Abstract:
An educational board suitable for play by one, two or more players is disclosed. The purpose is to learn basic mathematical operation while enjoying the challenging game. The players roll one or more die, read the two numbers shown and either multiply, divide, add or subtract the numbers. A separate playing piece corresponding to the product, quotient, sum or difference is then placed on the playing surface. The players attempt to create a pattern on the playing surface, such as a continuous straight line of certain number of pieces or some other pre-agreed shape. The game may be further refined by terminating it after certain number of die rolls and declaring the player with the highest number of points the winner. Numerous other configurations on the playing surface are also possible.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/562,124 filed on Apr. 15, 2004. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     This invention relates to board games with playing pieces having numerical values that make them suitable to assist in learning basic mathematical operations.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Board games are numerous and varied. Most of them utilize chance determining means for playing and winning the game. Numerous examples exist wherein playing pieces are played on boards having regular rows and columns of playing squares with a few simple rules to follow and consisting generally of familiar, obvious and expected structural configurations. In many of the existing board games the objective is to line up certain number of pieces or achieve certain numerical score. Many such games have playing pieces divided into two groups with same color on both surfaces. Some of these games have a predictable quality of play. For example, in many games, once a player plays a playing piece of one color on a square, that square is required to be occupied by the same playing piece throughout the remainder of the game. Differing rules of multiplying the two numbers shown on the dice rolled, differing rules of sharing the same group of playing pieces with the same number printed on both surfaces with different exterior colors, and differing rules of turn over and move playing pieces already on a square of the playing board also are taught in the art, many of which may be difficult to remember—at least until a player&#39;s facility with the game is developed.  
         [0006]     In some chance determining board games the particular chance determining means, such as dice, determines the number of moves to be made on the playing field. In some cases, playing cards are utilized to determine the score independently of any chance determining means. However, in many cases, scoring is a simple arrangement which has no challenge and accordingly s quite unattractive for continual play. The risk is that such games are often disregarded after being played a few times as they do not offer a broad range of possible winning combinations and therefore failing to provide sustained interest.  
         [0007]     Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,509,399; 4,935,589; 5,356,153; 4,962,934; 4,21,924; 5,139,266; 5,758,876; 6,764,076; 6,254,098; 5,839,727; 4,801,147 and 6,394,455. These patents are only representative of the crowded field of board games but do not disclose the novel features of the board game of this invention.  
         [0008]     In these respects, the board game of the present invention substantially and continually challenges the players in both competitive and educational sense.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     The general purpose of the present invention is to provide a new board game with a number of novel features that continually challenge the players and that are not anticipated by the prior art board games, individually or in combination. The invention generally includes a patterned playing board, one or more die and playing pieces carrying specific numerical values. The game may be played by one or more players.  
         [0010]     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved board game with playing pieces and dice which has all, or nearly all, of the advantages of the prior art, while simultaneously overcoming many of the disadvantages of play and construction normally associated therewith. It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved board game with playing pieces and dice which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed and written in form of computer game. A further object or feature of the present invention is a new and improved board game with playing pieces and dice which is of a durable and reliable construction.  
         [0011]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel board game with patterned playing board, playing pieces, holder for storing playing pieces and multi sided dice which are of high quality but susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the public, thereby making the board game with playing pieces and dice economically available to consumers and schools.  
         [0012]     Still another object of the present invention is to provide a holder for playing pieces that is an integral part of the playing board. Another object of the present invention is a new and improved board game with playing pieces with identification thereupon and multi sided dice that is easy to use, attractive in appearance and suitable for mass production. Yet another object of the present invention to identify the spaces holding the playing pieces with the same number or symbol as the playing pieces themselves.  
         [0013]     An object or advantage of the present invention is a new and improved board game with playing pieces and dice that offers educational value to the players (students), playfully challenging them to master basic mathematical operations, such as multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.  
         [0014]     Another object or advantage of the present invention is to encourage players to think strategically to form a continuous straight line of at least five pieces with player&#39;s own exterior color, or to form another pre-agreed upon pattern. Still another object of the present invention is to have a playing board patterned in circular, oval, elliptical, conical or polygonal shapes. Another object of this invention is to disclose a small, simple game board having certain number of rows and columns patterned in squares, with the first square being of one color, the second square being of another color, and alternating therefrom between the two colors.  
         [0015]     Another object is to disclose a plurality of playing pieces, each playing piece is preferably of the same size and is distinguished by a unique number associated therewith, the colors corresponding to the colors on the playing pieces.  
         [0016]     A further object is to disclose two dice, each having twelve sides, each of the twelve sides numbered from one to twelve consecutively or not consecutively.  
         [0017]     Another object of this board game is to disclose playing pieces of circular, oval, elliptical, polygonal or flat disk shape, each playing piece having two visually distinguishable surfaces and different number written on each disk but the same number written on both surfaces of the same disk.  
         [0018]     Yet another object of the present invention is to have playing pieces with two different numbers written on them, one on each surface.  
         [0019]     A further object of the present invention is to include multiplication, division, addition and subtraction tables.  
         [0020]     Still another object of the present invention is that the numbers written on the playing pieces are the product, quotient, sum or difference of numbers written on the dice.  
         [0021]     Another object of the present invention is that the playing pieces are circular disks.  
         [0022]     Yet another object of the present invention is that the plying dice have 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 sides.  
         [0023]     Another object of the present invention is a board game that can be played with one die that has one half of one color and the other half of the other color, or with two or more dice, each die being of different color, and in all cases corresponding to the colors of the playing pieces and the playing board.  
         [0024]     Still another object is a method of playing said board game, comprising the steps of providing a playing board forming a grid of at least five rows of squares, at least five squares per row; providing a pair of twelve sided dice and a plurality of playing pieces with said first surface of first exterior color and said second surface of second exterior color, said first surface being visually distinguishable from said second surface, said first and second surface each comprising an identical number; rolling said dice and reading the two numbers showing on the dice. The player multiplies the two numbers and finds the playing piece with the corresponding number among the playing pieces, places the selected playing piece on the square of the playing board, alternating thereby until a continuous straight line of a predetermined number of playing pieces of one exterior color is formed on the playing board; if the product from the two numbers on top surface of two dice matches said number printed on the surface of a playing pieces already on the playing board with player&#39;s own exterior color, the player moves the playing piece from the existing square to any unoccupied squares; if the product from the two numbers on top surface of two dice matches said number printed on the surface of a playing pieces already on the playing board with the other player&#39;s exterior color, the player turns over said playing piece to have player&#39;s own exterior color on top surface.  
         [0025]     Other novel features which are characteristic of the invention, as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawing is for illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this disclosure. The invention resides not in any one of these features taken alone, but rather in the particular combination of all of its structures for the functions specified.  
         [0026]     Further, the purpose of the Abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trade-mark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract is neither intended to define the invention of this application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0027]      FIG. 1  is a top view of basic embodiment of the playing surface.  
         [0028]      FIG. 2 . is a top view of one embodiment of a the playing piece.  
         [0029]      FIG. 3  shows one embodiment of a playing die.  
         [0030]      FIG. 4  is a playing surface with some playing pieces positioned on it.  
         [0031]      FIG. 5  shows a position on playing surface with  5  pieces of the same color positioned in a continuous line.  
         [0032]      FIG. 6  shows a position on playing surface where the objective was to complete a square.  
         [0033]      FIG. 7  shows a position on playing surface where the objective was to complete a 1 by 3 letter “L” matrix.  
         [0034]      FIG. 8  shows a position on playing surface where the objective was to achieve the highest score.  
         [0035]      FIG. 9  shows the playing surface with a number assigned to each field.  
         [0036]      FIG. 10  shows the holder for the playing pieces. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0037]     With reference now to the drawings, a new board game embodying the principals and the concepts of the present invention will be described. Apart from a typical portable board game configuration, the game is suitable to be played by a variety of electronic means.  
         [0038]      FIG. 1  is a top view of one embodiment of the playing surface  10  showing the rows  1  through  6  and the columns  1  through  6  separated by straight lines. The playing surface  10  may have as few as 3 rows and 3 columns or as many as is practical. The playing surface  10  may be of other than square shape and field  14  may be a square, an oval, an ellipse or a polygon. The fields  14  may all be of the same color or the fields  14  may be of two or more colors alternating sequentially, depending on the number of the players. In another embodiment, each or some of fields  14  have a numerical value associated with and written on the field  14 .  
         [0039]      FIG. 2  shows an example of the playing piece  18  with a number  42  written on it. The playing piece  18  may be shaped as circle, an oval, an ellipse or a polygon. Preferably, the playing piece  18  is a circular or square disk. If there are two players, preferably, the playing pieces  18  are of two different colors, each color being on one surface of the playing piece  18 . More colors may be employed for the playing piece  18  and the playing surface  10  if there are more players. Playing piece  18  is placed on one of the fields  14  of the board  10  according to the player&#39;s strategy. The playing pieces  18  may also have shapes or characters other than the numbers on them.  
         [0040]     Shown in  FIG. 3  is a top view of one embodiment of the playing die  30  showing numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, 10 and 9 in the facet  32 . The die  30  may have as many individual facets to accommodate the numbers as is desired. The numbers on the die  30  may be written consecutively or some numbers may be omitted. Generally, the greater the number of numbers on the die  30 , the larger the playing surface  10  needs to be to accommodate the greater number of possible combinations. The die  30  may be all one color or it may be of two different colors. In case of two different colors, the die  30  may be divided so that the one half is of one color and the other half is of another color. Typically. each player has his own die  30  with the color being different from the color of the die  30  of the other player. In all cases the colors of die  30  correspond to the colors on the playing surface  10  and the playing pieces  18 . If desired, one player may use die  30  with different number of sides  32  from the other player. Typically, a 12 sided die is used with numbers 1 through 12 on facets  32 .  
         [0041]     Shown in  FIG. 4  is the playing surface  10  with some playing pieces  18  positioned on the surface  10 .  
         [0042]      FIG. 5  shows the position on the playing surface  10  where the objective of the game was to position 5 pieces of the same color in a continuous straight line.  
         [0043]     Shown in  FIG. 6  is the position on the playing surface  10  where the objective of the game was to complete a square with 2 playing pieces  18  forming the sides of the square.  
         [0044]     In  FIG. 7  the objective was to complete a letter “L” configuration with 1 playing piece  18  forming 1 segment and 3 playing pieces  18  forming the other segment.  
         [0045]     Shown in  FIG. 8  is the configuration where the objective was to achieve the highest score or align four pieces, after 4 rolls of the dice by each player. In this case the game terminated after 4 rolls with the “dark” color having the highest number.  
         [0046]     Shown in  FIG. 9  is the playing surface  10  with each field  14  being assigned a number. In this configuration, the players will place the playing pieces  18  on the number corresponding to the product, quotient, sum or difference of the two topmost numbers on the dice  30  or any two numbers the players agree to.  
         [0047]      FIG. 10  shows the holder  40  used to store playing pieces  18  and a number assigned to each storage space  42 . This number assigned to the storage space  42  is identical to the number on the playing piece  18 . The holder  40  may be a separate unit from the playing surface  10  or it may be integrated with the playing surface  10 .  
         [0048]     The following rules are generally observed, but the board game of this invention allows lot of flexibility for the players to alter the rules according to what they are trying to accomplish.  
         [0049]     The game is played by two or more players. One player may be a machine or a computer. In one version of the game, the game is played by rolling a pair of dice  30  and placing playing pieces  18  on a field  14  as determined by the player. One objective of the game is to form a visible continuous straight line of a certain number of playing pieces  18  determined by the players. For the purpose of illustration and not limitation, the two player game only will be described.  
         [0050]     Both players share a single set of K playing pieces  18  and a pair of dice  30 . Each playing piece  18  has a light color on one surface and a darker color on the other surface if the playing piece  18  is a disk. Each player chooses one color for the playing pieces  18  and for the dice  30 . The two players may agree on who plays first or they may role a die  30  and the player with the higher number on the topmost surface of the die  30  plays first. One player chooses a light color and the other player chooses a dark color, assume here that the first player chose the light color. The first player then rolls the dice  30  and reads the two numbers showing on topmost surface of the dice  30 . The player multiplies the two numbers and finds the playing piece  18  with the corresponding number among the playing pieces  18 . While the playing piece  18  has the same number on both surfaces, the game may also be played with the playing piece  18  having different numbers on the two surfaces. The player subsequently places the selected playing piece  18  on one of the fields  14  of the playing surface  10  with his chosen color up. Next, the second player rolls the dice  30  and reads the two numbers showing on the topmost surface of die  30  and finds the product of the two numbers. If the product of the two numbers matches number printed on the playing piece  18  already on the playing surface  10 , the player turns said playing piece  18  over to expose the surface with his exterior color or he gets an extra turn in rolling the dice  30  or the first player loses a turn. Otherwise, if the product of the numbers shown by the dice  30  is not on the playing surface  10 , the player selects the playing piece  18  with that number from the box and places the selected playing piece on an unoccupied field  14  with his chosen color or up.  
         [0051]     At this point, for the first player&#39;s second move, the first player rolls the dice  30  again, reads the two numbers showing on the dice  30  and finds the product of the two numbers. If the product of the two numbers matches number printed on the playing piece  18  already on the board; for the playing piece with his color shown, the first player moves the selected playing piece to an unoccupied square  14  with the his color on top to get four or more of the playing pieces with same first exterior color in continuous straight line; for the playing piece  18  not with his color shown, the first player turns said playing piece over to expose the surface with first exterior color, or the second player loses a turn, or the first players gets two turns of rolling the dice  30 . If the product of the numbers shown by the dice  30  is not on the playing board, the first player selects the playing piece  18  with that number from the holder  40  and places the selected playing piece  18  on an unoccupied field  14  with surface with his color up.  
         [0052]     And for the second player&#39;s second move, the second player rolls the dice  30  again, reads the two numbers showing on the dice  30  and finds the product of the two numbers. If the product of the two numbers matches number printed on the playing piece already on the playing surface  10  for the playing piece with his color shown, the second player moves the selected playing piece  18  to an unoccupied field  14  with the his color on top strategically to get four or more of the playing pieces  18  with his color in continuous straight line; for the playing piece  18  not with his color shown, the second player turns said playing piece  18  over to expose the surface with his color or he gets an extra turn in rolling the dice  30  or the first player loses a turn. If the product of the numbers shown by the dice  30  is not on the playing board, the second player selects the playing piece  18  with that number from the holder  40  and places the selected playing piece  18  on an unoccupied field  14  with his color up.  
         [0053]     The remaining moves proceed in the same fashion. If all of the squares on the playing board are occupied without having a visible continuous straight line of predetermined number of playing pieces with either player&#39;s color, the game is declared as draw. Games can be drawn by mutual consent of the players. The game ends with a winner or a draw.  
         [0054]     The same method of playing is employed for division of the two numbers, sum of the two numbers and difference between the numbers.  
         [0055]     As this is also an educational tool, the players are supplied with a multiplication table to assure that they have the correct playing piece  18  before placing it on the playing surface  10 . The same table may also be used where division is practiced rather than the multiplication. A separate table needs to be supplied for addition and subtraction. The numbers chosen may be adjusted to suit the players mathematical skill levels.  
         [0056]     Other rules may also be employed if the product of the two numbers matches number printed on the playing piece  8  already on the playing surface  10 : the player may lose a turn to place a playing piece  18  on the playing surface  10 , or the player may remove the playing piece  18  from the playing surface  10  and put in the space  42  of the holder  40 , or the player may turn over and move the playing piece  18  on the playing surface  10 , or the player may roll the dice  18  again. The flexibility of the rules allows for many variations of he game and is therefore more likely to create an environment conducive to learning basic mathematical operations. In other embodiments of this invention the players agree to form certain shapes other than a continual straight line. Such shapes may include squares, “L&#39; patterns, triangles, etc. at the discretion of the players. The players may also choose to terminate the game after certain number of rolls of dice  30  and total up the numbers for each color with the player with the higher score being the winner.  
         [0057]     Moreover, in another embodiment of the invention, the fields  14  on the playing surface  10  have numerical values assigned to them and written on each field  14 . The players place the playing pieces  18  on the fields  14  only if the numerical value on the field  14  and the playing piece are the same. If not, the player loses the turn. The remainder of the rules are the same as described above.  
         [0058]     The foregoing description of preferred embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.