Previous to this invention, in order to play a pinball machine. A player would travel to the location of the pinball machine, typical an arcade or fair grounds. Locate the machine intended to be play. Stand and wait in a line. Once at the pinball machine, place money into machine and start the game. Playing the machine requires the pulling of the ball launcher, which pushes the ball into the pinball machine playing field. As the ball moves around the playing field the player can manipulating the ball using flippers, activated by pressing buttons. As the buttons are pressed a solenoid activates the flipper, which if timed precisely contacts the ball and moves the ball around the play field were different scoring targets are hit by the ball, causing flashing lights, target movements and sounds, while a score is tallied. The running score is display to the player. This type of playing limits the player to a long process. Hence playing many different pinball machines is nearly impossible.
The invention will be better understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The invention disclosed here solves the problem of being physically located at a pinball machine while still be able to play a real pinball machine.
The invention
The web server is programmed according to the flow chart outlined by
After the web page has loaded in the player web browser, the player can then begin. The player presses the S key 218 on their keyboard, this updates the server that the player is ready to play, allowing the game to begin. When the players presses the space bar key 220 on their keyboard the server re-acts by setting the output 221 that controls the ball launcher 105 an electric solenoid which when energized moves a rod and pushes the ball 107 into the playing field 109 of the pinball machine, when the player releases 231 the space bar key the output 245 is reset (the solenoid is de-energized) and the server waits 222 for a key to be pressed. Typically the playing field on a pinball ball machine is on an incline, this allows gravity to act on the ball and causes the ball to always roll towards the gully 111 of the pinball machine. The player controls the flippers, 112 being the right flipper and 113 being the left flipper by pressing either the A key or L key. When the player presses the L key 224 the server re-acts, by setting the output 226 that controls the right flipper, again a solenoid 114 is energized so that the flipper moves. When the player releases 228 the L key the solenoid is de-energized 230 and the flipper returns to its home position. Like wise the server monitors the A key and performs the similar actions for the left flipper 223, 225, 227, 229. The player monitors the video and presses the keys in timing with the ball to keep the ball in the playing field and out of the gully.
As the ball moves around the playing field it bumps into and activates scoring devices 116. The scoring devices are a combination of switches, sensors, motors, springs and other typical scoring devices commonly know the those skilled in the art of pinball machine manufacture and trigger inputs. The server continually monitors the score inputs 219. Each input is assigned a score value. As the ball hits a scoring device, an input is turned on, the server adds the value 232 to the player score and updates the score 233 to the player. Outputs wired to the lights 115 cause the lights to flash, outputs to the buzzers 117 causes sound and outputs to the score digits increment the digits. The outputs can be programmed to set on 234, wait for a delay to expire 235, then reset the output 236. Multiply scoring devices having the same score value, may be wired to the same input to reduce the overall number of inputs required on the web server.
Should the ball bypass the flippers and end up in the gully, the ball travels towards the launcher. In the path of the ball is a sensor, as shown here a micro switch 106, the balls weight over the switch activates the switch. The server monitors the switch 237, when a ball is detected 238, the server deducts 239 one ball from the ball count. If the ball count is zero 240, the game is over 241. The server no longer reacts to any inputs or outputs.
When the game is over the player score is saved 242, if the score is greater than the high score, the high score value is updated 243. The server turns off the video power and closes the player browser window, releasing 244 the player from the current game and displaying the web site homepage. If there is another player in the play queue they advance, the system resets and allows the next player to enjoy a game of pinball.
While it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61267258 | Dec 2009 | US |