The present invention relates to a game, and more specifically to a balancing lever game with game pieces that players may use to create balanced compound lever systems, including beams, movable loads, and fulcrums.
Games of chance, and games of skill, as well as combination games of skill and chance, are known. Users of games of skill may experience more success with superior judgment and hand/eye coordination, and repetition and memory are also contributors to success. Games of skill include games that tilt, and correctly placing or moving game pieces to avoid tilting (or to cause the opponent to tilt) is the object of the game.
A tiltable board game apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,664 issued May 20, 1986, and corresponding Canadian Patent 1,118,462 issued Feb. 16, 1982, in which a game board on a fulcrum is caused to tilt by the movement of pieces of various weights positioned on the board. An object of the game is to fill the edge of the board with playing pieces on the side opposite the other player to cause the board to tilt. The board may tilt to touch the underlying surface and moving a weighted piece can restore equilibrium.
Another tiltable game board with the same object of the game is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,346 issued Apr. 1, 1986, in which a game board on a fulcrum is caused to tilt by the movement of pieces of various weights positioned on the board in depressions in the board.
However, each of these known games provide limited modularity given the single game board. These games do not provide for building compound lever systems. What is needed is a game that provides for building lever and compound lever systems that amuses users with various opportunities for combinations of game pieces, development of hand/eye co-ordination, a plurality of possible game plays, variety of game pieces and board game piece configurations, as well as continued engagement and stimulation for users, and beginner to advanced levels of play.
In an embodiment of the present invention there is a balancing lever game comprising multiple game pieces from which levers may be built, said game pieces comprising at least one main fulcrum and at least one beam capable of balancing on the main fulcrum, and one or more movable loads, wherein the beam comprises one or more apertures, and each aperture is sized both for a load to rest on and for an aperture to pivotably fit on top of a load to act as a fulcrum for a beam.
The loads may be sphere shaped and the apertures correspondingly circular shaped and the loads may be of one or more weights.
The beam additionally comprises at least one groove sized to fit pivotably on the main fulcrum.
In a further embodiment of the balancing lever game there are at least two beams, at least two loads, and one fulcrum.
In a further embodiment of the present invention there is use of the balancing lever game to build a lever or to build a compound lever.
In a further embodiment of the present invention there is a kit for building levers comprising at least two or more beams, at least one main fulcrum and a plurality of loads, wherein at least one of the two or more beams is capable of balancing on the main fulcrum, the two or more beams each comprise at least two or more apertures, and each aperture is sized both for a load to rest on and for an aperture to pivotably fit on top of a load to act as a fulcrum for a beam.
These and other aspects of the present invention will be apparent from the brief description of the drawings and the following detailed description in which:
In an embodiment of the present invention there is a balancing lever game 5 as seen in
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The balancing lever game of the present invention may amuse players by allowing them to use the game pieces including beams 20, loads 32, 34, 38, and main fulcrum 10 to create a Class 1 Lever and to create a variety of balanced compound lever systems. The playing surface 70 consists of any surface sufficiently sized to allow game play and is relatively flat.
The playing pieces of a balancing lever game may include multiple beam 20 game pieces with apertures 60 sufficient to snuggly hold the loads 30, 34, 38, at least one beam 20 having grooves 40 on the bottom; load game pieces of a plurality of sizes, and at least one main fulcrum 10 game piece to rest on a playing surface 70 that can balance the beam 20 via the top of the fulcrum fitting into one of the grooves 40. The load game pieces are shaped in a way that allows them to rest within the apertures 60 of the beams 20, as well as shaped to allow their use as fulcrums for a beam 20 that rests on a load 32, 34, 38. While the loads and apertures are shown in the figures with texture for ease of visualizing, and may have a texture or design, it is understood that the loads and apertures may also be smooth, textured or marked in any way that still permits the loads to fit into the apertures.
Because of this modular structure of the game pieces, there are many possible configurations in which a player can balance the game pieces. While the grooves 40 in the beam 20 allow it to balance on a main fulcrum 10 and thus the beams 20 balancing on loads do not need grooves, they may still have them. Further, a game kit may include multiple main fulcrums 10 along with multiple beams with grooves in order to allow for parallel play, and also to create more complex compound lever systems.
The game can be played singly, or with multiple players. The game pieces may be used to arrange and re-arrange the beams and a plurality of movable load game pieces of different mass and sizes to create a balanced system where no beam game pieces are touching the playing surface 70 or leaning on each other. Starting with a main fulcrum game piece, a grooved beam game piece, and load game pieces, a player tries to balance the first beam game piece on a fulcrum with loads on either side of the first beam. To advance to the next level, the player places a beam game piece on top of a load game piece, and then seeks to balance the two beam game pieces. More advanced players can advance to multiple beam game pieces. The game may start in other ways, for example, the game may start with unbalanced levers and the goal is to add loads to bring the levers into balance.
It is possible to time the game play, to compete against others, to collaborate as a team, to create sets of rules based on cards, dice, or other rules of play. A goal of the balancing lever game may be for players to balance as many beams 20 as possible using two identical sets of game pieces or alternatively using an identical number of beams but a random allotment of loads 32, 3438 picked from a bag or chosen through dice or other means. Players may take turns on the same system or play in parallel. Games may be timed to see who can create the most balanced levers on their respective systems first. Alternatively, games may not be timed, and each person takes their turn in order. Players may each get the same game pieces to work with or may get to choose pieces from an opaque bag. Alternatively, all the game pieces may be up for grabs as players build their compound lever systems until all the game pieces are used up and/or until a set time is reached.
A player's hands help the game pieces balance. This makes for an engaging, hands-on-experience while using the game pieces and developing hand/eye co-ordination. While the first beam 20 is resting on the main fulcrum 10 and there is only one axis of rotation (like a traditional seesaw or teeter-totter) it is relatively easy to create a balanced lever system. When players add an additional beam game piece on top of a load 32, 3438, the beams 20 can tip both up and down, and also left and right as shown in
The apertures may alternatively be comprised of matching concave depressions on the top and bottom of a thicker beam without a hole in between, and one aperture could hold a load on top and have a load underneath. The apertures 60 may be other shapes, for example, a plus sign shape or a square on top and circle on bottom, all of which may be beveled/chamfered, and for using with corresponding-shaped loads.
The beams 20 in the embodiment of the invention shown in the figures are in the shape of rectangular prisms, but the beams could be various shapes and profiles. There are one or more apertures spaced along the beam game pieces length to hold the load game pieces in position. The apertures on the beams game pieces are shaped on the top and bottom surfaces to allow a plurality of load pieces to rest firmly within the apertures.
On the underside of at least one of the beams 20, there are one or more groves 40 running in the short direction. The grooves dictate the location of the initial balancing point of the game play. The shape of the grooves 40 on the beam is such that a groove 40 fits over the balancing point of the main fulcrum 10 game piece. The main fulcrum 10 has a shape such that it has at least one balancing point that allows the grooves 40 on the beam 20 to rest squarely and securely on the main fulcrum 10, while also allowing the beam 20 to pivot on top of the main fulcrum game piece in the direction of the lengthwise degree of freedom 50.
There may be a plurality of load game pieces of different size and mass, which fit in the apertures 60 on the beams 20. The load game pieces are shaped such that they suitable for use as fulcrums for the addition of multiple beams 20, on top of the first starting beam 20. Larger size loads may be lighter and smaller sized loads may be heavier to add difficulty in achieving balanced levers. Although an even number of apertures 60 on a beam 20 aids in balancing levers, the beams may have odd numbers of apertures 60 or unevenly spaced apertures 60 to add complexity to the balancing. Further some beams 20 could be of different lengths and have different spacing and/or number of apertures, and even have different sized apertures with corresponding different sized loads for increased complexity.
Although the figures show the levers in balance to demonstrate a possible goal of the game, it will be understood that players may not be able to achieve balanced levers if restricted by time limits or limits on attempted tries or by skill and difficulty.
The present invention includes a kit for building levers and compound levers comprising at least two or more beams, at least one main fulcrum and a plurality of loads, wherein at least one of the two or more beams is capable of balancing on a main fulcrum, the two or more beams each comprise at least one aperture each, and each aperture is sized both for a load to rest on and for an aperture to pivotably fit on top of a load to act as a fulcrum for a beam.
A kit of the balancing lever game may comprise a variety of game pieces and when combined with another kit will increase the extent and/or variety of game play and/or number of players.
While embodiments of the invention have been described in the detailed description, the scope of the claims should not be limited by the preferred embodiments set forth in the examples, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with the description as a whole.
This applicant claims the benefit of provisional application No. 63/243,281 filed Sep. 13, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63243281 | Sep 2021 | US |