Users of a facility, for a example a mass transit system such as London Underground, typically attend a ticket issuing machine, insert the appropriate money for the fare, and are then provided with a ticket which enables entrance into and travel on that facility. Of course, the machine may be provided behind a manually attended window. The latter is typically the situation when the facility is, for example, a cinema ; the entrance ticket enabling entrance into and viewing of a film.

An object of the present invention is to provide a game in association with the provision of such entrance tickets.

According to the present invention there is provided a game comprising:- a plurality of issuing units provided at different respective locations, each unit being provided to issue an entrance ticket for an associated facility during the obtaining of the entrance ticket by customers of that facility ; means for providing, to said plurality of issuing units, identifiers capable of uniquely identifying the participation of a respective customer in a game; game participation means associated with a respective issuing unit to cause that issuing unit to record on the issued entrance ticket a said identifier identifying the participation of that customer in the game ; and means for deciding a game winner by selecting one or more identifiers from all the recorded identifiers indicating participation in that game.

In effect, entry into the game can take place at the time of purchase of the entrance ticket into the facility. This makes participation in the game very simple and quick. In particular, where the facility is a mass transport system, it is important that the passenger handling capabilities of the transit authority, and in particular its ticket-issuing facilities, are not compromised in any way.

Moreover, the game of the present invention is facilitated by being able to make use of the technical services, the ticket-issuing equipment and ancillary computerised networking and control systems, operated by, for example, a mass transit system. In effect, the primary infrastructure for the game and the potential involvement of sufficient players to ensure that a"low-stake, large prize" scenario exists, can be provided with minimal outlay.

The game relies on providing the customer of the facility with their conventional ticket along with a unique identifier, for example a series of alpha numerical characters carried thereon, which indicates their participation in the game and ownership of a potentially winning ticket. When the game winner is to be decided, one of the unique identifiers can be drawn according to a formula, random or otherwise, which enables the winner to claim their prize on production of the ticket bearing that unique identifier. With the game of the present invention, it is possible to take advantage of the installed base of reliably operational hardware and software operated by the facility in question.

Conveniently, said unique identifier is encoded to include an expiry date. Thus, the running of the game can be done at selected time intervals, for example weekly.

Preferably, said means for deciding operates after said expiry date. Thus, customers will not purchase entrance tickets even though a winner has already been selected.

In one embodiment, when said game participation means causes recordal of an identifier on an entrance ticket, the game participation means also causes the associated issuing unit to record a message on the entrance ticket preventing its capture, prior to said expiry date, even though the valid usage as an entrance ticket has expired. This is convenient for those cases where the entrance ticket is re-used as an entrance ticket before the expiry date.

In another embodiment, the game participation means causes recordal of the identifier on a removable section the entrance ticket, for example a tear-off strip or a peel-off sticker, which the customer may remove from the entrance ticket and keep separately, without invalidating the ticket's usage as an entrance ticket. Accordingly, in cases where the ticket may be captured at the end of its valid usage as an entrance ticket, the customer is able to retain a section of the ticket carrying the identifier which uniquely identifies their participation in the game.

Preferably, when said game participation means causes recordal of an identifier on an entrance ticket, the game participation means also causes recordal of data such as the location of purchase, value and number associated with the ticket. Consequently, the operator of the game can obtain information regarding customers participating in the game.

Conveniently, said data is recorded on the entrance ticket.

It is preferred that said game participation means causes recordal of an identifier on an entrance ticket only in return for monetary worth beyond the monetary worth to purchase said entrance ticket. The monetary worth can be one pound (£) sterling. Accordingly, some of the monetary worth derived from the game can be returned to the facility in question.

In one case, said identifier is printed on the entrance

ticket using special inks, with chromatic and/or reflective characteristics that render copying difficult. This is helpful to avoid fraud.

The nature of recordal on the entrance ticket can be varied and can, for example, take the form of franking of a number on a ticket or recordal in the magnetic stripe provided on the ticket.

Where the entrance ticket is provided with means for storing digital information such as a magnetic stripe, the game participation means may cause recordal of a digital photograph of the customer to be stored in said means for storing digital information, said photograph being taken at the time of purchase of the entrance ticket by a digital camera incorporated within or located in the vicinity of the game participation means. This would help to avoid fraud.

It is also preferred that each issuing unit has a unique identifier associated therewith; that identifier being incorporated into the identifier recorded on the issued ticket. Thus, the unique identifiers indicating participation in the game do not need to be centrally correlated to avoid duplication.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which comprises a flow diagram indicative of procedural steps forming part of a game embodying the present invention.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a flow diagram reflecting certain procedural steps performed in accordance with one example of a game as provided by this invention.

In this case, travel tickets are issued by the standard ticket-issuing equipment of a mass transit authority, these

comprising an entrance ticket to that facility.

A ticket request is submitted in the usual way at stage 10, which may either be part of an automatic ticket-issuing machine or a staffed"window"or other terminal. In either event, as the details of the ticket'request are entered, a first processing stage 20 detects whether the ticket requested qualifies its purchaser for entry into the next appropriate game. In this example, the qualification criterion is that the ticket will remain valid as an entrance ticket until after the game has been played ; this criterion ensuring that (unless a mechanism failure should occur) the ticket will not be captured by an automatic transit gate until after the game has been played. This in turn ensures that, in general, the transit authority is not faced with problems from travellers demanding the return of tickets that carry numbers to be entered in a game that is yet to be played.

As mentioned above, an alternative is for tickets entered into a game to carry, for example in their respective magnetic stripes, a data flag which inhibits their automatic collection until after the game. This approach is not preferred however since, on the one hand, the tickets could still be erroneously captured should recording and/or reading malfunctions occur and, on the other hand, tickets that are not captured on their expiry date might be inadvertently or deliberately used to secure free travel. At the very least, the existence of such flagged tickets might be expected to cause some confusion and consternation, particularly at peak travel times, and thus perhaps have a deleterious effect upon the passenger handling capabilities of the transit authority.

A further alternative is for tickets entered into a game to comprise a removable section, for example a tear-off strip or a peel-off sticker, which the customer may remove from the entrance ticket and keep separately, without invalidating the

ticket's usage as an entrance ticket as mentioned above. This approach would allow the customer to retain a section of the ticket containing an identifier which uniquely identifies their participation in the game, even once their entrance ticket has been captured by an automatic transit gate at the end of the ticket's valid usage as an entrance ticket. This approach is not preferred however, since, the cost of updating the existing ticket issuing facilities to provide for tickets with removable sections may be prohibitive. Moreover, the physical separation of the ticket into two components, one acting as an entrance ticket, and the other identifying participation in the game, may cause the customer to dissociate participation in the game with usage of the facility.

It is thus preferred to exercise the qualification criterion imposed at stage 20, and that route will be assumed to be followed hereinafter although it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art can devise other arrangements.

If the ticket requested does not meet the qualification criterion, the procedure moves to ticket value assignment stage 40 and then to the ticket printing and issuing stage 50.

It will be appreciated that stages 10,40 and 50 are part of the standard equipment operated by the mass transit authority, and that two or more of these stages may be incorporated into a single piece of equipment or entrance ticket issuing unit, in accordance with the standard practice of the authority in question.

For all tickets requested that do meet the qualification criterion set at 20, the travellers or customers are asked at stage 30 whether they wish to participate in the game or not.

For those that do not wish to participate, their tickets follow the aforementioned route via stages 40 and 50 resulting in the issuance of conventional travel tickets.

In respect of passengers who express the desire to participate in the game, and for which the stake is confirmed at 60 as having been paid (the stake for the game being in this case paid in addition to the travel value of the ticket), the ticket value assignment stage 70 fulfills a function equivalent to that fulfilled at stage 40 in the"no-game" channel. A game number is assigned at stage 80 ; this being the number that is to be entered into the game. In this respect, it is preferred that each sales location, such as an individual underground station, has a unique identifier assigned to it, and that the identifier is incorporated into the game number so that the numbers do not need to be centrally correlated to avoid duplication.

A validity check on the number issued is conducted at stage 90, based upon known criteria, such as the last-issued number at that location, the locally assigned unique identifier and/or the known length of a correct number string, to ensure that a malfunction has not resulted in the issuance of an erroneous game number.

If an erroneous number is detected, the system reverts to stage 80. Otherwise, the game number, together with other validation criteria such as the ticket value and/or the date and location of issue, are optionally subjected to anti-fraud encryption at stage 100 ; the output of this stage feeding the printing and issuing equipment 50.

Thus, the game number recorded on the ticket constitutes an identifier which is unique to that customer's entry in the game and forms part of a central pool of all recorded identifiers.

The operation of choosing the winning game number (s) in the game itself can, of course, be achieved electronically, manually or by any other known system, or a combination of systems. Moreover, the selection of the number can be

according to any known formula or can be random. The announcement of winning numbers can be made in any convenient way, such as via the mass media and/or electronic messaging and/or announcements/displays at the issuing stations of the mass transit authority and/or by overprints applied to subsequently issued tickets.

With regard to anti-fraud steps, these (if used) may comprise any of the expedients known in the art and intended to reduce the risk of forgery, counterfeiting or other fraudulent action in respect of valuable, or potentially valuable, documents. In this respect, the game numbers may, for example, be printed using special inks, known in themselves, with chromatic and/or reflective characteristics that render copying difficult.

Alternatively, or in addition, machine-readable versions of the game numbers, perhaps encrypted (either alone or in combination with other information that is readily available at the time the ticket is printed, such as the travel value of the ticket and/or the date of travel) and incorporated into bar codes or other suitable hosts, may be printed on the tickets.

Further alternatively, or in addition to the above measures, the ticket issuing terminal may cause recordal of a digital photograph of the customer, to be stored in the magnetic stripe provided on the ticket. The photograph being taken by a digital camera incorporated within or located in the vicinity of the ticket issuing terminal at the time of purchase of the entrance ticket.

In preferred embodiments, the ticket issuing equipment is capable of recording, for local storage and/or transmittal to a central, computerised storage location, data such as the location of purchase, value and number associated with the purchase of each game ticket.

Preferably, the entry fee is a nominal amount and comprises a sum (say £1) which will not unduly complicate ticket transactions, since it is important that the passenger handling capabilities of the transit authority, and in particular its ticket-issuing facilities, are not compromised in any way. It is intended that a significant proportion of the proceeds of the game is distributed to the transit authority, with a stipulation that the monies in question are used to promote the safer operation of the transit system.

It will thus be appreciated that, in addition to advantageously providing the facility for people, as part of the rather mundane process of travelling on a mass transit facility, to participate in a game that could make them rich, the invention also contributes to the safety provisions instituted by the mass transit authority. Furthermore, much of the infrastructure (both in terms of hardware and software) needed for the practical implementation of the game is, in accordance with a feature of the invention, already in place, being constituted by the ticket-issuing facilities and associated support systems of the mass transit authority.

Whilst the description refers to a facility in the form of a mass transit authority, it will be appreciated that the present invention can be applied to chains of participating stores, for example cinemas, coffee shops etc with a proportion of the monies from the game being dedicated to specific causes.