Patent ID: 7412666

Claim:
A method for conducting a contest using a network, the method comprising the steps of: presenting to a user at a user location on the network a visual display of: a plurality of pick spaces, a virtual display fixture, and a plurality of virtual articles of commerce arrayed on the virtual display fixture; moving at least one of the plurality of virtual articles across the visual display from an initial position on the virtual display fixture, each of the moving virtual articles having a virtual target region defined thereon, each of the virtual target regions being at least periodically visible on the associated virtual article; selecting by a user the virtual target region on a moving one of the virtual articles; assigning, each time that one of the virtual target regions is selected by the user on the visible virtual target region, a particular character chosen by the user from a plurality of available characters to a successive one of the plurality of pick spaces, and thereafter displaying the assigned character in the corresponding pick space; assembling, when each pick space displays an assigned character, an entry data packet including data indicative of the assigned character in each of the plurality of pick spaces; transmitting the entry data packet from the user location across the network to a remote site; and wherein the transmitted entry data packet constitutes a winning entry if the assigned characters in each of the plurality of pick spaces match a preselected winning combination of characters.