Board game apparatus and method of play

Abstract

This invention is a two player board game played on a board having a matrix of squares with indicia on a plurality of squares to visually distinguish them as either being ‘home’ squares or ‘magic’ squares. Each player is assigned at least one ‘home’ square and one ‘magic’ square, the assigned squares being visually distinguishable from those assigned to the other player. There are two distinguishable playing sets, each having three kinds of playing pieces X, Y and Z and each said set is assigned to a different player. Both players move in turn one of their pieces according to its assigned capability of movement. If a player moves his X or Y playing piece on his ‘magic’ square then the moved piece ‘turns’ into his Z playing piece. Each player plays with the objective to win the game by successfully leading his Z piece to any of his ‘home’ squares. A player may also win if he captures or blocks all opponent's pieces. The game play encourages strategic thinking by providing opportunity to players to plan future moves and to use piece positioning tactics to achieve goals.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to the class of two player strategy board games, specifically the ones played on a board having a matrix of squares on which players move their pieces in turn, each trying to capture opponent's pieces while keeping in mind a larger goal to achieve a winning condition. Examples of popular games of this class are chess and checkers.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

[0002] Schifman (U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,152) discloses a strategy board game, wherein each player has a key marker and the object of the game is to get the key marker from one side of the checkerboard to the other by moving from courier peg to courier peg.

[0003] LoCoco (U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,305) discloses a strategy board game, wherein the primary purpose is to win by causing certain marked playing pieces to land upon certain marked safety zones on the board.

[0004] Yedid (U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,223) discloses a strategy board game, wherein the player plays with an objective of being the first to reach a square designated as a ‘princess’ with his primary playing piece.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Unlike most board games of its class, this board game combines strategy with a first challenge to each player of turning his X or Y piece into a Z piece by leading it to his ‘magic’ square and a second challenge of safely leading the Z piece to his ‘home’ square, in order to win. This concept provides a rich and stimulating game play that may be supplemented with a fictional storyline for entertainment.

[0006] For example, an embodiment of this concept may involve each X piece visually representing a mouse, each Y piece visually representing a bunny, each ‘magic’ square having an indicium of a magic lamp, each ‘home’ square having an indicium of a castle and each Z piece visually representing a King. For the said embodiment, may be concocted a fictional tale of two enemy tribes, whose armies were transformed thousands of years ago, into mice and bunnies by an angry witch's spell. Being the God of his own tribe, each player must now strive to lead his mouse or bunny to his magic lamp in order to transform it into a weak king, who must then be led unharmed to the safety of his castle to win the old war.

[0007] As an additional advantage, this game involves only three kinds of pieces with very simple and easy to learn moves and a very different method of capture compared to games like chess, checkers and many others of its class.

[0008] All of the above advantages and the added novelty of a two-staged course to victory make the game play fun, yet mentally challenging.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0009] FIG. 1 shows from left to right in order, a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of each of the three playing pieces X, Y and Z of a playing set.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of the game board (FIG. 2, item 10), and two playing sets positioned at the beginning of a match. The text on the each label in FIG. 2 indicates the type of square or piece to which the said label corresponds and the suffixed number indicates one of the two players to whom the said square or piece is assigned. The squares having an indicium of a castle (FIG. 2, item 11) are ‘home’ squares and those having an indicium of a magic lamp are ‘magic’ squares (FIG. 2, item 12) The labels in FIGS. 2 through 6 are not physically present on the game board.

[0011] FIG. 3 is a plan view of an example of a typical arrangement of playing pieces on the game board that might occur during game play.

[0012] FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the capture of an X piece (of FIG. 3, item 21) belonging to player 2, by a Y piece (of FIGS. 3 and 4, item 20) belonging to player 1, the two neighbors involved in the capture being the Y piece (of FIGS. 3 and 4, item 20) and the X piece (of FIGS. 3 and 4, item 22).

[0013] FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating the simultaneous captures of two X pieces (of FIG. 4, items 31, 32) belonging to player 1, by a Y piece (of FIG. 4, item 30) belonging to player 2. Note that the said Y piece is now turned into a Z piece (FIG. 5, item 30). The X piece (of FIG. 4, item 31) is captured using a chess-style capture because it lies on the ‘magic’ square belonging to player 2. The X piece (of FIG. 4, item 32) is captured because of the formation of a neighbor pair consisting of the X piece (of FIGS. 4 and 5, item 33) and the moved Y piece, that transformed into the said Z piece.

[0014] FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating the capture of an X piece (of FIG. 5, item 41) belonging to player 2, by an X piece (of FIGS. 5 and 6, item 40) belonging to player 1, the two neighbors involved in the capture being the X piece (of FIGS. 5 and 6, item 40) and the X piece (of FIGS. 5 and 6, item 42).

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The preferred embodiment of the present invention consists of:

[0016] 1. A board game apparatus comprising of:

[0017] a) a flat game board (FIG. 2, item 10) having thirty-six and only thirty-six squares arranged as a grid of six rows of squares by six columns of squares

[0018] b) and two distinguishable playing sets, each said playing set comprising of following components, all of them of a same color that is different from the color used for components of another playing set.

[0019] i. four X playing pieces, two Y playing pieces and two Z playing pieces, with the preferred embodiment of each kind of playing piece illustrated in FIG. 1; X and Y playing pieces will henceforth be also referred to as ‘fighter’ pieces.

[0020] ii. a plurality of squares on the game board permanently designated as ‘home’ squares, containing within an indicium of a castle (FIG. 2, item

[0021] iii. a plurality of squares on the game board permanently designated as ‘magic’ squares, containing within an indicium of a magic lamp (FIG. 2, item 12);

[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates the preferred embodiment of the present invention for the game board, the placement of the playing pieces and designation of squares on the game board at the beginning of a match.

[0023] 2. The following method of play whereby two players may play a board game using the apparatus described in 1:

[0024] Game Play:

[0025] At the beginning of the match all playing pieces must be arranged on the game board as illustrated in FIG. 2. A unique playing set must be assigned to each player, who is then allowed to control the movements of only the playing pieces belonging to the playing set assigned to him; in this sense all components of the playing set assigned to a player are said to ‘belong to’ or ‘owned by’ the said player. Each player must move, in turn, one playing piece of his playing set to a square that lies within the assigned capability of movement of the piece being moved.

[0026] As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the Z playing piece is not present on the game board at the beginning of a match.

[0027] Moves:

[0028] An X playing piece may be moved in any horizontal direction or any vertical direction, a distance of any number of squares each move if and only if the destination square is unoccupied and not a ‘home’ square. Moreover, an X playing piece is prohibited from jumping over playing pieces and ‘home’ squares.

[0029] A Y playing piece may be moved in any diagonal direction, a distance of no more than two squares each move if and only if the destination square is unoccupied and not a ‘home’ square. Moreover, a Y playing piece may jump over playing pieces and any square.

[0030] A Z playing piece may be moved in any horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction a distance of no more than one square each move if and only if the destination square is unoccupied.

[0031] Captures:

[0032] As illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, a player, upon moving one of his ‘fighter’ pieces, must remove an opponent's piece from the game board if the opponent's said piece gets at least two of the said player's ‘fighter’ pieces, each, as a one-square horizontally or vertically adjacent neighbor, one of the neighbors being the said ‘fighter’piece last moved by the said player.

[0033] As illustrated in FIG. 5, a player may perform a chess-style capture of an opponent's piece using one of his ‘fighter’ pieces, if and only if the opponent's said piece lies on the said player's ‘magic’ square lying within the assigned capability of movement of the said ‘fighter’ piece.

[0034] Note that a player may perform a capture only upon his own move. Also, note that a player cannot perform a capture upon moving his Z playing piece.

[0035] Transforming a ‘Fighter’ Piece into a Z Piece:

[0036] As illustrated in FIG. 5, a player, upon moving one of his ‘fighter’ pieces to his ‘magic’ square must perform all captures that are permissible and then the said player, if and only if he possesses a spare Z playing piece off the game board, must remove the said ‘fighter’ piece from the game board and place his said spare Z playing piece on the said ‘magic’ square. In this sense, the said ‘fighter’ piece is said to ‘turn’ or ‘transform’ or ‘convert’ into the said Z playing piece upon landing on the said ‘magic’ square.

[0037] Winning Condition:

[0038] A player is said to win the match if and only if the said player is the first player

[0039] i. to move his Z piece, within its assigned capability of movement, to any of his ‘home’ squares or

[0040] ii. to capture all of the opponent's playing pieces or

[0041] iii. to make a move so that none of the opponent's playing pieces can subsequently be moved to any square lying within the their assigned capability of movement.

[0042] Another embodiment of the winning condition is that a player is said to win the match if and only if the said player is the first player

[0043] i. whose all ‘home’ squares have been occupied at any time in the course of game play, at least once by any of his Z pieces or

[0044] ii. to remove all of the opponent's playing pieces from the game board or

[0045] iii. to make a move so that none of the opponent's playing pieces can subsequently be moved to any square lying within the their assigned capability of movement.

[0046] Players may choose to play the game after mutually deciding upon the usage of either embodiment of the winning condition.

[0047] Scope

[0048] Although the above description contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. For example:

[0049] any design may be used instead of the preferred embodiment for distinguishing the playing pieces;

[0050] during game play the players may mutually agree upon removing one or more of their pieces from the game board;

[0051] the players may mutually agree to designate certain squares, by making visually distinguishable marks on them, as being ‘home’ or ‘magic’ squares before beginning of a match;

[0052] Thus, the scope of the invention should be established by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.

Claims

1. A board game apparatus consisting of: a) a flat game board having N×M squares arranged as a grid of N rows of squares by M columns of squares, where N and M are integers greater than 2; b) and two distinguishable playing sets, each said playing set comprising of following components, all of them visually distinguishable from those components not contained in the said playing set: i. a plurality of X playing pieces, a plurality of Y playing pieces and a plurality of Z playing pieces, each type of playing piece being visually distinguishable from another type and having a designated manner of movement; X and Y playing pieces will henceforth be also referred to as ‘fighter’ pieces. ii. a plurality of visually distinguishable squares on the game board designated as ‘home’ squares; iii. a plurality of visually distinguishable squares on the game board designated as ‘magic’ squares;

2. A method of play whereby two players may play a board game using the apparatus described in claim 1, the method of play consisting of: a) limiting the movements of an X playing piece to any horizontal direction and any vertical direction, a distance of any number of squares each move, if and only if the destination square is unoccupied and not a ‘home’ square; and prohibiting the said X piece from jumping over playing pieces and ‘home’ squares; b) limiting the movements of a Y playing piece to any diagonal direction, a distance of no more than two squares each move, if and only if the destination square is unoccupied and not a ‘home’ square; and allowing the said Y piece to jump over playing pieces and any square; c) limiting the movements of a Z playing piece to any horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction a distance of no more than one square each move if and only if the destination square is unoccupied; d) assigning a different playing set to each player and allowing each player to control the movements of only the playing pieces belonging to the playing set assigned to him; in this sense all components of the playing set assigned to a player are said to ‘belong to’ or ‘owned by’ the said player. e) allowing each player, in turn, to move one playing piece of his or her playing set to a square that lies within the assigned capability of movement of the piece being moved f) allowing a player, upon moving one of his ‘fighter’ playing pieces, to remove an opponent's piece from the game board if the opponent's said piece gets at least two of the said player's ‘fighter’ pieces, each, as a one-square horizontally or vertically adjacent neighbor, one of the neighbors being the said ‘fighter’ piece last moved by the said player. g) allowing a player to perform a chess-style capture of an opponent's piece using one of his ‘fighter’ pieces, if and only if the said opponent's piece lies on the said player's ‘magic’ square lying within the assigned capability of movement of the said ‘fighter’ piece. h) allowing a player, upon moving one of his ‘fighter’ pieces to his ‘magic’ square, to perform any captures that are permissible and then allowing the said player, if and only if he possesses a ‘spare’ Z playing piece off the game board, to remove the said ‘fighter’ piece from the game board and place the said spare Z playing piece on the said ‘magic’ square. i) allowing a player to win the match if and only if the said player is the first player i. to move his Z piece, within its assigned capability of movement, to any of his ‘home’ squares or ii. to remove all of the opponent's playing pieces from the game board or iii. to make a move so that none of the opponent's playing pieces can subsequently be moved to any square that lies within the their assigned capability of movement.

3. A method of capture wherein a player may remove an opponent's piece from the game board by making such a move that the opponent's said piece gets at least two of the said player's pieces, each, as a one-square horizontally or vertically adjacent neighbor, one of the neighbors being the piece last moved by the said player.

4. A board game apparatus of claim 1, where N=6 and M=6.

5. A board game comprising of apparatus of claim 4 and method of play of claim 2, with each playing set comprising of two ‘home’ squares, two ‘magic’ squares, four X playing pieces, two Y playing pieces and two Z playing pieces, the arrangement of these components on the game board at the beginning of a match, being illustrated in FIG. 1.

6. A method of playing as recited in claim 2, where the game rule specified in sub section (i), is superseded by the following game rule: allowing a player to win the match if and only if the said player is the first player i. whose all ‘home’ squares have been occupied at any time in the course of game play, at least once by any of his Z pieces or ii. to remove all of the opponent's playing pieces from the game board or iii. to make a move so that none of the opponent's playing pieces can subsequently be moved to any square lying within the their assigned capability of movement.

7. A board game comprising of apparatus of claim 1 and method of play of claim 2, wherein each square is provided with means for securing a playing piece in the said square, so as to resist unwanted movement.

8. A board game comprising of apparatus of claim 1 and method of play of claim 2, wherein the game board is configured so that it may be folded.

9. A board game comprising of apparatus of claim 1 and method of play of claim 2, wherein the game board is enclosed within a case.

10. A board game comprising of apparatus of claim 1 and method of play of claim 2, wherein the playing pieces, game board and squares, all exist as data within a computer, and wherein at least a portion of such data is displayed on output means.

11. A board game of claim 10, wherein the output means comprises a computer monitor or an LCD display screen.

12. A board game of claim 10, wherein the computer is programmed to play against a human opponent.

13. A board game comprising of apparatus of claim 1 and method of play of claim 2, wherein the apparatus additionally comprises printed matter setting forth a method of play thereof, which may be identified as Rules of the Game.