Patents
US Patents are categorized using a classification scheme.
Games are generally classified under the following major classes:
- Class 273: Amusement Devices: Games (manual)
- Class 463: Amusement Devices: Games (electronic)
- Class 473: Games Using Tangible Projectile (including Billiards & Pool, Bowling, Golf, Croquet, Hopscotch, etc.)
- Design Patent: Class D21: Games, Toys, and Sports Goods
FYI, you might find baseball games in all of these classes. And perhaps also in other classes.
Games can also be found in other classes and subclasses, or cross-indexed with multiple classifications.
Online Patent Resources
- Google Patent Search. Search the text of all US patents since 1790, and retrieve matching patent images.
- US patents. All US patents are online at the US Patent and Trademark Office. However, only images are available for most patents from 1795 to 1975. Patent images are in .TIF format. Searching of the patent text is available for patents since 1975.
- Free Patents Online includes PDFs of all US patents, and recent European patents
- Great Britain's The Patent Office