On October 9, 2006, the U.S. Patent Office issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,033,901, currently assigned to Mattel Inc. The patent relates to an “electronic game system with character units” that stack on top of one another to affect in-game play. “The character units may have substantially similar appearances to characters in the game,” and–as depicted in the following figure–“[t]he base station also may have a character appearance.”
This system appears to be an early depiction of a toys-to-life action game, which was explored commercially in the years following this patent by the video game studio Toys for Bob with the Skylanders series and Nintendo with the Amiibo line of toys. Mattel’s reputation as a toymaker is apparent in the system’s whimsical and eye-catching character design. Although the company’s history with video games has been relatively quiet since the Intellivision console (1979-1985), who knows what could have been if the cute and innovative design displayed in this patent had taken off.
Illustrative Claim:
1. An electronic game system comprising: an electronic system used to play a game in communication with a network, the game including a game world having an area associated with a first character in the game;
a base station operable to communicate with the electronic system and having a character appearance;
a first character unit operable to communicate with the base station, the first character unit storing first data associated with the first character, wherein the first character unit has a substantially similar appearance to the first character in the game;
wherein the character appearance of the base station is similar to the appearance of the first character unit.
