Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Game board having pattern separable into sections
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-08
2004-05-18
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Game board having pattern separable into sections
C273S282100, C273S284000, C273S285000, C273S287000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06736398
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a board game apparatus and particularly to a board game apparatus having a playing surface of the type which includes outermost edges defining the range of movement of the playing pieces, the surface providing the area on which the playing pieces (and other apparatus used to play a game) may be placed and/or moved.
The invention more particularly relates to a board game apparatus having a playing surface whose dimensions can be changed in order to suit the requirements of a particular game, such as the addition of extra players, thereby seeking to replace the traditional, square (often chequered) or rectangular games boards in current use.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The term “board”, “layout”, “playing surface” and “playing area” as used interchangeably herein are intended to indicate the major plain, patterned, illustrated or otherwise ornamented surface on which a game is played. The terms are not intended to be used in a limiting manner and no such interpretation is to be taken or inferred.
The “playing surface” need not be limited to a physical embodiment and the corresponding representations of the playing surface on a television or computer screen are included within the intended scope of the invention.
Square game boards (particularly square, chequered boards) are common and even board games that are of a distinctive design are often contained within the confines of a folding square board. Making a games board that is “different” is often the single most important factor in determining the success or otherwise of a new board game.
The square board is universally known and the established board format of many traditional board games for two players. The chequered board is a most common variant but other patterns and surface ornamentations are known. Of these traditional games many, particularly two player games such as chess, checkers and backgammon are inevitably limited by the surface on which these games are played. Even board games that do not rely on the checkerboard often use a folding square board on which to play the game. Attempts at changing the board format of two player board games in order to accommodate additional players are well know. The exposition below necessarily concentrates on the efforts made to adapt the games of chess, checkers and backgammon in this fashion. However, each idea proposes a solution only to one associated problem. To date there has been no universal system for the general adaptation of two player boards to boards suitable for games between two or more players.
Three and four player versions of board games traditionally played by two people (such as chess and draughts) are known. However, a different board must be purchased for each eventuality (that is, two, three or four players), a disincentive to those people who may only wish to purchase one board. The alternative, to buy a larger board accommodating greater numbers of players, has its drawbacks. Such boards are often cumbersome and, if fewer than the maximum number sit down to play, may require asymmetric starting positions (where one or other player has a decisive advantage) or protracted play in view of the larger area to be covered. Such boards may also require the use of non-traditional playing pieces and/or associated rules far removed from the original game it seeks to emulate.
In order to add variety to games like chess and checkers numerous adaptations to the traditional chequered board have been proposed. There have been vertical boards, three-dimensional boards, and a variety of folding and boxed arrangements. Of background relevance to the disclosure of the present invention, U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,362 (Fisher, 1979) proposes a chess board made of cubes having on each face a printed chess piece or coloured square. During the course of a game, the cubes are orientated in a manner which places the intended piece or empty square uppermost. U.S. Pat. No. 3,406,975 (Berger, 1968) divides the chessboard into sections and provided additional sections on which captured pieces are optionally placed in their respective starting positions to facilitate faster game piece set up in subsequent games. U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,476 (Eplett, 1987) divides the chessboard into quadrants which, using squares of a different height, are relocatable to form ‘mountain’ and ‘valley’ landscapes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,840 (Johnson, Jr., 1991) envisages a more complex game board building apparatus comprising interlocking square columns which are constructed to various heights thereby allowing a wide variety of ‘contoured’ game surfaces to be assembled.
In the above disclosures, the rules of chess remain unchanged and whether each innovation actually adds to the enjoyment of the game or merely detracts therefrom remains a matter of opinion. More notable modifications to the chequered board require significant departures from the rules of chess thereby spawning ideas for new games. U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,326 (Bialek) employs a die to introduce the element of chance. U.S. Pat. No. 1,955,795 (Ekbom, 1934) divides the playing surface into component rows which are swappable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,969 (Williams, Jr., 1990) describes a board in which the squares themselves can be removed.
Many chessboards comprising two or more playing surfaces have come into existence. U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,751 (Ching, 1991) proposes a pyramidal chess-like game whilst U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,060 (Riuhiluoma et al., 1985) envisages a two-tier board and ‘obstructed’ squares. The chequered board itself has also been ‘disassembled’ and used as the basis of many challenging puzzles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,388 (Wood, et al., 1999) uses a checkerboard on each side of a puzzle that must be constructed from component polyminoes.
Despite all this endeavour, few ideas have approached the enduring popularity of chess in its purest form. Chess is complex enough without making it more so and variety already exists in the many offshoots of the game, mainly those based on new sets of rules (such as games that start with fewer pieces). Most devotees are not persuaded by games that purport to be chess but clearly are not. There is an exception, however, in that multiple-player chess and checkers continue to ‘tweak’ the interest of players and new boards designed to accommodate more than two players are numerous. David Pritchard's
Encyclopedia of Chess Variants
lists thirty-one versions of three-player chess alone, the earliest of which dates back to 1765.
Players accept that the board and certain elements of the rules of the game must be modified to accommodate extra participants but wish for the necessary changes to be as unobtrusive to the spirit of the original game as possible. Board games that are far removed from recognisable chess include U.S. D. 55,455 (Day, 1920) which extends the square chequered playing field on each side by a depth of three squares to form a ‘cross’ shape. U.S. Pat. No. 694,509 (Winckfield, 1902) uses a similar board shape with rules akin to checkers. U.S. Pat. No. 511,306 (Moore, 1898) makes some attempt to keep to the rules of chess and checkers. The board, which requires assembly, employs four “tongue and groove” extensions (one on each side of a checkerboard) to convert it into a board for three and four players. U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,666 (Adams, 1992), U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,414 (Stephens, et al., 1994), U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,849 (Navin, 1996), U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,762 (Wearley, 1996), U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,399 (Kifer, 2000) and others all employ very similar boards with each game version being distinguished from the other by subtle rule changes.
All of the boards referred to above suffer from being overly large. Furthermore, the central 8×8 square arena remained, for the most part, unaltered and at the start of play, chess pieces were placed adjacent to one another at right angles. This required the pieces to interact with one another quite unnaturally. As the number of players round the board increased so too did the playing area but in a manner which was dispropo
King & Jovanovic, PLC
Layno Benjamin H.
Mendiratta Vishu K
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