U.S. Patent No. 10,758,828: Music mash up collectable card game
Issued September 1, 2020, to Hasbro Inc.
Filed: March 19, 2018 (claiming priority to March 17, 2017)
I know what I want for Christmas this year…
Overview:
U.S. Patent No. 10,758,828 (the ‘828 patent) relates to a board game which allows players to “mash up” pieces of songs contained on collectable cards. The ‘828 patent details a playing card reader system which reads playing cards containing circuit tags for transmitting information associated with the card. A housing has a reading area, which is a surface on which playing cards are placed. In the housing there is an antenna subsystem which receives the information associated with the cards on the surface and a tag reader which reads the type information identifiers from each card. The housing also contains a light source to illuminate the surface and an actuator for changing one or more of the light’s colors to be associated with the cards in play. Lastly, the housing contains an audio subsystem which communicates with an information processor to play announcement sounds and music compositions.
The ‘828 patent is implemented in the game DropMix, where each playing card is associated with a part of a song (usually a well-known song). Players can place a card on the board and, depending on the game type selected and where the card is placed, an element of that song is played and can be “mashed up” with other song elements. The colors of the cards are associated with what parts of the song they will play, green being bass, for example. So, by using DropMix, one could combine the vocals of Boom Boom Pow, by The Black Eyed Peas, the Melody of Down with the Sickness by Disturbed, the percussion of Jolene by Dolly Parton, and the bass of Flutter Fly (from the Pyre Original Soundtrack – a special promotional card) by Darren Korb. And then if your friend doesn’t like the combination, they could throw Europe’s The Final Countdown wildcard on any of the tracks to change it up. With a variety of game modes and even an option for single player, the ‘828 patent seems like an interesting way to flex one’s creative muscles with friends!
Abstract:
An intuitive music composition game platform with various modes of operation in a single reader system and a music mash up collectable card game and method using cards with tags and unique identifications. A single reading platform includes a cover for card storage and for supporting a smart device platform for reading many Near Field communication (NFC) embedded cards, with stacking features and colored light indicated input lanes selection for user identification and selection. Various game modes include individual, studio mix, party modes game play features in music mash up collectable card games, which may be used together with or independent of accessory devices as controllers, or smart device user interfaces with Bluetooth™ or Wi-Fi for communicating user selection and operation.
Illustrative Claim:
- A playing card reader game system for reading a plurality of type information identifiers, the system comprising: a multiplicity of integrated circuit tags, each tag including type information identifiers; a multiplicity of playing cards, each card including at least one tag for transmitting one or more of the type information identifiers associated with the tag of each card; a first housing comprising only a single reading area at a surface region of the housing for collecting a plurality of the cards each placed serially with one another in a series forming a collection of two or more cards at the surface region of the housing; an antenna subsystem in the housing with an antenna signal range to receive the type information identifiers associated with the collection of cards at the surface region; a tag reader for reading the type information identifiers received with the antenna subsystem from each card of the collection of cards at the surface region; a light source for simultaneously illuminating one or more of a multiplicity of illuminating colors in relation to the surface region of the housing; an actuator for changing one or more of the illuminating colors, the actuator further selecting the type information identifiers associated with the cards at the surface region to be received with the antenna subsystem; an information processor; and an audio subsystem in communication with the information processor at the first housing for issuing announcement sounds and music composition sounds responsive to the tag reader, light source and actuator.