A control system CS interfaces a multiplicity of individual terminals T1-Tn
through a telephone network facility CO to accommodate game formats. At
the terminals T1-Tn, callers are prompted by voice-generated instructions
to provide digital data that is identified for positive association with a
caller and stored, as for processing. Calls are conditionally accepted
based on a test of preliminary identification data (ANI or DNIS). Computer
generated designations are assigned to callers and stored. Questions for
game use are stored in banks, classified by order of difficulty for
selection according to various formats. Specific game formats accommodate
various time criteria and caller selection of degree of risk. Caller data
is stored in cells along with statistical and identification data; also,
key contest data is held accessible in a cache memory for reporting.
Caller data may be processed individually or in interrelated formats as
with reference to random or source data as to establish progressive
subsets. A break-off control circuit may terminate the computer interface
aborting to a manual terminal for direct communication with an operator.
Real-time operation processing is an alternative to subsequently
processing stored data.