Patent Application
20250161791
The present invention generally relates to the field of educational board games. More specifically, the invention pertains to a board game designed to teach African Nova Scotians about their history and community while imparting financial literacy and generational wealth-building concepts. The game comprises a planar board with blocks representing African Nova Scotian communities, each block associated with property prices and historical significance. Players engage in strategic property acquisition, community development, and financial transactions under the management of a banker, with the objective of accumulating wealth and learning about their heritage. Accordingly, this disclosure makes specific reference thereto the present invention. Nonetheless, it is to be appreciated that aspects of the present invention are also equally applicable to other like applications, devices, and methods of manufacture.
By way of background, board games have long been regarded as a beloved form of entertainment across various cultures, offering an interactive and engaging way for players to come together, socialize, and challenge one another in friendly competition. These games provide opportunities for entertainment, learning, and bonding, making them a staple in many households and social gatherings. However, despite the enduring popularity of board games, many players experience fatigue and boredom after repeatedly playing the same game, especially when the game mechanics remain static and predictable. This often results in a diminished level of excitement and engagement, as players seek novel challenges and fresh learning experiences. Furthermore, many traditional board games are limited in scope, failing to evolve in ways that go beyond simple mechanics to encompass deeper themes, such as cultural education or personal growth. There is a notable absence of board games that meaningfully incorporate elements of cultural history and community identity, particularly in the context of underrepresented communities. The lack of innovation in this area represents a missed opportunity to create educational tools that not only entertain but also inform and inspire players about the rich cultural heritages that shape our world.
This gap is especially evident within the African Nova Scotian community, where there is a significant lack of awareness and understanding of the cultural history and community identity that define this group. The African Nova Scotian community, with its rich and unique heritage, has faced historical challenges in preserving and promoting its cultural identity. While efforts have been made to educate the public, including younger generations, about the ancestral heritage and historical significance of African Nova Scotians, these efforts often struggle to engage effectively, particularly in today's fast-paced, digital world. Traditional educational methods-such as textbooks, lectures, and historical presentations-frequently fail to capture the imagination of younger individuals, who may view these approaches as outdated, dry, or disconnected from their own lived experiences. This disconnect can result in a lack of interest in learning about important aspects of African Nova Scotian history, including the community's contributions to the broader cultural and historical landscape. Therefore, there is a strong desire within the community for a novel, engaging solution that can both educate and entertain. The need for an innovative approach is clear-one that can seamlessly integrate elements of African Nova Scotian history into an exciting and dynamic game format. Such a game could serve as a powerful tool, providing players with not only an enjoyable experience but also a deeper understanding and awareness of the African Nova Scotian community, its rich cultural traditions, and its enduring historical legacy.
Therefore, there exists a long-felt need in the art for a board game that can effectively teach African Nova Scotians about their history and communities in an engaging and interactive manner. There is also a long-felt need in the art for educational tools that can provide entertainment while imparting important cultural and historical knowledge. Additionally, there is a long-felt need for a game that incorporates financial literacy, community development, and wealth-building strategies. Moreover, there is a long-felt need for a culturally relevant board game that emphasizes the unique aspects of African Nova Scotian history. Further, there is a long-felt need for a game that promotes strategic thinking about investments and property ownership while maintaining educational and historical components. Finally, there is a long-felt need for a game that prevents people from getting bored when learning about their history, community, and ancestors.
The subject matter disclosed and claimed herein, in one embodiment thereof, comprises a board game designed to teach African Nova Scotians about their history, communities, and the importance of building generational wealth. The board game features a plurality of blocks, each representing different African Nova Scotian communities, along with corresponding property prices determined by the neighborhood's characteristics. The game begins with players receiving an initial virtual capital, which they can use to purchase and develop properties as they move around the board. Players engage in financial transactions such as rent collection, property acquisition, and community development projects, with a banker managing these interactions. The game also includes special blocks that introduce historical and cultural learning opportunities, making the gameplay both educational and strategic.
In this manner, the board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development of the present invention accomplishes all of the foregoing objectives and provides an interactive and engaging way to learn about African Nova Scotian history and community while teaching essential financial skills. The board game teaches African Nova Scotians about their communities, history, and the importance of building generational wealth. By incorporating real-life financial strategies within the framework of the game, the game functions as both an educational tool and an engaging recreational activity, allowing players to learn while having fun.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosed innovation. This summary is not an extensive overview, and it is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some general concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The subject matter disclosed and claimed herein, in one embodiment thereof, comprises a method for teaching generational wealth-building through a board game. The method includes the steps of providing each player with an initial amount of money at the start of the game, said money represents the starting capital. Each player moves a character along a game board, wherein the game board features a plurality of property spaces representing communities within African Nova Scotia, each property space is associated with a specific purchase price. Each player is permitted to purchase the property represented by the property space when the player's character lands on the respective property space, said properties being available for further development through the addition of houses and hotels. Each player is allowed to collect rent from other players who land on the properties they own and to double the rent if the player owns all the properties within a particular county. The game allows players to build generational wealth by strategically acquiring properties, building houses and hotels, and managing assets and the game ends when one player owns all the property deeds on the board.
In another aspect, a board game for teaching generational wealth-building and community development is disclosed. The board game includes a planar game board having a plurality of blocks disposed around the edges thereof, each block represents a different African Nova Scotian community property, wherein each block is associated with a property price corresponding to the neighborhood of the respective community. A set of characters are included for selection by players to represent them in the game, each character is adapted to be movable along the blocks on the game board. A set of financial transactions are controlled by a banker, the transactions involve the purchase and sale of properties, collection of rent from owned properties, and other financial actions to simulate real-life wealth-building scenarios. The players accumulate wealth by purchasing and developing properties within African Nova Scotian communities, and the game ends when a player acquires all the property deeds on the game board.
In another embodiment, a game board for teaching community history and wealth-building is disclosed. The game board includes a plurality of blocks, each block representing a different African Nova Scotian community and being associated with a corresponding property price, special blocks representing culturally significant locations, including a Black cultural center block, a Museum block, and a special town block, wherein players provide educational information about these locations when landing on said blocks, additional blocks representing a Solidarity first symbol for showing support and unity, and Question mark blocks where players can ask questions about African Nova Scotian history, and wherein players accumulate wealth by purchasing properties and participating in community-building activities represented on the game board.
In another embodiment, a method of playing a generational wealth-building board game is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing a game board featuring a plurality of blocks, each block is associated with a specific African Nova Scotian community and a property price, providing each player with an initial amount of money to be used for purchasing properties and engaging in transactions, allowing players to take turns rolling dice to move their character along the game board, permitting players to purchase properties when they land on a block representing an unowned property, allowing players to collect rent from other players who land on properties they own, allowing the banker to manage all financial transactions, including property sales, taxes, and loans, and concluding the game when one player acquires ownership of all the properties on the game board.
Numerous benefits and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which it pertains upon reading and understanding of the following detailed specification.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the disclosed innovation are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles disclosed herein can be employed and are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
The description refers to provided drawings in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the different views, and in which:
The innovation is now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding thereof. It may be evident, however, that the innovation can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate a description thereof. Various embodiments are discussed hereinafter. It should be noted that the figures are described only to facilitate the description of the embodiments. They are not intended as an exhaustive description of the invention and do not limit the scope of the invention. Additionally, an illustrated embodiment need not have all the aspects or advantages shown. Thus, in other embodiments, any of the features described herein from different embodiments may be combined.
As noted above, there exists a long-felt need in the art for a board game that can effectively teach African Nova Scotians about their history and communities in an engaging and interactive manner. There is also a long-felt need in the art for educational tools that can provide entertainment while imparting important cultural and historical knowledge. Additionally, there is a long-felt need for a game that incorporates financial literacy, community development, and wealth-building strategies. Moreover, there is a long-felt need for a culturally relevant board game that emphasizes the unique aspects of African Nova Scotian history. Further, there is a long-felt need for a game that promotes strategic thinking about investments and property ownership while maintaining educational and historical components. Finally, there is a long-felt need for a game that prevents people from getting bored when learning about their history, community, and ancestors.
The present invention, in one exemplary embodiment, is a board game for teaching generational wealth-building and community development. The board game includes a planar game board having a plurality of blocks disposed around the edges thereof, each block represents a different African Nova Scotian community property, wherein each block is associated with a property price corresponding to the neighborhood of the respective community. A set of characters are included for selection by players to represent them in the game, each character is adapted to be movable along the blocks on the game board. A set of financial transactions are controlled by a banker, the transactions involve the purchase and sale of properties, collection of rent from owned properties, and other financial actions to simulate real-life wealth-building scenarios. The players accumulate wealth by purchasing and developing properties within African Nova Scotian communities, and the game ends when a player acquires all the property deeds on the game board.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
Referring initially to the drawings,
The game board 102 includes a plurality of blocks 104a-n disposed around the edges 106,108,110,112 of the game board 102. The blocks 104a-n feature names 114a-n of African Nova Scotian communities, wherein each block corresponds to a specific community. Each block also includes a property price 116 corresponding to the community wherein the property price 116 is determined by the specific neighborhood. Each community disposed on the game board 102 corresponds to at least one county of African Nova Scotians. Different counties such as but not limited to Shelburne County, Halifax County, Digby County, and more which are illustrated in
Each county is represented uniquely using a pictorial representation 118 on the game board. Each block 104a-n includes a county representation corresponding to the community included in the block 104a-n. As a non-limiting example, the block 104a includes the “Southville” community 114a and a pictorial representation 120 corresponding to Digby County is included in the block 104a.
For playing the game using the game board 102, each player can choose a character 600 to represent them in the game. The character can be a physical avatar or any other physical piece that moves around the board along the blocks 104a-n. All players begin at the “START” corner 122 of the board 102 and as characters 600 progress around the board during play, players engage in property purchases and transactions as described later in the disclosure.
It will be noted that different properties located within the African Nova Scotian communities are represented by the blocks and different properties of counties are included in the blocks. There is a set 124 of special blocks included in the board 102 which represents Solidarity first which is used for showing encouragement or providing an answer regarding the life and liberty being fought for African Nova Scotians and a greeting of solidarity with the African Nova Scotians people. Another set 126 of blocks include a Question mark image where if a character 600 lands, then the corresponding player can ask a question about the history of the African Nova Scotian communities.
The board 102 may include special corner blocks including a Black cultural center block 128, a Museum block 130, and a special town block 132. When character 600 of a player reaches one of these blocks, the player tells the significance of the mentioned place for African Nova Scotian communities.
During the movement of their character, when a player lands on an unowned property block, the player has the option to purchase the property mentioned in the block (Step 206). The players can also earn rent from other players who land on properties they own. All financial transactions are handled by the Banker, who holds the property deeds and manages funds from property sales, houses, and hotels. Finally, the game ends when one player owns all the deeds of the properties on the board and thereby completes the ownership of all the properties (Step 208).
It should be noted that the game 100 is designed to simulate real-life scenarios of economic development and wealth-building within African Nova Scotian communities. The game teaches players how to accumulate wealth by purchasing and developing property within their communities.
Additional property details such as monthly rent details 306a of different types of properties 308 of the county are included in the card 302a. Mortgage value and other sell value details 310 are also included in the card. Also, as per the rules of the game, if a player owns all the properties in a specific county, the player gets the rights to charge double the rent of the properties of the county.
In some embodiments, players can contribute funds to community development projects such as building schools, community centers, or parks in the properties they own to benefit everyone in the game by reducing tax burdens, increasing property values, or providing other advantages. In other embodiments, players can take out loans or lines of credit from the banker to invest in more properties or build houses/hotels. However, loans must be paid back with interest, affecting future turns.
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular features or components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components or features that differ in name but not structure or function. As used herein “educational board game for promoting financial literacy and cultural awareness in African Nova Scotian Communities”, “board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development”, “blackopoly of generational wealth game”, and “board game” are interchangeable and refer to the board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development 100 of the present invention.
Notwithstanding the forgoing, the board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development 100 of the present invention can be of any suitable size and configuration as is known in the art without affecting the overall concept of the invention, provided that it accomplishes the above stated objectives. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development 100 as shown in the FIGS. are for illustrative purposes only, and that many other sizes and shapes of the board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development 100 are well within the scope of the present disclosure. Although the dimensions of the board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development 100 are important design parameters for user convenience, the board game for teaching generational wealth and African Nova Scotian community development 100 may be of any size that ensures optimal performance during use and/or that suits the user's needs and/or preferences.
Various modifications and additions can be made to the exemplary embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the present invention. While the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments having different combinations of features and embodiments that do not include all of the described features. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations as fall within the scope of the claims, together with all equivalents thereof.
What has been described above includes examples of the claimed subject matter. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the claimed subject matter, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the claimed subject matter are possible. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.
The present application claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/601,273, which was filed on Nov. 21, 2023, and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63601273 | Nov 2023 | US |
