Amusement devices: games – Physical skill or ability – Game element capture or pick up using manual dexterity
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-03
2001-11-20
Pierce, William M. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Physical skill or ability
Game element capture or pick up using manual dexterity
C273S146000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06318725
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Jacks or Jackstone have been long played by children. It's been a game in which pieces of metal or pebbles are tossed up and caught in various ways. Each player bounces the ball and picks up the Jacks in between bounces.
Although, Jacks game is enjoyable it is still a children game. There is no challenges after a few minutes of playing and also there is no surprise for an experienced player.
It is desirable to provide a Jacks game which attracts all ages and gender attention.
It is desirable to provide a Jacks game that challenges dexterity and coordination of a player against any opponents.
It is finally desirable to provide a Jacks game in which the markings on the faces of the Jacks give instructions to the player or to the opponents either to skip, to go back, to make fun of him/herself or even announce that he/she wins the game.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The inadequacies of the prior Jacks game have been resolved by the present invention. This Jacks game includes four plastic trapezoidal Jacks and a rubber ball. Each Jack has six sides. Each Jack is presented as the bottom portion of a truncated pyramid. Therefore, the four regular sides are not parallel but the smaller base and the larger base are formally parallel. One side of each Jack is marked on the upper left and lower right corners with a literal indicia “A”, another side is marked with “B”, the smaller base is marked with “C” and the larger base is marked with indicia “D”. These literal indicia determine the sequence to follow during the game.
Place the four Jacks in front of you in a plane surface so as to have the A-faced up. Set them side by side and in ascendant numerical indicia. You see face
1
A, face
2
A, face
3
A, face
4
A. The literal indicia which is “A” in this side of the Jacks are marked on the upper left corners and the lower right corners of the trapezoidal Jacks. While, the upper right comers and the lower left comers are marked with numeric indicia: 1, 2, 3, or 4. The numeric indicia distinguish each Jack. So, there is Jack 1, Jack 2, Jack 3, Jack 4. The center of the A-faced side carries a suit. In this illustration it is a fish, which had been chosen arbitrarily.
Turn the Jacks to their next possible right side. You can see Jack I has the word “YOU” marked in it's central portion. Jack 2 carries the word “SHOULD,” Jack 3 has the word “GO BACK” and Jack 4 contains the words “2-STAGES”. These words combine in a sentence form “YOU SHOULD GO BACK 2-STAGES” these regular sides of the Jacks with words do not have literal indicia. They do not follow any particular sequence in the game. They are created to complete within themselves that sentence or to be interchanged among other faces to create other sentences that give different instructions to the players.
Turn the Jacks to their next possible right faces, the disposition is analogous to the A-faced Jacks. The upper left and lower right corners are marked with the literal indicia “B” which indicate that this is the second face to show up and to be picked up in the pinnacle of the competition. The upper right and the lower left corners carry the numerical indicia: 1, 2, 3, or 4. And the central portion of the Jacks has a suit. In this case, it is a dancer which also had been chosen arbitrarily.
Finally, turning the Jacks to their last next right sides, you realize that it is also analogous to the second phase of our demonstration. Jack 1 is marked with the word “MAKE” in its center. Jack 2 carries the word “FUN”, Jack 3 contains the word “OF” and Jack 4 has the words “YOURSELF”. These words together form the sentence “MAKE FUN OF YOURSELF”. The upper left and lower right comers do not contain any literal indicia. These sides of the Jacks like in the second phase do not follow the sequence of the pinnacle of the competition. They are created to complete among themselves that sentence or interchange with other faces to give different instructions. However the upper right and lower left corners have the indicia: 1, 2, 3, or 4 which differentiate each Jack from the other Jacks.
Now, place the larger bases of the Jacks over the plane surface and let the smaller bases be faced up. You can see Jack 1 has the word “I”, Jack 2 has the word “MUST”, Jack 3 is marked with “SKIP” and Jack 4 contains the word “I-STAGE”. Combine these words together you have “I MUST SKIP 1-STAGE”. Two opposite corners of these faces are marked with indicia “C” which indicate that this is the third stage in the regular sequence of the pyramid of the game. Unlike the four regular sides, the smaller bases are not marked with any numerical indicia.
And, the final faces of the trapezoidal Jacks consists in flipping the four Jacks so that the larger bases can be faced-up. The disposition of these sides is analogous to the prior phase or the smaller bases. The central portion of Jack 1 is marked with the word “I”, Jack 2 contains the word “WIN”, Jack 3 carries the word “IT” and Jack 4 has the word “ALL”. Combine in a sentence they form, “I WIN IT ALL”. Two opposite comers are marked with indicia “D” which explains that this is the fourth stage of the game or the one that follows the “C” stage. Like the smaller bases, the larger bases are not marked with any numerical indicia.
The game also includes a small rubber ball approximately one inch in diameter. The ball marks the tempo of the game or let's say the ball is the catalyst of the game.
The game is easy to learn, yet challenging to master. The game begins with a player holding all four trapezoidal Jacks in one hand. Turn hand over and gently drop Jacks onto playing surface. The object of the game is to drop the ball, pick up the Jacks, then catch the ball with the same hand. Let the ball hit the surface only once. They are four stages in the game designated by the four literal indicia. The player needs to start with the sides carrying the literal “A”, then the “B”, then the “C” and finally the “D”. If there is no A-faced Jack, then the player must flip each Jack onto its “A” side, catch the ball, drop the ball back, and then pick up the Jack and then catch the ball once again. Dropping the ball once again the player then picks up another A-faced Jack. This process continues for each of the four Jacks. If the player fails to catch the ball or handle the Jacks accordingly, then he/she loses the turn and must turn over the Jacks and ball to the next player. The rule of dropping the Jacks and catching the ball applies throughout the remainder of the game.
The next challenge is to pick up a set of two A-faced Jacks. There arc two two sets of A-faced Jacks in total.
If the player accomplishes this task, he/she must pick up an A-faced Jack, followed by a set of three A-faced Jacks. Finally to complete the first stage of the game the player must pick up all four A-faced Jacks in one gathering.
The second stage of the game will consist of the repetition of this numerically increasing activity using B-faced Jacks and then the third stage is doing it over with C-faced Jacks and finally the player must go through the same repetition for the D-faced Jacks to complete the pinnacle of the game.
Thus, so far the game is challenging, the most exciting moment of the game will be demonstrated in the illustrations that follow. Throughout the game, the dropping of the Jacks is very important to the player which dropped the ball and also to the opponents. This is the time that surprises arise. The sentences that were formed by combining the words in our illustrations earlier have meaningful contributions to the challenges of the game. They communicate either an advantage or a loss to the player that dropped the ball or to the opponents. For example, where we had “I MUST SKIP 1-STAGE”, instructs the player to omit one stage in the pyramid of the game. If the Jacks read that sentence after the successful pick up of a step four A-faced (4 Jacks×1 time) gathering then the player instead of following the sequence of the game which will dictate to pick up four ones B-faced (1 Jack×4 times) Jacks will jump
Barry E. Kaplan, Esq.
Hughes & Kaplan
Pierce William M.
LandOfFree
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