Patent ID: 7236943

Claim:
An apparatus for soliciting monetary donations from a donor to a donee, the apparatus comprising: a video display; a donation acceptor generating a donation received signal in response to receiving a monetary donation from a donor, the donation received signal corresponding to the monetary value of the donation; a computer operatively connected to the display and to the donation acceptor, the computer receiving the donation received signal and determining a promotional credits score corresponding to the donation received signal, the computer further determining an accumulated promotional credits score including the promotional credits score, the computer comprising: a memory, the memory storing the promotional credits score and the accumulated promotional credits score; an executable video game software resident in the memory, the video game software causing the computer to generate and operate a promotional video game for play by a donor in response to and conditioned on receipt of the donation received signal, each play of the video game conditioned on selection of a promotional credit wager; an executable donee information software resident in the memory, the donee information software causing the computer to generate information associated with a donee at the display; and an executable game information software resident in the memory, the game information software causing the computer to generate game information at the display for playing the promotional video game, the game information including the accumulated promotional credits score and the selected promotional credit wager; and a donor control panel operatively connected to the computer, the donor control panel configured to allow the donor to select a game play input during the operation of the promotional game, the selected game input including the selected promotional credit wager, the donor control panel communicating a selected game play input signal to the computer in response to receipt of the selected game play input.