Abstract:
A toy top maze game. The maze game includes a maze board upon which at least one spinning top is placed. The maze board has a top surface. A grove is disposed in the top surface of the maze board. The groove defines a maze pathway capable of guiding the spinning top placed on the maze board. The maze pathway on the maze board follows a pattern that is capable of being selectively altered between a plurality of possible patterns. By changing the pattern of the maze pathway, different patterns can be created that vary in both length and complexity. Accordingly, the maze board can be reconfigured to match the skills of the person playing the game.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     In general, the present invention relates to the maze games where a player uses his/her dexterity to guide a game piece through the complex pathway of a maze. More particularly, the present invention relates to maze games where a spinning top is the object guided through the maze. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     The prior art is replete with various different types of games where the objective of the game is to manipulate a game piece through a maze. The most common of such prior art games use a metal ball or marble as a game piece. The metal ball is placed on a maze that can be tilted in at least two different planes. By tilting the maze in different directions, the metal ball can be made to follow the path of the maze. Such prior art games are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,341 to Martinez, entitled Tilting Maze Race Game. 
     In order to make maze games a little more challenging, maze games have been developed where a spinning top is used as the game piece rather than a metal ball. By using a spinning top as the game piece, a player now only has a limited amount of time to complete the maze. If a player takes too long, the top will lose energy and stop spinning before it completes the maze. Maze games that use spinning tops are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,830 to Tobin, entitled Constructable Spinning Top Maze. 
     Maze games require that the players develop certain skills to successfully complete the game. With many prior art maze games, the maze is fixed. Accordingly, once a player successfully completes the maze, the game no longer is challenging and the player quickly loses interest in the game. Certain manufacturers address this problem by making mazes that are extremely difficult to complete. As such, a player may have to attempt the maze for many hours before the player has the experience and skills needed to complete the maze. However, such complex maze games are of no interest to smaller children who do not yet have the motor skills needed to play such a complex maze game. 
     A need therefore exists for a maze game that can be selectively varied both in its physical layout and in the level of skill needed to play the game. Such a maze game can then be played by a wider demographic of players and players will not quickly lose interest in the game. Such a need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a toy top maze game. The maze game includes a maze board upon which at least one spinning top is placed. The maze board has a top surface. A grove is disposed in the top surface of the maze board. The groove defines a maze pathway capable of guiding the spinning top placed on the maze board. The maze pathway on the maze board follows a pattern that is capable of being selectively altered between a plurality of possible patterns. By changing the pattern of the maze pathway, different patterns can be created that vary in both length and complexity. Accordingly, the maze board can be reconfigured to match the skills of the person playing the game. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a maze game system in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded top view of the maze board used in the system of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 3 is a top view of a secondary maze board made from the side board elements shown in FIG.  2 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of the present invention maze game system  10  is shown. The present invention maze game system  10  is a game where at least one spinning top  12  is placed on a maze board  14 . The maze board  14  has a top surface  16  on which is formed a maze pathway  18 . The maze pathway  18  is formed as a groove in the top surface  16  of the maze board  14 . The maze pathway  18  follows a highly convoluted pattern around the maze board  14 . At various points along the maze pathway  18  are positioned different mechanical obstacles, which will be later described. 
     A set of tops  12  is provided. The tops  12  are the game pieces of the game system  10 . The objective of the game system  10  is to manipulate at least one of the tops  12  through the maze pathway  18  on the maze board  14  before the top  12  stops spinning. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, multiple tops  12  are shown. The present invention game system  10  can be played with either one top or any plurality of tops. When playing the game system  10 , a top  12  is spun using a spring loaded launcher  15 . The top  12  is then manipulated along the pathway  18  on the maze board  14  until the pathway  18  is complete. The way the top  12  is manipulated is by physically tilting the maze board  14  in different directions, thereby using gravity to influence the direction of the spinning top  12 . 
     The level of difficulty associated with the amusement device  10  can be altered by using multiple tops. If a player has mastered the ability to complete the maze pathway  18  with a single top, the level of complexity can be increased by stacking multiple tops on top of one another. The stacked assembly of spinning tops must then be manipulated through the maze pathway  18 . The level of complexity is increased because a player must first stack the spinning tops and then must move the stacked tops along the maze pathway  18  without any tops falling from the stack. Since time is consumed by the stacking of the tops, the time in which the stacked tops remain spinning is typically less than the time a single top will spin. Accordingly, a player can increase the difficulty of the game by adding tops to the stack. The more tops that are added, the more difficult the game will become and the less time will be available to complete the maze pathway  18 . 
     In the shown embodiment of FIG. 1, there are four tops shown that are all graduated in size. It will be understood that any plurality of tops can be used and the tops can be of any sizes. A system of graduated tops is shown in co-pending patent application No. 09/???, ???, entitled, TOY TOP SYSTEM, which is assigned to Agglo Corporation Ltd., the assignee herein. The disclosure of this co-pending application is herein incorporated into this application by reference. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, a top view of the exemplary maze board  14  is shown. The maze board  14  can be a single piece with a fixed maze path. However, in the preferred embodiment, the maze board  14  has a multi-part modular construction that enables the overall maze pathway  18  (FIG. 1) to be selectively altered. The maze board  14 , contains a central board element  20 . The central board element  20  contains a complete maze pathway  18 A. The maze pathway  18 A may contain certain mechanical obstacles, such as the turn table  21  shown in the middle of the central board element  20 , in order to make the maze pathway  18  more challenging. 
     At two opposite sides of the central board element  20  are extensions  22 . The extensions  22  are directly opposed to one another and are centered on the sides of the central board element  20 . The maze pathway  18 A enters and exits each of the extensions at identically positioned points P 1 , P 2 . Furthermore, as the maze pathway  18  enters the extensions  22 , the maze pathway  18 A at both points P 1 , P 2  are parallel. 
     The maze board  14  also includes two side board A elements  24 . Each of the side board elements  24  contains a segment of the maze pathway  18 B, that begins at a first point P 3  and ends at a second point P 4 . The side board elements  24  are selectively attachable to the sides of the central board element  20 . The extensions  22  that extend from the sides of the central board element  20  pass into the side board elements  24  and lock the side board elements  24  into place. Once locked into place, the maze pathway  18 B present on the side board elements  24  align with the maze pathway  18 A embodied on the central board element  20 , thereby producing a complete maze pathway  18  such as that shown in FIG.  1 . 
     Obviously, the maze pathway  18 A on the central board element  20  is extended when one or both of the side board elements  24  are added to the central board element  20 . Consequently, by selectively adding one or both of the side board elements  24  to the central board element  20 , the level of difficultly associated with the game system can be selectively altered. 
     The side board elements  24  contain a top surface and a bottom surface. A segment of maze pathway  18 B can be manufactured onto both of these surfaces. Accordingly, each of the side board elements  24  can be attached to the central board element  20  in one of two possible orientations. When in a first orientation, each side board element  24  will provide a new section of the maze pathway to the game system. When turned upside down, each side board element  24  provides a different section of the maze pathway to the game system. The different sides of the side game elements  24  can have difficulty ratings associated with them. One side of a side board element  24  can have an easily traversed section of maze pathway, while the opposite of that same side board element  24  can have a difficult section of maze pathway. Accordingly, a player can select the difficultly level of the game system by adding the side board elements  24  to the central board element  20  in different orientations. 
     For some players, the central board element  20  of the game system by itself may be too difficult for their level of skill. For this reason the two side board elements  24  can be directly joined together. Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the two side board elements  24  can be directly joined together. When the two side board elements  24  are joined together, the maze pathway  18 B on each of the side board elements  24  align, thereby creating a continuous maze pathway. The resulting maze pathway is shorter than the maze pathway  18 A (FIG. 2) on the central board element  20  (FIG.  2 ). Accordingly, the maze pathway will take less time to complete, and thus requires less skill to complete. 
     The pattern of the maze pathway  18 B shown on the side board elements  24  in FIG. 3 is different from the pattern of the maze pathway shown in FIG.  1  and FIG.  2 . This is because in FIG. 3, the opposite sides of the side board elements  24  are shown. As has been previously stated, the side board elements  24  have different maze pathway patterns on opposing sides. The illustration of FIG. 3 is used to demonstrate this point. 
     There are many different mechanical means that can be used to physically interconnect the two side board elements  24  together. In the shown embodiment, one of the side elements contains folding connector arms  30  that can be extended toward the opposite side board element. These connector arms  30  pass into slots on the opposite side board element, thus joining the two side board elements  24  into a single playing board. 
     The difficulty associated with the maze pathway in the game system is determined by three variables. Those variables are the length of the pathway, the complexity of the pathway and the presence of mechanical obstacles in the pathway. Referring back to FIG. 2, it can be seen that in the middle of the central board element is a turn table  21 . The turn table has points where the maze pathway  18 A connects to it. However, the turn table  21  only connects two of those points at a time. The turn table  21  is free to turn. To turn the turn table  21 , a player must manipulate a spinning top onto the turn table  21  and then use the weight of the spinning top to rotate the turn table  21  in different directions. Also in FIG. 2, the use of a seesaw obstacle  32  is shown. The seesaw obstacle  32  has a fulcrum under its center. As such, only one end of the seesaw obstacle  32  is in the same plane as the remainder of the maze pathway. The opposite end of the seesaw obstacle  32  is elevated. As such, in order for a top to pass over the seesaw obstacle  32 , the top must approach the seesaw obstacle  32  from the side of the obstacle that is not elevated. In FIG. 3, a slide obstacle  34  is shown along the pathway  18 B in one of the side board elements  24  of the game. The slide obstacle  34  contains a segment of pathway  36  that moves back and forth along a slot. In order for a spinning top to pass over the slide obstacle  34 , the slide obstacle  34  must be manipulated so that the segment of pathway  36  on the slide obstacle  34  aligns with the adjoining sections of maze pathway  18 B. 
     The described mechanical obstacles are merely exemplary and there are many other forms of mechanical obstacles that can be added to the present invention game system. Such obstacles can include, but are not limited to, depressions in the maze pathway, bumps in the maze pathway and restrictions in the maze pathway. 
     Returning to FIG. 1, it will be understood that the maze board  14  can be manipulated by holding the maze board  14  in a player&#39;s hands. However, the maze board  14  may also come with a stand  40 . The stand  40  has a flat base that supports the maze board  14  above a table. The stand  40  also includes a ball joint  42  that enables the maze board  14  to be tilted in any direction while supported on the stand  40 . 
     It will be understood that the embodiment of the present invention game device that is described and illustrated herein is merely exemplary and a person skilled in the art can make many variations to the embodiment shown without departing from the scope of the present invention. All such variations, modifications and alternate embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.