Patent Application
20190184273
Amusement game devices, such as pinball machines, redemption games, etc., of the commercial, e.g., revenue generating, and non-commercial, e.g., home entertainment, type are well known in the art. By way of example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,338,031, 6,158,737, and U.S. Published Application No. 2007/0026918 illustrate and describe amusement game devices of the type having a cabinet which houses a playfield.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,793 illustrates and describes a pinball machine that includes an operator selectable score altering mode on a given ball, for example a “double or nothing” scoring feature. A plurality of targets is associated with the selection and two registers are provided for monitoring game score as well as ball score for the play on the given ball. The success or failure of the ball impacting the targets is monitored and, at the conclusion of play on the given ball, the game score register is altered by the contents of the ball score register.
While each of these publications, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, describe amusement devices that work for their intended purpose, the following describes an improved multi-mode feature of an amusement device.
The following describes a multi-mode amusement game. Generally, a display device of the amusement game is caused to present in a main screen information (e.g., video, scoring, objectives, and/or the like) that is associated with a first one of a plurality of active game play modes of the amusement game and to present in a secondary screen information that is associated with a second one of the plurality of active game play modes of the amusement game. A plurality of lighted features (e.g., playfield lighting, target lighting, and/or the like) and at least one sound generating device are controlled using instructions that are associated only with the first one of the plurality of active game play modes while input received by a plurality of game play devices (e.g., bumpers, switches, and/or the like), resulting from an interaction between the plurality of game play features and an object that is moving relative to a playfield of the amusement game, is used to affect play of and/or scoring of play of the amusement game using instructions that are associated with each of the plurality of active game play modes.
A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, properties and relationships of a multi-mode amusement game will be obtained from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings which set forth illustrative examples which are indicative of the various ways in which the principles of the subject multi-mode amusement game may be employed.
For a better understanding of the subject multi-mode amusement game described hereinafter reference may be had to the following drawings in which:
With reference to the Figures, an amusement game device, in the exemplary form of a pinball machine 10 is now described. It is to be appreciated, however, that this exemplary form for the amusement game device 10 is not intended to be limiting. Rather, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the multi-mode game play feature described hereinafter can be utilized in any type of amusement game device of the commercial and non-commercial type.
In keeping with the example of an amusement game device 10 of the pinball machine type, the amusement game device 10 illustrated in
For controlling the various devices that form the amusement game 10, the amusement game 10 is provided with a processing device 42 which processing device 42 is, in turn, coupled to game input devices 44, such as switches associated with the cabinet 12, playfield 14, etc., and game output devices 46, such as lights, flippers 18, display 28, etc. via one or more bus systems as shown in
During game play one or more game play modes may be active. In this regard, a game play mode generally defines a set of objectives that are to be obtained by the player, e.g., which targets that are to be hit, the order in which targets are to be hit, etc., defines the number of balls 20 that will be placed onto the playfield 14, defines the sounds and/or lighting to be presented to the player via use of the game output devices 46, etc. Thus, as known in the art, a game play mode generally determines the input devices 44 that are to be interacted with by the ball to affect further game play and/or scoring as well as the output devices 46 that are to be operated (and the manner of such operation). Furthermore, it is known that most modern pinball machines have lots of different game play modes and a player typically attempts to complete various modes throughout a game. Accordingly, many machines have lights on the playfield that show what modes have been completed so far, what modes are currently active, and/or what modes a player has yet to complete. While not required, a player might need to do something, e.g., hit one or more targets (sometimes in a sequence), to light a “start mode” shot and then, when that shot is made, the mode starts. Game play modes may also be started automatically, e.g., upon game start, ball launch, etc., or in response to user input, e.g., a button press or the like. A given game play mode generally runs for a while and, while it is running, there may be some kind of sub-goals associated with that game play mode, e.g., hit as many targets as you can, shoot a ramp, get as many pop bumper hits as possible, etc. Some game play modes run for a predetermined amount of time (e.g. 30 seconds) or until the ball drains, some game play modes are multiball and stop when there is only one ball left, some game play modes run until the ball ends, some game play modes run until you complete the mode's objectives, etc. Accordingly, within this document, a game play mode is intended to refer to any of these known forms of game play modes.
To provide a means for a user to easily view details concerning an active game play mode, particularly when multiple game play modes are concurrently active on the amusement game device 10, the display 28 is caused (via use of the processing device and appropriate instructions stored in memory) to present a game play mode dependent display, an example of which is illustrated in
In a preferred example, the main screen 300 will display video, rules, and/or scoring associated with a selected one of plural, active game play modes while the output devices 46 are utilized in accordance with the programming that is also associated with the selected one of plural, active game play modes, e.g., lights are illuminated, sound/music is emitted from the speakers, etc. Furthermore, while the amusement game 10 is in one of the various game play modes, the user can start another game play mode (as described above) which further game play mode may automatically take over the main screen 300 (thus causing the prior game play mode to be automatically added to the display 28 as a secondary screen 302) or be automatically added to the display 28 as a secondary screen 302 as desired. In this manner, it will be appreciated that the player may view and follow their play of multiple game play modes, e.g., awards, video, objectives, rules, etc., via use of the display 28. As noted, it is preferred that, even when multiple game play modes are active on the amusement game device 10, the game play mode that is associated with the main screen 300 will control the music that is played, the lights that are made active, etc., even though the other game play modes will still be running, e.g., will continue to be scored and/or affected via interactions with playfield features. Furthermore, when a game play mode is caused to be ended, e.g., because all objectives have been met, the game play mode has timed out, the ball 20 has drained, etc., the screen 300 or 302 associated with that game play mode may be removed from the display 28. If the finished game play mode was being shown in the main screen 300, another game play mode would be moved from a secondary screen 302 to the main screen 300 and the amusement game 10 would control the output devices 46 accordingly, i.e., in accordance with the instructions associated with that game play mode. The game play mode that is selected for use in connection with the main image 300 in this case may be a one of plural remaining game play modes that was most recently associated with the main image 300, has the most objectives that have been met, or the like as desired. Thus, it will be appreciated that the secondary screens 302 will appear in and disappear from the display 28 as various game play modes start and finish.
To allow a user to determine which of various game play modes are to be associated with the main screen 300, a user may provide a predetermined input to the amusement device 10, e.g., activate a predetermined input element, speak a predetermined word, etc. By way of example, a player may hold down an action button on the lockdown bar for at least a ⅓ of a second which will cause the amusement device 10 to move the game play mode that is being displayed on a secondary screen 302 to the main screen 300 while moving the game play mode that is being displayed on the main screen 300 to a secondary screen 302. The movement of game play modes between the screens 300/302 can follow any desired pattern, e.g., clockwise, counter-clockwise, FIFO, or the like. Alternatively, a predetermined input can be associated with each secondary screen 302 that is being displayed and, upon receipt of that predetermined input, the game play mode associated with that secondary screen 302 can be swapped with the game play mode that is associated with the main screen 300. As noted above, when a new game play mode takes over the main screen 300, the sounds, e.g., music, etc., and playfield lights now change to reflect that game play mode. In this manner, a player can choose whichever game play mode he/she wants to be the main focus of the game while the other modes are running simultaneously (and the player is still making progress on those game play modes as the ball remains in play, i.e., input received via at least playfield input elements are utilized by the programming associated with each game play mode). This also has the advantage of providing context-sensitive help as instructions may be displayed on the main screen 300 for any desired game play mode that is currently active. It is also to be understood that, while the main screen 300 is illustrated as being much larger than the secondary screens 302, the main screen 300 and secondary screens 302 can be provided with any size as desired.
To illustrate the foregoing by way of example it is considered that a player is currently in “The Joker” mode which is displayed on the main screen 300 on the LCD display 28 while the music and playfield lights currently running are the ones tied into that mode. When the player makes the lit shots, video clips play in the main screen 300. While this is happening, the player starts “Bat Turn” mode. “Bat Turn” now takes over the main screen 300 on the display, the “Bat Turn” music is now playing, and the “Bat Turn” shot arrows on the playfield take priority in being displayed. At this time, a secondary screen 302 pops up next to the main screen 300 and the secondary screen 302 shows the videos and scoring for the still-active “The Joker” mode. The player decides that he/she would prefer to have “The Joker” mode be the main focus of attention and likes the music better so he/she holds down an “action button” for ⅓ second to change “The Joker” mode back to the main screen 300 whereupon “Bat Turn” gets moved over to the secondary screen 302. While both of these game play modes are running the player starts “Multiball.” “Multiball” now shows on the main screen 300, its music and playfield lamps are running, and “The Joker” and “Bat Turn” are both running on secondary screens 302 (two small screens are being displayed next to the big screen at this point). Now the player has one mode running on the main screen 300 and two on secondary screens 302 and he/she can toggle between them to determine what shows on the main screen 300 and what is on the secondary screens 302 any time by holding down the action button for ⅓ second.
While examples of the subject multi-mode amusement device have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/586,483, filed on Nov. 15, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62586483 | Nov 2017 | US |
