A gaming table apparatus has a gaming table with a gaming table support surface. At least two token sensors are provided, which are electrically connected in series to a token sensor controller. The at least two token sensor units are physically restrained by the table support surface. The game controller is in communication with the token sensor controller, wherein the game controller is configured to associate player position data with transmitted wager data received from the token sensor controller.

The present invention aims at making a modular expansion system for hybrid or table games with electronic control, allowing to extend the traceability and extend the interaction area outside an original sensorized surface and especially outside the investigation area of a contactless identification system associated with the main board of the gaming system. This allows the user to enlarge the gaming surface outside the interactive surface of the original system and to obtain an interactive gaming surface which reproduces, for example the environment layout, enabling to interact in a more realistic way with the virtual gaming events and environments. According to the proposed solution, any gaming board, equipped with an original magnetic tracking system for tracking position and a identifying system (for example contactless or RFID type) for the identification of the playable elements and accompanied by physical interaction elements and a system communicating with a gaming apparatus (PC, tablet, console) where a software or an interacting video game is running, is expanded/extended by means of a series of additional elements, able to connect to each other and to said gaming board, said elements being provided with an extremely economical and reliable position tracing system based only on magnetic sensors and an appropriate tracing method.

A board game system comprises a game board, having a surface adapted to receive a board game overlay, a detector array adapted to detect the respective positions of a plurality of game pieces placed on top of the board game overlay, and a transmitter adapted to transmit data indicating the respective positions to an entertainment device; and an entertainment device, having a receiver adapted to receive from the game board data indicating the respective positions of the plurality of game pieces, a game state analyser operable to update the state of a game in dependence upon the indicated respective positions of the plurality of game pieces, and an image generator operable to generate an image for output to a display, the content of the image being responsive to the detected state of the game.

A phonics learning system, comprising a letter identification board and letter manipulatives that may be placed on the letter identification board by a child, and a computing device connected to the letter identification board that identifies the letters placed on the board, generates a phonetic pronunciation for the combination of letters, and identifies any words or misspelled words.

A small scale dynamic activity which comprises the use of a method, a hand-operated apparatus, a shooting apparatus, and a playing surface platform, presented as a preferred embodiment in the format of a small scale adaptation of the sport of hockey. A hand-operated apparatus is used as goalie equipment with a method of defending a goal from forthcoming small pucks. A shooting apparatus allows rotating a paddle member to control and propel such small pucks. A playing surface platform complements the use of the method along with these two apparatuses within shielded boundaries. The hand-operated apparatus can be positioned in a pose representative of goalie equipments and of bending of limbs. Furthermore, the present invention can be composed of different arrangements for alternative embodiments such as new types of games or to allow small scale adaptation of a physical activity.

Example game systems and methods are described. In one implementation, a sensing device determines an identity of a game piece in a physical space and detects a movement action associated with the game piece. A computing device calculates a distance and direction associated with the movement action and determines a result of the movement action based on the distance, the direction, and the identity of the game piece.

An electronic chess set includes a plurality of conductive chess pieces, a chessboard having a playing surface including a plurality of individually identifiable locations visible to a user on the chessboard, and an electronic system including a capacitive sensing system. In some embodiments, the capacitive sensing system is configured to determine for each of the plurality of individually identifiable locations: when a chess piece included in the plurality of conductive chess pieces is located at a respective one of the plurality of individually identifiable locations and user-contact with the chess piece is absent; when the chess piece located at the respective one of the plurality of individually identifiable locations is in contact with the user; and when each of the plurality of conductive chess pieces is absent from the respective one of the plurality of individually identifiable locations.

Electronic combinable modular system based on a plurality of multidimensional geometric forms, to locate the position of a plurality of Transponder RFID in a multidimensional space and to read and write the informations included. The system includes: a plurality of combinable modular local units, a plurality of combinable modular subsystems, at least a microcontroller and at least an irradiating antenna, connected to the modular subsystems, to put any individual modular local unit in communication with at least a reader/writer Receiver of Transponder RFID. The innovation of the finding allows significant improvements and cost-effectiveness in the construction of arrays or series of antennas as well as new operating modes in recreational, educational and communication fields. The innovation is significant as it facilitates the interaction even to children not yet schooled and to disabled people of any age.

Track based play systems are described which comprise a set of physical play pieces and an associated computer game. In an embodiment, a user may arrange some or all of the play pieces in the set to form a path. The computer game is arranged to infer a virtual model of the path defined by the user-created arrangement of the play pieces. The inference may be based on data communicated by one or more the play pieces to the game or based on data from a local sensing device such as a camera which views the relative positions of the play pieces. Having inferred the path, the game constrains a virtual or physical object to the path within the game play and renders a graphical user interface showing at least a portion of the path.

A game board device is provided for carrying and identifying game pieces that are divided into different piece types. The game board device includes a board, a plurality of optically identifying modules, and a processing module electrically coupled to the optically identifying modules. The optically identifying modules respectively correspond in position to detection regions of the board. Each of the optically identifying modules includes a light emitter that can emit light toward the corresponding detection region and a light receiver that can receive light reflected by the corresponding detection region. When any one of the detection regions is in an unoccupied mode, the corresponding optically identifying module can emit an unoccupied signal. When any one of the detection regions is in an occupied mode, the corresponding optically identifying module enables an identification signal that corresponds to the piece type of the corresponding game piece to be emitted therefrom.