Abstract:
In a preferred embodiment, a football game simulation apparatus, including: a game board; indicating apparatus disposed in said game board to indicate a quarter of a football game being simulated; scoring apparatus disposed in said game board to indicate scores of teams playing the football game being simulated; and holding apparatus disposed in the game board to temporarily hold therein cards employed in playing a simulated football game.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to recreational games generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel apparatus for scoring a simulated football game. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Football has become a most popular sport, with organized teams comprising players ranging from the very young to adult professionals. Generally, the season for playing football, at least on the professional level, lasts from early fall into the following January. This leaves avid fans without contact with the sport for a good part of each year. 
     Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for simulating the game of football and, especially, the scoring of games and ranking of teams throughout a simulated season of games. 
     Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention achieves the above objects, among others, by providing, in a preferred embodiment, a football game simulation apparatus, comprising: a game board; indicating means disposed in said game board to indicate a quarter of a football being simulated; scoring means disposed in said game board to indicate scores of teams playing said football game being simulated; and holding means disposed in said game board to temporarily hold therein cards employed in playing a simulated football game. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Understanding of the present invention and the various aspects thereof will be facilitated by reference to the accompanying drawing figures, submitted for purposes of illustration only and not intended to define the scope of the invention, on which: 
     FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a game board for playing a simulated football game according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the game board of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, cross-sectional, side elevational view taken along line &#34;3--3&#34; of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, cross--sectional side elevational view taken along line &#34;4--4&#34; of FIG. 1. 
     FIGS. 5-7 are top plan views of game cards employed in playing the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a top plan view of team identifying overlays employed in playing the present invention. 
     FIG. 9 is a form showing the season record of a team. 
     FIGS. 10 and 11 are forms showing the season results of teams in professional football conferences. 
     FIGS. 12 and 13 are forms showing the top finishing teams in the professional football conferences. 
     FIG. 14 is a form showing the winners of playoffs, championships, and Super Bowl football games. 
     FIGS. 15-17 are forms showing team and individual player statistics for a professional football team. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference should now be made to the drawing figures, on which similar or identical elements are given consistent identifying numerals throughout the various figures thereof, and on which parenthetical references to figure numbers direct the reader to the view(s) on which the element(s) being described is (are) best seen, although the element(s) may be seen also on other views. 
     FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a game board employed in playing the game according to the present invention, the game board being generally identified by the reference numeral 20. Game board 20 includes a horizontal, generally rectangular, four-sided base frame 22 with a planar bottom panel 24 affixed thereto and a horizontal, generally planar, intermediate panel 26 which can be removably disposed in a recess 28 defined around the inner periphery of the base frame at the upper edge thereof. A horizontal, generally planar, top panel 30 is adhesively attached to intermediate panel 26 and adhesively attached to the upper surface of the top panel is a layer of green felt 32 having printed thereon indicia related to a football game. Four finger holes, as at 34, are provided in intermediate panel 26 to assist in removing that panel with attached top panel 30 to gain access to the interior volume of game board 20, which interior volume may be employed for the storage of materials used in playing the game. 
     Referring also now to FIGS. 3 and 4, seven card trays 40-46 in the form of open top, generally rectangular depressions are formed in intermediate panel 26 for the placement therein of cards, the purpose of which will be described later. Each of trays 40-46 is accessible through corresponding openings, as at 48, defined through top panel 30. Formed at one edge of each of trays 40-46 is a rounded extension, as at 50, to facilitate the manual removal of cards from the trays. 
     Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, a horizontal disk 60 bearing on the upper surface thereof indicia as to the quarter of a football game is rotatably disposed in a circular depression 62 defined in intermediate panel 26. Disk 60 may be rotated by means of a knob 64 attached thereto such that one, and only one, of the quarter indicia is visible through an opening 66 defined through top panel 30. 
     Two pairs of knobbed disks 70 and 72, similar to disk 60, with each having thereon the numerals &#34;0&#34; through &#34;9&#34; are provided to indicate, through top panel 30, the scores of two football teams. 
     FIG. 8 illustrates team indicia overlays, as at 80, which may be placed on felt material 32 (FIG. 1) to indicate the &#34;home&#34; and &#34;away&#34; teams (only the former shown on FIG. 1). Team indicia overlays 80 are preferably of a material, such as felt, which will easily adhere to felt material 32, but which can also be easily removed therefrom. 
     To prepare to play the game of the present invention, a player (or players not shown) decide which two of the professional football teams he (they) will represent and appropriate team indicia overlays 80 (FIG. 8) are attached to felt material 32. Then, a deck of score cards, as at 90 on FIG. 5, is shuffled. There are ten score cards 90, six of which bear the numeral &#34;7&#34;, representing a touchdown, and four of which bear the numeral &#34;3&#34;, representing a field goal. These cards are placed face down in tray 41 (FIG. 1). Next, a deck of 44 play cards, as at 92 on FIG. 6, comprising four groups of cards having thereon numerals &#34;1&#34; to &#34;11&#34; is shuffled and two piles of ten cards each are dealt to each of the two players. The four extra play cards 92 are set aside. The &#34;home team&#34; player will place his two decks of play cards 92 face down in trays 43 and 44, while the &#34;away team&#34; player will place his two decks of play cards face down in trays 45 and 46. Trays 40 and 42 may be used to collect used score cards as the game is played. Disk 60 is set so that the numeral &#34;1&#34; appears in opening 66 and disk pairs 70 and 72 are set to zero. 
     To begin the game, the &#34;home team&#34; player guesses the numeral on the top card of one of his piles of play cards 92 (FIG. 6). The top play card 92 is then turned over and, if the guess is correct, the player turns over the top score card 90 and records that number by turning disks 70 (FIG. 1) to the correct total. Then, the &#34;away team&#34; player guesses the numeral on the top card of one of his piles of play cards 92. The top play card 92 is then turned over and, if the guess is correct, that player turns over the top score card 90 and records that number by turning disks 72 to the correct total. This procedure is reiterated until each player has exhausted one pile of play cards 92. Each of these piles represents one quarter, so both piles represent one half. When both piles have been exhausted, play cards 92 are reshuffled and the second half of the game is played in the same manner as above. When the game is over, the score is entered on the &#34;Regular Season Schedule&#34; 100 on FIG. 9. The above process is repeated until the entire season schedule has been played. 
     After the entire season has been played, the stats for the other teams are determined. This is done by shuffling a deck of 52 stat cards, as at 94 on FIG. 7, the stat cards comprising four groups of cards bearing numerals &#34;1&#34; to &#34;13&#34;. Then, starting at the top of the entire season schedule and, going from top to bottom, two stat cards 94 are turned over for a team. That team wins if the first stat card 94 turned over has a higher numeral thereon than the second stat card and that team loses if the first card is lower than the second card. If both cards are the same, the game is a tie. The results are entered on sheets 102, 104, 106, and 108 on FIGS. 10, 11, 12, and 13, respectively. 
     After this, the statistics are calculated to determine which teams are in the playoffs. The team with the best record in each division is the winner. The next two best teams make the playoffs as wild card teams, even if one or both have a better record than a division winning team. The wild card team with the best record and the division team with the best record are given &#34;home team&#34; status. Unless they are from the same division, the division winner with the best record will be the home team when it plays against the winner of the wild card game. If they are from the same division, the wild card team plays the next best division winner. If two of the teams have the same record or are tied for the home team advantage, then the tie is decided by turning up a stat card 94 for each team, with the higher stat card winning. The process of ranking the teams and playing the playoff games continues until only two teams remain. The winner of this game is the super bowl winner of the present football simulation game (FIG. 14). 
     Team statistics can be determined using stat cards 94 (FIG. 7) as follows: 
     Turn over one stat card 94. Number 1, 2, 3, and 4 are the number of rushing touchdowns. Numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are the number of passing touchdowns. 
     Turn over two stat cards 94 for each half to determine passing yardage. For example, if cards 3 and 8 are turned over for the first half, the passing yardage for that half is 38. 
     For each touchdown after the first one, turn over two more stat cards 94 for yardage and combine the numbers as above. 
     Turn over two stat cards 94 for the whole game and combine the numbers as above. Turn over two additional stat cards 94 for each touchdown rushing and combine the numbers as above. 
     Team and individual stat results may be entered on sheets 100, 112, and 114 on FIGS. 15, 16, and 17, respectively. 
     It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those elucidated in, or made apparent from, the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown on the accompanying drawing figures shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. 
     It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.