Patent Application
20070252332
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a building card kit containing at least one character and a set of building cards for assembly into a structure that relates to the character.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Building card sets have been known for many years. The cards in these sets are typically rectangular in shape and contain at least six slots which are used to interconnect one card to another and form a structure (i.e., a house of cards). Each of the cards in the set are typically provided with random images for purposes of decoration.
3-D puzzles provide an alternative to building cards. 3-D puzzles, however, are limited in that they can only be assembled into a single, pre-defined structure. In other words, a typical 3-D puzzle has only one specific location for each of the pieces in the puzzle. Thus, once a person assembles the 3-D puzzle into its intended form, the fun generally ends and any re-assembly of the same structure will be less satisfying to the person as they will not be as challenged during the assembly process.
Each of the above described building cards and 3-D puzzles have significant drawbacks in their entertainment and educational values. While the building cards and 3-D puzzles both provide a challenge in assembly, they are both limited in that the assembled structures are then not further utilized for education and/or entertainment purposes.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a building-type kit that will not be limited in the number of structures that can be formed, as well as provide for continued fun and interaction with the structure that has been formed.
The present invention improves significantly over the prior art building cards and 3-D puzzles. In particular, in order to have building cards be more interesting, they are provided in a kit along with a character that is related to an assembled form of the building cards, and/or at least one side of the cards are printed with indicia relating to the character. Because of this combination, a person can use their imagination to create an unlimited number of structures with which the character can interact.
In a further embodiment, the building cards are provided unprinted. In this manner, once a person assembles a structure, they are free to decorate the unprinted portions of the building cards to make the assembled structure artistically unique in its own right. With this second embodiment, a person is also provided with an opportunity to express themselves artistically as well.
As used herein, the term “building cards” refers to cards that are provided with slots that allow interconnection with slots of another building card. As used herein, the term “character” means any object that interacts with the structure formed by the building cards, such as a toy figure, an action figure, a toy car, or the like, and that is not integral with the structure formed by the building cards. For example, the character may be a posable or non-posable figurine that is scaled to match the assembled structure, or other figurines and structures in other building card kits.
As used herein the term “related to” refers to items, images or other indicia that are related by a common story line, related in subject matter, or related by a common theme.
For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement shown, wherein:
Referring now to the drawings,
As shown in
The building cards 4 provided in the set are preferably comprised of laminated or unlaminated chip board material, or can be any other similar type of material such as cardboard, plastic, etc., and are bundled such that the cards 4 are attached together along perforations 7 (as shown in
Preferably, as shown in
Although the preferred embodiment described herein shows a building card kit 1 wherein the character 2 is a knight and the building cards 4 are printed with indicia relating to a castle, it will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art that other characters and printed building card kits can be provided such as, a pirate and building cards for assembling various boats, a farmer and building cards for assembling barns and other farm structures, an astronaut and building cards for assembling various types of space stations/rockets and a soldier and building cards for assembling forts, a car and building cards for assembling garages, to name a few. The type of character and images printed on the cards are virtually limitless, and will thus only be limited by the imagination of the designer of the building card set. For example, multiple building card kits can be provided as related series or themes, such as ancient ruins or wonders of the world, famous skylines or skyscrapers, fantasy/futuristic themes, modern day heroes/superhero theme, exploration or expedition adventure, haunted houses, doll houses; cowboy themes, samurai/ninja themes, mystery/spy themes, famous battles/wars, national/city parks, sports arenas/coliseums/racetracks, or famous literary locations, t name a few.
As shown in
Accordingly, with the building card kit according to the present invention, a person is given a greater opportunity to express him or herself creatively. In particular, the person is allowed to design their own structure with the building cards that relates to the character provided in the kit. However, unlike traditional building cards, once the structure is assembled the fun and learning does not end because the person is now able to have the character interact with the assembled structure in a role-playing manner. Accordingly, by providing such a kit, a person's creativity is fostered as they are allowed to actually play and interact with the finished structure that they themselves have designed and assembled. Moreover, the user can change the structure and the fun starts all over again.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the building cards 4 in the kit are not provided with any printed matter or indicia (such as the cards shown in
In alternate embodiments, stickers can be provided for further decorating the printed or unprinted surfaces of the cards, the surfaces of the cards can be adapted for use with dry-erase markers, the surfaces of the cards can be made magnetic for use with magnetic-type stickers, the surfaces can be adapted for use with reusable peel-and-stick decorations, etc. The building card kit can also be provided with separate parts for decorating/attachment to the slots in the cards, portions of the assembled structure, specific locations on the assembled structure (i.e., preformed holes in the cards), or the character. These separate parts can be molded of plastic or any other desired material, and have printed or unprinted surfaces.
It is also contemplated that supplemental refill card sets will be provided separately from the original set containing the character. The separate building card sets can be printed with indicia on at least one side of each of the building cards or left blank for future decoration by the person. The separate sets can also be provided with stickers, dry-erase markers, magnets, etc.
The present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments. These embodiments, however, are merely examples and the invention is not restricted thereto. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that other variations and modifications can easily be made while remaining within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
