Abstract:
An arcade target game uses an extendable pick-up device to enter a silo of prizes in a vertical direction. The prizes are protected by the silo&#39;s outer wall that limits successful attempts to those tries that avoid the wall. A vacuum source allows the pick-up device to capture the prize if the pick-up device successfully enters the silo. The pick-up device&#39;s effective radius can be adjusted by extending projections that reduce the tolerance between the disk and the silo&#39;s outer wall.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    Crane-type or “claw machine” arcade games are popular amusement devices often provided in game arcades, stores, or other public places. In these types of games, prize objects are provided within the game itself and are viewable by a player through transparent glass enclosure or the like. Upon the insertion of a coin or other monetary input into the game, the player controls a mechanical claw or pick-up device with a joystick, buttons, toggle switch, or other control to maneuver the pick-up device over a prize. The claw or pick-up device is then lowered toward the prize upon activation either automatically by a controller such as a computer or manually by the player, depending on the particular game. The claw or pick-up device is then either automatically opened when it reaches the level of the prizes or is opened under the player&#39;s control. After a predetermined amount of time, the claw may be automatically closed and elevated. Depending upon the claw&#39;s proximity and position with respect to the prize, the claw may or may not be able to grasp a prize and hold onto the prize as the claw is raised. The controller then moves the claw or pick-up device over to a dispensing container and opens the claw, allowing the prize (if any is held) to drop into the dispensing chute and to be guided through the dispenser to an opening accessible to the player. In a common implementation, a sensor within the dispenser detects whether a prize has been won by the player. After the claw is opened over the dispenser, the controller moves the claw to its original starting position and waits for another insertion of the coin (unless the player is provided with multiple tries). 
         [0002]    The prizes that the operator of a claw-type crane game can provide in the game are usually limited in selection due to the limitations of a mechanical claw. Since the claw must surround an object to be able to pick it up, most prizes in a claw-type crane game have been limited to plush animals, stuffed dolls, or other soft, rough-surfaced merchandise that can be surrounded and grabbed by the claw fingers and raised from the supporting surface. Usually, flat, smooth or thin objects are not able to be picked up and held by the claw. However, a large number of flat, smooth, and thin objects are desirable to used as prizes in a crane-type game, such as smooth-surfaced spheres or eggshell containers, boxes, gumballs, cups, bulbs, trading cards, etc. Players desire to win these types of items and operators desire to provide them; however, the standard claw type mechanism cannot be used to pick them up. 
         [0003]    One solution to the inability of claw-type cranes to pick up these objects is to provide a different type of pick-up device. One type of device that is used is a vacuum device that uses air suction to grab and hold an object. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,772 of Glaser (incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), a vacuum embodiment of a crane pick-up game is disclosed in which a vacuum motor is suspended from a string and concealed by a facade or enclosure. The player may move the motor and lower the motor towards a field of prizes similarly to the claw in claw-type crane games. A spinning fan within the motor creates a suction force that is used to pick up and hold prizes. An orifice with a screen is used to prevent items from being sucked into the orifice. Prizes captured and held by the suction are dispensed to the player through a dispenser. 
         [0004]    More recent vacuum crane games have improved on the concept and made the game more challenging. In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,374 (also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), a vacuum crane game is disclosed wherein the vacuum head is used to pick up one of the prizes using a suction force that is provided by a vacuum pump coupled to the vacuum head by a hose and located away from the vacuum head. Moving the pumping apparatus away from the crane head mechanism provides greater maneuverability than previous devices that carried the pumping equipment at the crane head. In general, the vacuum crane game is characterized by a vacuum pick up device positioned above the prize or target area and may be moved along a horizontal axis above the prize area. The pick up device includes a vacuum head that may be raised and lowered toward a turntable in a z-direction. The vacuum head is operative to pick up one of the prizes using a suction force that is provided by a vacuum pump coupled to the vacuum head by a hose. The vacuum pump is located away from the vacuum head to allow the vacuum head to move without interference. The player may control the movement of the pick up device to position the vacuum head over the prize area at a desired position, lower the vacuum head, and pick up a prize using the suction force. The pick up device is moved to a dispenser area and the suction force is removed, common with an electronic relief valve, to allow the prize to be dispensed to the player. The disclosure of my &#39;374 patent is incorporated fully herein by reference. In another embodiment, the vacuum head may be moved in both x- and y-directions above the prize area and the turntable is omitted. Also, the vacuum can be created by a plunger type suction device, but a vacuum hose connection is preferable in some cases because disengagement is easily accomplished by turning off the vacuum to open an electronic relief valve. 
         [0005]    With vacuum crane games, it is desirable to provide prizes having smooth continuous surfaces such that a seal can be formed by the vacuum head against the prize. Without a seal, the vacuum head cannot effectively apply suction to the prize sufficiently to enable the prize to be lifted out of the prize bin. As a consequence, prizes such as jewelry, candy, and toys are typically enclosed in transparent or opaque spheroids such as spheres and egg-shaped plastic containers. Such spheroids will have exteriors that meet the requirement of smooth, continuous surfaces allowing the vacuum head to make sealing contact. An example of this type of prize collection for a vacuum crane game can be found in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,881, entitled “Crane Game with Prize Redistribution Mechanism” and incorporated herein fully by reference. 
         [0006]    The present inventor is also the sole inventor of a vacuum pick-up device, U.S. Pat. No. 8,070,167, that required the crane to fit into a cup or receiving container before picking up the target. The difficulty of the game could be adjusted depending upon the size of the container and the length of projectiles that extended from the pick-up device, making the margin for error smaller or larger depending upon the tolerances. The &#39;167 Patent is incorporated fully herein by reference. The foregoing demonstrate some of the arcade type games credited to the present inventor. However, the advent of the vacuum crane has led to the ability to include prizes of higher value, which in turn attracts more customers and more profit for the owner of the games. However, with greater value prizes comes the need to more accurately control the win percentage of the games to prevent the games from being won too easily. 
         [0007]    Plastic, cardboard, magnetic strip, laminated, and many other “gift cards” have become a new kind of currency which has invaded the arcade industry. These gift cards can be awarded as prizes for various purchases. These cards can then be redeemed by players for merchandise, and can be a valuable source of revenue for the supplier. First, in many cases the gift cards can only be redeemed at the issuer&#39;s establishment, ensuring that the money spent on the gift card is used to purchase the issuer&#39;s goods, and is an effective way to get customers into their stores. The cards can also have advertisements, store information, and other useful information on the card that the issuer can use to advertise its business. The cards are easy to use, make good gifts, and can be discarded when depleted. For this application, the term “gift card” is to be understood as any card having either a magnetic strip, printed information, or other insignia that is used to store or reflect a designated value, or any other flexible thin card that is used in commerce. 
         [0008]    While the cards may be excellent prizes that will attract new players, there is not an established way to incorporate the gift cards into the arcade games themselves. The present invention is to overcome this issue. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    The present invention is an arcade game based on crane technology, but uses a vacuum pick-up device to extract gift cards from a hollow silo or tube. The player aims the pick-up device over the silo, which can vary in size and shape to affect the skill needed for extraction and the size of the prize. In a preferred embodiment, the pick-up device may include projections that alter the difficulty of the game, where the projections can be adjusted to vary in a radial direction. In a preferred embodiment, the gift cards are stacked in the silo, and thus must be lifted over the silo walls by the pick-up device to achieve extraction (whereupon the player can claim the prize). If the pick-up device is correctly aligned over the gift card stack, when lowered the pick-up device vacuum will actuate and the card will be sucked onto the pick-up device and lifted upward by the game. If the player does not align the pick-up device correctly on the other hand, the pick-up device will make contact with the wall of the silo, tilting the pick-up device and causing the pick-up device to withdraw (ending the attempt). 
         [0010]    A very important value to the present invention is the number of cards that can be disbursed before refilling the game. Capsules, stuffed animals and wrapped prizes take up a lot of room, limiting a very small game to few wins, thus crane games have increased in size to accommodate more prizes. Gift cards are effectively paper thin and a hundred or more cards per inch in silo depth can be achieved. Thus a game that is twelve inches square can hold many more prizes than a conventional crane forty-eight inches square. A card issued in a dollar store could be worth any item in the store, increasing the choice of prizes to thousands of items. 
         [0011]    Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the features of the invention 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is an elevated perspective view of a game embodying a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a top view of the pick-up device of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the pick-up device and silo of gift cards; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the pick-up device making contact with a gift card; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the pick-up device transferring the captured gift card to a retrieval bin; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of the pick-up device unsuccessfully attempting to make contact with the top gift card in the stack. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0018]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one embodiment of a game apparatus  10  in accordance with the present invention. Game apparatus  10  includes a housing  12 , front panel  14 , and a playing area  18 . Housing  12  provides a support for the other components of the game apparatus. Housings can take a wide variety of forms; for example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , housing  12  may be of the stand-up variety in which a player stands in front of the game or sits on a stool when playing the game. In other embodiments, other types of housings may be provided. For example, a counter-top housing, including approximately the upper half of housing  12  shown in  FIG. 1 , can be used when the game apparatus  10  is desired to be placed on a table, counter top or other similar surface. 
         [0019]    Front panel  14  includes a player control panel  16  that includes player controls  30 . Front panel  14  includes a coin deposit slot  20 , and a speaker  24  may also be provided on the housing  12 . Coin deposit slot  20  may be more generally thought of as a payment area, where the game can accept payment in the form of currency, coins, game tokens, bills, tickets, and the like. In some embodiments, other types of monetary input may also be provided using a magnetic card reader to read a card with a magnetic strip that holds game credit information, or a bank card such as a credit card, debit card, etc. A token deposited in coin deposit slot  20  (or other payment method) starts a game. Dispenser compartment  22  is used to provide access to the retrieval bin  52  in the event of a successful attempt by the player. 
         [0020]    Speaker(s)  24  can emit sounds based on game actions and other game states and is controlled by a game control system as described subsequently. The front panel  14  can also include other features if appropriate. Player control panel  16  allows a player to manipulate events in the game, and includes player controls  30  such as an actuation device such as a push button to initiate the movement of the pick-up device. Alternatively, the position of the starting point for the pick-up device in the two dimensional X-Y vertical plane can be controlled by a joystick  25 , roller ball, touchscreen, or other input device. Game action occurs in playing area  18 , where a vacuum pick-up device is moved in the playing area  18  using the joystick  25  or other controller device. The pick-up device  42  is moved horizontally by the player using the player controls and joystick  25  to a position over the playing field where the prizes/gift cards are located, and the skill involved is the precision with which the player can accurately control the placement or movement of the pick-up device  42 . 
         [0021]    At the bottom of the playing area  18  is a cylindrical column or silo  50 , but the game can include multiple such silos. Each silo  50  includes an enclosure formed by a continuous wall that defines a target area, and houses a stack of gift cards  51 . The target area formed by the silo wall is dimensioned so as to be slightly larger than the largest dimension (e.g., a diameter) of the pick-up device  42 . Thus, only by precisely hovering the pick-up device  42  over the silo&#39;s target area can the player successfully lower the pick-up device into the silo  50  to collect a gift card  51 . 
         [0022]      FIGS. 2 and 3  illustrate the pick-up device in detail. A cylindrical rod  100  is connected to a motorized system for controlling the horizontal and vertical movement of the pick-up device. A tube  102  is connected at a first end to a vacuum source  108  for creating a negative pressure in the tube  102 , and a second end  104  terminates at a suction cup  106  with a flexible periphery. The position of the rod  100  is controlled by a motor, which in turn is controlled by a processor. The processor interprets movement by the joystick  25  and converts the joystick movements to a movement of the rod. Mounted on the rod is a block  110 , which may be cylindrical or it may have other profiles. The block  110  has a width that is less than the inner diameter “D” of a silo  50  housing a stack of cards  51 . The player must attempt to drop the pick-up device into the silo  50  so that the suction cup  106  makes contact with the upper card  51   a  in the stack of cards  51 . The vacuum source  108  communicates the negative pressure in the tube  102  to the suction cup, allowing the suction cup  106  to adhere to the upper card  51   a  ( FIG. 4 ). Once the pressure is applied, the processor automatically lifts the pick-up device vertically and moves the pick-up device to a position over the retrieval bin  52  ( FIG. 5 ). At this point, the processor sends a command to the vacuum source  108  to turn off the vacuum pump and activate the relief valve, releasing the gift card  51  from the adherence of the suction cup  106 . The gift card will then fall into the retrieval bin  52 , where it can be collected by the player. 
         [0023]    To increase the difficulty of the game, the block  110  can be equipped with radial projections  112  that increase the width of the block  110 . The radial projections  112  are preferably threaded so that they can be extended and inserted into the block  110  at a desired depth. As the radial projections extend the width of the block  110  to approximate the diameter D of the silo  50 , the game becomes more challenging and more difficult to win. The radial projections and the amount of extension can be tied to the value of the gift cards, so that the more valuable the cards/prizes, the closer the width of the radial projections approximate the diameter D of the silo  50 . The ability to adjust the difficulty of the game also allows younger players to play the game with larger tolerances, making the game more versatile for a greater range of player&#39;s abilities. Once the difficulty of the game has been set the play and skill level is the same for all players, young and old. 
         [0024]      FIG. 6  illustrates what happens when the player does not successfully align the pick-up device with the entrance to the silo  50 , The radial projection  112  catches on the wall of the silo  50 , preventing the pick-up device from entering the silo successfully. The suction cup  106  will not make contact with the upper gift card  51   a,  and when the rod  100  is withdrawn, there will be no card attached to the pick-up device. Thus, the attempt fails and the player cannot collect a prize. The game resets to a start up position awaiting the next player&#39;s attempt. The processor can receive signals from a vacuum switch that is activated when the card is successfully captured, thereby indicating a “win” for the player. The switch closes if a prize is picked up and remains open if no card is secured, and the signal to the processor is interpreted by the processor, which moves the crane accordingly. 
         [0025]    The upper inside edge  115  of the silo&#39;s wall may be beveled so as to create an inclination from outer to inner radius, making it more difficult to direct the pick-up device  42  directly into the silo  50 . In the case of  FIG. 6 , the tilting of the pick-up device  42  due to the radial projection  112  catching on the edge  115  of the outer wall  50  prevents that pick-up device  42  from making contact with upper card  51   a.  On the other hand, in  FIG. 3  the pick-up device  42  is positioned to extend precisely into the silo&#39;s outer wall  50  and the radial projections  112  do not make contact with the outer wall  50 . As a result, the pick-up device  42  makes contact with the gift card  51   a.    
         [0026]    As one skilled in the art will appreciate, there are many modifications and alterations to the just-described embodiments that would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and such modifications and alterations are intended to be included within the scope of the invention. For example, the radial projections can extend from the target&#39;s walls instead of the pick-up device with no change in the game or its operation. Other such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention should not be construed or limited to those just described embodiments, which are illustrative but not exclusive, but rather the scope of the invention should be determined by the words of the claims appended below using those words common and ordinary meanings within the context of the embodiments described above.