Game of Chance

In the television and broadcasting industries today there is a continuing and growing competition for the advertising dollar. There are several rating systems for determining the relative popularity of television programs and, it is to the interest of the various television networks to present the most popular programs in order to attract a greater listening audience and, hence, to attract advertisers to present their commercials. It is highly unlikely that a television network can maintain a level of programming over the course of a full evening that will dissuade at least a segment of the listening audience from switching to other networks. It would be of extreme value, therefore, to provide some further incentive to keep a viewer and/or listener from switching to another channel during the course of the evenings programming. Accordingly, I have invented this game of chance particularly adapted for playing in conjunction with a series of television programs as a variation of the games shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,877, granted Feb. 7, 1984, and my co-pending application Ser. No. 601,011, filed Apr. 16, 1984.

It is an object of this invention to provide a game of change that is keyed to the prime time programming of a television network and designed to keep the viewer's attention throughout an evening's programming.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a game of chance that is particularly adapted for play in conjunction with a series of television programs on a single network or station.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the description to follow, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In carrying out this invention, I provide a multiplicity of playing cards each of which contains three or more rows of spaces, arranged in columns, with one column for each commercial break to be presented during the television programming for a portion of the day. Within the spaces are arranged at random a plurality of signals, such as the initials of a television network. The spaces are all covered by an opaque mask so that the symbols contained therein are invisible. At each commercial break, there is presented an audible or visual signal calling out a particular symbol and each player attempts to guess the row in that column on his card in which the called signal will appear and scrapes away the mask to reveal the symbol thereunder. If he is successful in doing so, it is termed a "match." Then, toward the end of the evening's programming, and usually when the symbol for the last column is called out, a second signal relating to relative performance in successful matches is also communicated. For example, such signal may be "most" or "least."

A second array of spaces, one for each row is also masked to hide the marking therein, but underneath the masking, one of the spaces is marked to show that the particular row it represents has produced the desired performance. Hence, the selection of the proper row is not pure chance but affords the player the opportunity to analyze the spaces he has already uncovered to give him some clue as to which row may have the most or least number of matches, as indicated by the signal communicated. Hence, a player is compelled to maintain his attention to the entire evening's programming so that he can determine where matches have been made or missed during all commercial breaks to enhance his chances of guessing correctly on the final unmasking.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the game card showing rows of boxes with markings therein; and

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the game card with the spaces masked and with some of the masks removed; and

FIGS. 1A and 2A show television screens with symbols communicated visually.

Referring now to the drawing with greater particularly, the game card 10 of this invention is marked with a plurality of spaces or boxes 12 arranged in a plurality of rows 14a, 14b and 14c marked R-1, R-2 and R-3, and columns 16a . . . 16f. Within the boxes are marked at random a plurality of symbols 18 one for each space in a column 16a-f thereof and, preferably, with different symbols in each row 14a, 14b and 14c of each column. It is to be understood that the terms "rows" and "columns" are here used interchangeably and that the rows 14a, 14b and 14c could just as well be disposed vertically.

As shown specifically in FIG. 2, all of the spaces 12 are covered with an opaque mask to render the symbols therein invisible so that the particular symbol or letter appearing in a space is unknown until the mask 20 is removed. Moreover, the symbols are placed at random and not repeated in sequence in different columns so that the successful uncovering of a called symbol is purely by chance. The mask 20 may comprise a piece of opaque tape but preferably, it comprises a coating of some form of ink that can be removed by scraping or wiping away. In this way, a choice once made is irrevocable and a player is committed.

In playing the game, a symbol or letter is called out for each column at intervals and the player attempts to remove the mask 20 from the space in the appropriate column in an effort to uncover the symbol called out. A successful attempt may be called a "match."

A second array 22 of further spaces or boxes 24a, 24b and 24c is arranged to represent the rows 14a, 14b and 14c from which selections are made at random. As shown in FIG. 1, at least one of these spaces 24b contains a success marking 26 showing that that particular row, r-2, has a desired performance of matches. It may also include a prize marking 28 to inform the player of his award. The other spaces may be marked to show failure or simply left blank. The further spaces 24a, 24b and 24c are also covered with opaque masks 26 so that any markings contained therein are hidden until uncovered.

As previously mentioned, this game is particularly adapted for play in conjunction with a series of programs such as the prime time in the evening. For example, with prime time beginning at eight o'clock p.m., there may be a commercial break at, say, eight-twenty p.m. At sometime during that commercial break there is a visual or audible signal calling out a certain symbol to be matched. As shown in FIG. 1A, a visual signal 29, in this case "C" may be called out during the first commercial break represented by the column 16a and the player will attempt to uncover that space in the column 16a in which the symbol "C" is shown. Where the player is successful in uncovering the called symbol he may place a mark in the box to show a successful match.

This procedure is repeated throughout the evening's broadcast with a symbol being called out during each commercial break. Finally, toward the end of the evening's broadcasting, and, preferably, at the last commercial break, a second signal 30 is called out or shown visually to indicate the desired performance of matches. For example, the signal could be "most" or "least." Then, assuming the signal "most" is called out, the player may then analyze his card to attempt to guess at the row in which the most matches have been made. In the card shown in FIG. 2, two matches have been made in row R-1; one match has been made in row R-2 and one match has been made in row R-3, after uncovering the last column 16f. Hence, the player could very easily believe that row R-1 contains the most matches and, therefore, would be induced to uncover the further square 24a representing the row R-1. As shown in FIG. 1, this would result in failure to make a match. Having already lost in the big prize, the player may then scratch away the mask 26 or 24b and 24c to determine what he might have won.

While this invention has been described in conjunction with a preferred embodiment thereof, it is obvious that modifications and changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art to which it pertains without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, as defined by the claims appended hereto.