Game Coin With Ball And Viewing Window
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional dice and coins used in games of chance, such as Dungeons and Dragons, often lack sufficient options for players, with standard dice providing only 6 outcomes and coins limited to two options, failing to meet the need for more varied results in game mechanics.
Innovation Solution
A coin design featuring a coin interior with sloped surfaces and viewing windows, allowing a ball to be visible while remaining within the coin, providing multiple potential outcomes and customizable markings for game-specific values, potentially incorporating multiple sides or configurations for enhanced gameplay.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional dice or coins are used, then the device structure remains simple, but the number of possible outcomes is limited (6 for dice, 2 for coins)
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from flat 2D coin surfaces to a 3D interior space containing multiple sloped surfaces that guide a ball to different viewing windows. This dimensional change allows the coin to provide multiple outcomes (matching any of the 6 sides of a die) while maintaining a compact form factor, effectively adding a third dimension to the traditional coin structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The coin design nests a ball and multiple sloped surfaces within the coin's interior, creating a compact structure that contains the outcome-determination mechanism inside the coin itself. This nesting approach allows complex functionality (multiple outcomes) to be contained within a simple external form, resolving the contradiction between versatility and structural simplicity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple sloped surfaces and viewing windows are added to the coin, then multiple outcomes are enabled, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The coin is divided into multiple sloped surfaces, each leading to a different viewing window, allowing independent definition of game outcomes. This segmentation enables flexible game design where different combinations of windows can represent different results (e.g., matching windows for dice rolls), making the system adaptable to various game mechanics while maintaining modular manufacturability.
Solution Approach 2:
The coin design creates a universal game component that can support multiple different games and outcome configurations. The same physical coin structure with its multiple viewing windows can be used for various dice-matching games, card games, or other chance-based games, reducing the need for multiple specialized game components and simplifying overall system manufacturing.
3Quantity of substance
If the coin interior contains a ball and sloped surfaces, then outcome variety increases, but the device becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The use of a spherical ball and curved sloped surfaces within the coin interior creates a smooth, continuous mechanism for outcome determination. The ball rolls naturally along the curved surfaces to one of several viewing windows, providing multiple outcomes through a simple gravitational mechanism rather than complex mechanical actuators, thus increasing outcome variety while minimizing structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A coin for use in games of chance includes a first side connectable to a second side and forming a coin interior when the first side is connected to the second side. A ball held in place in the coin interior, which interior includes a plurality of ridges and valleys with sloped surfaces for biasing a ball toward a periphery, which may include pockets, of the coin when the coin is flipped or rolled. Each pocket may be next to a viewing window, allowing the ball within the pocket to be viewed from the exterior of the coin.