GB2275619A - Fortune telling game - Google Patents

Abstract

A fortune telling game, comprises a bar-code reader (4) for reading bar-code data, micro processor means for deciding the result of the fortune telling in accordance with said bar-code data thus read, and means (5) displaying the result thus decided. <IMAGE>

Description

DESCRIPTION FORTUNE TELLING GAME This invention relates generally to a fortune telling game and, in particular, to a game featuring a bar-code reader, a mechanism for determining the bar-code data which has been read, and a mechanism for displaying the fortune which has been told.

Fortune telling games, for example, playing cards, have been popular for many years and continue to appeal to persons of all ages. The amusement value of earlier fortune telling games has been less than desired primarily because of the need of the players to remember the various fortunes that have been told or to maintain written records of same. With the present invention even a young child can immediately have his or her fortune told.

A main object cf the present invention is to provide a fortune telling game of enhanced amusement value featuring a barcode reader, a mechanism for deciding the result of the bar-code reader's decision and a display of the fortune which has been told, together with, where desired, a mechanism for producing a melody corresponding to the fortune which has been told.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the fortune telling game of the present invention, including a handbook governing operation of same and a sample bar-code card; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the fortune telling game with the cover raised to its open position; Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating the various indicia and marks on the display section; Figure 4 is a circuit diagram; Figure 5 is a flow chart depicting the method steps of playing the game; and Figures 6(a) and 6(b) depict the front and rear sides of a zodiac card used in connection with the present invention.

The fortune telling game, as seen in Figures 1 and 2, consists of a body 1 to which is rotatably mounted a cover 3. On the inside of the cover 3 is mounted a mirror 11.

The base 2 is provided with a bar-code reader 4 which reads data from the various bar-code cards 21. The base 2 is also provided at the center of the upper surface thereof with a liquid crystal display 5. The base 2 is further provided with a "fortune telling" button 6 which when pushed designates the type of fortune telling, a "theme" button 7 which when pushed designates the theme of the fortune telling, a "date" button 8 which when pushed designates the period of fortune telling and an "answer" button 9 which designates the results of the fortune telling.

The base 2 is also provided with a power switch (not illustrated) for turning the game on. Moreover, a speaker 34 (Figure 4) is provided in the base 2 for producing, as explained hereinafter, a specific melody. In addition, four LED's 10 are provided which flicker with the melody.

The operation of buttons 6-9 will now be explained with reference to Figures 2 and 3. The display 5 of Figure 3 illustrates all of the different marks, i.e. words, symbols, etc.

which can be displayed. It is to be understood, of course, that all of these marks are not displayed at the same time. Figure 3 is merely for the convenience of the reader. After the power is turned on the "fortune telling" marks and the "theme" marks are constantly displayed.

Thus, each time the "fortune telling" button 6 is depressed, marks in the group 12 such as "omikuji" (fortune telling by omikuji (oracle)), "zodiac" (astrology), "friend" (fortune telling by friends), "card" (fortune telling by cards), and "flower" (fortune telling by flowers) are displayed one-by-one in order, thereby providing a review of and permitting setting of the desired kind of fortune telling.

When the "theme" button 7 is depressed, the marks in group 13 of Figure 3 such as "torii" (fortune), "Y" (money), "heart" (love), and "notebook and pencil" (study) are displayed one-byone in order, thus providing a review of and permitting setting of the desired kind of mark.

When the "date" button 8 is depressed designating the period of fortune telling, the "date" mark is intermittently displayed enabling the designation of a period of fortune telling. If, in this state, the "fortune telling" button is depressed, the "month" is designated according to the number of times the button is depressed. Also, when the "theme" button 7 is depressed, a "date" is designated according to the number of times the button 7 is depressed. The designated period is displayed on the right of the "date" mark. After the desired period is inputted, the "answer" button is depressed, thus completing the designation of the period of fortune telling. The designated period can be changed by repeating the above-described operation of the "date" button 8. Also, the period designation can be cancelled by depressing the "date" button 8 again.

When the "answer" button 9 is depressed to display the result of fortune telling, one of ten kinds of faces in the "face" group 17 is displayed, and at the same time an "expected value" indicated by a reference number 19 is displayed as a percentage. It should be noted that the method of displaying the "face" marks is not limited, and a plurality of marks may be simultaneously displayed in series from the left as shown for example in a bar graph, thereby indicating the result of fortune telling by the extreme right-hand mark. The "face" mark is linked with the "expected value"; the more the "face" mark goes to the right, that is, approaches a smiling face, the greater the percentage of the "expressed value". At the same time, in each fortune telling play, the following marks are displayed.That is, in the case of "omikuji" (oracle) fortune telling, displayed is one of the fortune telling "results" such as "daikichi" (excellent luck) in the result group 18.

The Japanese characters in group 18 indicates daikichi, chukichi, shokichi and daikyo. In the case of astrology, one (hereinafter called the "numeral") of the numerals 1 to 10 designated by reference numeral 1Sa and one (hereinafter called the "zodiac") of the zodiac signs in the zodiac sign group designated by reference numeral 16 are displayed. tn the case of "friend fortune telling the "zodiac" and the "numeral" are displayed. m the case the "card" fortune telling, one of the suits in the suit mark group indicated by a reference numeral 14 and one of the card numbers indicated by reference numerals lSa - and 15b are displayed. In the case of the "flower" fortune telling, the "numeral", and one of flowers in the flower mark group designated by reference numeral 20 are displayed.

It is also possible to ascertain a concrete fortune telling result in detail from a combination of the above-mentioned groups by referring to the handbook 22. For example, in the case of "card" fortune telling, when the "spade" and "A" are displayed, it is possible to learn the result "Possible to travel abroad" by referring to the handbook 22.

The electrical circuit of the fortune telling game will now be described with reference to the block diagram of Fig. 4. In this diagram, reference numeral 31 refers to a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as the "CPU"), which, as the decision station, decides the result of fortune telling based on the barcode data, while performing the analysis of bar-code data, computations based on the bar-code data, storage of a procedure and the fortune telling result, and the control of the LED display 32 and an LCD 33, while also serving as a melody producing mechanism for outputting a melody signal to the speaker 34.

To the output port of the CPU 31 are connected the LED display 32 comprising LED's 10, the LCD 33 constituting the display 5, and the speaker 34 constituting a part of the melody producing mechanism which uses a piezoelectric element. At the input port of the CPU 31 there is connected a key signal input section 35 for inputting key signals from the "fortune telling" buttons 6 to 9.

Reference numerals 36 and 37 denote a sensor and an amplifier-comparator, respectively, which comprise the bar-code reader 4. The sensor 36 consists of an infrared photodiode for applying infrared rays to the bar code 21a displayed on the barcode card 21, and an infrared phototransistor which performs the reception and photoelectric conversion of the infrared rays reflected from the bar code 21a, outputting voltage corresponding to the bar-code data to the amplifier-comparator 37. The amplifier-comparator 37 performs amplification and waveform shaping of the specific voltage inputted, producing the bar-code data. The output section of this amplifier-comparator is connected to the input port of the CPU 31.

The operation of the fortune telling game 1 will now be explained with reference to the flow chart of Fig. 5.

When the power switch is turned on (Step 41), a RAM built into the CPU 31 is initialized, and the CPU 31 produces a start sound from the speaker 34 (Step 42). Subsequently, the CPU 31 monitors whether or not a key signal has entered from the key signal input section 35 (Step 43). When the key signal has been inputted, the fortune telling mode and theme are changed to those corresponding to the key signal inputted, correspondingly changing, at the same time the information given on the display 5 and producing a specific melody from the speaker 34 (Step 44).

Thereafter, whether or not the bar-code data has been inputted from the amplifier-comparator 37 is monitored (Step 45). When the key signal is not inputted, the operation at Step 45 is immediately conducted.

At Step 45, if no bar-code data has been inputted, the procedure returns to Step 43. At Step 45, when bar-code data has been inputted, the CPU 31 performs the analysis of the bar-code data (Step 46). When it is judged that the bar-code data has been correctly read by the analysis, the CPU 31 decides the result of fortune telling with respect to the kind and theme of the fortune telling on the basins of the bar-code data (Step 48).

If it is judged that the bar-code data has not been correctly read-as a result of the analysis, an error message is given on the display 5 and an error melody is produced from the speaker 34 (Step 49), and subsequently the procedure goes back to Step 43, where the input of an key signal from the key signal inputting section 35 is monitored again. The CPU 31, after finishing the computation of fortune telling, displays the result of the fortune telling on the display 5 and at the same time produces a melody from the speaker 34 (Step 50), thus ending the flow. Thereafter the procedure returns to Step 43, from where the procedure from Step 43 to Step 50 is repeated.

For the bar-code card 21 a zodiac card 23 may be used. This zodiac card, as seen in Fig. 6, includes a figure representing an image of the zodiac on the face (Fig. 6(a)), and the name of the zodiac figure card number, and bar-code data are provided on the back side (Fig. 6(b)). There is included a zodiac card 23 for girls which depicts, for example, a figure representing the spirit of water as shown in Fig. 6, and zodiac cards 23 for boys which may include a figure of a knight (not illustrated.) Use of the fortune telling game of the present invention will now be explained in detail. First, fortune telling by "omikuji," "zodiac," "card" and "flower" will be explained.

When the power switch is turned on, the LED's 10 come on and at the same time the "start" melody is emitted from the speaker 35. The display 5 displays the "omikuji" of the mark group 12 and the "torii" (fortune) of the mark group 13. Also the "bar code" is intermittently indicated, thus enabling "omikuji" fortune telling. Therefore, when the theme "fortune" is chosen in the "omikuji" fortune telling, one of the bar-code cards 21 is selected and inserted into the bar-code reader 4. The bar-code card 21 may be selected from among the zodiac cards 23, or from bar-code cards 21 handmade by the player.

In the meantime, when the "zodiac" or "card" or "flower" fortune telling is selected rather then the "omikuji" fortune telling, the "fortune telling" button 6 is depressed to designate this, and also when other than the "fortune," for example the "money" or "lobe" or "study," is selected, the "theme" button 7 is depressed and then one of the bar-code cards 21 is inserted into the bar-code reader 4.

When the player wants to designate the period of fortune telling, the "data" button 8 is depressed and then the "fortune telling" button 6 and the "theme" button 7 are depressed to designate the period. Thereafter, the "answer" button 9 is depressed, and the bar-code card 21 is inserted into the bar-code reader 4.

When the bar-code data is read, the "answer" is intermittently given on the display 5. If the bar-code reader 4 fails to read the bar code, the speaker 34 makes a "honk" sound and at the same time an "error" is intermittently displayed on the display 5. After a while, the "bar code" intermittently appears~on the display 5. In this state, the bar-code card 21 which could not be read is fed for re-reading into the bar-code reader 4. When the bar-code card 21 has been read, the "answer" is similarly displayed intermittently on the display 5. When the "answer" has been intermittently displayed on the display 5, the "answer" button 9 is depressed to display the result of the fortune telling on the display 5 and the LED's 10 flicker. At the same time, the melody is emitted from the speaker 34. The melody coming from the speaker 34 changes with the result of the fortune that has been told. In the case of a good result, a pleasant melody is heard; in the case of a bad result, a gloomy melody is emitted from the speaker 34. Thus, the fortune telling ends and the bar code mark is intermittently displayed on the display 5. When the same kind of fortune telling is to be continued, the bar-code card 21 is inserted to make the same operation.

When it is required that the specified period be altered, the "date" button 8 is depressed again to repeat the abovedescribed operation. When the fortune telling period is changed, a different result of fortune telling will be produced if the same bar-code card 21 is used. Also, when the designated period is to be cancelled, the "date" button 8 is depressed again.

Next, "friend" fortune telling will be explained. To accomplish this fortune telling, it is necessary to prepare two zodiac cards 23, one showing the player's zodiac data and the other showing the zodiac data of a friend given on the bar code for fortune telling the affinity of the friend to be divined.

Then "friend" fortune telling is designated by depressing the "fortune telling" button 6, and the theme is designated by the "theme" button 7. When the player's zodiac card 23 is read by the bar-code reader 4, a corresponding "zodiac" sign is displayed. Next, the zodiac card 23 of the friend to be divined is read by the bar-code reader 4, and a corresponding "zodiac" sign is also displayed. When the bar-code reader 4 fails to read, "error" and "bar code will be intermittently displayed on the display 5. In this case, it is necessary that the bar-code reader 4 read the zodiac card 23 again.

When the bar-code is read by the bar-code reader 4, an "answer intermittently appears on the display 5. Then the "answer" button 9 is depressed to display "numeral" and "face" marks and an expected value" are displayed. At the same time the LED's 10 flicker and the speaker 34 emits a melody.

According to the fortune telling game of the present invention, as explained in detail above, the player is required to make the bar-code reader 4 read the bar-code data of the barcode card 21. It is, therefore, possible to obtain the result of fortune telling in a very short period of time.

Furthermore, since a melody corresponding to a result of the fortune telling is produced, the player can enjoy the "double" pleasure of visual and auditory excitement. Moreover, it is possible to enjoy a plurality of fortune telling plays, insuring much more pleasure then is usually available thus enhancing the amusement value of the game.

The amusement value of the present invention is also served by using bar codes, which the user is familiar with because of their popularity in stores throughout the world.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, applicable kinds of fortune telling are not limited to those described above; the present invention can also be applied to other fortune telling plays. Furthermore, the method of display of fortune telling "results" is not limited to that described above.

Still further, the bar-code reader may be of any type, for example, a pen type. And the bar codes to be read are not limited to those depicted on the cards. -Several kinds of bar codes pasted on the board may be used.

Since the result of fortune telling is automatically decided by the decision means from a bar-code card even a beginner is able to easily enjoy the fortune telling play. In addition, since a melody corresponding to the result of fortune telling is produced, the player can enjoy both the visual and auditory pleasure.

Claims (8)

1. A fortune telling game, comprising a bar-code reader for reading bar-code data, means for deciding the result of the fortune telling in accordance with said bar-code data thus read, and means displaying the result thus decided.

2. A fortune telling game as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means producing melodies corresponding with the different results of the fortune telling.

3. A fortune telling game as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said means for deciding the result of the fortune telling comprises a microcomputer.

4. A fortune telling game as claimed in claim 3, wherein said means displaying said result comprises an LED display operatively connected to said microcomputer.

5. A fortune telling game as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said bar-code reader comprises a sensor and a amplifier-comparator, said sensor including an infrared photodiode for applying infrared rays to the bar-code displayed on a bar-code card and an infrared phototransistor which performs the reception and photoelectric conversion of the infrared rays reflected from the bar-code.

6. A fortune telling game as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including a bar-code card provided on one side with indicia representing an image of the zodiac.

7. A fortune telling game as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a handbook governing operation of the game.

8. A fortune telling game substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.