WO2010026166A1

WO2010026166A1 - Electronic game card and method

Info

Publication number: WO2010026166A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/061356
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simon Gynne
Original assignee: Electronic Game Card, Inc.
Priority date: 2008-09-02
Filing date: 2009-09-02
Publication date: 2010-03-11

Abstract

A preprogrammed handheld electronic game device is disclosed comprising: a display for displaying a question item comprising a question and possible answers to said question; one or more player actuable elements for selecting one of said displayed possible answers; a data store for storing a plurality of said question items; and game control circuitry operative to: respond to player input to initiate said game comprising displaying a first question item of a first sequence of said question items of a first predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store on said display; respond to player input via said one or more player actuable elements to select one of said possible answers displayed on said display; to record whether said player selection is a correct answer; display a next question item in said first sequence; determine that said first sequence has been completed and determine the number of correct answers selected in said completed sequence; and provide an option to a player to initiate said game with a first sequence of a second predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store responsive to the number of correct selected answers satisfying a predetermined criterion.

Description

Electronic Game Card and Method

Field

One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to an electronic game apparatus, in particular, but not exclusively, to a preprogrammed handheld electronic game card for playing a quiz game.

Background

Known electronic game cards do little more than provide multiple games of the "scratch card" type or "one-armed bandit" type of game. An example of such an electronic game card is disclosed in International Patent Application Publication No. WO 03/008057 Al European Patent application No 04819727.1 and US Patent US 5,178,389 the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Such games are games of chance and may be of limited entertainment value. They are typically used for gaming or gambling and therefore limited to being played by adults and generally have to be licensed by the gaming authorities if prizes can be won by playing them.

Additionally, such games tend not have any educational or learning value.

Summary

Viewed from a first aspect an embodiment of the present invention provides a preprogrammed handheld electronic game device, comprising: a display for displaying a question item comprising a question and possible answers to said question; one or more player actuable elements for selecting one of said displayed possible answers; a data store for storing a plurality of said question items; and game control circuitiy operative to: respond to player input to initiate said game comprising displaying a first question item of a first sequence of said question items of a first predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store on said display; respond to player input via said one or more player acruable elements to select one of said possible answers displayed on said display; record whether said player selection is a correct answer, display a next question item in said first sequence; determine that said first sequence has been completed and determine the number of correct answers selected in said completed sequence; and provide an option to a player to initiate said game with a first sequence of a second predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store responsive to the number of correct selected answers satisfying a predetermined criterion.

Viewed from a second aspect an embodiment of the present invention provides a method of playing an electronic game device, comprising: initiating a game by displaying a first of a first sequence of question items of a first predefined group of a plurality of said question items stored in a data store on a display; selecting one of said possible answers displayed on said display; recording whether said player selection is a correct answer; displaying a next question item in said first sequence; determining that said first sequence has been completed and the number of correct answers selected in said completed sequence; and providing an option to a player to play said game with a first sequence of a second predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store responsive to the number of correct selected answers satisfying a predetermined criterion.

Viewed from a third aspect an embodiment of the present invention provides a preprogrammed handheld electronic game device, comprising." a display for displaying a question item comprising a question and possible answers to said question; one or more player actuable elements for selecting one of said displayed possible answers; a data store for storing a plurality of said question items; and game control circuitry operative to: display a series of question items of an initial group of said plurality of said question items; record answers selected by a player of said game; and provide an option to continue said game using a further series of question items from another group of said plurality of said question items responsive to the number of correct selected answers recorded for said initial group satisfying a predetermined criterion.

Viewed from a fourth aspect an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for playing an electronic game device, comprising: displaying a series of question items of an initial group of said plurality of said question items; recording answers selected by a player of said game; and providing an option to continue said game using a further series of question items from another group of said plurality of said question items responsive to the number of correct selected answers recorded for said initial group satisfying a predetermined criterion.

The foregoing aspects may provide a simple, self-contained, pre-configured, cost effective device for providing a quiz game. The device may be credit card sized and powered by a watch battery, or solar cell for example. The applicant has termed devices in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention Know-It- All™ or iQuiz™ cards. Ln a particular embodiment the game control circuitry is operative to alternate display of a question item between displaying the question and displaying the possible answers on the display. In such an embodiment, the question may use the whole of the display, including parts of the display used for displaying possible answers, which allows for longer and possibly more complex questions than might otherwise be the case.

The game control circuitry may be operative to respond to player input via the one or more player actuable elements to select one of the possible answers during any point of the alternating display, which means that a user does not have to time their key press for when the answers are being displayed thereby making the device easier to use than might otherwise be the case.

The predetermined criterion is typically that all the answers selected for a group of question items were correct, which provides an incentive to a player to tiy the quiz again to improve upon their previous result if it did not meet the criterion. Such an embodiment makes the electronic game device suitable for educational testing such as testing multiplication tables, spelling and vocabulary tests and other tests which may be suitable for multiple choice testing.

To enhance the testing and game experience, the sequence in which questions (question items) are asked, particularly if a group has to be repeated since the criterion was not met, is randomised. Additionally, more possible answers are stored than can be displayed and a repeated group of questions may have answers randomly selected from the possible answers in order to vary the possible wrong answers in a displayed question item.

List of Figures

The invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is an illustrative front view of an example of an electronic game card according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram of the electronic game card of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of the game card states during a level of the game;

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of the game card states at the end of a level;

Fig. 5 is graphical representation of three data entries for questions in the data storage;

Fig. 6 is an illustrative front view of an example of an electronic game card according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a flow diagram of the game card states during a level of the game played on an electronic game card in accordance with the second embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 8 is a flow diagram of the game card states at the end of a level of the game played in accordance with the flow diagram of figure 7;

Fig. 9 is graphical representation of three data entries for questions in the data storage suitable for a game in accordance with the second embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 10 is graphical representation of a further three data entries for questions in the data storage suitable for a game in accordance with the second embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The following description is by way on non-limiting example only. As shown in Fig. 1 , the user interface of a handheld preprogrammed electronic game card 100 comprises an LCD display 102, answer push button A 1 12, answer push button B 1 14, answer push button C 1 16, a "play/reset" push button 1 18, and an artwork overlay 120.

The LCD display 102, having a width of approximately 75mm, comprises a four-line display 104, 106, 108, 1 10 with 15 characters per line, with each character comprising a 5 x 5 dot matrix or a 5 x 3 dot matrix. Fig. 2 shows the schematic components of the electronic game card 100 show in Fig. 1. The game card 100 comprises a display driver 202 to drive the LCD display 102, an input driver 204 to decode the input from the answer buttons 112, 1 14, 1 16 and play/reset button 1 18, a processor 206, and a power source 210 composed of two 1.5V Lithium batteries. The game card 100 also comprises a memory or data storage 208 for storing a plurality of question items. Each question item comprises a question and a plurality of possible answers to each question. The data storage 208 is also arranged to store the answers to the questions input by a player of the game card 100 via the buttons 112, 1 14, 116. One or more of these components may be combined in a single integrated circuit, or separate components, or a combination of IC and separate components.

In use, the electronic game card 100 of the described embodiment provides a quiz game where the player is tasked with knowing the name of the capital cities of various countries. In one embodiment the game consists of 50 question items comprising one question for 50 of the recognised countries in the world.

hi this embodiment the question items are split into 10 groups or "levels", each group containing 5 question items. The question items in each group are predefined, taking into account the difficulty level of the questions in a sliding scale, with the better known countries being grouped for use in the lower levels and the lesser known countries being grouped for use in the in the higher levels.

The game card 100 is configured to not indicate a correct or incorrect answer to a player after an answer is entered for each question item presented, it will simply accumulate the correct answers and reveal the score at the end of the level.

All the question items in each level are randomized for each new game. That is to say, when the card is reset or played through again, the sequence of question items will be in a different order. Fig. 3 shows a flow diagram for implementation of the game card 100 game. The diagram includes illustrations of the text displayed on the LCD display 102 at each stage. First 302 the game card 100 is activated by removing a battery insulation tab located on the rear of the card if using for the first time, or by pressing the any button to exit a standby mode if the insulation tab has already been removed.

The following steps are implemented by the processor 206 under control of suitable program elements such as machine code stored in data storage 208.

In step 304 the processor 206 initiates a first part of a message across the top two LCD lines:

"HOW BIG IS YOUR BRAIN?"

Followed by a second part of the welcome message:

"PRESS PLAY TO FlND OUT!"

These 2 messages, are displayed across the top 2 lines of the LCD 102, and the processor 206 alternates the display eveiy 2 to 3 seconds until the "play/reset" button 1 18 is pressed.

After the "play/reset" button 118 is pressed, in the next step 306 the game card processor 206 randomly generates a sequence that is> used to determine the order in which the group of question items in level 1 are to be presented to the player. To keep the cost of the game card 100 to a minimum, a simple pseudo random number generator may be used. The generated sequence is by processor 206 stored in internal memory in the processor 206, or may be stored in the data store 208. Selection of which two incorrect answers to display along with the correct answer may be determined randomly, for example using a pseudo random number generator such as that described above to determine the order of the question items.

The data store 208 may also include more than three possible answers for each question. In this case, in step 308 the processor 206 also determines which two incorrect answers are to be displayed along with the question and the one correct answer, and in step 310 the processor 206 determines in which order the selected answers will be displayed on the LCD display 102. This data can be stored in internal memory in the processor 206, or stored in the data store 208.

Once the sequence of questions and the order in which the possible answers are to be presented has been determined, the next step 312 is to display the first question and the three selected possible answers, with one of the answers being the correct answer. The question is displayed on the first display line 104 and the three possible answers are displayed on the second 106, third, 108 and fourth 110 display lines respectively.

Due to the character restrictions on the LCD display 102, the artwork 120 will be used to display the common or generic parts of the question, e.g.:

"WHAT IS THE CAPITAL OF "

The reference to "question", "questions" and "question items" herein should be taken to encompass the complete question and also just the substantive part of a question excluding any common or generic text on the artwork 120. In the present example, the term "question^*' and associated terminology encompasses just the country name.

As illustrated in Fig. 1 the artwork 120 is also printed with the letters of the possible answers to the left hand side (as viewed from the display lines themselves) of the lower 3 display lines: "A" for the second display line 106; "B" for the third display line 108; and "C" for the fourth display line 110, corresponding to the artwork lettering over the three answer buttons 1 12, 1 14, 1 16.

Processor 206 displays the question and the three possible answers across all 4 LCD lines until answer button A 1 12, B 1 14 or C 1 16 is pressed. If, after 15 seconds, no button is selected, the processor 206 causes the game card 100 to power down to a standby mode in order to save power and prolong the operational life of the power source 210. The game state is stored on non-volatile memory in data store 208 and pressing any button will reactivate the game card 100 and restore it to exactly the same state as when it when it went into the standby mode.

The player selects one of the three displayed possible answers by pressing the corresponding answer button 1 12, 114, 116 on the game card 100. At this stage 314 the button press is recorded by processor 206 and compared with the data for each displayed answer to determine if the answer given is correct or not and if correct then data representing a correct answer is stored in memory 208. Once the data is stored, in step 316 the processor 206 instructs the display driver 202 to flash the selected answer for approximately 3 seconds by repeatedly displaying and not displaying, or otherwise highlighting the displayed characters on the selected line.

In step 318 the data for the next question in the sequence is retrieved by the processor 206 from memory 208, and in step 320 the second question item, i.e. a second question and three possible answers to that question, are displayed on display 102.

This process is repeated until an answer has been recorded for each question in the current group, which indicates the end of the level.

Pressing and holding down the play/reset button 1 18 at any point in the game for 5 seconds will cause processor 206 to reset the game card 100 to the opening game state. Fig. 4 is a flow diagram showing the states that occur at the end of each level. Steps 412, 414 and 416 are identical to steps 312, 314 and 316 as described with reference to Fig. 3.

Since there are no more questions to retrieve from the current group, at step 418 the processor 206 recalls data representative of the stored answers for each of the questions in the group and compares them to a predetermined criterion to determine whether or not the player has achieved a sufficiently high score to pass the level. In a particular embodiment, the player must answer every question in the group correctly in order to progress to the next level.

If the player fails to answer enough questions correctly, in step 420 the processor 206 causes the following message to be displayed across the four LCD lines:

"YOU SCORED XOUT OF Y PRESS PLAY TO TRY AGAIN"

Where Xis the number of questions the player answered correctly, and Y is the total number of question items in the group.

When the user presses the play/reset button 1 18 to continue, processor 206 returns the game card 100 to step 306 as shown in Fig. 3 and the player plays through the level again. Although the questions asked are the same as those asked previously, the question item sequence, the displayed possible answers for each question item, and the answer order is changed by the pscudo random number generator.

If however, the player does answer enough questions successfully according to the predetermined criterion, then in step 422 the processor 206 causes the following message to be displayed across the four LCD lines: "YOU SCORED XOUT OF Y PRESS PLAY FOR NEXT LEVEL"

Where X is the number of questions the player answered correctly, and Y is the total number of questions in the group. If the predefined criterion specifies that all the questions in the group must be answered correctly to proceed to the next level, then X will equal Y .

When the user presses the play/reset button 118 to continue, in step 424 the processor 206 records that the player has successfully completed the current level. In step 426 the processor 206 checks if the completed level is the last level.

If the completed level is not the last level then the processor 206 returns the game card 100 to step 306 and the process is repeated as described with reference to Figs 3 and 4 for the group of questions of the next level.

If the completed level is the last level then in step 426 the processor 206 causes the following first message to be displayed across the top three LCD lines 104, 106, 108:

"WOW 100% YOU REALLY DO KNOW IT ALL"

Followed by the following second message:

"PLAY AGAIN? PRESS PLAY TO RESTART" These two messages will alternate every 3 seconds untiJ either the play/reset button 1 18 is pressed, or the game card 100 powers down. If the play/reset button 1 18 is pressed then the game resets and returns to step 304.

The processor 206 may also cause a third message to be shown. The third message provides the player with an alphanumeric reference code. The reference code may be unique to the individual game card 100 or unique to the type of game of game card 100. The reference code can be used for a variety of authentication purposes, including verifying that a player has completed the game, and/or used as part of a registration process which, for example, permits the player to access promotional offers, discounts or other desirable items from an Internet website, or an SMS server via a mobile telephone.

Fig 5 is a graphical representation of three question items, each comprising a question and associated possible answers, stored in data store 208. There are 4 possible answers so the processor must select 3 of the 4 answers to display for each game, with the correct answer always being one of the chosen 3.

A second embodiment of a handheld preprogrammed electronic game card 600 in accordance with the invention is illustrated in Fig. 6, and having a user interface comprising an LCD display 602, answer push button A 612, answer push button B 614, answer push button C 616, a "play/reset" push button 618, and an artwork overlay 620.

The LCD display 602, having a width of approximately 75mm, comprises a three-line display 606, 608, 610 with 14 characters per line, with each character comprising a 5 x 5 dot matrix or a 5 x 3 dot matrix.

The components of electronic game card 600 are the same as for electronic game card 100 of the first embodiment and will be described by way of the schematic illustration in Fig. 2 also. The game card 600 comprises a display driver 202 to drive the LCD display 602, an input driver 204 to decode the input from the answer buttons 612, 614, 616 and play/reset button 618, a processor 206, and a power source 210 composed of two 1.5V Lithium batteries. The game card 600 also comprises a memory or data storage 208 for storing a plurality of question items. Each question item comprises a question and a plurality of possible answers to each question. The data storage 208 is also arranged to store the answers to the questions input by a player of the game card 600 via the buttons 612, 614, 616. One ormore of these components may be combined in a single integrated circuit, or separate components, or a combination of IC and separate components.

One implementation of the electronic game card 600 of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the same quiz game as described with respect to the first embodiment. In this example quiz game the player is tasked with knowing the name of the capital cities of various countries. In one embodiment the game consists of 50 question items comprising one question for 50 of the recognised countries in the world.

As described for the first embodiment the question items are split into 10 groups or "levels", each group containing 5 question items. The question items in each group are predefined, taking into account the difficulty level of the questions in a sliding scale, with the better known countries being grouped for use in the lower levels and the lesser known countries being grouped for use in the in the higher levels.

The game card 600 is configured to not indicate a correct or incorrect answer to a player after an answer is entered for each question item presented, it will simply accumulate the correct answers and reveal the score at the end of the level.

All the question items in each level are randomized for each new game. That is to say, when the card is reset or played through again, the sequence of question items will be in a different order.

Fig. 7 shows a flow diagram for implementation of the game card 600 "capital cities" game. The diagram includes illustrations of the text displayed on the LCD display 602 at each stage. First 702 the game card 600 is activated by removing a battery insulation tab located on the rear of the card if using for the first time, or by pressing the play or any button to exit a standby mode if the insulation tab has already been removed.

In step 704 the processor 206 initiates a first part of a message across the top two LCD lines:

"HOW BIG IS YOUR BRAIN?"

Followed by a second part of the welcome message:

"PRESS PLAY TO FIND OUT!"

These 2 messages, are displayed across the top 2 lines of the LCD 602, and the processor 206 alternates the display every 2 to 3 seconds until the "play/reset" button 618 is pressed.

After the "play/reset" button 618 is pressed, in the next step 706 the game card processor 206 randomly generates a sequence that is used to determine the order in which the group of question items in level 1 are to be presented to the player. As with the first embodiment, a simple pseudo random number generator may be used to keep the cost of the game card 600 to a minimum. The generated sequence is by processor 206 stored in internal memory in the processor 206, or may be stored in the data store 208.

As with card 100, selection of which two incorrect answers to display along with the correct answer may be determined randomly, for example using a pseudo random number generator such as that described above to determine the order of the question items. The data store 208 may also include more than three possible answers for each question. In this case, in step 708 the processor 206 also determines which two incorrect answers are to be displayed along with the question and the one correct answer, and in step 710 the processor 206 determines in which order the selected answers will be displayed on the LCD display 102. This data can be stored in internal memory in the processor 206, or stored in the data store 208.

Once the sequence of questions and the order in which the possible answers are to be presented has been determined, the next step 712 is to display the first question and the three selected possible answers, with one of the answers being the correct answer. First, the question is displayed on the display 602 using as many of display lines 606, 608 and 610 as necessary. Next, the three possible answers are displayed on the display 602 using the first 606, second, 608 and third 610 display lines respectively. Processor 206 drives display 602 to alternate between displaying the question and displaying the three possible answers.

Since all three lines of display 602 may be used to display a question there is less restriction on the number of characters that can be displayed. Thus, there is generally no need to use artwork 620 to display common or generic parts of the list of questions as is the case with the first embodiment. In the present example, the term "question" and associated terminology encompasses both the question and the country name.

As illustrated in Fig. 6 the artwork 620 is printed with the letters of the possible answers to the left hand side (as viewed from the display lines themselves) of the3 display lines: "A" for the first display line 606; "B" for the second display line 608; and "C" for the third display line 610, corresponding to the artwork lettering over the three answer buttons 612, 614, 616.

Processor 206 alternates between the display of the question and the three possible answers across all 3 LCD lines until answer button A 612, B 614 or C 616 is pressed. If, after 15 seconds, no button is selected, the processor 206 causes the game card 600 to power down to a standby mode in order to save power and prolong the operational life of the power source 210. The game state is stored on non-volatile memory in data store 208 and pressing any button will reactivate the game card 600 and restore it to exactly the same state as when it when it went into the standby mode.

The player selects one of the three displayed possible answers by pressing the corresponding answer button 612, 614, 616 on the game card 600 at any time during the alternating display of the question and answers. Optionally, processor 206 may be configured to respond to an answer key press only from the first occasion the three possible answers are displayed. At this stage 714 the button press is recorded by processor 206 and compared with the data for each displayed answer to determine if the answer given is correct or not and if correct then data representing a correct answer is stored in memory 208. Once the data is stored, in step 716 the processor 206 instructs the display driver 202 to flash the selected answer for approximately 3 seconds by repeatedly displaying and not displaying, or otherwise highlighting the displayed characters on the selected line.

In step 718 the data for the next question in the sequence is retrieved by the processor 206 from memory 208, and in step 720 the second question item, i.e. a second question and three possible answers to that question, are displayed on display 602.

Pressing and holding down the play/reset button 618 at any point in the game for 5 seconds will cause processor 206 to reset the game card 600 to the opening game state.

Fig. 8 is a flow diagram showing the states that occur at the end of each level. Steps 812, 814 and 816 are identical to steps 712, 714 and 716 as described with reference to Fig. 7, albeit operating on a different question. Since there are no more questions to retrieve from the current group, at step 818 the processor 206 recalls data representative of the stored answers for each of the questions in the group and compares them to a predetermined criterion to determine whether or not the player has achieved a sufficiently high score to pass the level, hi a particular embodiment, the player must answer every question in the group correctly in order to progress to the next level.

If the player fails to answer enough questions correctly, in step 820 the processor 206 causes the following message to he displayed across the three LCD lines:

"SCOREDXOUT OF Y PRESS PLAY TO TRY AGAIN"

Where X is the number of questions the player answered correctly, and Y is the total number of question items in the group.

When the user presses the play/reset button 618 to continue, processor 206 returns the game card 600 to step 706 as shown in Fig. 7 and the player plays through the level again. Although the questions asked are the same as those asked previously, the question item sequence, the displayed possible answers for each question item, and the answer order is changed by the pseudo random number generator.

If however, the player does answer enough questions successfully according to the predetermined criterion, then in step 822 the processor 206 causes the following message to be displayed across the three LCD lines:

"SCORED X OUT OF Y PRESS PLAY FOR NEXT LEVEL"

When the user presses the play/reset button 618 to continue, in step 824 the processor 206 records that the player has successfully completed the current level. In step 826 the processor 206 checks if the completed level is the last level.

If the completed level is not the last level then the processor 206 returns the game card 600 to step 706 and the process is repeated as described with reference to Figs 7 and 8 for the group of questions of the next level.

If the completed level is the last level then in step 826 the processor 206 causes the following first message to be displayed across the three LCD lines 106, 108, 1 10:

"WOW 100% YOU REALLY DO KNOW IT ALL"

Followed by the following second message:

"PLAY AGAIN? PRESS PLAY TO RESTART"

These two messages will alternate every 3 seconds until either the play/reset button 618 is pressed, or the game card 600 powers down. If the play/reset button 1 18 is pressed then the game resets and returns to step 704. As with the first embodiment, the processor 206 may also cause a third message to be shown. The third message provides the player with an alphanumeric reference code. The reference code may be unique to the individual game card 600 or unique to the type of game of game card 600. The reference code can be used for a variety of authentication purposes, including verifying that a player has completed the game, and/or used as part of a registration process which, for example, permits the player to access promotional offers, discounts or other desirable items from an Internet website, or an SMS server via a mobile telephone.

Fig 9 is a graphical representation of three question items, each comprising a question and possible answers, stored in data store 208. There are 4 possible answers so the processor must select 3 of the 4 answers to display for each game, with the correct answer always being one of the chosen 3. The nature of the questions illustrated in Fig. 9 and in the quiz described for the first and second embodiments is such that a common or generic initial "stub" of the question may be printed on the artwork 620. However, the questions and topics for questions may be restricted by such an arrangement.

Fig. 10 is a graphical representation of three question items, each comprising a question and possible answers, stored in data store 208. As can be seen, although each question relates to the same topic, i.e. "Bond movies", the questions do not have a common or generic initial stub suitable for printing on the artwork 620. The second embodiment of the invention, and embodiments encapsulating a similar or associated concept, provide for flexibility in the questions asked on the game card 600 since the whole of the question may be displayed on the display 602.

Insofar as embodiments of the invention described above are implementable, at least in part, using a software-controlled programmable processing device such as a general purpose processor or special-purposes processor, digital signal processor, microprocessor, or other processing device, data processing apparatus or computer system it will be appreciated that a computer program for configuring a programmable device, apparatus or system to implement the foregoing described methods, apparatus and system is envisaged as an aspect of the present invention. The computer program may be embodied as any suitable type of code, such as source code, object code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. The instructions may be implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object- oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language, suchs as C, C++, Java, BASIC, Perl, Matlab, Pascal, Visual BASIC, JAVA, ActiveX, assembly language, machine code, and so forth. A skilled person would readily understand that term "computer" in its most general sense encompasses programmable devices such as referred to above, and data processing apparatus and computer systems.

Suitably, the computer program is stored on a carrier medium in machine readable form, for example the carrier medium may comprise memory, removable or non-removable media, erasable or non-erasable media, writeable or re-writeable media, digital or analog media, hard disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Company Disk Recordable (CD-R), Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD-RW), optical disk, magnetic media, magneto-optical media, removable memory cards or disks, various types of Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) subscriber identify module, tape, cassette solid-state memory. The computer program may be supplied from a remote source embodied in the communications medium such as an electronic signal, radio frequency carrier wave or optical carrier waves. Such carrier media are also envisaged as aspects of the present invention.

As used herein any reference to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at Least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "has," "having" or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, "or" refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).

In addition, use of the "a" or "an" are employed to describe elements and components of the invention. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

In view of the foregoing description it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the invention. For example, more than three or less than three possible answers may be displayed for each question item.

The scope of the present disclosure includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed therein either explicitly or implicitly or any generalisation thereof irrespective of whether or not it relates to the claimed invention or mitigate against any or all of the problems addressed by the present invention. The applicant hereby gives notice that new claims may be formulated to such features during prosecution of this application or of any such further application derived therefrom. In particular, with reference to the appended claims, features from dependent claims may be combined with those of the independent claims and features from respective independent claims may be combined in any appropriate manner and not merely in specific combinations enumerated in the claims.

Claims

Claims:

1. A preprogrammed handheld electronic game device, comprising: a display for displaying a question item comprising a question and possible answers to said question; one or more player actuable elements for selecting one of said displayed possible answers; a data store for storing a plurality of said question items; and game control circuitiy operative to: respond to player input to initiate said game comprising displaying a first question item of a first sequence of said question items of a first predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store on said display; respond to player input via said one or more player actuable elements to select one of said possible answers displayed on said display; to record whether said player selection is a correct answer; display a next question item in said first sequence; determine that said first sequence has been completed and determine the number of correct answers selected in said completed sequence; and provide an option to a player to initiate said game with a first sequence of a second predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store responsive to the number of correct selected answers satisfying a predetermined criterion.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the game control circuitry is further configured to provide an option to a player to initiate said game with a second sequence of said first predefined group responsive to the number of correct selected answers not satisfying a predetermined criterion.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein said second sequence is the same as said first sequence.

4. The device of claim 1 or 2, said game control circuitry further configured to generate said sequences in which each of said question items are to be displayed.

5. The device of claim 4, said game control circuitry further configured to generate said sequences pseudo randomly.

6. The device of any preceding claim, wherein said data store stores more possible answers for each question item than can be simultaneously displayed on said display.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein said game control circuitry is further configured to select from said more possible answers for each question item which of said more possible answers to display as part of a displayed question item.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein said game control circuitry is further configured to select from said more possible answers for each question item pseudo-randυmly.

9. The device of any preceding claim, wherein said predetermined criterion is that all selected answers are correct.

10. The device of any preceding claim, further comprising a further player actuable element for initiating said game.

1 1. A preprogrammed handheld electronic game device, comprising: a display for displaying a question item comprising a question and possible answers to said question; one or more player actuable elements for selecting one of said displayed possible answers; a data store for storing a plurality of said question items; and game control circuitry operative to: display a series of question items of an initial group of said plurality of said question items; record answers selected by a player of said game; and provide an option to continue said game using a further series of question items from another group of said plurality of said question items responsive to the number of correct selected answers recorded for said initial group satisfying a predetermined criterion.

12. The device of claim 1 1, said control circuitry farther operative to provide an option of repeating said game with a series of question items of said initial group responsive to the number of correct selected answers recorded for said initial group not satisfying said predetermined criterion.

13. The device of any preceding claim, wherein the game control circuitry is operative to alternate display of said question item between displaying said question and displaying said possible answers on said display.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein said game control circuitry is operative to respond to player input via said one or more player actuable elements to select one of said possible answers during any point of said alternate display.

15. The device of claim 13 or 14, wherein said question and said possible answers are displayed on at least some of the same portions of said display.

16. A method of playing an electronic game device, comprising: initiating a game by displaying a first of a first sequence of question items of a first predefined group of a plurality of said question items stored in a data store on a display; selecting one of said possible answers displayed on said display; recording whether said player selection is a correct answer; displaying a next question item in said first sequence; determining that said first sequence has been completed and the number of correct answers selected in said completed sequence; and providing an option to a player to play said game with a first sequence of a second predefined group of said plurality of said question items stored in said data store responsive to the number of correct selected answers satisfying a predetermined criterion.

17. The method of c 1 aim 16, further comprising providing an option to a player to initiate said game with a second sequence of said first predefined group responsive to the number of correct selected answers not satisfying a predetermined criterion.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said second sequence is the same as said first sequence.

19. The method of claim 16 or 17, further comprising generating said sequences in which each of said question items are to be displayed.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising generating said sequences pseudo randomly.

21. The method of any of claims 16 to 20, further comprising storing more possible answers for each question item than can be simultaneously displayed on said display.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising selecting from said more possible answers for each question item which of said more possible answers to display as part of a displayed question item.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising selecting from said more possible answers for each question item pseudo-randomly.

24. The method of any of claims 16 to 23, wherein said predetermined criterion is that all selected answers are correct.

25. A method for playing and electronic game device, comprising: displaying a series of question items of an initial group of said plurality of said question items; recording answers selected by a player of said game; and providing an option to continue said game using a further series of question items from another group of said plurality of said question items responsive to the number of correct selected answers recorded for said initial group satisfying a predetermined criterion.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising providing an option of repeating said game with a series of question items of said initial group responsive to the number of correct selected answers recorded for said initial group not satisfying said predetermined criterion.

27. The method of any one of claims 16 to 26, wherein displaying a question item comprises alternating the display of said question and said possible answers on said display.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising selecting one of said possible answers during any point of said alternating display.

29. The method of claim 26 or claim 27, wherein said question and said possible answers are displayed on at least some of the same portions of said display.

0. A computer program comprising program elements which when loaded in a computer carry out the steps of the method of any one of claims 16 to 29.