An electronic game board wherein the board comprises a plurality of sensors and indicators such that two or more players may play the same game with each other using two or more different game boards that may communicate with each other either directly or through a server. The game board comprises a memory, antenna, and microprocessor associated with the sensors and indicators so that the game board may determine, store, and display a game state based-in-part on data obtained from the game board itself and either another game board or an artificially intelligent player operating in response the present game board.

An electronic card game system and method using NFC or RFID electromagnetic communication, including an initiator having a driving coil, a first card having a secondary coil with a capacitor, and a playing piece having a receiving coil. The initiator and the first card may be placed on a playing surface so that at least a portion of the driving coil and at least a portion of the secondary coil overlap. Similarly, the first card and the playing piece may be placed on a playing surface so that at least a portion of the receiving coil and at least a second portion of the secondary coil overlap. These overlapped coils allow a driving signal initiated at the driving coil to be transmitted through the secondary coil and received by the receiving coil.

A play system, comprising: one or more toys comprising one or more electrically conductive parts, the one or more conductive parts defining a spatial pattern, the one or more toys having a physical configuration that is modifiable by a user, the spatial pattern being dependent on the physical configuration of the one or more toys, the one or more toys including a first toy; a magnetic field generating device arranged to generate a magnetic field for inducing an eddy current in one or more of the electrically conductive parts; a sensor configured to detect the induced eddy current; and a data processor; wherein the first toy and at least one of the magnetic field generating device and the sensor are movable relative to each other; wherein the sensor is configured to detect the induced eddy current during relative movement between the first toy and at least one of the magnetic field generating device and the sensor, and wherein the data processor is configured to: receive sensor data from the sensor, the sensor data being indicative of the eddy current detected during relative movement between the first toy and at least one of the magnetic field generating device and the sensor, detect the spatial pattern of the electrically conductive parts based at least in part on the received sensor data, determine the physical configuration of the one or more toys based on the detected spatial pattern.

A game medium identification system applied to a game in which each of physical game media, that includes an appearance element characterizing appearance, is used in combination with an additional thing, and identifying the game media, the game medium identification system includes: an information medium provided on the additional thing and holding identification information; a medium image identification device identifying the game medium based on an image of the game medium; an association setting device associating an identification result by the medium image identification device with an identification information of the information medium in accordance with correspondence relationship between one game medium and the additional thing to be used in the game in combination with the one game medium; and a medium identification device detecting the identification information from the information medium and identifying the game medium based on the identification information and association set by the association setting device.

An interactive gaming toy is provided for playing a game having both physical and virtual gameplay elements. The gaming toy comprises a physical toy, such as a toy wand, doll or action figure, having an RFID tag pre-programmed with a unique identifier that identifies the toy within an associated computer-animated game. The RFID tag stores information describing certain attributes or abilities of a corresponding virtual character or object in the computer-animated game. Additional information may be stored on the RFID tag as the corresponding virtual character evolves or changes over time based on player performance and/or gameplay progression. The interactive gaming toy thus allows developed character attributes and the like to be stored and easily transported to other games and compatible gaming platforms. One or more optional auxiliary components may be attached to the gaming toy to selectively create a modified gaming toy having additional desired functionality and/or aesthetics.

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 physical-virtual gaming system comprising a game board including a multiplicity of physical locations, a game overlay including a multiplicity of logical locations, and game pieces for moving throughout the logical locations. The system tracks the physical locations of the game pieces and translates these physical locations into the logical locations using pre-known physical-to-logical location mapping information. Game boards, game overlays and game pieces can be individualized with their own unique identifiers. As game pieces are moved, a game database comprising at least current game piece locations and the game state are maintained. Based at least in part upon the current game piece locations and game state the system provides actions including outputting any of virtual content and information on any of a shared or private computing device running a game app. Actions also include causing changes to game devices including wearables.

An interactive gaming toy is provided for playing a game having both physical and virtual gameplay elements. The gaming toy comprises a physical toy, such as a toy wand, doll or action figure, having an RFID tag pre-programmed with a unique identifier that identifies the toy within an associated computer-animated game. The RFID tag stores information describing certain attributes or abilities of a corresponding virtual character or object in the computer-animated game. Additional information may be stored on the RFID tag as the corresponding virtual character evolves or changes over time based on player performance and/or gameplay progression. The interactive gaming toy thus allows developed character attributes and the like to be stored and easily transported to other games and compatible gaming platforms. One or more optional auxiliary components may be attached to the gaming toy to selectively create a modified gaming toy having additional desired functionality and/or aesthetics.

An electronic card game system and method using NFC or RFID electromagnetic communication, including an initiator having a driving coil, a first card having a secondary coil with a capacitor, and a playing piece having a receiving coil. The initiator and the first card may be placed on a playing surface so that at least a portion of the driving coil and at least a portion of the secondary coil overlap. Similarly, the first card and the playing piece may be placed on a playing surface so that at least a portion of the receiving coil and at least a second portion of the secondary coil overlap. These overlapped coils allow a driving signal initiated at the driving coil to be transmitted through the secondary coil and received by the receiving coil.

A system and method for moving a magnetic piece across a board comprising a plurality of electromagnets. The plurality of electromagnets comprises an origin electromagnet and a destination electromagnet. First, a magnetic field is generated at the destination electromagnet such that the magnetic piece would be repulsed by the center of the destination electromagnet. Next, a magnetic field is generated at the origin electromagnet such that the magnetic piece is repulsed by the center of the origin electromagnet such that the piece moves to the edge of the origin and destination magnet. Then, a magnetic field is generated at the destination electromagnet that attracts the magnetic piece to the center of the destination electromagnet such that the piece moves to the center of the destination electromagnet.