Patent Publication Number: US-8118306-B2

Title: Therapy games

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application contains disclosure from and claims the benefit under Title 35, United States Code, §119(e) of the following U.S. Provisional Application: U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/070,824 Filed Mar. 26, 2008 entitled THERAPY GAMES. 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     Apparatus used to properly display and play board games for therapeutic use by impaired individuals. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Traditional board games such as chess and checkers have been around for over a thousand years and are well known in the art. Numerous retail versions are still being sold, yet a vast majority of these retail versions contain boards no larger than 20 square inches and small playing pieces that require fine fingertip to thumb coordination. Furthermore, most of this prior art contains cardboard boards used on table tops where the board sits horizontally and the game pieces are susceptible to unintentional movement. For the general public, these traditional styles of board games are sufficient, but for the handicapped users, these games become too challenging to play and to maneuver. 
     Many inventions such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,431,548, 5,727,787, 5478,085 and 4,275,887 deviate from the standard cardboard board games by utilizing magnets both in the playing piece and the board itself. Although this deviation prevents the pieces from being moved unintentionally, the playing pieces remain unaltered and the game boards remain diminutive in size. In fact, many inventions such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,293,550, 5,228,699, 5,016,888, 5,005,841, 4,861,039 and 4,299,389 teach toward magnetic board games that are unique due to their smaller sizes and ability to be used during travel. None of the prior art teaches of a board game designed for handicapped players with limited coordination or mobility and in fact the prior art teaches away from such novelty. 
     U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,503,400 and 5,040,800 teach of vertical chess boards utilizing magnets. Although these board games provide better visibility for overseers, they are not designed for handicapped users. Their playing pieces remain small and the size of the boards is unchangeable. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,229,073 teaches of a magnetized dry erase board that may be a good starting point for a board large enough for handicapped users to access but this invention fails to address board games in general. 
     Although the above prior art may fulfill most of its desired intentions, a need still exists for board games that allow a large vertical playing surface. Further need exists for a system where the playing pieces are larger but can still be attached to a vertical board with ease. And need exists for the playing pieces to be multifunctional and for the game board to be exchangeable and positioned at varying heights and angles. In summary there is a great need for a flexible alternative to provide therapeutic stimulation to impaired or handicapped individuals by allowing them to play simple board, card and domino games in an environment that is better suited for those individuals. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention may be played on at least one magnet attractant dry erase type board, which is inexpensive, compared to imprinting or enameling games on individual large magnet attractant surfaces. Having a dry erase board for drawing, matching, and writing has many secondary beneficial applications as well. The present invention also contains a game board that may be rolled up for easy storage or hung on a stand. There are many game boards possible, as alternate roll up boards may be used, or game boards may be drawn onto the dry erase board. The game board can be attached to the magnet attractant dry erase board in any means including magnets, hooks or tape. The invention further consists of a unique game piece containing a hollow substantially transparent body with a top end and bottom end. The game piece may consist of a cap that attaches to the top end of the transparent hollow body and in the preferred embodiment, a magnet cup assembly comprising a metallic metal cup which contains and protects the magnet, is riveted to the bottom end of the significantly transparent hollow body. A magnetic cup assembly is often preferable to better hold a magnet and to protect the magnet from damage. An image paper then can be placed inside the substantially transparent body. This image paper can change the entire appearance of the game piece depending on what is printed on the image paper. Because this game is meant to be played by handicapped individuals, game pieces are preferably of a substantial size, and an optional game piece pickup stick may be utilized wherein the pickup stick will have a magnetic or magnet—attractant tip where users with limited mobility can pickup fallen game pieces. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above description and other objects, advantages, and features of the present embodiment will be more fully understood and appreciated by reference to the specification and accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the playing piece. 
         FIG. 3  is a view of the flat and rolled up image paper in the preferred embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is another alterative view of the playing piece. 
         FIG. 5  is a prospective view of the pickup stick. 
         FIG. 6  is another alterative view of the playing piece. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  shows the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The game board  30  is preferably larger than standard game boards and may be played on a large vertical or semi-vertical magnet attractant surface such as a dry erase board  11 . The game board  30  in this preferred embodiment is made of a vinyl material and has a size ranging from 22 inches square to 44 inches square. The magnet attractant dry erase board  11  is preferably of a size in the area of 4 ft×6 ft which is large enough to allow for people of many disabilities to have the access and ability to play simple board games. The magnet attractant dry erase board  11  in the preferred embodiment is placed on a stand  10 . The stand  10  has wire shelving support  13  which may be used to store unused game pieces and game boards. The game boards may also be hung on rod near the top of the stand, behind dry erase board. The present invention may also contain at least one tracing sheet  14  attached to the base of the magnet attractant dry erase board  11  with an attachment means such as a piano hinge. In the preferred embodiment, the tracing sheet  14  is made of Lexan and is of a size in the area of 2 ft high by 6 ft wide. This tracing sheet  14  allows a teacher or therapist to put written material or pictures behind the tracing sheet  14  and utilize it to teach reading &amp; writing to handicapped students by requiring the student to trace a word or picture. 
       FIG. 2  shows the preferred embodiment of one of the large playing pieces  20 . The playing piece  20  consists of a hollow substantially transparent cylinder body  21 . On the top end of the cylinder body  21  contains a cap  24 . The cap can be screwed on the cylinder body  21 . The playing piece  20  also preferably contains a magnet cup assembly  26  and a magnet  23  that is secured by a rivet to the bottom end of the cylinder body  21 . This magnet cup assembly  26  may partially or complete cover the magnet  23  and prevents magnet  23  from damage when the playing piece  20  is accidentally dropped on the floor. A washer  22  may be used to promoting a flush connection between the hollow substantially transparent body  21  and the magnet  23 . In the preferred embodiment the magnet  23  has around 12 lbs of pull. In the preferred embodiment the playing piece  20  has a 1.25 inch diameter and may be 5 inches in length. The cylinder body  21  and the cap  24  may be made of plastic to keep the weight of the game piece to a minimum. The larger size of the playing piece  20  allows handicapped users to easily grasp and positions the pieces. 
     The cap  24  may play an important roll in identifying the pieces. If the game is checkers, the caps simply have to be different colors so that the players can tell which pieces are theirs. If the game changes and new game pieces are need, the user can simply change the caps  24  to fit the game. Another unique element of the present game piece  20  is the substantially transparent cylinder body  21 . The cylinder body  21  allows an image paper  50  to be rolled up and placed inside the cylinder body  21  of the game piece  20 . This image paper  50  may be of an inspirational or motivational nature to inspire confidence and act as an additional therapy factor. The image paper  50  may also contain phrases or therapy terms such as “Believe in Yourself” or “Reach Higher.” 
       FIG. 4  shows an alternative embodiment of a game piece  20   c.  The cap  24   c  has a magnetic tape  26  on top. Additional laminated cap covers  25  with magnets or magnet attractants can be placed on top of the cap  24   c  to turn the game piece  20  into a different game piece. One example would be “K” for “King” in checkers game or other symbols necessary to play Chess. 
       FIG. 5  shows a pickup stick  40  which contains a shaft  42  that may be adjustable in length and a magnetic or magnet attractant tip  43 . This pickup stick  40  can assist in picking up fallen game pieces for movement impaired players. 
       FIG. 6  shows another alternative embodiment with a game piece  20   b  where the substantially transparent body  21   b  is cone shaped. It is disclosed that the shape of the game piece is not limited to  FIGS. 2 and 6 . Other shapes such as peg, golf T, rectangle, square tube, drawer knob with flat base etc can be utilized and will fall within the scope of this invention. 
     In the preferred embodiment, additional large playing card pieces and large domino pieces made with magnetic backing may also be used either in conjunction with the game board or the magnet attractant dry erase board. Alternatively, the playing card or domino piece can also be affixed to the cap  24  of the game piece  20 . 
     The present invention as disclosed above serves many purposes, especially when done in a vertical orientation. The game may be used for educational, social, cognitive skill building, attention to task skill building, and receptive and expressive language skill building. In a broader sense, it serves as a conduit for achieving diverse rehab goals across many disabilities, age groups and settings. The advantage to playing a client centered game is the increased repetitions of a desired therapeutic intervention and time needed to complete a game. Some examples of how the present invention helps handicapped individuals are: (1) to increased sitting/standing balance for high fall risk geriatric populations, cerebral palsy, vestibular impaired, and vision impaired clients; (2) to increase transfer skills (sit to stand) and change of direction skills; (3) increased hand coordination with various sizes of playing pieces—using intrinsic or extrinsic muscles and different fingers with thumb; and (4) increased functional vision, especially when using a larger game board or playing surface. 
     Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features. Persons skilled in the relevant art may realize variations from the specific embodiment that will nonetheless fall within the scope of the invention. For example, the words “magnetic” and “magnet attractant” may be used interchangeably through out this speciation and claims. The magnet attractant dry erase board can be attached to any type of support, and can be fixed in any angle. The game board can be made from any thin material that allows for the game piece to attach to the magnet attractant dry erase board. The game board can be attached to the magnet attractant dry erase board in any means including hooks, magnets and tape. The game piece may be made of other material as long its functional utility is not impaired. The magnet can be of various types. The cap can be screwed on or plugged into the transparent hollow body or can be permanently fixed. The game piece may also be played with an “open top” to allow handicapped people with gross finger flexion and no thumb function to manipulate the playing piece with access to the internal cavity. Lastly, the sizes of the magnet attractant dry erase board, the game pieces and the game board are not limited to those disclosed in the preferred embodiment. 
     Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiment illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.