Computerized race game

Claim 2

In a computerized race game, a first racing channel comprising, in combination, a set of actuators including a first and second movable manual actuators, a velocity transducer means connected to said movable manual actuators and constructed and arranged to produce an output indicative of the velocities of movement of said movable manual actuators, a counter connected to said velocity transducer means and constructed and arranged to calculate cumulated travel produced by said first movable manual actuator, display means connected to said counter and constructed and arranged to be energized by the latter to indicate said cumulated travel, and indicating means constructed and arranged to indicate when a game has been terminated, said velocity transducer means is constructed and arranged such that said output is a pair of electrical pulse trains having rates proportional to said velocities of movement, and said counter is a digital counter and wherein said velocity transducer means includes a first velocity transducer unit connected to the maximum pulse rate limiter and arranged to remove the maximum limit imposed to the pulse rate therethrough.

Claim 3

In a computerized race game, a first racing channel comprising, in combination, a set of actuators including a first and second movable manual actuators, a velocity transducer means connected to said movable manual actuators and constructed and arranged to produce an output indicative of the velocities of movement of said movable manual actuators, a counter connected to said velocity transducer means and constructed and arranged to calculate cumulated travel produced by said first movable manual actuator, display means connected to said counter and constructed and arranged to be energized by the latter to indicate said cumulated travel, and indicating means constructed and arranged to indicate when a game has been terminated, said velocity transducer means is constructed and arranged such that said output is a pair of electrical pulse trains having rates proportional to said velocities of movement, and said counter is a digital counter and wherein said velocity transducer means includes a first velocity transducer unit connected to the maximum pulse rate limiter and arranged to remove the maximum limit imposed to the pulse rate therethrough.

Claim 4

In a computerized race game, a first racing channel comprising, in combination, a set of actuators including a first and second movable manual actuators, a velocity transducer means connected to said movable manual actuators and constructed and arranged to produce an output indicative of the velocities of movement of said movable manual actuators, a counter connected to said velocity transducer means and constructed and arranged to calculate cumulated travel produced by said first movable manual actuator, display means connected to said counter and constructed and arranged to be energized by the latter to indicate said cumulated travel, and indicating means constructed and arranged to indicate when a game has been terminated, said velocity transducer means is constructed and arranged such that said output is a pair of electrical pulse trains having rates proportional to said velocities of movement, and said counter is a digital counter and wherein said velocity transducer means includes a first velocity transducer unit connected to the maximum pulse rate limiter and arranged to remove the maximum limit imposed to the pulse rate therethrough.

Claim 5

A computerized race game as defined in claim 1, wherein said first movable manual actuator includes a rotatable handwheel and said second movable manual actuator includes a pivoted whipping lever mounted and arranged in limited spaced-apart relationship to be simultaneously operated by a single operator.

Claim 6

A computerized race game as defined in claim 2, further including a timer connected to receive a game-on signal and an end-of-game signal, a race time display connected to said timer to display the time of duration of a game, a computer storage unit arranged to store the best game time of any game played during the consecutive period the race game has been operatively plugged to a power supply circuit, a best game time display connected to said computer storage unit and arranged to display the stored best game time and a comparator circuit connected to said timer and to said computer storage unit and arranged to cause storage and display of any game time better than the actually stored and displayed best game time.

Claim 7

A computerized race game as defined in claim 2, further including a race time counter, a free game time adjustment switch, a comparator connected to said race time counter and to said free game time adjustment switch, an AND gate connected to the output of said comparator and arranged to receive an end-of-game signal to produce a free game output signal when the race time is shorter than the selected free game time.

Claim 8

A computerized race game as defined in claim 2, wherein said first velocity transducer unit includes a light chopper connected to said handwheel and constructed and arranged to produce one of said electrical pulse trains, a synchronizer having a clock input thereto connected to said light chopper, an inhibitor gate and a modulo 8 counter connected to said synchronizer and arranged to receive a synchronized pulse train, a maximum velocity detector connected to said modulo 8 counter and to said inhibitor gate and arranged to supply an output pulse thereto when the angular velocity of said handwheel is within a predetermined maximum limit and a feed back circuit connecting said maximum velocity detector to said modulo 8 counter and arranged to stop the latter when the measured angular velocity is below a predetermined minimum limit.

Claim 9

A computerized race game as defined in claim 2, wherein said second velocity transducer unit includes a light chopper connected to said whipping lever and constructed and arranged to produce one of said electrical pulse trains, a synchronizer arranged to receive a clock input connected to said light chopper and arranged to supply a synchronized pulse train to a digital counter, a pair of whipping period detectors connected to said digital counter and arranged to respond to predetermined low and high limits of the whipping period, a decision circuit connected to said pair of whipping period detectors and to a flip-flop unit and arranged to prodUce a reward signal when the whipping period is within said predetermined low and high limits, and a high limit whipping period detector connected to said digital counter and to an AND gate and arranged to stop said digital counter when said predetermined high limit is exceeded.

Claim 10

A computerized race game as defined in claim 2, wherein said display means includes a plurality of display lamps serially arranged into a race track layout wherein the race consists in progressing A steps along the full length of the race track and in performing B times the travel along the race track, said counter includes a modulo N buffer counter, a N-value generator connected to said modulo N-buffer counter and arranged to vary the N-value thereof in response to a reward, penalty and type of game signal inputs to said N-value generator, a modulo A, and a modulo B counter and an end-of-game signal generator serially connected to the output of said modulo N-buffer counter, and AND gate having its output connected to the input of said modulo N-buffer counter, a feed back stop signal circuit joining the output of said end-of-game unit to an input of said AND gate and another input of the latter is connected to said first velocity transducer unit to supply the output of the latter to said AND gate, a decoder and lamps driver connected between the output of said modulo A counter and said plurality of display lamps to consecutively energize the latter upon progression of the race, and a whipping zone detector connected to said decoder and lamps driver and arranged to produce a signal indicating the starts and endings of zones of said race track in which said whipping lever may be operated.

Claim 11

A computerized race game as defined in claim 2, further including a second racing channel essentially similar to said first racing channel and a first winner display means connected to all of said channels and constructed and arranged to receive an end-of-race signal produced by one of said channels which first completes a predetermined race track travel and to identify said one channel.

Claim 12

A computerized race game as defined in claim 8, further including a second winner display means connected to said first winner display means and to all of said channels and constructed and arranged to receive an end-of-race signal produced by one of said channels which next completes a predetermined race track travel, and constructed and arranged to identify said next channel.

Claim 13

A computerized race game as defined in claim 9, wherein each of said first winner display means and of said second winner display means includes one lamp for each of said channels and connected and arranged to identify a corresponding channel, each lamp of said first winner display means is connected to the associated channel by a first inverter, a latch and a second inverter consecutively arranged in series, each lamp of said second winner display means is connected to the associated channel by an inhibit gate, a latch and an inverter consecutively arranged in series, a transfer signal circuit having a pair of serially-connected AND gates is connected between the output of each latch and a transfer signal input thereof, a reset signal input is connected to one AND gate of each of said transfer signal circuits, the transfer circuit of said first winner display means is connected to the input of the other AND gate of the pair of AND gates of said transfer signal circuit of said second winner display means, and the output of the latch of said first winner display means is connected to the input of the corresponding inhibiting gate of said second winner display means and said reset signal input is arranged to be energized at the start of another game, whereby the first end-of-race signal will produce illumination of the lamp in the first winner display means which identifies the corresponding channel and the next end-of-race signal will produce illumination of the lamp in the second winner display means which identIfies the corresponding channel which produced said next end-of-race signal.

Claim 14

A computerized race game comprising first and second similar racing channels each comprising, in combination, a set of actuators including a first and a second movable manual actuators, a velocity transducer means connected to said movable manual actuators and constructed and arranged to produce an output indicative of the velocities of movement of said movable manual actuators, a counter connected to said velocity transducer means and constructed and arranged to calculate cumulated travel produced by said first movable manual actuator, display means connected to said counter and constructed and arranged to be energized by the latter to indicate said cumulated travel, indicating means constructed and arranged to indicate when a game has been terminated, a cabinet housing the velocity transducer means, the counter, the display means, and the indicating means of each channel, each first movable manual actuator includes a hand wheel rotatably mounted onto said cabinet, each second movable manual actuator includes a whipping lever pivoted onto said cabinet in limited spaced-apart relationship with respect to the handwheel of the same set of manual actuators, whereby the latter are arranged to be simultaneously operable by a single operator, and a display panel is mounted onto said cabinet and supporting said display means and said indicating means in positions to be viewed by the operators of said racing channels, and further including a coin slot for each of said racing channels constructed and arranged to allow energization and operation of any racing channel upon insertion of the right coinage into the corresponding coin slot, a first multi-position switch mounted onto said cabinet and connected to each of said racing channels to select a maximum angular velocity limit for said handwheels, a second multi-position switch mounted onto said cabinet, connected to the counter of each channel, and arranged to vary the type of race, and a starting switch mounted onto said cabinet, connected to a starting circuit and arranged to start the latter upon insertion of the right coinage into at least one coin slot.

Claim 15

A computerized race game comprising first and second similar racing channels each comprising, in combination, a set of actuators including a first and a second movable manual actuators, a velocity transducer means connected to said movable manual actuators and constructed and arranged to produce an output indicative of the velocities of movement of said movable manual actuators, a counter connected to said velocity transducer means and constructed and arranged to calculate cumulated travel produced by said first movable manual actuator, display means connected to said counter and constructed and arranged to be energized by the latter to indicate said cumulated travel, indicating means constructed and arranged to indicate when a game has been terminated, a cabinet housing the velocity transducer means, the counter, the display means, and the indicating means of each channel, each first movable manual actuator includes a hand wheel rotatably mounted onto said cabinet, each second movable manual actuator includes a whipping lever pivoted onto said cabinet in limited spaced-apart relationship with respect to the handwheel of the same set of manual actuators, whereby the latter are arranged to be simultaneously operable by a single operator, and a display panel is mounted onto said cabinet and supporting said display means and said indicating means in positions to be viewed by the operators of said racing channels, and further including a coin slot for each of said racing channels constructed and arranged to allow energization and operation of any racing channel upon insertion of the right coinage into the corresponding coin slot, a first multi-position switch mounted onto said cabinet and connected to each of said racing channels to select a maximum angular velocity limit for said handwheels, a second multi-position switch mounted onto said cabinet, connected to the counter of each channel, and arranged to vary the type of race, and a starting switch mounted onto said cabinet, connected to a starting circuit and arranged to start the latter upon insertion of the right coinage into at least one coin slot.