Abstract:
A game for building words and form concepts form the selection and arrangement of symbols within a given topic. A card with longitudinal slots is adapted to receive one topic chip per slot and one or more symbols that form a word related to each one of those topics. The symbols chips are pre-organized through the use of unique relief patters that are accepted in position with complementary relief patterns in a carrier for these symbol chips. As the players build their words they are called to defend them as being relevant to the topic categories where they were built.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for playing a game with phonemes and letters to construct words and define their meaning. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A number of games exist that utilize letters to build words. However, none of these games are based on phonemes or require the user to defend its meaning within a given topic. The use of phonemes permits greater flexibility and speed in the game. The game is flexible enough to permit its adaptation in any language. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is one of the main objects of the present invention to provide a game that teaches the players how to combine phonemes and letters in a given language, or under a predetermined set of rules, to construct words and to form concepts. 
     It is another object of this invention to provide a game that injects knowledge to the users while they play without limit at all. 
     It is still another object of the present invention, when used as a language teaching tool, to provide a game for practicing the use of vocables to enrich the user&#39;s vocabulary. 
     Another object of the present invention is to bring within the reach of users of any age or cultural level the above mentioned benefits. 
     It is yet another object of this present invention to provide such a game that utilizes parts that are inexpensive to manufacture and maintain while retaining their effectiveness. 
     Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     With the above and other related objects in view, the invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 shows one of the storage carriers for the symbol chips that are preferably arranged in a predetermined order. 
     FIG. 2 represents one of the rectangular cards used in the preferred embodiment of the game having longitudinally extending slots where the chips with symbols are slidably positioned. 
     FIGS. 3 and 3A illustrate one of the topic chips used in the game having symbol on one of its faces and the other face having preferably a guide that cooperatively matches with the slots in the rectangular cards. 
     FIGS. 4 and 4A represent one of the symbol chips having a symbol represented on one of its faces and the other face having a relief pattern that cooperatively matches with the recessed patterns of the carriers. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings, the present invention includes four rectangular cards 20 having each four longitudinally extending slots 22. Chips 30 and 40 are cooperatively and slidably received within slots 22. Topic chips 30 include a legend on one of its two surfaces that relates to a topic or other general class of things or general concept, and the other surface includes a guide that permits it to be slidably mounted to rectangular card 20. Symbol chip carrier 50 includes a number of recessed areas 144 for receiving symbol chips 40. Symbol chips 40 have two faces or surfaces. Upper surface 42 includes the representation of a symbol (such as a letter or phoneme or other figure that can be logically combine) and underside surface 44 has a relief pattern that mates with a complementary recessed pattern at a particular location in symbol chip carrier 50. In this manner, symbol chips 40 can be organized in a predetermined fashion to facilitate its readily localization by a player and to provide orderly means of storage. Also, this organization can respond to different degrees of difficulty that will permit the users or players to advance without getting frustrated. 
     To play the game a rectangular card 20 is given to each player. Preferably, there are four players and an arbiter. Each player is given twelve topic chips 30 and the player selects initially four of the twelve chips and slidably mounts each one of them on each one of the slots 22. Then the players decide who goes first and the order in which they are going to play. 
     The player that goes first selects one symbol chip 40 from carrier 50 and places it in one of the slots 22. The player must have a word in mind, and the word should not be obviously displayed because the other players may retrieve the symbols (phonemes or letters) that are required to complete the word. The second player will then take a chip 40, followed by the third and fourth player. When the turn for the first player comes again, he will try to finish the word he had to mind if the needed phoneme is still available. If a phoneme or letter is taken from carrier 50, the player may still change the intended word for another one, or may intend to construct a word for the other slots. The word formed has to be properly within the topic or otherwise it may be disqualified by the arbiter. It is also possible to negotiate or barter symbol chips 40. 
     After one of the players completes his four words, no more symbol chips can be taken from carrier 50. Then, each player has to define the meaning of each of his or her words and how they fall within the topics under which that were constructed. 
     The decision as to whether the words constructed fall within a given topic is within the jurisdiction of the arbiter. In the event there is no arbiter, then the players themselves will have to consult the pertinent references. Each player will receive a predetermined number of points for each work correctly constructed and defined. 
     The next step is to select another four topics by each of the players, and to proceed with the game in a similar fashion. Finally, the third round is the last one and after the first player completes his four words, the points accumulated are counted to determine who the winner is. If a player cannot support the meaning of a word constructed within a given topic then he or she will lose points accordingly. 
     One of the applications for this game is to use it to teach a language such as Spanish, for instance. In the application, the phonemes and letters are ordered in five groups, in the preferred embodiment. The first group includes phonemes that have a consonant followed by a vowel, such as: 
     
         ______________________________________Series______________________________________  Sub-Group No. 1 1       ma       me      mi     mo    mu 2       pe       po      pa     pu    pi 3       la       le      li     lo    lu 4       sa       se      si     so    su 5       ta       te      ti     to    tu 6       ne       ni      no     nu    na  Sub-Group No. 2 7       da       de      di     do    du 8       ca       co      cu     que   qui 9       ba       bi      bo     be    bu10       va       ve      vi     vo    vu11       rra      rre     rri    rro   rru12       ra       re      ri     ro    ru (rr)  Sub-Group No. 313       ra       re      ri     ro    ru (r)14       fo       fa      fe     fu    fi15       jo     ju    ji    ja   je  gi    ge16       ga       go      gu     gue   gui17       no       ne      ni     na    nu18       cho      chi     cha    chu   che  Sub-Group No. 419       lla      llo     llu    lle   lli20       ya       yu      yo     ye    yi21       zo     ze    zi    zu   za  ci    ce22       ha       hi      ho     hu    he23       ki       ka      ko     ke    ku______________________________________ 
    
     The second group is characterized by having two consonants followed by a vowel. 
     
         ______________________________________Series______________________________________  Sub-Group No. 524       pla      ple      pli    plo   plu25       blo      bla      ble    bli   blu26       cla      cle      cli    clo   clu27       flo      fli      fla    fle   flu28       glo      gle      gli    gla   glu  Sub-Group No. 629       pre      pro      pra    pri   pru30       bra      bre      bri    bro   bru31       cre      cri      cro    cra   cru32       fre      fri      fro    fru   fra33       tro      tru      tra    tre   tri34       gri      gro      gra    gre   gru35       dra      dre      dri    dro   dru______________________________________ 
    
     The third group has a vowel followed by one consonant. 
     
         ______________________________________Series______________________________________    Sub-Group No. 736         al      ul       ol    el    il37         in      on       en    an    un38         as      es       is    os    us39         oz      uz       az    iz    ez40         er      ir       or    ur    ar    Sub-Group No. 841         am      em       im    om    um42         ec      oc       ic    ac    uc43         ax      ex       ix    ox    ux44         id      ed       ad    ud    od______________________________________ 
    
     The fourth group is composed of phonemes that include two vowel. 
     
         ______________________________________Series______________________________________      Sub-Group No. 745           ia       io       ie     iu46           ue       ua       ui     uo47           au       eu      Sub-Group No. 848           ai       ei       oi49           ae       ao50           ea       eo51           ay       uy       oy     ey______________________________________ 
    
     The fifth group includes the letters of the alphabet, preferably the letters are placed in alphabetical order in symbol chip carrier 50. It should be noted that the groups have been formed taking in to consideration the difficulty or simplicity of its pronunciation in Spanish language. The number of repeated phonemes and letters will vary depending on the frequency with which the phonemes or letter are used in the language. At least there will be one phoneme and one letter of each of the ones included the foregoing five groups. 
     
         __________________________________________________________________________Carrier Number 1a   e   o   u   i   u   a   me  M   mi  m   momi  mu  ma  me  mu  m   mis mo  mami  ma  mas po  pa  pe  pi  pupa  pi  P   p   pu  A   E   I   O   UCarrier Number 2le  lo  l   la  li  L   los li  las lelu  lo  la  li  l   la  si  se  sa  ssu  so  S   sa  s   su  T   ti  ta  tte  tu  to  ta  tu  ti  nu  no  nCarrier Number 3na  ni  ne  no  ni  na  nu  uno Ndo  di  da  du  de  d   D   cu  quico  qui ca  que q   Q   co  ca  coque x   X   bi  be  bu  ba  bo  buCarrier Number 4B   b   vi  ve  va  vu  vo  v   V   rrrru rre rri rro rra ra  riro  ru  re  ra  ri  ra  r   ro  Rfe  fi  fu  fa  fo  fe  fa  f   F   GCarrier Number 5gi  ge  ji  je  jo  ju  ja  J   ji  jgo  gui gue gu  ga  G   ni  nuna  ne  no  N   n   chi cho chech  cha chu cho CH  llu ellaCarrier Number 6lla lle llo lli ll  Ll  Y   yiYo  yu  yo  y   ye  yo  ya  z   zeza  zi  zu  zo  Z   zo  ci  ce  cci  ce  C   hi  he  h   hu  ho  hi Carrier Number 7H   hu  ha  ko  ku  ki  ke  k   Kka  a   A   b   B   c   C   ch  CH  d   De   E   f   F   g   G   h   H   i   I   j   Jk   K   l   L   ll  Ll  m   M   n   N   n   NCarrier Number 8o   O   p   P   Q   r   R   rr  s   St   T   u   U   v   V   w   W   x   X   y   Yz   Z   pla ple plu plo plipla bla blu blo bli bleCarrier Number 9cle clu clo cla cli floflu fla fle fli gla gloglu gli gle glu pri prupra pre pro bre bru briCarrier Number 10bra bro bri bru cri crucre cro cra cro cra frofri fru fra fre fri trotre tra tri tru tro treCarrier Number 11gre gro gra gru gri dradro dru dre dri a   b   c   chd   e   f   g   h   i   j   k   l   ll  m   n   op   q   r   rr  s   t   u   v   w   x   y   zCarrier Number 12el  il  ul  el  ol  el  ul  El  alel  un  en  sin an  in  un  on  anun  en  on  in  os  es  as  nos usis  es  is  as  us  az  oz  uz  izCarrier Number 13ex  iz  ar  er  por ir  or  ur  era r am  om  um  im  em  om  am  emic  ec  oc  ac  uc  ex  ax  ix  oxux  ud  od  ad  ed  id  ie  io  iaCarrier Number 14iu  ia  ie  io  ua  uo  ue  ua  uieu  au  ou  au  eu  oe  oa  oi  eiai  ao  ae  ea  eo  uy  ey  ay  oyob  ab  ub  !   ? ! ?   ! , . .__________________________________________________________________________ 
    
     As it can be seen, the phonemes in Spanish follow a predetermined order that responds to its complexity in pronunciation. This is specially useful with children, including those with disabilities, so that increasingly complex words can be formed with the combination of the phonemes. In addition, the player or user has to defend the meaning of the word resulting from the combination of words and that if falls within the topic slot where it was formed. 
     The game apparatus described herein can also be implemented with computerized video technology wherein icons of different shapes can be created to perform substantially the same functions of the components we have described here. 
     The foregoing description conveys the best understanding of the objectives and advantages of the present invention. Different embodiments may be made of the inventive concept of this invention. It is to be understood that all matter disclosed herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.