Patent ID: 8715050

Claim:
In a gaming system wherein a server coordinates games played between two or more client systems and records results, a method of operating a computer game league tournament, comprising: reading in, at the server, a league match schedule, wherein the league match schedule specifies when matches are to occur for real-world teams playing a sport and between which real-world teams, the league comprising a plurality of real-world teams and the league match play schedule including specification of at least one real-world league match; associating a plurality of users, as virtual players of the sport, with a plurality of real-world teams, wherein at least a first user is associated with a first real-world team and a second user is associated with a second real-world team; and determining a game play window for playing the sport, at least in part in accordance with the league match schedule, wherein a game play window is used by the gaming system to determine when the first user can play an interactive game against the second user based on when the first real-world team and the second real-world team are scheduled for a match in the league match schedule.