Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Piece moves over board having pattern
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-02
2001-08-21
Pierce, William M. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Piece moves over board having pattern
C273S248000, C273S431000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276686
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to board games, and more particularly to a board game for teaching responsible drinking.
2. Description of Related Art
Various board games have been developed to teach certain skills and/or moral lessons. Darrow, U.S. Pat. No. 2,026,082, teaches a well-known board game commonly known as MONOPOLY®, which teaches trading and bartering in the field of real estate. As part of the game play, the game teaches players “trading and striking shrewd bargains.”
Hill et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,179, teaches a drug awareness board game. Players of this game assume the identities of police officers to fight a ware against crack cocaine. MacRae, U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,966, teaches a board game based on possible experiences of a player consuming liquor in relation to a time span in liquor establishments which includes a game board having a series of playing locations thereon and forming a playing path about the board. The liquor establishments are adjacent some of the playing locations. Player tokens are provided for moving on the playing locations and the stop locations. A pair of dice is used to move the player tokens about said playing and stop locations. A series of cards each bearing indicia indicating a type of drink, its liquor content, a message to the player, the amount of liquor consumed and the time spent during the consumption is provided. A blood alcohol concentration level chart is provided which has time increments versus ounces of liquor for ascertaining a state of drunkenness. A display board is provided which includes a dial for recording elapsed time and a dial to record the amount of liquor consumed. The player token is provided with a removable rigid head to indicate sobriety which is replaced by a head which flexes to indicate drunkenness. A series of cards is provided on each of which is indicia stating possible consequences to a player who is drunk and lands on a road hazard playing location. A police car is also provided as a means of eliminating a drunken driver from the game. The police car is moved in either direction on the path as dictated by dice.
The prior art teaches various board games that teach skills or moral lessons, including the dangers and consequences of drunk driving. However, the prior art does not teach a board game that teaches players to take a taxi cab home after drinking to avoid accidents or arrest. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
The present invention provides a board game for teaching responsible drinking to a plurality of players. The board game includes a playing board having a start position and an end position connected by a pathway that extends about the surface of the playing board between the start position and the end position. The board game further includes a plurality of vehicle game pieces, each vehicle game piece being assigned to one of the plurality of players, and a plurality of a taxi game pieces. At least some of the playing positions provide an instruction, the instruction sometimes including a negative consequence of drinking instruction, or a cab calling instruction. The negative consequence of drinking instruction provides for some consequence having a negatively perceived effect upon the player who lands upon the playing position. The cab calling instruction allows the player to replace the vehicle game piece with the taxi game piece. The taxi game piece has the advantage of ignoring any of the negative consequence of drinking instructions upon which it might land, thereby teaching the players the desirability of calling a cab when drinking.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a board game having advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide a board game that teaches responsible drinking to a plurality of players.
A further objective is to provide a board game that is easy to learn and fun to play.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2026082 (1935-12-01), Darrow
patent: 4216966 (1980-08-01), MacRae
patent: 4283059 (1981-08-01), Beeder
patent: 4323249 (1982-04-01), Brady
patent: 5071134 (1991-12-01), Burroughs, Jr.
patent: 5244391 (1993-09-01), Bryant
patent: 5259623 (1993-11-01), Kanelos
patent: 5350179 (1994-09-01), Hill et al.
patent: 5544891 (1996-08-01), Gibson et al.
patent: 5645279 (1997-07-01), Reutlinger
patent: 5722658 (1998-03-01), Talmage et al.
patent: 5810358 (1998-09-01), Manson
Karich Eric
Pierce William M.
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