Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Piece moves over board having pattern
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-23
2001-05-01
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Piece moves over board having pattern
C273S262000, C273S431000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06224056
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a game playable on a board and, more particularly, to an educational board game and method for teaching occupational skills.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It has become increasingly difficult to maintain occupational skills at an appropriate level in today's world of complex technology. Maintaining a sufficient skill level among staff members, employees or volunteers is particularly difficult in situations in which the individual is not employed full time in the occupation in question. A typical example is the case of a volunteer fireman or member of a National Guard organization whose training is primarily conducted in short sessions separated by long periods of inactivity. In order to maintain readiness and keep occupational skills at an acceptable level, it would be desirable to provide a training device that would reinforce information learned in formal training sessions.
In order for a training device to be effective, it must be capable of capturing and holding the attention of the user, while at the same time conveying necessary information to the user in a manner in which it will be readily retained. For example, training manuals and video tapes, while containing all of the relevant information required by the user, generally do not generate sufficient interest to hold the attention of the user in a manner that insures relevant information will be retained. Accordingly, while one can require an individual to read a manual, listen to a tape or watch a video, it is questionable as to whether a sufficient amount of relevant information is ultimately transferred from these training materials to the individual required to perform the described tasks. Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a training device that not only conveys the necessary information, but does so in a manner that an individual finds interesting and entertaining, so the individual will be interested in using the training device on a regular basis and will be more likely to retain relevant information conveyed by the training device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides an educational board game and method for teaching occupational skills that conveys relevant occupational education information to a user in an interesting and entertaining manner, thereby encouraging the user to utilize the board game and method on a regular basis to reinforce basic training information and learn new training information.
More specifically, the invention comprises an educational board game, wherein players progress for correctly answering questions from various categories of a selected occupational education subject matter, that includes:
a game board having a playing surface that includes a center portion representing a goal to be achieved, a boundary area surrounding the center portion and comprising a plurality of starting point spaces, each space bearing a visual indicator, and a plurality of movement spaces interspersed between the starting point spaces, each movement space bearing a visual indicator of an occupational education subject category, and spoke areas connecting the center space with the boundary area and comprising further movement spaces;
a plurality of individual game pieces, each game piece bearing a visual indicator corresponding to a starting point space;
a plurality of question and answer cards, each card bearing a visual indicator corresponding to one or more movement spaces;
a plurality of penalty cards;
a chance means for determining movement along the boundary area and spoke area; and a plurality of tokens to be awarded as each game piece reaches a starting point space.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, a method for playing an educational board game includes having a first player select a game piece and place it upon a starting point, activating the chance means to indicate the number of spaces said first player is to advance said game piece along the boundary area in any direction from the starting space, advancing the game piece the number of spaces indicated by said chance means to a movement space, selecting a question and answer card bearing a corresponding visual indicator to that of the movement space and asking the first player the question thereon, timing the first player while he or she answers said question, allowing the first player to play again if he or she answers correctly within a pre-selected time period or, if he or she answers incorrectly, passing the chance means to the next player, unless the question card is marked as critical, wherein said first player is required to draw a penalty card and to perform the penalty described thereon before passing the chance means to the next player, continuing play through all players until at least one player has visited each starting point space, collected a token from each, and progressed along a spoke area to enter the central area where a final question, chosen by the other players, is answered.
Additional features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
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Eshete Zelalem
Gerrity Stephen F.
Media Works, LLC
Rossi & Associates
LandOfFree
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