Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE: Online Mahjong Game
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to online computer games for mahjong.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Online gaming is a booming industry since last decade, from Europe to China,
from
casual gaming to wagering, with massive number of players playing a variety of
types of games.
Mahjong, a tradition game originated from ancient China, it involves skills,
strategy and
calculation. On land base, Mahjong game has gained massive popularity
especially in China,
also there're Mahjong associations or clubs around the world representing
western players and
overseas Chinese as well. The estimation of world population of Mahjong
players reaches 98
million. There're 2 major set of rules for tournament playing, one is made
official by Chinese
government, and the other is slight variant adopted by WSOM (World serial of
Mahjong).
Besides, in China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, hundreds localized variant
rules are played by
different group of players from different regions every day.
Given the popularity of Mahjong game on land base, online community is far
from well
developed given the example of online poker. There are following major causes
from
observation:
1. Existing game is not developed in a way that meets player's requirements;
giving the
concerns like reliable gaming, collusion prevention, user playing experience,
etc.
2. Most existing gaming site is built based on certain rules from specific
regions, like
Hong Kong rules, Taiwan rules; in one hand, it has very determined player
group; while on other
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hands, it also limits its user base since most land base players tend to stick
with their familiar
rules.
The present invention related system is a fresh approach toward on-line
Mahjong gaming
that address the above deficiencies from existing on-line systems with
following innovations
targeting user experience.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an
online
mahjong gaming system which includes a plurality of users each having a game
client
communicating with a game server. The game client displays a mahjong table
having four
player positions to accommodate up to four users who wish to play at the
mahjong table, each
player position occupied by no more than one user. The mahjong table has a
deck of turned
down mahjong tiles and a row of turned up mahjong tiles visible to the user at
each player
position, the row of turned up mahjong tiles concealed from users occupying
the other player
positions. The mahjong table has a display portion displaying turned up
mahjong tiles which
have been discarded by users occupying the player positions. The game client
displays an allow
icon to the user at the player position indicating that a viewer desires to
view the row of turned
up mahjong tiles visible to the user at the player position. The game server
is configured to link
the game client of the viewer to the mahjong table to display the mahjong
table to the viewer
with the row of turned up mahjong tiles of the player who selected the allow
icon being
displayed to the viewer.
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In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided
an online
mahjong gaming system as described in the previous paragraph wherein the game
client is
configured to allow a requesting user to send a join request to the game
server to seat the
requesting user at a player position at the mahjong table. The game server is
configured to start a
hand of mahjong at the mahjong table when at least two player positions are
occupied.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided
an online
mahjong gaming system as described in the previous paragraph wherein the game
server is
configured to record one of the users occupying the player positions as a
first winner of the hand
of mahjong and exclude first winner from further play of the hand of mahjong.
The game server
is further configured to continue the hand of mahjong as a first sub-hand if
there are at still users
occupying the player positions and if there are still turned down mahjong
tiles on the mahjong
table, the game server being further configured to record one of the users
occupying the payer
positions as a second winner of the hand of mahjong and exclude the second
winner from further
play of the hand of mahjong. The game server is further configured to continue
the hand of
mahjong as a second sub-hand if there are at still users occupying the player
positions and if
there are still turned down mahjong tiles on the mahjong table. The game
server being further
configured to record one of the users occupying the player positions as a
third winner of the hand
of mahjong and then terminate the hand of mahjong.
With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent to
those
skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification
proceeds, the invention is
herein described by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part
hereof, which
includes a description of the preferred typical embodiment of the principles
of the present
invention.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an on-line Mahjong game system made in
accordance with the
present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the steps involved in the live watching feature
of the present
invention.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the steps involved in the hand playing feature
of the present
invention using a variable number of players.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the steps involved in multiple sub-hands with
one shuffled deck.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the image of a mahjong table projected on a
game client
made in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the friend selection feature of the present
invention
appearing on a game client.
In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in
the different
figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a system and a method for facilitating on-line
Mahjong games
provided over an electronic network such as the Internet. In order to
participate in on-line
Mahjong games, a player needs to have access to an Internet service. The
system of the present
invention consists of a front end (Client), back end (Server) and storage
(Database). Different
components communicate with each other across network, including both internet
and intranet.
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In detail, the front end includes client software that end users directly
interact with. The
client software has different versions in terms of technology used to build
with. i.e. there could
be web version hosted inside web page, built with Flash or HTML5 or other type
of rich (web)
client technologies. The client could also be an application running on the
user's computer (or
mobile device) as a standalone application, developed with native technology
depending on
platforms, i.e. windows PC, Mac, Linux, i0S, Android or the like.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram showing an on-line Mahjong game system for
providing on-line Mahjong games over the Internet according to the present
invention shown
generally as 10. The Mahjong game system includes a plurality of terminals 12.
The terminals
may be personal computers, Mac computer, cell phones, tablets or any other
type of computing
device. Each of the terminals has Internet access to connected to back end
access point game
server 14. An example of a portable computing device 13 is illustrated running
game client
software provides a user interface UI 18 displayed on screen 16. Portable
computing device 13
has the ability, by means of touch screen 16 and or keyboard 20, to allow the
user to interact with
the system. Client software running on computing device 13 collects user
actions and send
messages to back end game server 14, receives responses and events from the
game server and
renders messages and events on client UI 18.
Back end (Server) 14 consists of a set of software components running on a
remote data
centre. It accepts client connection and publishes available games and other
system information,
it also processes requests from game client, such requests include player
login, watching game,
joining game and playing game. It implements and manages the game logic, also
access and
store information to storage database 22. Typical and key server components
include access
points that host internet connections from client; game logic module that
manages game play;
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and information publisher that publishes game lobby information; and a data
access module that
interchange data to and from database 22. Storage (Database) 22 stores
configuration about the
System including available games, game settings and user accounts, and hand
history. The
database cannot be accessed directly by front end (Client). Database 22 would
include
information about each user, including identification information of the user
(the user's name for
example) and a list of other users who are friends. The game server 14 is
configured to permit
users to send communications (messages) back and forth to each other and to
add or delete
fellow users as friends.
The described on-line Mahjong game system has implemented social features
among
users ¨ users can become "friends- of other users. Server 14 is able to show
users if their friends
are on-line, and if yes, at which tables are their friends are playing. A user
can request watching
their friend's hand playing with hand tile exposed, called live watching.
Referring now to figure 5, computing device 13 has the game client 21 running
on the
computing device. As mentioned above, game client 21 may comprise a web
browser capable of
displaying rich content, or it may be a separate application. Regardless of
the form game client
21 takes, the game client is configured to display a virtual mahjong table 24
on screen 16.
Virtual mahjong table 24 includes four player positions 26, 28, 30 and 32,
each of which can be
"occupied" by no more than one user, so that, when fully occupied, player 1
occupies player
position 26, player 2 occupies player position 28, player 3 occupies player
position 30 and player
4 occupies player position 32. Each player is a user. A plurality of mahjong
tiles are shown on
table 24, some of the tiles are "turned down", meaning that the value of the
tiles cannot be seen
by looking at the table, while some of the tiles are "turned up", meaning that
the value of the tiles
are clearly shown. A central area 44 is shown on the table adjacent the player
positions. Central
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area 44 will show a plurality of turned down mahjong tiles arranged in a stack
(or deck) 42, from
which players pick tiles as a game of mahjong is played. A row of mahjong
tiles is shown at
each player station, representing the row of tiles (hand tiles) which the
player at that player
position uses to play a hand of mahjong. Hence, when four players are playing
a hand of
mahjong, rows 34, 36. 38 and 40 will be shown. Each row of mahjong tiles is
turned down to all
of the players except the player occupying the player position corresponding
to the row of
mahjong tiles. Therefore, taking the point of view of the user occupying
player position 30, the
mahjong tiles in row 38 will appear turned up, while the mahjong tiles in rows
34, 36 and 40 will
appear turned down and will therefore be effectively concealed from player 3
(the user
occupying player position 30). Mahjong tiles 46 which have been discarded by
one or more of
the players appear in area 44 as turned up tiles. In addition to the row of
turned up mahjong tiles,
each player position shows a plurality of icons, which can be arranged in an
action selection bar
48. The user occupying player position 30 can activate one or more icons in
action selection bar
48 to cause game client 21 to execute one or more commands, such as declare
winning hand.
Referring now to figure 6, the game server and game client of the present
invention are
also configured to provide a lobby view to a user wherein a virtual lobby 48
is displayed, upon
which a plurality of different mahjong tables 50, 52 and 54 are represented. A
menu bar 56 is
presented to the user allowing the user to look for and find other users who
are logged onto the
game server. As mentioned above, some of the other users may be recorded in
the database
component of the system as the user's friend. The game server and game client
are configured to
communicate such that the game client can display a list of the user's friends
58 which are
currently logged on to the game server, and a list of tables 60 where those
friends are occupying
player positions. From this -lobby view" the user may activate one of the
icons in list 58 or 60
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to send a join request to join a mahjong table as a player or to send a view
or watch request to the
game server to view a friend's mahjong game live.
Referring now to figure FIG. 2, the process of live watching will now be
discussed. Live
watching is a feature of the system which allows a user who is not occupying a
player position at
a virtual mahjong table to view a live game of mahjong taking place on the
virtual mahjong table
from the point of view of one of the users occupying one of the player
positions. Figure 2 shows
flow chart showing the process of live watching. A user, referred to as a
watcher, sends a
request to watch a player's hand. The request is accepted by the access point
server and routed
to the game logic server. Firstly, the game logic server checks if the watcher
and requested
player (the user occupying one of the player positions whom the watcher has
requested to view)
are friends and if the watcher has been authorized by the player. If yes, the
watcher's request is
granted; otherwise, the message is sent to player asking for approval of live
watching. The
player decides either to accept or reject the live watching request by the
activation of an icon or
other suitable indicia. If the user occupying the player position (i.e. the
player) accepts the live
watching request, the watcher would then be presented with a view of the
virtual mahjong table
nearly identical to the view presented to the player who was requested. In
particular, the player's
row of turned up mahjong tiles would be visible to the watcher. In this way, a
player/user who is
playing a hand of mahjong may grant other users who have been registered as
friends of the
player/user to view the player/user's row of mahjong tiles. The game server
and game client
may be further configured to permit the player and the watcher to exchange
messages to each
other during the playing of the hand of mahjong.
The described on-line Mahjong game system has implemented another innovative
feature
called "keep rolling" that allows a Mahjong hand to start without a full
table. Given a typical
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Mahjong table with four seats (player positions), not like traditional rules
which require that all
four seats must be taken to start a hand, the feature allows to start a game
or hand of mahjong as
long as two player positions are occupied by users. Therefore, the number of
players for each
hand varies from two to four on the table. A new player can sit on the table
anytime and join the
next hand. This feature has its value particularly over an electronic network
such as Internet, it
starts game quickly, it also keep the continuation of game playing if one or
two players left the
table. As illustrated in the flowchart shown in figure 3, the process starts
with a user requesting
to "join" a table by occupying one of the player positions at the virtual
mahjong table. This is
done by activating a join request icon which has the effect of sending a join
request from the
player's game client to the game server. The game server then checks if the
seat is occupied, if
not, then the user is "seated" at the table (i.e. allocated a player position
to occupy at the virtual
mahjong table). If there is a running hand of mahjong playing, then the game
server continues
the hand of mahjong until it ends before "seating" the requesting player. The
game server is
configured to start a new hand of mahjong where there are at least two player
positions at the
virtual mahjong table occupied by users.
The described on-line Mahjong game system has implemented another innovative
feature
that supports more than one winning hands given one shuffled Mahjong deck. A
Mahjong hand
starts from shuffling the deck and then players start playing from taking
tiles from the deck in
turn till a winning hand is made. When a player makes a winning hand, the
player shows down
the winning hand and collects winnings from pot. As illustrated in the
flowchart shown in figure
4, the game server is configured to declare a first winner of the hand of
mahjong. With this
multi-sub-hand feature, the hand will continue after a player has been
declared a first winner
with a winning hand, given the condition that there are at least two players
remaining at the
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mahjong table and the shuffled deck is not exhausted (i.e. there are still
turned down mahjong
tiles). The game server can then start a sub-hand using the remaining mahjong
tiles and the
remaining players until a second mahjong winner is declared. The game server
is configured to
bar the first declared winner from playing the sub-hand. An addition sub-hand
can be played,
provided there are at least two players remaining at the mahjong table and
turned down mahjong
tiles remain. The additional sub-hand is played (without the participation of
the first and second
winners) until a final winner is declared. This way, from hand starts, there
could be multiple
winning hands made called sub hands. This feature encourages players to pursue
winning hand
with higher value, thus win bigger pot or even qualified for Jackpot winning.
A specific embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed; however,
several
variations of the disclosed embodiment could be envisioned as within the scope
of this invention.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the
embodiments described
above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the
following claims
