TW202412904A - Specialized slot machine for conducting a wagering game using a card system for real time or live action event content - Google Patents

Abstract

A specialized slot machine for conducting a wagering tournament game using real time or live action event content are disclosed. A particular embodiment includes: a gaming system configured to: provide a virtual deck of cards, wherein a plurality of virtual cards in the deck have been selected from a virtual pool of cards, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards comprise identifying information and real-life statistics related to an athlete’s actions in real-life sporting events, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards further comprise information indicative of: 1) an athlete’s name, 2) a name of a team for which an athlete plays, 3) a value of the virtual card determined by fantasy points a corresponding athlete is worth, 4) a position played by an athlete, and 5) bonus points or multipliers corresponding to the virtual card, the plurality of virtual cards in the deck have been selected from the virtual pool of cards to maintain a probability of the virtual cards in the deck generating a winning total based on real-life statistics of selected virtual cards in the deck within a pre-determined range, each of the plurality of virtual cards further comprise readable information indicative of a color of the card; randomly present at least three virtual cards in a bloc face up from the virtual deck of cards to a plurality of players; prompt the plurality of players to bid on the presented bloc of virtual cards or fold and exit a current round; accept bids from the plurality of players; and award the presented bloc of virtual cards to a winning player of the plurality of players with a best bid.

Description

Dedicated slot machines for betting games on live or live event content using a card system

This patent application relates to a gaming machine, a slot machine, computer-implemented software, a network connection system, and a gaming system according to an embodiment, and more particularly, to a dedicated slot machine for playing a wagering game on real-time or live event content using a card system.

For many years, the gaming industry, casinos and gambling venues have used gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like. Slot machines have proven to be very popular with players and profitable for the venues. Generally speaking, the popularity of such slot machines among players depends on the possibility of winning game tickets on the slot machine and the inherent entertainment value of the slot machine relative to other available gaming options. Players are generally attracted to the most entertaining and exciting slot machines, which have features and enhancements that attract frequent gaming and increase the profit margins of the operators. Therefore, there is a constant need for slot machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improve game enhancements that attract frequent gaming by enhancing the entertainment value for players. However, current gaming systems are based on the use of predefined card sets or presentations (e.g., fruit types, symbols, etc.) that form the content used in the wagering games implemented by the gaming system. Casinos have been unable to use these gaming systems to implement wagering games based on the use of variable content, real-time content, or live event content. Additionally, casinos have been unable to take advantage of an opportunity to enter the explosively growing fantasy sports market through traditional slot machines or other gaming systems designed to create intense, skill-based strategy games.

Gaming systems with cards or card displays may be used like traditional decks at a table, or they may be virtual decks played at slot machines, video games, and/or Internet games. One of the features of these cards should be to provide as many players as possible with the opportunity to play these types of games. However, traditional card games or gaming systems with cards or card displays present a barrier to a significant portion of the population.

One in twelve men in the world is color blind. This represents 8% of the male population. This problem is less common among women, with only one in 200 suffering from this affliction. This represents 0.5% of the female population. However, traditional card games or gaming systems with cards or card displays largely ignore the needs of these players.

In various embodiments described herein, a slot machine for playing a wagering game on real-time or live event content using a card system via a computer system and/or a data network is disclosed. In other embodiments described herein, a slot machine for playing fantasy sports tournaments via a computer system and/or a data network is disclosed. In general, this patent application relates to a computer or network-implemented dedicated gaming system and/or fantasy sports tournament.

In various exemplary embodiments, the computer or network-implemented gaming system as described herein may communicate over a data network with a plurality of user platforms. The user platforms may be client computing devices, mobile computing devices, mobile communication devices, or the like operated by game participants or administrators. A host site or server may be used to execute the software and system implementing the gaming structure as described herein. Thus, the host site and the network connection system become a special-purpose computing platform specially configured to support the computer or network-implemented gaming system as described herein. The host site and the user platforms may communicate and transmit data and information in a data network environment via a wide area data network (e.g., the Internet). The various components of the host site can also communicate internally via a common intranet or local area network (LAN).

In the exemplary embodiments, the computer or network-implemented gaming system as described herein may communicate over a data network with a plurality of participants and other network resources. A participant may represent a network location of a client or client computing system managed by a participant, team, game player, or other client user operating an embodiment as described herein. As described in more detail below, a participant or other user may interact with a computer-generated user interface provided by the gaming system at a user platform to participate in and communicate with the gaming system.

In these exemplary embodiments, the computer or network implemented gaming system as described herein may implement a card game or gaming system having a card or card display that can be easily read and used by color blind people.

Copyright Notice

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is copyrighted. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following statement applies to the disclosure herein and the drawings forming a part of this document: Copyright 2012-2022, Philip Paul Givant, All rights reserved. Reference to Priority Patent Applications

This application is a continuation-in-part (CIP) application of U.S. application No. 17/588,329 filed on January 30, 2022; the continuation-in-part application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application No. 16/665,684 filed on October 28, 2019 (now U.S. Patent No. 11,270,556); the continuation-in-part application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application No. 15/437,125 filed on February 20, 2017 (now U.S. Patent No. 10,460,568); the continuation-in-part application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application No. 1 filed on December 28, 2015 No. 4/981,408 (now U.S. Patent No. 9,589,418); the continuation-in-part non-provisional patent application claiming priority to application serial number 14/684,160 filed on April 10, 2015; the non-provisional patent application claiming priority to application serial number 13/945,628 filed on July 18, 2013; the non-provisional patent application claiming priority to serial number 61/741,463 filed on July 19, 2012. This patent application claims priority to the referenced patent applications, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. An exemplary embodiment of a dedicated slot machine, a dedicated lottery machine, or other dedicated gaming system for betting on live or live event content using a card system

Referring now to FIG. 1 , a slot machine 10 may be used in a gaming venue such as a casino. With respect to the exemplary embodiments described herein, the slot machine 10 may be any type of slot machine and may have different structures and methods of operation. For example, the slot machine 10 may be an electromechanical game machine configured to play mechanical slots, or it may be an electronic game machine configured to play video casino games such as slots, keno, poker, blackjack, roulette, etc. In an alternative embodiment, the slot machine 10 may also be an electromechanical lottery machine.

The slot machine 10 includes a housing 12 that includes an input device that includes a value input device 18 and a player input device 24. For output, the slot machine 10 includes a primary display 14 for displaying information about the basic wager game. The primary display 14 may also display information about a bonus wager game and a progressive wager game. The slot machine 10 may also include a secondary display 16 for displaying game events, game results, and/or logo information. Although these typical components of the slot machine 10 are described below, it should be understood that numerous other elements may exist and may be used in any number of combinations to create various forms of a slot machine 10.

The value input device 18 may be provided in a variety of forms, individually or in combination, and is preferably located on the front of the housing 12. The value input device 18 receives tokens and/or smart cards inserted by a player. The value input device 18 may include a game currency receiver 20 (see Figure 1) for receiving game currency tokens. Alternatively or in addition, the value input device 18 may include a ticket acceptor 22 for receiving paper money. In addition, the value input device 18 may include a ticket reader, a barcode scanner, or a QR code scanner for reading information stored on a credit ticket, a card, or other tangible portable credit storage device. The credit ticket or smart card may also authorize access to a central account which can transfer game tickets to the slot machine 10.

The player input device 24 includes a plurality of buttons 26 on a button panel for operating the slot machine 10. Additionally or alternatively, the player input device 24 may include a touch screen 28 mounted on the primary display 14 and/or the secondary display 16 by adhesive, tape, or the like. The touch screen 28 contains soft touch keys 30 that are represented by graphics on the underlying primary display 14 and are used to operate the slot machine 10. The touch screen 28 provides an alternative input method for the player. A player achieves a desired function by touching the touch screen 28 at an appropriate touch key 30 or by pressing an appropriate button 26 on the button panel. The touch pad 30 may be used to perform the same functions as the push button 26. Alternatively, the push button 26 may provide input for operating one aspect of the game, while the touch pad 30 may allow input required for another aspect of the game. In another embodiment, a user may provide input to the slot machine 10 using a joystick or handle on the side of the slot machine.

1, the various components of the slot machine 10 may be directly connected to or contained within the housing 12, or may be located outside the housing 12 and connected to the housing 12 via a variety of different wired or wireless connection methods. Thus, the slot machine 10 includes such components whether housed in the housing 12 or housed outside the housing 12 and connected remotely.

The operation of the basic wager game is displayed to the player on the primary display 14. The primary display 14 may also display bonus games associated with the basic wager game. The primary display 14 may take the form of a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, a high resolution liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, an LED (light emitting diode) display, or any other type of display suitable for use in the slot machine 10. As shown, the primary display 14 includes a touch screen 28 that overlays the entire display (or a portion thereof) to allow the player to make game-related selections. Alternatively, the primary display 14 of the slot machine 10 may include a number of mechanical, electromechanical or electronic reels to display the results in visual association with at least one payline 32. In the illustrated embodiment, the slot machine 10 is a "vertical" version, wherein the primary display 14 is oriented vertically relative to the player. Alternatively, the slot machine may be a "tilted" version, wherein the primary display 14 is tilted at about a 30 degree angle toward the player of the slot machine 10.

A player begins participating in the basic wager game by placing a wager through the value input device 18 of the slot machine 10. A player may select a participation type by using the player input device 24 via buttons 26 or touch screen keys 30. The basic game consists of a plurality of symbols arranged in an array and includes at least one payline 32 indicating one or more outcomes of the basic game. Such outcomes may be randomly selected in response to the player's wager input. As described in more detail below for various exemplary embodiments, the outcomes may also be based on player input and real-time or live event content captured by the slot machine 10 from a network information source. At least one of the plurality of outcomes determined by the slot machine 10 may be an initial bonus outcome, which may include any variation of a symbol or combination of symbols that triggers a bonus game.

In some embodiments, the slot machine 10 may also include a player information reader 52 that allows a player to be identified (ID) by reading a card with information indicating his or her true identity. The player information reader 52 is shown in FIG. 1 as a card reader, but may take a variety of forms, including a ticket reader, a barcode scanner, a QR code scanner, an RFID (radio frequency identification) transceiver, or a computer-readable storage media interface. Currently, casinos generally use identification to reward certain players with preferential services or special offers. For example, a player may join a loyalty club of a gaming establishment and may be rewarded with certain preferential services as the player collects points in his or her player tracking account. The player inserts his or her card into the player information reader 52, which allows the casino's computer to register the player's bet at the slot machine 10. The slot machine 10 may use the secondary display 16 or other dedicated player tracking display to provide the player with information about his or her account or other player-specific information. Also, in some embodiments, the information reader 52 may be used to restore gaming assets that the player acquired and saved during a previous gaming session.

Referring now to FIG. 2 , a handheld or mobile slot machine 610 is illustrated. Like the free standing slot machine 10 , the handheld slot machine 610 is preferably an electronic gaming machine configured to play a video casino game such as, but not limited to, blackjack, slots, keno, poker, blackjack, and roulette. The handheld slot machine 610 includes a housing or casing 612 and includes input devices including a value input device 618 and a player input device 624. For output, the handheld slot machine 610 includes, but is not limited to, a primary display 614, a secondary display 616, one or more speakers 617, one or more player accessible ports 619 (e.g., an audio output jack for headphones, a video headphone jack, etc.), and other conventional input/output (I/O) devices and ports, which may or may not be player accessible. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 , the handheld slot machine 610 includes a secondary display 616 that is rotatable relative to the primary display 614. The optional secondary display 616 may be fixed, removable, and/or detachable/attachable relative to the primary display 614. The primary display 614 and/or the secondary display 616 may be configured to display any aspect of a non-wager game, wager game, secondary game, bonus game, progressive wager game, group game, shared experience game or event, game event, game result, scrolling information, text message, email, alert or announcement, broadcast information, subscription information and handheld slot machine status.

The player-accessible value input device 618 may include, for example, a slot located on the front, side, or top of the housing 612, the slot being configured to receive credit from a stored-value card (e.g., entertainment card, smart card, debit card, smart card, etc.) inserted by a player. In another aspect, the player-accessible value input device 618 may include a sensor (e.g., an RF radio frequency sensor) configured to sense a signal (e.g., an RF signal) output by a transmitter (e.g., an RF transmitter) carried by a player. The player-accessible value input device 618 may also or alternatively include a ticket reader, barcode scanner, or QR code scanner for reading information stored on a credit ticket, a card, or other tangible portable credit or game point storage device. The credit slip or smart card may also authorize access to a central account that can transfer game tickets to one of the handheld slot machines 610.

Other player accessible value input devices 618 may still require the use of a touch screen display (e.g., primary display 614 and/or secondary display 616) or touch keys 630 on player input device 624. Upon entering player identification information and preferably secondary authorization information (e.g., a password, personal identification number (PIN), stored value card number, predefined key sequence, etc.), a player may be granted access to a player's account. As a potential optional security feature, the handheld slot machine 610 may be configured to grant a player access only to an account that the player has specifically configured for the handheld slot machine 610. For example, other customary security features may also be utilized to prevent unauthorized access to a player's account, minimize the impact of any unauthorized access to a player's account, or prevent unauthorized access to any personal information or game scores temporarily stored on the handheld slot machine 610.

The player-accessible value input device 618 itself may include or utilize a biometric player information reader that allows the player to access available game points on a player's account, either alone or in combination with another of the aforementioned player-accessible value input devices 618. In an embodiment in which the player-accessible value input device 618 includes a biometric player information reader, for example, changes such as the input of value to a handheld device, the transfer of value from a player account or source to an account associated with the handheld slot machine 610, or the execution of another change may all be authorized by a biometric reading from the biometric device, which may include a plurality of biometric readings.

Alternatively, for enhanced security, a change may be effected by a two-step process in which a secondary source confirms the identity indicated by a primary source. For example, a player-accessible value input device 618 including a biometric player information reader may require access confirmation from another biometric player information reader 652 or from another source such as a smart card, debit card, player ID (identification) card, key fob, PIN (personal identification number), password, hotel room key, etc. Thus, a transaction may be accomplished by, for example, a combination of a personal identification input (e.g., biometric input) and a secret PIN; or a combination of a biometric input and a key fob input; or a combination of a key fob input and a PIN; or a combination of a smart card input and a biometric input. Essentially, any two independent identity sources, one of which is locked to or personal to the player (e.g., biometric reading, PIN, password, etc.), may be used to provide enhanced security prior to the electronic transfer of any gaming credits. In another aspect, the value input device 618 may be provided remotely from the handheld slot machine 610.

The player input device 624 includes a plurality of buttons on a button panel for operating the handheld slot machine 610. Additionally or alternatively, the player input device 624 may include a touch screen 628 mounted to a primary display 614 and/or secondary display 616. In one aspect, the touch screen 628 is matched to a display screen having one or more selectable touch keys 630 that a user may select by touching associated areas of the screen using a finger or a tool such as a stylus pointer. A player achieves the desired function by touching the touch screen 628 at an appropriate touch key 630 or by pressing an appropriate push button 626 on the button panel. The touch key 630 can be used to implement the same function as the push button 626. Alternatively, the push button can provide input for operating one aspect of the game, while the touch key 630 can allow input required for another aspect of the game. As shown in Figure 2, the various components of the handheld slot machine 610 can be directly connected to the outer cover 612 or contained in the outer cover 612, or can be located outside the outer cover 612 and connected to the outer cover 612 via various hard wiring (chain) or wireless connection methods. Thus, the handheld slot machine 610 may include a single unit or multiple interconnected parts (e.g., wireless connections) that can be configured to match a player's preferences.

The operation of the basic wager game on the handheld slot machine 610 is displayed to the player on the primary display 614. The primary display 614 may also display bonus games associated with the basic wager game. Preferably, the primary display 614 takes the form of a high-resolution LCD, a plasma display, an LED, or any other type of display suitable for use in the handheld slot machine 610. For example, the size of the primary display 614 can vary from approximately a 2" to 3" display to a 15" or 17" display. In at least some embodiments, the primary display 614 is a 7" to 10" display. As the weight and/or power requirements of such displays decrease as technology improves, it is conceivable that the size of the primary display will increase. Optionally, a coating or removable film or sheet may be applied to the display to provide desired properties (e.g., anti-scratch, anti-glare, antibacterial and antimicrobial films, etc.). In at least some embodiments, the primary display 614 and/or the secondary display 616 may have an aspect ratio of 16:9 or other aspect ratios (e.g., 4:3). The primary display 614 and/or the secondary display 616 may also each have different resolutions, different color schemes, and different aspect ratios.

As with the free standing slot machine 10, a player begins playing the base wager game on the handheld slot machine 610 by placing a wager on the handheld slot machine 610 (e.g., via the value input device 618 or by assigning one of the credits stored on the handheld slot machine via the touch screen key 630, the player input device 624, or the button 626). In at least some aspects, the base game may include a plurality of symbols arranged in an array and include at least one payline 632 indicating one or more outcomes of the base game. Such outcomes may be randomly selected in response to the player's wager input. As described in more detail below with respect to various exemplary embodiments, outcomes may also be based on player input and real-time or live event content captured from a network source by the slot machine 610. At least one of the plurality of outcomes determined by the slot machine 610 may be a starting bonus outcome, which may include any variation of a symbol or combination of symbols that triggers a bonus game.

In some embodiments, the player-accessible value input device 618 of the handheld slot machine 610 may double as a player information reader 652 that allows a player to be identified by reading a card having information indicative of the player's identity (e.g., reading a player's smart card, player ID card, smart card, etc.). Alternatively or in addition, the player information reader 652 may include a barcode scanner, RFID transceiver, or computer-readable storage media interface. In one currently preferred embodiment, the player information reader 652 shown by way of example in FIG. 2 includes a biometric sensing device.

Turning now to FIG. 3 , the various components of the slot machine 10 are controlled by a central processing unit (CPU) 34, which is also referred to herein as a controller or processor (such as a microcontroller or microprocessor). To provide game functions, the controller 34 executes one or more game programs stored in a computer-readable storage medium in the form of a memory 36. The controller 34 can randomly select a result from a plurality of possible results of the betting game (using a random number generator (RNG)). Another option is that the random event can be determined at a remote controller. The remote controller can use an RNG or a pooling scheme to centrally determine a game result. It should be understood that the controller 34 may include one or more microprocessors, including but not limited to a master processor, a slave processor, and a secondary or parallel processor.

The controller 34 is also coupled to a system memory 36 and a ticket/credit detector 38. The system memory 36 may include a volatile memory (e.g., a random access memory (RAM)) and a non-volatile memory (e.g., an EEPROM). The system memory 36 may include multiple RAMs and multiple program memories. The ticket/credit detector 38 signals the processor that tokens and/or credits have been entered by the value input device 18. Preferably, these components are located within the housing 12 of the slot machine 10. However, as explained above, these components may be located outside the housing 12 and connected to the remainder of the components of the slot machine 10 via a variety of different wired or wireless connection methods.

As seen in FIG. 3 , the controller 34 is also connected to and controls the main display 14, the player input device 24, and a clearing mechanism 40. The clearing mechanism 40 can operate in response to instructions from the controller 34 to give a clearing reward to the player in response to certain winning results that may occur in the basic game or the bonus game. The clearing can be provided in the form of points, tickets, slips, coupons, cards, etc. For example, in FIG. 1 , the clearing mechanism 40 includes a slip printer 42 and a game coin outlet 44. However, any of a variety of clearing mechanisms 40 known in the art can be implemented, including cards, game coins, slips, smart cards, game points, etc. The clearing award value distributed by the clearing mechanism 40 can be determined by one or more payment tables stored in the system memory 36.

Communication between the controller 34 and both the peripheral components of the slot machine 10 and the external system 50 is performed via input/output (I/O) circuits 46, 48. More specifically, the controller 34 controls and receives inputs from the peripheral components of the slot machine 10 via the input/output circuits 46. In addition, the controller 34 communicates with the external system 50 via the I/O circuits 48 and a communication path (e.g., serial, parallel, IR, RC, 10 bT, etc.). The external system 50 may include a gaming network, other gaming machines, a gaming server, a central server, a central server database, Internet nodes/sites, communication hardware, or various other interfacing systems or components. Although the I/O circuits 46, 48 may be shown as a single block, it should be understood that each of the I/O circuits 46, 48 may include a number of different types of I/O circuits.

As used herein, the controller 34 includes any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware that may be placed or resident inside and/or outside the slot machine 10, which controller may communicate with and/or control data transfer between the slot machine 10 and a bus, another computer, processor or device and/or a service and/or a network. The controller 34 may include one or more controllers or processors. In FIG. 3 , the controller 34 in the slot machine 10 is depicted as including a CPU, but alternatively, the controller 34 may include a CPU in combination with other components such as I/O circuits 46, 48 and system memory 36. The controller 34 may reside partially or entirely inside or outside the slot machine 10. The control system of a handheld slot machine 610 may be similar to the control system of a free standing slot machine 10, although the functionality of the respective onboard controllers may vary.

The slot machines 10, 610 may communicate with the external system 50 (in a wired or wireless manner) such that each slot machine operates as a "thin client" with relatively less functionality, a "fat client" with relatively more functionality, or via any range of functionality in between (e.g., a "rich client"). As a general "thin client," the slot machine 10, 610 may operate primarily as a display device to display the results of externally processed game results, such as on a server that is part of the external system 50. In this "thin client" configuration, the server executes the game code and determines the game results (e.g., using a random number generator) while the controller 34 onboard the slot machine 10, 610 processes the display information to be displayed on the slot machine's display. In an alternative "rich client" configuration, the server determines the game outcome, and the controller 34 onboard the slot machine 10, 610 executes the game code and processes the display information to be displayed on the slot machine's display. In yet another alternative "fat client" configuration, the controller 34 onboard the slot machine 10, 610 executes the game code, determines the game outcome, and processes the display information to be displayed on the slot machine's display. Many alternative configurations are possible, allowing the foregoing and other functions to be performed onboard or external to the slot machine 10, 610, as may be necessary for a particular application. It should be understood that the slot machine 10, 610 can take a variety of forms, such as a free-standing machine, a portable or handheld device used primarily for gaming, a mobile telecommunications device such as a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA), a counter or bar style gaming machine, or other personal electronic devices such as a portable television, MP3 player, entertainment device, etc.

The slot machine 10, 610 described above can be used to interact with a betting game having an outcome based at least in part on real-time or live event content and related real-time features. Various embodiments of such real-time or live event betting games implemented on the slot machine 10, 610 using real-time features will be described in more detail below. The slot machine 10, 610 described above can also be used to interact with a betting game having fantasy sports game features. Various embodiments of such fantasy sports betting games implemented on the slot machine 10, 610 will be described in more detail below. Real-time features and fantasy sports game features can be about, for example, a sporting event, a live event, a news event, a political event, a social media trending topic, or any other real-time or live event or activity with statistics that can be tracked. As described herein, in a betting game with real-time features and fantasy sports game features, the decisions made by the player on the betting game itself are based on events that occur while the betting game is being played. In embodiments where the fantasy sports game features are about sporting events, various types of game play and betting options may be provided, as described in more detail below. For example, a user may be prompted to select a specific player, position, team, etc., or to select from a specific tribe, guild, league, etc. In such embodiments, the fantasy sports game feature may monitor one or more tracked statistics and determine one or more ultimate winners, as will be described in more detail below with respect to Figures 6-9.

The tracked statistics can be used to analyze the user's betting and can be tracked over a time period. For example, statistics used to analyze the user's betting can be tracked over a period of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. Statistics can be tracked in a single game or a group of games, or in one or more innings, quarters, periods, halves, or games. Additionally or alternatively, statistics can be tracked over a single game or a group of games, a season or a portion thereof, or any time period desired by the operator.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment 100 of a gaming system 200 in a supported network access environment. Referring now to FIG. 4 , in an exemplary embodiment, a supported network access gaming system environment 100 is disclosed. In various exemplary embodiments, an application or service typically provided by or operated on a host site (e.g., a website) 110 is provided to simplify and facilitate downloading or hosting of a gaming system 200 of an exemplary embodiment. In a particular embodiment, the gaming system 200 or a portion thereof may be downloaded from the host site 110 by a user at a user platform 140. Alternatively, the gaming system 200 may be hosted by the host site 110 for a network-connected user at a user platform 140. Details of an example embodiment of a gaming system 200 are provided herein.

Referring again to FIG. 4 , the gaming system 200 may be networked with a plurality of user platforms 140. The user platform 140 may be implemented as the slot machine 10, 610 described above. A client version of the gaming system 200 may also be implemented in each dedicated slot machine 10, 610 itself. Thus, the slot machine 10, 610 described above may be used to interact with a wagering game, implemented in the slot machine 10, 610 itself or by the gaming system 200, wherein the wagering game determines the outcome based at least in part on the content of the real-time or live activity event and the associated real-time features. Various embodiments of such real-time or live activity wagering games implemented using real-time features on the slot machine 10, 610 will be described in detail below. The slot machines 10, 610 described above may also be used to interact with betting games featuring fantasy sports games. Various embodiments of such fantasy sports betting games implemented on the slot machines 10, 610 will be described in more detail below. The host site 110 and the user platform 140 may communicate and transfer data and information in the data network environment 100 shown in FIG. 4 via a wide area data network (e.g., the Internet) 120. The various components of the host site 110 may also communicate internally via a conventional intranet or local area network (LAN) 114.

In an exemplary embodiment, the gaming system 200 may also be in network communication with a plurality of participants 150 and a plurality of network resources 155. The participants 150 may represent network locations of clients or client computing systems managed by participants, players, teams, tournament players, or other client users operating an embodiment described herein. For example, in a particular embodiment of a fantasy sports tournament platform as shown in FIG. 4 , the participants 150 may represent network locations of tournament participants, participants, teams, tournament players, brokers, dealers, agents, or the like clients or client computing systems. Participants 150 may participate using a user platform 140, which may be implemented as the slot machine 10, 610 described above. Participants 150 may interact with a user interface provided by the gaming system 200 to participate in a real-time or live event betting game and/or a fantasy sports tournament. Web resources 155 may represent network locations of information sources related to real-time or live action betting games and/or fantasy sports tournaments, such as real-time event information, real-time news information, real-time political or social media information, actual team or player information, document sources, photos, maps, reviews, statistics, venue information, publications, articles, or other relevant information related to real-time or live action betting games and/or fantasy sports tournaments of example embodiments.

Networks 120 and 114 are configured to couple one computing device to another computing device. Networks 120 and 114 may be configured to communicate information from one electronic device to another using any form of computer-readable media. Network 120 may include the Internet in addition to LAN 114, a wide area network (WAN), direct connections such as via an Ethernet port or a universal serial bus (USB) port, other forms of computer-readable media, or any combination thereof. On a set of interconnected LANs, including those based on different architectures and protocols, a router and/or gateway device may act as a link between LANs, thereby enabling messages to be sent between computing devices. Furthermore, the communication links within a LAN may include fiber optic data lines, twisted pair wires, or coaxial cables, and the communication links between networks may utilize analog telephone lines, all or part of dedicated digital lines including T1, T2, T3, and T4, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), optical fiber, wireless links including satellite links, or other communication links known to those skilled in the art. In addition, remote computers and other related electronic devices may be remotely connected to a LAN or WAN via a wireless link, WiFi, BLUETOOTH™, satellite or modem and temporary telephone links.

Networks 120 and 114 may further include any of a variety of wireless sub-networks that may further overlay independent ad hoc networks and the like to provide an infrastructure-oriented connection. Such sub-networks may include mesh networks, wireless LAN (WLAN) networks, cellular networks, and the like. Networks 120 and 114 may also include an autonomous system of terminals, gateways, routers, and the like connected by wireless radio links or wireless transceivers. These connectors may be configured to move freely and randomly, and organize themselves arbitrarily, so that the topology of networks 120 and 114 may be changed quickly and arbitrarily.

The networks 120 and 114 may further employ a plurality of access technologies, including 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G radio access for cellular systems, WLAN, wireless router (WR) mesh, and the like. Access technologies such as 2G, 3G, 4G, and future access networks may achieve wide area coverage for mobile devices (such as one or more client devices 141) with various mobility levels. For example, networks 120 and 114 may be connected wirelessly via a radio network access such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), CDMA2000, and the like. Networks 120 and 114 may also be configured for use with a variety of other wired and wireless communication protocols including TCP/IP, UDP, SIP, SMS, RTP, WAP, CDMA, TDMA, EDGE, UMTS, GPRS, GSM, UWB, WiFi, WiMax, IEEE 802.11x, and the like. In essence, networks 120 and 114 may include any wired and/or wireless communication mechanism by which information may be transmitted between one computing device and another computing device, network, and the like. In one embodiment, network 114 may represent a LAN configured behind a firewall (not shown) in a commercial data center, for example.

In various exemplary embodiments, the gaming system may be implemented using any form of network-transmittable digital data. Network-transmittable digital data may be transmitted in any of a group of data packets or text formats, protocols, and associated mechanisms that can be used to enable a host site 110 and a user platform 140 to transmit data via a network 120. In one embodiment, the data format of the user interface may be Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML is a common markup language used to create web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser. In another embodiment, the data format of the user interface may be Extensible Markup Language (XML). XML is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding interfaces or documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. In another embodiment, a JSON (JAVASCRIPT™ Object Notation) format may be used to stream interface content to various user platform 140 devices. JSON is a text-based open standard designed for human-readable data exchange. The JSON format is typically used to serialize and transmit structured data over a network connection. In one embodiment, JSON may be used to transmit data between a server, device, or application, where JSON serves as an alternative to XML. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Secure HTTP (HTTPS) may be used as a network data communication protocol.

In a particular embodiment, a user platform 140 having one or more client devices 141 enables a user to access data via the host 110 and the network 120 and provide data and/or instructions to the gaming system 200. The client devices 141 may include any computing device configured to send and receive information via a data network such as the network 120. Such client devices 141 may include portable devices 144 such as cellular phones, smart phones, display pagers, radio frequency (RF) devices, infrared (IR) devices, global positioning devices (GPS), personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, wearable computers, tablet computers, integrated devices combining one or more of the foregoing devices, and the like. Client device 141 may also include other computing devices, such as personal computers 142, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, and the like. Client device 141 may also include other processing devices known to those skilled in the art, such as consumer electronics (CE) devices 146 and/or mobile computing devices 148. Thus, client device 141 may have a wide range of capabilities and features. For example, a client device configured as a cellular phone may have a numeric keypad and a single-color LCD (liquid crystal display) display with several lines on which only text can be displayed. In another example, a web-enabled client device may have a touch-sensitive screen, a stylus, and a multi-line color LCD display in which text and graphics can be displayed. Furthermore, the web-enabled client device may include a browser application that enables reception and transmission of wireless application protocol messages (WAP) and/or wired application messages and the like. In one embodiment, the browser application enables display and/or transmission of digital information using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Dynamic HTML, Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML), Wireless Markup Language (WML), WMLScript, JAVASCRIPT™, Extensible HTML (xHTML), Compact HTML (CHTML), and the like. In other embodiments, the mobile device may be configured with an application (app) that utilizes the mobile device to implement the functionality described herein.

The client device 141 may also include at least one client application configured to send and receive content data and/or control data from another computing device via a wired or wireless network transmission. The client application may include a capability to provide and receive text data, graphic data, video data, audio data, and the like. Moreover, the client device 141 may be further configured to communicate and/or receive a message between another computing device and the like, such as via an email application, a short message service (SMS), direct messaging (e.g., TWITTER™), multimedia messaging service (MMS), instant messaging (IM), Internet Relay Chat (IRC), mIRC, JABBER, enhanced messaging service (EMS), text messaging, smart messaging, over-the-air (OTA) messaging, or the like.

As an option, the gaming system 200 or a portion thereof may be downloaded to a user device 141 of the user platform 140 and executed locally on a user device 141. Downloading of the gaming system 200 application (or a portion thereof) may be accomplished using the application download functionality. As a second option, the gaming system 200 may be hosted by the host site 110 and executed remotely on the host system 110 from the user's perspective. In one embodiment, the gaming system 200 may be implemented as a service in a service oriented architecture (SOA) or a software as a service (SAAS) architecture. In any case, the functionality executed by the gaming system 200 is as described herein, regardless of whether the application is executed locally or remotely relative to the user.

Referring again to FIG. 4 , a host site 110 of an exemplary embodiment is shown to include a gaming system database 103. In an exemplary embodiment, a network accessible central database 103 is used for real-time event data, tournament data, player or participant data, group data, prize or award data, configuration data, scheduling data, reporting data, and the like. The database 103 may communicate data with the gaming system 200 directly or via an intranet 114. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the database 103 may represent multiple data sets and may be used to store various data supporting the gaming system 200 of an exemplary embodiment.

Referring again to FIG. 4 , a host site 110 of an exemplary embodiment is shown including a gaming system 200. The gaming system 200 may include a user interface processing module 210, a game processing module 220, a user account management module 230, and an administrative management module 240. Each of these modules may be implemented as a software component that executes within an executable environment of the gaming system 200, which operates in whole or in part on the host site 110 or the user platform 140. Each of these modules of an exemplary embodiment is described in more detail herein in conjunction with the figures provided herein.

Referring again to Figure 4, a gaming system 200 of an exemplary embodiment is shown to include a user interface processing module 210. The user interface processing module 210 is responsible for receiving input from a user, participant, player, tournament player, team, or a network-connectable device corresponding to selections, parameters, commands, or other wagering game or tournament input received from a participant 150, and for displaying wagering game or tournament data to a user, participant, player, tournament player, team, or other client user via any of the user interface platforms 141 described above. The user interface processing module 210 may receive from the participant 150 his/her participant-specific information, betting game selections, athlete or fantasy player selections, and other participant information associated with the betting game or tournament and the specific round in which the participant is participating. The details of the interaction between the participants in the betting game or tournament will be explained in more detail herein. This participant-related information may be used to create a participant status record for each of the plurality of participants 150. The participant status record may be saved in a network accessible central data repository 103 and shared with the game processing module 220.

Although the various user interface displays provided by the exemplary embodiments described herein are almost infinitely varied, the description of the user interface displays and sequences provided herein is for the purpose of illustrating various features of the disclosed embodiments. Such user interface displays and sequences are described herein with reference to the exemplary embodiments. In view of the disclosure herein, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that equivalent user interface displays and sequences may be implemented within the scope of the subject matter of the invention disclosed and claimed herein.

Referring again to FIG. 4 , a gaming system 200 of an exemplary embodiment is shown to include a game processing module 220. The game processing module 220 is responsible for managing the operation of the betting game or fantasy sports tournament and the plurality of rounds participated in therein. The game processing module 220 manages the betting game participants and the group of participants in the fantasy sports tournament, obtains real-time and live event data via the network, calculates the participant positions, records the participant statistics, promotes the winning participants to the advanced rounds, and determines the overall winner of the betting game or fantasy sports tournament. The game processing module 220 may also provide notifications to the participants of the betting game or fantasy sports tournament. The details of the operation of betting games and fantasy sports tournaments, the deployment of groups of participants, the management of multi-player rounds, and the management of participants in betting games or fantasy sports tournaments are explained in detail in this article.

Referring again to FIG. 4 and as described above, a user platform 141 may include a mobile device on which a mobile application (app) may be executed. An exemplary embodiment implemented as a mobile device app may be used to support a mobile device user interface of a gaming system 200 of an exemplary embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments may also be implemented as a web application (app) having one or more web pages or other types of user interfaces. A mobile version of an exemplary embodiment provides a user-friendly interface by which a user can easily view relevant participant/client information from a mobile device. As described in more detail herein, a mobile software application (app) embodying a mobile version of an example embodiment as described herein can be installed and executed on a mobile device such as a smartphone, laptop, tablet device, and the like. In an example embodiment, each time a user opens or activates the mobile application on the mobile device, a splash screen appears. The splash screen can display a host logo and wallpaper image when opening a login screen, or display a live feed of processed client information.

The user login functionality in the web application or mobile app provides a user-friendly user interface where the user can provide identification information associated with a user account (e.g., an email address and password). If the user does not have an account, the user can create an account from this user interface. In an exemplary embodiment, the process of creating a user account only requires the user to provide identification information (e.g., first name, last name, email address, and password). By completing this information, the user can create an account and access tournament and participant information.

Referring again to FIG. 4 , the gaming system 200 of an exemplary embodiment is also shown to include a user account management module 230. The user account management module 230 may be used to create and maintain a user account on the host site 110. The user account management module 230 may also be used to configure user settings, and to create and maintain a client/user profile on the host site 110, and to otherwise manage user data and operating parameters on the host site 110. In the exemplary embodiments described herein, a user may register as an identified participant to share wagering game or fantasy sports tournament information, receive wagering game or fantasy sports tournament information and communications, or interact with other wagering game or fantasy sports tournament related content or other participants. Registered users enter their identification information during a login phase and can then share betting game or fantasy sports tournament related content and interact with other participants.

Referring again to FIG. 4 , a gaming system 200 of an exemplary embodiment is shown to include an administration module 240. An agent or administrator of the gaming system 200 may use the administration module 240 to manage user accounts, configure system features, and manage the operation and configuration of the gaming system 200. The administration module 240 may also be used to implement privacy protection and tournament controls for participants. Furthermore, the administration module 240 may also be used to generate and/or process various analyses associated with the operation of the gaming system 200. For example, the administration module 240 may generate various statistical models representing the activity of a group of participants throughout a betting game or fantasy sports tournament. Such analyses may be shared, licensed, or sold to others.

Referring now to FIG. 5 , another exemplary embodiment 101 of a network connection system in which the various embodiments may operate is illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, a host site 110 is shown as including a gaming system 200. As explained above, the gaming system 200 is shown as including functional components 210-240. In a particular embodiment, the host site 110 may also include a web server 404 having a web interface through which a user may interact with the host site 110. The host site 110 may also include an application programming interface (API) 402 by which the host site 110 may interact with other network entities at a programmatic or automated data transfer level. The API 402 and web interface 404 may be configured to interact with the gaming system 200 directly or through an interface 406. The gaming system 200 can be configured to access a data storage device 103 and the data 408 therein directly or through an interface 406. > Example Embodiments of a Dedicated Slot Machine with Virtual Poker Card Representations, Formats, and User Interfaces for Use in a Fantasy Sports Tournament

Figures 6-9 illustrate an exemplary embodiment implemented as a dedicated slot machine, showing the basic elements of a user interface for implementing a fantasy sports tournament on the dedicated slot machine with virtual playing card representations and small group rounds of multiple participants. The user interface can be used to implement the fantasy sports slot machine type of an exemplary embodiment. The following description provides a general overview of the dedicated slot machine type in an exemplary embodiment. • As described herein, fantasy sports dedicated slot machines are placed in casinos or other venues around the world. These dedicated slot machines can be programmed to participate in any fantasy sport that a participant wishes to participate in. • These dedicated slot machines are linked to a central network accessible database, allowing participants competing in a given “group game” to play at different casinos/venues around the world. In other words, if a person sits down at the MGM™ in Las Vegas, they do not have to sit and wait until their group of six is filled by people sitting at that other MGM™ casino. The other five players they are competing against can be seated in a casino/venue anywhere in the world. • Participants sit at their own personal fantasy sports dedicated slot machine/terminal, as explained herein. Participants can choose to enter $1, $5, $20, $50 and $100 tournaments (or any other entry prize value that the casino/venue deems attractive for a slot machine). • When a participant views the display screen of a fantasy sports slot machine/terminal, he or she will see on the display screen an image presented by the user interface logic of an exemplary embodiment described herein showing a virtual card table with six positions (e.g., see FIG. 9 ). The participant at the fantasy sports slot machine/terminal will be one of the players occupying one of the six positions at the virtual card table presented by the slot machine/terminal. • The participant deposits a game ticket value into the slot machine/terminal corresponding to the game level in which he or she wishes to participate. For example, to enter a game, a participant might deposit $1 in a 1A token game, $10 in a 10A token game, or $20 in a 20A token game. • The participant then pulls the handle (either activates a joystick or presses a button on the dedicated slot machine/terminal's user interface) and the dedicated slot machine/terminal begins to generate a variety of attractive and interesting graphics that flash continuously until the participant has a full group of six other players (who are also playing for the same entry bonus) to play against. Because the game will fill up quickly with players, the approximately five seconds it takes for the graphic display to generate will take longer than the time required to fill up a live group of players, which will happen instantly because the game and players are linked to casinos/venues throughout the country/world (e.g., geographically distributed). • In an exemplary embodiment, the group always consists of six participants. • The other five participants who will fill up the remaining five positions at the virtual card table presented by the dedicated slot machine/terminal will be anonymous on the display screen in front of a given participant. User Interface Logic will configure the user interface of the example embodiment for each player to identify the different player positions as "You,""Player#1,""Player#2," etc. (See FIG. 9 ). • The user interface of the example embodiment will instruct the participant that he will see three fantasy sports players. • The participant will be informed that each player's current per-game fantasy sports points average will be used as the fantasy scoring benchmark for each of them, rather than live action scores. If such players are playing in one of their sports out of season, their fantasy points game average from the previous season will be used. • For each group of six playing participants, the two highest scoring participants in each of such groups are deemed the winners. There is no distinction between finishing first and finishing second. The two highest scoring entrants are both winners and are eligible for the same prize if they choose to cash out. • The two highest scoring winners per group have one of two options. The two highest scoring winners may: 1) cash out by pressing a button (or activating a virtual object on the dedicated slot/terminal user interface) which cashes out and doubles their tickets, or 2) they may choose to "turn your luck" by pulling the handle (or activating a lever or pressing a button on the dedicated slot/terminal user interface) to form a new group with five other new participants and attempt to double their tickets again by joining a new round. • The four lowest scoring participants of a group are eliminated and lose their tickets. The four lowest scoring participants can leave the dedicated slot machine, or put more tickets into the dedicated slot machine to play again by joining a new group of six participants. • The casino/venue provides strong incentives for winning participants to stay for another round rather than cashing out in two directions. First, the winning participant can "turn his luck" and try to double his tickets again each time he stays instead of cashing out. Second, the dedicated slot machine experience of the example embodiment provides another great incentive for people to stay. Any participant who advances ten times in a row will enter a Tournament of Champions (TOC) sponsored by the casino/venue in which he is playing. • TOCs typically occur during the postseason of a given sports live event. TOCs can be formatted using traditional live event fantasy sports, or can be done in the same manner as dedicated slots by using per-game fantasy points averages. • The rationale for offering TOCs is to provide a huge incentive for entrants to not cash out and continue playing on dedicated slots. TOCs pay out millions of A-Tokens to winners and other top finishers, and this is a very attractive incentive to encourage people to try and qualify (and therefore not cash out). • For clarification purposes, even though a entrant may be playing as someone assigned by one of the other casino/venue management entities, this does not mean that this is a coordinated multi-casino TOC. Each casino/venue hosts its own TOC, which may be run directly from its website, from its own slot machines, or even at a live event in its casino/venue. • The reason casinos incentivize entrants not to cash out is that each time a entrant takes a turn for the better and moves on to another round, the percentage of game tickets received by the casino/venue rises significantly. For example, if two winners from each group always cash out, the casino will receive the standard revenue of 33%. However, if the player never cashes out and keeps getting lucky, then by the tenth round the casino/venue will always receive an astonishing 98.3% of the revenue. • The following table shows an example of the revenue split between the casino and the participant, depending on which round the participant decides to cash out: round Entertainment venue harvest Players' Gains 1 33% 67% 2 55.6% 44.4% 3 70.4% 29.6% 4 80.2% 19.8% 5 86.8% 13.2% 6 91.2% 8.8% 7 94.1% 5.9% 8 96.1% 3.9% 9 97.4% 2.6% 10 98.3% 1.7% NOTE: The token value with which a contestant enters the tournament is unimportant. The percentage received by each side is the same. • Contestants can play up to 15 rounds on a dedicated slot machine as they attempt to double their ticket with each new round. This means that they can continue to try and double their ticket again even after qualifying for the TOC with ten consecutive successful wins. If a TOC qualifier fails in rounds 11 to 15, the contestants do not lose their TOC seat. > Dedicated slot machine for betting games for color blind players using a card system and fantasy sports decks

Over the past 40 years, fantasy sports have exploded and become a mainstream activity that has helped to promote the popularity of the sports on which these games are based. There is a novel way to play fantasy sports games that has not yet been introduced to the public. This format uses a per-game fantasy point average rather than the traditional live action scoring of these card games. This allows the game to flow without having to wait for sports activity to occur, thus allowing the game to be scored instantly. This implies that the card values are known before the card game begins. These novel card games can emulate traditional card games like Hearts, Spades, Old Maid, Poker, Gin Rummy, Euchre, and Crazy Eights while using fantasy sports type rules and guidelines. These games are interesting because they contain both traditional card game rules while also incorporating fantasy sports game features.

The cards used for these types of games are not cards from a traditional deck. These cards require a completely different look and feel to them. These cards can also be used for non-fantasy sports games. These cards must have certain features that are critical to playing the game. As shown in Figures 10 to 14, with reference to the exemplary embodiments of the game cards disclosed herein, the features of these new game cards include the following: 1) An understood value on each card, which can be easily accessed on the card or through a database. For example, a fantasy sports card can use the player's fantasy sports average as its value. For a star from the music world, the points system can involve record sales, awards, and lifespan like the points system. For TV and movie actors, the cards may have lifespans, sales, and awards to score the card. 2) A color scheme for the card. Instead of suits, the cards are divided into color groups of four to six colors. 3) An identifier that ties the card to other cards. For example, with sports cards, the identifier may be the city where they play, for rock bands, the name of the group they perform in, for TV and movie stars, the movie or show they appear in. For a politician, the identifier may be the party they belong to or the state they represent (such as California). 4) A sketch on the card that is not a representation of the athlete/artist/politician on the card illustrating their craft. For example, a sketch of a baseball player swinging a bat. Such images help identify the card and the person it is intended to depict without violating trademark law.

These cards can be used like traditional decks at a table, or they can be virtual decks for playing games on slot machines, video games and/or Internet games. One of the features of these cards is to provide as many players as possible with the opportunity to participate in these types of games. For this reason, these cards must be presented in a way that color-blind players also have a chance to play the game.

One in twelve men in the world is color blind. This represents 8% of the male population. This problem is not as common among women, with only one in 200 people suffering from this disease. This represents only 0.5% of the female population.

A traditional deck of cards is marked in a way that a color-blind person is not at a disadvantage. The four suits are represented by clubs, hearts, diamonds, and spades in a way that does not hinder a color-blind player. The color-blind player simply looks for the markings and understands their meaning in a way that he can accurately identify each individual card in a deck.

Unfortunately, the ability to distinguish between each card in a deck is not a universal truth for all decks - at least not for color-blind people. There are certain decks that are better suited to certain types of games than a traditional deck, and these decks use color to distinguish between suits. Card games that use color to represent suits instead of these aforementioned symbols are very difficult for color-blind players to play. Anyone who has played Uno™, the world's most popular color card game, knows how this problem can cause problems. Color-blind people struggle with this game. The creators of Uno never came up with a solution to this problem.

A card game that uses color as a suit identification marker has great potential for fantasy sports competitions. This is due to the huge popularity of fantasy sports. Despite the popularity of fantasy sports games, no one has proposed a format that uses a virtual or traditional deck of cards. The present invention contemplates the concept of playing fantasy sports games with a novel deck of cards.

As shown in Figures 10-13, referring again to the exemplary embodiments of fantasy sports game cards disclosed herein, the fantasy sports game cards of particular exemplary embodiments may include cards related to specific sports, including football (e.g., see Figure 10), basketball (see Figure 11), baseball or soccer (see Figure 12), hockey or golf (see Figure 13), or any other sports or activities. The fantasy sports game card stacks of various exemplary embodiments may include specific features that facilitate various players, including color blind players, to participate in a fantasy sports game.

A fantasy sports game card deck of a particular example embodiment may have the following characteristics: 1) Each card generally does not display the likeness of the player or any trademark information, such as the name of the specific team that the player joins; and 2) The identification mark displayed on each individual card includes some or all of the following information: 1) the name of the player; 2) the city or state in which the player is playing; 3) the point value associated with a given card as determined by the fantasy points worth the player; 4) the position on the field in which the player is playing; 5) a bonus point system that may apply a bonus such as a multiplier to the player to increase his fantasy point value by the multiplier (such as twice the fantasy points a card is currently worth), match similar colors, or match similar characteristics, such as if the players are on the same professional or amateur team, or play on the same field as a player on another card.

Fantasy sports games are designed to let people choose the athletes they want through a draft or an auction. In both cases, it is up to the players to decide which individual athletes they want to join their team. The card game changes this dynamic significantly because it introduces the concept of presenting a small group of athletes as pieces or formations to choose from, rather than the commonly followed procedure of players selecting individual athletes from a list.

Fantasy sports games are primarily played by men. This fact presents a significant problem for the decks disclosed in this discussion. Since 8% of all men have a problem with color blindness, it is necessary to have a deck that provides a solution to this problem. This is especially true since an ideal fantasy sports deck would have suits divided by color like in the card game Uno.

For people who are color blind, the best solution is to write the color of the card on a card that shows a given color. For example, as shown in Figures 10 to 13, a red card will have the word "red" written directly on the card or some other marking of a card of a specific color. This solution has not been used for traditional decks, whether physical or virtual. Because traditional decks do not provide markings for cards of a specific color, there are many people who struggle when playing card games. When playing a fantasy sports card game using technology from the virtual world, it is very helpful to lay the cards on the table instead of moving them to a "chosen" pile as traditional card games use. This allows participants the opportunity to analyze different combinations that are in close proximity to each other. A novel feature that allows this to happen is to give the player the ability to click on the card and have a colored cover cover the card so the player can see the contrast between a selected card and one that was not selected. This novel feature requires an extra component in order to make it practical for people with color blindness. The bottom (or top) of the card needs to have a very light or very dark background. When a card is selected, the background shifts dramatically from light to dark (or dark to light) so the color blind person can see the sharp contrast in the shadows to distinguish between the selected card and the unselected cards. This technical feature goes a long way toward leveling the playing field between people with color blindness and those who do not.

This new fantasy sports card deck does not use any athlete's likeness or the trademark name of the team they play for. This fantasy sports game card deck has five basic attributes included on each card. These attributes are composed of the following items: 1) the player's name; 2) the city where the player plays; 3) the value of the card determined by the fantasy points the player is worth; 4) the position the player plays on the field (for example, a "quarterback" vs. "wide receiver" in football); 5) bonus points such as multipliers, similar colors or matching similar characteristics, such as being on the same team or position.

14, an exemplary embodiment of a card game can also be used for non-sports characters, assuming a fantasy points system is established in advance. For example, a fantasy rock card game can be created where the cards have the names of the performers, the group (in sports terms, the "team") that the performers are in, and a points system for these musicians based on their overall success as a group (including awards won by the musicians).

In one exemplary embodiment, the fantasy sports card stack may include, but is not limited to, the following features: • The card stack may be a virtual stack (i.e., a stack that is an integral part of a slot machine) or an actual physical stack. • The card stack may be used in a fantasy sports game characterized by one or more players using one or more card stacks. • Specific card stacks of various sizes (number of cards per stack) may be configured for a card game, where the randomly selected cards are a subset of the entire available set of cards for a given sport or profession (e.g., rock musician). • The cards are dealt, where participants may see cards displayed as individual pieces or in formations (2 or more at a time). •  Cards may be dealt as a subset of the stack, with each player in the game having his own unique hand. •  Cards may be dealt as a subset of the stack, with some of the cards acting as common cards available to all players in the game. •  Cards may be utilized in a manner in which players may discard certain cards and replace them with new cards. •  Cards may be utilized in a manner in which players may discard certain cards and not replace them. •  Cards may be utilized in a manner in which players have the option of selecting one or more new cards or selecting from a set of discarded cards. •  Cards may be dealt in a manner in which some of the cards are face up and others face down. •  Card games are scored based on combinations of cards, where points are added up and the final score is ranked. •  In game play variations, unexpected cards are passed from one player to another. •  Cards may be grouped to receive bonuses, such as sharing the same color, players sharing the same team, point multipliers associated with those players, and players playing in the same position. •  Cards may be used to participate in fantasy sports games where discarding, calling, betting, bluffing, holding, having a trump suit (by card color), and trump cards are features of the game. •  Cards may be used to participate in fantasy sports games where different hands are scored individually and their combined fantasy point scores, along with any bonuses, determine the hand score. •  Cards may be used to participate in fantasy sports games where different hands are scored individually and combined with scores from previous hands to determine an overall score. •  Cards can be used to create fantasy sports games that emulate classic card games (such as Hearts, Poker, and Euchre), or fantasy sports games that are unique and do not follow any previously known card games. •  Cards can be used in games where rankings are displayed on a virtual screen and the payouts for those rankings are also displayed on that screen. •  Cards can be played in a fantasy sports game where a run or sequence of cards is recorded for scoring purposes. •  Cards can be played in a fantasy sports game where certain cards of a predetermined color have fantasy sports points for a given player counted as negative (such as all red cards), while other colors in the stack count as positive fantasy points (such as yellow, green, blue, and purple cards). •  Certain cards may be designated as cards to be avoided (similar to the Queen of Spades in a game of Hearts) because their fantasy points are recorded as negative, and may even have a multiplier that makes the card even riskier. •  Certain cards may have a positive or negative value, depending on how they combine with other cards (e.g., the Queen of Spades in Hearts has a positive effect if a player shoots the moon). •  Individual cards of a certain color in a fantasy sports game may be considered a "suit." Within these suits, cards may be ranked according to their fantasy point value. •  A fantasy sports card game may have stacks with a predetermined number of cards, where each stack also divides the cards into a predetermined number of suits. For example, a deck of 50 cards may be created for a tournament, where there are 10 cards of each suit for a given color, and there are five suits totaling five different types of colors. For example, there may be 10 green, 10 blue, 10 red, 10 yellow, and 10 purple cards in the deck. •  Fantasy sports card games may be played, where everyone in the tournament plays from the same predetermined deck of cards, or from different decks where each person plays with their own unique deck (such as a solitaire type game). •  Fantasy sports card games may be played, where the fantasy point value of a card decreases based on how many other people select one or more given cards from a common deck. For example, if only one person selects a given card, that card may be worth 100% of its fantasy point value, while if three people select the same card, its fantasy point value may be reduced to 70%, with all three players who selected that card receiving that card at a 70% value. •  Fantasy sports card games where the fantasy point value of an entire camp (2 or more cars) is determined by a percentage call. For example, a player may win a camp of several cards with a 40% call. This means that the fantasy point total of each player from that camp is worth 40% of their actual fantasy point total.

This patent application discloses various exemplary embodiments showing how a novel card stack (physical or virtual) can be used to create compelling games in the extremely popular fantasy sports game genre. The invention also introduces certain novel technical ideas for enhancing the ability of color-blind people to participate in such games. In particular, the various embodiments disclosed herein provide at least the following advantages and technical improvements: 1) A fantasy sports card stack having certain technical features contained therein that allow color-blind people to participate in any game associated with the stack without being at a significant disadvantage. From a fantasy sports perspective, this card stack has the following identifying markings on it: 1) Each individual card has the name of a player on it; 2) Each card has the city where the players play; 3) A fantasy point value is associated with each card; 4) The location where the players play is listed on each card; 5) A reward system that uses multipliers, colors, and similar characteristics (like the same football team) is a prominent feature of this card system. 2) A fantasy sports card stack where the players have an identifying color on the card and the identifying color is also written on the card. For example, a red card will have the word "RED" written on it to assist people with color blindness. 3) A colored sleeve of a virtual card deck used on the computer that provides color contrast (light to dark or dark to light) to the top or bottom half of the card. This colored sleeve helps all players compare potential selected cards to undesired cards without moving the cards and confusing other players. The colored sleeve provides a secondary purpose by giving a color blind player an invaluable shade contrast. Card Game Type in an Exemplary Embodiment

Let's assume that nine players are playing at a table. To understand how a tournament with this deck works, the format of Texas Hold'em serves as an instructive example. Any of the novel decks described above can be used. Each of the nine players at the table receives two different bottom cards that are unique to him or her. Then, the five remaining cards shared by all players are placed in designated positions in a manner that mimics Texas Hold'em (3 flip cards, followed by 1 turn card, and finally 1 river card). After seeing their bottom cards, players can either fold and receive 80% of their entry fee or continue playing. If the players continue playing, they will receive a smaller portion of their entry fee if they later choose to fold. If the players decide to continue with the game, this initial decision is based almost entirely on the fantasy sports value of the two players on the card. The players are then presented with a 3-card flop. If the players fold, they will receive 60% of their game tickets returned. If the players continue with the game, they will again receive fewer game tickets returned if they later fold. The scoring rubric also expands in the decision-making process, as the game is not simply structured around the player getting the best player. This is because players also receive points for matching teammates and creating color combinations. These two additional scoring rubrics supplement the main scoring rubric of the player's fantasy point value.

An overview of how this structure works will help to understand the concept. Let's assume that someone is playing a Texas Hold'em tournament and has chosen to stay after seeing their river card. For example, the seven cards he sees on the table are the following players, teams, colors, and point values: 1) Patrick Mahomes KC—Green card—27 fantasy points per game (his bottom card) 2) Devin Singletary Buff—Red card—15 points (his bottom card) 3) George Kittle SF—Red card—16 points (a common card dealt during the flop) 4) Brandon Aiyuk SF—Red card—11 points (a common card dealt during the flop) 5) Aaron Rodgers GB—Purple card—25 points (a common card dealt during the flop) 6) Jimmy Garoppolo SF—Red card—18 points (a common card dealt during the round) 7) Tyreek Hill Mia - Blue card - 20 points (a community card dealt during the river)

The player chooses the best 5-card combination he can put together. The main goal is to know the player's fantasy points value, because they are not listed directly on the card. The player can use a cheat sheet, but because he only has 10 seconds to select his hand, using a cheat sheet may not be a wise strategy. Good players will memorize the player's fantasy points value.

If a given player always picked the five best scoring players, this strategy would fail most of the time. For example, taking the five best players from the hand mentioned above would not be a good choice. If the players did so, they would end up picking Mahomes (27 points), Rodgers (25 points), Hill (20 points), Garoppolo (18 points), and Kittle (16 points). This totals 106 points, but the hand is still not fully scored. Because there are two red cards (Garoppolo and Kittle), this is called a "color pair" and the two red cards are worth four extra points. Also, in this example, there are two teammates on the San Francisco 49ers (also Garoppolo and Kittle). This is called a "Teammate Pair" worth eight bonus points. If the player submits this hand for scoring, he will have a final total of 118 points.

Now let's try a different strategy for choosing the five cards. An astute player would know that four red cards are worth a "four of a kind" color bonus of 24 points, and would at least consider trying to build the hand around that fact. In this case, the player would choose all red cards, namely Garoppolo (18 points), Aiyuk (11 points), Kittle (16 points), and Singletary (15 points). This gives a total of 60 points, with one card left to choose from. On the surface, it seems absurd to completely exclude the top three scoring cards, Mahomes (27 points), Rodgers (25 points), and Hill (20 points), from the picture, leaving only one rank to choose from. However, when we look more deeply into this option, this is not the case.

Let's assume that the players selected the highest scoring card (Mahomes) for their final position. This additional 27 points when combined with the 60 points worth of the other four brings the overall total to 87 points, which is a far cry from the 118 points worth of the first way of selecting the hand. Remember, the players still receive a 24-point bonus for having four red cards. This now brings the players' total to 111 points. The players also have the same 8-point Garoppolo/Kittle teammate bonus as the first hand, and this brings their hand to 119 points. However, because Aiyuk is also in the mix, this is a "three of a kind" teammate bonus for the three San Francisco 49ers players, which is worth 24 points instead of 8 points. This brings their total to 135 points, which is a much better option than the 118 points with the best five cards. Here's another thing: if the person with this hand has the highest overall score among the remaining nine players in their group (some of whom will fold), they will win a large ticket from all the entry fees. Dedicated Slot Tournament Structure in an Example Embodiment

The following description provides a general overview of the dedicated tournament structure in an example embodiment: • There are five calling phases per round of play. • Players call three players at a time. Such groups of three players are called "lines". • Players only get one line of three players as their fantasy lineup. • The first time a player wins a call, they will receive all three players they called, which completes their lineup. That player is no longer allowed to call on any player line-up. On the dedicated slot machine display screen, a black circle is placed next to those players' positions to indicate that they have completed their attempt to lock in a line-up. •  The dedicated slot machine begins the selection process by shuffling the cards and laying down the first three cards. •  All six participants have the option to make a percentage call on three players (maximum range from 1% to 100%) or forgo calling on those players with a "Non-Call". •  Participants have 30 seconds to make a call. To make the call official, a participant pulls the dedicated slot machine's lever (or otherwise activates a button or an object displayed on the dedicated slot machine's display screen). If a participant fails to make a call within the designated time period, the participant automatically receives a "Non-Call". Calls are timed based on the time the lever is pulled (or other object activated) to break a tie. •  Because players only have 30 seconds to call for each of the five rounds, the entire game takes only two minutes and thirty seconds to complete the calling process. •  Percentage calls cannot be a fraction or a fraction. It must be a full percentage. •  Players will always have a green, red, or black circle next to their row position on the display screen. A green circle means it is the player's turn to make their call. A red circle means the player has not yet submitted their call. A black circle means the player has locked their formation from the previous round. •  The lowest call wins the entire formation of three players. If there is a tie between two or more players on the best call, the player who submitted his call first will receive the formation. •  If none of the participants bid on a formation, this formation will be reintroduced later as a "mulligan" (see below for a more detailed explanation of a mulligan). In other words, there will not be a new group of three players to replace a formation without a bidder. •  Once a participant wins a formation of three players, it has a complete formation and is no longer eligible to bid. A black circle is placed next to the position of these participants on the card table to indicate that they are no longer eligible to bid.

Why wouldn't a player just make a 1% bid for a player in the first camp that they really like? If the lowest bid wins, it would seem to be an obvious strategy to automatically lock in their desired player by submitting the lowest percentage as 1%. However, this strategy is counterproductive and will implicitly guarantee that the player will be in last place. The reason for this is because percentage bidding serves two purposes. Not only does the bidding lock in players by having the lowest bid, but the bidding also severely penalizes players who make unreasonably low bids. For example, a 1% bid will undoubtedly win a player their desired player, but the bid also represents a percentage of fantasy points that each player is eligible to earn in the game itself. For example, if one bids 1% to win a fantasy football group one desires, such as Peyton Manning, Calvin Johnson, and Marshawn Lynch, one will be very disappointed to learn that one also only gets 1% of the fantasy points scored by each of these three players in their respective games. As a result, a value of a participant's bid as represented by a percentage bid is used to discount or reduce the number of points scored or received by the participant by a corresponding amount. In this way, a participant who bids at a minimum level will also only receive a score or number of points at a corresponding minimum level.

In an exemplary embodiment, the arrangement may seem unfair in a critical manner. For example, one camp of three players may potentially have three duds, like all the kickers for a football game, while another camp of three players has all high-value players, like the quarterbacks for the same game. Isn't this absurd, since the quarterbacks are more valuable than the kickers? In an exemplary embodiment, the described pattern actually turns the selection process into a tightrope walking exercise where skill becomes a major factor. Think of these groups of players as stocks. The more valuable the stock, the more aggressive the bidding. The correct price will be set by the bidding. Three kickers at 95% of their fantasy points may be more valuable than three quarterbacks at 12% of their fantasy points. This calling process creates a huge number of strategies for participants to consider.

In an example embodiment, two additional rules enhance the drama of the tournament format implemented on dedicated slot machines. These additional rules are explained below: • For each player in a camp, the camp may have a multiplier for them. The multiplier for the entire camp will range from 6× (read "6 times") all the way up to 10×. However, these multipliers are not uniformly assigned to each player in the camp. The multipliers will be split and have different intensity levels for individual players. For example, a dedicated slot machine may flash when the multiplier is 7×, which means that the three players displayed (e.g., see FIG. 9 ) will have a multiplier that sums to 7×; however, the location of the multipliers will be random, as will the strength (or value) for each player. For the 7× example, this means that the total of the multipliers for the three players must add up to 7. It is possible that the first player is worth 1× his total fantasy points, the second player is worth 5× his total fantasy points, and the third player is worth 1× his total fantasy points. It is also possible that they are 2×, 2×, and 3×, respectively. Using the later example, this means that the first card turned over will mean that the player will be worth double his fantasy points. The second card turned over will mean that player will be worth double his fantasy points. The third card turned over will mean that player will be worth triple his fantasy points. (Note: Fantasy points are defined as the percentage of fantasy points that a group of players are eligible to earn, as determined by the call that the camp is locked in on.) • For each new round, the maximum possible call will be 8% lower than the previous round. The dedicated slot machine will display the call range for each round. For example, for the first round, the dedicated slot machine will give a range of 1% to 100%. By the fourth round, this range will drop to 1% to 76%. This creates a sense of urgency involved in the calling process for each turn, but also enough skill to know the proper call for a given formation so as not to lock in with an unreasonably low call. After five rounds of calling have occurred, the last person remaining in the group without a formation automatically gets the last formation that does not call at 60% of the fantasy points of each player in that formation. Table showing the maximum and minimum call percentages allowed for each turn Maximum bid allowed Minimum bid allowed Round 1 ​ 100% 1% Round 2 ​ 92% 1% Round 3 ​ 84% 1% Round 4 ​ 76% 1% Round 5 ​ 68% 1% Last remaining contestant No bid - automatically accepts the formation at 60% No bid - automatically accepts the formation at 60%

Given the description of the example embodiments provided above, one might think that the game is unfair if some camps might have as low as a 6× multiplier while other camps might have as high as a 10× multiplier. However, this feature of an example embodiment makes the game more strategic. Now, the player will have to take into account in the calculations the fact that a strong group of players might be worth less because they have a smaller multiplier, while a mediocre group of players might be worth more because they are worth a higher multiplier. Even if a strong group of players has a 10× multiplier, this is not a problem. The proper percentage call for this camp will be significantly lower than normal. Conversely, it should be possible to target a player with a mediocre lineup with a small multiplier with a bid far above normal.

In the exemplary embodiment as described, someone will eventually get a formation; because, each participant has exactly one formation - everyone will eventually need a formation. All formations that have not been called are called "strikes" and will be reintroduced after all formations have been revealed. If there is more than one formation that has not received a call, the formations will be reintroduced in the order in which they first appeared. Moreover, if the previous formation was a strike, the highest bid of a new round will not be reduced by 8%. When a formation that has not been called is reintroduced and all six formations have been revealed and called or have abandoned a call, each time a new formation is reintroduced and called, the highest bid of the reintroduced formation is reduced by 8%. If there is a tie at a final position, the player in the tie who locked his or her camp in the lowest or last turn advances.

Once a call from a contestant in a group is received in a particular round, six contestants in the group will be scored for the final position. The dedicated slot machine of an exemplary embodiment can collect the data of all athletes in the competition and then calculate the final position. After all contestants have locked their camps, this calculation will not take more than five seconds. The dedicated slot machine can draw the scores of all athletes into a table, and then add up the three scores of the athletes in each camp. Then, each contestant will be ranked 1-6 (1 to 6) on the dedicated slot machine user interface screen (for example, see Figures 7 to 9). For example, in order to draw the score of a single athlete into a table, three information components are required. First, the player's average fantasy game score must be part of a database linked to the managing entity's website for easy retrieval. The second component of information required is the call that targets the player. Finally, the player's multiplier must be included in the calculation. Using football as an example, let's assume that Tom Brady has a running fantasy game point total of 10. Then assume that he is targeted at 68% of his fantasy points and his multiplier is 3×. Since 68% of 10 is 6.8, and when 6.8 is multiplied by 3, the result is 20.4. This means that Brady's score will be added to the other two players in his camp and posted as the final score of one of the participants. Ultimately, ties are always broken by rewarding the higher ranking person who locked his faction in a later round. Dedicated Slot Machine Tournament Structure in an Alternative Example Embodiment

The following description provides a general overview of the dedicated slot tournament structure in an alternative exemplary embodiment. In an alternative embodiment of the dedicated fantasy sports slot machine as described above, the alternative slot machine embodiment includes everything described above, but with one added variable. This alternative embodiment requires the participants to create groups, after which the participants immediately make calls. The process of this alternative embodiment is described below. • There are 18 cards in a stack. • The participants can see all 18 cards on the user interface screen in advance. • Each participant creates one of six camps that will be introduced in the calling process. • The participants select three of the 18 players to represent the camp they create for the calling process. The participants have 30 seconds to make their selections. • The selection process is "blind," so that none of the six players in a group is aware of what the other members of the group are selecting. • Once a player creates his or her three-player lineup for the calling process, the player pulls the dedicated slot machine's lever (or otherwise activates a button or displayed object). • If a player does not select a lineup of three players within the 30-second time limit, the dedicated slot machine will select a lineup of three players for that player. • Once all six players have created a lineup, the game is set to begin. • It is important to note that just because a player creates one of the six lineups, it does not necessarily mean that this lineup will be the lineup that he or she ultimately locks in for the fantasy sports competition. The camp that a participant actually receives will be determined by the calling process. • This process creates the possibility that some of the 18 player cards are not selected while other player cards are selected more than once. • The six camps created by the participant are introduced randomly and follow all the rules of the process previously described - with one notable exception. The players in a given camp may not all start out worth 100% of their per-game fantasy points value. This value is determined by how many times a given player is replicated. • When a camp of three players is introduced, if a given player is only selected once in a camp, he or she will be worth 100% of his or her per-game fantasy points value. On the other hand, if it is duplicated, and a given player is selected more than once, each time it is duplicated it will have its per-game fantasy points average reduced by 20% each time such duplication occurs. • When a lineup of three players is introduced during the calling process, the percentage of fantasy points available to each individual player at any given time (based on this duplication penalty) will be prominently displayed on each player's card. • In an alternative embodiment, the way an individual player is scored is as follows: Let us assume that Drew Brees' per-game fantasy points average is 19.7 points per game. Let us also assume that Brees is introduced by two of the six members of the group to which he is submitted. This means that Brees' available fantasy points are under 80% or 15.8 points. The final two components work out as follows: Let's assume the entire formation is locked up by someone calling 68%, and that Brees' multiplier is 4. Since 68% of 15.8 equals 10.7, this represents Brees' total score before his multiplier is factored in. With the multiplier factored in, the total score is 42.8. • The table below shows the copy penalty for each time a player is copied during formation. 1 × 2× 3× 4× 5× 6× % 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% NOTE: "3x" is pronounced "tripling" and refers to the number of times a player is selected by one of the six members of the group. In this case, the copied player will appear in three of the six camps introduced for the call, and each time the copied player appears, the player will only be worth 60% of his fantasy points, which is an important point for participants to consider when making calls.

The fantasy sports slot machine embodiments as described herein provide a unique idea that has not been seen in the market. To make the fantasy sports slot machine embodiments possible, there are four key elements that are new to the fantasy sports genre introduced by these embodiments and support the embodiments. These four key elements include the following: 1) The fantasy sports slot machine of an exemplary embodiment provides a novel format for players to play the game in small groups of three or more players - fantasy sports competitions are always played in one of two ways - both of which mimic real life sports. The format is played using a one-on-one format, or it is configured as a full field against each other at the same time. Furthermore, the reason why these two formats have emerged is because these formats are how real live sports events are played, and fantasy sports competitions always try to mimic reality as closely as possible. Of the two formats, the one-on-one format is the most common way to play in real life sports, whether it is a team game or an individual game. For example, in team sports games, there are never three (or more) baseball teams playing against each other at the same time. That would be unheard of. There are always two teams playing against each other on the infield in baseball. Similarly, this structure applies to hockey, soccer, basketball, football, and quite frankly, most other sports as well. The same one-on-one format is also quite common for individual sports such as tennis (both singles and doubles), bowling, fencing, table tennis, boxing, wrestling, etc. Another type of real-life sports that has been copied by fantasy sports tournament organizers is the "full-time" concept. A full-time event refers to a real-life sports competition conducted in a way that individuals or teams must play the entire game at the same time. Although this full-time event is not as common as the one-on-one format, it is still often used. Examples of this full-time event are golf, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, track and field, etc. Teams or individuals compete in one large event and are then ranked according to their finish or final score. Fantasy sports tournament organizers have tried to recreate the real-life event formats used in sports to impress those who enjoy participating in fantasy sports events. For this reason, fantasy sports tournament organizers always configure their products to mimic these real-life sports events by using a heads-up format or a "full-time" format. However, as explained herein, there is another way to make a dedicated slot format work, and this is a concept that is unique to the industry. This unique format also goes against how real life sports events are played, and is why no one has done this before. As explained herein, a novel approach to a fantasy sports slot format is to have small groups of three or more participants play against each other at the same time. Furthermore, this is contrary to real life sports because in real life, it makes no sense for the Dolphins, 49ers, and Jets to face off against each other in the same football game. For precisely this reason, no one has thought of pitting Bob, Steve, and Mary against each other in the same fantasy sports match because this configuration does not mimic real life sports. 2) A fantasy sports slot machine of an exemplary embodiment provides a novel format in which a portion of a player's fantasy points are scored or can be scored. Fantasy sports games have always been an all-or-nothing proposition. A player who "owns" a player always receives all of the fantasy points that his or her player scores in his or her real life sports game. Conversely, a player who does not own a player will receive nothing or zero points. This is a very valuable tool that helps make the implementation of a fantasy sports slot machine possible. This method involves giving a player a portion or fraction of the fantasy points that he has locked on a given player. This score scoring method of an exemplary embodiment can be implemented in two different ways as explained below. a. Percentage Calling - This is a calling procedure in which the calling involves drawing a percentage of the player's fantasy points. According to this method, players make a percentage call on a given player in order to lock on a player. The rules provide that the player who submits the lowest percentage call locks on that player in his lineup. For example, if three players call on a given player at 68%, 81%, and 98%, two things will happen. First, the participant who makes a 68% call accepts the player into his fantasy lineup. Second, the participant receives only 68% of the fantasy points scored by the player in the game. As a result, a value of the participant's call, as represented by the percentage call, is used to discount or reduce the number of points scored or received by the participant by a corresponding amount. In this way, a participant who calls at a minimum level will also only receive a score or number of points at a corresponding minimum level. b. Copy Penalty - This type allows fantasy participants to share players rather than owning them exclusively, but when a copy occurs, a price is paid. Each time a player is copied, the fantasy point value of those players is reduced by a set predetermined percentage. 3) The fantasy sports slot of an example embodiment provides a novel format in which fantasy sports matches are played using fantasy game score averages instead of always using real-life live scores - People like fantasy sports because the games are fun. Who says fantasy sports games have to be based entirely on real-life games in the real world? Why can't the games be based on the averages that the athletes already have and their fantasy point averages per game? Using the points per game average helps open the door to a fantasy sports slot operation. People don't have to wait until a real-life sports game actually starts or actually enters the season, but can go to a fantasy sports slot and play at any time. 4) A fantasy sports slot machine of an exemplary embodiment provides a novel format in which a lineup of athletes can be selected for a lineup via an auction process. Fantasy sports competitions always operate in one of two ways: a) participants select their entire lineup and submit it; or b) the participants individually pick athletes to create their "team." As provided by the exemplary embodiment described herein, there is another way to make a fantasy sports slot machine work. In this exemplary embodiment, a group of two or more athletes are presented to the participants to be evaluated simultaneously. Participants interested in this "team" must evaluate the strength of the entire unit relative to other potential units. This process creates a new twist, as players are now forced to value a unit with multiple moving characters. This is not a part of traditional fantasy sports tournaments, but creates a key game component for a fantasy sports slot machine. > An exemplary embodiment provides a dedicated slot machine for implementing the following: A Fantasy Music Legends Tournament

Figures 6-9 illustrate an exemplary embodiment implemented as a dedicated slot machine, which shows the basic elements of a user interface for implementing a tournament with multiple player small group rounds on the dedicated slot machine. The dedicated slot machine and the user interface thereon can be used to implement a variety of different tournament formats on the dedicated slot machine of an exemplary embodiment. The following description provides a general overview of one such tournament format in an exemplary embodiment.

A Fantasy Music Legend tournament is a tournament format for any genre of music. A given tournament may be designed for a specific genre like rock, pop, R&B, country, rap, etc. There may also be an "open" tournament that allows all genres to be merged into one tournament. This concept may be a marketing tool for a company, or it may be an independent tournament that charges an entry fee and provides game point prizes to the top winners of the Championship Tournament (TOC). If the concept is used as a marketing tool, the tournament may provide interesting musical perks to the top winners. For a rap tournament, the overall winner might win an all-expenses-paid trip to see Jay Z perform and hang out with him before and after the show. A top overall winner might have a different top prize, such as winning a rare guitar for his efforts. As a marketing tool, key group points allow contestants special perks. These perks will allow the contestants to compete in a smaller group than normally required or skip one or more rounds entirely. Contestants can take advantage of these benefits by purchasing certain items on a special website. When the contestants do this, they are allowed to skip a round (or two) or play in a smaller group in the next round. For example, if someone buys a song, they may only be able to play the next round with 9 people instead of the standard 12. If someone buys concert tickets, they may be able to skip 2 rounds. A legend musician eligible for a Fantasy Music Legends Tournament is anyone who has played in a group with two or more people and has at least 1 song in the US Top 40 in their specialty genre. For example, Adam Ridgeley qualifies because he is a member of Wham and has at least one hit song on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for his genre. In an exemplary embodiment, the tournament will not disqualify someone if their "band" is missing a part that is usually a key component of a typical band (like a drummer). For example, the Carpenters are considered a "band" by the definition of this game. Some legendary musicians have played in more than one band. For example, Paul McCartney has played with The Beatles and with Paul McCartney and Wings. For this reason, legendary musicians receive fantasy points for all bands they have played in. Fantasy Music Legends Tournament Structure in an Example Embodiment

The following description provides a general overview of the Fantasy Music Legend tournament structure in an example embodiment. • Fantasy players are placed in groups of 12 players • Fantasy players submit four starters - a lead singer, a drummer, a guitarist, and a wildcard (can be anyone) • The top three scores in a group advance to the next round - the remaining scores are eliminated Ties are determined

In one example embodiment, fantasy players who are tied for the top three will use the following tie-breaker process: •  First tie-breaker—the fantasy player with the higher ranking in their profile. •  Second tie-breaker—the participant with the highest Fantasy Band Legend score from the IP addresses involved in the tie. •  Third tie-breaker—the participant who submitted the most entries from the IP addresses involved in the tie. •  Fourth tie-breaker—computer-generated coin roll. Fantasy Band Points •  All fantasy players in a group will submit their lineups via a blind submission process (i.e., submissions are not known to players until all players in a group have submitted their lineups). •  Copying is permitted. •  The more times a given Legend appears, the lower the actual Fantasy Points he or she is worth. •  Depending on how many other Fantasy players choose that same Legend, a participant will be given a percentage of the Fantasy Points his or her Legend has scored. This is called his or her Adjusted Fantasy Score. Each time a Legend is copied, he or she will be worth 9% less Fantasy Points. For example, using the table below, if a group of 12 Fantasy Players are playing in a match, and 4 of them choose Keith Richards as their guitarist, then each of them will receive 73% of the Fantasy Points Richards has scored (see the box highlighted in yellow below). •  The scores of individual Legends will be rounded up to the nearest 1 percent.

Below is a table showing the percentage of Legendary points a given contestant receives depending on how many other contestants choose that Legendary. Table 1 Percentage of Fantasy Points Worth a Legendary Based on Replicas of the Selected Legendary Selected rock legend 1×* 2× 3× 4× 5× 6× 7× 8× 9× 10× 11× 12× 12 Player Groups 100% 91% 82% 73% 64% 55% 46% 37% 28% 19% 10% 1% *Note: 1× is pronounced as "one time", meaning that a given legendary musician is chosen by exactly one of the 12 contestants.

The following table starts with the Legends in the Pop/Rock category selected by a group of 12. The percentage under each musician's name represents the percentage of actual fantasy points scored by the given Legend that the fantasy player will receive. This percentage is based on the number of times a Legend has been replicated, and is taken directly from the table above (Table 1). It is worth noting that if a Legend has performed with more than one band and also has a solo career (e.g., Eric Clapton—The Yardbirds and Cream as well as a prominent solo career), all of his work and accolades will be counted in his fantasy score. Table 2 Percentage values for Legends retained based on replication of the 12 -group group Lead singer 1960s ​ Guitarist 1960s ​ ​ Drummer 1980s ​ ​ Wild Card 1970s ​ Fantasy Player 1 Mick Jagger The Rolling Stones 91% Keith Richards The Rolling Stones 73% Rick Allen Def Leppard 82% Clarence Clemmons E Street Band 73% Fantasy Player 2 Paul McCartney The Beatles 82% Angus Young AC/DC 100% Ringo Starr The Beatles 100% Mary Wilson Heart Band 100% Fantasy Player 3 Eric Clapton Cream 73% Bob Weir, The Deadly Band 91% Rick Allen Def Leppard 82% Barry Gibb Bee Gees 100% Fantasy Player 4 Paul McCartney The Beatles 82% Keith Richards The Rolling Stones 73% Phil Collins Genesis 91% Clarence Clemmons E Street Band 73% Fantasy Player 5 Michael Jackson The Jackson 5 91% Deen Castronovo Touring Band 100% Gina Schock Go Go's Band 100% Captain Daryl Dragon and the Tanniel Band 100% Fantasy Player 6 Annie Lennox Eurythmics 100% Eric Clapton Cream 73% Keith Moon He Xu Ren Band 100% Alec John Such Bon Jovi 100% Fantasy Player 7 Brian Wilson Beach Boys 100% Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin 100% Phil Collins Genesis 91% Dennis DeYoung Styx 91% Fantasy Player 8 Eric Clapton Cream 73% Keith Richards The Rolling Stones 73% Rick Allen Def Leppard 82% Steven Tyler SmithShip 100% Fantasy Player 9 Mick Jagger The Rolling Stones 91% Vivian Campbell Def Leppard 100% Neil Peart Rush 91% Clarence Clemmons E Street Band 73% Fantasy Player 10 Paul McCartney The Beatles 82% Slash Guns N' Roses 100% John Panozzo Styx 100% Eric Clapton Cream 73% Fantasy Player 11 John Lennon The Beatles 100% Bob Weir, The Deadly Band 91% John Bonham Led Zeppelin 100% Dennis DeYoung Styx 91% Fantasy Player 12 Michael Jackson The Jackson 5 91% Keith Richards The Rolling Stones 73% Neil Peart Rush 91% Clarence Clemmons E Street Band 73% Scoring system in an exemplary embodiment

The following describes the scoring system for Fantasy Band Legends in an example embodiment. • 10 points - The name of a member of a band is given when the member's first US Top 40 hit is in the same decade as the decade match required for each of the four band categories listed in the chart above. For example, the decade match for the Lead Vocalist category is the 1960s in the chart above. Each of the contestants (Contestant #11) selects John Lennon as his lead vocalist. Since the metric requires a musician to have his first hit in the 1960s, John Lennon would score 5 points for this (Note: this metric varies by match). Entrant #6's choice of Annie Lennox did not receive 5 points because her first hit was in the 1980s. •  5 points—if the musician is deceased. •  5 points—if the musician plays in a band with siblings (or has a sibling) •  5 points—if the musician plays in a band with at least one woman (or is a woman) •  5 points—if the musician has won every Grammy Award. •  5 points—if the musician is in the Rock Hall of Fame. •  5 points—for wildcard position entrants, if the person is not primarily associated with a lead singer, guitarist, or drummer. For example, if Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band is nominated, he will receive an additional 5 points because he is the most famous saxophone player. •  2 points—for every platinum album this artist has participated in. •  1 point—for every top 10 single this artist has had that was part of the US pop/rock charts. Profile Rankings in an Example Implementation

Profile rankings are achieved by how many times in a row a player advances in a group by finishing in the top three of their group. Some basic profile ranking rules for an example embodiment are provided below. • Once someone has a rank, they can never lose it again. • If someone skips a round by purchasing something, they do not get a rank for the round they skipped; however, if they advance from the group they are in, they will get a rank worth this new round. For example, if a player has a level 2 rank and skips a level 3 and 4 match to play in a level 5 match (because they bought something), if they finish in the top 3 in the level 5 match, they will become a level 5 player. If the player fails to finish in the top 3, they will revert to a level 2. •  Participants can always skip multiple rounds or reduce their group from 12 to 6 by purchasing items. Level 11 Fantasy Band Legend in the example implementation

Multiple levels may be defined for Fantasy Band Legends. An example of one of these different levels of an example embodiment is provided below. •  Level 1 - No Talent - This is someone who has never placed in the top 3 in a group in a single tournament. •  Level 2 - Video Game Guitar Hero Champion - This is someone who has advanced once by placing in the top 3 in a group at a national tournament, but has never advanced twice in a row. •  Level 3 - High School Aerial Band Winner - This is someone who has advanced twice in a row by placing in the top 3 in a group at a national tournament. •  Level 4 - Garage Band Wannabe - This is someone who has advanced three times in a row by placing in the top 3 in a group at a national tournament. •  Level 5—Local Bar Circuit—This is one of four consecutive Qualifying Events by placing in the top 3 in a group at a national competition. •  Level 6—One Hit Wonder—This is one of five consecutive Qualifying Events by placing in the top 3 in a group at a national competition. •  Level 7—Platinum—This is one of six consecutive Qualifying Events by placing in the top 3 in a group at a national competition. •  Level 8—Concert Headliner—This is one of seven consecutive Qualifying Events by placing in the top 3 in a group at a national competition. •  Level 9—Grammy Award Winner—This is one of eight consecutive qualifiers by placing in the top 3 in a national competition. •  Level 10—Rock Hall of Fame—This is one of nine consecutive qualifiers by placing in the top 3 in a national competition. •  Level 11—Mount Rushmore of Rock—This is one of ten consecutive qualifiers by placing in the top 3 in a national competition. They automatically win a spot in the TOC and a chance to compete for the Grand Prize. Fantasy Legendary Championship (TOC) Format

The Management Entity provides a Tournament of Champions (TOC) format for Fantasy Band Legends, designed for participants who advance 10 consecutive rounds in a qualifying competition. The TOC is six rounds, with the final round culminating in the top 8 participants competing for the final position. The same Fantasy Band Legends scoring system described above can be used for the TOC. Fantasy Band Legends TOC structure for rounds 1 to 6 in an exemplary embodiment

An example of a TOC structure for rounds 1 to 6 of an example embodiment is provided below. • Up to 10,000 players may participate. • Participants compete in groups of 10 (or less). • The top few participants in each group advance to the next round. This is called an "advanced" position. Those participants who do not achieve an "advanced" position are eliminated from the TOC. • The number of participants who advance from each group varies depending on which round they are participating in. • In order to advance from round 1, a participant must finish in the top 3 of their group of 10. This means that the number of participants from 10,000 is reduced to the remaining 3,000. •  To advance from round 2, a competitor must finish in the top 3 of their group of 10. This means that the number of competitors starting the round of 3,000 is reduced to the remaining 900. •  To advance from round 3, a competitor must finish in the top 2 of their group of 10. This means that the number of competitors starting the round of 900 is reduced to the remaining 180. •  To advance from round 4, a competitor must finish in the top 2 of their group of 10. This means that the number of competitors starting the round of 180 is reduced to the remaining 36. •  To advance from round 5, a competitor must finish in the top 2 of their group of 9 to qualify for the final round. This means that the 36 players who start the round will be reduced to 8 for the final round. • Each round consists of a stack of cards with exactly 30 Fantasy Band legends. • All 10 players in each group (9 players per group in round 5, and 8 players in round 6) are allowed to study the stack before the selection process begins. • Each player is told by a dealer that he can only get 3 "legends" in his entire fantasy lineup. The dealer also tells the players that he will not select one legend at a time. Instead, players bid on groups of 3 legends called "camps". • The first time a player wins a bid, he will receive all three legends he bid on, which completes his lineup. Participants are no longer allowed to bid on any Legends. • The dealer begins the selection process by shuffling the cards and laying down the first three cards. The presentation of the cards may also be done electronically in dedicated slot machines, as explained above. • All 10 participants (9 participants in Round 5 and 8 participants in Round 6) have the option to bid a percentage on three Legends (maximum range from 1% to 100%) or to forgo bidding on those Legends with a "No Bid". • A percentage bid cannot be a decimal or a fraction. It must be a full percentage. • The lowest bid wins the entire camp of three Legends. If there is a tie between two or more players on best bid, the first person to submit their bid (timed by the computer) will receive the Legend faction. •  If all players choose to withdraw, resulting in no bids being made, the faction will be reintroduced later as a "strike" (see above for a more detailed explanation of a strike). •  Once a player wins a faction of three legends, they will have the legend placed on the table in front of them, signaling to everyone that they have a full lineup and are no longer eligible to bid.

Why wouldn't a player just make a 1% bid on a Legend in the first camp that they really like? If the lowest bid wins, it would seem an obvious strategy to automatically lock in their desired Legend by submitting the lowest percentage as 1%. However, this strategy is counterproductive and will virtually guarantee that the player will finish last. The reason for this is because percentage bidding serves two purposes. Not only does it lock in players by having the lowest bid, but it also severely penalizes players who make unreasonably low bids. A 1% bid will undoubtedly win a player their desired Legend, but the 1% bid also represents a percentage of fantasy points that each Legend is eligible to earn in the game itself. For example, if someone bids 1% to win a desired group, such as Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, and Keith Richards, he or she will be very disappointed to learn that he or she only received 1% of the fantasy points scored by each of these three musicians.

In an exemplary embodiment, the setup may not seem fair in a key manner. For example, one three-man team may potentially have three B-list artists while another three-man team has three icons. This is possible, but not as absurd as one might imagine. In an exemplary embodiment, the pattern described actually turns the selection process into one where skill becomes a major factor in the practice of high-wire walking. Think of these legendary groups like stocks. The more valuable the stock, the more aggressive the bidding. The correct price will be set by the bidding. Three B-list artists at 95% of their fantasy points may be worth more than icons at 12% of their fantasy points.

In an exemplary embodiment, three additional rules enhance the drama of the tournament format implemented on a dedicated slot machine. These additional rules are described below: • For each three-person camp, the order in which the cards are turned over is extremely important. This is because the order in which the cards appear is weighted. For each camp, the first card turned over will be worth three times its fantasy score. For each camp, the second card turned over will be double its fantasy score. For each camp, the third card turned over will be the weighted face value of its fantasy score. (Note: Fantasy points are defined as the percentage of fantasy points that a group of legends are eligible for.) The reason this rule is so important is because three legends, such as Mick Jagger, Robert Cray, and Jimmy James (from Tommy Tutone) - in that order - will produce more aggressive bids than if they were James, Cray, and Jagger in that order. •  For each new round, the maximum possible bid will be 5% lower than the previous round. The dealer will announce the maximum possible bid before each round begins. For example, for the first round, the dealer will announce a maximum bid of 100%. By the sixth round, the dealer will announce a maximum bid of 75%. This creates an urgency in the bidding process involved in each turn, but also enough skill to know an appropriate bid for a given camp so that the camp is not locked in with a ridiculously low bid. •  Fantasy Eliminator is added to the mix. This is the actual "game" segment where matches are determined. The game process is divided into several intervals. At the end of each interval, the lowest remaining participant in a given interval is eliminated. This process continues until only advancing positions are left for a given group.

In the exemplary embodiment as described, someone will eventually get a formation; because, each participant has exactly three cards - everyone needs a formation in the end. However, it may happen that all formations that have not been called are called "hit" and will be reintroduced after all formations have been revealed. If there is more than one formation that has not received a call, the formations will be reintroduced in the order in which they first appeared. Moreover, if the previous formation was a hit, the maximum bid of a new round will not be reduced by 5%. When the formations are reintroduced at the end, the bids will be reduced by 5% each time a new formation is introduced. If there is a tie for the last place during the fantasy eliminator, then among the tied players (two or more), the player whose camp was locked in the last round is automatically declared as the advanced participant. > An exemplary embodiment provides a dedicated slot machine for implementing: A slot machine for playing fantasy sports

Figures 6-9 illustrate an exemplary embodiment implemented as a dedicated slot machine, which shows the basic elements of a user interface for implementing a tournament with multiple small group rounds of players on the dedicated slot machine. The dedicated slot machine and the user interface thereon can be used to implement a variety of different tournament formats on the dedicated slot machine of an exemplary embodiment. The following description provides a general overview of one such tournament format in an exemplary embodiment.

In various exemplary embodiments described below, real-time/live events and related tournament formats are implemented on a dedicated slot machine. These exemplary embodiments bring slot machines into the 21st century and transform dedicated slot machines from a static entity (currently based only on stored information) into a real-time/live event gaming device using real-life events.

For the purposes of this exemplary embodiment, it is important to distinguish what is meant by a real-time/live event. One example of a type of real-time/live event that is not a real-time/live event is having a group of poker players participate in an online slot tournament. This may be a real-time/live event, but the name refers only to the participants who are playing the game—not the game materials themselves that are used in the tournament. The exemplary embodiments describe real-time/live activity events that constitute the game materials themselves. Slot machines are no longer simply based on a predefined number of sets of cards appearing, arranging three consecutive cherries or even spinning a round in the hope of creating a fortune. This dedicated slot machine and specific tournament format of the various exemplary embodiments described herein are based on real-time/live event data. In other words, the decisions players make about the game itself are based on events that are happening while the game is being played.

This real time/live event slot idea can be used for all types of real life events. For purposes of this exemplary embodiment, the described exemplary embodiment uses a dedicated slot machine with a real time/live sports event to create a new type of slot machine. Even more specifically, the described exemplary embodiment is used for fantasy sports by modifying certain current ways of playing fantasy sports games to enhance the real time/live event slot machine embodiments as described herein. • Dedicated slot machines as described herein are placed in casinos or other venues around the world. These dedicated slot machines can be programmed to offer a tournament related to any real time/live event that a participant may wish to participate in. • These dedicated slot machines are linked to a central network accessible database, allowing participants playing in a given "group game" to play at different casinos/venues around the world. In other words, if a person sits down at MGM™ in Las Vegas, they do not have to sit and wait until their group of six players is filled by people sitting at that particular MGM™ casino. The other five players they are playing against can be seated in casinos/venues anywhere in the world. • Participants sit at their own individual dedicated slot machine/terminal as explained herein. Such participants can choose to enter $1, $5, $20, $50 and $100 tournaments (or any other entry amount that the casino/venue deems attractive for a slot machine). • When a participant views the display screen of a dedicated slot machine/terminal, he or she will see an image on the display screen, as presented by the user interface logic of an exemplary embodiment described herein, showing a virtual card table with six positions (e.g., see FIG. 9 ). The participant at the dedicated slot machine/terminal will be one of the players occupying one of the six positions at the virtual card table presented by the dedicated slot machine/terminal. • The participant deposits a game ticket prize into the dedicated slot machine/terminal corresponding to the game level he or she wishes to participate in. For example, to enter a game, a participant may deposit 1 A token in a 1 A token game, 10 A tokens in a 10 A token game, or 20 A tokens in a 20 A token game. • The participant then pulls the handle (or activates a joystick or presses a button on the dedicated slot machine/terminal's user interface) and the dedicated slot machine/terminal begins to generate a variety of attractive and interesting graphics that flash continuously until the participant has a full group of six other players (who are also playing for the same entry bonus) to play against. Because the game will fill up quickly with players, the graphical display taking about five seconds to generate will take longer than the time required to fill up a live group of players, which will happen instantly because the game and players are linked to casinos/venues throughout the country/world (e.g., geographically distributed). • In an exemplary embodiment, the group will always consist of six participants. • The other five participants who will fill the remaining five positions at the virtual card table presented by the dedicated slot machine/terminal will be anonymous on the display screen in front of a given participant. User Interface Logic will configure the user interface of the example embodiment for each player to identify different player positions as "You,""Player#1,""Player#2," etc. (See FIG. 9 ). • The user interface of the example embodiment will instruct the player that he will see three fantasy sports players. • The player will be instructed that the game will be based on live scores from certain sporting events currently in progress. • For each group of six tournament players, the two highest scoring players in each of such groups are deemed the winners. There is no distinction between first and second place. The two highest scoring players are both winners and are eligible for the same prize if both players choose to cash out. • The two highest scoring winners of each group have one of two options. The two highest scoring winners can: 1) Cash out by pressing a button (or activating a virtual object on the dedicated slot machine/terminal's user interface) which cashes out the game ticket and doubles their game ticket, or 2) the winners can choose to "Turn Luck" by pulling the handle (or activating a joystick or pressing a button on the dedicated slot machine/terminal's user interface) to form a new group with five other new participants and attempt to double their game tickets again by joining a new round. • The four lowest scoring participants of a group are eliminated and lose their game tickets. The four lowest scoring participants can leave the dedicated slot machine, or put more tickets into the dedicated slot machine to play again by joining a new group of six participants. • The casino/venue provides strong incentives for winning participants to stay for another round rather than cashing out in two directions. First, the winning participant can "turn his luck" and try to double his tickets again each time he stays instead of cashing out. Second, the dedicated slot machine experience of the example embodiment provides another great incentive for people to stay. Any participant who advances ten times in a row will enter a Tournament of Champions (TOC) sponsored by the casino/venue in which he is playing. • The TOC format in one example embodiment uses the same real-time/live action live fantasy sports format at a dedicated slot machine, online or in a casino/venue ballroom. • The rationale for offering a TOC is to provide a huge incentive for entrants to not cash out and continue playing at the dedicated slot machines. The TOC pays millions of A-Tokens to winners and other top finishers, and this is a very attractive incentive to encourage people to try and qualify (and therefore not cash out). • For purposes of clarification, even though entrants may be playing as someone assigned by one of the other casino/venue management entities, this does not mean that this is a coordinated multi-venue TOC. Each casino hosts its own TOC, which may be run directly from its website, from its own slot machines, or even live at its casino/venue. • The reason casinos incentivize players not to cash out is that each time a player lucks into another round, the percentage of tickets the casino receives rises dramatically. For example, if the two winners in each group always cash out, the casino will receive a standard revenue of 33%. However, if the player never cashes out and keeps lucking through, by the tenth round the casino will always receive an amazing 98.3%. • The table presented above shows an example of the division of casino revenue and participant revenue depending on the round in which the participant decides to cash out again, illustrating the benefit to the casino/venue if the player decides to stay in the game. • Participants can play up to 15 rounds on a dedicated slot machine as they attempt to double their game tickets with each new round. This means that such participants can continue to try and double their game tickets again even after qualifying for the TOC with ten consecutive successful wins. If a TOC qualifier fails in rounds 11 to 15, the participants do not lose their TOC seat. Dedicated Slot Tournament Structure for Live / Live Sports Events in an Exemplary Embodiment

The following provides a general overview of a dedicated slot tournament structure for real-time/live sports events in one example embodiment: • There are five calling phases per round of play. • Players call on three players at a time. Such groups of three players are called "lines." • Players only get one line of three players as their fantasy lineup. • The first time a player wins a call, they will receive all three players they called on, completing their lineup. Such players are no longer allowed to call on any player line-up. A black circle is placed next to the player's position on the dedicated slot machine display screen, indicating that the attempt to lock a camp has been completed. • The dedicated slot machine begins the selection process by shuffling the cards and laying down the first three cards. • All six players have the option to make a percentage call on three players (maximum range from 1% to 100%) or to forgo calling on the players with a "no call". • Players have 30 seconds to make a call. To make the call official, a player pulls the dedicated slot machine's joystick (or otherwise activates a button or an object displayed on the dedicated slot machine's display screen). If a player fails to make a call within the allotted time period, that player will automatically receive a "no call". Calls are timed based on the time it takes to pull the lever (or activate other objects) to break a tie. •  Because players only have 30 seconds to call for each of the five rounds, the entire game calling process takes only two minutes and thirty seconds. •  Once everyone has their team, the dedicated slot machine instantly calculates the final score of the match based on the real-time/live action fantasy point totals of each player in the respective team. •  Percent calls cannot be a fraction or a fraction. The percentage call must be a full percent. •  A participant will always have a green, red, or black circle next to their position on the display. A green circle means that the participant has moved on to their call. A red circle means that the participant has not yet submitted their call. A black circle means that the participant has locked their formation in the previous round. •  The lowest call wins the entire formation of three players. If there is a tie between two or more participants on the best call, the participant who submitted their call first receives the formation. •  If none of the participants calls on a formation, the formation will be reintroduced later as a "hit" (see below for a more detailed explanation of a hit). In other words, there will not be a new group of three players to replace a formation that does not have a caller. •  Once a competitor wins a lineup of three players, they have a complete lineup and are no longer eligible to call. A black circle will be placed next to the ranking of these competitors on the card table to indicate that they are no longer eligible to call.

Why wouldn't a player make a 1% bid for a player in the first camp that they really like? If the lowest bid wins, it would seem to be an obvious strategy to automatically lock in their desired player by submitting the lowest percentage as 1%. However, this strategy is counterproductive and will virtually guarantee that the player will be in last place. The reason for this is because percentage bidding serves two purposes. Not only does the bidding lock in players by having the lowest bid, but the bidding also severely penalizes players who make unreasonably low bids. For example, a 1% bid will undoubtedly win a player their desired player, but the bid also represents a percentage of fantasy points that each player is eligible to earn in the game itself. For example, if one calls 1% to win a fantasy football group one desires, such as Peyton Manning, Calvin Johnson, and Marshawn Lynch, one will be very disappointed to learn that one also only receives 1% of the fantasy points scored by each of these three players in their respective games. As a result, a value of a participant's call, as represented by a percentage call, is used to discount or reduce the number of points the participant scores or receives by a corresponding amount. In this way, a participant who calls at a minimum level will also only receive a number of points or points at a corresponding minimum level.

In an exemplary embodiment, the arrangement may seem unfair in a critical manner. For example, one camp of three players may potentially have three useless players, like all the kickers for a football game, while another camp of three players has all high-value players, like the quarterbacks for the same game. Isn't this absurd, since the quarterbacks are more valuable than the kickers? In an exemplary embodiment, the described pattern actually turns the selection process into a tightrope walking exercise where skill becomes a major factor. Think of these groups of players as stocks. The more valuable the stock, the more aggressive the bidding. The correct price will be set by the bidding. Three kickers at 95% of their fantasy points may be more valuable than three quarterbacks at 12% of their fantasy points. This calling process creates a huge number of strategies for participants to consider.

In an example embodiment, two additional rules enhance the drama of a tournament format implemented on a dedicated slot machine. These additional rules are described below: • For each player in a camp, the camp can have a multiplier for that player. The multiplier for the entire camp can range from 6× (read "6 times") all the way up to 10×. However, these multipliers are not uniformly assigned to each player in the camp. Multipliers can be split and have different levels of intensity for individual players. For example, a dedicated slot machine may flash when the multiplier is 7×, which means that the three players displayed (e.g., see FIG. 9 ) will have a multiplier that sums to 7×; however, the location of the multipliers will be random, as will the strength (or value) for each player. For the 7× example, this means that the total of the multipliers for the three players must add up to 7. It is possible that the first player is worth 1× his total fantasy points, the second player is worth 5× his total fantasy points, and the third player is worth 1× his total fantasy points. It is also possible that they are 2×, 2×, and 3×, respectively. Using the later example, this means that the first card turned over will mean that the player will be worth double his fantasy points. The second card turned over means that player will be worth double his fantasy points. The third card turned over will mean that player will be worth triple his fantasy points. (Note: Fantasy points are defined as the percentage of fantasy points that a group of players are eligible to earn, as determined by the call that the camp is locked in on.) •  For each new round, the maximum possible call will be 8% lower than the previous round. The dedicated slot machine will display the call range for each round. For example, for the first round, the dedicated slot machine will give a range of 1% to 100%. By the fourth round, this range will drop to 1% to 76%. This creates an urgency in the calling process involved in each round, but also enough skill to know an appropriate call for a given camp so that the camp is not locked in with a ridiculously low call. After five rounds of calling have occurred, the last person left in the group without a camp automatically gets the last camp that does not call at 60% of the fantasy points of each player in that camp. See the "Table Showing Maximum and Minimum Call Percentages Allowed for Each Round" explained above for an example embodiment.

Given the description of the example embodiment provided above, one might think that the game is unfair if some camps might have as low as a 6× multiplier while other camps might have as high as a 10× multiplier. However, this feature of an example embodiment makes the game even more strategic. Now, players will have to factor in the fact that a camp's strong players might be worth less because they have a smaller multiplier, while a mediocre group of players might be worth more because they are worth a higher multiplier. Even if a strong group of players has a 10× multiplier, this is not a problem. The proper percentage call for this camp will be significantly lower than normal. Conversely, it should be possible to target a mediocre group of players with a small multiplier with a bid well above normal.

In the exemplary embodiment as described, someone will eventually get a camp; because, each participant has exactly one camp - everyone eventually needs a camp. All camps that have not been called are called "strikes" and will be reintroduced after all camps have been revealed. If there is more than one camp that has not received a call, the camps will be reintroduced in the order they first appeared. Moreover, if the previous camp was a strike, the maximum bid for a new round will not be reduced by 8%. When a camp that has not been called is reintroduced and all six camps have been revealed and called or abandoned, each time a new camp is reintroduced and called, the maximum bid of the reintroduced camp is reduced by 8%. If there is a tie at a final position, the player in the tie who locked his or her faction in the lowest or most recent turn advances.

Once a call from a contestant in a group is received in a particular round, six contestants in the group will be scored for the final position. The dedicated slot machine of an exemplary embodiment can collect the data of all athletes in the competition and then calculate the final position. After all contestants have locked their camps, this calculation will not take more than five seconds. The dedicated slot machine can draw the scores of all athletes into a table, and then add up the three scores of the athletes in each camp. Then, each contestant will be ranked 1-6 (1 to 6) on the dedicated slot machine user interface screen (for example, see Figures 7 and 8). For example, in order to draw the score of a single athlete into a table, three information components are required. First, the player's average fantasy game score must be part of a database linked to the managing entity's website for easy retrieval. The second component of information required is the call that targets the player. Finally, the player's multiplier must be included in the calculation. Using football as an example, let's assume that Tom Brady has a running fantasy game point total of 10. Then assume that he is targeted at 68% of fantasy points and his multiplier is 3×. Since 68% of 10 is 6.8, and when 6.8 is multiplied by 3, the result is 20.4. This means that Brady's score will be added to the other two players in his camp and posted as the final score of one of the participants. Ultimately, ties are always broken by rewarding the higher ranking person who locked in his or her faction in a later round. Dedicated Slot Tournament Structure in an Alternative Example Embodiment

The following description provides a general overview of the structure of a dedicated slot machine tournament in an alternative exemplary embodiment. In an alternative embodiment of a dedicated fantasy sports slot machine as described above, the alternative slot machine embodiment includes everything described above, but with one variable added. This alternative embodiment requires the participants to create the groups that they bid on. The process of this alternative embodiment is described below. • There are 18 cards in a stack. • The participants can see all 18 cards on the user interface screen in advance. • Each participant creates one of the six formations that will be introduced in the bidding process. • The participants select three of the 18 players to represent the formation they create for the bidding process. The participants have 30 seconds to make their selections. • The selection process is "blind" so that none of the six players in a group know what the other members of the group are selecting. • Once a player creates his or her three-player lineup for the bidding process, the player pulls the dedicated slot machine's lever (or otherwise activates a button or displayed object). • If a player does not select a lineup of three players within the 30-second time limit, the dedicated slot machine will select a lineup of three players for that player. • Once all six players have created a lineup, the game is set to begin. •  It is important to note that just because a player creates one of the six lineups, it does not necessarily mean that this lineup will be the one they ultimately lock in for fantasy sports play. The lineup a player actually receives will be determined by the calling process. •  This process creates the possibility that some of the 18 player cards are not selected while others are selected more than once. •  The six lineups created by players are randomly introduced and follow all the rules of the process described previously - with one notable exception. Players in a given lineup may not start at all 100% of their per-game fantasy points value. This value is determined by how many times a given player is copied. •  When introducing a three player camp, if a given player is selected only once in a camp, he will be worth 100% of his per-game fantasy points value. On the other hand, if he is duplicated, and the given player is selected more than once, each time he is duplicated, he will be worth 20% of his per-game fantasy points average each time such duplication occurs. •  When introducing a three player camp during the calling process, the percentage of fantasy points available to each individual player at any given time (based on this duplication penalty) will be prominently displayed on each player card. See the table set forth above, which shows the duplication penalty each time a player is duplicated during the formation of the camp.

As described herein, fantasy sports slot machine embodiments based on real-time/live events offer a unique idea that has not been seen in the market. In these exemplary embodiments, the participants themselves do not constitute the real-time/live events, but rather the game itself uses the real-time/live events as the game unfolds. These exemplary embodiments fundamentally change the way slot machines are currently used. When a slot machine player is playing the game, they are suddenly playing with the results based on the events that are unfolding. This adds a dimension to slot machines that has not been there before.

To make these fantasy sports slot machine embodiments possible, there are three key elements that are new to the fantasy sports genre introduced by these embodiments and support the implementation. These three key elements include the following: 1) The fantasy sports slot machine of the exemplary embodiment provides a novel format for players to play the game in small groups of three or more players - fantasy sports competitions are always played in one of two ways - both of which mimic real life sports. The format is played using a one-on-one format, or it is configured where the entire field is playing against each other at the same time. And, the reason why these two formats have emerged is because these are the formats of how real live sports events are played, and fantasy sports competitions always try to mimic reality as closely as possible. Of the two formats, the one-on-one format is the most common way to compete in real-life sports - both team and individual. For example, in team sports, there are never three (or more) baseball teams playing against each other at the same time. That would be unheard of. There are always two teams playing against each other on the infield in baseball. Similarly, this structure applies to hockey, soccer, basketball, football, and quite frankly, most other sports. The same one-on-one format is also quite common for individual sports such as tennis (both singles and doubles), bowling, fencing, table tennis, boxing, wrestling, etc. Another real-life sports format that fantasy sports tournament organizers have copied is the "full field" concept. A full event refers to a real-life sports competition conducted in a way that individuals or teams must compete for the entire game at the same time. Although this full event is not as common as the one-on-one format, it is still often used. Examples of this full event are golf, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, track and field, etc. Teams or individuals compete in one large event and are then ranked according to their finishes or final scores. Fantasy sports tournament organizers have tried to recreate the real-life event format used in sports to impress those who like to participate in fantasy sports events. For this reason, fantasy sports tournament organizers always configure their products to mimic these real-life sports events by using a heads-up format or a "full-time" format. However, as explained herein, there is another way to make a dedicated slot machine format work, and this is a concept that is unique to the industry. This unique format also goes against how real life sports events are played, and is why no one has done this before. As explained herein, a novel approach to a fantasy sports slot machine format is to have small groups of three or more players play against each other at the same time. Moreover, this goes against real-life sports because in real life, it makes no sense for the Dolphins, 49ers, and Jets to play against each other in the same football game. For precisely this reason, no one has thought of having Bob, Steve, and Mary play against each other in the same fantasy sports match because this configuration does not mimic real life sports. 2) A fantasy sports slot machine of an exemplary embodiment provides a novel format in which a portion of a player's fantasy points are scored or can be scored. Fantasy sports games have always been an all or nothing proposition. A player who "owns" a particular player always receives all of the fantasy points that his or her player scores in his or her real-life sports game. Conversely, a player who does not own a player will receive nothing or zero points. This is a very valuable tool that helps make the implementation of a fantasy sports slot machine possible. This method involves giving players a portion or fraction of the fantasy points they have locked in to score for a given player. This scoring method of an exemplary embodiment can be implemented in a number of different ways as explained below. a. Percentage Calling - This is a calling procedure in which the calling involves extracting a percentage of the player's fantasy points. According to this method, a participant makes a percentage call on a given player in order to lock in a player. The rules provide that the participant who submits the lowest percentage call locks that player in his lineup. For example, if three participants call a given player at 68%, 81%, and 98%, two things will happen. First, the participant who makes the 68% call accepts that player into his fantasy lineup. Second, the participant receives only 68% of the fantasy points scored by this player in the game. As a result, a value of the participant's call, as represented by the percentage call, is used to discount or reduce the number of points scored or received by the participant by a corresponding amount. In this way, a participant who calls at a minimum level will also only receive a score or number of points at the corresponding minimum level. b. Copy Penalty - This format allows fantasy participants to share athletes rather than owning athletes exclusively, but there is a cost when copying occurs. Each time a player is copied, the fantasy point value of those athletes is reduced by a set predetermined percentage. c. Partial Scoring - This format allows actual fantasy sports games to start and end before the related real-time/live sports event ends. This means that a given player now only has a portion of his fantasy points that were scored. Only the points scored by the player in the real-time/live event games before the end of the fantasy game are counted. 3) A fantasy sports slot machine of an exemplary embodiment provides a novel format in which a lineup of athletes can be selected for a lineup via an auction process. Fantasy sports competitions always operate in one of two ways: a) participants select their entire lineup and submit it; or b) the participants individually pick athletes to create their "team." As provided by the exemplary embodiment described herein, there is another way to make a fantasy sports slot machine work. In this exemplary embodiment, a group of two or more athletes are presented to the participants to be evaluated simultaneously. Participants interested in this "team" must evaluate the strength of the entire unit relative to other potential units. This process creates a new twist, as players are now forced to value a unit with multiple moving characters. This is not a part of traditional fantasy sports games, but creates a key game component for fantasy sports slots of the various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 15 is a process flow diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of slot machine processing logic for using a card system to wager on real-time or live sports event content as described herein. A method 1300 of an exemplary embodiment includes: providing a virtual card stack using a data processor, wherein a plurality of virtual cards in the stack have been selected from a pool of virtual cards, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards includes identification information related to an athlete's activity in a real-life sports event and real-life statistics, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards further includes an indication of The stack of virtual cards may include information such as: 1) a player's name; 2) a name of a team that a player joins; 3) a value of a virtual card determined by a fantasy point value of a corresponding player; 4) a position at which a player plays a game; and 5) a bonus point or multiplier corresponding to a virtual card, wherein a plurality of virtual cards in the stack have been selected from the pool of virtual cards to be used as virtual cards in the stack. The card generates a probability of a winning total within a predetermined range based on real-life statistics of selected virtual cards in the stack, each of the plurality of virtual cards further comprising readable information indicating a color of the card (processing block 1310); randomly presenting at least three face-up virtual cards from a formation of the virtual card stack to a plurality of players via a display device (processing block 1314); The method further comprises: providing a plurality of players with a plurality of cards to bid or discard the cards and exit a current round by using a data processor (processing block 1330); accepting bids from the plurality of players (processing block 1340); and awarding the presented virtual card formation to a winning player among the plurality of players who has a best bid (processing block 1350).

FIG. 16 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in an exemplary form of a fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system 700 in which a set of instructions when executed and/or processing logic when activated may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies described and/or claimed herein. In alternative embodiments, the machine may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in a client-server network environment or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a laptop, a tablet computing system, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a set-top box (STB), a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) or initiating processing logic that specifies actions to be taken by that machine. Furthermore, although only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" should also be construed to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions or processing logic to perform any one or more of the methodologies described and/or claimed herein.

The exemplary fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system 700 includes a data processor 702 (e.g., a system on a chip (SoC), general processing core, graphics core, and optionally other processing logic) and a memory 704, which can communicate with each other via a bus or other data transfer system 706. The fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system 700 may further include various input/output (I/O) devices and/or interfaces 710, such as a monitor, touch screen display, keyboard or keypad, cursor control device, voice interface, and optionally a network interface 712. In one exemplary embodiment, the network interface 712 may include one or more network interface devices or radio transceivers configured to be compatible with any one or more standard wired network data communication protocols, wireless and/or cellular protocols or access technologies (e.g., 2nd Generation (2G), 2.5th Generation, 3rd Generation (3G), 4th Generation (4G) and future generations of cellular system radio access, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), LTE, CDMA2000, WLAN, Wireless Router (WR) Mesh, and the like). The network interface 712 may also be configured for use with a variety of other wired and/or wireless communication protocols including TCP/IP, UDP, SIP, SMS, RTP, WAP, CDMA, TDMA, UMTS, UWB, WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11x, and the like. In essence, the network interface 712 may include or support any wired and/or wireless communication mechanism by which information may be communicated between the fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system 700 and another computing or communication system via the network 714.

The memory 704 may represent a machine-readable medium having stored thereon one or more sets of instructions, software, firmware, or other processing logic (e.g., logic 708) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described and/or claimed herein. The logic 708, or a portion thereof, may also reside completely or at least partially within the processor 702 during execution by the fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system 700. Thus, the memory 704 and the processor 702 may also constitute machine-readable media. The logic 708, or a portion thereof, may also be configured as processing logic or logic that is at least partially implemented in hardware. Logic 708 or a portion thereof may further be transmitted or received via a network 714 via a network interface 712. Although the machine-readable medium of an exemplary embodiment may be a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" should be construed to include a single non-transitory medium or multiple non-transitory media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database and/or associated cache and computing system) storing one or more sets of instructions. The term "machine-readable medium" may also be considered to include any non-transitory medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying an instruction set executed by a machine and causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the various embodiments, or capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such an instruction set. Thus, the term "machine-readable medium" should be considered to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memory, optical media, and magnetic media.

In view of the disclosure herein, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that other concepts described herein may also be implemented in specific embodiments. In view of the disclosure herein, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that various concepts and features described herein may be combined in various arrangements in specific embodiments.

The Abstract of the present invention is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the present technical invention. It is submitted with the following understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing embodiments, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of simplifying the present invention. This method of the invention should not be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than expressly stated in each claim item. Rather, as reflected in the attached claims, the inventive subject matter lies in less than all the features of a single disclosed embodiment. Therefore, the attached claims are hereby incorporated into the embodiments, wherein each claim item stands alone as a separate embodiment. Appendix Table 1 Examples of Championship Qualification Based on the 2012 NFL ™ Football Season Qualifying Round #1 Qualifying Round #2 Qualifying Round #3 Qualifying Round #4 Qualifying Round #5 Qualifying Round #6 Qualifying Round #7 Qualifying Round #8 Qualifying Round #9 round 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Week 1 ​ Round 1 September 9 ------------- ------------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ Week 2 ​ Round 2 September 16 Round 1 September 16 ------------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ Week 3 ​ Round 3 September 23 Round 2 September 23 Round 1 September 23 ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ Week 4 ​ Round 4 September 30 Round 3 September 30 Round 2 September 30 Round 1 September 30 ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ Week 5 ​ Round 5 October 7 Round 4 October 7 Round 3 October 7 Round 2 October 7 Round 1 October 7 ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ Week 6 ​ Round 6 October 14 Round 5 October 14 Round 4 October 14 Round 3 October 14 Round 2 October 14 Round 1 October 14 ------------ ------------ ------------ Week 7 ​ Round 7 October 21 Round 6 October 21 Round 5 October 21 Round 4 October 21 Round 3 October 21 Round 2 October 21 Round 1 October 21 ------------ ------------ Week 8 ​ Round 8 October 28 Round 7 October 28 Round 6 October 28 Round 5 October 28 Round 4 October 28 Round 3 October 28 Round 2 October 28 Round 1 October 28 ------------ Week 9 ​ Round 9 November 4 Round 8 November 4 Round 7 November 4 Round 6 November 4 Round 5 November 4 Round 4 November 4 Round 3 November 4 Round 2 November 4 Round 1 November 4 Table 2 Qualifying for the 12 -person tournament The top 3 players from each group advance to compete for 4,096 available Main Event seats Round # ​ Upper limit ( # of participants allowed ) Main Event Seats # Qualifying Round #1 9 272,105,472** 1,038 Qualifying Round #2 8 53,477,376 816 Qualifying Round #3 7 11,698,176 714 Qualifying Round #4 6 2,088,960 510 Qualifying Round #5 5 313,344 306 Qualifying Round #6 4 52,224 204 Qualifying Round #7 3 13,056 204 Qualifying Round #8 2 1,632 102 Qualifying Round #9 1 408 102 Direct access to the main event * ------ 100 100 Total 339,750,748 4,096 *Fantasy players do not have to qualify through a Satellite tournament and go directly to the Main Event. **In order to calculate the cap for Qualifier #1, a decision must be made as to how many of the 4,096 Main Event seats should be assigned to this particular Qualifier. The number 1,038 was chosen arbitrarily. Since three of the twelve fantasy players advance from each group, this is a 4 to 1 ratio, which can be written as 4/1, which equals 4. Now raise the number 4 to the power of the number of rounds that the round has. In this case, Satellite #1 has 9 rounds. The number 4 to the power of 9 equals 262,144. This means that 262,144 fantasy players will play more than 9 rounds for one Main Event seat. Since we arbitrarily assigned 1,038 Main Event seats to Qualifier #1, this means that 262,144 times 1,038 is the number of fantasy players who can participate in Qualifier #1. This number is 272,105,472, which is why this number is capped. Table 3 Fantasy Points Percentages for Players Retained Based on Replication Number of players in fantasy match 1 ×* 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 × 6 × 7 × 8 × 9 × 10 × 11 × 12 × 13 × 14 × 15 × 16 × 17 × 18 × 19 × 20 × 4 100% 67% 33% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 5 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 6 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 7 100% 83% 67% 50% 33% 17% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 8 100% 86% 72% 58% 43% 28% 14% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 9 100% 87% 75% 62% 50% 38% 25% 13% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 10 100% 89% 78% 67% 56% 45% 34% twenty three% 12% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable *Note: 1× reads "one time" and means that a given player was selected by exactly one of the 20 fantasy players. The percentage selected is arbitrary. Table 3 (continued) Fantasy Points Percentages of a Player Retained Based on Replication ( continued ) 11 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 12 100% 91% 82% 73% 64% 55% 46% 37% 28% 19% 10% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 13 100% 92% 84% 75% 67% 59% 50% 42% 34% 25% 17% 9% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 14 100% 92% 84% 77% 69% 61% 54% 46% 38% 31% twenty three% 15% 8% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 15 100% 93% 86% 79% 72% 65% 58% 51% 44% 36% 29% twenty two% 15% 8% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 16 100% 93% 86% 80% 73% 66% 60% 53% 46% 40% 33% 26% 20% 13% 6% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 17 100% 94% 88% 82% 75% 69% 63% 57% 50% 44% 38% 32% 25% 19% 13% 7% 0% Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable 18 100% 94% 88% 82% 76% 70% 64% 58% 53% 47% 41% 35% 29% twenty three% 17% 11% 6% 0% Not applicable Not applicable 19 100% 94% 89% 83% 78% 72% 67% 61% 56% 50% 45% 39% 34% 28% twenty three% 17% 12% 6% 0% Not applicable 20 100% 95% 90% 85% 79% 74% 69% 64% 58% 53% 48% 43% 37% 32% 27% twenty two% 16% 11% 6% 0% Table 4 Adjusted fantasy points based on how many fantasy players selected a given player from an example from NFL™ football Athlete The actual fantasy points scored by a player 1. Number of fantasy player selections Fantasy Points Percentage Maintained—Based on Copying Players *Adjusted fantasy points Vick, Phila 31 2 91% 28.21 Brady, NE 25 6 55% 13.75 P. Manning, Ind 40 3 82% 32.80 Brees, NO 28 1 100% 28.00 Gore, S.F. 16 2 91% 14.56 Peterson, Min 33 11 10% 3.30 Mendenhall, Pit 15 1 100% 15.00 C. Johnson, Ten 29 4 73% 21.17 Foster, Hou twenty one 1 100% 21.00 Jones-Drew, Jax 9 1 100% 9.00 Bradshaw, NYG 13 1 100% 13.00 Turner, Atl 31 1 100% 31.00 Rice, Balt 17 1 100% 17.00 S. Jackson, STL twenty four 1 100% 24.00 Welker, NE twenty one 2 91% 19.11 C. Johnson, Det. 18 6 55% 9.90 A. Johnson, Hou 27 5 64% 17.28 Bowe, KC 11 1 100% 11.00 Austin, Dal 15 1 100% 15.00 White, Atl 13 1 100% 13.00 Wallace, Pitt 25 1 100% 25.00 Jennings, G.B. 17 1 100% 17.00 Marshall, Mia 16 1 100% 16.00 Fitzgerald, Az twenty two 3 82% 18.04 Wayne, Ind 10 1 100% 10.00 D. Jackson, Phila 12 1 100% 12.00 Table 5 Final Scores of 12 Hypothetical Fantasy Player Football Groups ( Top 2 Fantasy Players Promoted ) NFL™ Player #1 Triple Points NFL™ Player #2 Double Points NFL™ Player #3 Value Total Fantasy Player 1 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90 x 3 = 11.70 ** Roethlisberger QB Pittsburgh 23.78 × 2 = 47.56 Nelson WR Green Bay 19.20 78.46* 2nd place Fantasy Player 2 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90×3＝11.70 Green Bay Defense 20.00×2＝40.00 Mendenhall Pitt 9.84 61.54 8th Fantasy Player 3 Randle El WR Pittsburgh 9.00 x 3 = 27.00 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90×2＝7.80 Driver WR Green Bay 2.00 36.80 12th Fantasy Player 4 Wallace WR Pittsburgh 15.47×3＝46.41 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90×2＝7.80 Pittsburgh Defense 10.92 65.13 6th place Fantasy Player 5 Crosby K GB 7.00×3＝21.00 Pittsburgh Defense 10.92×2＝21.84 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90 46.74 11th Fantasy Player 6 Roethlisberger QB Pittsburgh 23.78 × 3 = 71.34 Jennings WR Green Bay 17.22×2＝34.44 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90 109.68 No.1 Fantasy Player 7 Ward WR Pittsburgh 13.00×3＝39.00 Mendenhall RB Pittsburgh 9.84×2＝19.68 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90 62.58 No.7 Fantasy Player 8 Jones WR Green Bay 5.00×3＝15.00 Wallace WR Pittsburgh 15.47 × 2 = 30.94 Starks RB Green Bay 5.00 50.94 10th Fantasy Player 9 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90×3＝11.70 Roethlisberger QB Pittsburgh 23.78 × 2 = 47.56 Nelson WR Green Bay 19.20 78.46* 3rd place Fantasy Player 10 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90×3＝11.70 Nelson WR Green Bay 19.20×2＝38.40 Jennings WR Green Bay 17.22 67.32 4th place Fantasy Player 11 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90×3＝11.70 Jennings WR Green Bay 17.22×2＝34.44 Nelson WR Green Bay 19.20 65.34 5th place Fantasy Player 12 Rodgers QB Green Bay 3.90×3＝11.70 Nelson WR Green Bay 19.20×2＝38.40 Mendenhall RB Pittsburgh 9.84 59.94 9th place * Advance to the next round or qualify for the main event. **In the example above, Athlete Rodgers has an adjusted fantasy score of 3.90. This score is tripled because he is the first to eat the slot.

10: Slot machine/ Slot machine/ Dedicated slot machine/ Free standing slot machine 12: Housing 14: Primary display/ Underlying primary display 16: Secondary display 18: Value input device 20: Coin receiver 22: Ticket acceptor 24: Player input device 26: Button/ Appropriate button/ Push-button 28: Touch screen 30: Touch key/ Soft touch key/ Appropriate touch key/ Touch screen key 32: Pay line 34: Controller/ Central processing unit 36: Memory/ System memory 38: Ticket/ Credit detector 40: Clearing house 42: Ticket printer 44: Game coin outlet 46: Input/output (I/O) circuit 48: Input/output (I/O) circuit 50: External system 52: Information reader/player information reader 100: Example implementation/data network environment/network-accessible game system environment 101: Example implementation 103: Database/data storage device/game system database/network-accessible central database/network-accessible central data storage 110: Host/host site/host system 114: Network/intranet/using intranet or local area network (LAN) 120: Network/wide area data network 140: User platform 141: Client device/User device/User platform/User interface platform 142: Personal computer 144: Portable device 146: Consumer electronics (CE) device 148: Mobile computing device 150: Participant 155: Network resources 200: Game system 210: Functional component/User interface processing module 220: Functional component/Game processing module 230: Functional component/User account management module 240: Functional component/Administrative management module 402: Application programming interface (API) 404: Web interface/Web server 406: Interface 408: Data 610: slot machine/dedicated slot machine/handheld slot machine/handheld or mobile slot machine 612: housing/housing 614: primary display 616: secondary display/optional secondary display 617: speaker 618: value input device/player accessible value input device 619: player accessible port 624: player input device 628: touch screen 630: touch key/appropriate touch key/touch screen key/optional touch key 632: pay line 652: player information reader/biometric player information reader 700: Fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system/instantiation of fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system 702: Data processor 704: Memory 706: Bus or other data transfer system 708: Logic 710: Input/output (I/O) device and/or interface 712: Network interface 714: Network 1300: Method 1310: Processing block 1320: Processing block 1330: Processing block 1340: Processing block 1350: Processing block

Various embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a free-standing slot machine embodying an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a handheld slot machine according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG3 is a block diagram of a control system in an exemplary embodiment suitable for operating the slot machine of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a gaming system in a network-accessible environment;

FIG5 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a network connection system in which various embodiments may operate;

FIGS. 6-9 illustrate an exemplary embodiment implemented as a dedicated slot machine showing basic elements of a user interface for implementing a fantasy sports tournament on a dedicated slot machine with virtual poker card representations and multi-player small group rounds;

10 to 14 illustrate exemplary embodiments showing basic elements of new poker cards for various types of games;

FIG15 is a process flow diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of game processing logic for playing a fantasy sports game using virtual poker cards; and

Figure 16 shows a schematic representation of a machine in an exemplary form of a fixed or mobile computing and/or communication system in which a set of instructions, when executed and/or processing logic, when activated, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methods described and/or claimed herein.

10: Slot Machine/Slot Machine/Special Slot Machine/Free Standing Slot Machine

12: Shell

14: Main display/underlying main display

16: Secondary display

18: Value input device

20: Game coin receiver

22: Ticket acceptor

24: Player input device

26: Button/Appropriate button/Push button

28: Touch screen

30: Touch key/soft touch key/proper touch key/touch screen key

32: Payline

40: Liquidation agency

42: Ticket printer

44: Game Coin Export

52: Information reader/player information reader

Claims (20)

A dedicated slot machine comprising: a data processor; a network interface that communicates data with the data processor for communication on a data network; a display device that communicates data with the data processor, wherein the display device serves as a game surface; and a gaming system executable by the data processor to transform the data processor and the network interface into a dedicated slot machine, the dedicated slot machine being configured to use a virtual card stack to implement a client version of a betting tournament game, the gaming system being further configured to: A virtual card stack is provided using the data processor, wherein a plurality of virtual cards in the stack have been selected from a pool of virtual cards, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards includes identification information and real-life statistics related to an athlete's activity in a real-life sporting event, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards further includes information indicating: 1) a name of an athlete; 2) a name of a team that an athlete joins; 3) a name of a corresponding athlete; and 4) a name of a corresponding athlete. 4) a value of the virtual card determined based on the fantasy points valued by a player; 5) a bonus point or multiplier corresponding to the virtual card, the plurality of virtual cards in the stack having been selected from the pool of virtual cards to maintain a probability of the virtual cards in the stack generating a winning total based on real-life statistics of the selected virtual cards in the stack within a predetermined range, each of the plurality of virtual cards further comprising readable information indicating a color of the card; Randomly present at least three face-up virtual cards from a formation of the virtual card stack to a plurality of players via the display device; Prompt the plurality of players to bid on the presented virtual card formation or to discard and exit a current round by using the data processor; Accept bids from the plurality of players; and Award the presented virtual card formation to a winning player among the plurality of players who has a best bid. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to display a virtual card table having one or more player positions using the display device. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to score points for the multiple players based on the value of a virtual card held by each player. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the color of each of the plurality of virtual cards in the stack corresponds to at least one characteristic corresponding to a player represented on a virtual card. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual cards in the stack has a specific color and a name corresponding to a player represented on the virtual card. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to receive credits corresponding to a player's bid from the plurality of players via a value input mechanism of a handheld device using the data processor, the value input mechanism comprising a reader and a touch key interface to enable a player to authorize access to a central account of the player and to authorize the transfer of the player's credits from the central account to the dedicated slot machine, the reader being a card reader, a barcode scanner or a QR code scanner. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to score points for each of the players based on the players' calls and each player's complete virtual hand using the data processor. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to award bonus points to each of the players based on whether multiple virtual cards corresponding to the bonus virtual card array identify the same athlete. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to enable a predetermined number of top-ranked players from each of a plurality of player groups to remain for the next round and automatically increase the bids of the top-ranked players. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to enable players from each of a plurality of player groups to bid on a plurality of content categories in a lineup. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to display an indication of a bidding status of each player in each of a plurality of player groups by using the display device. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards in the stack is color coded. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gaming system is further configured to award bonus points to each of the players based on a virtual card of the same color. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards in the stack can be represented by a colored sleeve to indicate a selected card. A dedicated slot machine comprising: a data processor; a network interface that communicates data with the data processor to communicate on a data network; a display device that communicates data with the data processor, wherein the display device serves as a game surface; and a gaming system executable by the data processor to transform the data processor and the network interface into a dedicated slot machine, the dedicated slot machine configured to use a virtual card stack to implement a client version of a betting tournament game, the gaming system further configured to: prompt a plurality of users to each submit a bet at a plurality of geographically distributed user platforms to enter the betting tournament game as a player by using the data processor; By using the data processor to divide the plurality of players of the betting tournament game into player groups, each of the player groups having a predetermined number of players, the players in each player group compete with other players of the same player group to advance in the betting tournament game through a predetermined number of rounds, the players in each player group only play against other members of the same player group during a given round; By using the data processor to obtain a set of real-life statistics related to the activities of an athlete in a real-life sporting event, the gaming system uses the network interface to establish a data connection with a network resource located at a remote venue where a real-life sporting event is occurring; A virtual card stack is provided using the data processor, wherein a plurality of virtual cards in the stack have been selected from a pool of virtual cards, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards includes identification information and real-life statistics related to an athlete's activity in a real-life sporting event, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards further includes information indicating: 1) a name of an athlete; 2) a name of a team that an athlete joins; 3) a name of a corresponding athlete; and 4) a value of the virtual card determined based on the fantasy points valued by the player; 5) a bonus point or multiplier corresponding to the virtual card, the plurality of virtual cards in the stack having been selected from the pool of virtual cards to maintain a probability of the virtual cards in the stack generating a winning total within a predetermined range based on real-life statistics of the selected virtual cards in the stack, each of the plurality of virtual cards further comprising readable information indicating a color of the card; Randomly present at least three face-up virtual cards from a formation of the virtual card stack to a plurality of players via the display device; Prompt the plurality of players to bid on the presented virtual card formation or discard and exit a current round by using the data processor; Accept bids from the plurality of players by using the data processor; Assign the presented virtual card formation to a specific player with the best bid among the plurality of players by using the data processor; By using the data processor, for each virtual card in a player's hand, randomly selecting a statistic from the real-life statistics associated with an athlete's activity in a real-life sporting event and displaying the selected statistic as a score on the virtual card; By using the data processor to evaluate a complete hand of each player and determine a winning player based on a winning total; and Displaying any prize or payout value associated with any winning player via the display device. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards in the stack is color coded. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 15, wherein the gaming system is further configured to award bonus points to each of the players based on a virtual card of the same color. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 15, wherein the gaming system is further configured to award bonus points to each of the players based on whether the athlete corresponding to the bonus virtual card camp is a teammate in a real-life sport. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 15, wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual cards in the stack has a specific color and a name corresponding to a player represented on the virtual card. A dedicated slot machine as claimed in claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of virtual cards in the stack can be represented by a colored sleeve to indicate a selected card.