Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Memory or matching games
Utility Patent
1999-05-27
2001-01-02
Ricci, John A. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Memory or matching games
C273S258000, C273S429000
Utility Patent
active
06168159
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates in general to an apparatus and method for playing a matching game, and in particular to an apparatus and method for playing a matching game wherein team members obtain points and advance on a game board by matching one of their teammates' answers and wherein the team which advances furthest on the board after a pre-determined number of rounds wins the game.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
People are always seeking new, exciting and educational methods to entertain themselves, their family and their friends. Too often, when people gather, they entertain themselves by watching television. This limits the interaction between people. To enhance the interaction between people, numerous games have been developed. Board games such as Monopoly® and Trivial Pursuit® have been extremely successful. However, many board games have been unsuccessful because they are too complicated, require specialized knowledge on particular subjects or are simply not exciting or fun to play. Accordingly, there is a need for an exciting, educational and fun board game for groups of people to play.
To address this problem, several board games have been developed. For example, (i) U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,939 entitled “Question and Answer Game Apparatus and Method”; (ii) U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,775 entitled “Game Relating to Personal Relationships”; (iii) U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,066 entitled “Method of Playing a Thesaurus Game”; and (iv) U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,801 entitled “Synonym and Antonym Question and Answer Board Game” disclose a variety of games. None of these games disclose the matching game of the present invention.
It is also well known that a television game show entitled “Match Game” was televised for several years. The game included two contestants or players who competed against each other, six semi-famous panelist and a host. The players tried to match the answers given by the panelist to incomplete expressions or phrases. The players earned dollars by matching the panelist answers to the incomplete expressions. The player with the most dollars after a predetermined period of time won the game and kept their winnings. The winner then had an opportunity to win additional prize money by picking a panelist and matching the panelist's answer to an additional incomplete expression or phase. However, the televised “Match Game” does not disclose, teach or suggest the apparatus or method for playing the matching game of the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus and method of the present invention provides an educational, exciting and entertaining matching game which utilizes common knowledge and the English language. The overall object of the game is for each team to obtain points by matching the answers given by one of the player's teammates to complete certain expressions or phrases. The number of possible answers to complete the expressions or phrases is unlimited. There are no right or wrong answers and the players do not need specialized knowledge in any particular subject matter. The answers depend entirely upon what each player thinks is the best way to complete the expression or what each player expects the other players on his or her team to think is the best way to complete the expression. The matching game makes the players interact with each other and develop better language skills.
A team obtains points when one or more of the teammates match the answer given by a selected teammate (i.e., the “reader”) who reads an incomplete expression or phrase (i.e., an “incomplete expression”) from a selected match card. A match may be worth different point values depending on the difficulty of the incomplete expression, on the outcome of a roll of a die or dice, or on other variables. The game is divided into a plurality of rounds, preferably including three regular rounds and one bonus round. A regular round consists of each player on each team taking a turn as the reader of the incomplete expression on the match card. After the regular rounds, the players play a bonus round. The bonus round consists of one player on each team taking a turn as the reader of the incomplete expression on the match card. After the bonus round, the winner of the game is the team which has advanced furthest on the board by obtaining the most points.
The preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention includes a game board, a die, a plurality of match cards, a plurality of answer ballots and a plurality of game pieces. The game board preferably includes one-hundred forty-four consecutively numbered spaces. The die preferably is a six-sided die having two sides with one dot, two sides with two dots and two sides with three dots, respectively representing one point, two points and three points. The match cards include a deck of 1 & 2 point match cards and a deck of 3 point match cards. The 1 & 2 point match cards preferably include one incomplete expression and the 3 point match cards preferably include one incomplete expression. The game pieces preferably include a plurality of differently colored or shaped pieces which are adapted to, represent and distinguish each team. The answer ballots enable each player to secretly write their answers to each of the incomplete expressions in each round.
The method for playing the matching game of the present invention includes the general steps of selecting at least two teams comprised of at least two players per team, selecting a game piece for each team, playing three regular rounds of the matching game, playing one bonus round of the matching game and determining the winning team. It should be appreciated that the number of regular rounds and the number of bonus rounds could vary in accordance with the present invention.
The first regular round includes the steps of: (i) selecting a player from a team to be the reader; (ii) the reader rolling the die to determine the point value of a match during the reader's turn and to determine which type of match card to select; (iii) the reader selecting a 1 & 2 point match card or a 3 point match card, based on the outcome of the roll of the die; (iv) the reader reading the incomplete expression on the selected match card; (v) the reader and each player on the same team as the reader (i.e., the “reader's teammates”) writing down their answer on the answer ballot to the incomplete expression on the match card read by the reader; (vi) comparing the answer of the reader with the answers of reader's teammates; (vii) calculating points to be awarded according to the value of the match and the number of matches of the reader's teammates with the answer of the reader; (viii) advancing the team's game piece on the game board according to the number of points awarded to the team; and (ix) repeating the above steps for each player on each team, whereby each player has had a turn at being the reader and the teams rotate turns. The second and third regular rounds of the matching game are played by repeating the steps of the first round.
The bonus round includes the steps of: (i) selecting a player from a team to be the reader in the bonus round; (ii) the reader rolling the die to determine the point value of the match in the bonus round; (iii) the reader randomly selecting a 3 point match card; (iv) the reader reading the incomplete expression on the selected 3 point match card; (v) the reader and the reader's teammates writing down their answers on the answer ballot to the incomplete expression on the match 3 point card read by the reader; (vi) comparing the answer of the reader with the answers of reader's teammates; (vii) calculating points to be awarded according to the value of the match and the number of matching answers; and (viii) advancing the team's game piece on the game board according to the number of points awarded to the team. The above steps are repeated in the bonus round for each of the other teams. In the bonus round, a “one” on the die is worth ten points per match, a “two” on the die is worth twenty points per match and
Bell Boyd & Lloyd LLC
Ricci John A.
LandOfFree
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