What is not understood is that "advantage play" is an older concept, and has already been patented by IGT three weeks ago:
United States Patent 9,105,156
Walker , et al. Issued August 11, 2015
Gaming device method and apparatus employing modified payouts
in the IGT patent it describes that advantage betting can be used on many Gaming Devices:
The terms "gaming device" and "gaming machine" shall be synonymous and may refer to any electrical, mechanical, electro-mechanical, software, combination thereof, and/or other device that may accept a wager, may follow a process to generate an outcome, and may pay winnings based on the outcome. The outcome may be randomly generated, as with a slot machine; may be generated through a combination of randomness and user skill, as with video poker; or may be generated entirely through user skill. A gaming device may include any gaming machine and/or system, including slot machines, video poker machines, video bingo machines, video roulette machines, video keno machines, video blackjack machines, pachinko machines, arcade games, video games, pinball machines, skill crane machines, video lottery terminals, online gaming systems, sports betting machines, game consoles, personal computers logged into online gaming sites, gaming device simulations, and the like. Gaming devices may or may not be owned and/or maintained by a casino and/or may or may not exist within a casino location. Gaming devices may be activated by a player pressing a spin button (including bet, wager, deal, start, go, hit, and/or the like buttons), pulling a handle, and/or any other method to initiate the generation of an outcome.
Oh my, if NTGL doesn't have a LICENSE from IGT to this patent, ISSUED 11 August 2015 to IGT, it seems they can't develop a pinball betting machine that uses advantage play!
Way to start the SHOW with claim to something that has already been patented by IGT and which NTGL's video pinball betting machine likely infringes the IGT patent.
Oh no.
That was nott understood apparently by the NTGL Clown Show Brigade of over-aged kids.
OUCH! That will leave a stain.
One may also wish to consult some related patents issued to Game Play Network, Inc. of Los Angeles claiming a similar aspect of NTGL's pinball game. Having random outcomes that utilize user inputs to give the appearance of affecting the outcome of the game. These Game Play Network patents are less important than the IGT patent above, butt they also specifically calls out pinball games as one of the embodiments (among many, many others).
This is but ONE of at least four patents on this concept by Game Play Network.
United States Patent 9,070,253
Tung , et al. Issued June 30, 2015
System and method of revealing the outcomes of real world wagers through single or multiple reveals
Abstract
The invention relates to systems and methods of selecting and placing real-world wagers responsive to one or more wager triggers, obtaining outcomes of the real-world wagers, facilitating user interactions with various interactive media, and revealing the outcomes of the real-world wagers through the interactive media to give an appearance that the outcomes of the real-world wagers resulted from the user interactions even though the outcomes resulted from the real-world wagers and were determined before the user interactions. The system may obtain an outcome of a real-world wager and update an unrevealed balance of a user. The unrevealed balance may include an indication of an outcome (e.g., an amount of a payout or a loss) of a real-world wager that has not yet been revealed to the user. The system may reveal at least a portion of the unrevealed balance or a given outcome in a single or multiple reveals
....
The interactive media may include, without limitation, mobile, online or other games, other multimedia content, and/or other media that may be presented to and/or interacted with by a user. The interactive game may involve a skill, physical coordination, problem solving, and/or or other activity unrelated or related to the underlying wager event. For example, the interactive game may include, without limitation, a crossword puzzle, an action game, a puzzle game, a shooting game (e.g., a first person shooter game), a strategy game (e.g., chess, checkers, go, etc.), a pinball-type game, a card game, a single player game (including games against an AI player), a multiplayer game (including games against other users), a game of chance, such as a slot machine, a bingo game, a lottery, casual games, alternate reality games, FLASH games, handheld games, a math game, a match game, a prediction game or challenge, an arcade game, etc. The interactive game may also include a passive form of entertainment requiring little if any intervention from the user. The interactive game may be run on any platform such as a console, a computer, a mobile device, and/or other device that can facilitate gameplay of the interactive game.
