Patent Grant
8556696
The present invention pertains to a system and method for solving a puzzle using clues, letters and a visual representation, and more particularly, the invention relates to solving the answer to a puzzle, in which the answer is in a category, and as letters or numbers are chosen, the player can more easily determine the visual representation or image.
Solving word puzzles by placing the correct letters into an answer grid has been around for many years. Examples of such games include the children's game Hangman and the television game show Wheel Of Fortune. In those examples, a player guesses a letter, which if correct is added to the puzzle grid until the player recognizes the solution to the puzzle. In some of these types of games, a player is only allowed a certain number of guesses before the puzzle must be solved. In other embodiments, players play the game against others, one at a time, guessing letters to determine who can solve the puzzle first. Currently, there are no games that provide an answer category clue and then incorporate the determining and deducing of letters or numbers to solve the puzzle, while providing an increasingly-apparent visual clue as the letters or numbers are removed from the grid, thereby providing an additional clue to solve the puzzle.
The present invention includes a method and system for providing a game or puzzle, the solution of which is in a particular answer category, which is provided to the player as a clue. The player is also provided a letter grid containing multiple letters (or numbers or characters) and an answer grid which contains blanks for each letter that will be used to fill-in the correct answer. The object of the game is to place each of the letters from the letter grid onto the answer grid, usually in the correct order, to complete the answer grid and the puzzle. As the player selects a letter from the letter grid, that letter disappears and a portion of an image appears. As additional letters are removed from the letter grid, additional portions of the image are displayed. The image is another clue to used for the solution to the puzzle. As the image is revealed, the player will have a better chance to solve the puzzle.
Points can be awarded during the game play. Since the object is to guess the correct letters for the solution in the correct order, in the preferred embodiment, if the player correctly guesses the letter for the next available blank (shown with a question mark), maximum points are awarded. Less points, or no points are awarded for guessing a correct letter, but in the wrong order. Further, in an alternative embodiment, the player may have a limited amount of time to complete the puzzle or in yet another embodiment, the player may be asked to guess the next available blank (as described above), but the player will only be allowed a predefined number of chances to select the correct letter correctly before the game is ended prematurely.
The present invention can be a feature of or on virtually any game on any platform, including but not limited to board games, online games, download games, mobile phone games, game shows, and even lottery tickets and slot machines.
The present invention can be used by itself or in connection with additional games, and can even be used as, or used with a bonus game feature. There may be a bonus, for example for quickly and properly locating a letter on the answer grid, the faster the correct answer is placed, the higher the bonus amount. Further, the question mark used to indicate where the letter is to be placed, may be randomly placed on a blank on the answer grid, so that even if the player has solved the puzzle (and is merely filling in the grid), it may take some time to determine which letter belongs in the particular (random) location.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a puzzle game that uses an answer category clue, a letter grid and an answer grid, along with the systematic display of an image clue, to allow a player to determine the solution to the puzzle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a puzzle game that uses an answer category clue, a letter grid, an answer grid, and the systematic display of an image clue, to allow a player to determine the solution to the puzzle while obtaining points for guessing the correct letters from the letters grid.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a puzzle game that uses an answer category clue, a letter grid, an answer grid, and the systematic display of an image clue, to allow a player to determine the solution to the puzzle while obtaining points for guessing the correct letters from the letters grid in the correct order.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a puzzle game that uses an answer category clue, a letter grid, an answer grid, and the systematic display of an image clue, to allow a player to determine the solution to the puzzle while obtaining points for guessing the correct letters from the letters grid in the correct order within a predetermined time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a puzzle game that uses an answer category clue, a letter grid, an answer grid, and the systematic display of an image clue, to allow a player to determine the solution to the puzzle as a board game, online game, download game, mobile phone game, television game show, lottery ticket and slot machine.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a puzzle game that uses an answer category clue, a letter grid, an answer grid, and the systematic display of an image clue, to allow a player to determine the solution to the puzzle as a bonus round to an existing game.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art after reading the specification in light of the drawing figures, however, the spirit and scope of the present invention should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
The present invention provides a method and system for providing a game or game puzzle, the solution for which matches a particular answer category clue. A player is provided a letter grid containing multiple letters and an answer grid which contains blanks for each letter that will be used to fill-in the correct answer. The present invention is not necessarily limited to letters as the solution to a puzzle may contain some or all numbers or non-alphanumeric characters.
In the preferred embodiment, the object of the game is to place or locate each of the letters displayed on the letter grid onto the answer grid in the correct order, to complete the answer grid and the puzzle. As the player selects a letter from the letter grid, that letter disappears off of the letter grid and leaves a portion of the letter grid displaying a portion of an image. The image can be any sort of pictorial or graphical display, including photographs, drawings, advertisements, graphic designs, logos and any other type of display. Further, the image can be a motion or moving picture taken from computer memory, YouTube, or any other source.
As additional letters are selected and removed from the letter grid, additional portions of the image will be displayed. The image, as it is further displayed, will be another clue to be used to solve the puzzle. As the image is further revealed, the player will determine what the actual image is thereby increasing the chance to solve the puzzle.
The present invention is shown in
Although the beginning of the game play in the preferred embodiment shows the puzzle game 10 with a few letters 24 removed from the letter grid 14, this is not necessary to begin the game. The letter grid 14 can be completely filled, with no letters 24 in the answer grid 16. Placing a few letters 24 in the answer grid 16 and showing a portion of the image 12, increases the player's chance of guessing the correct letter 24 at the beginning of the mystery answer 22.
The mystery answer 22 is a word, phrase or series of words that match the answer category clue 20. Some examples of mystery answers 22 include well-known phrases, descriptions of the image, statements of fact, humorous observations, names of a location, names of notable people, a word translated in two languages, famous quotes, advertising slogans, movie titles, etc. It can be seen that almost any word or group of words can be used as the mystery answer 22.
The answer category clue 20 is a description relating to the mystery answer 22, and there are no predefined limits on the types of answers 22 for the present invention. Examples of answer category clues 20 and thus the types of answers 22 which they describe include: “Funny Phrase”, “Statement of Fact”, “What are You Looking At?”, “Song Lyrics”, “Movie Star and Title”, “Famous Place”, “Popular Saying”.
The game play for the present invention begins with the letters 24 on the letter grid 14 covering some portion of the image 12. The letters 24 may cover the entire image 16 so that no portion of it is visible at the game's beginning. In the preferred embodiment some portions of the image 12 remain uncovered at the game's beginning so that the game player can see these image 16 portions. When the letters 24 are affixed to rectangular or square shapes 26, they usually form a regular letter grid 14 covering the image 12.
The letters 24 in the letter grid 14, which cover the image 12 (until selected), include all or some of the letters 24 in the mystery answer 22. For example, if the mystery answer is “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, then the letter grid 14 might have 33 letters 24. However, the letter grid 14 may also have 50 letters, some of which will not be used in that example. Also, the letter grid 14 might only contain 20 letters 24, since a certain letters 24 are used multiple times in that particular mystery answer 22. In that last example, the portion of the image 12 may not be shown until the particular letter 24 is selected for the last time.
In the preferred embodiment, the game 10 begins with multiple blanks 18 indicating where the mystery answer 22 will be located when the puzzle is completed. These blanks or letter position marks 18 may be indicated as graphic lines, strokes, rectangular outlines or underscores (as shown in the figures). When several letter position marks 18 represent a single word, they are grouped together with no space between the letter position marks 18. When the mystery answer 22 is composed of two or more words, the groupings of letter position marks 18 are separated by an extra space 28. When the mystery answer 22 contains punctuation, such as quotation marks, dashes, commas, periods or apostrophe marks, these punctuation marks are shown in proper position within, between, before or after the letter position marks 18 representing the mystery answer 22.
When the game begins and the mystery answer 22 representation of blanks 18 is first displayed on the puzzle 10. This representation will contain any and all punctuation and indicate the different words of the mystery answer 22 with spaces 28. In addition, the mystery answer 22 representation may contain one, several or many blanks 18 filled-in with letters 24 representing a portion of the correct mystery answer 22. The game can fill-in these letters 24 in a number of ways, including displaying the letter 24 over the blank 18 (shown), replacing the blank 18 with the letter 24 entirely (not shown), or changing colors of either the blank 18, the letter 24, or the area in which the letter is displayed (not shown), among other ways. These filled-in letters (or numbers) are thus in their correct position within the word or words of the mystery answer 22 and provide the player with assistance towards determining the correct mystery answer 22.
The letter 24 positions of the mystery answer 22 which are not filled-in at the start of the game (and which are shown with letter position marks or blanks 18) represent the assortment of letters and numbers 24 which initially cover all or a portion of the image 12. If there are exactly “X” number of letter position marks 18 in the mystery answer 22 which are not filled-in, then there are exactly the same “X” number of letters or numbers 24 covering the image 12.
The game 10 is played by selecting one letter or number 24 at a time from the letter grid 14 on top of the image 12. That letter 24 will automatically be placed in the proper location in the mystery answer 22 on the answer grid 16, however, the object in the preferred embodiment, is to correctly select the letter or number 24 that belongs to the blank 18 where an indicator 30, such as a question mark is located. As the letter or number 24 is removed from the letter grid 14, its removal reveals a new portion of the image 12 to the player allowing the player to better understand the contents or meaning of the image 12. In the preferred embodiment, points are given to the player for selecting the letter 24 that belongs where the indictor 30 is located.
The actual, entire mystery answer 22 relates to the image 12 and the answer category 20 provides both guidance and description of how the image 12 and the word or words of the mystery answer 22 relate to one another.
As described above, the player is attempting to score the highest number of points while trying to figure out the answer 22. Points are scored by selecting the letter 24 that goes under the indicator or question mark symbol 30. Points can also be reduced for incorrect selections (either because the selection did not fill the next available blank, or if the selection is not in the mystery answer 22). In the preferred embodiment, the question mark symbol 30 is always in the first open blank 32 in the answer 22.
Any letter 24 that the player selects is placed into its proper position in the answer 22, but the player only scores points when the correct letter 24 that belongs in the space under the question mark 30 is selected. Other embodiments for scoring can provide points even if the selection is not for the next blank 32.
The player may select letter 24 from the letter grid 14 or it can be selected by typing on a keyboard or keypad, or even through voice activation.
The following describes an example of a game being played out in the preferred embodiment using a one letter 24 selection at a time.
The player then selects the letter H in
The example in
As described above, a time element can be added to the puzzle game 10. Although not a necessity, adding a time element speeds up the play and changes scoring such that no points are provided if the player does not finish in the allotted time. Also, game play can be altered with a time element. For example, if a player has not made a selection after a certain amount of time, the game could automatically fill in a letter in the mystery answer 22. Thus, there are other ways in which a time element could be added to the present invention.
Two-player puzzle games 10 in accordance with the present invention can be implemented in which one player makes a selection and then the next player makes a selection. One variation would be to have players alternate their guesses but when a player makes a correct selection, the player continues to make selections. Thus, there are a number of different ways to play the puzzle game 10 with two or more players.
Computer system 200 may include one or more memories, such as first memory 230 and second memory 240. It is contemplated that the fist memory 230, secondary memory 240, or a combination thereof function as a computer usable storage medium to store and/or access computer code. The first memory 230 and second memory 240 may be, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a mass storage device, or any combination thereof.
As shown in
A mass storage device 243 may include, for example, a Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (“CDROM”), ZIP storage device, tape storage device, magnetic storage device, optical storage device, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (“MEMS”), nanotechnological storage device, floppy storage device, hard disk device. Mass storage device 243 also includes program cartridges and cartridge interfaces (such as that found in video game devices), removable memory chips (such as an EPROM, or PROM) and associated sockets.
The computer system 200 may further or alternatively include other means for computer code to be loaded into or removed from the computer system 200, for example, input/output (“I/O”) interface 250 and/or communications interface 260.
Both the I/O interface 250 and the communications interface 260 allow computer code to be transferred between the computer system 200 and external devices including other computer systems. This transfer may be bi-directional or omni-direction to or from the computer system 200.
Computer code transferred by the I/O interface 250 and the communications interface 260 are typically in the form of signals, which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical, or other signals capable of being sent and/or received by the interfaces. These signals may be transmitted via a variety of modes including, but not limited to, wire or cable, fiber optics, a phone line, a cellular phone link, infrared (“IR”), and radio frequency (“RF”) link.
The I/O interface 250 may be any connection, wired or wireless, that allows the transfer of computer code. An I/O interface 250 includes, for example, an analog or digital audio connection, digital video interface (“DVI”), video graphics adapter (“VGA”), musical instrument digital interface (“MIDI”), parallel connection, PS/2 connection, serial connection, universal serial bus connection (“USB”), IEEE1394 connection, PCMCIA slot and card. In certain embodiments the I/O interface connects to an I/O unit 255 such as a user interface, monitor, speaker, printer, touch screen display, to name a few.
The communications interface 260 is also any connection that allows the transfer of computer code. Communication interfaces include, but are not limited to, a modem, network interface (such as an Ethernet card), wired or wireless systems (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IR), local area networks, wide area networks, intranets, etc.
The invention is also directed to computer products, otherwise referred to as computer program products, to provide software that includes computer code to the computer system 200. Processor 220 executes the computer code in order to implement the methods of the present invention. As an example, the methods according to the present invention may be implemented using software that includes the computer code, wherein the software is loaded into the computer system 200 using a memory 230, 240 such as the mass storage drive 243, or through an I/O interface 250, communications interface 260, or any other interface with the computer system 200. The computer code in conjunction with the computer system 200 described herein may perform any one of, or any combination of, the steps of any of the methods presented herein. It is also contemplated that the methods according to the present invention may be performed automatically, or may be invoked by some form of manual intervention.
The computer system 200, or network architecture, of
While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific exemplary embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and have herein been described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the disclosure to the particular embodiments disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 61/385,372 filed Sep. 22, 2010.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6935945 | Orak | Aug 2005 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20120071220 A1 | Mar 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61385372 | Sep 2010 | US |
