Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Piece moves over board having pattern
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-21
2004-10-19
Mendiratta, Vishu K. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Piece moves over board having pattern
C273S256000, C273S278000, C273S279000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06805351
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of board games, and in particular, to a new, useful and educational board game and method based on legal disputes and their resolution.
When asked what they want to be when they grow up, children are often heard to answer “I want to be a lawyer or a doctor.” Especially for young children, this usually means nothing more than wanting be like mom, or like dad, or like someone else they know or have heard about. Children rarely understand what it means to practice law or to be a lawyer.
One tool that is particularly useful as a teaching aide is a game. As will be clear from the following, one object of the present invention is to use the mechanism of a board game to help teach children and others what it is like to be an attorney who is involved in litigation.
The following U.S. patent classifications are relevant to the present invention:
Class
Subclasses
273
236, 256, 257, 297
D21
334, 350, 351
Pertinent patents found in these classifications are:
U.S. Pat. No.
Inventor(s)
2,026,082
Darrow
3,850,433
Purlia
3,966,211
Brown
4,012,045
Vail
4,032,154
Magiera
4,039,192
Magiera
4,068,848
Lichtman et al.
4,706,960
Nowacki et al.
6,189,886
Moran
6,371,848
Ashby
6,416,055
Shaw, Sr.
The quintessential board game with legal features such as the concept of deeds of ownership, mortgages and the like, is the game of MONOPOLY. See U.S. Pat. No. 2,026,082 to Darrow.
A board game for teaching the fundamentals of constitutional and criminal law is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,045 to Vail using a board having a continuous path of spaces around the outer edge of the board. The game includes up to five sets of cards relating to different facets of law, including indictment cards, defense cards, stop & frisk cards, evidence cards and Search Warrant cards. Each player initially receives one indictment card charging them with a crime which the player attempts to defend against by accumulating juror pieces as rewards as the player moves around the board.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,211 to Brown discloses a board game having a series of space designating locations, player markers, a spinning randomizer, a set of destination cards and a set of court cards, and play money. Players first take a destination card to determine their goal. Then, using the randomizer, the players attempt to reach their destination without being forced to draw a Court card which penalizes the player for a traffic infraction. The winner is the player to arrive first at their destination without being fined, or the remaining player if all other players have gone bankrupt from fines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,433 to Purlia teaches a game relating to the process for obtaining a patent in which a playing board has a continuous path around the board edges divided into spaces, markers for identifying each player, a randomizer in the form of a spinning wheel, and two sets of cards. One set of cards comprises concept cards, while the other set are search cards. The corner spaces of the board are marked home, patent office, manufacturing plant and patent office review. The remaining spaces are marked either patent attorney, manufacturing plant or concept. When a player lands on a concept space, they draw a concept card and when they subsequently land on a patent attorney space, they draw a search card to determine the patentability of their concept card. The game has provision for players to exploit their patents and receive royalties from other players as they move around the board, similar to MONOPOLY. The player is not given the option to appeal the result of the search card, and the players continue around the board until all but one player is bankrupt.
A board game having two player movement areas simulating initiation and resolution of malpractice claims is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,848 to Lichtman et al. The board has an outer continuous path of spaces around the outer edge of the board, and an inner column of spaces representing stages of a lawsuit. Each of four professions that can be represented by players has its own deck of cards for outcomes relating to fictional services provided by the player representing that profession. If the outcome is bad, then the player may commence a lawsuit against the player representing the professional accused of malpractice. A separate stack of Verdict cards are used to determine the outcome of any lawsuit started against a player's professional alter ego. The players involved in the lawsuit can seek settlement at any time until the final Verdict is revealed from the cards, representing jury votes, that each player has. The game does not include an appeals process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,192 to Magiera describes a trial procedure-related combined card and board game in which cards accumulated by moving around a path on the board during a first phase of the game are played against each other in a second phase of the game. In the second, or trial, phase of the game, legal maneuver and objection cards are played by each player to win card hands.
A game having a linear board game path based on stock market concepts is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,886 to Moran. The path is arranged as a series of columns across the board divided into spaces of different colors. The game includes a set of market flash news cards, a set of stock cards and a set of price cards. Each player is represented by a marker, and play money is provided. One player acts as the Banker for the game and oversees transactions. The winning goal is set by the players, but the goal can be to have the most money at the end of the game.
The remaining patents disclose other board games involving money and randomized movement along a path on a board, but which are distinguishable from the invention, and they are enclosed for general reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The game of the present invention includes a board inscribed with columns and arranged to form a path divided into spaces or boxes, a plurality (i.e. eight) of mutually distinguishable player markers (each having a different color, for example), a number (three) of sets of cards, randomization means (i.e. one or two six-sided dice) and play money of varying denominations.
The three sets of cards are: Bring A Lawsuit or simply Lawsuit cards, Appeal cards and Settlement cards. Some of the spaces on the board bear instructions for a player to pay money or receive money. Other spaces instruct a player to draw a Lawsuit card.
To play the game, two or more players each select one of the player markers, which are preferably shaped as a gavel of different colors, place their markers at the start of the path on the board (e.g. on a box marked “Start”) and receive a sum of play money (e.g. $5,000). One person is selected to be the Banker to control the payment and receipt of the play money during the game.
The players throw one or both dice or use a spinner to determine the order of play, followed by each player in turn rolling one die, moving their marker a corresponding number of spaces (between one and six where a conventional six sided die is used) and following the instructions on the space reached by the player.
If the space instructs the player to pay or receive money, the transaction is performed with the Banker and the fund of play money, and the die is passed to the next player for their turn.
If the space instructs the player to take a “Bring A Lawsuit” card , they draw the first card from the top of the Lawsuit card pile. The Bring A Lawsuit or Lawsuit cards each contain an outcome of a legal action which calls for the player to collect or pay money from or to the Banker or fund. If the player is not satisfied with the amount collected from the outcome on the Lawsuit card (which may be as little as zero or where the card directs a player to “roll again”), the player may draw an Appeal card. The Appeal card contains instructions for changing the amount of money collected by the player, either up or down, or does not alter the Lawsuit card result.
Upon each turn after the player's
Mendiratta Vishu K.
Notaro $ Michalos PC
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