AU703019B2 - Scratch bingo game - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

r r Name of Applicant: PACIFIC SECURE SYSTEMS PTY. LIMITED, A.C.N. 002 752 730 Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Kevin Paul DOWNES SHELSTON WATERS MARGARET Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 "SCRATCH BINGO GAME" Invention Title: Details of Associated Provisional Application No. PM4259 dated 4.3.1994 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:-

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-2- This invention relates to an improved game card and a method of producing such a card.

Numerous types of instant lotteries or games are played by scratching an opaque.

removable layer coated onto at least one area or panel of a card and matching the symbols or numbers revealed to those printed onto another area or panel of the card. In order to visually distinguish the different areas, it is desirable to coat each area of the game card with a different colour. This involves a costly process of manulacturing and coating a card with areas of multiple colours.

In instances where an opaque scratch removable layer is used, this may entail i It) printing a repeat of the underlying symbols over the opaque layer. This process is expensive and is error-prone in that the symbols printed on top of the opaque layer may not correspond with those under the layer.

This invention ameliorates one or more of the disadvantages discussed above and is directed to a cost-effective process of producing instant lottery or game cards such as, I 15 for example, instant scratch-Bingo games.

In one aspect, the invention provides a card for playing a game comprising:a bleached or dyed substrate, (ii) a plurality of indicia printed directly without any intervening coloured layer onto at least a first area and onto a second area of the substrate.

(iii) a scratch-removable, opaque coating applied over the indicia of at least the first area, (iv) a scratch-removable, colour-tinted and translucent coating applied over the indicia of at least the second area and which allows

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-3the indicia of the second area to be viewed therethrough and the substrate when viewed after removal of the coating to be visually distinct from the substrate with applied translucent coating.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to Figures 1 to 4 wherein Figure 1 shows a plan view ofa first embodiment.

Figure 2 shows a cross sectional view of the embodiment of Figure 1 on line 13-13.

'1 he application of a tinted, translucent and scratch removable coating obviates the 10 need to print indicia twice, first onto the substrate and secondly, on top of an opaque, scratch-removable layer. The use of a substrate without any intervening coloured layer covering the substrate and below the indicia or other printing has been found to provide a good contrast between scratched and unscratched portions of the scratch removable translucent coating of the game card. This in turn reduces production costs by saving 15 printing time, removing the need to apply multiple coats of colours and by reducing errors which are inevitable when indicia in a specific order or arrangement has to be printed twice, The substrate is typically a paperboard or the like of which the fibres may be bleached, dyed, or of natural colour. Examples of such a substrate include a board comprising bleached white fibres; coated or uncoated paper or board as supplied by the manufacturer or the like.

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-4- The invention will now be described by way of example only and with rel'erence to Figures 1-2. It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in various other lbforms without departing from tihe scope of the invention.

Figure 1 shows a plan view of an instant Bingo game card according to the first aspect of the invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 1 along 13-13 showing the various layers of the card 1. The game card 1 in Figure 1 comprises a flat, uncoated hoard or substrate 2 wherein, as an example only, the fibres may be dyed yellow by the manufacturer. Alternatively, the board may eg. comprise of bleached white fibres. The top centre 3 of the card contains the word "Bingo!" printed thereon 10 and an area 4 directly below is printed with the words "LUCKY BINGO() NU MBERS".

A panel 4a of three lucky numbers is printed rneath. A scratch-removable, opaque coating (not shown in the Figure) is applied over 4a. (ame instructions and maximum prizes are printed on the top left corner 5 of the card whilst on the top right corner 6 to 8, the price of the game card, the word "VOIDLO-73" and a $6.00" prize box are 15 respectively shown. On the lower half 9 of tihe card are two game panels 10 and 11 each comprising of two rows of three numbers each (1 Oa, 1 la) and which are printed in black onto the substrate 2. A green-coloured or -tinted and translucent latex coating 12 is applied over the printed symbols and over panels 10 and 11. The tinted and translucent coating allows viewing of the black printed symbols and uncoloured substrate therethrough. The coating which covered "88" and "99" has been removed by scratching from the vicinity of the symbols to expose the substrate and the printed numbers thereon. The coating is tinted so that portions of the substrate when viewed after removal of the coating are visually distinct from those portions of the substrate

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viewed through the coloured coating. In playing thle game, the numbers which appear in panels 10 and 11 and which are matched by any of the lucky numbers in 4a are scratched. If all three lucky numbers are present in a panel, then the game prize o1'$6.00 is won.

In another preferred game embodiment, the colour used to tint the translucent coating may be varied (for example may be different on panels 10 and 11) so long as it provides a visual contrast with the substrate so as to enable areas from which the coloured coating has been removed by scratching to be distinguished from those areas where the coating is intact. A game card may contain a set of three lucky or caller's 10o numbers and only one panel with numbers covered with a scratch-removable coating.

Alternatively, more than one set of lucky numbers with multiple panels of game numbers may be contained in a game card. Both the lucky numbers and game numbers are preferably arranged in rows and columns. More preferably, the caller's numbers are contained in a first area in a grid or rows and columns and are covered with an opaque, 15 scratch-removable layer. One or more game panels may be contained in a second area and numbers arranged in grids of eg. 4 rows and 4 columns. These numbers may be covered with a tinted or coloured (eg. red) translucent layer which is removed by scratching. Each game prize maybe printed onto the non-coloured substrate in another panel within the vicinity of the respective game eg. above the game panel. In playing, the caller's numbers or grid are scratched to reveal all the numbers. Then, the numbers in each panel that are an identical match to any of the caller's numbers are scratched and a complete, full line of eg. 4 numbers across, down or on a diagonal within any one panel wins a prize in accordance with the rules specific to the game.

-6 Tfhe card may be provided with security features which are common knoledge in thle art, for example, '"Benday lines- or thle like which may be printed directly oInto thle substrate.

Although the present invention has been described with ref'erenices to a B~ingo card game, it wvill be clear to a person or ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be embodied in maiy other games without departing from its scope.

Claims (10)

1. A card for playing a game comprising:- a bleached or dyed substrate, (ii) a plurality of indicia printed directly without any intervening coloured layer onto at least a first area and onto a second area of the substrate, (iii) a scratch-removable, opaque coating applied over the indicia of at least the first area, a scratch-removable, colour-tinted and translucent coating applied over the indicia of at least the second area and which allows to the indicia of the second area to be viewed therethrough and the substrate when viewed after removal of the coating to be visually distinct from the substrate with applied translucent coating.

2. A card according to claim 1 wherein the substrate is a paperboard having bleached fibres. 15

3. A card according to claim 1 wherein the substrate is a paperboard having dyed fibres.

4. A card according to claim 1 for playing a game comprising a substrate other than paperboard.

5. A card according to claim 1 wherein the indicia of the first area comprise of at 20 least one set of lucky Bingo numbers or caller's numbers.

6. A card according to claim 5 wherein the indicia of the second area comprise of at least one set of Bingo game numbers. re, -8-

7. A card according to any one of claim 5 wherein game prize indicia are printed onto the substrate and covered with an opaque, scratch removable layer.

8. A card according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the scratch removable opaque layer is coloured.

9. A card according to claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to Figures 1 and 2. DATED this 18th Day of December, 1998 PACIFIC SECURE SYSTEMS PTY LIMITED Attorney: IAN T. ERNST

10 Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia of BALDWIN SHELSTON WATERS e S S* e a: I I II ABSTRACT An instant lottery or game card comprising a plurality of indicia printed onto a non-coloured substrate or onto a substrate without any intervening area thereby enabling a cost-effective process of producing such a card. e eee Lre I III,