Abstract:
A word search type puzzle is provided in the form of a grid containing two or more letters in each cell. Words are formed by selecting one or more of the letters in each cell and progressing to other cells in a manner following a standard word search format, in that words may be formed forwards or backwards, vertically, horizontally or diagonally, in a linear fashion. Any combination of quantities of letters from each cell can be specified to be used in forming each solution. The grid can be mapped using coordinates for rows and columns. Solutions can be provided with hints for discovery, such as a starting or ending grid coordinate or direction within the grid. Solutions can be marked on the grid, or can be identified by the user by their coordinates and direction within the grid.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/677,692, filed Jul. 31, 2012, for all purposes. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a word search type puzzle, and more specifically to a word search puzzle utilizing a non-singular grid of characters. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Word search type puzzles are known in the prior art. The most popularly known example is a standard word search where words are hidden in a vertical and horizontal linear grid containing one letter per cell of the grid. Words can be oriented in a forward or backward direction, vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The placement of the letters must follow a specific set of rules in order to provide the challenge which in turn provides for the entertainment factor of the game in question. 
         [0004]    Another example of a word search type game is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,561 to Schroeder. Schroeder discloses a word search based game including a playing surface divided into individual playing cells, and a plurality of both alphanumeric playing tiles and directional instruction tiles. The alphanumeric tiles are placed on the playing surface in a manner to form words, similar to the popular Scrabble® game. However, in this iteration, the played tiles do not necessarily have to form words with every alphanumeric playing tile that happens to be adjacent on the board. Directional instruction tiles are of the same size, shape and color as the alphanumeric playing tiles so that they may be drawn at random with alphanumeric playing tiles, but indicate a desired direction in which to form a word and a bonus multiplier if a word follows said direction. The game also provides category cards that can be drawn at the start of a game to provide a scoring bonus to words formed which meet the category. The game is adaptable to both a traditional board game format and a computerized format. 
         [0005]    In U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,319, an apparatus for a word game is disclosed using a game board surface divided into a number of squares into which playing pieces containing letters of the alphabet are placed to form a word. The various words are contained in groups which, when of a certain size, are considered to be an ISLAND which creates the right to start a new word independent from all others, which is an ATOLL. Except for ATOLLS and the beginning of the game, any new letters added must form a word with those letters already on the playing field. New words which link one ISLAND to another ISLAND or ATOLL are ISTHMUSES and capture the ISLAND OR ATOLL to which they are linked as part of the territory for the player creating such an ISTHMUS. Two icosahedron dice having their faces numbered from 1 to 20 are used to randomly select numbers from 2 to 40. These numbers are related to the letters of the alphabet by a decoder with the frequency of the number approximating the frequency of the use of letters in making words. The seldom used letters of the alphabet are increased through the use of a number of bonus letters and the value of the individual letters vary based on a scoring code. The individual ownership of ATOLLS, ISTHMUSES, and ISLANDS is shown by a color coded transparent flag placed on top of one of the previously played letters. 
         [0006]    In 1988, Waddingtons Games, Ltd. published Wordsearch: The Game of Finding Words, a word search based board game where tiles are randomly placed on a grid of spaces on a playing surface. Players take turns moving the tiles to vacant spaces to form words. Words may be formed in any direction. Letter tiles are both played onto the playing surface and moved around on the playing surface in order to accomplish word formation. 
         [0007]    While the aforementioned games or puzzles generally involve the formation of words through placement of letters in a linear array, or the discovery of words hidden in a fixed array, they do not describe a word search containing multiple letters in each cell of a grid. In this respect, the game according to the present invention departs substantially from the usual designs in the prior art. In doing so, this invention provides a more challenging word search experience. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of word games, this invention provides an improved word search. As such, the present invention&#39;s general purpose is to provide a new and improved word search game that uses more than one letter in each cell. Players start with a grid filled with letters used to assemble the words found on a provided list. Some of the letters will be used and others are there only to increase the difficulty of the puzzle. Players have only the restrictions that they must form the words using letters found in cells that are in a straight line. Otherwise, words may be formed in any direction, as is customary in word search puzzles. Played letters do not need to be in any specific order within each cell, but the letter or letters in adjacent cells must follow the proper spelling of the word as a single letter or a pair or group of letters. Other variations of the game include restrictions on the number of letters that can be used in each cell and the option of whether the same letter can be used twice within a cell. 
         [0009]    The more important features of the invention have thus been outlined in order that the more detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may better be appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter and will form the subject matter of the claims that follow. 
         [0010]    An object of the present invention is to provide a word search based puzzle that is entertaining to play. 
         [0011]    It is another object of the invention to provide a word search based puzzle that is adaptable to either a conventional paper format or computer format. 
         [0012]    It is still another object of the invention to provide a word search based puzzle that can use multiple letters per cell to increase the difficulty and entertainment values of the puzzle. 
         [0013]    It is a further object of the invention to provide a word search based puzzle that is adaptable to infinite categories and arrangements. 
         [0014]    It is an even further object of the invention to provide a word search based puzzle that is economical to manufacture and produce so as to keep eventual costs to the consumer reasonable. 
         [0015]    Other objects of this invention will appear from the following description and appended claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is an example of a double word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of double letters with solutions formed by using a combination of single and double letters from adjoining cells in a linear configuration. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is an example of a double word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of double letters with solutions formed by a single letter from each of the adjoining cells in a linear configuration. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is an example of a double word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of double letters with solutions formed by all letters from each of the adjoining cells in a linear configuration to the extent that the number of letters in the solution are evenly divisible by the number of letters in each cell. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  is an example of a word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of four letters per cell with solutions formed by one or three letters from each of the adjoining cells in a linear configuration. 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  is an example of a word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of five letters per cell with solutions formed by using two to four letters from each of the adjoining cells in a linear configuration. 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  is an example of a word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of cells having varying numbers of letters per cell with solutions formed by using any combination of letters from each of the adjoining cells in a linear configuration. 
           [0022]      FIG. 7  is an example of a word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of cells having three letters per cell with solutions formed by using a combination of letters from each of the adjoining cells in a linear configuration and in which the solutions are provided with the coordinate of the first letter and an arrow indicating the direction for formation of the solution. 
           [0023]      FIG. 8  is an example of a word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of cells having four letters per cell with solutions formed by using a combination of letters from adjoining cells in a linear configuration and provided with a solution table that has columns that are labeled for entering the coordinate of the first letter and the coordinate of the last letter of the solution. 
           [0024]      FIG. 9  is an example of a word search puzzle according to the invention using a grid of cells having three letters per cell, wherein the puzzle has been solved and the user has entered the coordinate of the first letter and the direction of the solution into the table, and has circled the solution on the grid. 
           [0025]      FIG. 10  is an example of a word search puzzle according to the invention of  FIG. 9 , wherein the puzzle has been solved and the user has entered the coordinates of the first letter and the coordinates of the last letter of the solution into the table, and has run a line through the solution on the grid. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]    Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a first embodiment of a word search puzzle  10  is provided. The word search puzzle  10  includes a grid  12  and a solution table  14 . The puzzle  10  of  FIG. 1  is also provided with a title  15  that identifies the theme of the puzzle  10 , in this instance “States”. 
         [0028]    The grid  12  is formed of an array of cells  16  arranged in rows  18  and columns  20 . Each of the rows  18  is identified by a letter coordinate  22 , and each of the columns  20  is identified by a numeric coordinate  24 . Each cell  16  is occupied by a letter or letters  26 . 
         [0029]    The solution table  14  of  FIG. 1  includes two columns  28 ,  30 . The column  28  contains a list of word solutions  32  that are to be found within the grid  12 . Using the first word solution  32 , “Michigan”, the column  30 , in this embodiment, contains the grid coordinate  34  of the beginning cell  36 , in this case cell “C 1 ”. The grid coordinate is composed of the letter coordinate  22  (“C”) of the row  18  and the numeric coordinate  24  (“1”) of the column  20 . 
         [0030]    In order to solve the puzzle  10  of  FIG. 1 , the user selects a word solution  32  from the solution table  14  and, using the grid coordinate  34  as a starting point, searches for the sequence of letters that form the word solution  32 . Using the first word solution  32 , “Michigan”, and the starting grid coordinate  34 , “C1”, it can be seen that the word solution  32  is located by using the “M” and the “I” from cell C1, the “C” and the “H” from cell C2, and the “I”, “G”, “A” and “N” from cells C3, C4, C5 and C6 respectively. It will be noted in this embodiment that it is permissible to use one or both of the letters  26  found in the linear array of cells  16  that contain the word solution  32 . As will be seen in other embodiments below, the rules of usage of the letters for each word solution can be varied and set for each particular puzzle. 
         [0031]      FIG. 2  illustrates a puzzle  40  including a grid  42  and a solution table  44 . As in the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , the grid  42  is formed of an array of cells  46  arranged in rows  48  and columns  50 . The rows are identified by letter coordinates  52  and the columns by numeric coordinates  54 . Each cell contains two letters  56 . The solution table  44  includes a pair of columns  58 ,  60  containing word solutions  62  and grid coordinates  64 , respectively. The first word solution  62 , “Michigan”, corresponds to the grid coordinate  64  of beginning cell  66 , here “H 2 ”. In this embodiment, each cell  46  of the linear array contains a single letter of the word solution  62 . Thus, “Michigan” is found by using one letter  26  from each of cells  46  in the order of H2, G3, F4, E5, D6, C7, B8 and A9. 
         [0032]      FIGS. 3-5  present further embodiments of the word search puzzle according to the invention. Each embodiment introduces new variations to the number of letters found in each cell of the grid, and the requirement for utilization of those letters to locate the words solutions. 
         [0033]    In  FIG. 3 , the puzzle  70  includes a grid  72  and a solution table  74 . Each cell  76  of the grid  72  contains two letters  78 . Each word solution  80  is formed by using both letters  78  in each applied cell  76 , to the extent that the number of letters in the word solution  80  is evenly divisible by the number of letter  78  in the cells  76 . In the case where the number of letters in the word solution is not so evenly divisible, one cell in the solution array may only have one letter used in the solution. For example, “Alabama” contains seven letters, which is not evenly divided by two. Starting in cell G1, only the “A” in cell G1 is used, followed by the “LA”, “BA” and “MA” in cells F1, E1 and D1, respectively. Like solutions, making an exception for one cell in the solution array, are found for other word solutions containing an odd number of letters (Florida, Vermont and Georgia). Further, possible solutions that do not meet the requirement for utilizing all possible letters in the solution array would be disallowed. In the example of  FIG. 3 , “Ohio” could be formed by using the “O” in cell C1, the “H1” in cell D2 and the “O” in cell E3. However, this does not fulfill the requirement for utilizing all letters in the cells of the solution array when the word solution is evenly divisible. In the case of “Ohio”, only a two-cell solution array meets this requirement. This solution array consists of cells C4 and B4. This might seem intuitive, given that the starting cell C4 is given in the solution table  74 . However, the provision of a starting cell in the solution table does not occur is every embodiment of the invention, or variations thereof, as will be discussed further below. 
         [0034]    In  FIG. 4 , the puzzle  90  includes a grid  92  and a solution table  94 . Each cell  96  of the grid  92  contains four letters  98 . In this embodiment, the rules governing the location of word solutions  100  require utilizing either one or three of the letters  98  in each cell  96  of the solution array. In the highlighted example, “Michigan” is formed by the “MIC” in cell D1, the “HIG” in cell C2 and the “A” and “N” in cells B3 and A4, respectively. “Alabama” is similarly formed from the “A”, “L” and “A” of cells E5, D5 and C5, the “BAM” of cell B5 and the “A” of cell A5. Again, while the starting coordinates of each word solution  100  is provided in this example, additional challenge can be created by omitting this clue. 
         [0035]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , the puzzle  110  consists of the grid  112  and the solution table  114 . In this example, each cell  116  of the grid  112  contains five letters  118 . The rules governing solution formation require that each word solution  120  be formed by using between two and four of the letters  118  from each cell  116  in the solution array. Hence, “Michigan” is formed by the “MIC” in cell D4, the “HI” in cell C4 and the “GAN” in cell B4. 
         [0036]      FIG. 6  illustrates a puzzle  130  presenting a grid  132  and solution table  134 . The grid  132  varies from the previous embodiments in that it contains cells  136 ,  137  with differing quantities of letters  138 . The cell  137  contains eight letters  138 , while the remaining cells  136  contain only two letters  138 . Further, cell  137  is formed by the merger of four cells  136 , so that it spans two rows  140  and two columns  142 . Thus, the letters  138  in cell  137  can be utilized in combination with letters  138  in adjoining cells  136  in both of those rows and columns. In this embodiment, any number of letters  138  from the adjoining cells  136 ,  137  in the solution array can be used, although other rules of usage can be imposed to vary or increase the level of difficulty of the puzzle. 
         [0037]      FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment of a puzzle  150  with a grid  152  and solution table  154 . The grid  152  is formed of cells  156 , each containing three letters  158 . The solution table  154  has three columns  160 ,  162 , 164 . The column  160  lists word solutions  166 . The column  162  contains starting cell grid coordinates  168 . The column  166  contains directional indicators  170 . The directional indicators  170  are illustrated as arrows, but can also be provided as angular degrees, compass points, clock hands or other accepted and understood descriptors. Word solutions  166  are located within the grid  152  by starting at coordinate  168  and proceeding according to the directional indicator  170 . 
         [0038]      FIGS. 8-10  illustrate a puzzle  180  with a grid  182  and a solution table  184 . The grid  182  is formed of cells  186  containing letters  188 . The solution table  184  contains three columns  190 ,  192 ,  194 . The column  190  lists the word solutions  196 . As shown in  FIG. 8 , next to each word solution  196  in the solution table  184  are empty cells  198 ,  200 . The empty cells  198 ,  200  can be utilized for two methods of expressing the solution to the puzzle. In  FIG. 9 , the user has entered the starting cell grid coordinate  202  in cell  198 , and the directional indicator  204  in cell  200 . The word solutions are circled in the grid  182 . In  FIG. 10 , the user has enter the starting cell grid coordinate  202  in cell  198 , and the ending cell grid coordinate  206  in cell  200 . The word solutions are lined through in the grid  182 . Either method of presenting the solution set can be specified by the puzzle rules, or chosen by the user. 
         [0039]    An answer key (not shown) will normally be provided for each puzzle presented. The answer key will show the word solutions by one of several methods. The word solutions can be circled or lined through, as shown in the puzzles of  FIGS. 9-10 . In the alternative, a color printing can show the word solutions in a different color print, or by highlighting. Finally, the word solutions can be revealed by removing the unused letters, making the word solutions easier to discern. 
         [0040]    In one embodiment of the invention, the puzzle is played on a mobile application of the type that is designed to run on smart phones and other mobile devices. 
         [0041]    Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.