Patent Publication Number: US-2011062663-A1

Title: Game apparatus and method of playing a game

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a game apparatus, more particularly to a game apparatus and method of playing a game to train a person to bravely encounter adventures and challenges in life no matter what difficulty he faces so as to achieve his ultimate goal. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A well-known game board, namely “The Big Boss”, generally includes a card board formed with a looped track having a plurality of blocks, a plurality of chessmen for representing the players respectively, and a set of dice for the players to roll in turn so as to find out the number of step for proceeding along, the looped track, thereby obtaining a predetermined amount of cash imprinted on the landed block and accumulating wealth therefrom for competing with all the participants. Each of the blocks is imprinted with a specific amount of cash, which the player gets upon landing on the respective block during participating in the game. It is to compete who first arrives at the destination with the most amounts of cash in hands. 
     One drawback of the aforementioned game board resides in that though the game brings some amusement during the play but fails to teach the players how to face or overcome the hardship encountered in our daily life. The game itself is monotonous and boring because there can only be one winner and the game comes to an end in case an individual player obtains a designated amount of cash. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One aspect of the present invention is to provide a game apparatus and method of playing a game so as to train or teach the players how to bravely face or overcome the hardship encountered in our daily life. 
     Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a game apparatus and method of playing a game, in which a plurality of players can take part and there can be several winners since each has a vision or ultimate goal different from one another to achieve while participating in the game. 
     A game apparatus of the present invention is provided for training a person to bravely encounter adventures or challenges in life in order to achieve his goal. The game apparatus includes: (i) a game board having a major game track including several segments, at least one bad fate block disposed randomly in each of the several segments and between an adjacent pair of the segments and a bright future block for each player to set out along the major game track, each of the several segments including a plurality of sequential blocks respectively having indicia representing specific characters and an opportunity block, the game board further having a minor game track into which an individual player will be confined upon stepping onto the bad fate block during participating in a game and in which the confined player continues to proceed along the minor game track; (ii) a set of vision cards each for distribution to each individual player at the beginning of the game, each vision card designating ultimate points and a set of treasured items for each individual player such that whoever obtaining the ultimate points and the set of treasured items first of all will be given a completion card and will be declared a first winner of the game; (iii) a set of dice to be rolled by each player to proceed along the major game track from the bright future block; and (iv) a specific dice for permitting each player to toss the same upon stepping onto the opportunity block during proceeding along the major game track, thereby receiving a reward or punishment adapted to be accumulated in order to enable swift or slow attainment to the ultimate points. 
     Preferably, the set of vision cards includes 30 vision cards sorted into six groups by color, namely: an enterprise type, an office type, a society type, an applicable type, a research type and an artistic type. The game apparatus of the present invention further includes a plurality of participation cards to be drawn by each player upon stepping onto a respective block of the sequential blocks when setting out from the bright future block. The participation cards are sorted into several categories depending on the different indicia in the sequential blocks. Each of the participation cards includes (i) good words to recite or memorize; (ii) an assignment of different types to be conducted or completed by a respective player; (iii) a reward (in the form of cash or points) for bestowing onto the respective player and a bonus permitting the respective play to purchase one treasured card with a certain amount of points. 
     A method for playing a game apparatus of the present invention is provided so as to train a person to bravely encounter adventures or challenges in life in order to achieve his goal. The method includes the steps of: (i) distributing a vision card to each player for participating in playing of the game apparatus, each vision card designating ultimate points and a set of treasured items for each individual player such that whoever obtaining the ultimate points and the set of treasured items first of all will be given a completion card and will be declared a first winner of the game, the game apparatus including a game board having a major game track including several segments, at least one bad fate block disposed randomly in each of the several segments and between an adjacent pair of the segments and a bright future block for each player to set out along the major game track, each of the several segments including a plurality of sequential blocks respectively having indicia representing specific characters and an opportunity block, the game board further having a minor game track into which an individual player will be confined upon stepping onto the bad fate block during participating in the playing of the game apparatus and in which the confined player continues to proceed along the minor game track; (ii) tossing a specific dice in order to determine who is first, second or third in turn to set out along the major game track; and (iii) rolling a set of dice by each player to proceed along the major game track from the bright future block. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of this invention will become more apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1A  illustrates enlarged front and rear side views of one vision card; 
         FIG. 1B  illustrates front and rear side views of another one vision card shown in  FIG. 1A ; 
         FIG. 1C  illustrates some bank certificates with different values constituting a part of the game apparatus of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a game board of the game apparatus of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 2A and 2B  respectively show two minor game tracks constituting a part of the game board shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 2C  shows a chart for a ten-sided dice constituting a part of the game board shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 3  shows some symbols imprinted on vision cards representing certain treasured cards, attainment of three types of treasured cards with such symbols is the winner of the game when playing the game apparatus of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  shows a plurality of characters imprinted on front sides of several participation cards sorted into different categories, the participation cards are to be drawn by the players during playing of the game apparatus of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  are front and rear side views of one participation card belonging to a first category shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIGS. 5A and 5B  are front and rear side views of another participation card belonging to a second category shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  are front and rear side views of yet another participation card belonging to a third category shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 7  shows one Gratitude Card, belonging to the third item of the chart shown in  FIG. 2C ; and 
         FIG. 8  shows one Blessing Card, belonging to the fifth item of the chart shown in  FIG. 2C . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1A ,  1 B,  1 C,  2 ,  2 A,  2 B, and  2 C, a game apparatus of the present invention is provided for training a person to bravely encounter adventures or challenges in life in order to achieve his goal. The apparatus includes a game board  10  (see  FIG. 2 ), a set of vision cards  20  (see  FIGS. 1A and 1B ), a plurality of participation cards  30  (see  FIGS. 4 ,  5  and  6 ), a set of dice  40  (generally two rectangular pieces) and a specific dice  50 , namely ten-sided dice (see  FIG. 2 ).  FIGS. 1A and 1B  show front and rear side views of some vision cards  20  constituting a part of the game apparatus of the present invention. 
     As illustrated, the game board  10  has a major game track  101  including several segments  102 , several bad fate blocks  103  disposed randomly in each of the segments  102  and between adjacent pair of the segments  102 , and a bright future block  104  for each player to set out along the major game track  101 . Each of the several segments  102  includes a plurality of sequential blocks respectively having indicia representing specific characters (see  FIG. 4 ) and an opportunity block  105 . The game board  10  further has two minor game tracks  101 A,  101 B (namely: Valley of Anger and Forest of Wound) into which an individual player will be confined upon stepping onto one of the bad fate blocks  103  during participating in a game and in which the confined player continues to proceed along the minor game tracks  101 A,  101 B. During proceeding along the major game track  101  and upon stepping into the opportunity block  105 , the respective player is permitted to toss the ten-sided dice  50 , thereby receiving a reward adapted to be accumulated in order to enable swift or slow attainment of the ultimate goal (such as: To own a department store by the required points and the treasured item), a detailed description will be given later.  FIG. 2C  shows a chart representing the rewards of the numbers imprinted on the ten sides of the dice  50  constituting a part of the game apparatus of the present invention. 
     Each minor game track  101 A,  101 B (see  FIGS. 2A and 2B ) includes a plurality of sequential blocks respectively having indicia representing a specified assignment  1 ,  2 , . . .  8  to be performed by the confined player. One of the sequential blocks in the minor game track  101 A,  101 B (namely: Valley of Anger and Forest of Wound) is marked with indicia allowing departure of the confined player from the minor game track  101 A,  101 B (namely: valley of anger and Forest of Wound) back into the major game track  101  once the confined player has stepped thereinto. Another one of the sequential blocks in the minor game track  101 A,  101 B is marked with an arrow for accepting the player discarded from the major game track  101 . For better understanding, the assignments  1 ,  2 , . . .  8  of the minor game track  101 A,  101 B are illustrated respectively in  FIGS. 2A and 2B . Some assignments to be conducted by the confined player are shown in  FIGS. 2A ,  2 B, for instances: upon stepping into the block  1 , the confined player will be fined 100 points for being caught riding on a bike without license or the confined player is sad due to fall out with a classmate and is thus fined 100 points. 
     Each vision card  20  is to be distributed to each individual player at the beginning of the game. The vision card  20  designates an ultimate goal [also called Career Goal] (denoting: to own a department store), required points and a set of treasured items for each individual player for leading toward the ultimate goal. For instance, if the required points is 1000$, he is given half amount of the bank certificates, i.e. 500$ by the banker (one player serving) for serving as his property capital prior to setting out from the bright future block  104 . In the present invention, the set of treasured items is shown at the bottom portion of the vision card  20  and includes three symbols (see  FIGS. 1A and 1B ) indicating three types of treasured cards to be bought by each individual player with accumulated points, as to how the points are accumulated will be explained later. Attainment of these three types of treasured cards and early collecting the required points for the ultimate goal lead the respective player winning a completion card and will be declared a first winner of the game. Preferably, the set of vision cards includes thirty pieces of vision cards  20  sorted into six groups by colors, namely: an enterprise type, an office type, a society type, an applicable type, a research type and an artistic type. For instance, the vision card  20  belonging to the enterprise type may designate the ultimate goal as “To own a department store” (see  FIG. 1A ), the vision card  20  belonging to the applicable type may designate the ultimate goal as “To be a policeman”, while the vision card  20  belonging to the artistic type may designate the ultimate goal as “To Be A Novelist” and so forth.  FIG. 3  shows ten symbols imprinted on the vision cards  20  representing ten types of treasured cards, attainment of three treasured cards with the respective symbols may lead the player approaching the ultimate goal when playing the game apparatus of the present invention; 
     The game apparatus of the present invention further includes several sets of chessman  60  (see  FIG. 2 ), each set for representing an individual player so as to be disposed at the bright future block  104  in the major game track  101  prior to beginning of playing of the game. Prior to beginning the game, the ten-sided dice  50  (see  FIG. 2 ) can be tossed by each player in order to determine who is first, second or third in turn to set out along the major game track  101  from the bright future block  104 . Each set of chessman  60  includes two pieces, one is generally used in the game. However, in case the player is confined into the minor game tracks  101 A,  101 B due to stepping onto the bad fate block  103 , one chessman is suspended temporarily in the bad fate block  103  in the major game track  101  while the other chessman from the respective set is placed at the setout block (shown by an arrow) in the minor game track  101 A,  101 B. 
     Then, the first player is allowed to toss the dice set  40  to find out how many steps he is to proceed along the major game track  101  from the bright future block  104 . The second and third players respectively follow in the same manner. Note that each player sets out along the major game track  101  or the minor game track  101 A,  101 B in a clockwise direction. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 2 , when participating in the game and after determining the schedule of the turns, each player is to draw a participation card  30  of a predetermined category depending on the indicia imprinted on the landed sequential block.  FIG. 4  shows some indicia imprinted on the sequential blocks, by the use of which, the participation cards  30  are sorted. In the present invention, there are 100 pieces of participation cards  30  and are sorted into ten categories depending on the different indicia in the sequential blocks. The player is to draw one of the participation cards belonging to the respective category, where he has stepped into the respective block in the major game track  101 . Preferably, each of the participation cards  30  includes (i) good words to recite or memorize; (ii) an assignment of different types to be conducted or completed by a respective player: (iii) a reward (in the form of points) for bestowing onto the respective player and (iv) a bonus shown at the bottom thereof permitting the respective player to purchase one treasured card with a certain amount of points (see  FIG. 4B ). 
       FIGS. 4A and 4B  are front and rear side views of one participation card belonging to a first category (namely: “Paladin”), as shown in  FIG. 4 . In this example participation card (see  FIG. 4B ), the good words are “all human are equal, one should respect the other”, the assignment of the respective participation card  30  as shown in  FIGS. 4A and 4   b , the respective player must conduct is “raising one hand and shout ‘I am superman, I will destroy the evil’ and run around the play game”. The reward is “150 pts” after finishing the assignment. The bonus is “with 350 pts you can buy the treasured card ‘Equality Sword’”. 
       FIGS. 5A and 5B  are front and rear side views of another participation card belonging to a second category (namely: “Guardian Angel”), as shown in  FIG. 4 . In this example participation card (see  FIG. 5B ), the good words are “thankful heart leads to success”, the assignment is “say how you repay the person once helped you”, the reward is “100 pts” after finishing the assignment. The bonus is “with 300 pts you can buy the treasured card ‘Gratitude”. 
       FIGS. 6A and 6B  are front and rear side views of yet another participation card belonging to a third category (namely: “Philosopher”), as shown in  FIG. 4 . In this example participation card (see  FIG. 6B ), the good words are “one gets wiser as he grows older, he has love to help the”, the assignment is “recite three proverbs that influence you when you were young”, the reward is “100 pts” after finishing the assignment. The bonus is “with 300 pts you can buy the treasured card ‘Wisdom”. 
     Alternately, the respective player may be given other cards rather than the previously mentioned participation cards. The specific dice  50  (see  FIG. 2 ) has ten faces each imprinted with a numeral beginning from “1” to “10”. The game board  10  further includes a chart  101 C (see  FIG. 2C ) having ten sentences or rewards corresponding to “1” to “10”.  FIG. 7  shows one Gratitude Card, belonging to the third item of the chart  101 C shown in  FIG. 2C  and which the respective player gets when the ten-sided dice  50  shows “3” after the respective player tossing the dice  50  upon stepping into the “opportunity” block  105  during the proceeding along the major game track  101  of the game board. Unlike to the previously mentioned participation cards, the “Gratitude Card” includes good words (such as, ‘bow and say welcome to everybody’), no assignment but a reward saying “you can be exempted from being confined into the (Valley of Anger)”, if you step into the bad fate block  103  during the proceeding along the major game track  101  of the game board  10 . 
       FIG. 8  shows one Blessing Card, belonging to the fifth item of the chart shown in  FIG. 2C  and which the respective player gets when the ten-sided dice  50  shows “5” after the respective player tossing the dice  50  upon stepping into the “opportunity” block  105  during the proceeding along the major game track  101  of the game board. Unlike to the previously mentioned participation cards, the “Blessing Card” includes good words “wishing you long health”, no assignment but a reward saying “you can be exempted from being confined into the (Forest of Wound)”, if you step into the bad fate block  103  during the proceeding along the major game track  101  of the game board  10 . responsibility 
     As described above, the participation cards  30  have assignments, and a reward in points bestowed to the respective player upon finishing the assignment while the other cards, like Blessing and Gratitude, only have reward attached thereto so the respective player can accumulate the wealth without the need to finish the assignment. Under this condition, no participant can be assured that who will attain his ultimate goal first, thereby being declared as the first winner of the game and meanwhile he can learn several events attributed to social welfare and charity foundations. 
     A method for playing a game apparatus is provided according to the present invention so as to train a person to bravely encounter adventures or challenges in life in so as to achieve his goal. The playing method includes the steps of: (i) distributing a vision card  20  (see  FIGS. 1A and 1B ) to each player for participating in playing of the game apparatus, each vision card  20  designating an ultimate goal, required points and a set of treasured items for each individual player such that whoever obtaining the required points and the set of treasured items first of all leading toward the ultimate goal will be given a completion card and will be declared a first winner of the game. The game apparatus includes including a game board  10  (see  FIG. 2 ) having a major game track  101  including several segments  102 , at least one bad fate block  103  disposed randomly in each of the several segments  102  or between an adjacent pair of the segments  102  and a bright future block  104  for each player to set out along the major game track  101 , each of the several segments  102  including a plurality of sequential blocks respectively having indicia representing ten characters (see  FIG. 4 ) and an opportunity block  105 , the game board  10  further having two minor game tracks  101 A,  101 B (see  FIG. 2 ) into which an individual player will be confined thereinto upon stepping onto the bad fate block  105  during participating in the playing of the game apparatus and in which the confined player continues to proceed along the minor game tracks  101 A,  101 B; (ii) tossing a specific dice (ten-sided)  50  in order to determine who is first, second or third in turn to set out along the major game track  101  from the bright future block  104 ; and (iii) rolling a set of dice  40  by each player to proceed along the major game track  101  from the bright future block  104 . One distinct feature of the playing method resides in that the assignment and the reward enclosed in the respective participation card can be changed according to the required circumstance in order to make game more attractive or more appealing. 
     While the invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.