Patent Grant
10518166
The present invention relates generally to multi-player interactive board games, includes both those played face-to-face using a physical apparatus and those played online using an electronic or mobile device. More particularly, it pertains to a new board game wherein a player attempts to earn victory points from each of the other players by comparing numerical rankings indicating level of agreement with a statement on prompt cards.
There are many types of games wherein the players attempt to match answers or results to prompt questions. Frequently, such games involve either writing down answers in words or phrases, or matching graphic characteristics. There are other games wherein the answers, though in numeric form, are compared to the actual numerical solutions to the questions on the prompt cards. Such board games are indicated and exemplified in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,328,308, 3,734,510, 5,054,775, 7,654,533, and 8,496,517, and Patent Application Publication No. US 2010/0301563A1, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
The present invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by limiting the answers to the range 1 to 10 representing levels of agreement (and do not represent real-life quantities). Because of this, players can guess using voting chips, rather than writing their answers on paper. The numeric answer is the “Chief's” rating of his/her own opinion and, therefore, no mathematical skills or direct knowledge of the subject of the questions on the prompt cards are necessary.
Although some board games in prior art and our patent application here may all involve presenting players with questions that can be answered numerically, those board games in the prior art typically deal with “trivia questions” that have factually correct answers (generally written on opposite side of the question card). However, our application, on the other hand, specifically involves opinion-based questions for which the answer necessarily depends on the identity of the current question-asker (“Chief” in the claims). One notable consequence of this is that our game can be replayed numerous times with the same set of question cards.
The present invention also includes a unique scoring system in which there are different “colors” or “shapes” of victory points, awarded by different players. In fact, to win the game, one has to collect victory points of all different colors or shapes, providing motivation to get to know all other players, instead of just knowing one other player extremely well. Those games described in the prior art usually don't distinguish sources of victory points.
In addition, the present invention provides an objective opportunity to earn victory points. Unlike other conversation-starter games such as Say Anything and Apples to Apples, there is no pressure for the active player to choose an arbitrary favorite answer, and king-making is impossible; the active player does not have the power to favor a certain player.
In this board game, players take turns being the Chief and rating their level of agreement with prompts such as: “For $1000, I would be willing to wear the same underwear for a week without washing it.” The opinions are guessed using a scale from 1 (“Frostbite!—Completely Disagree”) to 10 (“All Ablaze!—Completely Agree”). Before the Chief reveals his/her rating, all of the other players guess the Chief's response using secret voting tokens, and all the votes are revealed simultaneously. At the end of the round, the closest matches score victory points. With over 700 cards already written, the prompts cover an enormous range of topics from intimate to hilarious, from every-day to fantastical, from family-oriented to party-friendly. Since the point system requires collecting points of all colors in order to win, you cannot win simply by knowing one other player extremely well. In fact, based on your point balance, you may discover which of your friends you ought to get to know better! This game promises to bring family and friends closer together by sparking meaningful, fun, and intellectual conversations that will continue even after the game itself is over.
The invention and the advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to
To begin the game, each player chooses a color and receives a set of voting chips and a set of victory point tokens of that color. Now, referring to
After the first Chief is decided, at Step 51, the Chief draws a card from a deck of prompt cards, which should have been thoroughly shuffled to randomize the statements. At this time, the Chief reads the statement out loud for all player to hear and places the card on the table.
At Step 52, the Chief contemplates how strongly he or she agrees with the statement on the prompt card, on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 representing “completely disagrees with the statement (Frostbite!)” and 10 representing “absolutely, wholeheartedly agrees with the statement (All Ablaze!).” A scaling guide is shown below and in
Moving on Step 53, each of all other players tries to guess what the Chief might have chosen and places a voting chip face-down with their guesses.
When all players have put down their chips, at Step 54, flip over the voting chips simultaneously to reveal the answers. The Chief then compares the answers and awards victory point tokens to some or all players based on scoring guidelines. The color of the victory point tokens being awarded is the color of the player who is the Chief. For example, when the purple player is the Chief, all players have an opportunity to score purple points.
A set of guidelines for preferred embodiment is illustrated in
After the victory points are awarded, at Step 55, check to see whether any player(s) has achieved the goal of collecting at least 5 victory points from each and all players. If not, then go on the Step 56 to continue the game. If yes, then move on to Step 57 to determine the winner of the game.
If no player has collected at least 5 victory points of each color, at Step 56, the role of Chief is passed around the table in order clockwise. That is, the player to the left of the current Chief takes over being the Chief. The new Chief draws a card from the deck of prompt cards and the game continues from Step 51.
If one or more players have achieved the goal of collecting at least 5 victory points of each color, then at Step 57, determine whether a tiebreaker is needed.
If more than one player has achieved the goal simultaneously, at Step 58, as a tiebreaker, the player who has earned the highest total number of victory points is to be considered the winner of the game. If two or more players who have earned the same highest number of victory points, then they are to be considered co-winners.
If only one player has achieved the goal, then he or she should be declared as the winner of the game. Congratulate him or her for being the person who best understands all of you. This game is not over yet; it is just getting started. Now you have discovered which of your friends you ought to get to know better. It's time to spark a conversation.
The foregoing detailed description has been given for clarity of understanding only, and no limitations should be understood therefrom, as some modifications may be obvious to those skilled in the art.
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