METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERPRETIVE GAME

Abstract: A method and apparatus for playing a game by posing a question (18) to a player to elicit one of several possible responses (20), each of the possible responses (20) having an answer value of the selected answer determining the players change of position (4) in the game. The questions presented may relate a dream and its context, and require the player to select one of several possible interpretations. His playing position is adjusted in proportion to the accuracy of the selected interpretation. The questions (18) presented may be broken into subsets (19), each subset comprising questions of comparable difficulty. The subset (19) from which the question for that playing turn will be taken may be determined in such manner that the likelihood of selecting a subset with questions of higher difficulty is smaller than the likelihood of selecting a subset with questions of lower difficulty.

Description: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERPRETIVE GAME Background of the Invention This invention relates generally to the field of games. Various types of games are known to the prior art and include games of pure chance, such as roulette, bartering types of games, such as "Monopoly", memory games, such as "Concentration", games where one team member elicits proper answers from teammates by giving various types of clues, such as "charades" or "password", and others. Each of these popular games is competitive, and scoring or movement of a player marker along a game- board is determined by chance or by player respon-se. In each of these games known to the prior art, however, the scoring or player movement is determined according to an "all-or-nothing" rule. That is to say in games where player judgment or response is required, the answer has only one of two answer values - a correct response or an incorrect response. In none of the games of the prior art is scoring or player movement determined by a player response to a question where the responses may each take a relative answer value, i.e., "most correct", "acceptable", "unac¬ ceptable or "grossly unacceptable". The present invention provides for such scoring. In the field of games heretofore known, no game deals specifically with the subject of dream inter¬ pretation. This area has been the subject of study by man for thousands of years. In many societies there have been selected members such as shamans, medicine men, and others, who the society believed to be gifted or skilled in dream interpretation. The meaning of an individual's dream was considered important, for instance as an augury or hidden truth concerning the dreamer or communication from the dead. Current studies estimate that people spend about twenty percent of their sleeping time dreaming. They dream four or five times a night, and each dream lasts about twenty minutes. Consequently, everyone has a variety of dreams which may be subject to interpretatio There is no certain way of interpreting dream and in fact, any dream interpretation is hypothetical. A variety of distinct schools of thought have developed as followers of, for instance, Alfred Adler, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Frederick Perls. Consequently, therapists variously identify themselves with differing theories of dream interpretation and structure their analyses accordingly. A wealth of literature is available on the subject of psychoanalysis, psychology, and dream interpr tation presenting in academic fashion certain theories of analysis and their necessary framework for dream interpretation presenting in academic fashion certain theories of analysis and their necessary framework for dream interpretation. While this material has been presented in literary form or through lectures, both in academic context, it has not heretofore been the subjec of a game. Summary of the Invention: Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a game using questions propounded to the various game players with player scoring or a advancement determined by the answering response of the player, with each of several possible responses havi varying answer values. Another object is to provide a game to test the player's ability to interpret various information dealing with a variety of subject areas. A further object is to provide a recreational game of skill and acumen. Still a further object is to provide a recrea¬ tional game which will educate its game players. Another object is to provide a game where a variety of answers may be given by a game player to a question propounded, and the relative value of the particular answer given determines the scoring or player O advancement in the game. Another object is to provide a game where the questions which may be asked of a game player vary in degrees of difficulty, and where the benefit or detri- ment to be gained or lost by the responses varies in proportion with the difficulty of the question. Still a further object of this invention is to provide a game where questions to be asked of a player have varying degrees of difficulty, and where the selec¬ tion of the question to be propounded is determined by chance, where the probability of selecting a question of lower difficulty exceeds the probability of selecting a question of higher difficulty. Another object of this invention is to provide a game where the game players are required to interpret meaning of a dream. A further object of this invention is to provide a game where a player's interpretation of a dream is measured against an interpretation of that same dream in the same context by a prevailing school of thought. Briefly, these and other objects are achieved ■ by providing a game for two or more players where each player in turn is asked a selected question in a given area of subject matter, the responses to which have relative values as determined by accepted theories of the prevailing schools of thought. Each possible player response is associated with a player scoring addition or loss, or position marker advancement or retreat, in accordance with the relative answer value associated with the player's response. The questions may be in predeter¬ mined order or may be selected at random or by choice of the player. The questions may be divided into subsets, with selected subsets having more difficult questions than other subsets. Both the subset and the included question may be selected in predetermined order, or by selection by the player, or by a chance event. In one embodiment, the questions may relate a dream and its context or selected facts relating to the dreamer, and ask the game player to select one of a possible number of dream inter pretations. Each interpretation may have a relative answer value in accordance with interpretation of that same dream and context by prevailing schools of thought dream analysis. Brief Description of the Drawings: In describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention, reference will be made to the appende drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a gameboard for playi one game of dream interpretation; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration showing a set of question cards for the game divided into subset Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a set of answer cards divided into subsets corresponding to the question card subsets; Figs. 4a, 4b and 4c are diagrammatic illustra¬ tions of player markers which may be used in playing the game; Figs. 5a, 5b and 5c show three decks of corner cards used in playing the game; and Fig. 6 illustrates a chance device for selecti a question by each player during his turn. Description of a Preferred Embodiment: Fig. 1 shows a gameboard 2 particularly adapte to playing a game according to the present invention dealing with the subject matter of dream interpretation. Certain of a plurality of marker spaces 4 are disposed central area of the square gameboard 2. The marker spac 4 are preferably serially numbered for the orderly pro¬ gression of player markers 14 around the board. The gameboard 2 includes a starting position 6 and a winner circle or position 8. The starting position 6, adjacent the marker space "1" is disposed at one corner of the gameboard 2 and is labeled "Zodiac". The remaining thre corners 10, 11 and 12 of the gamebroad 2 are respectivel labeled "Astrology", "Symbols", and "Mythology". As will be seen, these corners may be designated as other cate¬ gories of information. After leaving the starting position 6,- and proceeding around the perimeter of the gameboard 2, in accordance with the digits associated with each marker space 4, the course of the game may follow marker spaces disposed in any desired fashion in the center of the board, so long as the course leads to a winner's circle or position 8, here designated "Freudian Circle". It is not necessary that the game course proceed around the peri¬ meter of the board, or even that the board be square. Any regular or irregular geometric shape may be used, such as a pentagon, hexagon, triangle, or such irregular shapes as a large question mark or a plan or elevational view of a human cerebrum. In the form illustrated, the spaces numbered 1 to 26 extend around the periphery of the board 2, and are interspersed with the "Astrology", "Symbols" • and "Mythology" corner positions. The sequence of numbered spaces continues as Nos. 27 through 32, desig¬ nated "Post-graduate Training", to Nos. 33 through 39, designated "Analysis", to return to Nos. 40 and 41 on the perimeter. The sequence continues from Nos. 42 to 49, designated "Practice" to the goal marked "Freudian Circle." Thus the advancement along the numbered spaces represents progressively regular study, postgraduate training, psychoanalysis and professional practice until the goal of the Freudian Circle is attained. In essence, a player's position on the numbered spaces indicates his level of achievement and his progress through the spaces represents his advancement towards the ultimate level of achievement. Three distinctive markers 14 are shown in Figs. 4a, 4b and 4c for movement along the markers spaces 4. These markers 14 may assume any shape desired so long as they are distinguishable and each will fit on a marker space 4. In the present embodiment, Zodiacal figures - ς__ΕEXif- O PI. Λ, WIPO «Λ are preferably employed, and Figs. 4a, 4b and 4c show certain figures associated with the Zodiac signs of "Aries", "Aquarius", and "Cancer". These figurines, as members of the Zodiac signs, connote the imprecise scie of dream interpretation, and are particularly well-suit to.comport with the astrological, symbological, and mythological features of this game. Alternatively, markers having portraits or comprising figurines of prominent philosophers, psychiatrists, or psychologists are suggested. The number of markers should be sufficie to accommodate the desired number of game players, whic must be at least two. The plurality of player-movement determining items 16 shown in Fi.gs. 2 and 3 comprise a set of questi cards 18 and a set of answer cards 20. Each question card includes indicia indicating a question for which a player response is required. Illustratively these ques tions may comprise a short narrative dealing with the context or dream history of a dreamer, a brief descripti of a dream, and a question requiring the player to inter pret the dream by selecting one of a plurality of pre¬ determined answers. Each of the answer cards correspond to a respective one of the question cards 18 and include indicia to indicate a player score gain or loss or a magnitude of marker advancement or retreat along the gameboard marker spaces 4. In essence, the answer cards provide for an adjustment in a player's achievement leve in accordance with his answer to the selected question. Wide latitude is embraced by this arrangement, the only essential feature being that the player responses to questions are associated with corresponding varying answ values. Thus, it is not necessary that the question be presented on a card separate from the answer card. The question may be read verbally by another player or by a non-player who reads from a single card, or from a bookl and may have immediate access to the answer values, as i a common arrangement for games played on broadcast telev sion. Neither is it necessary that the questions deal with the interpretation of dreams. So long as the ques¬ tion is framed reasonably to elicit one of a number of -responses, with each response having a corresponding individual answer value, then any subject area may be explored. For instance, the question may deal with the interpretation of art, theater, or music. The question may ask for an interpretation of historical fact or an economic situation or may require the player to answer a question dealing with science or sport. Thus, although the embodiment described relates to the interpretation of dreams, it will be understood that any subject area may be utilized so long as each question is associated with a number of responses having varying degrees of accuracy, probability or correctness, which thereby permits a corresponding variation in player advancement or detriment according to the elicited response. Neither is it essential that the question be presented in multiple choice form. Thus, the questions may be framed as "matching-type" questions, where the player is required to watch each of a plurality of ques¬ tions with a corresponding one a plurality of answers. An answer card or other appropriate answering key may score the player advancement or detriment in accordance with the value of the associations made by the player. Alterna¬ tively, the questions may be framed as "fill-ins" which require the player to read a question in the form of an incomplete sentence, leaving the completion to the player. The answer card or other answering key could provide a predetermined advancement or detriment to the player for each of several likely responses, even though it would not be certain to cover all possible responses of a "fill-in" question. The player-movement determining items 16 which present questions and weighted answers in the preferred form present interpretations drawn from a study of the work of many theorists and practitioners utilizing the most significant material developed by those working in the area of dream interpretation. The player should not therefore seek a single line of interpretation for the various dreams. Nor should he assume an arbitrary interpretation. Rather, the interpretation which is most closely related to the dreamer and situation should be selected. In general, dreams involve a variety of symbols, and a game player would have an advantage if he knows something about the use of such symbols. Howeve because the same feature in two dreams may symbolize two different antecedents, the game player should not rigidly apply a predetermined meaning to any one symbol. The selected question card 18 may contain an indication that the dream is "recurrent". This means that the dreamer has had the same dream over a period of days or years, and this factor must be considered by the player in formulating his response. The re¬ current dream usually points to a continuing problem faced by the dreamer which is reflected in the response choices for such questions. In the preferred embodi¬ ment other cards have also been marked with the indi¬ cation that the player is "taking the position of" or "taking the role of...". This is utilized where the dreamer supposes or imagines himself to be some other person, being or object in the dream. The question card indicates that the dream may be interpreted by taking the role of one of other persons, beings or objects. A third variation on the dream question cards 1 is the inclusion of a statement from the dreamer that is called "association". This association means the first o key statement that a dreamer makes about his dream. Som schools of thought, particularly the Freudian, emphasize the necessity of obtaining continuous associations in dream interpretation. Other schols have pointed out that these associations can be unknowlingly guided and that they may include a potpourri of antecedent thoughts, O feelings, or happenings that have no relationship to to the dream and should not be relied upon. The player is called upon to carefully analyze the dream in this context and- judge how heavily he should rely on the asociative material given. In a fourth variation, certain question cards 18 may contain a number of dreams which have transpired during a single night. Many people working in dream interpretation believe that knowledge of other dreams that occur during the same night as the dream being interpreted assists the interpretation. Thus, the question cards 18 may include other dreams. These four variations or special conditions described on the question cards raise particular prob- lems of interpretation. These or other types of special conditions indicated on the question cards 18 may be grouped according to degrees of question difficulty into subsets 19. Thus, each question on a question card in any one of the selection card subsets 19 will have approxi- mately the same difficulty. The answer pieces 20 will similarly be divided into subsets 21, and each of the question cards 18 will correspond to one answer card of the set 20 of the answer pieces. When a special condition is encountered, the opportunity for player advancement or detriment will be enchanced in the pre¬ ferred embodiment, although this is not necessary. It will be appreciated that in ' the preferred embodiment, the difficulty of the question is related to its potential achievement level advancement value and that this value is the same for all questions in a subset. The questions may be presented to a player in preselected order, or may be determined by chance or a combination of order and chance. Thus, questions may be asked in turn of players in a predetermined order, thereby precluding player control or opportunity for variance of the question difficulty. For example, the question cards may be shuffled so that there is no order - -TEXif~- OMPI - among the cards, while requiring that the players in rotation select cards from the top of the deck 18. Eac of the question cards 18 would be identified with an answer key which may take the form of an answer card 20. Alternatively, the subset from which the question 18 is selected may be determined randomly, as by the throw of dice, the spin of a roulette or similar wheel, the electronic random selection of a card number, or blind selection by the player of one of the remaining cards. In the preferred embodiment, a further embel¬ lishment is used. Each player selects a question card by the roll of dice 25. Each of the numbers which may thrown by the device is associated with one of eleven subsets 19 of question cards. The questions indicated the cards of the subset 19 associated with the dice throw totaling 7, the most probable number, are the least difficult questions. The most difficult question are included in the subset 19 of questions pieces 18 -wh correspond to the dice throw totaling either 2 or 12, t least probable throws. The question difficulty in the remaining subsets also varies inversely with the relati probablity of throwing a selected number with the dice. The player marker movements associated with the most difficult qquestion may have a wider range (i.e., great advancement for the better answers and greater retrogre sion for the poorer answers) than the questions of less difficulty. This feature allows the opportunity for amplified player movement with the amplification factor varying inversely with the probability of a random even The square shape of the gameboard 2 provides convenient corner starting position 6 and three other corners 10, 11, and 12 upon which to place corner cards 30. These cards may enhance the game by providing a second opportunity for a player to advance or retreat h market 14. The corner cards 30 each include indicia indicating a question which requires a player response. The subject matter of the questions may vary if desired, or may be segregated into a respective particular type of subject matter for each of the three corners 10, 11, and 12. In the embodiment described, these corners illustratively have been labeled respectively for ques¬ tions dealing with astrology, symbolism, and mythology. Each of the decks 30 includes a number of corner cards, each of which poses a question. The respective answers appear on the backs of the cards. Various rules may be devised to allow a player to select a corner card and may include, for instance, second or third roll of doubles on the dice 25, a chance selection of a predetermined number or symbol, or advancement of the marker 14 along the marker spaces 4 to a position terminating on a corner space 10, 11 or 12. The questions may be objective rather than the subject of interpretation, and thereby elicit an answer which is either correct or incorrect, rather than a response having vartious relative answer values. Accordingly a correct answer elicited from a player may allow that player's marker 14 to advance a bonus number of marker spaces 4 along the gameboard 2. If incorrect, the player may be forced to retreat a predetermined number of marker spaces 4. These corner cards have been selected from subject areas related to dream inter- pretation, and if this game is played in other subject areas, such as art, music, literature, science, economics or history interpretation, appropriate questions may be selected from corresponding related fields. Set of Preferred Rules: A preferred method of play is as follows: Each of the players selects a player marker 14 and the players throw one die or the dice to deter¬ mine the highest throw the player upon whom the pivilege of the first move is conferred. Thereafter playing will continue in clockwise rotation. The players arrange their markers 14 at the starting position 6 which is labeled with the indication "Zodiac". The first player throws the dice 25 to yield a certain number between 2 and 12. He then selects a question card 18. These question cards 18 are divided into eleven subsets 19. The cards of a card subset are lableled with a digit and letter, the digits ranging from 2 to 12 and the letters proceeding from A to H. If a player has rolled a 4, he selects the 4A card from the appropriate question subset deck 19. (The player who next rolls a 4 selects the "4B" question card 18 from the same No. 4 subset 19.) One of the othe players reads the question to the player whose turn it is. The question comprises a short narrative dealing with a dream. At the end of the narrative are four inter pretative statements, each of which is labeled "A", "B", "C", or "D". The player selects whichever interpretatio he considers most accurate. After locating the answer ca 21 which is labeled "4A" from the appropriate answer subset 21, either the player-in-turn or another player compares the answer selection with the legend on the answer card 20. For each of the interpretations A, B, C or D, an instruction will be given on the answer card 20 to advance or retract the player's marker a given number of spaces. If the most correct answer was the selection of the interpretation marked "C", the player will advance a greater number of marker spaces 4 than if he had selected a less correct answer. An incorrect answer would have a corresponding instruction on the answer piece 20 to retreat a certain number of marker spaces 4. As an example, a question card selected by rolling a 12 with the dice may say: "Situation: A young woman of thirty-four who is unhappy in her marriage and is thinking of having an affair with a friend." "Dream: I meet a friend who has a white cat in a small cage. It is wild and mean and is perhaps an ocelot. The cage has two levels. The cat squeezes from the top to the bottom level. I open the cage just a tiny bit to let the cat get down to the bottom level. I was afraid that he was going to get out and I was sorry I had unlatched the cage. The cat was ferociously pushing against the door and bit and clawed clawed ' my hand " , " "" " * "Association: I am not sure who the friend was, but I think he's the man I am most interested in at the present time." "Interpretation: a. The woman is afraid that her friend who appears so quiet and nice is really a violent person. b. The woman is afraid of having an affair - because she believes it will only cause her suffering and pain. c. The woman is full of deep feelings that she is too frightened to understand or express, d. The woman unconsciously wants to be hurt." After selection of one of the interpretatons a, b, c or d, the answer card is consulted, which may read: "a. Take six steps back. b. Take two steps forward. c. Take six steps forward. d. Take two steps back. Other questions, of varying degrees of sophistication and complexity, will appear on other question cards, graded in accordance with probablity of selecting the card, and correspondingly graded answers will appear on the counterpart answer card. The play proceeds in this manner with the markers 14 moving sequentially along the marker spaces 4 until one player wins the game by reaching the last marker space, "the Freudian circle", after passing the regions marked "Postgraduate Training", "Analysis", and "Practice", showing progress twoard the goal. Experienced players may adopt a variation whereby selection of incorrect answers by players in advanced positions along the gameboard 2 requires a greater penalty. Thus, a player "in practice", (i.e., o whose marker 14 is on any marker space from number 45 to number 49), who selects an incorrect answer must retreat his marker 14 to the beginning of "analysis", marker space number 36. Similarly a player "in analysis" who selects an incorrect interpretation must retreat to the beginning of "postgraduate training", marker number 27. Finally, players in "postgraduate training" selectin wrong interpretations must retreat to the "Mythology" corner. In moving along the marker spaces 4, any player who lands his marker 14 on one of the corners 10, 11, or 12, (or, alternatively, who passes one of the corners) must select a corner card 30 of the appro¬ priate corresponding category. The corner card 30 for the corner 10- bear the legend "astrology". Selecting th top card from the "astrology" deck, the player-in-turn reads the question and formulates and pronounces his answer. Then each player in turn clockwise must answer the same question. After all players have formulated their answers and disclosed them, the selected corner ca 30 is turned over to reveal the desired answer. Any corect answer merits an advance of the markers 14 a numb of marker spaces 4, such as six. An incorrect answer by the player-in-turn may require a retreat of three marker spaces 4, while an incorrect answer by a player not in turn, may require a marker retreat of only two spaces. Alternatively, after each player determines his answer, without revealing it to the others, the answer card is consulted. If the player-in-turn is corrrect, he advanc his marker the preset number of spaces. If not, he must retrogress a set number of spaces, and the next player (e.g. clockwise) is given a chance to advance or be put back, depending upon the correctness of his answer. Thi continues only until a correct answer is attained . The corner cards 30 are utilized also by any OM player who rolls doubles on the dice 25. This procedure is the same as that described where a plyer landed his marker 14 at one of the corners. In sum, the game described herein includes several novel features. The use of questions posed to the game players in turn, to elicit one of several possible responses, each- response being associated with an answer value differing from answer values of other responses, is but one inventive aspect of the game. The use of the accuracy or degree of validity of an interpretation of a dream to determine player gain or loss is one of the other inventive features of the t game. Although the game is described herein as a board game, it need not be so limited. The players may play without a gameboard, which is one type of scoring device, and use others. For instance, the game may be scored by assigning point values to each possible response to a question of interpretation, and continuing the game until a certain score is accumulated. The scores could be recorded on paper or by an electronic display scoreboard, which is particularly well adapted for use with games played for television broadcast. Other arrangements for denoting player position may be used as desired. The questions posed to the game players in the game described above are questions calling for an interpretation. Each of various interpretations of an event may have a certain merit, and call for a cor- responding change in player position. It will be under¬ stood, however, that a game of interpretation may be played wherein only one of several possible responses is considered to be the correct response, and player position may be improved only by selecting that response. While such a scoring method follows an "all-or-nothing" rule, it does require an interpretation of- an event, a novel feature of the present invention. From the above description it will be apparent that the subject matter of this invention is capable of taking various useful forms, and it is preferred, therefore, that this disclosure be taken in an exemplar sense and the scope of protection afforded by determine by the appended claims. OM

Claims: AMENDED CLAIMS (received by the International Bureau on 21 January 1980 (21.01.80) 1. A game designed to test players' abilities in a field of knowledge and to assign each player to one of a prede fined set of progressive achievement levels, comprising: a scoring device for displaying each player's achievement level, said scoring device initially showing the lowest level for each player; question posing means including a plurality of questions in said field of knowledge to be answered by the players, each question being of a fixed level-advancement valu selected from a plurality of different level-advancement value each question having at least two possible answers of differen validity; and means for providing a level-adjustment value fo each player in accordance with the answer he provides for a selected question and the level-advancement value of the ques¬ tion, said level-adjustment value being combinable with the achievement level indicated for that player by said scoring device to produce an updated achievement level. 2. A game in accordance with claim 1 further com¬ prising a selector operated by each player for randomly indi¬ cating which question is to be answered, said selector being adapted to indicate each question with a probability related t the level-advancement value thereof. 3. A game in accordance with claim 2 wherein said questions are arranged in subsets each inclduing question of a fixed level-advancement value different other subsets, sa selector indicating the subset from which a question is to be answered with a probability related to the level-advancement value of the questions included in the subset. 4. A game in accordance with any of claims 2 or 3 wherein said selector cooperates with said question posing mea to indicate each question with a probability which is inversel related to the level-advancement value of the selected questio 5. A game in accordance with any of claims 1-3 wherein said level-advancement value is related to the diffi¬ culty of the selected question. 6. A game in accordance with any one of claims 1-3 wherein said scoring device comrises: a gameboard having a continuous main course, said main course including a series of spaces extending about said board; and a plurality of distinctive markers, each of said markers being moved along said spaces by a different one of said players in playing said game, the position of each player's marker along the path indicating his achievement level, each marker being moved along said path in accordance with said level-adjustment value. 7. A game according to any of claims 1-3 wherein: said question posing means comprises a set of dream cards describing dreams of different degrees of difficulty of interpretation corresponding to level-advancement value, each dream card bearing a statement of a dream fact pattern and a plurality of possible interpretations of the dream, each of said possible interpretations having a relative validity differing from the others of said interpretations for the same dream fact pattern; and said means for providing a level-adjustment value comprises a set of answer cards each corresponding to a respective one of said dream cards and indicating the player's adjustment in achievement level for each one of the possible interpretations of the dream fact pattern repre¬ sented on its corresponding dream card, the indicated adjustment being related to the relative validity of the corresponding interpretation and the degree of difficulty of interpretation of the dream fact pattern. 8. The game apparatus according to claim 7 wherein certain of said dream cards indicate that said dream patterns are recurrent to the dreamer. 9. The game apparatus according to claim 7 wherein certain of said dream cards indicate that the dreamer of said dream fact patterns imagines himself to be taking the role of a object of said dream patterns. 10. The game apparatus according to claim 7 wherein certain of said dream cards indicate first statements of said dreamer about said dream patterns. 11. The game apparatus according to claim 7 wherein certain of said dream cards indicate that a plurality of dreams transpired during a single night by the dreamer. 12. A method of manipulating the components of a game for a plurality of players, said game including a pluralit of player movement-determining items, response means, and a scoring device, said method comprising the steps of: selecting by chance one of said player-movement determining items, each of said items indicating a question of one of a plurality of different levels of difficulty and having at least two possible responses of varying validity, each of said possible responses having a respective relative answer value corresponding to the validity of the response and the level of difficulty of the corresponding question, said answer value being indicated by said response means; selecting one of said possible responses; and adjusting said scoring device in accordance with the relative answer value of the selected response. 13. The method according to claim 12 wherein said adjusting a scoring device step comprises moving a marker along a continuous main course on a gameboard, said main course including a series of marker spaces extending about said gameboard. 14. The method according to claim 13 utilized in a game concerning the Interpretation of dreams, said player- movement determining items comprising a plurality of question cards forming question subsets each corresponding to the prob¬ ability of a chance determination, said selecting by chance step comprising the steps of: initiating a chance event means by each of said players in order; after each such initiation, selecting one of said subsets in accordance with the outcome of said chance determination; and selecting one of a plurality of question cards from said selected question subset, each of said ques¬ tion cards presenting a question dealing with the interpretation of a dream and requiring one of a selected number of player responses, each of said responses having relative answer value differing from relative answer value of at least one other response to said question. 15. The method according to claim 14 wherein each of said question subsets presents questions of a degree of difficutly differing from the degree of difficulty of ques¬ tions of other question subsets and the probability of selecting a question subset having questions of higher difficulty varies inversely with the degree of relative difficulty of said questions. 16. The method according to claim 15 wherein selection of a response to a question of a question sub¬ set of higher degree of difficulty determines a greater change in player position than selection of a response to a question of a quetion subset of a lower degree of difficulty. 17. The method according to claim 12 wherein the chance selection of a player-movement-determining item is characterized by selection of certain ones of said items having a probability of selection differing from probability of selec¬ tion of others of said items; and each of said player-movement-determining items indicates a question having difficulty varying from other items, said difficulty correlating inversely to the probability of selection of said item. 18. The method according to claim 17 wherein the magnitude of scoring adjustment corresponds to the difficulty of the question indicated on the selected player-movement- determining item. 19. A game in accordance with claim 4 wherein said level-advancement value is related to the difficulty of the selected question. 20. A game in accordance with claim 4 wherein said scoring device comprises: a gameboard having a continuous main course, sa main course including a series of spaces extending about said board; and a plurality of distinctive markers, each of said markers being moved along said spaces by a different one of said players in playing said game, the position of each player's marker along the path indicating his achievement level, each marker being moved along said path in accordance with said level-adjustment value. 21. A game in accordance with claim 5 wherein said scoring device comprises: a gameboard having a continuous main course, sa main course including a series of spaces extending about said board; and a plurality of distinctive markers, each of said markers being moved along said spaces by a different one of said players in playing said game, the position of each player's marker along the path indicating his achievement level, each marker being moved along said path in accordance with said level-adjustment value. __. .> ~ Vr 22. A game according to claim 4 wherein: said question posing means comprises a set of dream cards describing dreams of different degrees of difficulty of interpretation corresponding to level-advancement value, each dream card bearing a statement of a dream fact pattern and a plurality of possible interpretations of the dream, each of said possible interpretations having a relative validity differing from the others of said interpretations for the same dream fact pattern; and said means for providing a level-adjustment value comprises a set of answer cards each corresponding to a respective one of said dream cards and indicating the player's adjustment in achievement level for each one of the possible interpretations of the dream fact pattern repre¬ sented on its corresponding dream card, the indicated adjustment being related to the relative validity of the corresponding interpretation and the degree of difficulty of interpretation of the dream fact pattern. 23. A game according to claim 5 wherein: said question posing means comprises a set of dream cards describing dreams of different degrees of difficulty of interpretation corresponding to level-advancement value, each dream card bearing a statement of a dream fact pattern and a plurality of possible interpretations of the dream, each of said possible interpretations having a relative validity differing from the others of said interpretations for the same dream fact pattern; and said means for providing a level-adjustment value comprises a set of answer cards each corresponding to a respective one of said dream cards and indicating the player's adjustment in achievement level for each one of the possible interpretations of the dream fact pattern repre¬ sented on its corresponding dream card, the indicated adjustment being related to the relative validity of the corresponding interpretation and the degree of difficulty of interpretation of the dream fact pattern. 24. A game according to claim 6 wherein: said question posing means comprises a set of dream cards describing dreams of different degrees of difficulty of interpretation corresponding to level-advanceme value, each dream card bearing a statement of a dream fact pattern and a plurality of possible interpretations of the dream, each of said possible interpretations having a relativ validity differing from the others of said interpretations fo the same dream fact pattern; and said means for providing a level-adjustment value comprises a set of answer cards each corresponding to a respective one of said dream cards and indicating the player's adjustment in achievement level for each one of the possible interpretations of the dream fact pattern repre¬ sented on its corresponding dream card, the indicated adjustm being related to the relative validity of the corresponding interpretation and the degree of difficulty of interpretation the dream fact pattern. STATEMENTUNDERARTICLE 19 Claims 12-18 were amended in order to avoid any conflict with Rule 39. These claims now relate to a method for manipulating the components of a game, and the major components of the game are specifically set forth. These claims now relate to an actual process which could no longer be considered as coming under the schemes or essentially mental steps contemplated by Rule 39 (iii) . It is believed that there is therefore no longer any possible conflict of claims 12-18 with Rule 39.

Inventors: PAVIS J
Applicants: PAVIS J
Application year: 1978
Main classification: A63F3
IPC codes: A63F3