Skill-Based Electronic Gaming Tournament Play

Abstract

A system for managing an electronic gaming tournament between a plurality of users comprising user database operably associated with a server containing information related to each of the plurality of users, a central pseudo-random number generator providing server-side generated pseudo-random numbers; a tournament database operably containing information related to an electronic gaming; a skill-based electronic game operably deployed on a plurality of client devices, the skill-based electronic game having at least one of its starting conditions, its behavior or its appearance determined by one or more psuedo-random equations; a client-server communication module being deployed on each of the plurality of client devices operably disposed between each of the skill-based electronic games and the server, each client-server communication module providing a tournament menu to the skill-based electronic game so as to provide user-selectable access to ongoing tournaments found in the tournament database, and a prize fulfillment module for distributing the prize indicated in the tournament database to the user among the tournament participants who is determined to have won each tournament as of the tournament ending time.

1 . A system for managing an electronic gaming tournament between a plurality of users comprising:
 a user database operably associated with a server containing information related to each of the plurality of users, the information related to each user including a user name, a password, and tournament involvement with scoring data;   a central pseudo-random number generator operably associated with the server providing server-side generated pseudo-random numbers;   a tournament database operably associated with the server containing information related to an electronic gaming tournament including a tournament ID, a tournament type, a tournament ending time, a plurality of tournament participants selected from the user database, a plurality of the server-side generated pseudo-random numbers generated by the central pseudo-random number generator, a plurality of results associated with each of the tournament participants, and a prize schedule containing a list of prizes per tournament;   a skill-based electronic game operably deployed on a plurality of client devices, the skill-based electronic game having at least one of a plurality of starting conditions, a behavior or an appearance determined by one or more pseudo-random equations, at least one of the one or more pseudo-random equations being seeded by at least a selected one of the server-side generated pseudo-random numbers, the skill-based electronic game providing a skill-based score;   a client-server communication module being deployed on each of the plurality of client devices operably disposed between each of the skill-based electronic game and the server, each client-server communication module providing a tournament menu to the skill-based electronic game so as to provide user-selectable access to ongoing tournaments found in the tournament database, each client-server communication module receiving the tournament ID associated with a user-selected ongoing tournament, the client-server communication module further providing at least one of the server-side generated pseudo-random numbers associated with the user-selected ongoing tournament and communicating the skill-based score to the server along with the tournament ID and the user name associated with the skill-based score; and   a prize fulfillment module operably associated with the server for distributing the prize indicated in the tournament database to the user among the tournament participants who is determined to have won each tournament as of the tournament ending time.   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein each client device comprises a mobile device selected from the group comprising a handheld video game system, a mobile phone, a wireless-enabled personal computer and a personal digital assistant (PDA). 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 2  wherein the skill-based electronic game with client-server communication module is distributed to one of the plurality of client devices via a wireless communication link for installation in the client device. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the client device comprises a game console. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the client device comprises a television set-top box. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein at least some of the plurality of client devices are operably connected to the server via a first wireless carrier, the first wireless carrier having a user database containing a plurality of first wireless-carrier community user names, each first wireless-carrier community user name corresponding to a first wireless-carrier community user, the system further comprising a process operably associated with the server that receives the first wireless-carrier community user names from the first wireless carrier, pads each of the first wireless-carrier community user names with a text string pre-determined for the first wireless carrier users, and stores the text padded first wireless-carrier community user names in the user database as the user name. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the information contained in the user database further includes a physical address, and wherein the prize fulfillment module issues a fulfillment order that, when acted upon, results in the prize indicated in the tournament database being sent to the physical address of the user among the tournament participants who is determined to have won each tournament as of the tournament ending time. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 7  further comprising an SMS messenger operably associated with the server and operably connected to a wireless carriers, wherein the prize fulfillment module further issues an SMS message to the user among the tournament participants who is determined to have won each tournament as of the tournament ending time to confirm the physical address of the user for shipping of the prize indicated in the tournament database and wherein the prize fulfillment module further acts upon a return SMS message from the user regarding the correctness of the physical address. 
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 1  further comprising a display screen process operably associated with the server that pushes down to each of the plurality of client devices via the client-server communication module one or more screens configured to display information on a display of the client device. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 9  wherein the display screen process determines dynamically the number of screens to be pushed down to the client devices wherein the displayed information includes information that is selected from the group comprising user information, legal disclaimer information, prize information, tournament information, and promotional information. 
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 9  wherein the display information includes a graphical banner. 
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 9  wherein the display screen process has a language localization table, and the user database further includes information regarding which localized text string to send back to the client device associated with each user. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 1  further comprising a process associated with the server that detects user fraud in a tournament and precludes the sending of the server-side generated pseudo-random number to each user who participated in the fraud. 
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 13  wherein the user fraud process sends an SMS message to each user who participated in the fraud informing them of detection. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 14  wherein the preclusion of sending of the server-side generated pseudo-random number is only for a limited amount of time and the SMS message includes information regarding the limited amount of time. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 14  wherein the preclusion of sending of the server-side generated pseudo-random number is only for head-to-head tournaments and the SMS message includes this information. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 13  wherein the user fraud prevention process determines whether a user has sent a first predetermined number of scores to the server within a first predetermined of minutes. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the user database further stores a frequent player point value for each of the plurality of users, the system further comprising a frequent player point process operably associated with the server that credits the users with a pre-determined number of points for using the system. 
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 18  wherein the frequent player point process credits each user with frequent player points for every skill-based electronic game played, for tournament participation, and for winning games. 
     
     
         20 . The system according to  claim 18  further comprising a raffle process operably associated with the server that accepts users as raffle participants upon deducting a pre-determined number of the frequent player point from the frequent player point value stored for the user, the raffle process randomly selecting one of the raffle participants to receive a pre-determined prize. 
     
     
         21 . The system according to  claim 20  wherein the raffle process further comprises means for entry of raffle participants independent of the user database and data contained in the user database. 
     
     
         22 . The system according to  claim 1  further including a XML interface operably connected between the tournament database and the Internet toward allowing third parties to access information related to the electronic gaming tournaments. 
     
     
         23 . The system according to  claim 1  further including a compliance module deployable on the client device for the development of a tournament interface for the skill-based electronic game deployed on the client device, the compliance module providing a simulated tournament menu to the skill-based electronic game and simulated connections to the server so as to provide user-selectable access to a simulated tournament, the compliance module further providing a compliance module-generated pseudo-random number to the skill-based electronic game. 
     
     
         24 . A software development kit for use in facilitating the development of software applications for a skill-based electronic gaming tournament between a plurality of users, the software development kit comprising:
 a compliance module operably connected to a preexisting mobile game interface, the compliance module providing a simulated tournament menu having a plurality of configurations to a skill-based electronic game and simulated connections to a tournament server so as to provide user-selectable access to a simulated tournament, the compliance module further providing a compliance module-generated pseudo-random number to the skill-based electronic game, wherein the compliance module comprises:   a tournament-to-client event handler for integrating signals from the tournament server to the preexisting mobile game interface; and   a client-to-tournament event handler for integrating signals from the preexisting mobile game interface to the tournament server.   
     
     
         25 . The software development kit according to  claim 24  wherein the tournament-to-client event handler dynamically feeds tournament menu configurations into the preexisting mobile game interface. 
     
     
         26 . The software development kit according to  claim 24  wherein the compliance module is replaced by a production carrier module to connect the tournament server to the preexisting game interface. 
     
     
         27 . The software development kit according to  claim 24  wherein the signals handled by the tournament-to-client event handler comprise commands and data relating to seed information, winnings information or rankings information. 
     
     
         28 . The software development kit according to  claim 24  wherein the signals handled by the client-to-tournament event handler comprise commands, wherein the commands are selected from the group comprising end game, final score, start game, resume, cancel game, and client process destroyed. 
     
     
         29 . The software development kit according to  claim 24  wherein the signals handled by the client-to-tournament event handler comprise commands that reflect user selected actions in the simulated tournament menu, wherein at least one of said commands is selected from the group comprising menu selected, back, text input and submit. 
     
     
         30 . The software development kit according to  claim 24  wherein the compliance module provides proof-of-function. 
     
     
         31 . The software development kit according to  claim 30  wherein the compliance module provides proof-of-function by taking over control from the preexisting mobile game interface, and receiving and sending state changes between a playing portion of the skill-based electronic game and a tournament portion of the skill-based electronic game.