Gaming system with phone card payout

Abstract

The gaming system with phone card payout is a system for playing a video game using a smart card. A dispensing station includes a smart card reader, a bill acceptor and a phone card dispenser. The bill acceptor reads the monetary value of currency inserted in the machine and stores the monetary value on a smart card. The stored monetary value can be used to either purchase prepaid phone cards at the dispensing station or to play video games at an establishment hosting the dispensing station. The video games at the establishment are equipped with smart card readers. Logic in the video games verifies that the smart card monetary value was purchased at the hosting establishment and accepts the monetary value from a verified smart card for playing the video game. Video game credits accumulated on the game may be transferred back to the smart card.

1 . A gaming system with phone card payout, comprising a phone card dispenser station having: 
 a bill acceptor for receiving currency and determining the value of the received currency;    a smart card reader for receiving a smart card and storing a monetary value on the smart card;    a phone card dispenser for dispensing phone cards;    one or more value-dispensing buttons operable to receive a request to dispense phone cards; and    dispensing control logic having means for directing the smart card reader to store a monetary value on a smart card determined by the value of received currency received by the bill acceptor.    
   
   
       2 . The gaming system with phone card payout according to  claim 1 , wherein the dispensing control logic further comprises means for directing the phone card dispenser to dispense a prepaid phone card and directing the smart card reader to decrement the monetary value stored on the smart card.  
   
   
       3 . The gaming system with phone card payout according to  claim 1 , further comprising at least one video game machine having 
 a video game smart card reader operable to read a monetary value stored on a smart card;    a video game logic board containing logic having means for: 
 receiving monetary value from the smart card;  
 incrementing game credit value by an amount based on a used value, the used value being a portion of the monetary value read from the smart card;  
 decrementing the monetary value stored on the smart card by the used portion;  
 playing a round of a video game using input from one or more user controls, decrementing the game credit by a predetermined increment at the start of the round; and  
 incrementing the game credit when a successful outcome is obtained during the round of the video game.  
   
   
   
       4 . The gaming system with phone card payout according to  claim 3 , wherein the at least one video game further comprises means for receiving a request to redeem game credits, and wherein the video game logic board containing logic further comprises means for decrementing the game credit value by a predetermined credit rate and incrementing the stored value on the smart card by an amount determined by the predetermined credit rate upon receiving the request to redeem game credits.  
   
   
       5 . The gaming system with phone card payout according to  claim 3 , wherein said means for directing the smart card reader to store a monetary value on the smart card comprises: 
 means for storing an establishment identifier indicating an establishment hosting the gaming system; and    means for encrypting the establishment identifier and the monetary value.    
   
   
       6 . The gaming system of  claim 3 , wherein said means for receiving the monetary value from the smart card comprises means for verifying an establishment identifier stored on the smart card matches the establishment identifier for an establishment identifier hosting the gaming system.  
   
   
       7 . The gaming system of  claim 6 , wherein said means for verifying comprises means for decrypting the establishment identifier stored on the smart card.  
   
   
       8 . The gaming system of  claim 3 , wherein said means for receiving the monetary value from the smart card further comprises means for decrypting the monetary value stored on the smart card.  
   
   
       9 . A gaming system with phone card payout, comprising a video game having: 
 a bill acceptor for receiving currency and determining the value of the received currency;    a phone card dispenser for dispenser for dispensing a phone cards;    at least one value-dispensing button having means for receiving a request to dispense phone cards; and    game control logic having means for: 
 storing a game credit value based on the value of currency determined by the bill acceptor;  
 directing the phone card dispenser to dispense phone cards based on a request; and  
 playing a round of an interactive video game, the stored game credit being decremented at the beginning of the round and the stored game credit being incremented based on a successful outcome obtained while playing the interactive video game.  
   
   
   
       10 . The gaming system of  claim 9 , wherein the game control logic further comprises means for incrementing an incoming value register based on the value of currency determined by the bill acceptor.  
   
   
       11 . The gaming system of  claim 9 , wherein the game control logic further comprises means for dispensing a phone card upon receiving a request from the value-dispensing button.  
   
   
       12 . The gaming system of  claim 11 , wherein said means for directing the phone card dispenser to dispense a phone card further comprises means for verifying that a predetermined value is less than the stored game credit.