Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Piece moves over board having pattern
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-16
2001-08-28
Chapman, Jeanette (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Piece moves over board having pattern
C273S431000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279908
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a board game that is designed to convey instruction and information about the disease of diabetes mellitus as well as to provide entertainment. More specifically, the board game of the invention is designed to educate the players as to the relationship between the disease and diet, medications, side effects, etc., employing questions and answers and role playing simulation as a teaching technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
Board games have been developed for various educational purposes. Board games have been developed for educating adults concerning general nutrition (salt, sugar, cholesterol, etc.) information (U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,721 issued to McKay Aug. 16,1983) and exercise and diet (U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,645 issued to Goodman et al., Nov. 5, 1991). A nutrition and exercise game aimed a three to six year old children is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,9863,757 issued to Mueller Jan. 22, 1991.
An educational game to teach general preventive heath care is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,309 issued to Joel on Jan. 1, 1993. A board game to provide education on the risk of AIDS is described in U.K. Patent 2,215,222 issued Sep. 20, 1989 to McCorquodale, et al. A board game to test general knowledge is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,805 issued Jan. 15, 1991 to Medlock. A board game to provide education on the meaning and spelling of words is described in U.K. Patent 2,229,930 issued to Bescoby. A motorized spinner with switches capable of being operated by various body parts to make board games accessible to the handicapped is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,295 issued Dec. 12, 1995 to Demshuk.
None of the foregoing inventions is seen to provide education on the diet of the diabetic, medications for the diabetic, side effects, and various other aspects of the disease. None of the foregoing inventions is seen to incorporate role playing or simulation of the various aspects of a disease into the format of a board game as a method of reinforcing the teachings on the disease.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a diabetes mellitus game solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Diabetes mellitus is a serious health problem afflicting 2% to 4% of the population, with similar percentages of the population having abnormal glucose tolerance. Sadly, most people do not become educated to the effects of the disease and its impact on the life style of the diabetic until they or someone in their family become afflicted with the disease.
As shown in the prior art, educational games traditionally rely solely on the player's verbal memory skills to educate the player about health issues.
The present invention describes a board game having a plurality of sequentially marked spaces, with a chance determining means such as a die or spinner to control the rate at which a player's piece traverses the board. The majority of spaces have a means, preferably color coding, associating the space with a class of questions relating to diabetes. As a player's piece lands on particular spaces, the player must respond to questions regarding various aspects of the disease diabetes mellitus, such as diet, medications, signs, symptoms and side effects of the disease. Failure to answer the question correctly results in assessment of a penalty, requiring the player to engage in a benign activity simulating a side effect of the disease, such as being required to walk to the bathroom and close the door to simulate polyurea. The penalty must be repeated before each succeeding turn, hence it may have to be repeated many times in the course of one game. The repetition of role playing behavior is used as a device to reinforce teachings concerning the disease and further impress information concerning the disease in the player's memory.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an apparatus comprising a game board, player pieces, a chance determining means, and question and answer cards conveying information about diabetes mellitus in order to educate and disseminate information concerning the disease.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method of using the apparatus to improve education concerning the disease by incorporating role playing and simulation of the various aspects of a disease into the format of a board game.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of providing education and information concerning the disease of diabetes which also provides entertainment.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4398721 (1983-08-01), McKay
patent: 4984805 (1991-01-01), Medlock
patent: 4986757 (1991-01-01), Mueller
patent: 5062645 (1991-11-01), Goodman et al.
patent: 5215309 (1993-06-01), Joel
patent: 5228860 (1993-07-01), Hale
patent: 5316308 (1994-05-01), Stembokas
patent: 5435565 (1995-07-01), Benaderet
patent: 5474295 (1995-12-01), Demshuk
patent: 5556100 (1996-09-01), Taylor et al.
patent: 5704611 (1998-01-01), Pierce
patent: 2215222 (1989-09-01), None
patent: 2229930 (1990-10-01), None
Chapman Jeanette
Litman Richard C.
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