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TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to the field of online system implemented gaming, and more particularly, to systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing an online map-based sports fantasy game competition.

BACKGROUND

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to embodiments of the claimed embodiments.

Filling out the brackets for the men's and women's NCAA basketball championship tournaments each year has become a national tradition in America. Friends, families, and even office colleagues frequently compete in pools to determine who might best predict the outcomes of games and ultimately the tournament champions. The tournament is colloquially referred to as “March Madness,” and enthusiasts refer to the challenge of picking and predicting the winners as the “Tournament Challenge.”

Paralleling this phenomenon has been the explosion of fantasy sports, known as fantasy football or “Rotisserie League Baseball,” etc. In contrast with filling out brackets for a tournament, in most fantasy sports, each “owner” of a fantasy team chooses an exclusive team of players and accumulates points based on their players' statistics. In many fantasy leagues, any player belongs to only one owner, whereas in bracket pools, all contestants pick all the games and thus, it is possible for multiple of the contestants to coincidentally choose the same ultimate winner.

Fantasy sports has become a multi-billion dollar industry, with an estimated 60 million participants in the US and Canada and millions more internationally, all of whom draft players from professional soccer, cricket, golf, etc. The daily fantasy sports betting industry is similarly a large and presently growing industry, in which players choose sets of players on a daily basis.

Alongside these sports-based gaming phenomena is the growing popularity of both online and offline board games, particularly territorial games where players start in one or a few places and expand outwards. Games such as “Settlers of Catan” and “Risk” are two popular examples from different eras.

Embodiments disclosed herein apply specialized computing technologies in conjunction with customized computing and networking hardware to combine elements of these extremely popular interactive sports and entertainment activities into a unique and fun online group activity, which may be extended from college basketball, NFL football, MLS Soccer, World Cup European Football, and to a wide variety of other applications.

Problematically, existing fantasy sports online platforms, including sports websites and websites for picking teams and tournament results are non-geographical and lack information about where the teams in the tournament or league are located relative to other teams. Simply stated, existing fantasy sports online platforms do not currently constrain draft choices by geographic location or geographic relationship to previous choices. Still further, such conventional online platforms lack visual representations of the status of teams geographically, such as the locations of teams, the geographic concentration of teams, which teams neighbor which other teams, which areas are nearest to which teams at the start of the contest or gameplay and as teams are eliminated, or which geographic location eliminates another geographic location in the contest or gameplay.

The present state of the art may therefore benefit from the systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing an online map-based sports fantasy game competition as are described herein.

