Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Alignment games
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-09
2001-12-04
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Alignment games
C273S236000, C273S264000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06325374
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to board games and, more particularly, to a board game involving the placement of tokens on spaces of a game board associated with indicia on selected playing cards.
Various board games utilizing playing cards and tokens for placement upon spaces of a game board have been proposed in the art, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,029,871, 5,377,992, 5,332,229, and 5,601,288. While assumably effective for their intended purposes, each of these board games lack an educational element for making the game beneficial both to young children and adults.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a board game which includes a game board divided into a plurality of spaces bearing at least two types of indicia. It is further desirable to have a board game which includes a plurality of cards with at least two types of indicia associated with the indicia of the game board spaces. Finally, it is desirable to have a method of playing a board game in which tokens are positioned upon spaces of the game board according to the mental association of indicia on selected cards with indicia on the game board spaces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A board game according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a rectangular game board having one hundred rectangular spaces of equal dimension, two each of the spaces having a combination of color and pictorial indicia different than a combination of color and pictorial indicia of any other two spaces. The board game further includes two decks of game cards with the cards of the second deck being identical to the cards of the first deck. Each card includes a combination of color and alphabetical indicia associated with the combination of indicia of two spaces on the game board. For example, a card may present the word “horse” on a blue background. A child learning to read and identify colors would be required to associate both the word “horse” and the color blue with a game board space presenting a picture of a horse on a blue background. In a simpler embodiment, a card may present a picture of a horse on a blue background, merely requiring the child to match both the color and picture with the correct space. The types and content of indicia of the spaces and cards may vary according to desired target users.
The board game further includes a plurality of tokens for placement upon spaces having indicia associated with the indicia of particular cards. Each token includes a disk-like configuration having radial rim surfaces about top and bottom sides thereof. Each rim surface includes a plurality of flange
otch combinations for stacking tokens atop one another. Different colored tokens may be provided or top and bottom sides of each token may present different colors.
The method of game play according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention involves shuffling the two decks of cards into a single deck and distributing five cards to each player. Although a plurality of players may play the game together, the players are divided into two teams with each team having its own distinct set of tokens. In sequence, each player discards a card and places a token on the game board space associated with indicia on the card. This step requires the player to mentally associate the combination of indicia on the particular card with the combination of indicia of a corresponding space. Particular cards are designated as wild cards or special wild cards allowing a player to position a token on any desired space or to remove another player's previously positioned token, respectively. Play continues until a player or player team positions his tokens on two series of five adjacent horizontal, vertical, or diagonal spaces.
Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide a board game and method of play which involves placing tokens on a game board by associating indicia of a selected card with indicia of a corresponding space.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a board game and method of play, as aforesaid, which involves associating a combination of indicia of a card with a combination of indicia of a corresponding game board space.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a board game and method of play, as aforesaid, which includes stackable tokens.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a board game and method of play, as aforesaid, which is both entertaining and educational.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a board game and method of play, as aforesaid, which requires a predetermined number of a player's tokens to be positioned on adjacent spaces to be declared the winner.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, embodiments of this invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5029871 (1991-07-01), Willson, Jr. et al.
patent: 5332229 (1994-07-01), Fielder et al.
patent: 5377992 (1995-01-01), Audet
patent: 5601288 (1997-02-01), White et al.
Burger Eric A.
Burger Kathleen A.
Layno Benjamin H.
Mendiratta V K
Ream Dale J.
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