CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
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This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. Nr. 61/548,552, filed on Oct. 18, 2011 by Ishmael and Pauline King, which is incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND—PRIOR ARTS
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The following is a tabulation of some prior arts that presently appears relevant:
U.S. Pat. Nos.
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| Pat. No. |
Kind Code |
Issue Date |
Patentee |
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| 5,893,718 |
A |
Apr. 13, 1999 |
O'Donnell |
| 4,561,658 |
A |
Dec. 31, 1985 |
Peterson |
| 5,707,239 |
A |
Jan. 13, 1998 |
Butler |
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U.S. Patent Application Publications
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Publication Nr. |
Kind Code |
Publ. Date |
Applicant |
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2011/0266746 |
A1 |
Nov. 3, 2011 |
Kellond et al. |
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Many board games exist in the market place today. Many of these board game advertize themselves as competitive or educational but few can claim both qualities.
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Board games that advertise themselves as educational often lack the competitive qualities to hold the interest of players. These games are used as teaching tools and become obsolete as their consumers learn the materials. Many educational board games require many complicated parts to appropriately teach the consumers. These parts make the game overcomplicated and the parts can be easily lost. Competitive board games often lack educational qualities that can make for a more fulfilling gaming experience.
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Many educational and mathematical board games have been proposed—for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,239 (1998) to Butler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,658 (1985) to Peterson, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,718 (1999) to O'Donnell all related to mathematics. Although these games adequately teach their consumers mathematics they lack competitiveness. U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,239 (1998) to Butler, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,658 (1985) to Peterson teach mathematics by providing cards of dice labeled with math functions which when answered correctly allow a player to advance along a set pathway. This style of game play may be effective in teaching simple mathematics to a young audience but for an older audience this inescapable repetition can become boring. These games also require an excessive amount of parts.
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U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,718 (1999) to O'Donnell adequately teaches mathematics and has some competitive aspects but its system of scoring does not actually require an understanding of basic math. Each tiles is assigned a point value and the actual answer to the expressions has no part in determining the score.
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2011/0266746 (2011) to Hasbro INC. is not math related but is an example of a competitive game that lacks educational qualities.
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All board-games heretofore mentioned suffer from a number of disadvantages:
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- (a) Educational board games often lack competitive qualities
- (b) Competitive board games often lack educational qualities
- (c) Few Board Games have both competitive and educational qualities
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In accordance with one embodiment, a board game that is composed of a grid-like board, playing tiles, tile holders, and a tile bag (not part of patent).
SUMMARY
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In accordance with one embodiment a mathematical board game apparatus comprising of a matrix-like board, tiles holders, labeled tiles, and a bag (not part of the patent).
ADVANTAGES
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Several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: provides a simple mathematical board game with both educational and competitive qualities; can be played by persons of different ages while remaining competitive; does not require excessive parts; game-play does slow down excessively towards the end of the game; and requires real-time cost-benefit decisions. Other advantages will be apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing descriptions.
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DRAWINGS—FIGURES
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In the drawings (closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetical suffixes):
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FIGS. 1A and 1B show a game board opened for play from the playing surface at two perspectives in accordance with the invention.
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FIG. 2 shows a tile holder, which holds the tiles during game play.
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FIGS. 3A and 3B show examples of tiled labels with numbers (1-9) or printed with operations (minus, plus, over, times) for use in the present invention.
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FIG. 4 shows the game board of FIGS. 1A and 1B the tile holder of FIG. 2 and the tiles of FIGS. 3A and 3B in the context of game-play.
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FIG. 5 shows a sample game scenario of an opening expression being played.
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FIG. 6 shows the customized scorecard for use during play.
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| Drawings - Reference numbers |
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| 10 |
Matrix style board |
| 12 |
Starting spaces (identifies by a symbol |
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or other embodiment) |
| 14 |
Tile rack |
| 16 |
Game tile |
| 18 |
Printed number |
| 20 |
Printed Operation |
| 26 |
Game score card |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIGS. 1A, 2, 3A, AND 3B
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Referring now to FIGS. 1A, 2, 3A, and 3B. The board 10, tiles 16, and tiles rack 14 are shown. These parts are the most essential to game play. The board 10 presented is a matrix-like board marked with symbols (or other embodiment) to indicate starting spaces 12; it holds the tiles when they are in play. The tile rack 14 holds the tiles 16 when they are not in play. The tiles 16 are use to determine score and are either marked with a number 18 of an operation 20. A bag is also included, it holds the tiles 16 for storage and allows players to choose tiles randomly (not part of the patent).
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OPERATION—ALL FIGS.
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Referring now to the drawings at FIGS. 1A and 1B where the playing board 10 is depicted from two perspectives. In FIGS. 1A and 1B the starting squares 12, indicated with circles, may be marked with a wide array of symbols or shaded in someway. The playing board 10 has not folds, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.
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FIG. 2 shows an example or a tile rack 14, two are provided to the players and used in game-play, and one tile rack holds five tiles 16. FIGS. 3A and 3B show an example of a tile 16 printed with a number 18 and a tile printed with an operation 20. The tiles 16 are approximately ⅘ in. squares and ¼ in. thick. Each tile 16 is printed on one side with either a number 18 (1-9) or an operation 20 (plus, minus, times, or over). During game-play players use the provided tile racks 14 to hold and conceal their tiles 16 between turns.
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FIG. 4 shows the game board 10 in comparison to a tile rack 14 and a number of tiles 16. FIG. 5 shows the game board 10 after a sample first turn of play. In FIG. 5, player one has used three of his or her tiles 16 to create an expression starting on one of the starting squares 12. FIG. 6 shows the scorecard 26 for use during play and shows the timer as an optional part of the game. The game box will have the title, “King of 20”, printed in some artistic manner. Although the rules, which follow in the paragraphs below, tell how to play the game of the present invention, called ‘King of 20”, players are actually encouraged to make changes to the rules to fit their own style of play or educational objectives.
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Regulation play rules of “King of 20”:
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Two players position themselves on opposite sides of the playing board 10. Each player is provided with a tile rack 14 which can hold five tiles 16. One player is provided with a scorecard 26 and keeps score for duration of the game. 74 tiles 16 are used to play the game (45 printed with numbers 18 29 printed with operations 20). Tiles 16 are numbered 1-9 or printed with an operation (minus, plus, over, times). Each player then picks one tile from the tile bag to see who goes first. The person with the lowest number goes first. If one player picks an operation tile 20 and the other player picks a number tiles 18, the player with the number tile 20 goes first. If the numbers are the same or if two operations are picked, the players replace the tiles 16 and draw again. After determining which player will go first, both players draw five tiles 16 and place them on their tile racks 14. The first player then decides what expression can be made from of his or her tiles 16 and starts the game by placing three or more of his or her tiles 16 to form an expression covering at least one of the starting squares 12. On each play, the player will try to use his or her tiles to form an expression as close to twenty as possible. Tiles 16 can be placed vertically or horizontally but not diagonally. A timer can be used to limit the amount of time allowed in each turn, but it is not a required part of the game. In each turn, at least one and at most five tiles 16 can be played. After the first player places his or her tiles 16, the second player's expression must include one or more of the tiles 16 already on the playing board 10. The expressions used must comply with the following rules: expressions are evaluated top-to-bottom and left-to-right ignoring the normal rules of math where multiplication and division have priority; diagonal plays are not allowed; expressions never wrap to an adjacent row or column; double-digit numbers are ever allowed; any part of an expression involving division (the over tile) must evaluate to a whole number—plays using the “over” tile are not allowed if they do not result in a whole number; and players can only form one expression at a time. The game ends when one player is out of tiles 16 or if neither player can play any more tiles 16. At that point, each player must add ten points to their score for each tile 16 remaining on their rack 14. The player with the lowest score wins.
ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS
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Alternate embodiments, including computer, multimedia, and performance versions may be explored. Although I have described an embodiment according to the invention with considerable details in the foregoing specification and illustrated it extensively in the drawings, it is to be understood that I may make changes in the structure of the device so long as any changes made remain within the score of the appended claims and any changed devices similar to mine made by others that fall within my claims scope, I shall consider such devices to be my invention.
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Although the description above contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of some of several embodiments. For example, the game may have other shapes, colors, or layouts.
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Thus the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, not by the given examples.
ADVANTAGES
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From the descriptions above, a number of advantages of some embodiments of my mathematical board game become evident:
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- (a) The presented game provides competitive play for players at various age levels while teaching simple mathematical expression-building.
- (b) The use of a scoring system in which expressions are evaluated to determine a players score.
- (c) Game play that does not require that the total of the made expressions be shown on the playing surface.
- (d) The game board allows multiple places to place expressions which decreases game duration and reduces slow play at the end of the game.
- (e) Game requires real-time cost-benefit decisions
CONCLUSION
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Accordingly, the reader can see that this mathematical board game in any embodiment remains competitive for all players while teaching simple mathematical expression-building. In addition, the game's unique scoring system and game play also become apparent to the reader. Furthermore this mathematical board game has additional advantages in that:
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- Consumers of all ages and skill levels can play this board game competitively
- The presented board game has obvious educational opportunities
- The presented board game is intuitive, simple to setup and is fast-paced
- The presented board game has a limited amount of parts
- Uses a scoring system that can be calculated quickly and easily and has educational value.
- Game play is not complicated and encourages strategizing and risk-taking
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Although the description above contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of some of several embodiments. For example, the game may have other shapes, colors, or layouts.
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Thus the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, not by the given examples.