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Games promoting cooperative and interactive play

Games promoting cooperative and interactive play description/claims

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to games and particularly to games that encourage positive social interaction through cooperative play in real-time multiplayer online environments.

2. Related Art

Typical online games targeted to casual players (often called “casual games”) are strongly influenced in their design by console or arcade games. Consequently, most casual games adopt a competitive, challenge-oriented, or ‘beat the clock’ format. Further, most casual games provide for little or no interaction between players other than chat windows or relative rankings of scores. Many casual game players, however, prefer to engage in less-pressured leisure activities, often in small social groups where they can make new friends or enhance existing relationships.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, various design concepts for games in which players cooperate to help each other score points or win prizes are described. Cooperative game play creates a different social experience than games that offer zero-sum, winner take all, or negative consequences. Cooperative game play can deliver a more positive social experience for the players, e.g. by providing a structured format in which to help (and be helped) by others, through altruistic and mutually beneficial behavior.

In order to play in a game, the player first enters a “room”. That is, at any point in time, each player is assigned to a specific room, usually with other players. Once in the room, the player can collect a puzzle piece using a random selection technique. In one embodiment, the random selection technique can be a spinner that provides puzzle pieces, points, additional spins, and/or loss of spins.

At this point, the player can “use” any puzzle piece, i.e. positioning a puzzle piece on his/her game board, offering to give a puzzle piece to another player in the room, and/or offering to trade a puzzle piece for another puzzle piece of another player in the room. The other player can accept or reject the gift/trade. Similarly, the player can accept or reject gifts or trades proposed by other players. The player can repeat the steps of collecting and using puzzle pieces until the player completes the puzzle. The player can earn points for completing the puzzle, and points can be used to claim prizes.

In one game, the puzzle piece is a chain segment and a completed puzzle forms a chain having at least two end pieces or forming a loop. In this game, the points for completing the chain correspond to the number of links in the chain.

In another game, the puzzle piece is a picture piece and a completed puzzle forms a picture.

In yet another game, the puzzle piece is a tile piece and a completed puzzle forms a tile pattern. In this game, the points for completing the tile pattern correspond to a number of background colors. For example, in one embodiment, the fewer the number of colors in the background, the higher the points earned.

In yet another game, the puzzle piece is a card and a completed puzzle forms a card hand. In this game, the points for completing the card hand corresponds to patterns of cards in the hand (e.g. “Royal Flush”, “Two Queens”, “Three Eights”, etc.).

In yet another game, the puzzle piece is a layer of a layered stack (e.g. a food item, such as a hamburger or bun) and the completed puzzle forms a stack (e.g. a double cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and onion) with proper placement of layers.

In yet another game, the puzzle piece is a letter and a completed puzzle forms a word. In this game, the game board can contain slots into which letters are placed, and a sequence of adjacent letters that spell a proper word is a completed puzzle. In this game, the longer the word formed, the more points earned by the player.

The above-described games can be stored on a computer-readable medium. This computer-readable medium comprises instructions that, when run on a computer, generate signals to control the steps of a game. Exemplary instructions can include instructions for a player to enter a room of the game, instructions for the player to collect a puzzle piece using a random selection technique, instructions for the player to use the puzzle piece (wherein using the puzzle piece includes selectively performing at least one of positioning the puzzle piece on a game board, offering to give the puzzle piece to another player in the room, and offering to trade the puzzle piece for another puzzle piece of another player in the room), instructions for the player to accept/reject gifts or trades proposed by other players, instructions for the player to repeat collecting and using puzzle pieces until completing the puzzle, and instructions for the player to earn points for completing the puzzle.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart of a game designed for a plurality of players interacting and cooperating to solve puzzles.

FIG. 2 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary game in which solving the puzzle includes forming a completed chain.

FIG. 3 illustrates a screen shot of an exemplary game in which solving a matrix puzzle includes forming a picture.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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