Systems and methods wherein a portion of landscape information is provided to a remote player device

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided wherein a portion of a landscape is transmitted to a remote player device. According to one embodiment, a game controller determines landscape information associated with a game being played by a player. A first portion of the landscape information is transmitted to a remote player device without transmitting a second portion. For example, a first portion of a maze configuration may be transmitted without a second portion. The game controller then arranges for the player to play the game via the remote player device in accordance with the first portion of the landscape information, and a game result will be based on the first and second portions of the landscape information.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of facilitating game play at a game controller, comprising: 
 determining landscape information associated with a game being played by a player;    transmitting a first portion of the landscape information to a remote player device via a communication network without transmitting a second portion; and    arranging for the player to play the game via the remote player device in accordance with the first portion of the landscape information, wherein a game result will be based on the first and second portions of the landscape information.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 updating the first portion of the landscape information; and    transmitting the updated first portion of the landscape information to the remote player device via the communication network.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said determining comprises at least one of: (i) generating the landscape information, and (ii) retrieving pre-stored landscape information.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the landscape information is associated with at least one of: (i) a particular game played by the player, (ii) a plurality of games, and (iii) a plurality of players.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the landscape information comprises at least one of: (i) maze information, (ii) terrain information, (iii) game item information, (iv) a game item locations, (v) game prize information, and (vi) a game prize locations.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the landscape information comprises at least one of: (i) a portion of a maze, (ii) a portion of a terrain, (iii) a subset of game item information, (iv) a subset of game item locations, (v) a subset of game prize information, and (vi) a subset of game prize locations.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the landscape information includes (i) information that is currently displayed to the player via the remote player device, and (ii) information that is not currently displayed to the player via the remote player device.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 determining the first portion of the landscape information.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first portion of the landscape information is determined based on a current game location associated with the player.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first portion of the landscape information is further based on at least one of: (i) direction information, (ii) speed information, and (iii) acceleration information.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first portion of the landscape information is determined based on a prior game location associated with the player.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 arranging for the player to provide payment in exchange for game play.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said arranging is performed via at least one of: (i) a payment identifier, (ii) a credit card account, (iii) a debit card account, (iv) a bank account, and (v) a digital payment protocol.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 determining the game result based on both the first and second portions of the landscape information.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising: 
 arranging for the player to receive a prize based on the game result.    
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the prize comprises payment of at least one of: (i) a monetary amount, and (ii) an alternate currency amount.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein game play is associated with a game of skill.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the game of skill comprises an arcade-style game in which the player moves within a maze.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the remote player device comprises at least one of: (i) a personal computer, (ii) a portable computing device, (iii) a personal digital assistant, (iv) a telephone, (v) a wireless telephone, (vi) a game terminal, (vii) an interactive television device, and (viii) a kiosk.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communication network comprises at least one of: (i) the Internet, (ii) a public network, (iii) a public switched telephone network, (iv) a proprietary network, (v) a cable television network, (vi) a wireless network, and (vii) a local area network.  
     
     
         21 . A game controller, comprising: 
 a processor; and    a storage device in communication with said processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to: 
 determine landscape information associated with a game being played by a player;  
 transmit a first portion of the landscape information to a remote player device via a communication network without transmitting a second portion; and  
 arrange for the player to play the game via the remote player device in accordance with the first portion of the landscape information, wherein a game result will be based on the first and second portions of the landscape information.  
   
     
     
         22 . The game controller of  claim 21 , wherein said storage device further stores at least one of: (i) a player database, (ii) a game database, and (iii) a landscape database.  
     
     
         23 . The game controller of  claim 21 , further comprising: 
 a communication device coupled to said processor and adapted to communicate with at least one of: (i) the remote player device, and (ii) a payment device.    
     
     
         24 . A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method of facilitating game play at a game controller, said method comprising: 
 determining landscape information associated with a game being played by a player;    transmitting a first portion of the landscape information to a remote player device via a communication network without transmitting a second portion; and    arranging for the player to play the game via the remote player device in accordance with the first portion of the landscape information, wherein a game result will be based on the first and second portions of the landscape information.    
     
     
         25 . A computer-implemented method of facilitating game play at a game controller, wherein game play is associated with movement within a maze, comprising: 
 arranging for a player to provide payment in exchange for game play;    determining a first portion of the maze based on an initial player location within the maze;    transmitting the first portion of the maze to a remote player device without transmitting a second portion;    arranging for the player to play a game via the remote player device in accordance with the first portion of the maze;    updating the first portion of the maze based on a current player location within the maze;    transmitting the updated first portion of the maze to the remote player device;    determining a game result based on movement within the maze by the player; and    arranging for the player to receive payment of a monetary amount based on the game result.    
     
     
         26 . A method of facilitating game play at a game controller, comprising: 
 determining game information associated with a game being played by a player;    arranging for a remote player device to receive a first portion of the game information without receiving a second portion; and    arranging for the player to play the game at the remote player device in accordance with the first portion of the game information, wherein a game result will be based on the first and second portions of the game information.    
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the game information comprises at least one of: (i) text information, (ii) image information, (iii) audio information, (iv) landscape information, (v) maze information, (vi) terrain information, (vii) game item information, (viii) game item locations, (ix) game prize information, and (x) game prize locations.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the game comprises a game of skill.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the game of skill comprises an arcade-style game in which the player moves within at least one of: (i) a landscape, (ii) a terrain, and (iii) a maze.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the game of skill is associated with a physics simulation.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the game of skill comprises at least one of: (i) a golf simulation; (ii) a golf putting simulation; (iii) an archery simulation; (iv) a moving water simulation; (v) a racing simulation; (vi) a fishing simulation; (vii) a baseball simulation; (viii) a basketball simulation; (ix) a football simulation; (x) a soccer simulation; (xi) a hockey simulation; (xii) a bowling simulation; (xiii) a billiards simulation; (xiv) a throwing simulation; (xv) a ring-toss simulation; (xvi) a shooting simulation; and (xvii) a space simulation.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the game of skill comprises at least one of: (i) a trivia game, and (ii) a puzzle game.  
     
     
         33 . A method of facilitating game play at a player device, comprising: 
 receiving a first portion of game information from a remote game controller via a communication network without receiving a second portion of game information; and    arranging for a player to play a game via the player device in accordance with the first portion of the game information, wherein a game result will be based on the first and second portions of the game information.