Abstract:
An interactive tournament which involves sending questions to interactive devices such as cell phones or PDAs. The question that is received must be answered in a specified period of time e.g. 10 minutes. Proper answers go on to the next round, improper or late answers cause the player to be eliminated. The game continues till either only a plurality of players are left or only one player is left. As time goes on the game becomes progressively more difficult. The difficulty may be more difficult questions and/or may be more difficult times.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Many different games are playable over networks. Such games may be playable over public or private networks. NTN, the Buzztime assignee of the present application, produces different kinds of games including trivia games that are playable over such a network. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0002]    The present application describes a multiplayer game that can be played over a personal communicating device such as a cell phone. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0003]    These and other aspects will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0004]      FIG. 1  shows an embodiment; and 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  shows a flowchart which may be executed as a routine that runs on the server. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0006]    The general structure and techniques, and more specific embodiments which can be used to effect different ways of carrying out the more general goals, are described herein. 
         [0007]    An embodiment is shown in  FIG. 1 . A server  100  is the main playing server that runs a routine that allows interactive play on a plurality of subscriber devices. An embodiment describes playing a trivia based game in this way. However, other embodiments describe using math questions, puzzles, knowledge questions, teaching aids, and/or others to be played in this way. 
         [0008]    The server  100  connects via one or more channels  105  to respective service providers  110 ,  115 . Alternatively, the server may connect to more service providers or to a fewer number of service providers. Each service provider may itself can be connected to subscriber devices. The service provider  110  is shown connected to a subscriber device  125 , here shown as a cell phone, and also to a second subscriber device  130  which may be a cell phone, PDA, or any other device. The service provider  115  is also shown connected to a subscriber. 
         [0009]    In operation, the server  100  operates to host a game that is a single elimination tournament. All of the subscribers who subscribe to the tournament will receive the same question on their mobile phone at approximately the same time, and have a predetermined time to send the correct answer back to the server  100 . The basic idea is that each of the players to correctly answer the question within the allowed time frame are allowed remain in the tournament. These players will receive another question at some future point in time. The game continues until only one player remains. One by one, the players are eliminated in this way. The last player remaining, also called last player standing, is the winner. 
         [0010]    An embodiment requires that only one player be left. According to another embodiment, it may be possible to allow multiple different players to simultaneously win, for example if a certain number of players are not removed at each round, the remaining players may be declared joint winners (assuming that there are less than a certain number of those players). 
         [0011]    A game of this type may be a cash play if laws so allow. This embodiment operates to ensure that the winner is selected solely based on skill as compared with other players in the same competition. In an embodiment, all players receive the same questions at substantially the same time and continue to compete until all but one player incorrectly answers a question. According to an alternative embodiment, a game can be carried out as a sweepstakes game, in essence without any skill being necessary. 
         [0012]    The embodiment may follow the flowchart of  FIG. 2 , which may be executed as a routine that runs on the server  100 . 
         [0013]    At  200 , prior to the start of the game, the players register to be included in the tournament. This registration can be via a website, for example. As part of the registration process, each player may enter their player information, such as a pre-assigned or desired player name, their real name and contact information, and/or cell phone number. In an embodiment, there is also an entrance fee, which can be paid using a credit card or PayPal account. 
         [0014]    At  205 , the main server sends a confirmation text, e.g. via SMS, to the mobile phone. This allows the mobile phone user to opt into the tournament via the wireless carrier&#39;s terms of service. The opt-in may be via a return text that is sent, or may alternatively be in some other way. The tournament is then started at  210 . The tournament may be started when there are a predetermined number of players, or may be started based on timing; for example at five minutes after each hour. The tournament may also choose to limit the number of players in the tournament to make the odds more uniform. 
         [0015]    After beginning the tournament, at  220 , the server sends each player the same trivia question with multiple choice answers. This trivia question is sent to every player who has opted in to the tournament. Each player will have a predetermined amount of time to respond. Different times may be allowed for different latency from different carriers. The objective of the selected time is to allow enough time for carrier latency, but not to allow so much time to allow the respondents to research the answer. 
         [0016]    An embodiment may allow 10 minutes, for example, as the deadline for the server to receive its answers. More generally, however, any answers received within a time are counted, and once the deadline is closed, no further answers can be counted. The time is preferably less than one hour, more preferably 10 minutes or less. 
         [0017]    At  235 , the central server tallies the results, and separates between those who answer correctly and those who do not answer correctly. Those who do not answer correctly are eliminated from the competition. Players are sent a text message at  240  with the results. This text message may indicate whether the player has answered correctly; and may also indicate other information about the tournament, for example the percentage and/or the number of players that answered correctly and incorrectly. 
         [0018]    In an embodiment, easier questions are sent earlier in the tournament, and the questions may become more difficult as time goes on.  245  shows the operation of increasing the difficulty of the question, so that the next question is at least slightly more difficult than the previous question. 
         [0019]    The next question will be sent at some future time, for example within 24 hours. The time when the information is sent may be random, for example. At the assign time, the next question is selected at  255 . The flow then returns to  220  which sends the trivia question and begins receiving answers. 
         [0020]    The game has a number of objectives. One objective is to determine the winner by their trivia knowledge, but another is to have a phone close and ready to allow a response prior to the deadline. The trivia knowledge may be assured by selecting the time for a response and a time that is fast enough to prevent a user from researching the answer. In addition, as the tournament progresses, all of the factors may become more difficult, including the difficulty of the trivia, as well as the time when the previous question is sent. For example, in one embodiment, the trivia question might be sent at 4 a.m. in order to make it even more difficult to answer. There may be an additional advantage of sending messages in the middle of the night, since the costs to send such messages may be lower. A variable cost of sending messages to unknown numbers of recipients may be managed by sending them in this way. 
         [0021]    The embodiment as described in this game being a trivia type game. However, it should be noted that as described previously the game may be totally based on luck such as a sweepstakes, or may be based on other factors. The game can be played on mobile phones, on PDAs or other online connected devices, on PCs, game consoles, interactive television set-top boxes, or as a single tournament exclusive to only one platform such as a mobile phone. The game may alternatively be played as a cross-platform tournament across two or more platforms. 
         [0022]    Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above, other embodiments are possible and the inventor intends these to be encompassed within this specification. The specification describes specific examples to accomplish a more general goal that may be accomplished in another way. This disclosure is intended to be exemplary, and the claims are intended to cover any modification or alternative which might be predictable to a person having ordinary skill in the art. For example, other forms of games can be played on other platforms. 
         [0023]    Also, the inventor intends that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112, sixth paragraph. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims. The computers described herein may be any kind of computer, either general purpose, or some specific purpose computer such as a workstation. The computer may be an Intel (e.g., Pentium or Core 2 duo) or AMD based computer, running Windows XP or Linux, or may be a Macintosh computer. The computer may also be a handheld computer, such as a PDA, cellphone, or laptop. 
         [0024]    The programs may be written in C or Python, or Java, Brew or any other programming language. The programs may be resident on a storage medium, e.g., magnetic or optical, e.g. the computer hard drive, a removable disk or media such as a memory stick or SD media, wired or wireless network based or Bluetooth based Network Attached Storage (NAS), or other removable medium. The programs may also be run over a network, for example, with a server or other machine sending signals to the local machine, which allows the local machine to carry out the operations described herein. 
         [0025]    Where a specific numerical value is mentioned herein, it should be considered that the value may be increased or decreased by 20%, while still staying within the teachings of the present application, unless some different range is specifically mentioned. Where a specified logical sense is used, the opposite logical sense is also intended to be encompassed.