US20110287835A1

US20110287835A1 - Lotta numbers game

Info

Publication number: US20110287835A1
Application number: US13/068,027
Authority: US
Inventors: George Tolbert
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-05-24
Filing date: 2011-05-02
Publication date: 2011-11-24

Abstract

An interactive, lottery-oriented game that, played in a television game show setting, allows viewers to simultaneously play along—competing with each other and, or the players/contestants playing the Lotta Numbers Game on television.

Description

THE INVENTION

Referring to the disclosure set forth in U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/396,171, an interactive, lottery-oriented game is disclosed and is played as follows:
1) Players write down a number from 21 through 321.
2) A lottery machine is used to randomly select 6 balls. The balls are numbered 1 through 56.
3) A sum of the six randomly selected balls is calculated, referred to as Target Number. The lowest possible Target Number is 1+2+3+4+5+6=21. The highest possible Target Number is 56+55+54+53+52+51=321.
4) The player with the number closest (over or under) to the Target Number is awarded points equivalent to the Target Number.
5) If more than one player writes down the same number and that number is closest to the Target Number, those players are awarded points equivalent to the Target Number.
6) If a player's number is exactly the Target Number, the player is awarded points equivalent to double the Target Number.
7) Six rounds are played.
8) The player with the most points at the end of six rounds is the winner.
9) In the event of a tie score at the end of six rounds, an additional round is played to break the tie.

PRIOR ART DISCOVERED

Pat. No.:	Title:	Inventor:	Assignee:	Issued Date:

2,665,915	Gaming Device	Steig	n/a	Jan. 12, 1954
3,127,686	Calculator	Goldfarb	n/a	Apr. 7, 1964
3,295,229	Math Teaching	Fisher	n/a	Jan. 3, 1967
	Device
4,280,702	Gambling Aid	Tremblay	n/a	Jul. 28, 1981
4,403,775	Random Indicia	Chaput	n/a	Sep. 13, 1983
	Selector
4,655,461	Game Board	Capri	Games 'n	Apr. 7, 1987
	Apparatus	et al.	Things
4,858,122	Random Lottery	Kreisner	n/a	Aug 15, 1989
	Computer
4,874,178	Parlor Lottery Game	Gage	n/a	Oct. 17, 1989
5,106,089	Lottery Summing	Wood	BKE, Inc.	Apr. 21, 1992
	Game
5,702,101	Handheld Gaming	Russell	n/a	Dec. 30, 1997
	Display
6,454,264	Lottery Board Game	Aeillo	n/a	Sep. 24, 2002
6,475,085	High/Low Lottery	Moody	n/a	Nov. 5, 2002
	Game
6,478,677	Numerical Keno	Moody	n/a	Nov. 12, 2002
	Game
6,648,756	High/Low Number	Moody	n/a	Nov. 18, 2003
	Game
6,702,669	Numerical Keno	Moody	n/a	Mar. 9, 2004
	Game

With respect to the patentability of my “Lotta Numbers Game”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,089 issued to Wood on Apr. 21,1992, is most relevant.
Wood discloses a lottery summing game in which the numerical total of the numbers drawn in a lottery are summed and a player wagers on what the numerical total will be. More specifically, three lottery numbers are randomly drawn and the sum of the three numbers is calculated. Before the numbers are drawn, players select and wager on what the final sum of the three numbers will be. This final sum is compared to the numbers selected by the players and any player who selects the correct final sum is a winner.
It would be obvious to randomly select any number of lottery numbers, including three, four, five, six or some other number. In Wood, a player wins when they select a number corresponding to the final sum of three randomly selected lottery numbers. It would be an obvious variation of the lottery summing game that a player could also win if they selected a number closest to the final sum of the three randomly selected lottery numbers. In addition, any number of rounds of the game could be played.
However, no where in Wood's patent is there any reference to, or claim that, the lottery summing game is “interactive”. Nor is interactivity obvious.
Consequently, that being the primary difference between Wood's lottery summing game and my Lotta Numbers Game, a patent should be granted.

SUMMARY

The Lotta Numbers Game is lottery-oriented and interactive. I believe that those dual qualities make Lotta Numbers ideal to serve as the foundation upon which Lottery Players TV Network can successfully be built. MPEP 608.01(d).
From a field of numbers 21 through 321, six players write down a number:


PLAYER:	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6

NUMBER:	170	201	175	279	159	195

A lottery machine randomly selects six numbers:38+50+26+44+30+51=239.
239 is the Target Number.
Player #2's number 201 is closest to the Target Number. Therefore, player #2 wins the round and the 239 points in the Target Number.
Six rounds, following the above format, are played.
The player with the most points at the end of the sixth round wins the Lotta Numbers Game.
In the event of a tie score at the end of the sixth round, another round is played to break the tie.

Claims

1. A method that is interactive.

2. A method that is suitable for play on television in a game show format with multiple players competing against each other in multiple rounds.

3. A method that, in a television game show setting, allows viewers to simultaneously play along—competing with each other and, or the players/contestants playing the Lotta Numbers Game on television.