Patent Publication Number: US-2006009271-A1

Title: Virtual target getting game system

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a game system in which players compete to get virtual targets, and more particularly, it relates to a game system that requires an actual action associated with the getting of a player.  
      A conventional target-getting game machine is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2000-126441, for example. In the game machine disclosed in the publication, a player operates a crane hung from a ceiling of the machine in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction to pick up a target (a premium) stocked in a storage space.  
      However, since a managing side must prepare actual premiums and bring in new premiums when premiums were picked up by players and/or premiums were damaged in the game machine disclosed in the patent publication, the running cost becomes expensive.  
      On the other hand, a premium-getting video game in which a player can get a virtual premium in a game screen has a running-cost advantage because actual premiums are not needed to prepare. However, in such a video game, since a player operates an operation panel of the game machine even when the player gets a premium, the operation is different from an actual operation to get an actual premium, which is insufficient for the player due to lack of realistic sensation.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a virtual target getting game system, which is capable of reducing running cost and giving a player sufficient realistic sensation with an actual action for getting a target while it is virtual experience.  
      For the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual target getting game system, which includes: a target-getting tool to which a RF tag is attached; a main game machine in which RF reader/writers are mounted at positions of virtual targets to be gotten; a game controlling device that controls a RF reader/writer to record information about a virtual target assigned thereto into a RF tag when a player brings the RF tag attached to the target-getting tool close to the RF reader/writer to spuriously get the virtual target by the target-getting tool; and a result generating device that outputs the information about a player and information about the virtual targets that were spuriously gotten by the player read from the RF tag when the player brings the RF tag attached to the target-getting tool close to a RF reader/writer of the result generating device.  
      Further, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual target getting game system, which includes: a target-getting tool to which a RF tag is attached; a main game machine in which RF reader/writers are mounted at positions of virtual targets to be gotten; a game controlling device that controls a RF reader/writer to read identifying information recorded in the RF tag and transmits the identifying information about the RF tag paired with information about a virtual target assigned to the reader/writer that reads the identifying information when a player brings the RF tag attached to the target-getting tool close to the RF reader/writer to spuriously get the virtual target by the target-getting tool; a database device that is connected with the game controlling device through a network and stores pairs of the identifying information about the RF tag and the information about the virtual target transmitted by the game controlling device; and a result generating device that outputs the identifying information about a player based on the identifying information about the RF tag read from the RF tag by a RF reader/writer mounted thereon and the information about the virtual targets that were spuriously gotten by the player retrieved from the database device based on the identifying information about the RF tag when the player brings the RF tag attached to the target-getting tool close to the RF reader/writer of the result generating device.  
      In either aspects described above, the result generating device preferably outputs the total score calculated based on the scores predetermined for the respective virtual targets. In addition, it is preferable that the virtual targets are explicitly displayed and/or a background thereof is displayed on the front surface of the main game machine that is looked by a player. On the back surface of the main game machine that cannot be looked by a player, the RF reader/writers are preferably mounted at the positions corresponding to the displayed positions of the virtual targets when the virtual targets are explicitly displayed or at any positions when the virtual targets are not displayed.  
      Still further, digital contents corresponding to the virtual targets that were spuriously gotten by the player may be shown on a displayed, printed or delivered to a player&#39;s communication terminal by the result generating device.  
      According to the virtual target getting game system of the present invention as constructed above, a player can spuriously get a virtual target through a getting action on the main game machine using the target-getting tool as in the case of a player getting a real target, and can confirm the virtual targets that were spuriously gotten through the use of the result generating device. Therefore, the game system can reduce the running cost because a managing side is not required preparing actual premiums and it can give a player sufficient realistic sensation because the system requires an actual action of a player as in the case of a player getting a real target. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  shows an outline of a game system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing an arrangement of the respective devices in the game system of the first embodiment;  
       FIG. 3  is a side view showing a main game machine in the game system of the first embodiment;  
       FIG. 4  is a front view of the main game machine shown in  FIG. 3 ;  
       FIG. 5  is a front view of a target-getting tool in the game system of the first embodiment;  
       FIG. 6  is a side view showing the target-getting tool and the main game machine when a player spuriously gets a virtual target through the use of the target-getting tool;  
       FIG. 7  is a block diagram showing a construction of the game controlling device in the game system of the first embodiment;  
       FIG. 8  is a block diagram showing a construction of the result generating device in the game system of the first embodiment;  
       FIG. 9  shows one example of information recorded in a RF tag of the target-getting tool in the game system of the first embodiment;  
       FIG. 10  is a flowchart showing a basic flow of the game in the game system of the first embodiment;  
       FIG. 11  is a flowchart showing a process at step S 104  in  FIG. 10  in detail;  
       FIG. 12  is a block diagram showing an arrangement of devices in a game system of a second embodiment;  
       FIG. 13  is a block diagram showing the game controlling device and the database device in the game system of the second embodiment;  
       FIG. 14  is a block diagram showing a result generating device in the game system of the second embodiment;  
       FIG. 15  shows one example of information recorded in the database device in the game system of the second embodiment; and  
       FIG. 16  is a flowchart showing a basic flow of the game in the game system of the second embodiment. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Hereinafter, a virtual target getting game system according to the present invention will be described based on two embodiments.  FIGS. 1 through 11  show the first embodiment and  FIGS. 12 through 16  show the second embodiment. In the first and second embodiments, the present invention is applied to an insect-collecting game.  
     First Embodiment  
      To begin with, a summary of a game system of the first embodiment will be described based on  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 . The game system of the first embodiment is provided with an insect net  10  as a target-getting tool to which RF (Radio Frequency) tag  11  is attached at the tip end thereof, a main game machine  20  in which a plurality of RF reader/writers  21  are mounted at positions of virtual insects as virtual targets to be gotten, a game controlling device  30  that controls the RF reader/writers  21  to record information about insects that were spuriously gotten by a player into the RF tag  11 , a result generating device  40  that reads the information about a player and information about the virtual insects that were spuriously gotten by the player from the RF tag  11  of the insect net  10  by a RF reader/writer  41  and that outputs the information to a display  42  and a printer  60  or the like, and a progress displaying device  50  that displays information about insects on a display  52  based on the information read from the RF tag  11  by a RF reader/writer  51 .  
      Further, the result generating device  40  has a function of a reception unit that records identifying information about a player into the RF tag  11  when the information is inputted at the start of the game, and it has a function to output the total score calculated based on the scores predetermined for the respective insects.  
      The game controlling devices  30  are located at a plurality of points so that each game controlling device  30  is paired with the main game machine  20  as shown in  FIG. 2 . Further, the result generating devices  40  and the progress displaying devices  50  are arranged at a plurality of points as needed. The main game machine  20  (and the game controlling device  30 ) is arranged corresponding to the field of insect collecting. The arrangement of a plurality of main game machines  20  can provide players with a plurality of fields having different environments such as a broad leaf forest in which beetles and stag beetles live, a grassy plain in which grasshoppers and mantises live, a flower field in which butterflies and bees live, or the like. In the first embodiment, since the RF tag  11  stores both of the identifying information about a player and the identifying information about insects that were spuriously gotten, the game controlling devices  30 , the result generating devices  40  and the progress displaying devices  50  are arranged on a stand alone basis without being connected one another.  
      The main game machine  20  is provided with a display board  22  into which a display  23  is fitted as shown in  FIG. 3 . Information output from the game controlling device  30  appears on the display  23 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , a photograph of a background (a grassy plain, in this example) of a field where insects as targets to be gotten usually live is pasted on the front surface of the display board  22  that is looked by a player. On the back surface of the display board that cannot be looked by a player, the RF reader/writers  21  are attached.  
      The RE reader/writers  21  are assigned to the respective insects. When a player brings the RF tag  11  attached to the insect net  10  close to any RF reader/writer  21 , the game controlling device  30  controls the close RF reader/writer  21  to record information about an insect assigned to the close RF reader/writer  21  into the RF tag  11 . That is, the position of the RF reader/writer  21  attached on the back surface means the position of the virtual insect. In this embodiment, the positions of the RF reader/writers  21  are marked by broken lines on the front surface of the display board  22 . These marks may not be displayed. Further, pictures or photographs of insects may be pasted in place of the marks to explicitly display the target to be gotten.  
      The insect net  10  consists of a rod-shaped handle  12 , a ring-shaped frame  13  attached to the tip of the handle  12 , and a net bag  14  pitched on the frame  13  as shown in the front view in  FIG. 5 . The RF tag  11  is hung from the upper edge of the frame  13  through a belt  15 . When a player spuriously gets the virtual insect, the player holds the insect net  10  so that the frame  13  contacts with the front surface of the display board  22  of the main game machine  20 , and then the player pulls the handle  12  toward him or her to tilt the insect net  10  as shown in  FIG. 6 . This brings the RF tag  11  close to the front surface of the display board  22 . If the RF reader/writer  21  is located at the point to which the RF tag  11  closes on the back surface of the display panel  22 , this RF reader/writer  21  records the information about insect assigned to this RF reader/writer  21  into the RF tag  11 .  
      The game controlling device  30  includes, as shown in  FIG. 7 , an initial setting unit  31  that assigns identifying information about insect (insect ID) to identifying information about the RE reader/writer  21  (R/W-ID) mounted on the main game machine  20  connected thereto, a setting storage unit  32  that stores the combination information (pair of the insect ID and the R/W-ID) set by the initial setting unit  31 , a R/W-ID specifying unit  33  that is connected to the RF reader/writers  21  and specifies the identifying information (R/W-ID) of the RF reader/writer  21  that detects the RF tag  11  when the RF tag  11  closes to the RF reader/writer  21 , an insect ID confirming unit  34  that searches the setting storage unit  32  to confirm the insect ID corresponding to the specified R/W-ID, and a RF-tag recording unit  35  that controls the RF reader/writer  21  to record the confirmed insect ID into the RF tag  11 .  
      In addition, the game controlling device  30  is provided with a display switching unit  36  that makes the display  23  of the main game machine  20  show a successful getting based on the insect ID output from the RF-tag recording unit  35 . The display switching unit  36  contains files of insect&#39;s pictures to be shown on the display, file of sound effects and files of text-based contents, and it reads the corresponding insect&#39;s picture, sound effect and text-based contents based on the insect ID to reproduce them.  
      The result generating device  40  includes, as shown in  FIG. 8 , an initial setting unit  43  that enters the identifying information about a player (a player ID) at the time of reception of the insect collecting and assigns scores to the insect ID&#39;s, a RF-tag recording unit  44  that records the player ID set by the initial setting unit  43  at the time of reception into the RF tag  11  through the RF reader/writer  41 , a setting storage unit  45  that stores the combination information (pair of the insect ID and the score) set by the initial setting unit  43 , a RF-tag reading unit  46  that reads the information (the player ID, the insect ID) recorded in the RF tag  11  through the RF reader/writer  41  after the insect collecting, and a score calculating unit  47  that reads scores assigned to the respective insects from the setting storage unit  45  based on the read insect ID to calculate the total score. The score assigned to each of the insects is determined in consideration of a rarity value of the insect and difficulty to actually get the insect, for example. Higher score is applied to an insect that is rarer and more difficult to get.  
      Further, the result generating device  40  is provided with an output generating unit  48  that outputs the data to the display  42 , the printer  60  or the like based on the player ID and the insect ID read by the RF-tag reading unit  46 , and the total score calculated by the score calculating unit  47 . The output generating unit  48  contains files of insect&#39;s pictures, file of sound effects and files of text-based contents that are included in the output result, and it reads the corresponding insect&#39;s picture, sound effect and text-based contents based on the insect ID to display and reproduce them. At the time of output, a certificate that includes the data of the player entered at the time of reception, the pictures of the insects that were spuriously gotten and the total score is shown on the display  42 . The certificate is printed by the printer  60  and is delivered to the player as needed. Further, the image data of the certificate may be converted into a file of the HTML format. The HTML file of the certificate can be recorded into a memory card of a player&#39;s communication terminal or a player&#39;s cellular phone by a media writer  61 . Alternatively, the HTML file of the certificate may be transmitted to the server  62  to deliver it to the player&#39;s mail address through the Internet  63  or a cellular phone network  64 . The player can receive the certificate by a personal computer (PC)  65  or a cellular phone  66  to display and/or to print it.  
       FIG. 9  shows one example of information recorded in the RF tag  11  after the insect collecting. That is, the player&#39;s name “Hanako YAMADA” and her mail address “yh@mif.com” are recorded as the player&#39;s information, and the gotten insect ID “22, 03, 47, 01, 10, 38, 07, 39, 01” are recorded.  
      The progress displaying device  50  is constructed by simplifying the result generating device  40 . While the detail is not shown in the drawing, the progress displaying device  50  has a function to show the pictures of the insects corresponding to the insect ID&#39;s read by a RF reader/writer from the RF tag  11  on an display.  
      Next, the basic flow of the game in the game system of the first embodiment constructed as above will be described based on the flowchart in  FIG. 10 .  
      First, an insect ID is assigned to each RF reader/writer  21  through the use of the initial setting device  31  for each game controlling device  30  (S 101 ).  
      When a player starts the game, the insect net  10  is handed to the player and player&#39;s information is recorded into the RF tag  11  by the initial setting device  43  of the result generating device  40  (S 102 ). After finishing the registration of the player, the player makes the rounds of the fields to spuriously get the virtual insects. When the player stands in front of the main game machine  20  and covers the mark on the display board  22  by the insect net  10  so that the RF tag  11  corresponds to the mark, the RF reader/writer  21  attached to the back surface of the display board  22  corresponding to the mark in question detects the RF tag  11  and transmits its identifying information (R/W-ID) to the R/W-ID specifying unit  33  (S 103 ).  
      The insect ID confirming unit  34  in the game controlling device  30  confirms the insect ID by the R/W-ID based on the information stored in the setting storage unit  32  (S 104 ). In addition, the insect ID confirming unit  34  changes the combination between the R/W-ID and the insect ID set by the initial setting unit  31  for a combination that is previously registered at the predetermined time. Moreover, the combination is randomly changed with using random numbers at the specific time.  
      Hereby, the process for changing the combination between the R/W-ID and the insect ID executed at S 104  will be described in detail based on the flowchart in  FIG. 11 . First, the insect ID confirming unit  34  sets the combination set by the initial setting unit  31  as an initial value (S 201 ) Then, the insect ID confirming unit  34  obtains the present time (S 202 ) and checks whether the present time is coincident with the predetermined time to change the setting or not (S 203 ). If the present time is the time to change the setting, a set of the insect ID&#39;s corresponding to the time is assigned (S 204 ). Next, the insect ID confirming unit  34  checks whether the present time is coincident with the time of random setting or not (S 205 ). If the present time is the time of random setting, the insect ID confirming unit  34  generates a random number for each R/W-ID, divides the random number by the number of the RE reader/writers  21  included in the main game machine  20  and assigns the remainder to the insect ID corresponding to the RF reader/writer  21  (S 206 ). Since the combination between the R/W-ID and the insect ID is changed in this way, the correspondence between the mark and the insect changes successively, which allows a player who has played in past to replay with a sense of tension.  
      Back to the description of  FIG. 10 , when the insect ID has been confirmed in the process at S 104 , the RF-tag recording unit  35  in the game controlling device  30  records the confirmed insect ID into the RF tag  11  by the RF reader/writer  21  (S 105 ). Then, the display switching unit  36  shows the picture of insect that was gotten with the text-based contents “GET!!” superimposed on the picture on the display  23  of the main game machine  20  to inform the player about the insect that was gotten (S 106 ) and reproduces the sound effect with a loudspeaker (not shown) Next, the main game machine  20  judges whether the player finishes the game or not (S 107 ). If the game is finished, the process at S 108  and the following steps will be executed. If the game is not finished, the processes from S 103  to S 106  are repeated for each field (for each main game machine  20 ). In normal procedure, a player finishes the game after he or she made the rounds of all the fields and got one insect per field.  
      To finish the game, a player brings the insect net  10  to the result generating device  40  and closes the RF tag  11  to the RF reader/writer  41 . The RF reader/writer  41  detects the RF tag  11  (S 108 ), and the RF-tag reading unit  46  in the result generating device  40  reads the insect ID&#39;s and the player ID recorded in the RF tag  11  (S 109 ). Then, the score calculating unit  47  calculates the total score based on the insect ID&#39;s read from the RF tag  11  (S 110 ). Further, the output generating unit  48  shows the certificate with using the insect ID&#39;s, the player ID and the total score on the display  42 . If necessary, the output generating unit  48  prints the certificate by the printer  60 , records the HTML file into the memory through the media writer  61  or delivers the HTML file to the network through the server  62  (S 111 ).  
      As described above, according to the game system of the first embodiment, a virtual target getting game such as a virtual insect collecting can be realized through the use of a RF tag that has been used for merchandise management in distributive trade. Further, since the full information including the insect ID&#39;s that were spuriously gotten by the player are recorded into the RF tag, it is unnecessary to connect the game controlling device  30  and the result generating device  40  to the network, which realizes the system at low cost. Furthermore, since the information is distributed and is not centralized, the strength of the system can be kept at high level.  
     Second Embodiment  
      Next, a game system of the second embodiment will be described. The game system of the first embodiment is a distributed system where the player&#39;s information and the insect ID are recorded into the RF tag. On the other hand, the game system of the second embodiment is a centralized system where the RF tag stores only identifying information about itself and the database device stores identifying information about insects that were spuriously gotten linked with the player&#39;s identifying information. The constructions of the insect net  10  and the main game machine  20  are common to the first embodiment.  
      The entire construction of the system is shown in  FIG. 12 . A plurality of game controlling devices  130  are arranged as paired with the main game devices  20 , respectively, as shown in  FIG. 12 . There are result generating devices  140  and progress displaying devices  150  in the system. The respective devices are connected to a database device  160  through a network N.  
      The database device  160  is provided with, as shown in  FIG. 13 , an initial setting unit  161  that assigns the identifying information about insects (insects ID&#39;s) to the respective RF reader/writers  21  mounted on all the main game machines  20  in the system and assigns scores to the insect ID&#39;s, a setting storage unit  162  that stores the combination information (pair of the insect ID and RW-ID, and pair of the insect ID and the score) set by the initial setting unit  161 , a database  163  that stores identifying information about the RF tag (RF-tag ID) attached to the insect net  10  held by a player with the insect ID&#39;s of the insects that were spuriously gotten with using the insect net  10 . The database device  160  contains files of insect&#39;s pictures to be shown on the display, file of sound effects and files of text-based contents.  
      On the other hand, the game controlling device  30  includes a R/W-ID specifying unit  133  that is connected to the RF reader/writers  21  mounted on the main game machine  20  and specifies the identifying information (R/W-ID) of the RF reader/writer  21  that detects the RF tag  11  when the RF tag  11  closes to the RF reader/writer  21 , a RF-tag reading unit  135  that reads the identifying information about the RF tag  11  (RF-tag ID), an insect ID confirming unit  134  that searches the setting storage unit  162  of the database device  160  to confirm the insect ID corresponding to the specified R/W-ID, and a data recording unit  132  that records the confirmed insect ID linked with the RF-tag ID into the database  163 .  
      Further, the game controlling device  130  is provided with a display switching unit  136  that makes the display  23  of the main game machine  20  show a successful getting based on the insect ID output from the data recording unit  132 . The display switching unit  136  reads the corresponding insect&#39;s picture, sound effect and text-based contents from the database device  160  based on the insect ID to show and reproduce them.  
      The result generating device  140  includes, as shown in  FIG. 14 , a RF-tag reading unit  146  that reads the RF-tag ID from the RF tag  11  through the RF reader/writer  41 , and a score calculating unit  147  that searches the database  163  based on the read RF-tag ID for the insect ID corresponding to the RF-tag ID, and searches the setting storage unit  162  based on the read insect ID for the scores assigned to the respective insects to calculate the total score. In addition, the result generating device  140  has a function to read the RF-tag ID of the RF tag  11  attached to the insect net  10  that is handed to a player at the time of the reception of the insect collecting. The RF-tag ID read from the RF tag  11  is linked to the player&#39;s identifying information (player ID) read from the initial setting unit  161  of the database device  160  and is stored into the setting storage unit  162 .  
      Further, the result generating device  140  is provided with an output generating unit  148  that outputs the data to the display  142 , the printer  60  or the like based on the player ID that is extracted from the setting storage unit  162  based on the RF-tag ID read by the RF-tag reading unit  146 , the insect ID extracted from the database  163  and read by the RF-tag reading unit  46 , and the total score calculated by the score calculating unit  147 . The output generating unit  148  reads the corresponding insect&#39;s picture, sound effect and text-based contents based on the insect ID from the database device  160  to display and reproduce them. At the time of output, a certificate that includes the data of the player entered at the time of reception, the pictures of the insects that were spuriously gotten during the game and the total score is shown on the display  142 . The certificate is printed by the printer  60  and is delivered to the player as needed. Further, the image data of the certificate may be converted into a file of the HTML format. The HTML file of the certificate can be recorded into a memory card of a player&#39;s communication terminal or a player&#39;s cellular phone by a media writer  61 . Alternatively, the HTML file of the certificate may be transmitted to the server  62  to deliver it to the player&#39;s mail address through the Internet  63  or a cellular phone network  64 .  
       FIG. 15  shows one example of information recorded in the database  163  after the insect collecting. That is, the insect ID&#39;s of the insects that were spuriously gotten with using the insect net  10  are stored with the RF-tag ID of the RF tag attached to the insect net  10  as an index. In addition, the setting storage unit  162  stores name and mail address of a player as the player&#39;s information in relation to the RF-tag ID. Therefore, the system can know which player spuriously got which virtual insects by referring to the setting storage unit  162 .  
      The progress displaying device  150  is constructed by simplifying the result generating device  140 . While the detail is not shown in the drawing, the progress displaying device  150  has a function to read the insect ID&#39;s from the database  163  based on the RF-tag ID read by the RF reader/writer and show the pictures of the insects corresponding to the read insect ID&#39;s on an display.  
      Next, the basic flow of the game in the game system of the second embodiment constructed as above will be described based on the flowchart in  FIG. 16 .  
      First, an insect ID is assigned to each RF reader/writer  21  through the use of the initial setting device  161  for each game controlling device  30  (S 301 ).  
      When a player starts the game, the insect net  10  is handed to the player and the RF-tag ID is read by the result generating device  140 . The RF-tag ID is stored into the initial setting device  162  in relation to the player&#39;s information entered by the initial setting unit  161  (S 302 ). After finishing the registration of the player, the player makes the rounds of the fields to spuriously get the virtual insects. When the player stands in front of the main game machine  20  and covers the mark on the display board  22  by the insect net  10  so that the RF tag  11  corresponds to the mark, the RF reader/writer  21  attached to the back surface of the display board  22  corresponding to the mark in question detects the RF tag  11  and transmits its identifying information (R/W-ID) to the R/W-ID specifying unit  133  (S 303 ). At the same time, the RF-tag reading unit  135  reads the RF-tag ID (S 304 ).  
      The insect ID confirming unit  134  in the game controlling device  30  confirms the insect ID by the R/W-ID based on the information stored in the setting storage unit  162  (S 305 ). The insect ID confirming unit  134  can change the combination between the R/W-ID and the insect ID in the same manner as the first embodiment.  
      When the insect ID has been confirmed in the process at S 305 , the data recording unit  132  in the game controlling device  30  records the confirmed insect ID into the database  163  in relation to the RF-tag ID (S 306 ). After receiving the insect ID, the display switching unit  136  shows the picture of insect that was gotten with the text-based contents “GET!!” superimposed on the picture on the display  23  of the main game machine  20  to inform the player about the insect that was gotten (S 307 ) and reproduces the sound effect with a loudspeaker (not shown).  
      Next, the main game machine  20  judges whether the player finishes the game or not (S 308 ). If the game is finished, the process at S 309  and the following steps will be executed. If the game is not finished, the processes from S 303  to S 307  are repeated for each field (for each main game machine  20 ). In normal procedure, a player finishes the game after he or she made the rounds of all the fields and got one insect per field.  
      To finish the game, a player brings the insect net  10  to the result generating device  140  and closes the RF tag  11  to the RF reader/writer  141 . The RF reader/writer  141  detects the RF tag  11  (S 309 ), and the RF-tag reading unit  146  in the result generating device  140  reads the RF-tag ID (S 310 ). Then, the score calculating unit  147  calculates the total score based on the insect ID&#39;s (S 311 ). Further, the output generating unit  148  shows the certificate with using the insect ID&#39;s, the player ID and the total score on the display  142 . If necessary, the output generating unit  148  prints the certificate by the printer  60 , records the HTML file into the memory through the media writer  61  or delivers the HTML file to the network through the server  62  (S 312 ).  
      As described above, according to the game system of the second embodiment, since all the game controlling devices  30  and the result generating devices  40  are connected through the network, the initial data can be set at one point without setting the initial data at the respective devices as the first embodiment. Further, since the information about the respective players can be managed collectively, additional work, such as a ranking in the order of the score, can be done without any difficulty.