Patent Grant
7621808
Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. 1.71(e), applicants note that a portion of this disclosure contains material that is subject to and for which is claimed copyright protection, such as, but not limited to, digital photographs, screen shots, user interfaces, or any other aspects of this submission for which copyright protection is or may be available in any jurisdiction. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent Office patent file or records. All other rights are reserved, and all other reproduction, distribution, creation of derivative works based on the contents of the application or any part thereof are prohibited by applicable copyright law.
This invention relates to board games. More specifically, it relates to an African American board game apparatus and method.
In the past decade, an increasing number of people have become interested in their racial and/or ethnic heritages. In the U.S., the availability of African-American, Native-American, Hispanic-American, etc. related products have increased dramatically.
One problem with these racial and/or ethic related products that there are few recreational products, such as board games. For example, there are only a few board games specifically directed to racial and/or ethnic groups including African American, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, etc., in any format.
Another problem is that existing educational or recreational board games related to African American culture focus only on selected historical or educational topics. African American culture is rich in other areas including music, movies, language and sports. These topics have typically not been included in such African American culture board games.
There have been attempts to overcome some of the problems associated with racial and/or ethnic based board games. The following U.S. Patents and others have attempted to overcome some of these problems.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,939 entitled “Cultural knowledge board game” that issued to Robinson, et al. includes educational and entertaining table game which has as its theme various educational categories, e.g., the Bible, mythology, folklore, literature, philosophy, religion, the arts, world history, United States history, politics, geography, anthropology, psychology, sociology, business, economics, science, health, technology and ethnic history and culture (e.g., American Indian, Afro-American, etc.).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,990, entitled “Board game incorporating native American symbols and knowledge” that issued to Seeney-Sullivan includes a board game in the general form of a circular pattern of native American symbols includes a matrix of like symbols in the center. Players toss a projectile at specific symbols in the board center, attempting to hit those symbols which match those along the periphery of the board which have been assigned to each player. Successful strikes are marked with an appropriate and distinctive marker. A player continues so long as he/she successfully hits the desired symbols, up to a maximum of six. The player is then randomly rewarded with symbol cards equal to the number of successful hits, which cards are turned face up.
Those that match are placed upon the player's peripheral symbols, indicating that those have been acquired by the player and need not be acquired again. Other players may claim the first player's non-matching cards if those cards match their symbols. Other players may also challenge the first player with questions which must be answered successfully before the first player can win the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,569, entitled “Afro American educational quiz game” that issued to Donald P. Walker includes an Afro American Educational Quiz Game where players receive points for correctly identifying notable black persons on question and answer cards. The game has a game board divided into multiple subject categories with letters for each category and numbers corresponding to letters and numbers on the question and answer cards and token chips, which are kept in a card box, having separate compartments for each subject matter and a chip box with separate compartments for each category. A person chosen as monitor places the numbered and lettered chips on the correspondingly matched numbered and lettered sections of the game board. A player then chooses a category. The monitor then selects a chip from the category chosen by the player, and the monitor picks the question and answer card corresponding to the number and letter on the selected chip. The question and answer card has a mini biography of a notable black person on one side and a photograph of the notable black person on the other side. The player who correctly identifies the notable black person accumulates points until all the cards are retired.
However, these inventions still do not solve all of the problems associated with providing board games related to African American culture.
It is desirable to provide board games related to African American culture, including, but not limited to, history, language including slang, music, movies, sitcoms, sports.
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention, some of the problems associated with providing board games related to African American culture are overcome. An African American board game apparatus and method is presented.
The board game and apparatus game is specifically related to African American culture, including, but not limited to, history, language including slang, music, movies, sitcoms, sports. It includes an audio-visual device that allows audio snippets and video snippets and electronic text to be displayed for trivia questions for selected time periods (e.g., 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, etc.) related to African American culture.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of preferred embodiments of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description. The detailed description proceeds with references to the accompanying drawings.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the following drawings, wherein:
Exemplary Board Game Apparatus
Each of the four playing sections 14-20 and the end-of-game playing sections 34-56 comprises a subject category related to African American culture, including, but not limited to, history, language, including slang, movies, music, television and radio, sports, etc. and a time period, including, but not limited to, the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's and 1990's and beyond. The four playing sections 14-20 are sections in which normal game actions are initiated. The end-of-game playing sections 32-56 are sections in which end-of-game actions are initiated.
The four corner sections 22-28 are action sections from which special game actions are initiated. The circular shaped sections 32 and 58 are sections in which end-of-game bonus actions are initiated.
The board game apparatus 10 further includes plural location outlines 60, 62 two of which are illustrated to place plural sets of action playing cards in which normal game actions and end-of-game actions and special games actions are initiated.
The board game apparatus 10 further includes multi-color artwork 63, 65 related to the subject categories and time periods.
As is illustrated in
However, the invention is not limited to these embodiments and other combinations of dates and categories on the plural playing sections can also be used to practice the invention.
The audio-visual device 66 further comprises an ornamental cover 74 comprising an object from African American culture in which the display 68, alpha-number key-pad 70 and speaker 72 are ornamentally integrated. In one embodiment, the ornamental cover 74 includes a colored plastic cover comprising a square, rectangle, polygon or other standard shape. However, the ornamental cover 74 is not limited to such an embodiment and can include covers made from other materials such as cardboard or paper printed with an African American culture object, plastic, rubber, such as a rubberized membrane, composite, metal, wood or other materials.
The ornamental cover 74 can be used to cover a standard rectangular or square-shaped audio-visual devices 66. This allows a standard size and shaped audio-visual device to be produced, yet makes the game components more visually appealing and makes the game more fun to play.
In another embodiment of the invention, the audio-visual device 66 is made directly in an irregular shape of an object from African American culture. In such an embodiment, the display 68, alpha-numeric key pad 70 and speaker 72 are ornamentally integrated directly into the design of the African American culture object (e.g., directly into colored plastic). In one embodiment, the ornamental cover 74 includes a profile of a non-historical, historical or a fictional African American person.
The ornamental cover 74 includes attachment means (not illustrated) for clipping to or sliding over the audio-visual apparatus 66. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment and other ornamental objects from African American culture can also be used for the ornamental cover 70 of the audio-visual device.
The audio-visual device 66 includes plural buttons on an alpha-numeric keypad for selecting a category (e.g., slang, movies, music, television and radio, sports) and a time period (e.g., 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and beyond, etc.) and for entering numeric codes obtained from cards used for the game and to input answers to questions displayed.
The displays 68 includes a monochrome liquid crystal display, color display other display that displays both alpha-numeric text and graphical images and video. The speaker 72 is used for displaying audio snippets and sound tracks from video snippets store on the audio-visual device 66.
The power source 91 includes a direct current (“DC”) power source from batteries and/or an alternating current (“AC”) power source.
In one embodiment, the audio-visual device 66 includes only non-volatile storage 88. In another embodiment, the audio-visual device includes only volatile storage. In another embodiment, the audio-visual device includes a combination thereof of non-volatile storage 88 and volatile storage.
The non-volatile storage 88 includes a flash ship or ROM chip that is removable and can be replaced with upgrades or additional game topics. The flash memory chip is reprogrammable and can be re-programmed via the interface port 90 from a user's computer 92, the external CD-ROM, or other wireless or wired network devices such as a personal digital assistant 94, mobile phone 96 or other network device via a communications network 98 such as the Internet, an intranet, or other wired (e.g., Public Switched Telephone Network (“PSTN”) Cable Television (“CATV”)) or wireless network.
In one embodiment, the audio-visual device 66 can be connected via the interface port 90 to a computer 92 or television (not illustrated) to display electronic text, audio and video information on the computer 92 or television displays.
In another embodiment, question and answer data can be stored on an external CD-ROM or DVD and accessed through the interface port 90. Such an embodiment provides storage space to store more complex question and answer data and longer audio and video snippets (e.g., multiple minutes in length).
In another embodiment, question and answer data can be stored on one or more servers on the communications network 98. Such an embodiment provides storage space to store more complex question and answer data and longer audio and video snippets. In such an embodiment, new or additional question and answer data could be directly obtained or randomly obtained each time the audio-visual device 66 accessed the network 98. In such and embodiment, question and answer data might not be stored in the audio-visual device 66 at all and the non-volatile storage 88 may be total replaced by volatile storage (e.g., RAM) that is used to temporarily store and display the question and answer data in the audio-visual device 66 as long as the audio-visual device is powered on.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the non-volatile storage 88 includes game data selected by four-digit numeric codes. This allows up to one-thousand different questions to be provided via the audio-visual device 66. However, the present invention is not limited to four-digit numeric codes and larger or smaller numeric codes can also be used.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the four-digit numeric codes are grouped by subject categories. For example, the numeric codes from 0000-0999 are used for history, 1000-1999 are used for movies, 2000-2999, etc. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and the questions can also be group by time-period or in other ways.
An operating environment for the audio-visual device 66 includes a processing system with one or more high speed Central Processing Unit(s) (“CPU”), processors and one or more memories. In accordance with the practices of persons skilled in the art of computer programming, the present invention is described below with reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions that are performed by the processing system, unless indicated otherwise. Such acts and operations or instructions are referred to as being “computer-executed,” “CPU-executed,” or “processor-executed.”
It will be appreciated that acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU or processor. An electrical system represents data bits which cause a resulting transformation or reduction of the electrical signals, and the maintenance of data bits at memory locations in a memory system to thereby reconfigure or otherwise alter the CPU's or processor's operation, as well as other processing of signals. The memory locations where data bits are maintained are physical locations that have particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to the data bits.
The data bits may also be maintained on a computer readable medium including magnetic disks, optical disks, organic memory, and any other volatile (e.g., RAM) or non-volatile (e.g., ROM, flash memory, etc.) mass storage system readable by the CPU. The computer readable medium includes cooperating or interconnected computer readable medium, which exist exclusively on the processing system or can be distributed among multiple interconnected processing systems that may be local or remote to the processing system.
Returning to
For example, the plural games pieces may include, a replica of a CD-ROM with an African-American artist printed thereon indicative of the 1990's, rap concert poster with an African-American artist printed thereon or boom box indicative of the 1980's, an eight-track tape or cassette tape with an African-American artist printed thereon, a hat, etc. indicative of the 1970's, a replica of an African American hair pick, etc., a civil rights poster for a march indicative of the 1960's, etc. However, the invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and virtually any object from African American culture during the time periods discussed can be used. The plural game playing 100 are made from a variety of materials include, colored plastic, metal, paper, cardboard, rubber, composite or other materials.
The board game apparatus 10 of
However, the present invention is not limited to the board game apparatus 10 components described and more, fewer or other components can also be used to practice the invention.
Exemplary Board Game Method
For example, if a user rolled a four using one dice 104 using the game board 12 from
For example, the numeric code 0111 may return question data comprising only electronic text illustrated by the (TEXT ONLY) moniker including a question with plural answers, such as the exemplary question illustrated in Table 1.
The numeric code 0111 may also return question data comprising audio along with the electronic text question illustrated in Table 1 such as a 10 second audio or snippet of Dr. King saying “I have a dream today” which is played through the speaker 72 on the audio-visual device 66.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the user may repeat the audio snippet by pressing the audio button 70′. In another embodiment of the present invention, the user may repeat the audio snippet by re-entering the numeric code 0111. In either embodiment, the question illustrated in Table 1 remains on the display 68 when the audio snippet is replayed.
The numeric code may also return question data question data comprising a video snippet along with the question illustrated in Table 1, such as a thirty-second video snippet of Dr. King saying “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal” displayed via the display 68 and the speaker 72. After displaying the video snippet, the question in Table 1 would be displayed on the display 68.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the user may repeat the video snippet by pressing the video button 70″. In another embodiment of the present invention, the user may repeat the video snippet by re-entering the numeric code 0111. In both embodiments, the question illustrated in Table 1 is removed, the video snippet is re-played, and the question is restored. In another embodiment, the display 68 is split into two or more portions so the question illustrated in Table 1 is displayed on a first portion of the display 68 and the video snippet is simultaneously displayed on a second portion of the display 68.
In another embodiment, the user may select a next question for a subject category and time period by pressing a special key (e.g., “*” key or “#”) on the key-pad 70 instead of using playing cards 102. In such an embodiment, question and answer data would be displayed in the form of electronic text information on the display 68.
In any of the embodiments described, if the user could not answer the question reading the electronic text information, the user may then press the audio key 70′ or the video key 70″ to obtain additional clues to answer the question. In such an embodiment, if the user pressed the audio key 70′, the clue would be displayed through the speaker 72. If the user pressed the video key 70″, the video clue would be displayed on the display 68 (with or without the corresponding electronic text information).
The user uses the keypad 70 on the audio-visual device 66 to select the correct answer (e.g., press the number four key for the question in Table 1). The audio-visual device 66 will respond with a electronic text including CORRECT or INCORRECT response or a video snippet including a CORRECT or INCORRECT response on the display 68 or via an audio voice response saying the words CORRECT OR INCORRECT or audio tone response (e.g., a recognizable beep or tone or series of tones or beeps) via the speaker 72.
In another embodiment, a user may obtain a numeric code retrieved from a playing card 102 and then use the numeric code to obtain second numeric code from a table of codes. The second numeric code is then entered into the audio-visual device 66. In another embodiment, a user may obtain a numeric code directly from the game board playing surface 12 that corresponds to a subject category and time period from one of the plural playing sections (e.g., 15, 17). This numeric code is also entered into the audio-visual device.
In another embodiment of the invention, the playing cards 102 include questions and plural answer selections, such as the question illustrated in Table 1, directly on the cards. The correct answer to the question is also printed on the card (e.g., upside down, on the back, etc.). In such an embodiment, there are deck of playing cards 102 corresponding to each subject category (e.g., African American history, movies, music, etc.) with time-periods (1960's-1990's) and corresponding numeric codes listed.
In another embodiment of the invention, the cards 102 include a mix of both the exemplary playing card 110 illustrated in
In another embodiment of the invention, the cards 102 include a mix of both the exemplary playing card 110 illustrated in
Various combinations and types of cards can be used. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, only the music category includes audio snippets and only the movies category includes video snippets. Thus, the cards 102 for the music and movie categories would include cards similar to that illustrated in
However, the invention, is not limited to these embodiments, and other embodiments and other combinations of cards, and more, fewer or other types of cards, with and without numeric codes usable by the audio-visual device can also be used to practice the invention.
For example, a player would start in the first circular playing section 32 (e.g., DO YOU HAVE SOUL?®, and then advance to the music diamond playing section 34. The player when then select an end-of-game action card 130 such as the exemplary card illustrated in
The board game apparatus 10 includes plural rules to play. Tables 2-4 illustrate a few exemplary rules. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment and more, fewer or different rules can also be used. Table 2 illustrates a first exemplary rule.
Table 3 illustrates a second exemplary rule.
Table 4 illustrates a third exemplary rule.
The board game apparatus and method is described specifically for African American culture. However, the board game apparatus and method is not limited to African American culture and can be used for other racial/ethnic groups (e.g., Hispanic American, Native American, Irish American, Russian American, etc.). In such embodiment, the audio-visual device 66 would include questions, audio snippets and video snippets specifically for such racial/ethnic groups.
New ROM chips can be included in the audio-visual device 66, or the flash memory could be re-programmed via the interface port 90. In addition, the ornamental overlay 74 is created to represent a relevant symbol from a selected racial/ethnic group (e.g., for Native Americans, the ornamental cover 74 may include a profile of a Native American Chief with headdress, teepee, tomahawk, etc.). In such embodiments, the text of the four corner squares 22, 24, 26, 28, the circular playing sections 32, 58, the text on the cards 102 for normal and special actions and the game pieces 104 may also be modified to reflect the specific culture of the racial/ethnic group selected.
It should be understood that the programs, processes, methods and system described herein are not related or limited to any particular type of computer or network system (hardware or software), unless indicated otherwise. Various combinations of general purpose, specialized or equivalent computer components including hardware, software, and firmware and combinations thereof may be used with or perform operations in accordance with the teachings described herein.
In view of the wide variety of embodiments to which the principles of the present invention can be applied, it should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are exemplary only, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention. For example, the steps of the flow diagrams may be taken in sequences other than those described, and more fewer or equivalent elements may be used in the block diagrams.
The claims should not be read as limited to the described order or elements unless stated to that effect. In addition, use of the term “means” in any claim is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6, and any claim without the word “means” is not so intended.
Therefore, all embodiments that come within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalents thereto are claimed as the invention.
The application claim priority to U.S. Provisional Application 60/524,794, filed Nov. 25, 2003, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
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