image to appear to be superimposed upon said first playfield, said virtual video image including a virtual video target, said game piece being movable relative to said first playfield, said first sensor being mounted to said first playfield and generating a first sensor signal in response to sensing at least one of the presence and absence of said game piece at a location on said first playfield, said control unit including a first memory for storing first image data, said control unit selecting said virtual video image from said first image data partly in response to said first sensor signal, said kit comprising a second memory having second image data stored therein, said control unit selecting said virtual video image from said second image data, instead of said first image data, when said first memory is replaced with said second memory.
A retrofittable amusement machine, comprising:
A retrofittable pinball machine, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.