Appeal No. 2005-0988
Application 09/878,592
machine or the like. Both Pierce and Mayeroff implicitly
recognize that using such a bonus game will provide additional
excitement to the play of a conventional casino game such as
video poker or slot machines, enhance the entertainment value of
such casino games, and encourage additional play of such gaming
machines by devotees of the popular television game show selected
as the bonus game. The “Plinko” document relied upon by the
examiner highlights the immense popularity of PLINKO as played on
the long-running televison game show THE PRICE is RIGHT,
apparently since early in 1983, by characterizing it as “by far
the most celebrated and enjoyed pricing game ever played on THE
PRICE is RIGHT.”
Given the huge popularity of PLINKO as played on THE PRICE
is RIGHT and the recognition in the competitive gaming machine
industry of the need to produce new types of games, or
enhancements to existing games, and to develop new features of
bonus games that will enhance the entertainment value and
excitement associated with a gaming machine and be attractive to
both players and operators of such machines, we find ample
suggestion and motivation for one of ordinary skill in the art at
the time of appellant’s invention to have substituted a popular
television game show game such as “PLINKO” as a bonus game on a
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