FR2584301A1 - Independent game board, for various games - Google Patents

Abstract

Independent game board, for various games such as, for example, intellectual games, games of chance and mixed games, characterised in that it comprises a plane area 2 comprising a plurality of aligned movable playing pieces 3 which are attached to the stationary structure 1-1c-1e of the said board and each equipped with at least two distinct surfaces f1, f2 capable of being placed, separately or otherwise, in a position in which they can be seen or concealed, the playing area 2 of the said board preferably being divided into a plurality of boxes or subdivisions A-a, A-b, A-c, A-d, ..., B-a, B-b, B-c, B-d, ..., etc., each of which comprises at least one movable piece 3 equipped with distinct surfaces.

Description

Autonomous game board, for various games.

 The present invention relates to a stand-alone game board, for various games such as intellectual games, games of chance, mixed games, etc.

 Many intellectual games, games of chance, mixed games, etc., are played with a game board divided into a certain number of boxes and a variable number of pawns intended to be placed and / or moved on this board, and removed from this according to the rules of the game and the course of the games. By way of simple examples which are in no way limitative, such well-known games to which the invention can be advantageously applied, mention is made of solitaire, checkers, tic-tac-toe, etc.

 A serious drawback of games of this kind stems from the fact that the risk of losing one or more pawns is very certain and that this loss makes the progress of the game impossible.

 An object of the invention is to remedy this drawback, by means of an autonomous game board, purely and simply eliminating the need to use pawns or comparable game pieces, for many intel lectuel games, games of chance. , mixed games, etc., which, until now, could only be played with the help of such pieces.

 The autonomous game board according to the invention is mainly remarkable in that it includes a play area comprising a plurality of aligned moving parts, attached to the structure of said board and each provided with at least two distinct surfaces capable of to be placed, separately or not, in visibility or erasure position.

 According to another characteristic arrangement of the invention, the play area of the autonomous board is divided into a plurality of boxes or subdivisions, each of which comprises at least one multiface moving part.

 An important advantage of the autonomous game board according to the invention is that it is self-sufficient and that all of its moving parts are inseparably linked to it, so that there is no risk of losing said pieces.

 Another advantage of this autonomous game board lies in the fact that the same board can be easily produced so that it can be used, as desired, for a certain number of different games, known or still to be created.

The objects, characteristics and advantages mentioned above, and others still, will emerge more clearly from the description which follows and from the appended drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of the autonomous game board according to the invention.

 Figure 2 is a partial view, in plan and on a larger scale, of this game board.

 FIG. 3 is a sectional view along line 3 - 3 of FIG. 2.

 FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line 4 - 4 in FIG. 2.

 Figure 5 is a partial plan view of a second embodiment of the autonomous game board according to the invention.

 FIG. 6 is a sectional view along line 6 - 6 of FIG. 5.

 FIG. 7 is a sectional view along line 7 - 7 in FIG. 5.

 Figure 8 is a partial plan view of a third embodiment of the autonomous game board according to the invention.

 FIG. 9 is a sectional view along line 9 - 9 of FIG. 8.

 FIG. 10 is a sectional view along line 10-10 of FIG. 8.

 FIG. 11 is a partial view, in plan, of a fourth embodiment of the game board according to the invention.

 FIG. 12 is a sectional view along line 12 - 12 of FIG. 11.

 FIG. 13 is a sectional view along the line 13 - 13 of FIG. 11.

Reference is made to said drawings to describe interesting, although in no way limitative, embodiments of the autonomous game board according to the invention.

 This game board comprises a rigid structure comprising a frame or carcass 1 made of all suitable materials (wood, plastic, metal) and which may have different shapes (square, rectangular, circular, octagonal, etc.) and dimensions which may be chosen according to the destination of the game board.

 According to the invention, this autonomous game board is mainly remarkable by the fact that it comprises a play area 2 comprising a plurality of movable play pieces aligned 3, attached to the rigid structure of said board and each provided with at least two distinct surfaces f1, f2 capable of being placed separately or not, in a position of visibility or erasure at the upper part or at the upper surface of said plate.

 As is apparent from the following description, the number of distinct surfaces f1, f2, f3, etc., of each piece 3, is determined according to the particular game or particular games for which the game board is intended. likewise with regard to the particular appearance of the distinct surfaces of each piece 3 which may have different colors or bear particular signs more specially adapted to certain games.

 The distinct surfaces f1, f2, f3, etc., of the moving parts 3 may correspond to some of the faces of the latter, when they are in the form of small volumes comprising two or more of two faces, or be formed by portions of their total surface, when said parts are formed by round bodies (spheres, cylinders of revolution, etc.).

 Each part 3 has a central or median hole and is mounted with a friction pivoting ability, by means of this hole, on a fixed axis constituted by a pin 4 rigidly secured to the frame 1 and / or other component of the rigid structure of the game board.

 Each axis 4 carries a plurality of aligned rotating play pieces 3; the play area thus comprising several parallel alignments of rotating play pieces (10 alignments according to the example illustrated in FIG. 1 which could be suitable for checkers).

 The fixed axes 4 are arranged above and at a distance from the bearing surface 1a of the frame 1. They are, for example, carried by two opposite lateral walls 1b of the frame 1 and by a certain number of partitions. inter mediaries constituting, at the same time, components of the rigid structure of the board and of the fixed part of the playing area (FIGS. 1 to 7) or by the opposite side walls 1b of said frame and by an upper wall 2a constituting, at the same time, a component of the rigid structure and the fixed part of the play area (Figures 8 to 13).

 In order to prevent the rotary parts 3 from turning too easily despite their friction mounting on the axes 4, means can be provided to tend to immobilize them in any one of their various functional positions.

 When the rigid frame 1 has a bottom id, the means tending to immobilize the rotating parts 3 can be constituted by a flexible coating 5 disposed on the upper face of said bottom and against which can be wedged by friction and compression, one any of the edges 3a of said parts, when they have a polygonal profile (Figures 3 and 6), or on which can rub your surface of the latter when they are formed by round bodies.

 According to another characteristic arrangement of the invention, the playing area 2 of the autonomous board is divided into a plurality of boxes or subdivisions Aa, Ab, Ac, Ad, ..., Ba, Bb, Bc, Bd, .. ., etc., each comprising a movable play piece 3 provided with separate surfaces.

 The boxes or subdivisions can be executed in different ways.

 For example, the boxes or subdivisions of the game board illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 7 comprise a rigid lattice formed of partitions ic and rods intersecting it, this lattice constituting both a component of the rigid structure of said board and a fixed part. of the playing area. Inside each box delimited by this trellis, is housed a pivoting part 3.

 The separating partitions îc are arranged perpendicular to the axes 4 supported by these and the rectilinear rods are placed parallel to said axes and perpendicular to said partitions. These rods are fixed, at their ends, to the opposite lateral walls 1b of the framework 1 and they rest in notches 1f formed in the upper edge of the partitions îc. Due to the vacuum reserved below the rods le, the rotating parts can be placed very close to each other.

 According to the embodiment illustrated in Figures 8 and 11, the subdivisions or boxes are materialized by a simple grid drawn using an adequate method on the visible face of the fixed part 2a of the playing area.

 Figures 8 to 10 illustrate a self-contained game board whose movable game pieces 3 have a flat shape and have only two opposite faces f1, f2; these parts having a circular shape and being mounted with an overturning latitude, around the fixed axes 4 arranged diametrically, in circular openings 2b reserved in the flat and fixed part 2a of the playing area 2.

 This embodiment is more particularly suitable for making games intended to be played by a single player, such as, for example, the solitaire game. In this case, one of the sides of the mobile game pieces 3 (side f2) may have a color or be marked with a distinctive sign which may mean that the corresponding box is empty or unoccupied, this side having, advantageously, for example , a color and an appearance identical to those of the visible face of the fixed part 2a of the playing area. On the other hand, the second face (face f1) of the moving parts 3, may have a color or be marked d '' a distinctive sign which could mean that the corresponding space is occupied.

 The passage from an occupied box to an empty box and the indication that an empty box has just been occupied, are effected by reversing the corresponding moving parts 3 which are tilted, manually, around their axis. support 4.

 Thus, in the application of the game support with variable boxes according to the invention, to the solitaire game, the passage from the occupied box Db (FIG. 8) to the free box Bb and the elimination of the occupied box "spanned" Cb will be made by turning the moving parts 3 corresponding to these three boxes so that: the occupied box Db becomes free, the occupied box "stepped over" and released Cb also becomes free, and that the box Bd previously free appears as being occupied .

 The embodiment of the autonomous game board illustrated in FIGS. 8 to 10 can also be used for games played with two players. In this case, each player chooses one of the two faces f1, f2 of the moving parts 3 to indicate the boxes he occupies, while the Free or released boxes are indicated by placing said moving parts in a vertical position, perpendicular to the surface of the playing area, as is the case for the moving part of box Ea.

 According to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4, the mobile game pieces 3 of the autonomous game board with variable boxes have the shape of regular triangular prisms and have three distinct useful faces fl, f2, f3, of identical dimensions.

 This mode of execution is particularly applicable to the production of games intended to be played by two players, such as, for example, tic-tac-toe, etc.

 In this case, two of the faces of the moving parts can have two distinct colors or be marked with a different distinctive sign ("0" and "X", according to the example illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2), so that they can be chosen by the players, while the third face has a third color or is marked with a third distinctive sign signifying that the square is free.

 Thus in the application of the autonomous game support with variable boxes to the tic-tac-toe game represented in FIG. 1, in which each player must strive to align, the first, five consecutive boxes, the boxes marked "0" indicate their occupation by one of the players, the boxes marked "X" indicate their occupation by the second player, while the blank boxes are free. To occupy box A-g and win, the player who has chosen the sides marked 11O, toggles the game piece 3 corresponding to this box, so as to retract its blank side and reveal its side marked "0".

 The mobile game pieces can also have a cubic or parallelepiped shape and include four distinct useful faces of identical dimensions, either so as to make games capable of being played by three players, or games intended to be played by two players, one of the four faces being able to designate the particular situation of certain squares of the playing area.

 FIGS. 5 to 7 show a third embodiment of the autonomous game board, which is in fact an interesting variant of the game board illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4.

 The movable play pieces 3 of this embodiment have the form of regular prisms with a hexagonal base and have both six faces of identical dimensions f1, f2, f3, f4, f5, f6.

 These six faces are associated, two by two, to form three distinct informative surfaces fl-f2, f3-f4, f5-f6 each of which consists of a dihedral.

 Each of these informative surfaces thus constituted, has a particular color and / or is marked with a distinct sign. In the latter case, this distinct sign (number of one or two digits, for example) can be repeated identically and / or symmetrically or not on each of the two faces of the dihedral constituting each informative surface.

 In addition, the moving parts 3 thus executed are mounted so that a portion of the latter comprising two of their faces forming a dihedral is disposed above the upper surface 2c of the fixed part îc - the area clearance 2, when the edge marking the intersection of said faces is placed in the high position.

 An advantage of this embodiment and assembly of the moving parts 3 is that at least one of the two faces of the displayed informative surface is perfectly visible to each of the two players between whom the game board is placed.

In addition, this embodiment gives the possibility, which is interesting for certain games, of displaying only one of the two faces of any of the informative surfaces of each moving part 3 (case of the moving parts of the boxes
Ba and Cb of figure 5), which, conventionally, can, for example, mean that the occupation of the square thus designated is not definitively acquired by the player who owns it.

 There is illustrated in Figures 11 to 13, a fourth embodiment of the autonomous game board according to the invention, the movable game pieces 3 of which are, in this case, constituted by small round bodies and, more precisely, according to the example shown, by small spheres mounted with an aptitude for rotation, on the fixed axes 4. The moving parts 3 could also have the shape of other round bodies such as cylinders of revolution, ellipsoids of revolution, etc.

 According to this embodiment, the separate informative surfaces f1, f2, ..., of the round parts, are constituted by portions of their total surface or of their lateral surface.

 According to the example illustrated, the spherical parts 3 comprise two distinct hemispherical surfaces f1, f2, distinguished by a difference in color.

 These rotating spherical pieces are mounted in circular openings 2b formed in a flat upper wall 2a constituting, at the same time, a component of the rigid structure of the board and a fixed part of the playing area 2. A portion 3b of said pieces having the shape of a spherical cap permanently emerges above the upper surface 2c of the flat and fixed part 2a of the playing area, so that one of their distinct informative surfaces f1, f2, .. ., can be displayed, clearly visible by the player (s), at the top of the game board.

 It is understood that the erasure of a separate informative surface f1 or f2 and the display of another distinct surface f2 or f1, respectively, of any movable game piece from the game board thus produced, is effected by a rotation of this part around its axis.

Claims (14)

1. - Autonomous game board, for various games such as, for example, intellectual games, games of chance, mixed games, characterized in that it comprises a play area (2) comprising a plurality of mobile game pieces ( 3) aligned, attached to the fixed structure (1-1 c-le; 1-2a) of said plate and each provided with at least two distinct surfaces (f1, f2) capable of being placed, separately or not, in visibility or erase position. 2. - autonomous game board according to claim 1, characterized in that the playing area (2) of said board is divided into a plurality of boxes or subdivisions (A-a, A-b, A-c, A-d, ..., B-a, B-b, B-c, B-d, ..., etc.) each of which comprises at least one moving part (3) provided with separate surfaces. 3. - autonomous game board according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the mobile game pieces (3) are mounted with a friction pivoting ability on fixed axes (4) integral with the fixed structure (1-1 c-le; 1-2a) of said tray. 4. - Autonomous game board according to claim 3, characterized in that the fixed axes (4) carrying the movable game pieces (3) are arranged above and at a distance from the bearing surface (la) of the rigid frame (1) of said game board. 5. - Autonomous game board according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that it comprises a means (5) tending to immobilize the moving game pieces (3) in their various functional positions. 6. - autonomous game board according to claim 5, the rigid frame (1) has a bottom (in), characterized in that the means tending to immobilize the moving game pieces (3) in any of their functional positions, is constituted by a flexible coating (5) disposed on the upper face of said bottom and against which rub or can rub said parts. 7. - Autonomous game board according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the play area also includes a rigid grid or lattice integral with the frame (1) of said board, this grid or lattice being preferably made up of, on the one hand, parallel partitions (tic) arranged perpendicular to the axes (4) of the movable play pieces (3) carried by these partitions, and, on the other hand, rods (the) placed parallel to said axes and housed in notches (1f) formed in the upper edge of said partitions. 8. - game board according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the game pieces are mounted in openings (2b) formed in a flat upper wall (2a) constituting a fixed part of the area of play (2). 9. - Autonomous game board according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the mobile play pieces (3) of the play area (2) have a flat shape and in that their informative surfaces distinct are constituted by their two opposite faces (f1, f2). 10. - Autonomous game board according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the mobile game pieces (3) of the playing area (2) have the shape of regular triangular prisms and have three faces separate information (f1, f2, f3). 11. - Autonomous game board according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the mobile game pieces (3) of the playing area (2) have the shape of regular prisms with a hexagonal base and comprise six faces of identical dimensions (f1, f2, f3, f4, f5, f6), associated two by two to constitute three distinct informative surfaces (fl-f2, f3-f4, f5-f6), each of these being constituted by a dihedral. 12. - Autonomous game board according to claim 11, characterized in that a portion of the mobile game pieces (3) comprising two of their faces forming a dihedral, is disposed above the upper surface (2c) of the fixed part (1 box; 1-2a) of the playing area (2) when the edge marking the intersection of said faces is placed in the high position. 13. - autonomous game board according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the mobile game pieces (3) are constituted by small round bodies, for example spherical, and in that the separate informative surfaces (f1, f2) of these round parts are formed by portions of their total surface or their lateral surface. 14. - Game board according to claim 13, characterized in that a portion (3b) of the game pieces (3) constituted by small round bodies permanently emerges above the upper surface (2c) of the part fixed (2a) of the play area (2).