Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Piece moves over board having pattern
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-16
2001-04-10
Ricci, John A. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Piece moves over board having pattern
C273S247000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213468
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a board game which, in each of its different variants, represents one of a variety of games in which teams of human players attempt to gain control of a playing piece such as a ball and score a goal with it.
An object of the invention is to provide a board game which can be played by two players, represents a real life game of the type set out above such as football, basketball, ice hockey, American football, etc. and provides situations commonly encountered in the course of playing the real life game to thereby provide the same type of excitement as is encountered when playing or spectating the real life game. Two major sources of such excitement involve (i) taking possession of the playing piece (which will be referred to simply as a ball at some points below, although it may be an ice hockey puck or some other playing piece) and (ii) encountering situations in which players have unequal chances of gaining success in a particular part of the play.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a board game which does not include individual pieces each of which represents a human player and a playing piece which is physically moved between the players and needs to be physically projected into a goal of the board in order for a goal to be scored. Some such indoor games with pieces representing human players have been produced in the past. Due to the generally static nature of the pieces representing the human players and the extremely small size of the indoor playing area compared to that used by human players, the games tend not to provide a level of excitement anywhere near that encountered when spectating or playing a real life game.
According to the invention there is provided a board game comprising:
(i) a board defining a playing area divided into two halves each of which is subdivided into regions each bearing an indicia;
(ii) a playing piece for movement between the regions;
(iii) means for randomly determining to which region the playing piece is moved;
(iv) means for randomly determining the outcome of an event associated with the region on which the playing piece is situated; and
(v) rules determining how two opposing players may move the playing piece in an attempt to achieve a specified aim.
Preferably the playing piece random movement determining means comprises at least part of the event random outcome determining means, and more preferably each random determining means comprises a plurality of like random number generating means.
Conveniently each half defines n regions where n is a whole number multiple m of the maximum number generatable by each of the like random number generating means and the regions of each half of the board are each marked with one indicia which comprises one of the numbers from 1 to n.
When each half comprises 12 regions the maximum number generatable by each random number generating means is preferably 6.
The rules preferably provide that when the playing piece moves to a new region, a play-off for control of the playing piece takes place involving:
(a) each player utilising m random number generating means; and
(b) the player obtaining the highest cumulative number moving the playing piece to the region of the opponent's half of the board marked with the number corresponding to the highest cumulative number. Such rules preferably also provide that in the course of a play-off for control of the playing piece, if one player generates with the random number generating means a cumulative number corresponding to the number of the region on which the playing piece is situated the play-off is repeated.
In order to make the playing of the game as varied and interesting as possible preferably the event random outcome determining means is adaptable to be conditionally biased in favour of one player. Such conditional biasing may conveniently be effected by the players using different numbers of the random number generating means when deciding the outcome of one or more specified events.
Preferably the rules provide that the player generating the highest single number by means of any one of the random number generating means used succeeds in the event being decided upon.
In football, basketball and ice hockey versions of the game, preferably each half of the board has a goal associated therewith and the rules specify:
(i) that a player can attempt to score in the goal of the opponent at least when either the player has moved the playing piece to a region of the opponent's half designated for such a purpose or the player has generated two identical numbers with two of the random number generating means; and
(ii) situations in which an attempt to score a goal is a specified event subject to said conditional biasing.
In an enhanced version of the game employing conditional biasing, preferably the board is divided into multi-region sectors and the game further comprises biasing integer recording and display means with which each player can record a biasing integer for each sector to determine the number of random number generating means used by a player in the course of playing-off for control of the playing piece when it is situated in a region of that sector, the rules providing that such playing-off is a specified event subject to said conditional biasing. Such recording and display means will facilitate the recording of such biasing integers and allow both players to easily see what biasing integers the other player has chosen. Preferably the biasing integer recording and display means for each player includes selectively displayable integer groups each group containing the same number of integers, which number corresponds to the number of sectors on the board and the sum of the integers of each group being the same.
In order to make the game even more interesting the rules provided that a player may at certain stages of the game change the biasing integers recorded for each sector.
Preferably at least one region of each half is marked to indicate that a player moving the playing piece to that region loses control of the playing piece.
So as to increase the unpredictableness of each game played and to provide a means to make the playing of the board game more like the playing of the real game, preferably the game further comprises cards which provide, in a random manner, instructions concerning the playing of the game and at least one region of each half is marked to indicate that a player moving the playing piece to that region should draw one of the cards. Advantageously some cards include instructions to be followed immediately upon being drawn and others included strategic instructions and may be retained by a player for subsequent use. More preferably the game includes plural different sets of cards and each region marked to indicate that a card should be taken is also marked to indicate from which set a card should be drawn.
When such cards are provided the rules may determine that when the playing piece moves to a region marked to indicate that a card should be drawn, a play-off between the players occurs to determine what subsequent action should be taken.
A version of the game in accordance with the present invention, which utilizes at least some of the features of the game referred to above and which represents a game of America football may also be provided. In such a game the board represents an American football pitch divided into ten strips each further subdivided into ten parts each representing one yard of a real pitch and the game further includes:
(i) a ten yard marker for selectively marking one of the strips of the board representing a ten yard strip of a real pitch;
(ii) a play position marker separate from the playing piece for temporarily marking a point of progress during a player's turn; and
(iii) a “downs” indicator for indicating how many “downs” or plays of a player's turn have been used. Preferably the “downs” indicator is adapted to individually and sequentially display the numbers 1 to 4 and the game further comprises random play type determining means for
Van Dalen Arend Pieter
Van Dalen Rob
Biebel & French
Ricci John A.
LandOfFree
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