Abstract:
A multi-skill question and answer board game which can be competitively and simultaneously played by players of different skill and age levels comprising a game board with a one directional playing track along which each player moves their pieces based upon the value of the roll of a single die, the track is made up of plurality of different topic sectors, a number of sets of multi-skill level topic cards bearing questions for each topic to which each player must reply once he has chosen the skill level, the higher the skill level chosen the higher value given to the correct answer.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates generally to a multi-skill question and answer board game which can be competitively and simultaneously played by players of different skill and age levels comprising a game board with a one directional playing track along which each player moves their pieces based upon the value of the roll of a single die, the track is made up of plurality of different topic sectors, a number of sets of multi-skill level topic cards bearing questions for each topic to which each player must reply once he has chosen the skill level, the higher the skill level chosen the higher value given to the correct answer. 
     It is therefor an objective of this invention to provide a educational board game that can be played by children and adults which will tend to improve the player&#39;s skills in the several topics of math, science, social studies and language arts; all in a fun-filled and educational environment. 
     It is another important objective of this invention to provide a educational board game that can be inexpensively manufactured and is suitable for play in the classroom and home environment. It yet another important objective of this invention to provide a educational board game that can readably be adapted to a computer-based format. 
     PRIOR ART 
     The prior art is replete with all types of educational board games; none of which posses the unique and innovative character of the game of the present invention including a multi-skill question and answer board game which can be competitively and simultaneously played by players of different skill and age levels. 
     None of the prior art board games allow for the players to move their pieces along a one directional playing track based upon the value of the roll of a single die; the track being made up of thirty-six topic sectors including math, science, social studies and language arts. 
     The game of the present invention, as distinguished from the prior art, includes a number of sets of multi-skill level topic cards bearing questions for each topic to which each player must reply once he has chosen the skill level, the higher the skill level chosen the higher value given to the correct answer. Examples of such prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,368,889, 4,557,485, 4,714,254, 5,308,077, 5,332,227, 5,342,056, 5,405,150, 5,429,369 and 5,454,569. 
     Similarly, the prior art also includes such board games as &#34;SCRABBLE&#34;, &#34;JUNIOR TRIVIA&#34; and &#34;GO TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS&#34;(Trademarks of the Milton Bradley Company). 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     The above and other objects, features and advantages will be more clearly understood and appreciated from the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying single Figure which illustrates the game board of the present invention. 
    
    
     The associated parts may include a standard die (not shown) and several sets of &#34;topic&#34; cards (also not shown) all of which will be further discussed below. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the sole FIGURE there is shown a game board 10 with a one directional playing track 12 along which each player moves their pieces (not shown) based upon the value of the roll of a single die (not shown). The die could be any standard six sided die. Other methods of randomly selecting a number for moving the pieces could readily used in lieu of the die as, for example, a spinning arrow or the like mounted on a board with numbers indexed to the arrow. 
     The playing pieces could take any suitable form such as a figure of a person and could be made from any suitable material. The form and material of the pieces are not material to the invention. 
     The track 12 is made up of thirty-six topic sectors or spaces 14 including, eight math spaces 14a, ten science spaces 14b, ten social studies spaces 14c and eight language arts spaces 14d. The track 12 is also made up of six Perk spaces 16, a Welcome to School space 18, a Graduation space 20 and a Principal&#39;s Office space 22. 
     A player that lands on one of the thirty-six topic spaces 14a-14d must answer a question on a randomly selected card from a set of multi-skill level topic question-answer cards (not shown) for that specific topic. For example, if a player lands on a math space 14a, he must answer a question from a randomly selected math question-answer card at a chosen skill level. The questions are presented on one side of the card with the corresponding answer being on the opposite side of the card with a suitable explanation when appropriate. The cards could be color coded for each skill level and be made from any suitable material and sized for easy handling by each of the players. 
     The player can choose from four skill levels starting at the Elementary School level (5 I.Q. points for the correct answer) being the lowest degree of difficulty and progressing through Junior High School level (10 I.Q. points for the correct answer), High School level (15 I.Q. points for the correct answer) and College level (20 I.Q. points for the correct answer) the College level being the highest degree of difficulty. 
     There could be a total of four hundred question-answer cards equally divided in one hundred card sets among each of the four topics presented on the board 10 (i.e. math, language arts, social studies and science). Each one hundred topical card set could be further divided into twenty-five card sets among each of the four skill levels (i.e. Elementary School, Junior High School, High School and College). 
     To compensate for any age differences between each of the players, each player is assigned an age factor which is applied against their I.Q. point total (by multiplying the age factor by the I.Q. point total) to determine the player&#39;s total I.Q. value which is is used to determine the winner of the game. 
     There are four Age Factors starting at ages 7-10 (Age Factor 3) and progressing through ages 11-13 (Age Factor 2), ages 14-17 (Age Factor 1.75) and ages 18 and over (Age Factor 1.50). For example, a player who is 11 years old and answers a Junior High School question correctly will receive 20 I.Q. points (i.e. skill level 10×Age Factor 2=20 I.Q. points). 
     The questions that might be found on the Math question-answer cards might relate to addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, whole, fraction, decimal, unknown, and exponent numbers, area, circumference, volume formulas, word and story problems and other comparable subject categories. 
     Examples of the questions that may be found on the Math question-answer cards might be as follows: 
     ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
     Question: Add 0.007+32.4+1.234+7.3= 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) 41.941 
     (b) 40.841 
     (c) 40.931 
     (d) 40.941 ##EQU1## JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 
     Question: 12 is 3/4 of what number? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) 16 
     (b) 9 
     (c) 36 
     (d) 20 
     (e) 15 
     Answer: (a) 16  3/4=0.75; 12/0.75=16! 
     HIGH SCHOOL 
     Question: If a car drives 25 miles on two gallons of gasoline, how many gallons will be needed for a trip of 150 miles? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) 12 
     (b) 3 
     (c) 6 
     (d) 7 
     (e) 10 ##EQU2## COLLEGE 
     Question: If the radius of a circle is decreased by 10% by what percent is its area decreased? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) 10 
     (b) 19 
     (c) 21 
     (d) 79 
     (e) 81 
     Answer: (b) 19%  If the radius of the two circles have a ratio of 10:9, the areas have a ratio of 100:81; therefore the decrease is 19 out of 100; or 100! 
     The questions that might be found on the Language Arts question-answer cards might relate to word and language usage, common abbreviations, acronyms, synonyms, antonyms, analogies, double meanings, double word usage and other comparable subject categories. 
     Examples of the questions that may be found on the Language Arts question-answer cards might be as follows: 
     ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
     Question: All of the following are nouns except? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) teacher 
     (b) city 
     (c) democracy 
     (d) desk 
     (e) friendly 
     Answer: (e) friendly  adverb! 
     JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 
     Question: There are two types of adjectives: Descriptive and Limiting elect the descriptive from the following words. 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) six 
     (b) my 
     (c) short 
     (d) our 
     Answer: (c) short  descriptive adjective indicates a nouns quality or condition; e.g. the plant had short roots.! 
     HIGH SCHOOL 
     Question: Synonyms: find the synonym of easy. 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) elementary 
     (b) artful 
     (c) infantile 
     (d) pretensions 
     (e) well 
     Answer: (a) elementary 
     COLLEGE 
     Question: Antonyms: find the Antonym of hideous. 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) normal 
     (b) generous 
     (c) handsome 
     (d) fair 
     (e) logical 
     Answer: (c) handsome 
     The questions that might be found on the Social Studies question-answer cards might relate to important historical dates particularly relating to American history, Presidents of the United States, great events in world history, world exploration and discovery, inventions and inventors, major world cities and facts and royal rulers of Europe and Asia and other comparable subject categories. 
     Examples of the questions that may be found on the Social Studies question-answer cards might be as follows: 
     ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
     Question: The Panama Canal allows ships to pass between the  ------  Oceans. 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) Atlantic/Pacific 
     (b) Atlantic/Artic 
     (c) Atlantic/Indian 
     (d) Pacific/Indian 
     Answer: (a) Atlantic/Pacific  One of the greatest engineering feats in the world, making it possible to sail between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.! 
     JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 
     Thomas Jefferson was instrumental in the buying what famous U.S. land? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) District of Columbia 
     (b) The Louisiana Purchase 
     (c) Florida 
     (d) New York City 
     Answer: (b) The Louisiana Purchase  The land was bought from France in 1803 doubling the United States land holdings.! 
     HIGH SCHOOL 
     Question: What do John Adams, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington have in common; they are all signers of the: 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) U.S. Constitution 
     (b) Getysburg Address 
     (c) Declaration of Independence 
     (d) Articles of Mayflower 
     (e) Pledge of Allegiance 
     Answer: (c) Declaration of Independence. 
     COLLEGE 
     Question: All of the countries ruled Cyprus at one time, except: 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) Great Britain 
     (b) Turkey 
     (c) Greece 
     (d) Bolivia 
     Answer: (d) Bolivia  Greece in ancient times; Great Britain (1878) and Turkey (1974).! 
     The questions that might be found on the Science question-answer cards might relate to basic formulas of physics, facts and terms of chemistry, facts about the planets, life sciences (e.g. biology, zoology, botany, taxonomy), human body (e.g. nervous, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, immune and reproductive systems) and earth sciences (e.g. geology, oceanography and paleontology) and other comparable subject categories. 
     Examples of the questions that may be found on the Science question-answer cards might be as follows: 
     ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
     Question: How many known planets are in our solar system? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) 9 
     (b) 12 
     (c) 7 
     (d) 20 
     Answer: (a) 9  Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto! 
     JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 
     Question: Which chemical element is part of all living things? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) carbon 
     (b) lead 
     (c) tin 
     (d) zinc 
     Answer: (a) carbon 
     HIGH SCHOOL 
     Question: What is the most frequent cause of major earthquakes? 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) faulting 
     (b) folding 
     (c) land slides 
     (d) submarine currents 
     (e) tsunamis 
     Answer: (a) faulting  rapid movement of rock masses below the earth surface! 
     COLLEGE 
     Question: Carbon dioxide enters a plant by way of the: 
     Multiple Choices: 
     (a) roots 
     (b) xylem 
     (c) plasma membrane 
     (d) stomata 
     (e) intercellular spaces 
     Answer: (d) stomata  One of the minute orifices or slits in the epidermis of leaves! 
     Referring to the other spaces found on the board 10, the Perk spaces 16 allow the player landing thereon to choose among any of the above noted four topics (i.e. math, science, social studies and language arts) at a chosen skill level. 
     The Welcome to School space 18 is the space where all of the players place their game piece at the start of the game. 
     The Principal&#39;s Office space 22 is the space where, if a player lands thereon, loose their turn to advance. The player so positioned on the Principal&#39;s Office space 7 must, during one of their next two turns, roll three odd or three even die numbers in a row. If they fail then on their third turn they may advance their piece based on the die value rolled. 
     The Graduation space 20 is the end space of the game. The first player to reach this space with highest of I.Q. value (the method of calculation of I.Q. value is as described above) is the winner of the game. If the first player who reaches this space has a lower I.Q. value than a player still on the track 2 then the game will proceed until a player reaches the Graduation space with the highest I.Q. value. 
     In summary, it can be seen from the above description of the board game in accordance with the present invention, that the game is easy and fun to play and will reinforce the player&#39;s interest in the various important topics. The flow of the game is simply structured without unnecessary and complicated rules thus making it particularly adaptable to the classroom environment. The game could readily be adapted to computer applications which would also be useful as a teaching tool. 
     It should be noted that, while particular examples of the present invention have been shown and described, it is apparent that changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention in its broadest aspects. The aim and purpose of the appended claims, therefore, is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.