Abstract:
A game for a plurality of players is disclosed. The game may have a plurality of polyhedrons arranged in a matrix. Each visible face of the polyhedrons has indicia thereon. The method may include the steps of randomingly aligning the polyhedrons into an equal number of rows and columns and rotating any polyhedron, by turns, so that a different face is showing, until a predetermined number of rows, a predetermined number of columns, a predetermined number of diagonals, or combinations thereof of a predetermined number of matching indicia are showing.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention generally relates to a spatial logic game. Specifically, the present invention relates to a spatial logic game played with polyhedrons arranged in a matrix. In particular, the present invention relates to a game having one or more square playing areas on a vertically positioned cube. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    There are many games, puzzles, and toys that require spatial-temporal reasoning. Aspects of these include visual, mental, and actual manipulation of shapes/objects that have at least rudimentary realistic spatial relations. 
         [0005]    A well-known example is the Rubik&#39;s Cube which is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Ernö Rubik. In a classic Rubik&#39;s Cube, each of the six faces is covered by nine stickers, each of one of six solid colors. A pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colors on each of its faces. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must consist of only one color. 
         [0006]    Checkers is a two-player game, where one player is assigned white checkers and the other red or black. Each player has 12 checkers to start the game. The object of the game is to capture the other player&#39;s checkers or make them impossible to move. The game is started on a checker board consisting of 64 squares in an 8x8 grid. The red or black player moves first. Then each player takes a single turn. A move consists of placing one checker on a different square. 
         [0007]    3D Checkers is a game that requires players to play across four checker boards, stacked one on top of another. 3D Checkers relies on all the official rules for Checkers. This includes the rule that a player must capture, when able to do so, rather than make a non-capturing move. The player(s) that have no pieces or cannot move loses. The only change to the game of Checkers is the fact that there are three more boards added. 
         [0008]    Backgammon is a board game for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. With each roll of the dice, players must choose from numerous options for moving their checkers and anticipate possible counter-moves by the opponent. 
         [0009]    Tic-Tac-Toe or “Noughts and Crosses” is a two-player game played on a 3×3 horizontal square where the object is to achieve a row, column or diagonal of 3 zeroes (for one player) or 3 crosses (for the other player) by judicious placement of each player&#39;s piece at each turn in order to a) build a row, column or diagonal of 3 identical pieces or b) thwart the opponent&#39;s attempt to build a row, column or diagonal of 3 of his pieces by occupying in advance a position in the opponent&#39;s intended line with one of their own pieces. 
         [0010]    There is now provided with this invention a new type of logical game for a plurality of players. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    According to one aspect of certain embodiments of the invention, a game for a plurality of players is disclosed. The game may have a plurality of polyhedrons arranged in a matrix. Each visible face of the polyhedrons has indicia thereon and a plurality of markers associated with each of the indicia. 
         [0012]    According to another aspect, the present invention may include a method of playing a game for a plurality of players. The game may have a plurality of polyhedrons arranged in a matrix. Each visible face of the polyhedrons has indicia thereon. The method may include the steps of randomingly aligning the polyhedrons into an equal number of rows and columns and rotating any polyhedron, by turns, so that a different face is showing, until a predetermined number of rows, a predetermined number of columns, a predetermined number of diagonals, or combinations thereof of a predetermined number of matching indicia are showing. 
         [0013]    The foregoing Summary of the Invention is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure contained herein nor limit the scope of the appended claims. To the contrary, as will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art, variations of the foregoing described embodiments may be implemented without departing from the claimed invention. 
         [0014]    The method and apparatus of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed discussion of specific embodiments and the attached figures which illustrate and exemplify such embodiments. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]    The objects and features of the invention may be understood with reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention taken together in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0016]      FIG. 1  shows an exploded example of a cubic game piece having four playing sides. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  shows an example of the cubes of  FIG. 1  vertically positioned on skewers. 
           [0018]      FIGS. 3-11  show an example (for the 5×5 matrix embodiment of the game) of pre-calculated sequence of colors for the playing sides of the game pieces. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0019]    One embodiment of the game includes a physical set of pieces played “by hand” in the physical presence of, and against, an opponent. Another embodiment of the game is a software application. While the particular embodiment shown in the figures depicts a cube having four playing sides, other embodiments using polyhedrons with many more playing sides is also disclosed herein. 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  shows an exploded example of a cubic game piece  101  having four playing sides. Each playing side has one of four indicia, for example, colors, logos, images, or symbols (referred herein as CLIS) chosen from a palette of 5 indicia and disposed on the surface of, or in recesses in, the playing sides  102  of the game piece. Of course, other embodiments of the present invention may use more than four CLIS chosen from more than a palette of five CLIS. The CLIS are generated from a pre-defined selection of multiple Colors, Logos, Images, or Symbols. For example, the CLIS may be pictures of friends taken from Facebook™, logos from favorite teams or products, pictures of favorite actors, common road signs, and etc. 
         [0021]    Alternative embodiments of the game include game pieces that can be positioned on the skewer which have 4, 6, 8, or more playing sides that may display different CLIS. A hole  103  is positioned on the non-playing opposing faces of the cube. A skewer holding the cube can be inserted in the hole for a skewer  201  to extend therefrom. 
         [0022]    As seen in the particular embodiment of  FIG. 2 , five skewers  201  extend from a baseboard  202 , each skewer containing 5 game pieces  101  each of which rotate around the skewer to display one of 4 playing sides  102  to each player and an opposing playing side to the other player. 
         [0023]    The skewers  201  and the game pieces may be constructed of any type of material, for example, of plastic, wood, or metal. At the start of each game, the skewers can be inverted top to bottom or juxtaposed among the line of holes in the baseboard to achieve a random start state. 
         [0024]    The game pieces  101  may be constructed so as to stop in a position such that the playing sides face the player and adjacent playing sides are hidden from the player and his opponent. 
         [0025]    One embodiment of the rules of play are as follows. Upon each player&#39;s turn, he/she may rotate a single game piece left or right, by one playing side only, with the goal of eventually lining up, in this case, a row, column, or diagonal of 5 game pieces of the same CLIS. Any mechanism that allows a player to turn the game piece easily can be used as an optional add-on. 
         [0026]    Since the game pieces are shared between the two players, the turn taken by one player affects the playing area of the opponent. 
         [0027]    The game may typically consist of a series of rounds. In a round, each player, in turn, rotates any single game piece (except the piece most recently rotated by the opponent) left or right by one playing side with the objective of: 
         [0028]    a) forming a Row, Column, or Diagonal (hereinafter referred to as RCD) of N pieces of identical CLIS within the N×N element playing area and/or; 
         [0029]    b) thwarting any opponent by rotating a piece such that it prevents or delays the opponent from forming his own RCD of CLIS. 
         [0030]    CLIS identifier markers, for example, pegs may optionally be positioned in a rack  203  by each player to show the number of RCDs achieved of a given CLIS. 
         [0031]    As an alternative embodiment of the rules of play, each player may turn a predetermined number of pieces until the objective is achieved or a random number of pieces determined by the roll of a dice or any other random number generation device. 
         [0032]    In one embodiment of a rule of play, a round is completed when a player achieves two RCDs of identical CLIS. The player achieving two RCDs notes the two CLIS achieved by stacking the relevant CLIS identifier pegs in his win area. The losing opponent may not count any RCD he may have achieved. The round then ends and a new round is started with a new randomized position of the polyhedrons on the skewers. 
         [0033]    The game is completed when a player achieves one or more RCDs of each and every CLIS or when the game is terminated after a pre-specified time period, or by mutual consent, whereupon each player totalizes the RCDs achieved at that point with the highest number being declared the winner. 
         [0034]    An alternative embodiment includes N sets of game pieces (where N may be any integer greater than 2) permanently positioned on, and capable of rotating around, an axis in the form of a skewer or axle that can be inserted vertically, by either of its ends, into the game&#39;s baseboard. 
         [0035]    The sequence of CLIS around the playing sides of the game pieces of the skewer is derived from a pre-defined template of CLIS calculated to make the game playable and make the achievement of winning combinations feasible to ordinary players. 
         [0036]      FIGS. 3-11  show an example (for the 5×5 element embodiment of the game) of a pre-determined sequence of 4 CLIS derived from a palette of 5 CLIS and superimposed on game pieces having 4 playing sides. 
         [0037]    The sequences may be derived in a wide variety of ways, for example, by selecting at random from a stack of previously printed sequences, or by generating random or pseudo-random sequences by computer, or by arranging the polyhedrons blindfolded, or by having a non-player randomly arrange the polyhedrons, or by any other type of random method so that a sequence is derived outside the direct control of the players. 
         [0038]    The rotating game pieces may optionally be mechanically retained on the skewers by attachments, magnetic force, or any other type of mechanical device. 
         [0039]    The skewers  201  of game pieces  101  are retained in, or released from the baseboard  203  by attachments, magnetic forces, or any other type of mechanical device. 
         [0040]    The rotation of the rotating game pieces  101  can optionally be constrained by attachments, magnetic forces, or any other type of mechanical device such as a detent to halt the rotation of the polyhedrons at predetermined positions so that a playing side is always directly facing the player. 
         [0041]    The game piece playing sides not directly facing a player may optionally be hidden by a mechanical or optical means from the player so that the player does not see what CLIS will appear when the game piece is turned. 
         [0042]    The randomness of the initial positions of the rotatable game pieces is ensured by a) juxtaposing and/or inverting the skewers randomly among the holes in the baseboard and b) the random rotation of the game pieces around the skewer axis. 
         [0043]    Each player may optionally have one or more CLIS identifying markers for each CLIS to track winning alignments of CLIS. This may be accomplished by placing the markers in holes or recipients in a designated winners area on the baseboard, as shown, as an example, by the rack  203  in  FIG. 2 . Other mechanisms for scoring (e.g. slider, electronic, button) can also be used. 
         [0044]    The CLIS markers may be retained in or released from the rack by attachments, magnetic forces or any other type of mechanical device. 
         [0045]    The corners of the game pieces may optionally be chamfered to allow rotation in a smaller space to bring the skewers closer together and also reducing the line of sight to the playing sides. The recessing could be larger to accommodate other logos or images. 
         [0046]    As an alternative embodiment, the game may be implemented in software and played upon one or more electronic devices that have a display screen, including but not limited to computers, tablets, phones, smartphones, smartTV™, Xbox™, and Wii™. Electronic devices may optionally be linked by to any network such as Internet, LAN, Bluetooth, WIFI, cellular networks, or similar so that game adversaries may compete against each other. The game may also be implemented in social media environments such as Facebook. 
         [0047]    The software embodiment of the game may be programmed to increase game complexity and difficulty by presenting subsequent levels of the game wherein the matrix size, the CLIS palette, and/or the number of playing sides of each game piece are increased at each level. 
         [0048]    A further embodiment of the game includes the ability to present the game with different “skins”, a skin being a thematic look and feel. This may include visual branding and advertising elements. 
         [0049]    In another software embodiment of the present invention, there may be N game pieces represented as an N×N matrix (in this example 5×5) which can be rotated around their horizontal or vertical axes by clicking or touching any side of the game piece playing sides presented to the player. Each game piece may have a software-defined number of playing sides distributed around a hypothetical software-defined polyhedron. The software embodiment of the game may have game pieces with a complexity of disposition of playing sides that would otherwise not exist in physical form. 
         [0050]    The game pieces&#39; playing sides may have any color, logo, image, or symbol (CLIS) displayed upon them. The displayed CLIS may be electronically selected from a palette of available CLIS stored in memory. The palette is derived from a pre-defined template of CLIS calculated to make the game playable and make the achievement of winning combinations feasible to ordinary players. Alternatively, the palette may be previously configured or randomly selected. 
         [0051]    At the start of each game the game pieces are programmed to display a pre-calculated distribution of CLIS as a start state. 
         [0052]    The game pieces are displayed such that it is impossible to see adjacent playing sides on the hypothetical polyhedral game piece. 
         [0053]    Upon each player&#39;s turn he/she may, by clicking or touching, rotate a single game piece left or right or up or down by one playing side only, with the goal of eventually lining up a row, column, or diagonal (RCD) of N game pieces of the same CLIS. 
         [0054]    Since the game pieces are electronically shared over a network between two players, the turn taken by one player affects the playing area of the opponent who will see a corresponding rotation of one of his game pieces on his display. 
         [0055]    One embodiment of the rules of play is as follows. The game consists of a series of rounds. In a round each player, in turn, rotates any single game piece (except the piece most recently rotated by the opponent) by one playing side with the objective of: 
         [0056]    a) forming a Row, Column, or Diagonal (hereinafter referred to as RCD) of N pieces of identical CLIS within the N×N element playing area and/or; 
         [0057]    b) thwarting any opponent by rotating a piece such that it prevents or delays the opponent from forming his own RCD of CLIS. 
         [0058]    The software keeps track of and displays the RCDs achieved by the player and his opponent. 
         [0059]    As an alternative embodiment, each player may turn a predetermined number of pieces until the objective is achieved or a random number of pieces determined by the roll of an electronic dice or any other random number generating device. 
         [0060]    A round is completed when a player achieves two RCDs of identical CLIS. The game software updates the score on both players&#39; screens. The round ends at that point and a new round is started with randomized positions of the game pieces. 
         [0061]    The game is completed when a player achieves two RCDs of each and every CLIS or when the game is terminated after a pre-specified time period, or by mutual consent, whereupon the software totalizes the RCDs achieved at that point with the highest number being declared the winner. 
       EXAMPLE 
       [0062]    It is to be understood that the following example of the present invention is not intended to restrict the present invention since many more modifications may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit thereof. 
         [0063]    The game tests players&#39; memory to complete horizontal, vertical, or diagonal rows of 5 matching colors and includes: 5 Interchangeable skewers of 5 playing cubes, 1 base, and 20 markers (4 each of Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, White). 
         [0064]    To play a basic game, the skewers with the cubes placed in a predetermined location, are first randomly placed on the base. The markers are distributed so that each player has 2 of each color. These markers are temporarily set aside. 
         [0065]    Thus, players are presented with a field of 25 squares, in a 5 by 5 grid. The face of each square will present one of the five colors found in the game. The objective for each player over a series of turns within one round is to align 2 perfect rows of 5 matching colored squares. Rows can be completed by 5 matching colored squares either across, up and down, or diagonally. 
         [0066]    In any round, the two finished rows may be of different colored squares on the field of play, for example, one finished row of Blue squares across the top of the grid and one finished row of Red squares across the fourth row. The two rows can also both be of the same color, for example, two rows of Yellow, with one finished row of Yellow squares on the outside right column and the other finished row of Yellow squares appearing diagonally. 
         [0067]    Each time a player turns a colored square, they will affect their opponent&#39;s playing field. In some cases this will interfere with the efforts the opponent is making to finish a row. In some cases this will reveal a much needed colored square to an opponent and could bring about the end of the round or game. It&#39;s also possible that a turn may have no obvious affect. In short, the turns taken by player ‘A’ will affect the playing field of player ‘B’ and vice versa. 
         [0068]    The colored square turned by player ‘A’ becomes unavailable for choice by player ‘B’ for one turn. 
         [0069]    The opponent&#39;s playing field remains out of sight during game play. A player does not reveal any information about their own playing field until a final turn of a square leaves two completed rows of color on their field of play. At that time a player is rewarded with having achieved ‘a pair’ and the round ends. The colors of the two rows are recorded and that player must now only uncover 4 more ‘pairs’ or 8 more rows in subsequent rounds to win the game. The squares are randomized and the next round can begin. 
         [0070]    Over the course of the game, a player must uncover each specific color only twice. For example, if a player were to uncover two rows of Yellow to end round one, then that player cannot use Yellow to win any subsequent rounds in that game. That player would still need to uncover two rows each of Red, Blue, Green and White. Similarly, a player who would end round one after having uncovered one row of Red and another of Blue, can only uncover one more Red row and one more Blue row over the remaining rounds of the game. They would now require one Red row, one Blue row, 2 Yellow rows, 2 Green rows and 2 White rows. Finishing rows of the required colors becomes more challenging as the rounds progress. Only the player who ends the round with two completed rows (a pair) scores any rows. The other player gets no credit even if there is one completed row on their field as the round ends. 
         [0071]    Play begins by deciding which player goes first, for example, by youngest in age, seating arrangement. or mutual agreement. 
         [0072]    On a player&#39;s turn, the player rotates any cube one move left or one move right (¼ turn). Play continues by the players taking turns by rotating the cubes until a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row of 5 matching colors is completed with the following limitations: only 1 turn allowed per play and a cube turned on the previous play cannot be turned on the next players play. 
         [0073]    The player who completes a row on their turn wins. If the opposing player has also completed a row as a result of the other player&#39;s winning turn, it does not count. However, if the opposing player has a completed row as a result of the other player&#39;s non-winning turn, they win automatically without the need to take their turn. 
         [0074]    To continue basic play, players insert a marker for each row of 5 matching colors completed. The first player to have completed 5 matching rows of each color wins. 
         [0075]    To play an advanced embodiment of the game, players take turns rotating the cubes until 2 horizontal, vertical, or diagonal rows of 5 matching colors is completed. This set is recorded as a pair and recorded with the matching colored markers. Play continues until a player completes a total of 5 pairs with all of the previous other basic play rules applying with the following limitations: 2 different rows may be of different color squares or the same color squares as long as all 5 cubes within each row match in color and a player can only use a specific color row twice within the game. 
         [0076]    Although the particular embodiments shown and described above will prove to be useful in many applications in the gaming art to which the present invention pertains, further modifications of the present invention will occur to persons skilled in the art. All such modifications are deemed to be within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.