Patent Publication Number: US-2019168917-A1

Title: Package for a plurality of products, in particular confectionery products

Description:
The present invention relates to a “game package”, i.e., a package that can also function as a game. The package described herein is designed for applications for foodstuff products, and in particular for confectionery products. It is, however, clear that the teachings provided herein can also be used for applications relating to other types of products. 
     In general, game packages are already known in the art. For instance, packages are known that comprise basic containers or boxes, constituted by folded sheets of paper or card, which are appropriately printed and designed so that they can be re-used as boards for table games. Once again by way of example, packages are also known that are constituted by containers, usually obtained with folded sheets of paper or card, which reproduce imaginative elements that can be re-used as components of a game. 
     In this context, the present invention regards a package that proposes associating the action of taking out the products contained therein to a game, so as to render this action an opportunity of amusement. 
     The object of the invention is specified in claim  1 . 
    
    
     
       Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge clearly from the ensuing description with reference to the annexed drawings, which are provided purely by way of non-limiting example and in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a preferred embodiment of the package described herein, according to an axonometric view; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates the package of  FIG. 1  partially disassembled; and 
         FIGS. 3 a  and 3 b    are schematic illustrations of how the package described herein is used as a game. 
     
    
    
     In the ensuing description, various specific details are illustrated aimed at providing an in-depth understanding of the embodiments. The embodiments may be provided without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, or materials, etc. In other cases, known structures, materials, or operations are not illustrated or described in detail so that various aspects of the embodiment will not be obscured. 
     The references used herein are only provided for convenience and hence do not define the sphere of protection or the scope of the embodiments. 
     The package described herein is a package for a plurality of products. In preferred embodiments, the products are foodstuff products, even more preferably confectionery products. As has been said, the same teachings provided herein may in any case be used also for applications relating to other types of products. 
     In general, the package described herein comprises:
         an outer container; and   a tray, which is provided with a plurality of housings containing said products and is rotatably mounted within said container;       

     wherein provided on said tray are an array of game indications; 
     wherein said outer container is provided with at least one opening or else with an opening and a transparent portion, which is or are configured for rendering accessible a product contained in a housing so that it can be taken out, and for rendering visible from outside an indication of said game; and 
     wherein said tray is provided with a shaped portion, which faces, or projects on, the outside of the container and which the consumer can get hold of, and wherein said tray is configured for being rotated, via said shaped portion, so as to render accessible a new product and, simultaneously, render visible from outside a new indication, through said at least one opening or else said opening and said transparent portion. 
     The game and its indications may be of a wide range of types. 
     Preferably, the game envisages presenting to the single player or to the players a test that the player/players have to pass in order to be able to take the product out of the package. 
     By way of example, the game may envisage quizzes, riddles and puzzles, logic tests, etc. Alternatively, the game may require the players to carry out a series of actions or activities in the form of forfeits or trials of skill. 
     The indications referred to above are the questions, instructions, and riddles that constitute the game. 
     In any case, in the package described herein, the products are presented as prizes when the various trials or tests envisaged by the game have been passed. 
     The drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of the package described herein. 
     According to this embodiment, the outer container, designated by the reference number  2 , is constituted by a box obtained from a sheet of dinked card material folded on itself so as to define a container closed on all sides. 
     The box may be closed by fitting elements such as tabs into slots to enable opening of the box once the products are finished, for example, so that the package can be filled up again and re-used for playing, or else with glue so that closing is definitive. 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , the tray of the package described herein, designated by the reference number  4 , is instead preferably made of thermoformed plastic material, and has the overall shape of a wheel. In various preferred embodiments, as in the one illustrated, the tray  4  is constituted by a single body of thermoformed plastic material that identifies, simultaneously, an annular array of housings  6  in the peripheral region, a plane surface  8 , of an annular shape, which is delimited by the array of housings  6 , and a central gripping element  12 . 
       FIGS. 1 and 3A-3B  represent the housings  6  containing confectionery products P of various types. In various preferred embodiments, as in the one illustrated, the box  2  may be provided with a transparent portion  28 , which is configured for displaying a part of the array of products P contained in the tray  4 . 
     Applied on the surface  8  of the tray is a disk  14 , made, for example, of card material, printed on which are the aforesaid game indications, designated in the figures by the reference X, which are also arranged according to an annular array as are the housings  6 . In various embodiments, the disk  14  is applied on the tray  4  in a removable way, for example by slotting, so that it can be replaced with another disk. In this connection, the package described herein may be provided with a plurality of disks, each bearing the indications for a corresponding game, which are interchangeable on the tray  4  according to the desired game. 
     The array of indications and the array of housings are the same in number so that an indication is assigned to each housing. 
     To return to the box  2 , this has at its top surface  2 A an opening  21  ( FIG. 2 ) through which the central gripping element  12  of the tray exits from the box. In various preferred embodiments, as in the one illustrated, the opening  21  and the gripping element  12  have corresponding circular profiles and are mutually engaged according to a rotatable coupling, so that the tray  4  will be coupled in a rotatable way to the box  2 . In addition, in further embodiments, the tray  4  may be rotatably mounted directly on a pin that is attached, in a central position, to the side of the box  2  opposite to the side from which the gripping element  12  exits. The box  2  moreover has, on its top surface  2 A, another two openings  24  and  22 , the first one of which overlies the disk  14 , and the other overlies the array of housings  6 . The opening  22  is configured for rendering accessible the product of a single housing  6  so that it can be taken out. The opening  24  has, instead, the purpose of rendering visible from outside a number of indications X, preferably just one, of the array of indications reproduced on the disk  14 . 
     The openings  22  and  24  are mutually arranged so that the product P will be accessible and simultaneously the indication X will be visible. 
     It is evident that the opening  22  constitutes the only point where the products can be taken out of the package. In various preferred embodiments, as in the one illustrated, the opening  22  can be closed by a removable covering element. In various preferred embodiments, as in the one illustrated, the covering element is constituted by a tab  26  ( FIG. 2 ) defined on the box  2  through a perforated line, which at the moment of use of the package can simply be torn away, thus exposing the opening  22 . 
     Moreover, in various preferred embodiments, on the upper side  2 A of the box there can be directly printed instructions (not illustrated) that will render immediately evident the rules of the game of the package. 
     The embodiment illustrated above constitutes a preferred embodiment. It is, however, possible to envisage alternative embodiments that depart from the configuration illustrated above. For instance, in a first alternative embodiment, the box  2  is provided with a single opening, which overlies both the array of housings  6  and the disk  14 , so as to expose just one product and one game indication. In a second alternative embodiment, the opening is, instead, replaced by a transparent portion that defines part of the outer surface of the box. On the other hand, once again in the preferred embodiment illustrated herein, it is possible to envisage a transparent film that closes the opening  24 . 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3 a  and 3 b   , the mode of use of the package envisages rotating the tray  4  randomly, bringing a new product P and a new game indication underneath the respective openings  22  and  24 . 
     Incidentally, it should be noted that it is preferable that there is a gap or clearance between the tray and the surrounding walls of the box, the aim being to favour free movement of the tray. In this way, the tray can be rotated by actually making it spin freely, thus enhancing enjoyment of the game package. 
     Once the tray  4  has been spun, the player will have to follow the game indication X on the disk  14  that is displayed through the opening  24 , and if he passes the test presented by the indication, he will be rewarded by being able to take the product that is contained in the housing  6  set underneath the opening  22 . 
     Of course, without prejudice to the principle of the invention, the details of construction and the embodiments may vary, even significantly, with respect to what has been illustrated herein purely by way of non-limiting example, without thereby departing from the scope of the invention, as defined by the annexed claims.