Patent Application
20180154249
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates generally to word games, more specifically those in which players place tabular letter tiles in such a way as to form a grid in which words intersect at right angles, crossword style.
Tile-based crossword games have been in widespread popular use since the introduction of Scrabble® in 1947 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,158). That game relies on letter tiles that have differing point values, and on premium squares on a unique game board that double or triple letter or word scores. Game play can be intense and thoughtful as players seek to form a word out of the seven letters at their disposal and place it on the board in a manner that will earn the most points, with the result that the game is more suitable for adults than for children. A yearly nationwide competition draws incredibly adept players with phenomenal vocabularies.
The main drawback with this very popular game and its derivatives is that the game board that makes it so challenging is at the same time very confining, in that letters that have been placed on the board may not thereafter be moved. And since each player has access to only seven letters at a time, an unfortunate plethora of vowels or hard-to-place consonants can make it difficult to form a substantive word.
Bananagrams®, which came on the market in 2006, offers radically different game play. It discarded the idea of playing on a game board in favor of the wide-open environment of an ordinary table. It also got rid of the notion of taking turns. Instead, players race to be the first to finish their individual crossword grids. The first player to finish an acceptable crossword grid in this racing game is the winner. Game play in this every-man-for-himself environment is boisterous, hectic, entertaining and educational, so it is not surprising that Bananagrams is especially popular among children. The first nationwide competition was held in 2016, for fourth- to sixth-graders. Bananagrams neither requires nor rewards deep thought of the type usually associated with Scrabble.
Cernansky (US Patent Application 20100109247) discloses a crossword game without a game board in which individual letter tiles have tongues and notches, much like the pieces of a crossword puzzle, so that the entire grid can be rotated to face each player in turn. The game play is much like that of the Scrabble derivative UpWords in that words once placed are locked into the grid but may be turned into new words by stacking letter tiles on top of those already in the grid.
Bazarko (U.S. Pat. No. 8,672,328) discloses another game without a game board in which players attach letters to those already on the playing surface to form words. The distinguishing feature is that each round letter tile has a rounded concavity of such a radius that the convex side of another tile nests in it. The tiles that form any given word are therefore not locked into a right-angle grid, but can “snake” and bend irregularly as words are extended. Tiles that are placed in the center cannot be moved to make room for new tiles. This restriction has the effect of locking words down as effectively as a game board would have done.
Tile-based word games can be played, mutatis mutandis, with letter tiles that are not square. A search of prior art disclosed three patents that use hexagonal tiles. Kowalczyk (U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,110) discloses a game in which each letter tile bears a letter or symbol; it is played on a game board that has bonus spaces and penalty spaces.
Hughes (U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,255) discloses a game in which each letter tile bears a letter; it is played on a game board that has bonus spaces for multiplying letter scores and word scores.
Leban (U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,109) discloses a game that does not use a game board, but eight of its tiles bear an ambigram rather than a letter of the alphabet. One such ambigram is a symbol that looks somewhat like a backwards numeral: 3. It can be taken for a B when viewed right side up, or as an E when viewed upside down. Thus, the intersecting word pair that reads SNOB/BX when viewed right side up reads EONS/EX when viewed upside down.
There is a need for a game that offers unlimited freedom in the size and shape of the grid (i.e., no game board); a large supply of letters at the players' disposal at each turn; a series of operations that allow anagramming and modification of individual words after they have been placed within the grid; and multiple different ways of adding new words to the crossword grid; and means of changing the shape of the crossword grid itself.
The Game according to the present invention addresses those needs and extends the concepts of the prior art in that it is played on an ordinary table, but is not a racing game, and also in that players take turns in building a single Crossword Grid, but not within the rigid confines of a game board. Additionally, words in the grid can be modified in a number of different ways and may be cannibalized so that their letters may be used in the formation of new words elsewhere in the Crossword Grid. Words may also be moved from one part of the Crossword Grid to another in order to make room for the placement of new words, and may be transposed from horizontal to vertical orientation (or vice versa) as required for spatial reasons.
The Game also has features that take account of differing ages and skill levels among players so that children and adults can play together, learn from each other, and benefit from each other's company.
This invention discloses a game in which players take turns as they manipulate movable tabular letter tiles (or their digital, electronic or other equivalents) to construct a single grid of intersecting words, crossword style, without the use of a game board. Novel features are as follows:
Any existing word in the crossword grid may be anagrammed, shortened, lengthened, moved from one place to another, combined with another word to create a new word, transposed between horizontal and vertical orientation in order to make room for the placement of a new word, or removed from the crossword grid entirely so that its Letter tiles may be reused for the creation of a longer word. Several intersecting words may be detached from the crossword grid as a unit and then reattached elsewhere in order to facilitate the placement of the new word for the turn.
At the beginning of a game, all of the letter tiles are spread on the playing surface face down to form a stockpile, and then seven letter tiles are turned face up to form a common pile. The upward-facing letter tiles in the common pile are available for the use of each player at each turn throughout the game. The common pile is replenished to its normal capacity at the end of each turn.
In forming a new word, a player may also reuse some or all of the letter tiles of an existing word that is being modified. As a result, the player often has more than the fourteen letter tiles of the letter tray and the common pile to work with, right up until the stockpile runs out.
With so many letter tiles available, the minimum word length has been set at four letter tiles, compared to the norm of two letter tiles in existing games. In practice, the average length of the very first word placed in the crossword grid while playing the game is six letter tiles. Words four letter tiles in length typically appear only in the last couple of moves, during the end game.
The accompanying drawings serve to illustrate and explain the nature of The Game, the method for playing it, and the multiple Moves and Maneuvers that enable modification of individual Existing Words in the Crossword Grid and the very structure of grid itself.
In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the disclosure and which show by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specific embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. The drawings, the foregoing discussion, and the following description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention or its application in any manner.
Glossary of Terms
Anagram: As a Verb: To rearrange a group of Letter Tiles in such a way as to form a new word. As a Noun: A new word that is formed by rearranging the Letter Tiles of an Existing Word, adding none and removing none.
Bonus Point: One extra point for each of certain Letter Tiles placed during the execution of a Bonus Move.
Bonus Move: A Move which earns points above and beyond those awarded for each Letter Tile in a new word that is entered into the Crossword Grid during a player's turn.
Character Value: The letter of the alphabet that is inscribed on the display side of a Letter Tile.
Common Pile: The supply of Letter Tiles, face up on the playing surface, from which players may draw Letter Tiles in the process of adding a new word to the Crossword Grid or modifying an Existing Word, and into which players place Letter Tiles that are displaced from Existing Words during execution of a Move. The Common Pile may hold an unlimited number of Letter Tiles at any given time.
Common Pile Panel: The depiction of the Common Pile in the electronic version of The Game, illustrated in
Connected Word: A word in the Crossword Grid that intersects the Existing Word in the Crossword Grid that is being moved from one part of the grid to another. (A Connected Word may be part of an entire section of the Crossword Grid is moved as a unit.)
Crossword Grid: The array of words that results as players arrange square Letter Tiles to create new words that intersect at right angles, in the manner of a crossword puzzle.
Crossword Grid Panel: The depiction of the Crossword Grid in the electronic version of The Game, illustrated in
End Game: The final few Moves in playing a round of The Game. The End Game begins when the Stockpile is exhausted and one player empties their Letter Tray.
Existing Word: A word that is already in the Crossword Grid.
Free Letter Tile: Any Letter Tile in an Existing Word that is not a Junction Letter.
Game, The: The game that is disclosed in this invention.
Intersecting Word: A word in the Crossword Grid to which another word is attached by means of a shared Junction Letter.
Junction Letter: A Letter Tile that is shared by two Intersecting Words in a Crossword Grid
Letter Tile: A flat token (physical or virtual) that displays one letter of the alphabet on one face.
Letter Set: The collection of the Letter Tiles that is provided with The Game.
Letter Tray: The holder for a player's Letter Tiles. It is refilled to capacity after each turn, as necessary.
Letter Tray Panel: The depiction of the Letter Tray Panel in the electronic version of The Game, illustrated in
Maneuver: A method of manipulating Letter Tiles that does not in itself result in the creation of a new word.
Move: A method of creating one or more new words by manipulating Letter Tiles taken from the Stockpile, the Common Pile, and Existing Words in the Crossword Grid, in any combination.
Move Icon: A symbol in the electronic version of The Game which invokes a particular letter manipulation technique, to be employed as soon as the player clicks an appropriate Letter Tile in the display.
OK Button: The depiction of the equivalent of the Enter key on a standard keyboard by means of which the player signals readiness to proceed to the next step in playing the electronic version of The Game, illustrated in
Polyanagram Play: A method of creating one or more new words by manipulating only Letter Tiles that are already in Existing Words in the Crossword Grid.
Polyanagram: Any word that can be created using only Letter Tiles that are already in Existing Words in the Crossword Grid. No Letter Tiles are exported from the Crossword Grid, and no Letter Tiles are imported into the Crossword Grid.
Scoring Level: An optional scale that allows players of mixed abilities to play together by limiting the scores of the more skilled individuals.
Stockpile: The supply of unused Letter Tiles, face down on the playing surface, that players draw upon in order to refill their individual Letter Trays and the Common Pile after each turn.
Stockpile Counter: A display element in the electronic version of The Game that shows the number of Letter Tiles that remain in the Stockpile.
Stub Word: The word that is spelled out by the remaining Letter Tiles of an Existing Word after it has been shortened.
Appurtenances
The preferred embodiment as discussed in this Description utilizes Letter Tiles that show characters corresponding to the English language. The non-limiting letter distribution of the Letter Tiles in The Game is shown in
Object of the Game
The object of the game is for the players, taking turns, to use up all of the Letter Tiles that are in use by a process of constructing a single Crossword Grid. One point is awarded for each Letter Tile in each new word that is incorporated into the Crossword Grid during the course of the game, and Bonus Points are awarded for certain Moves. The player with the highest score at the end of play is the winner.
Method of Playing the Game
The game play flow chart for the preferred embodiment is shown in
Players begin by spreading the Letter Tiles of the Letter Set on the playing surface, Character Value side down, to form the Stockpile. They then draw one Letter Tile apiece. The person who draws the Letter Tile bearing the Character Value nearest the beginning of the alphabet goes first. Players who tie for first draw again.
Players each draw seven Letter Tiles and place them on their respective Letter Trays. The person who has the first turn then draws an additional seven Letter Tiles and places them on the playing surface, Character Value side up, to form the Common Pile. These Letter Tiles will be available to each player at each turn.
The first player places the first word on the playing surface, leaving room on all sides for the Crossword Grid to grow. The Letter Tiles may come from their Letter Tray and from the Common Pile in any combination. A word must have at least four letters, may not contain capital letters, and may not appear in the Crossword Grid more than one time during the game, either directly or as the result of modifying a word.
Upon completion of the turn, the first player draws sufficient Letter Tiles from the Stockpile to refill their Letter Tray to seven Letter Tiles and then to refill the Common Pile to seven Letter Tiles, as necessary. Play passes to the left.
The left-hand panel in
If a spelling error is noticed as the word is being entered into the Crossword Grid, the player must correct it then and there. Once play has resumed, however, a misspelled word can only be corrected in the course of a legal Move. Given the nature of The Game, said misspelled word will probably be modified anyway during the ordinary course of play.
Eventually the Stockpile runs out. Game play continues, carried by the Letter Tiles that remain in the players' Letter Trays and the Common Pile, but as soon as any one player makes a Move that empties their Letter Tray, the End Game begins. At that point the other players immediately empty their Letter Trays into the Common Pile, and the next player resumes play under different rules.
During said End Game, none of the Existing Words in the Crossword Grid may be modified in any way except by anagramming, although they may be relocated to a different part of the grid as needed for the placement of a new word. The only source of Letter Tiles is the Common Pile, and the only way to create a new word is to place Letter Tiles around or among the Letter Tiles that are already in Existing Words. Words that are placed in the Crossword Grid during the End Game are also locked down and may not be changed by subsequent players, except that they too may be anagrammed. Play ends when all players have passed in turn.
Most of the action in The Game involves manipulation of Letter Tiles to modify words that are already in the Crossword Grid. This key innovation makes a real difference, as is demonstrated in side-by-side comparison of two Crossword Grids built by the same two players, as illustrated in
In the first trial game, shown in
Description of the Game's Maneuvers
A Maneuver method is a grid-level operation that allows the player to move one or more Existing Words from one part of the Crossword Grid to another in order to make room for the placement of the new word for the turn, or to release one or more letters from an Existing Word for use during said turn. The Game discloses six Maneuvers, each of which is described in detail below.
Relocate a Word Maneuver
The Game always allows the player to move an Existing Word that is blocking placement of a new word. The only requirement is that the spelling of the word be maintained. With the Relocate a Word Maneuver, the player detaches the Letter Tiles of an Existing Word and reattaches them to an accessible Letter Tile with the same Character Value in a different Existing Word. Any Connected Words travel along.
In the example shown in
Parallel Slider Maneuver
With this Maneuver the player detaches the Letter Tiles of an Existing Word from their Junction Letter and slides them along their intersecting Word in such a way as to come to rest on a new Junction Letter that has the same Character Value as the original Junction Letter. In the example shown in
Perpendicular Slider Maneuver
With this Maneuver the player slides an entire Existing Word across its Intersecting Word in such a way that one of its component Letter Tiles that has the same Character Value as the original Junction Letter becomes the new Junction Letter. In the example shown in
Transpose Maneuver
When words are moved to a new location, they may not fit unless they are changed from horizontal to vertical orientation, or vice versa. In the example illustrated in
Description of the Game's Moves
A Move method is word-level technique that involves the manipulation of Letter Tiles in such a way as to create a new word. The Game discloses twelve Moves, each of which is described in detail below.
Modify a Word Move
With this common and very important Move, the player detaches the Letter Tiles of an Existing Word and then swaps Letter Tiles in and out in such a way as to create a new word, building said new word on any Junction Letter in any Existing Word. The new word may not consist of fewer Letter Tiles than did the word that was dismantled. In the example shown in
Simple Anagram Bonus Move
With this Move the player rearranges the Letter Tiles within an Existing Word to create a new word, adding no Letter Tiles and removing none. This Move earns Bonus Points, and is allowed only once per turn. The player still goes on to create and score the new word for the turn. In the example shown in
Combine Words Move
With this Move the player detaches the Free Letter Tiles of two words and then uses them to create a new word, swapping Letter Tiles in and out as necessary. The new word must consist of at least as many Letter Tiles as were in the longer of the two words that were dismantled. In the example shown in
Letter Trade Move
This Move allows the player to obtain a Letter Tile with a specific Character Value from an Existing Word. The player does this by detaching the Letter Tiles of an Existing Word, one of which has the desired Character Value, and reattaching them to another Junction Letter elsewhere that also has the desired Character Value. One of the Letter Tiles with the desired Character Value is left over and is immediately used in the creation of the new word for the turn. The player must also provide a copy of the original Junction Letter.
These steps are illustrated in
The player detached the Letter Tiles of the Existing Word RATED 602, reconstituted the entire word RATED 602 by providing a copy E 608 of its original Junction Letter E 610 (as shown in the center panel), and overlaid the reconstituted word RATED 602 on the Existing Word BLEARY 606 in such a way that the leftover Letter Tile R 600 was then available for use in the creation of the new word for the turn ABRUPT 612.
Compound Slider Move
With the Compound Slider Move, the player slides Letter Tiles of an Existing Word both across and along (both perpendicular to and parallel to) their Intersecting Word. The Move has two modes. In the first mode, the player detaches the Letter Tiles of an Existing Word and slides them both along and across their Intersecting Word in such a way that one of said Letter Tiles becomes a new Junction Letter within said Intersecting Word. This movement changes or begins to change the Intersecting Word into the new word for the turn. The word that is slid remains unchanged.
As shown in
Multiple Slider Move
With the Multiple Slider Move the player slides the Letter Tiles of two or more Existing Words, possibly in different directions, to create a new word. In the example shown in
Junction Letter Move
With the Junction Letter Move, the player changes a Junction Letter, thereby turning both Intersecting Words into new words. In the example shown in
Poach Letters Bonus Move
With the Poach Letters Bonus Move, the player removes some Letter Tiles from an Existing Word—from a prefix, from inside the word, or from a suffix, in any combination. The Letter Tiles in the remaining Stub Word, without rearrangement, must spell out a word that had not appeared previously during the game. The player then uses the poached Letter Tiles to build the new word for the turn, along with any needed Letter Tiles from their Letter Tray, from the Common Pile, and from a word that is being dismantled, in any combination.
In the example shown in
Byproduct Bonus Move
With the Byproduct Move the player abuts a new word against an Existing Word in such a way that said Existing Word is transformed into a second new word entirely passively, as a byproduct—that is, without any of the Letter Tiles of said Existing Word having been moved or rearranged in any way. The byproduct word is scored along with the new word that spawned it.
In the example in
Insert a Word Bonus Move
With the Insert a Word Move, the player inserts an entire new word crosswise into an Existing Word in such a way as to change said Existing Word into a second new word, without any rearrangement of the Letter Tiles in said Existing Word. In the example shown in
Square Bonus Move
With the Square Move the player joins four words together in such a way as to enclose a space that is a perfect square (all sides equal). Points are awarded for the entire word that completes the figure, and Bonus Points are scored for each of the Letter Tiles in the side that closes the square.
In the example shown in
Description of the Game's Polyanagram Plays
With any Polyanagram Play method, the player creates a new word called a “polyanagram” by using only Letter Tiles taken from two Existing Words in the Crossword Grid. The words that are dismantled may come from anywhere in the grid, and the new word may be created on any Junction Letter within any Existing Word.
Relocate a Word Polyanagram Play
Polyanagram Plays often bear the same identifying names as Maneuvers or Moves since they achieve the same results, though by very different means. In the example shown in
Parallel Slider Polyanagram Play
With this Polyanagram Play the player detaches the Letter Tiles of a word and slides them along (parallel to) their cross word until they come to rest on a different Junction Letter, then anagrams the slid word as necessary to create the new word for the turn. In the example shown in
Perpendicular Slider Polyanagram Play
With this Polyanagram Play the player slides an entire Existing Word across (perpendicular to) its Intersecting Word in such a way that one of its component Letter Tiles becomes a new Junction Letter, with a different Character Value, in said Intersecting Word. This operation changes said Intersecting Word into a Polyanagram. In the example shown in
In sum, the Game's letter manipulation techniques—Maneuvers, Moves, and Polyanagrams—are the heart of this invention. In total, 18 distinct and different techniques have been disclosed and illustrated. Many other techniques can be elaborated, and those specifically disclosed here are not meant to be limiting.
Scoring
If players wish to keep score, each Letter Tile in each new word placed during a turn earns one point. Bonus points are allowed for certain plays, as described above. It is strongly recommended that players have a dictionary on hand, or an Internet connection, to verify spelling and to confirm that a candidate word indeed exists.
The question also arises as to what is a new word and what is merely a trivial variation of an Existing Word. For example, WALKED is clearly a trivial variation of WALK. Only the Letter Tiles that were added to the root of the word would be scored (in this case, the E and the D that were added to the root word WALK). When strong verbs are changed, for example SING to SANG or SUNG, only the new Letter Tiles A or U would be scored.
A variation is not trivial if it results in an entirely different word—as, for example, when WATCH is lengthened to WATCHFUL or the compound word WATCHMAN is shortened to WATCH. In such cases the resulting word is considered new, and all of its Letter Tiles are scored.
Using Two Letter Sets at Once
The Game is most enjoyable when played by only two players, since they will always be studying the Crossword Grid between turns in preparation for their next Move. The Game could be called “The Chess of Crossword Games” because it's the only game in the crossword genre in which there are many defined Moves, and also because in both games “it's always your turn” in the sense that each player needs to be visualizing their next Move while their opponent is making theirs.
The Game may be played by two or more players. With four or more players, the use of two or more Letter Sets is preferred. In a preferred embodiment, the blank faces of each set of Letter Tiles would bear distinguishing marks so that the sets are easily separated back into their original sets for single Letter Set play.
Two players may also combine two or more Letter Sets simply in order to play a longer game. The game shown in
Accommodating Younger Players
One of the easiest ways to introduce younger players to The Game is to show them how to build a simple Crossword Grid. If they can form words with at least four letters, they should have a satisfying experience. The more advanced players should play with them as usual, modeling the use of The Game's Moves, Maneuvers and Polyanagrams Plays. The newer players will begin to adopt them when and as they are ready.
The players could decide not to keep score at all. Otherwise, the beginners could score their moves as usual, while the more advanced players employed one of the following alternate scoring systems for themselves:
At Scoring Level 1 (Beginner or “Sixes”), no word earns more than six points, regardless of how many letters it contains. Players may create longer words, but they will still earn only six points.
At Scoring Level 2 (Intermediate or “Eights”), no word earns more than eight points, regardless of how many letters it contains. Players may create longer words if they wish, but they will still earn only eight points.
At Scoring Level 3 (Advanced or “Tens”), no word earns more than ten points, regardless of how many letters it contains. Players may create longer words, but they will still earn only ten points.
No matter what Scoring Level is being used, the more experienced players should continue to create longer and more interesting words as usual. That would be educational, informative and inspirational to the younger players, without overwhelming their scores.
Other Voluntary Restraints
Skilled players may also account for variations in ability among players by setting higher standards for themselves, for example through the use of one or more of these techniques:
Alternate Embodiments of the Game
Although the preferred embodiment of The Game uses square Letter Tiles, that shape is not limiting. The Rules, Moves and Maneuvers of The Game may be modified to accommodate movable Letter Tiles of other shapes for example, hexagons.
Furthermore, the present application discloses not just one game, but an entire suite of games. Small changes in the basic Rules of The Game may result in major changes in game play, point scores, and the resulting Crossword Grid. A non-limiting summary of some game variants is as follows:
1) Quick Start
This is a good choice when time is limited. For the first part of the game, new words earn only six points, no matter how many Letter Tiles they contain. This process continues until less than six letters remain in the Stockpile, at which point most of the Letter Tiles in the Letter Set are in play. From that point on, the players will cannibalize the many short Existing Words as the Crossword Grid consolidates.
2) Short Stuff
This is another good choice when time is limited. The players first decide how many Letter Tiles they wish to play, and use only that many when they establish the Stockpile.
3) Draw a Blank
Select a Letter Tile, put tape over its letter character, and play it as a blank Letter Tile, with the taped side down. The Letter Tiles J and Q (and to a lesser extent, X and Z) are the ones that are most often left over at the end of a game, and that will therefore be missed the least. Place the blank tile into the Common Pile at the very beginning of the game. After that it will cycle into and out of the grid, just like any other Letter Tile.
The blank tile can substitute for any letter, but can have only one value when it is serving as a Junction Letter. Any player may redeem the blank tile from the Crossword Grid by replacing it with a Letter Tile that has the same Character Value, but they must then use it during the same turn. Since the blank tile often makes it possible to form a desired word, the players will make correspondingly less use of The Game's Moves, Maneuvers and Polyanagram Play. As a result, game play will likely move along a little more quickly, but may not be quite as challenging.
4) Theme Park
This game is played as usual except that the players choose a theme before beginning. The theme can be anything—Towns, Foodstuffs, Birds, etc. Words that follow the theme score Bonus Points (in the above examples, words like MEMPHIS, PASTRAMI, and SANDPIPER). In this variant, a player's imagination can definitely triumph over the impressiveness of their opponent's vocabulary.
5) One Up
Players start with empty trays and an empty Common Pile. Drawing a letter constitutes a turn, placing a word in the grid constitutes a turn, and discarding a Letter Tile and drawing a new one from the Stockpile constitutes a turn. The game play of this embodiment requires the players to manage their letters strategically—for instance by deciding whether to create a new word for the turn or, instead, to continue drawing Letter Tiles in hopes of creating a longer word later. Players may also strategically delay any move that results in the placement of leftover Letter Tiles into the Common Pile, since said Letter Tiles would then be available to their opponent.
6) Solitaire Challenge
A challenging game for one is to play without a Letter Tray and to start with an empty Common Pile. The player turns up one Letter Tile at a time until they are able to complete the first word of the new Crossword Grid. Any Letter Tiles that remain form the Common Pile. Scoring begins at that point.
The player continues to turn up one letter at a time and tries to fit each one into the Crossword Grid, no matter how many words have to be taken apart and rebuilt in order to do so. If this is not possible, the player places any unused Letter Tiles into the Common Pile, records a score of minus 1, and proceeds to turn over another Letter Tile. Play continues in this way until the Stockpile and the Common Pile are both empty and no more words can be formed. The player scores minus 1 point for each Letter Tile that remains in the Common Pile. Over time, the player can compare scores and try to achieve a new personal best each time, the best score being the one nearest zero.
7) Longfellow
In this variant, any word that is modified must be lengthened by at least one Letter Tile. This naturally leads to a final grid with significantly longer words. It also eliminates “churning”, whereby the same letters are used over and over (as in the series BONE, CONE, DONE, GONE, LONE, NONE, PONE, SONE, TONE, ZONE.). Under this option, the series might instead be HONE, THOSE, SHOVEL, SLOVENLY, ENVELOPED, UNLEAVENED, AVALANCHES. (Anagrams are excepted from the rule, so HOVELS would have been allowed.)
8) Poetry
A new word that rhymes with another word that is in the Crossword Grid at the same time earns Bonus Points.
9) TBS (Turn-based Scoring)
In this variant, competitors play under the standard rules, using the same random variation of the Letter Set, under the Longfellow Option. They calculate their final scores in the usual manner; divide that number by the number of turns that were played; multiply the result by 10; round the product to zero decimal places; and finally subtract the number of tiles left in the Common Pile. For example, if a person racked up 107 points in 12 turns and left two tiles in the Common Pile, the turn-based score would be [(107/12)×10]−2=87.
Changing the scoring system in this way induces radical changes in game play and strategy by encouraging the longest possible words, anagrams, and techniques that generate Bonus Points, always with an eye toward incorporating the most difficult-to-place Letter Tiles early in the game to minimize the chances that said difficult-to-place Letter Tiles will remain in the Common Pile at the end of the game.
10) Tournament
This specification discloses 18 Moves, Maneuvers and Polyanagram Plays. However, more than fifty letter manipulation techniques are currently known, and all of them may be used in this variant. In a competitive matchup, players might first play one round under the standard rules, then a themed game, then a standard game using turn-based scoring, then an anything-goes game under Tournament rules, and finally another round under the standard rules. For each game in the series, the 80 Letter Tiles would be fed into the Stockpile in exactly the same order for all players.
Virtual Embodiments
This discussion of the Preferred Embodiment is not limiting. In particular, The Game is readily adaptable to an electronic version, suitable for play over the Internet either alone or against another person.
The code would be optimized for use on screens of any size, from smart phones to computers. The player places Letter Tiles in the Crossword Grid by dragging and dropping them, using a mouse or a trackpad. In order to bring more usable space into view, they can zoom the display or drag the grid in any direction.
In consideration of the need for the player to select Letter Tiles with a fingertip and move them around on devices with smaller screens, the digital game uses only 50 Letter Tiles. The Stockpile Counter 808 presently indicates that 15 letters are still available. The player is planning to draw on virtual letters from the Letter Tile and the Common Pile to enter the new word REMINDS, using as a Junction Letter the Letter Tile with the Character Value ‘S’ in the word ‘SCORED’ shown within the Crossword Grid 800.
When a new word is properly attached to an Existing Word in the Crossword Grid and is recognized by the onboard dictionary, its component letters turn from black to blue. When the player clicks the OK Button 810, the letters turn green to match the rest of the letters in the grid. Images of Letter Tiles then glide from the Stockpile Counter icon 808 to refill the Letter Tile and then the Common Pile, in that order. The count of letters remaining in the Stockpile diminishes accordingly.
The Move icons 806 allow the player to manipulate Letter Tiles that are already in the Crossword Grid. By clicking the J icon, for example, the player signals the code that they are planning to execute a Junction Letter Move. The player will then click the intended Junction Letter in the Crossword Grid, in this case the Letter Tile with the Character Value ‘R’ in the word ‘SCORED’ shown within said Crossword Grid 800. That letter ‘R’ immediately glides back to the stockpile, leaving an empty space which the player then fills with a Letter Tile ‘P’ from the Common Pile. This transforms the Existing Word ‘SHARE’ shown within said Crossword Grid 800 into the new word ‘SHAPE’, and simultaneously changes the Existing Word ‘SCORED’ into the new word ‘SCOPED’. Since the Stockpile operates on a “last in, first out” basis, the now-empty space in the Common Pile is refilled with the Letter Tile with the Character Value ‘R’ that was removed from the Crossword Grid during the turn, exactly as it would have been had this round of The Game been played with physical Letter Tiles.
Another virtual embodiment would be as a dedicated handheld electronic device that is programmed with the game mechanics, an updatable electronic dictionary, and special files holding words that follow prescribed themes (as discussed under the variant Theme Park above).
Such a device would have considerable educational value as a means of learning proper spelling, whether used by schoolchildren or by people of any age or nationality who wish to improve their skills in (for example) English.
Final Notes
It is to be understood that the preferred embodiment and other embodiments of this disclosure are merely illustrative of and not restrictive upon the broad invention, and that this invention is not limited to the specific constructions or arrangements shown and described herein. Many modifications and variations of this invention itself may be made without departing from its spirit and scope. In addition, the embodiments of the Moves, Maneuvers and Polyanagram Plays shown here are offered as examples only and are not intended to be limiting, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62429173 | Dec 2016 | US |
