Electronic basketball game
Contents
1. It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved electronic game capable of simulating the play of a game of basketball at a sophisticated level It is another object of this invention to provide an electronic basketball game operable at different levels of sophistication SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing and other objects of the invention are accomplished by a portable electronic basketball game which an exterior housing mounting a display upon which indications representing the various players the ball and the results are presented The housing also mounts input keys for controlling the operation of the game and contains electronic data processing circuitry organized to provide the automatic play of a number of different skill levels of basketball Two offensive players five defensive players ball are represented on the display The offensive player having the ball the handler is controlled by the opera tor to move with the ball and to direct passes to the other offensive player the receiver which is moved 45 60 65 2 automatically by the data processing circuitry The handler may also shoot at the basket under control of the operator The defensive players reach automatically under control of the data processing circuitry as would human defenders under like circumstances to provide zone man to man and pressing defenses selectable by the operator The preferred embodi2. FIG 6 illustrates the steps of a sub routine of the preferred embodiment the program for moving the receiver R This sub routine may be used to implement the Move Receiver step shown in FIG 4 After deter mining that it is time to move the receiver R as shown in FIG 4 the program moves to a decision step at which it is determined whether there is presently in progress a pass from the handler H to the receiver R If no pass is in progress the program moves to a step in which the controller 58 computes the next position of receiver R according to the present pattern of the play ers on display 18 It will be recalled that when the handler H is in posi tions numbered zero through five in FIG 2 7 the receiver R moves as shown in the patterns associated with the numbers zero through five in FIGS 2 h 2 m For example if the handler H is in one of the positions numbered five in FIG 2 7 the receiver moves as shown by the arrows in FIG 2 Once the receiver has begun such a pattern it continues one complete cycle then the controller 58 looks at the new position of the handler H and starts the receiver R running a new pattern Thus the next position for the receiver R is normally the next position in the pattern presently being run The program then moves to a decision step at which it is determined whether a move to the selected position for the receiver R will result in a collision with another player If a col
3. United States Patent Reichert yi 54 75 73 pil 22 Bl U S Field of Search 52 58 56 ELECTRONIC BASKETBALL GAME David A Reichert Carson Calif Mattel Inc Hawthorne Calif Inventor Assignee Appl No Filed 174 986 Aug 4 1980 TP 273 85 273 313 9 00 273 85 88 94 237 273 DIG 28 1 E 1 GC 340 323 364 410 References Cited 235 92 G U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 3 874 669 4 1975 Ariano et al 4 093 223 6 1978 Wilke et al 4 162 792 7 1979 Chang et 273 85 G 57 11 4 341 383 45 Jul 27 1982 4 249 734 2 1981 Bromley 273 94 4 249 744 2 1981 Bromley 273 313 Primary Examiner V ance Y Hum Attorney Agent or Firm Reagin amp King ABSTRACT A portable electronic basketball game having a housing containing control circuitry and mounting a display and input controls The display shows both offensive and defensive players and a ball The defensive players may be controlled to undertake a plurality of defenses and the offensive players may pass between one another in a preferred embodiment The preferred embodiment also featured a twenty four second clock a three second clock foul shots and three point long distance field goals 15 Claims 28 Drawing Figures To Cock CONTAOL
4. At this point the team previously on de fense goes on offense taking the original out of bounds formation Before play starts however one of the three defensive formation keys 21 23 must be depressed to establish the defense The new handler H is then controlled by the depression of keys 26 through 29 until in like manner the ball B is turned over to the team on defense The twenty four second clock is reset every time a shot is attempted After each turnover the visitor s score the home score and the time remaining are displayed The ball may also be turned over if it is shot or passed out of bounds or if a quarter ends Each time a shot is taken the control circuitry of the game 10 determines on a random basis whether the handler H has been fouled The closer the handler H is to the basket the more likely it is that a foul has taken place When a foul is determined to have occurred a foul sound is given and the ball continues on its way If the shot is missed the offense gets two free throws If the shot is made and the shooter is fouled the shooter is awarded one free throw In another embodiment if the shot is missed the offense receives up to three chances to make two successful throws if the opponent s defense has committed more than four fouls during the present period of play If a free throw is required the teams arrange themselves in the free throw formation shown 4 341 383 5 in FIG 2 with the receiver R lin
5. CIRCUIT Ins 34 f f D 1 LEFT OIGIT DIGIT Leo MATO aa A Osea 38 at fo E rr Ww Gs master 2 58 Vss TERE EEE Stave Gt 7 ri CONTR xi SB gt T vss cus Lt Lz ta Ls CONTR SG Le i U S Patent Jul 27 1982 Sheet of 13 4 341 383 U S Patent Fra 2 a Jul 27 1982 2 b Sheet 2 of 13 4 341 383 Arla 2 0 WEA KN fim Ble ORIN LAN WINS YZ 2 Cl SN PATTERN f O RED EN 2 4 zz 2 1 U S Patent Jul 27 1982 Sheet 3 of 13 4 341 383 Fis Aj 2 k Fis 8 PATTERN 2 PATTEQN 3 PATTERN 4 Sheet 4 of 13 4 341 383 Jul 27 1982 U S Patent SSA Lingo o2 NI 329712 OL V Ts zano DAVIS PAD 5 OL T CS ss z2 is ss 8c 243219 VUN 2NI ez es ep O37 LONG LADY LI9 G 437 asdf U S Patent Jul 27 1982 Sheet 5 of 1
6. DECREMENT QUARTER CLOCK H ANDLER IN KEY 2 DECREMENT THREE SECOND CLOCK INITIALIZE THREE SECOND CLOCK SECONO CLOCK U S Patent Jul 27 1982 Sheet 11 of 13 4 341 383 START TIMER DECREMENT Y POSITION QUT OF BOUNDS gt DECREMENT X POSITION INCREMENT Y Position KEY 27 CLOSED 9 DOES HANDLER WAVE BALL lt N T nm Fia 11 U S Patent ul 27 1982 Sheet 12 of 13 4 341 383 PASS OR NO SHOOT KEY DEPRESSED 2 STORE PASS INITIALIZE THREE SECOND CLOCK COMPUTE PROBABILITY OF FOUL Fiag 12 U S Patent Jul 27 1982 Sheet 13 of 13 4 341 383 FOUL FORMATION BALL REBOUNDS INTO PLAY Fig 13 4 341 383 1 ELECTRONIC BASKETBALL GAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to games and more particu larly to electronic games for simulating the play of athletic games People appear to have been involved in the playing of games since the beginning of recorded history The almost universal interest in games seems to be due to the excitement engendered by competition and chance Competitive games are probably more exciting other factors being equal but they normally require that a number of persons be involved in each such game Many competitive games require a large number of players large fields and a substantial amount of equip ment Recently vario
7. The man key 23 may also be depressed when moving the key 20 to the Pro 1 and Pro 2 positions to obtain third and fourth speeds for movement of the defensemen D0 D4 The offense consists of the handler H and the receiver R The handler H is normally indicated by a brightly lit LED on the display 18 and the receiver R is normally indicated by a bright but blinking LED on the display 18 If the ball B separates from the handler H the LED indicating the handler H also blinks The handler H is maneuvered about the various positions on the court by depression of the keys 26 through 29 Depression of any key 26 through 29 causes the handler H to move one space in the direction indicated by the key Depression of two adjacent keys 26 29 causes the handler H to move one space on a diagonal between the direction indicated by the two keys The key 28 is also used to cause the score of the teams and the time remaining in play to be displayed when the ball is not in play The receiver moves under control of the control circuitry of the game 10 in accordance with the position at which the handler H appears on the display 18 FIGS 2 h through 2 m illustrates positions in which the receiver R moves when the handler H is in any of the positions shown in FIG 2 n For example when the ball handler H is in any of the positions designated four in FIG 2 z the receiver R moves through the positions shown in FIG 2 When the handler H is in any of the
8. and a new out of bounds formation See FIG 2 0 is then set up The display 18 in the preferred embodiment is a five by seven array of horizontally positioned light emitting diodes LEDs For convenience the rows of LEDs are labeled starting at the bottom in FIG 2 from zero through four and the columns starting at the left from zero through six An extra LED 32 is used to indicate a basket positioned centrally above the matrix display Two seven segment LED digits 34 and 36 are used on opposite sides of the basket to show the score and time remaining game consists of four quarters each lasting twelve simulated minutes In the preferred embodiment the visiting team has the ball B at the start of the first and third quarters while the home team has the ball at the start of the second and fourth quarters The visitors line up to start play in the formation shown in FIG 2 o with the handler H at the center and the receiver R at the left in row zero The home team lines up in the same initial positions with the receiver R to the right how ever If the score is tied at the end of any overtime period additional overtime periods are played until a winner emerges The team remains on offense until the twenty four second clock has counted down to zero the three second clock has counted to zero with the handler H in the key a shot has been taken and missed and the de fense has recovered the ball B or a shot has been taken and scored
9. occurred during a shot means for setting up a foul shooting formation and means for awarding a different number of foul shots to the offensive team depending on the circumstances of play 11 A portable electronic basketball comprising a rectangular matrix of illuminable elements control means for activating selectable ones of the illuminable elements to represent offensive and defensive players and a ball the control means including means for light ing different ones of the illuminable elements so that particular players appear to move defensive against offensive players input means for causing the control means to light different ones of the elements so that an offensive player appears to move under control of the input means and other input means for lighting differ ent ones of the illuminable elements so that a ball ap pears to move in a shot at a basket or in a pass to another offensive player under control of the other input means and in which the control means comprises means for establishing first and second time periods means for exchanging offensive and defensive teams upon the running of the first prescribed period during which the offensive players have controlled the ball without shooting and further comprising means superimposed on the matrix to indicate a restricted area adjacent a basket and means in the control means for exchanging the offensive and defensive teams when an offensive player handling the ball remains i
10. other positions zero through five shown in FIG 2 the receiver R moves as is shown in the others of FIGS 2 h 2 m Depression of the pass key 24 causes the control circuitry of the game 10 to direct the ball B in the gen eral direction of the receiver which then seeks the ball B by trying to move into its path If the receiver moves into the path of the ball B it receives the ball B and becomes the handler H controlled by the keys 26 through 29 In such case the old handler H becomes the receiver R and begins to blink 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 Depression of the shoot key 25 causes the control circuitry of the game 10 to separate the indication of the ball B from the handler H and causes the ball B to pro 4 ceed toward the basket A basket is scored by a ball B reaching the position of the basket row four column three after traveling a horizontal vertical or diagonal path from the handler H If a defender D0 D4 is in the path of the shot the ball B bounces off of it and is taken over by the first player to reach the position of the ball B If a defenseman is in the path of a pass it intercepts the ball B except that a defenseman immediately adja cent the handler H does not intercept the ball B That is the handler H may pass over a defender immediately adjacent him and complete pass to the receiver R The defenseman which intercepts the ball B becomes the new handler H
11. program moves to a step in which the ball is moved and then to a decision step to determine whether a score has occurred If no score has occurred the program moves to the step at which the timing and clock func tions are taken care of and then to the remainder of the program as explained above If a score has been made the program moves to a first step to register the points and then to a decision step to determine whether a turnover of the ball B has occurred If no turnover of the ball B has occurred the program moves to the step for implementing the timing and clock functions and continues through the program as explained above If a turnover of the ball takes place after a score as on a field goal without a foul or on a last foul shot the ball moves to set up a new initial formation in which the ball is given to the opponent As explained above FIG 2 0 illustrates this initial formation for the visiting team on offense The program then moves to the step in which 4 341 383 11 the game status is relayed to the master controller 58 and from that step recycles to the step for illuminating the various display positions as explained above FIG 8 illustrates the sub routine illustrated in the preferred embodiment for lighting up the display the first step shown in FIG 7 The first step in the program of FIG 8 is to blank out all of the LEDs of the display 18 The program than proceeds to a step at which the LED 30 which is at th
12. program moves to the decision step in which it is determined whether moving the handler H to the particular position selected would cause a collision with another player If a collision would be caused the move is aborted and the sub routine is exited If the move of the handler H would not cause a collision the program moves to a decision step in which it is determine whether the handler H has the ball If the handler does not have the ball then the handler without the ball is moved to the new position and the program exits the sub routine If the handler H has the ball the program moves both the handler H and the ball B to the new position and exits the sub routine 4 341 383 15 FIG 12 illustrates a sub routine used in the preferred embodiment of the invention for implementing the Pass Shoot step shown in FIG 7 This sub routine is entered at a step in which it is determined whether either the pass key 24 or the shoot key 25 has been depressed If neither have been depressed the program exits the sub routine If either has been depressed the program moves to a decision step in which it is deter mined whether the ball B is in play and out of possession of the handler H If the ball B is in play and out of possession of the handler H the program exits the sub routine If the ball B is not in play or is in possession of the handler H the program moves to start the various timing functions The program next moves to a dec
13. sounds are gener ated by controller 58 and played by means of the speaker 19 The program then recirculates to the step in which it awaits the receipt of the game status from the slave controller 56 The sound effects are generated on the occurrence of certain situations in a game play and are listed below One Whistle Personal foul committed by the defense Two Whistles Blocked shot or pass bal out of bounds or over twenty four seconds without a shot all of which caused a turnover Three Whistles Handler has spent too much time in the key causing a turnover Two note Fanfare Free throw was good Four note Fanfare Field goal was good Double Fanfare Three point field goal scored Buzzer End of each of the first three quarters Two Buzzers End of overtime period Long Buzzer End of the game If no sounds are to be produced after the receipt of the game status the program moves to a decision step in which it is determined whether it is time to move a defenseman If it is time to move defenseman the program moves to a sub routine in which the particular defenseman to be moved and the particular move that that defenseman shall make are determined The pro 4 341 383 7 gram then recirculates to receive the game status from the slave controller 56 If it is not time to move the defense the program moves to a decision step in which it determines whether it is time to move the receiver R If it is time to
14. to move defensive against offensive players input means for causing the control means to light different ones of the elements so that an offensive player appears to move under control of the input means and other input means for lighting differ ent ones of the illuminable elements so that a ball ap pears to move a shot at a basket or in a pass to another offensive player under control of the other input means and further comprising means superimposed on the matrix for indicating a distance from a basket within which field goals are awarded a first point value and beyond which field goals are awarded a second point value 8 A portable electronic basketball game as in claim 7 in which the control means comprises means for ex changing offensive and defensive teams upon the run ning of a prescribed period during which the offensive players have controlled the ball without shooting 9 A portable electronic basketball game comprising a rectangular matrix of illuminable elements control means for activating selectable ones of the illuminable elements to represent offensive and defensive players 10 20 25 30 35 45 55 60 65 18 and a ball the control means including means for light ing different ones of the illuminable elements so that particular players appear to move defensive against offensive players input means for causing the control means to light different ones of the elements so that an offensive pl
15. which the speaker 19 is caused to emit the foul sound The program then moves to exit the sub routine FIG 13 illustrates the sub routine for setting up the foul formation and executing foul shots in a preferred embodiment of the invention The sub routine is entered at the step shown in FIG 12 at which it is determined whether based on the probabilities a foul occurred or not At that decision step if no foul occurred the sub routine shown in FIG 12 is exited This step is repeated and the exit is shown to be such that the display 18 illustrates the normal formation of play in FIG 13 If on the other hand it is found that a foul has oc curred during a shot the program moves to a step in which it is determined whether the shooter has just been fouled and the ball B is still traveling toward the basket If this is the case the program moves to deter mine whether the shot being taken is good or not If the shot is not good the program moves to a decision step to determine whether four fouls have been called on the defense during the quarter If less than four fouls have been called the program moves to store the information in memory that two fouls are to be shot and then sets up the foul information If four or more fouls have been 10 20 25 40 45 55 60 65 registered the program moves to store the information that three foul shots are to be taken and moves to set up the foul formation
16. 16 In a simplified embodiment the step in which it is determined whether there are four fouls on the defense and the for the award of three foul shots may be elimi nated and the program moves to award only two foul shots in any case in which a basket is missed and the shooter is fouled If on the other hand the original basket was good the program moves to store the information that only one foul shot is to be taken to score two points for the offense and to set up the foul formation foul situation exists but the shooter has not just been fouled the program moves to decrement the num ber of fouls to be shot because the shot which has just been taken is a foul shot The program then moves to determine whether the foul shot was good If the shot was good the program moves to register one point scored and to a decision step where it is determined whether the foul situation still exists A foul situation will exist if this is the first of two or three foul shots or the second of three foul shots and less than two foul shots have been previously scored The program then moves to reestablish the foul formation If it is found that the foul situation no longer exists i e all foul shots have been taken the program moves to reestablish the normal formation If the foul shot being taken is not good the program moves to a decision step in which it is determined whether the foul situation still exists as explained above If the situat
17. 3 4 341 383 RECEIVE GAME STATUS FEM SLAVE CONTROLLER TIME TO MWE RECEIVER COMPUTE NEXT TO CLOSER To BALL PATTERM COMPLETED F YES COMPUTE NEW PATTERN U S Patent Ju 27 1982 Sheet 6 of 13 4 341 383 TIME To MOVE DEFENSE DESTINATION BETWEEN BALL RECEWER DESTINATION BETWEEN BALL BASKET esee en Fig 5 Sheet 7 of 13 4 341 383 Jul 27 1982 U S Patent S lV1S swy5 U S Patent Jul 27 1982 Sheet 8 of 13 4 341 383 BLANK DISPLAY TURN ON WAIT TURN OFF BALL HANDLER HAS BALL TURN ON TURN OFF YES HANDLER ON HANDLE 9 TURN ON WAIT TURN OFF ES RECEIVER NO TURN ON WAITS TURN ON WAIT TURN OFF DEFENDER TURN ON WAIT DEFENSEN YES TURN OFF DONE 9 RIGHT DIGIT Fia 8 U S Patent ul 27 1982 Sheet 9 of 13 4 341 383 v PASS KEY PRESSED 2 STORE PASS IN PROGRESS SHOOT KEY PRESSED 2 DEFENDER ADJACENT COINCIDENT WITH DEFENDER TURNOVER COIN CIDENT WITH DEFENDER BOUNCE BALL OFF DEFENDER EXCHANGE HANDLER RECEWER U S Patent Jul 27 T Sheet 10 of 13 4 341 383 INITIAL QUARTER CLOCK INITIALIZE THREE SECOND CLOCK INITIALIZE 24 SECOND CLOCK 24 SECOND CLOCK o 2
18. Any particular LED 30 is illuminated by energization of a conductor in a row and a conductor in a column leading to the particular LED 30 at the intersection of the two conductors As explained above the handler H is usually shown by a brightly lit LED the receiver by a brightly lit but 10 flashing LED the defensemen by dimly lit LEDs and the ball B by a brightly lit LED when separated from the handler H 15 20 25 30 45 50 55 65 The program moves from the step in which the posi tions of the players on the display 18 are illuminated to a step in which the input switches 20 29 are scanned to determine which if any have been actuated The pro gram then moves through a series of decision steps to determine whether any particular actions are necessary because of switch closures The program first deter mines whether the handler H is to be moved and then completes the move If the handler is not to move the program determines whether a shot or a pass has been taken and executes the action If a shot or pass has not been taken the program determine whether a defense has been keyed in and executes the defense If a defense has not been selected the program determines whether a speed change has occurred the key 20 may be moved from position 1 to position 2 at any turnover and imple ments the new speed From completing any of these steps or if no action is necessary the program moves to a decisi
19. ayer appears to move under control of the input means and other input means for lighting differ ent ones of the illuminable elements so that a ball ap pears to move in a shot at a basket or in a pass to another offensive player under control of the other input means and further comprising means superimposed on the matrix to indicate a restricted area adjacent a basket means for establishing a prescribed time period and means in the control means for exchanging the offensive and defensive teams when an offensive player handling the ball remains in the restricted area for longer than the prescribed period 10 A portable electronic basketball game comprising a rectangular matrix of illuminable elements control means for activating selectable ones of the illuminable elements to represent offensive and defensive players and a ball the control means including means for light ing different ones of the illuminable elements so that particular players appear to move defensive against Offensive players input means for causing the control means to light different ones of the elements so that an offensive player appears to move under control of the input means and other input means for lighting differ ent ones of the illuminable elements so that a ball ap pears to move in a shot at a basket or in a pass to another offensive player under control of the other input means and in which the control means comprises means for determining that a foul has
20. e X position of the handler H that is to move the handler H to the left The program then moves to test whether such a posi tion were it to be taken would cause the handler H to move out of bounds If the handler H would move out of bounds the move is aborted and the sub routine is exited If the move would not cause the handler H to move out of bounds the program moves to a step in which it is determined whether a collision would occur or not If left key 27 has not been depressed the program moves to a step in which it is determined whether right key 29 has been depressed If the key 29 has been depressed the program moves the handler H one position to the right tests for out of bounds and aborts the move if it would move the handler H out of bounds If the move would not move the handler H out of bounds or if key 29 has not been depressed the program moves to the collision test step It should be noted that this sequence of steps testing whether keys 26 29 have been closed is such that on any cycle of the operation a key moving the handler H in the Y direction and a key moving the handler H in the X direction may both be depressed and both cause the movement of the handler H by one space Conse quently by depression of adjacent pairs of the keys 26 29 the handler may be made to move on a 45 diagonal between each of the four up down left right directions After testing for the closure of each of the keys 26 29 the
21. e been activated by depression The program first moves to a step in which it is deter mined whether or not key 28 has been depressed If key 28 the down key has been depressed then the pro 55 60 65 The program next moves to a decision step to determine whether such a move would cause the handler H to go out of bounds If it would cause the handler H to move out bounds the program moves to a step to cancel the move and exists the sub routine If the move would not cause the handler H to move out of bounds the program advances to a decision step to determine whether the key 27 has been depressed If the down key 28 has not been depressed the pro gram moves to a step in which it is determined whether the key 26 has been depressed or not If the key 26 has been depressed then the program moves to a step in which the handler H is moved up one space and then to a decision step in which this move is tested to see whether the handler would go out of bounds were the move to be taken If the handler H would go out of bounds the program moves to the step in which the move is aborted and the sub routine is exited If the handler H would not go out of bounds in re sponse to depression of the up key 26 or if the key 26 has not been depressed the program moves to the step in which it is determined whether the left key 27 has been depressed If the key 27 has been depressed the program moves to decrement th
22. e present position of the ball B is first switched on for a short period then off The period of time during which any LED 30 representing the ball B or a player remains on is with the repetition of the illumination cycle sufficient that the image of the ball B appears to persist on the display 18 The program next moves to a decision step at which it is determined whether the handler H has possession of the ball B If the handler H does not have possession of the ball at this step the handler H must be individually lit and the program moves to an additional decision step where it is determined whether the handler H il lumination on display 18 is on or off The handler blinks when the ball B is not held consequently the LED 30 representing the handler H is not illuminated on each cycle of the program If the LED 30 which represents the handler H should be on then the pro gram moves to turn on the LED 30 which represents the handler H to wait a particular interval with that LED 30 on and finally to turn off the LED 30 repre senting the ball handler H The program then moves to a step to determine whether the pass receiver should be on or off If the ball handler H should not have been on at last mentioned decision step or if the handler H has possession of the ball B the program moves immediately to determine whether the receiver R should be illuminated or not The receiver R blinks at all times so like the handler H is not illum
23. ed or not The program also moves to the step at which it is determined whether a minute has elapsed from the step at which it is determined whether the handler H is in the key if it is found that the handler H is not in the key in this case the program moves to the minute passed decision step after first initializing the three second clock If a minute has elapsed the program moves to decre ment the quarter clock by one minute and then to a decision step to determine whether the quarter clock has been decremented to zero If the quarter clock has been decremented to zero the program moves to start the next quarter by setting up an inbounds pass with the appropriate team in control of the offense as shown in 14 gram moves to decrement the Y position of the handler H that is to move the handler H down on display 18 10 15 20 25 35 40 45 FIG 2 0 and then to recycle through the sub routine starting at the initialize quarter clock step If a minute has not elapsed or the quarter clock has not been decre mented to zero the program moves to exit the sub rou tine FIG 11 illustrates the steps of the sub routine of the preferred embodiment of the invention in executing the Move Handler step of Flow FIG 7 The sub routine is entered at a step in which the timing functions are started and moves to a series of four decision steps in which it is determined which if any of the switches 26 29 hav
24. ed up on the same side of the key which it takes on an out of bounds play A free throw is taken by the operator pressing the shoot key 25 when the teams are in the free throw for mation which is automatically set up by the control circuitry In the preferred embodiment the shot goes in or not depending on a random probability generated by the control circuitry of the game 10 If a last free throw misses the missed shot rebounds off the basket be comes live and may be picked up by either team If a shot is taken and scored and the ball is shot from the green zone shown in FIG 2 e and a basket is made three points awarded to the offensive team for a three point field goal The preferred embodiment uses line on the display 18 to illustrate the range for a three point field goal Any other basket is worth two points except foul shots which are each worth a single point Referring now to FIG 3 there is shown a block dia gram of the circuit of the invention The game 10 shown in FIG 3 includes the input keys or switches 20 29 Each of the switches 21 29 is shown as a normally open switch which upon depression of a button closes a cur rent path thereacross The switch 20 is shown as a three position two pole make before break slide switch 20 Power is furnished to the game 10 from a source of 25 DC power 50 which is connected to the switch 20 in parallel with an AC jack 52 which allows
25. ent the defender DO is the defender selected to position itself between the handler H and the receiver R Consequently if the defender picked at random is the defender DO the program moves to a step in which its destination is selected as the mid point between the ball B and the receiver R The program then moves to a step in which a trial move of the defender DO closer to the chosen destination is made After the trial move the program moves to a decision step in which it is determined whether a colli sion would take place were the defender DO to move to the trial position If such a collision would occur the move is cancelled and no move of the defense takes place If no collision would occur the program moves to a decision step in which it is determined whether the move is within the proper boundaries With a pressing defense the move will be within the proper boundaries in all cases for there are no specific zones set up in which a defender is constrained to move in the pressing defense Consequently the program will move to a step in which the move is executed and thereafter will exit the sub routine from moving the defense In executing the pressing defense if it is determined that the particular defender randomly selected is not defender 00 then the program moves to a step where a destination for the defender mid way between the ball B and the basket is selected The program then attempts a trial move of the defender and d
26. escribed Input signals to the display 18 from the controller 56 are fur nished at terminals D D3 and G0 G3 Communica tion with controller 58 is provided at terminals L0 L7 Reset pulses are provided at a reset terminal on control ler 56 by reset circuitry including a diode 60 connected in parallel with a resistor 62 and to a capacitor 64 The reset circuitry is connected to the terminals VSS and VDD in order to supply power for its operation Tim ing pulses are provided to the controller 56 at a terminal CKI by a clock control circuit 66 The master controller 58 provides output signals at a terminal G for operating a piezoelectric speaker 70 and at terminals 1 0 1 7 for communication with controller 56 Timing pulses for the master controller 58 are pro vided at a terminal 1 from the circuit 66 The con troller 58 is also connected to the source 50 at its termi nals VDD and VSS in a manner identical to the chip 56 The controller 58 receives reset pulses from reset cir cuitry including the diode 60 at its reset input terminal FIG 4 describes the overall operation of a preferred embodiment of master controller 58 described above As may be seen in FIG 4 the master controller 58 receives information regarding the game status from the slave controller 56 and moves to a decision step in which it is determined whether and what sounds the game 10 is to produce If sounds are to be produced the program moves to a step in which the
27. etermines whether a collision will occur If a collision will occur with any of the defenders the move is not taken on the particular circulation of the program If no collision will occur the program moves to the decision step in which it is 8 If the defense selected is the zone defense initiated by depressing the zone key 22 the program moves to a decision step in which the position of the handler H is determined FIG 2 e illustrates three areas in which the handler H may be positioned which will cause dif ferent operations by the zone defense These are the green yellow and red zones illustrated in FIG 2 e 5 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 determined whether the new move is within the proper boundaries to make the move and to exit the sub rou tine If the handler is positioned within the green zone shown in FIG 2 the program branches to a step in which a random number between zero and three is selected and then to a decision step in which it is deter mined whether the random number selected is zero If the random number is not zero that is in three out of four cases the program moves to select the destination for the particular defender randomly chosen as the mid point between the ball and the basket The program then moves to the step in which a trial move of the particular defender is attempted and to the decision step where it is determined whether a collision will take place or no
28. fensemen to play in three defensive styles When the 4 341 383 3 press key 21 is depressed four of the defensemen try to surround the handler while the remaining defenseman tries to position itself between the ball handler and the pass receiver When zone key 22 is depressed a defense is set up in which each of the five defensemen is restricted to its own zone of play These zones are shown in FIGS 2 2 In FIG for example the defenseman designated D0 may move in any of the squares indicated by the cross hatching The defensemen move in the zone defense to follow one of three strategies depending on how close the handler is to the basket If the ball handler is in the zone designated as green in FIG 2e the defensemen move at random within their zones If the ball handler is within the zone designated as yellow in FIG 2 e the defenseman attempts to move in the Zones to be between the ball and the basket If the ball handler is in the red zone referred to as the key shown in FIG 2 the defensemen attempt to block a shot by heading in the zones directly for the basket The depression of the man key 23 causes the defense to move in a manner in which two of the defensemen 00 and D1 attempt to achieve positions between the ball handler and the basket and the other three defense men stay in zone formations and tend to move to follow the ball The zone formations for defensemen D2 D4 are shown in FIGS X and 2 g
29. he key 20 is designated Off 1 Pro 2 the key 21 Press the key 22 Zone the key 23 Man the key 24 Pass the key 25 Shoot the key 26 the key 27 Left the key 28 Down and the key 29 Right On the bottom of lower housing 14 but not shown in FIG 1 is a door for providing access for insertion of conventional batteries such as a nine volt transistor battery to operate the circuitry contained within the housing halves 12 and 14 of the game 10 In the play of the game there are shown on the dis play 18 two offensive players designated handler H and receiver R hereinafter five defensive players desig nated 20 04 hereinafter and a ball designated B here inafter The movements of the players and the ball are controlled by use of the keys 20 through 29 The key 20 is used for switching the game 10 on at either of the two skill levels Pro 1 or Pro 2 In the Pro 1 skill level play by the defense proceeds automatically at a first rate of speed In the Pro 2 position of the key 20 play of the defensive men moves at a faster rate of speed thereby substantially increasing the difficulty and excitement of the game 10 Two faster speeds for the defense are also possible as will be explained below Each defenseman is indicated on the display 18 by a dimly lit in relation to the offense light emitting diode in the preferred embodiment The keys 21 22 and 23 are used for causing the de
30. house cur rent to be applied through a transformer not shown across a capacitor 54 through a diode 55 The switch 20 connects to a first controller 56 at terminals VDD and VSS The switch 20 also allows the keys 21 23 which select the form of defense to be connected into cir cuitry leading to an input terminal IN3 in the P2 position of the switch 20 and to be disconnected in the other positions of the switch 20 will be understood by those skilled in the art the controller 56 and a controller 58 to be discussed herein after may be implemented in any of a number of differ ent ways However as with many prior art electronic game circuits the preferred embodiment of the inven tion utilizes an integrated circuit microprocessor a miniature digital electronic computer Such integrated circuit microprocessors are well known and include all of the input output memory logic and control cir cuitry of a special purpose digital computer in miniature form In general such circuits have both random access memory RAM memory and read only memory ROM memory The ROM memory has connections formed by masking operations during the construction of the basic circuitry of the controller 56 to provide a com pletely wired circuit which includes the program for controlling the operation of the microprocessor Such an arrangement is often described as a dedicated mem ory circuit The RAM memory of the circuit is utilized for storage of
31. inated on each cycle If the receiver should be illuminated at the particular cycle the program moves to turn on the LED 30 which represents the receiver R to wait a designated interval and then to turn off the LED 30 representing the re ceiver R The program then moves to a series of step at which each of the defensemen D0 D4 is turned on one at a time In accomplishing this step the program moves to turn on an LED 30 representing the present position of a first defenseman to wait an interval and finally to turn off the particular LED 30 representing the particular defenseman The program then moves to a decision step to determine whether all defensemen have been illuminated on the display 18 If they have not the program recirculates to turn on the remaining defensemen and ultimately exits the decision step when all of the defensemen have been illuminated The program next moves to illuminate the digit 34 of display 18 to wait an appropriate interval and finally to turn off the LEDs of digit 34 The program then moves to turn on the LEDs of digit 36 to wait an appropriate interval and finally to turn off the LEDs of digit 36 Finally the program exits the light display step of FIG 7 FIG 9 is a sub routine for the Move Ball step of FIG 7 for the preferred embodiment of the invention The first step illustrated in FIG 9 is a decision step in which it is determined whether the ball B is free of handler H or not If the ball B i
32. ion still exists the program moves to rees tablish the foul formation if the foul situation no longer exists the program moves to rebound the ball B off the basket and place the ball B in play Once the foul formation has been established the program exits the sub routine to await the depression of the shoot key 25 As will be understood by those skilled in the art many different programs may be utilized to implement the flow charts disclosed in this specification Obvi ously those programs will vary from one another in different degrees However it is well within the skill of the art of the computer programmer to provide particu lar programs for implementing each of the steps of the flow charts disclosed herein It is also to be understood that various microcomputer circuits might be pro grammed for implementing each of the steps of the flow charts disclosed herein without departing from the teaching of the invention It is therefore to be under stood that because various other embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention it is the inten tion of the inventors to be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto What is claimed is 1 An electronic basketball game comprising a dis play including a representation of a basket input means and means for controlling the display to repre sent offensive and defensive players and a ball the means fo
33. ision step at which it is determined whether the ball B is in play If the ball B is not in play the program exists the subroutine If the ball B is in play the program moves to a decision step to determine whether a simu lated second has elapsed If such a second has not elapsed the program exits the sub routine If such second has elapsed the program moves to a step to decrement the twenty four second clock by one second Thereafter the program moves to a decision step to d termine whether the twenty four second clock has been decremented to zero If the clock has been decre mented to zero the program moves to terminate the possession of the offensive team and create a turnover Thereafter the program recycles to reset the three second clock and moves through the remainder of the sub routine as explained above If the twenty four second clock has not been decre mented to zero the program moves to determine whether the handler H is in the key If the handler H is in the key the program moves to decrement the three second clock and then to a decision step at which it is determined whether the three second clock has been decremented to zero If the three second clock has been decremented to zero the program moves to end the possession of the offensive team create a turnover and recycle as explained above If the three second clock has not been decremented to zero the program moves to determine whether a minute has elaps
34. ision step in which it is determined whether the pass key 24 or the shoot key 25 has been depressed If the pass key 24 has been depressed the program moves to store this information and exit the sub routine If the shoot key 25 has been depressed the program moves to store this information and then moves to initialize the three second clock The program then moves to a decision step to determine whether a foul is in progress since the handler H may have already been fouled and may be presently taking a foul shot If a foul shot is in progress the program exits this sub routine If a foul shot is not presently in progress the program moves to compute the probabil ity of a foul occurring on this shot based on the position of the handler H In the preferred embodiment of the invention if the handler H is in the green zone shown in FIG 2 e the probability is one in sixteen of a foul being committed on any particular shot If the handler H is in the yellow zone the probability is one in eight of a foul being committed and if the handler H is in the red zone the probability is one in four of a foul being com mitted on any particular shot The program next moves to a decision step at which it is determined whether based on the probability of a foul having been committed one has occurred If no foul has occurred the program exits the sub routine If a foul has occurred the program stores this information in memory and moves to a step at
35. lision will result the program moves to exit the sub routine If a collision will result the re ceiver R is moved and the program moves to a decision step to determine whether the present movement pat tern has been completed If it has not the program exits the sub routine If the pattern has been completed then the program moves to compute a new pattern for move ment of the receiver R as explained above If a pass is in progress between the handler and the receiver R when it is time to move the receiver the program moves to compute the next move for the re ceiver R to place the receiver R closer to the ball B so that the ball B may be received The program then moves to the step to determine whether in the new position a collision will result to make the move if no collision would result to determine whether the pattern of movement for the receiver R has been completed to compute a new pattern if it has been completed and to exit the program all as explained above FIG 7 illustrates the steps of the program in the operation of the slave controller 56 in the preferred embodiment of the invention FIG 7 begins with a step in which the various positions representing players on the display 18 are illuminated The particular positions of the display 18 are more fully illustrated in FIG 3 in which are shown a series of LEDs 30 arranged in col umns from zero at the left through six and rows from zero at the bottom through four
36. ment of the game features a twenty four second clock a three second clock foul shots and three point field goals Other objects features and advantages of the inven tion will become apparent by reference to the specifica tion taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like elements are referred to by like reference designa tions throughout the several views BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a perspective view of the exterior housing of an electronic basketball game constructed in dance with the invention FIG 2 a 2 p illustrates different arrangements of a display of the game illustrated in FIG 1 FIG 3 is a schematic diagram of circuitry utilized in a preferred embodiment of the invention and FIGS 4 13 are flow charts showing the program and operation of a preferred embodiment of the invention DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings and more particu larly to FIG 1 there is shown a perspective view of an electronic basketball game 10 constructed in accor dance with this invention The game 10 includes an upper housing 12 and a lower housing 14 each of which may be constructed of a moldable plastic material The housings 12 and 14 may be joined together in a conven tional manner to form a hollow interior for containing electronic components The upper housing 12 mounts a control panel 16 which includes a display 18 a speaker 19 and keys 20 through 29 T
37. move the receiver R the program moves to a step in which the particular move the receiver R is to make is computed and the receiver R is moved The program then recirculates to the step in which the game status is received from the slave controller 56 If it is not time to move the offensive receiver R the program recirculates directly to the step at which it receives the game status from the slave controller 56 FIG 5 illustrates the steps taken in the preferred embodiment in the sub routine which implements the step of moving a defenseman in FIG 4 As may be seen in FIG 5 the program moves from the step in which the determination as to whether it is time to move a defenseman is accomplished to a step in which one of the defenders is picked at random Since there are five defenders used in playing the game 10 the probability of any particular defender being picked is one in five The program then moves to a decision step from which a path is selected depending on whether the keys 21 22 or 23 have been pressed If key 21 has been depressed the defensman should move in a pressing defense and the program moves to a decision step in which it is determined whether the particular defender selected at random to make the move is defender DO As will be recalled in the pressing defense four defend ers surround the handler while a single defender at tempts to position itself between the handler H and the receiver R In a preferred embodim
38. n its path Thus if the movement of the ball B is part of a pass the program moves to a step to determine whether the ball B is coincident with a defender If not the program moves to determine whether the ball B is caught by the receiver R If the ball B is caught by the receiver R the receiver R becomes the handler H and the keys 26 29 now control the new handler H the previous receiver R The program then moves to exit the sub routine If the ball B is not caught by the receiver R the program moves to a decision step to determine whether the ball B went out of bounds If the ball B did not go out of bounds the program moves to implement a turnover and exits the sub routine If on a pass the ball B is coincident with a defender the program moves to determine whether the defender is adjacent the handler H because the handler H may pass the ball B over a defender immediately adjacent without an interception Consequently if the defender is not adjacent the handler H the program moves to set up a turnover and then exits the sub routine If the de fender is adjacent to the handler H then the program exits the sub routine If a pass is not taking place a shot is occurring or the ball is free the program moves to determine whether the ball B is coincident with a defender If the ball B is coincident with a defender the program moves to de termine whether the ball B is being shot and if it is to bounce the ball B off the defender a
39. n the restricted area for longer than the second prescribed period 12 An electronic basketball game comprising a dis play input means means for partitioning the display into first second and third zones and means for con trolling the display to represent offensive and deferisive players and a ball the means for controlling the display being responsive to the input means for moving the 4 341 383 19 representations of the defensive players and including means for causing all of the defensive players to move toward the basket whenever an offensive ball handler is within the first zone means for causing the defensive players to move between the offensive ball handler and an offensive receive whenever the offensive ball han dler is within the second zone and means for causing the defensive players to move in a random manner whenever the offensive ball handler is within the third zone 13 electronic basketball game comprising dis play including a representation of a basket input means and means for controlling the display to represent offen sive and defensive players and a ball the means for controlling the display being responsive to the input means for moving the representations of the defensive players and for moving the representation of the ball as a shot at the basket and in which the means for control 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 65 20 ling the display includes means for determining whethe
40. nd in which the means for controlling the display includes means for determining whether a foul is committed during a shot and for setting a foul shot formation in response to the commission of a foul and means for selectively providing different numbers of foul shots 6 An electronic basket ball game comprising a dis play including a representation of a basket and means for designating an area of the display adjacent the bas ket input means and means for controlling the display to represent offensive and defensive players and a ball the means for controlling the display being responsive to the input means for moving the representations of the defensive players and in which the means for control ling the display includes position determining means for determining the position of an offensive ball handler means for establishing a prescribed time period and means responsive to the position determining means for exchanging the players on offense and defense if the offensive ball handler remains within the designated area of the display for longer than the prescribed per iod 7 A portable electronic basketball game comprising a rectangular matrix of illuminable elements control means for activating selectable ones of the illuminable elements to represent offensive and defensive players and a ball the control means including means for light ing different ones of the illuminable elements so that particular players appear
41. on step in which it is determined whether to move the ball B or not If the ball should not moved the program ad vances to a step to accomplish various timing and clock functions including determining whether the twenty four second clock has expired the handler H has been in the key for more than three seconds or a quarter has elapsed If the twenty four second clock has expired or a three second violation has occurred the program moves to turn over the ball to the opponent If the end of a quarter has occurred the program moves to a deci sion step to determine whether the end of the game has occurred If neither the end of the quarter the expira tion of the twenty four second clock nor a three second violation has occurred the program moves to a step at which the game status is sent to the master con troller 58 If the end of the game has occurred the program moves to a decision step at which it is determined whether the score is tied so that an overtime is neces sary If the score is not tied the program moves to a step to indicate that the game is over to a step to deacti vate the switches 21 29 and on to the step in which the game status is sent to the master controller 58 If the score is tied at the end of the game the program moves to a step to provide a five minute overtime then to the step to send the status of the game to the master control ler 58 If the ball B needs to be moved at the Move Ball step the
42. r a foul is committed during a shot 14 An electronic basketball game as in claim 13 in which the means for controlling the display further includes means for setting up a foul shot formation in response to the commission of a foul 15 An electronic basketball game comprising a dis play input means means for designating first and sec ond teams means for controlling the display to repre sent offensive and defensive players and a ball the means for controlling the display being responsive to the input means for moving the representations of the defensive players means for determining the respective scores of the first and second teams means for establish ing a predetermined interval of time means for termi nating the game after a predetermined interval of time has elapsed if the scores are not tied and means for continuing the game beyond the predetermined interval of time if the scores are tied
43. r controlling the display being responsive to the input means for moving the representations of the defensive players and in which the means for control ling the display includes means for causing the display to provide scores for the teams means for determining the distance from the basket to a player shooting a field goal and means for determining the point value of a field goal as a function of the distance from the basket to the player shooting the field goal 4 341 383 17 2 An electronic basketball game as claim 1 wherein the display comprises a matrix of devices each of which may be lit to represent a player or a ball 3 An electronic basketball game as in claim 1 wherein the input means includes means for causing the means for controlling the display to move the ball on the display in four coordinates and at a forty five degree angle between each of the coordinates 224 An electronic basketball game as in claim 1 in which the means for controlling the display includes means for exchanging the players on offensive and de fensive if shot is not taken after a prescribed period of play s 5 electronic basketball game comprising a dis play input means and means for controlling the display to represent offensive and defensive players and a ball the means for controlling the display being responsive to the input means for moving the representations of the defensive players in multiple defenses a
44. s a loose ball The program then exits the sub routine If the ball B is not being shot the program moves to accomplish a turn over and exits the sub routine If the ball B is not coincident with a defender the program moves to determine whether the ball B is at the basket If it is then the program moves to a decision step to determine if a shot was taken then to score a basket and establish a turnover if a shot was taken and exits the sub routine The step at which a basket is scored includes determining whether the shot traveled from a position in the green zone shown in FIG 2 e and consequently should be counted as two or three points If no shot was taken the program exits the sub routine If the ball is not at the basket the program moves to determine whether the ball is out of bounds and proceeds as explained above 4 341 383 13 FIG 10 illustrates a sub routine utilized in the pre ferred embodiment of the invention for implementing the Time Expired step shown in FIG 7 The subroutine is entered at a step at which the clock which measures the length of each simulated quarter of play is initialized to set up a simulated twelve minutes of time The pro gram then moves to a step in which the three second clock for measuring the time the handler H remains in the key is initialized The program then moves to a step to initialize the twenty four second clock After initializing the three clocks the program moves to a dec
45. s free the program moves directly 0 20 25 40 45 55 65 to a decision step at which it is determined whether itis time to move the ball B or not If the ball B is not free the program moves to a decision step where it is deter 12 mined whether the shoot key 25 has been depressed or not If it has not been depressed the program moves to determine whether the pass key 24 has been depressed or not If neither key 24 nor 25 has been depressed the pr gram moves to exit the sub routine If the shoot key 25 or the pass key 24 has been de pressed the program moves to store the fact either that a shot is in progress or that a pass is in progress and the moves to a step at which the vector of the ball B is computed The ball can travel in any of eight directions up down to the right to the left and on any forty five degree diagonal between these directions When the vector has been computed the program moves to the decision step to determine whether it is time to move the ball B or not If it is not time to move the ball B the program exits the sub routine If it is time to move the ball B the program moves to a step at which the ball B is advanced one space according to the vector determined The program then moves to a decision step at which it is determined whether the movement is part of a pass or not In a pass the ball may be intercepted by a defender in its path while a shot bounces off a defender i
46. s zero in one out of eight cases the program moves to set the destination for that defender as the basket and to move through the remainder of the sub routine If the random number selected is not zero in seven out of eight cases the program moves to set the destination of the particular defender selected for the move on this circulation of the program as the mid point between the ball B and the basket The program then moves to attempt a trial move to determine whether a collision will take place whether the move is within the proper boundaries for a particu lar man in a zone defense to make the move and to finally exit the sub routine Thus where the handler H is positioned in the yellow zone of play shown in FIG 2 the selected defenseman in seven out of eight cases moves to a mid point between the ball B and the basket and in the other case moves for the basket to block a shot If the handler H is positioned in the red zone shown in FIG 2 e and the defense is a zone defense the pro gram moves to a step to set the destination for the se 4 341 383 9 lected defender as the basket thereby attempting to create a ring of players impeding the movement of the ball B to the basket As with the other defense setups the program then moves to attempt a trial move of the defender to determine whether a collision will occur to determine whether the new move is within the proper boundaries and to make the proper move
47. t Presuming that no collision will take place the program moves to determine whether the particular move selected is within the proper boundaries As may be seen from FIGS 2 a 2 d each defender D0 D4 may move only in particular spaces in a zone defense Thus if the particular move selected is outside of the spaces to which that defender is limited in the zone defense the program moves to abort the move selected and to exit the sub routine If the new move is within the proper boundaries the program then makes the move and exits the sub routine If the random number selected in setting up the zone defense when the handler H is in the green zone is zero the program moves to a step at which the destination chosen for the selected defender is a random move one space from the present position of the particular de fender The program then moves to attempt a trial move of the defender and through the remainder of the sub routine Thus the defender in moving in a zone defense where the handler H is in the green zone will usually move to a mid point between the ball and the basket but in approximately one out of four cases will move randomly one space from its present position When the zone defense is being played and the han dler H is in the yellow zone shown in FIG 2 e the program moves to select a random number between zero and seven The program then moves to determine whether the number selected was zero If the number selected i
48. the various transient bits of information and program during the operation of the circuitry Although many electronic games known to the prior art utilize circuitry on a single chip the present inven tion utilizes two essentially identical controllers 56 and 58 which are individually masked in such a way as to provide a substantial increase in the memory capability of the game 10 over those of the prior art so that more sophisticated operations may be accomplished The controller 56 is designated for convenience the slave controller and the controller 58 is designated the master controller because the control of communication be tween the controllers 56 and 58 resides in the controller 58 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 Various controller circuits are offered by a number of manufacturers and are well known to the prior art A preferred embodiment of the present invention uses two COP 420L Microcontrollers manufactured by National Semiconductor The circuit is better described in the COPs Chip User s Manual published by National Semi conductor As may be seen in FIG 3 the closure of the various keys 21 29 provides input signals at terminals IN019 1419 IN210 and IN320 of the slave controller 56 A closure of the keys 21 29 also provides connections to the display 18 which as shown in FIG 3 comprise number of LEDs 30 and 32 and the LED digits 34 and 36 connected in the arrangement above d
49. us improvements in electronic cir cuitry have allowed the reduction in size and cost of data processing circuitry and have led to electronic circuits which simulate the play of various ones of the players in certain well known games In these electronic games a person moves an electronic player against electronic competitors thereby eliminating the necessity for some or all of the other human players Many of these electronic games are quite expensive Often the game must be connected to a television set to provide a display upon which the game may be presented and consequently cannot be moved from place to place Recently a number of portable electronic games have been devised by which one or two persons may play a particular simulated sports game such as football basketball or baseball These portable games have their own built in displays and are much less expensive in general than those which must be connected to a televi sion set Their small size allows them to be carried about and used almost anywhere However these portable electronic games have relatively small displays contain a limited amount of circuitry and are usually powered by battery Consequently the portable electronic games heretofore devised have been relatively unsophisticated as contrasted to those which are associated with televi sion sets It is consequently an object of this invention to pro vide a new and improved portable electronic basketball game
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