SKILL-BASED BINGO GAME SYSTEM AND METHOD

20240273978

18/642585

April 22, 2024

Disclosed is a system and method for conducting a multiple choice, skill-based bingo game. One object of the system is to facilitate single player or multi-player bingo games utilizing specialized bingo cards and a random number generator generating outcomes based on (i) a subset of bingo balls formed of groups of like numbers including a group of strikes or (ii) rolls of a plurality of dice including at least one outcome deemed a strike.

1. A game system comprising: a processor; memory storing instructions executable by said processor; a display for depicting a user interface; one or more virtual game cards comprising a matrix of numbers from a pool of numbers positioned in a manner where each row, column and diagonal depicted on said virtual game card has an equal probability of being a winning row, column or diagonal, said at least one virtual game card having at least one instance of each number in said pool and at least one instance of a like number being depicted more than once; and wherein said processor is configured to (i) select a virtual game card; (ii) cause said random generator to select a random number or strike based on a player input or automatically; (iii) daub or mark said virtual game card based on a matching number thereon wherein if multiple matching numbers are depicted on said game card, automatically mark one like number based on a preestablished rule or randomly, or accept a player input related to which like number to mark; (iv) continue steps (ii) and (iii) until a preestablished number of strikes have been randomly selected thereby ending a game; (iv) determine a number of rows, columns or diagonals which are fully marked and (v) pursuant to a pay table, make a payout, if any, responsive to said number of fully marked rows, columns and diagonals.

2. The game system of claim 1 wherein said matrix of numbers is a 5×5 matrix or a 6×6 matrix.

3. The game system of claim 2 wherein three is the preestablished number of strikes associated with said 5×5 matrix and wherein six is the preestablished number of marks associated with said 6×6 matrix.

4. The game system of claim 1 wherein the preestablished rule comprises (i) to mark said virtual card to form a winning row, column or diagonal or (ii) if no winning row, column or diagonal is available, to mark a row, column or diagonal nearest to being a winning row, column or diagonal.

5. The game system of claim 1 wherein the random generator comprises dice or bingo balls.

6. The game system of claim 1 wherein the aggregate probability of numbers on spaces forming each row, column and diagonal being selected is the same.

7. A game system comprising: a central system comprising: a processor; memory storing instructions executable by said processor; and a virtual game card comprising a matrix of numbers corresponding to a pool of numbers positioned in a manner where each row, column and diagonal depicted on said virtual card has an equal probability of being a winning row, column or diagonal, said at least one virtual game card having at least one instance of each number in said pool and at least one instance of a like number being depicted more than once; and a series of player terminals, each player terminal including a display, user interface and random generator configured to generate random number outcomes from a pool of numbers and strikes, and communicatively linked to said central system; wherein, for each player terminal participating in a game, said processor is configured to (i) display a same virtual game card for each player terminal; (ii) cause a random generator to select a unique random number or strike for each player terminal; (iii) daub or mark said virtual game card based on a matching number thereon wherein if multiple matching numbers are depicted on said virtual game card, automatically mark one like number based on a preestablished rule or randomly, or accept a player input related to which like number to mark; (iv) continue steps (ii) and (iii) until a preestablished number of strikes has been selected for each virtual game card thereby ending the game; (v) determine a number of rows, columns or diagonals which are fully marked on each virtual game card; (vi) determine the one or more virtual game cards with the most winning rows, columns and diagonals; and (vii) pursuant to a payout scheme, pay one or more winning players an award.

8. The game system of claim 7 wherein said matrix of numbers is a 5×5 matrix or a 6×6 matrix.

9. The game system of claim 8 wherein three is the preestablished number of strikes associated with said 5×5 matrix and wherein six is the preestablished number of strikes associated with said 6×6 matrix.

10. The game system of claim 7 wherein the preestablished rule comprises (i) to mark said virtual card to form a winning row, column or diagonal or (ii) if no winning row, column or diagonal is available, to mark a row, column or diagonal nearest to being a winning row, column or diagonal.

11. The game system of claim 7 wherein the random generator comprises dice or bingo balls.

12. The game system of claim 7 wherein the aggregate probability of numbers on spaces forming each row, column and diagonal being selected is the same.

13. A game method comprising: configuring a processor running executable instructions to: (i) select a virtual game card, said virtual game card comprising a matrix of numbers corresponding to a pool of numbers positioned in a manner where each row, column and diagonal depicted on said virtual game card has an equal probability of being a winning row, column or diagonal, said at least one virtual game card having at least one instance of each number in said pool and at least one instance of a like number being depicted more than once; (ii) cause said random generator to select a random number or strike based on a player input or automatically; (iii) daub or mark said virtual game card based on a matching number thereon wherein if multiple matching numbers are depicted on said game card, automatically mark one like number based on a preestablished rule or randomly, or accept a player input related to which like number to mark; (iv) continue steps (ii) and (iii) until a preestablished number of strikes have been randomly selected thereby ending a game; (v) determine a number of rows, columns or diagonals which are fully marked; and (vi) pursuant to a pay table, make a payout, if any, responsive to said number of fully marked rows, columns and diagonals.

14. The game method of claim 13 wherein said matrix of numbers is a 5×5 matrix or a 6×6 matrix.

15. The game method of claim 14 wherein three is the preestablished number of strikes associated with said 5×5 matrix and wherein six is the preestablished number of strikes associated with said 6×6 matrix.

16. The game method of claim 13 wherein the preestablished rule comprises (i) to mark said virtual card to form a winning row, column or diagonal or (ii) if no winning row, column or diagonal is available, to mark a row, column or diagonal nearest to being a winning row, column or diagonal.

17. The game method of claim 13 wherein the random generator comprises dice or bingo balls.

18. The game method of claim 13 wherein the aggregate probability of numbers on spaces forming each row, column and diagonal being selected is the same.

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