The issue is rather that patents are intended to protect novel inventions not abstract ideas. In this case, I would say the transmitter is an invention but a game based on the transmitter is an idea that shouldn’t be patentable (likewise with many other ‘method’ patents).

In the bigger picture, the result of courts’ and the USPTO’s decision to lower the bar for patentable subject matter has given rise to a flood of litigation rather than furthering innovation.

There are other ways for small companies to protect their ideas — branding, trademark and trade secrets to name a few — that don’t trigger the massive legal consequences that can arise with patents.

A small company invented a new toy. The Hide N Seek system is the toy’s key feature, and nobody had thought of it before. The company patented their invention, and then a much larger company later built a toy that features the same invention as a core feature.