Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Piece moves over board having pattern
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-20
2004-04-13
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3722)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Piece moves over board having pattern
C273S241000, C273S261000, C273S280000, C273S282200, C273S283000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06719289
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART
The game of chess is a two-player board game played upon an eight square by eight square game board. In chess there is a plurality of sixteen game pieces. In chess the game pieces are set up on the first two rows of each player's side. In chess there are six different types of game pieces, each of which has it's own unique set of movements. In chess, turns alternate between the two opposing black and white game pieces. In chess, the game pieces represent a hierarchy of power within a feudal system were lesser empowered game pieces are expendable, strategically used to force moves of the opponent's higher-ranking game pieces.
Chess is an intriguing game but does not work well with the concept of one board with overlapping layers of playing fields. Chess has many complicated rules and movements, and virtually no element of chance.
A large number of chess games, chess-like games, expanded chess, enlarged and unique shaped game boards have been proposed over the years. There are some chess-like games, of which have been issued patents, where there exists an element of chance, concealment, change in direction, or control of multiple sets of game pieces.
U.S Pat. No. 4,546,981 to Elizondo describes a checkers or chessboard with detachable strips that could be turned one hundred-eighty degrees thus changing the direction of the game pieces where they reside.
U.S Pat. No. 4,093,237 to Weiss describes a two to four-player chess-like game whereby the initial setup of the game pieces were concealed by placement of blinders in front of each player's game pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,159 to Fortunato et al. describes a chess game involving dice as a chance element and money.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,887 to Christie, Jr. describes a medieval military conflict board game for two to four-player whereby said game uses dice and different decks of cards as elements of chance. The cards are drawn and consist of, magic cards, lair cards, guardian cards, ancient relic cards, and defeated playing piece markers. The cards provide instructions during the play of the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,602 to McLoy describes a four-player chess game whereby the object is to eliminate the opposing kings and checkmate the last king. The game is played in teams or singles. In singles play, an opposing king is checkmated whereby all the conquered player's game pieces are removed from the board. This is done until only two players remain and one of the kings is checkmated.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,029 to Carmichael et al. describes an educational game for teaching chess that can use playing markers and chess type dice and cards that requires the winner be the player who scored the most captured chess pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,474 to Tachlov et al. describes a two to four-player chess-like game whereby alliances may be formed and dissolved, and one army may control other armies.
The above patents are generally variations of chess in one way or another, that require sophisticated instructions that significantly add to the existing instructions of chess type play with or without additionally physical objects such as blinders and dice. None of these games applies the combination of a game having the sophistication of chess, yet is simpler to play than chess and has greater unpredictability than chess.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary objective of the invention is to provide a game board with playing pieces and methods of play that is as sophisticated as chess, has greater levels of chance and unpredictability and is simple to play.
A secondary objective of the invention is to provide a game board such as a chess board with playing pieces and methods of play using playing cards that are combined with the movements of the playing pieces for use with two to four players.
A third objective of the invention is to provide a game board such as a checkers board with playing pieces and methods of play using playing cards that are combined with the movements of the playing pieces for use with two to four players.
A fourth objective of the invention is to provide a game board such as an eight by eight grid with playing pieces and methods of play using playing cards that are combined with the movements of the playing pieces for use with two to four players.
DiCon was initially conceived as a game idea of a multi-layered overlay graph. The idea of multiple overlays then was adapted for board game use, theorizing that games could be played on one game board but on several virtual-overlay levels as long as the game is broken into individual elements.
By using virtual-overlays, called Planes of Play, to formulate the game and explain the travel of direction oriented game pieces, DiCon can be a complex game with simple rules. The use of Alternate Movement Cards brings an element of chance to the game. The complexity of the game increases as the number of players and as the options increase, thereby giving players the chance to increase to higher levels of skill.
The name, DiCon, is derived from Di, which means two; and con, which has several meanings but is used in the context of, to study or to deceive. The Di part of the DiCon, represents the two virtual layers of thought that must be maintained, pertaining to the game-piece orientation and movements, and the orientation of the Additional Movement Cards. The Con part of DiCon, represents the deception and study part, whereby the concealed cards and individual game piece movements are used to form a strategy of play.
DiCon is not a chess game but has some similarities. The type of game board in DiCon is similar to chess. In chess and DiCon there is a plurality of sixteen game pieces. In chess and DiCon there are six different types of game pieces each of which has a unique set of standard movements. In chess and DiCon, turns alternate between the two opposing colors of game pieces.
DiCon has a plurality of sixteen game pieces that are unlike chess pieces in that they have a front and a back, and the moves have orientation that is directly related to the facing direction of the game piece. When a game piece reaches the limits of the play board, on the facing opponent's camp, the game piece is turned around to face the opposite direction. When the game piece is turned around, the game piece 'standard movements, of which are oriented to the direction the game piece is facing, are also turned around.
There is a chance element of up to 50 cards, where each player is dealt seven or eleven cards, forty-nine of which represent an additional single-space movement in one of eight different directions; or the Swap card is used. Dealing the cards is done by alternately dealing rounds of cards to the players. The card hand is concealed from the opponents, only to reveal a card when it is played. The orientation of the movement in which the card represents is always oriented to the view of the player who plays the card, even if the direction of selected game piece has changed.
In the two-player game, the player who does not deal the cards makes the first board move. In the four-player game, the player to the left of the dealer makes the first board-move. The turns at dealing of cards is done in a clockwise fashion as well.
In DiCon, the game pieces represent a hierarchy of power within a professional military type system whereas no game piece is expendable and even the perceived least powerful game pieces may win the game. The focus of play is from the perspective of the warrior, not the ruler's view. The game piece movements are not forced by sacrifice. When the cards are dealt, each player, making use of the Additional Movement Cards, forms strategies to capture opposing game pieces. The use of this element of surprise, when a game card is played, makes any game piece formidable.
The four-player game has a larger fourteen by fourteen square play-board and uses a quadruple of sixteen game pieces, each set of sixteen being of a different color. This expansion of the game to a four-player board does not change the basic rules of the game, howe
Brown Louise Marie
Brown Mary Lou
Brown Stephen W.
Collins Dolores R.
Law Offices of Brian S. Steinberger , P.A.
Layno Benjamin H.
Steinberger Brian S.
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