Abstract:
A board game played by multiple players to simulate experiences and satisfaction from graduating through all levels of an education system from elementary school to high school through college and university to obtain diplomas, undergraduate degrees, masters degrees and doctorates. The players roll dice having color coded side faces and symbols on certain side faces to simulate the experiences encountered in successfully obtaining credits to graduate from one educational level to another. Question and answer game cards are provided with degrees of difficulty corresponding to the educational levels to provide an additional control of players earning credits to graduate from one educational level to the next higher educational level.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a board game in which multiple players simulate the experiences encountered at all levels of an education system starting at the elementary level and proceeding through the high school level, the college level and the university level including the bachelors degree level, the masters degree level, and the doctorate level. The game includes a game board of circular configuration divided into a plurality of arcuate segments depicting the levels of an education system upon which color markers or knobs will be placed to indicate the progress of the players as a game proceeds. The game also includes control cards with questions and answers and dice having color schemes or indica on the faces of the dice and symbols indicating various situations which may be encountered by a student when progressing through the various levels of the education system. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Various types of board games that relate to educational objectives exist in which results are determined by chance devices such as dice or control cards which may include questions and answers which can be divided into various categories of subject matter encountered by a student or player with various rules of play controlling the procedural steps followed in a game and determining the winner or winners in accordance with those rules. 
         [0003]    Many previously developed games require players to recall specific information regarding various events and may involve various fields of endeavor such as sports, military actions, catastrophic events, political events, historical events and the like. Accordingly, such games that require specific information to play the games do not require the players to analyze situations, determine the results of various activities and make rational decisions in order to properly play the games to an advantageous result. 
         [0004]    Typical of prior art game disclosure appears in published patent application U.S. 2003/0218302 that was published Nov. 27, 2003 and includes various game pieces, questions and answers relating to images of postage stamps. 
         [0005]    In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,370 issued Feb. 1, 2000 discloses an educational board game which includes a game board having printed indicia thereon, rules of play, dice, question and answer cards and the like. This patent includes a listing of numerous prior patents relating to various types of board games utilizing various control devices for playing games in accordance with various rules of play. 
         [0006]    While various prior art board games relate to educational experiences, they do not utilize a progression of educational experiences from a primary educational level through high school, colleges, universities and the like, with the degree of knowledge required becoming more difficult as the players of the game proceed through different levels of the education system. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    It is an object of the invention to provide a game which requires knowledge with the game being fun filled, educational and entertaining by providing players with the simulated experience of graduating through various levels of an educational system by the players acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge, by earning credits in order to proceed from a lower level to an upper level of the educational system. 
         [0008]    Another object of the invention is to provide an educational game that is unique as the players can play the game even though they may have different intellectual capabilities. The game of the present invention will provide a highly desirable educational and entertaining product in the form of a game that is especially adapted for use by parents and teachers to enhance the gain of knowledge of their children or students through various educational levels. 
         [0009]    A further object of the invention is to provide a game including a game board of circular configuration having a planar surface divided into a plurality of radial sections by radial lines extending from a central circle of the game board to the outer periphery. A plurality of game pieces that are color coded will be placed on the circular game board to represent credits earned at the various educational levels. Such game pieces may be in the form of buttons or knobs that are color coded. The game also includes six color coded cubes or dice on which the sides have colors and in some instances symbols or letters or other indicia to indicate various educational experiences. Also, the game includes a plurality of question and answer cards for each level of the educational system. The game involves the use of knowledge, intelligence, analytical capabilities of various degrees of difficulty commensurate with the level of the educational system and also includes elements of chance and luck to enhance the satisfaction of players competing throughout the educational levels, to become the first player to earn the necessary credits to graduate from each of the six levels of the education system and ultimately bestowed the honor of summa cum laude graduate and winner of the game. 
         [0010]    These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of constructions and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numeral refer to like parts throughout. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a plan view of a circular game board illustrating a representative embodiment of the shape and configuration of the segments thereof. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a plan view simulating a section of the game board and an exemplary detail of the different levels of the educational system as they will appear in the circular game board shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a group plan view illustrating the dice, the color codes on certain sides of the dice and the symbols on certain sides of the dice with each of the dice having different symbols indicating certain experiences which may be encountered by players at the different educational levels in each level of the educational system. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3A  is a group plan view of an alternate group of dice with different symbols and indicia. 
           [0015]      FIGS. 4 and 5  are perspective views of the top and bottom surfaces of question and answer game cards. 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  illustrates an example of one credit marker to be placed onto the empty spaces of the game board representing the various levels of education to signify credit earned through a correct response to a question at a particular level or a credit earned as a result of rolling the dice. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0017]    Although one preferred embodiment of the invention is explained in detail, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possible. Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention is to be limited in its scope to the details of constructions and arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, in describing the preferred embodiments, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. It is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose. 
         [0018]    The graduation game illustrated in  FIG. 1  of the drawings includes a circular game board  10  having a planar upper surface  12  preferably constructed of substantially rigid cardboard, wood, metal or any other suitable material on which markings can be made. The game board  10  includes six inner circles  14  and six radial division lines  16  which form six triangular sections  18  of equal shape and dimension with numerical indicia  20  printed on each section. The game board  10  also includes generally descriptive terminology  22  of the different levels of the educational system including the elementary level, the high school level, the college level and the university level and at the center of the game board, the designation of “Summa Cum Laude”. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a depiction of the different levels of the educational system as they will appear on the circular game board to indicate the different number of spaces at each of the six levels onto which the credits earned by the different players at the six different levels of the education system, as represented by credit markers  52  (shown in  FIG. 6 ), are placed to record successful answering of the question or credits earned through rolling the dice. The single circular area in the center of the game board represents an area to be capped the winner of a game with the designation of “Summa Cum Laude”. 
         [0020]      FIGS. 3 and 3A  are group views of the dice used in the graduation game with a symbol color or indicia  42 ,  44  appearing on certain sides of the dice with the significance of the symbols and the color codes being illustrated centrally in  FIGS. 3 and 3A . 
         [0021]      FIGS. 4 and 5  are perspective views of game cards  46  with questions  48  and answers  50  thereon with the question and the answer on one end of the card and a further elaboration of the answer (not shown) on the other end. One of the surfaces of the cards will be colored in one of the four colors representing the four distinct educational group levels. The other surface of the cards may be plain or colored. The cards may include a legend of the general grouping of the question, such as “Philosophy”. 
         [0022]    Typically, each graduation game includes the game board  10  for up to six players and six color coded cubes or dice. The game also includes 126 buttons or knobs which serve as credit markers with 36 knobs of the same color representing credits to be earned at the elementary level, 30 knobs of the same color to represent credits to be earned at the high school level, 24 knobs of the same color representing credits to be earned at the college level, and 36 knobs of the same color representing credits to be earned at the university level, including bachelors, masters and doctorate levels. 
         [0023]    The game also includes a pack of 126 question and answer cards with two cards for each question and answer with 36 cards at the elementary level, 30 cards at the high school level, 24 cards at the college level, and 36 cards at the university level. Having the same questions and answer printed on two different cards in the pack enhances the players chance of correctly answering a question. One of the credit markers  52  at each of the four distinct educational levels will be numbered 1-6 for each of the six player domains to identify each player&#39;s academic standing during a game. 
         [0024]    The formulation of the questions and answers on the cards and the difficulty of the questions are adapted to the different levels of an education system. The rules cannot be changed during a game and all players must comply with the established rules. 
         [0025]    Each level of the education system would be reflected by different degrees of difficulty of the questions. The questions  48  would be printed on the front side of each card  46  with the answer  50  to the particular question  48  being printed on the same side of each card  46  but in an upside down relationship as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0026]    In playing the game, the first player to earn the necessary credits to graduate through all six levels of education would be considered the winner and obtains the privilege of capping the Summa Cum Laude level marker as shown in  FIG. 1 . A player can acquire credits by either rolling the color cubes or dice or by testing other players on the information on the question and answer cards. While a player may earn credits at any level during the course of the game, a player may be qualified to graduate at a particular level only after earning the credits needed to graduate at the previous levels. 
         [0027]    Only the questions on the question and answer cards may be asked during the course of the game. The correct answer to each question must be accepted as the one given on the card. 
         [0028]    A game begins with each player tossing the dice in turn and the color of the dice facing upwardly determines the level and number of credits earned by each player. The circular game board, the 36 surfaces on the dice, the details of the credit markers  52  and the specific questions and answers are chosen to depict various conditions that may be encountered in various educational levels and depending on the educational subjects being pursued. Likewise, the dice can be thrown by hand, shaken and discharged from a dice cup or electronically generated. 
         [0029]    For example, one side of a dice indicating “incomplete” earns a player no credit, one side of a dice indicating “expulsion” deprives the player of a credit already earned at the particular level. Once a player has earned the full credits for graduating at a particular level, they are no longer subject to the consequences of the rules pertaining to that level during the course of the game. Also, a player who gets an “expulsion” who does not yet have any credits at that particular level cannot be affected. 
         [0030]    The above rules and similar rules may be provided and offered with the player ultimately graduating from all levels being termed the winner of the graduation game. It will be appreciated that the various rules of playing the game may be varied to enhance the interest in the game by maintaining competitive situations throughout each of the levels of the education system. Also, the question and answer cards may be directed to particular areas of information such as sports, science, arts, politics, geography, physics and the like. 
         [0031]    The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents my be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.