BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an election board game and method of use.
Background
In recent years and in current times many people enjoy boardgames as a pastime leading to fun, laughter, education, meeting new people etc. There are many boardgames that offer such experiences to users, but a board game offering fun and education relevant to the US electoral voting system highlighting recent historical and political events does not exist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This summary is an introduction of concepts which are further discussed in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Boardgames are commonly played by many people throughout the United States and around the world, including games such as Risk, Scrabble, Monopoly, UNO, Clue, CATAN and the like. These games and activities are played by many people on weekends, on vacation, at parties, at the beach or down the seashore, during social events, as well as on backyard patios. These games provide a great source of entertainment for people of all ages and types. These games and activities also provide mental stimulation and education, as well as a great way for various groups of people to laugh and have fun with, break the ice with, spend time with others, and as a way to meet new people in a fun environment.
Additionally, with the large number of entertainment options available today, it becomes difficult and expensive to find new ways to entertain and educate people in the United States and around the world. The present invention provides a fun and educational board game apparatus and method of use to both entertain and teach the game's players or observers about elements of the United States electoral process as well as current and previous U.S. political and historical events. This game also provides a fun way for players of similar and opposing political views alike to interact in a fun environment.
The present board game invention includes a game board, electoral votes cards, game pieces or figurines for the players, a random number generator such as a die and/or dice, wild and/or activity cards for both Republicans and Democrats, a set of game rules, an optional timer. This electoral board game is typically played by at least two people centered around the board game and equipment described above and herein, along with game rules defining how the game is played. The game typically starts at the start line such as on the right side of the game board. The game is for ages 6 and up and is typically played with 2 to 8 players.
In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention relates to an election board game apparatus and method whereby the game is typically played by at least two players whereby each player acts as a presidential candidate in a United States presidential election in an attempt to win the presidency by gaining enough electoral votes, such as at least 270 electoral votes, or more and by traveling around the game board at least once. The board game is centered around a game board such as titled “Stop the Steal—Who Wants to be the President?”, comprised of a rectangular or square layout (or other geometry) and border such as with each U.S. state lain thereunto the border. Each player begins with zero electoral votes and starts out on the game board space located at the upper right corner of the game board border, such as the U.S. state of Maine. When it is a given player's turn, he or she rolls and/or pops the dice to determine how many moves he or she shall make in a clockwise progression around the board, each state illustrated by a geometry such as a square on the border of the game board, each state representing one move on the game board in the current exemplary embodiment. As the player lands on a given state, an electoral vote bank gives the player the number of electoral votes coincident with the state the player has landed on.
Additionally, as a player lands on a activity card state marked with either a Democratic donkey representing a Democratic 2020 activity card, and/or a Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity card illustrated by a Republican elephant icon, the player must draw a corresponding Democrat activity card or a Republican activity card. After drawing the activity card the player must read and comply with the instructions provided on the activity card, which may include gaining or losing votes, losing a turn, losing half of their votes, being assassinated, gaining an assassination attempt not successful card, gaining a get out of Capital Hill card, answering a question to gain or lose votes, being relocated to a different state on the board, being retained at Capitol Hill, others not mentioned here. Other game rules are discussed herein and players may choose to alter game rules if in agreement before the game.
The game continues by alternating each player's turn in a clockwise fashion, until a player or presidential candidate collects at least 270 electoral votes or more, and travels around the game board to win the game at which point the winning player yells out “Stop the Steal! I have won the Presidency!”
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals identify similar or identical elements.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an election board game apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention shown herein.
FIG. 2 illustrates electoral votes cards, such as ballot cards, in 7 differing denominations and/or values used to play the election board game apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an elevation view of game pieces and/or figurine indicia representing a player of an election board game apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3A is an elevation view of additional game pieces and/or figurine indicia representing a player of an election board game apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of a random number generator, such as at least one number die in an exemplary embodiment of the current invention.
FIG. 5 illustrates a top elevation view of the “Republicans Stop the Steal 2020” activity and/or wild cards used to play the election game apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 illustrates a top elevation view of the of “Democrats 2020” activity and/or wild cards used to play the election game apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 illustrates the instruction side of 12 possible “Democrat 2020” activity card instructions of the Democrat 2020 activity cards used to play the election game apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7A illustrates the instruction side of 9 additional possible “Democrat 2020” activity card instructions of the Democrat 2020 activity cards used to play the election game apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 illustrates the instruction side view showing 12 possible “Republican Stop the Steal 2020” instructions of the Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity cards used to play the election game apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8A illustrates the instruction side view showing an additional 12 possible “Republican Stop the Steal 2020” instructions of the Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity cards used to play the election game apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In the drawings, like numerals indicate like elements throughout. Certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to be taken as a limitation on the present invention. The terminology includes the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and words of similar import. The embodiments illustrated below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. These embodiments are chosen and described to best explain the principle of the invention and its application and practical use and to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention.
Reference herein to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments necessarily mutually exclusive of other embodiments. The same applies to the term “implementation.”
As used in this application, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.
Additionally, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, each numerical value and range should be interpreted as being approximate as if the word “about” or “approximately” preceded the value of the value or range.
The use of figure numbers and/or figure reference labels in the claims is intended to identify one or more possible embodiments of the claimed subject matter in order to facilitate the interpretation of the claims. Such use is not to be construed as necessarily limiting the scope of those claims to the embodiments shown in the corresponding figures.
It should be understood that the steps of the exemplary methods set forth herein are not necessarily required to be performed in the order described, and the order of the steps of such methods should be understood to be merely exemplary. Likewise, additional steps may be included in such methods, and certain steps may be omitted or combined, in methods consistent with various embodiments of the present invention.
Although the elements in the following method claims, if any, are recited in a particular sequence with corresponding labeling, unless the claim recitations otherwise imply a particular sequence for implementing some or all of those elements, those elements are not necessarily intended to be limited to being implemented in that particular sequence.
For purposes of this description the terms “connected,” “linked,” “attached,” “associated,” “united,” “coupled,” “joined,” “combined,” “banded,” others not mentioned here, refer to any manner known in the art or later developed wherein any item or items are brought together into contact or association in some respect. Additionally, the interposition of one or more additional elements may be contemplated, although not required. Conversely, the terms “directly coupled,” “directly connected,” etc., imply the absence of such additional elements.
Additionally, for purposes of this description, the terms “process,” “system,” “method,” “operation,” are used to describe at least one of a system and method capable of at least one of performing a series of actions or steps taken in order, or generally, in order to achieve a particular result. Additionally, for purposes of this description, the terms “process” and “method” are used interchangeably.
For additional purposes of this description, “wall,” “side,” “face,” “surface,” may be used to define a portion of a component, such as an outside surface, inside surface, a horizontal or vertical surface, others not mentioned here.
For additional purposes of this description, “board”, “gameboard” and “game board” and describe the board the electoral votes games is played thereupon.
For additional purposes of this description, “game piece,” “figurine,” “figurine indicia,” “indicia” are used to describe or generally describe the game piece of figurine that will represent the player who chooses that game piece at the beginning of the game. Game pieces or indicia may vary with board.
Referring FIG. 1, in a first embodiment of the present invention, gameboard 1 is shown with border 2 typical on all four sides, electoral votes 3, Republicans Stop the Steal 2020 activity card base 4, Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity cards 5, Democrats 202 activity card base 6, Democrats 2020 activity cards 7, typical Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity states 8, typical Democrats 2020 activity card states 10, map 11, Capitol Hill 13, rule number 15, quote 17, others not mentioned here. Referring FIG. 1, border 2 is comprised of all 50 states represented by a square marked with each state's name and shape, such as beginning with Maine in the top right corner and moving in a clockwise fashion around gameboard 1. Additionally, the number and/or value of electoral votes corresponding to each individual state is shown next to each state on gameboard 1 as illustrated by “3 TYP” on FIG. 1. During gameplay, any player landing on a given state will receive the amount of electoral votes corresponding to that state as shown on gameboard 1. Landing on a state is described as the ending location of a player's move. In this exemplary embodiment, Capitol Hill 13 is a detention center and/or jail whereby any player sent to Capitol Hill 13 must achieve release, such as by rolling doubles on the game dice of FIG. 4 during their turn to exit. If a player fails to roll doubles after three turns, he or she can freely exit on their next turn. Optionally, a player may buy his or her way out of Capitol Hill 13 by returning half of a player's votes to the electoral vote bank 28 described in the next paragraph. Optionally, a player may have to change figures if the game is played using a different game board.
Referring FIG. 2, electoral vote bank 28 is comprised of electoral vote 21, electoral votes 22, electoral votes 23, electoral votes 24, electoral votes 25, electoral votes 26, and electoral votes 27. In the current exemplary embodiment, electoral vote 21 has a value of one electoral vote, electoral votes 22 has a value of three electoral votes, electoral votes 23 has a value of six electoral votes, electoral votes 24 has a value of twelve electoral votes, electoral votes 25 has a value of twenty electoral votes, electoral vote 26 has a value of fifty electoral votes, and electoral votes 27 has a value of one hundred electoral votes. Each player begins the game with zero electoral votes. Electoral votes, and their respective value are given and taken away from players of the game as the game progresses. To win the game any player must achieve rule number 15 of FIG. 1 which states “TO WIN CANDIDATES MUST VISIT ALL 50 STATES AND MUST HAVE AT LEAST 270 ELECTORAL VOTES.”
In this first exemplary embodiment of the game, bank 28 of FIG. 2 is stocked with the electoral votes at the game's start as shown in the chart below:
|
Electoral Votes
Number of Notes in
Electoral Vote Numbered
|
Denomination
Bank
Element of FIG. 2
|
|
|
1
35
21
|
3
35
22
|
6
35
23
|
12
35
24
|
20
35
25
|
50
35
26
|
100
35
27
|
|
Referring FIG. 3, figurine indicia set 40 is shown comprised of indicia 29, indicia 30, indicia 31, indicia 32, indicia 33, indicia 34.
Referring FIG. 3A, we see additional player figurines indicia 35, indicia 36, indicia 37, and indicia 38 of player figurine set 40.
Referring FIG. 4, an illustration of die 46 and 47, as well as dice popper 45 is shown. At least one die, such as two dice, is used in the game with gameboard 1 of FIG. 1.
Referring FIGS. 5 and 6, the top side of Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity cards 4 and Democrats 2020 activity cards 7 are shown respectively.
FIGS. 7 and 7A illustrate Democrats 2020 activity cards, each referred to as a Democrats 2020 activity card 7, showing 20 Democrats 2020 activity cards each card having its respective, varying instructional content. As referenced above, the top side illustration of these Democrats 2020 activity cards 7, a donkey, is shown in FIG. 6. When the electoral board game is played, the top side or donkey side of the Democrats 2020 activity cards faces upwards and the instructional side of these Democrats 2020 activity cards faces downwards onto gameboard 1, such that the content on the cards is unknown to any player until a card is selected and picked up for reading the instruction on the card. These Democrats 2020 activity cards 7 are shuffled and placed with the instructional side facing downward in Democrats 2020 activity card base 6 of FIG. 1 at the beginning of the game. Additionally, a Democrat 2020 activity card may include “give a good reason why your opponent(s) would make a bad president and receive 20 electoral votes.”
FIGS. 8 and 8A illustrate 24 Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity cards, each referred to as a Republican Stop the Steal activity card 8, with each card showing its respective, varying instructional content. The top side of these cards is illustrated by Republican activity card 4 of FIG. 5 as the Republican elephant. When the electoral board game is played, the top elephant side face of these 24 Republican activity cards faces upwards, and the instructional content side of the activity cards faces downwards towards gameboard 1, such that the instructional content on the cards is unknown to any player until a player draws the top card to read and comply with the instructions. These Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity cards are shuffled and placed with the instructional side of the card face down in Republicans Stop the Steal 2020 activity card base 4 of FIG. 1 to begin the game. Additionally, a Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity card may include “give a good reason why your opponent(s) would make a bad president and receive 20 electoral votes.”
The Game Rules include that the game is for player ages 6 to adult and recommends 2 to 8 players. Additionally, before the game begins, each player candidate must choose if they are a Republican or a Democrat candidate whereby he or she must state why he or she wants to be President. If any player/candidate is found cheating during the game, he or she will be impeached and thrown out of the game.
Referring FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 3A and 4, to begin the game, each player selects their own, singular figurine indicia from figurine indicia set 40 of FIGS. 3 and 3A. Figurine indicia of figurine set indicia 40 of FIGS. 3 and 3A comprises a courtroom gavel illustrated by figurine 29, the American flag illustrated by figurine 30, a gold bar illustrated by figurine 31, a microphone illustrated by figurine 32, a key illustrated by figurine 33, a voting ballot box illustrated by figurine 34, the White House illustrated by figurine 35, a courtroom chair illustrated by 36, a top hat illustrated by figurine 37, in the mailbox illustrated by figurine 38, others not mentioned here. At the start of the game, one player volunteers to be the banker of electoral vote bank 28 of FIG. 2. In the event there is more than one volunteer to be the banker, each banker volunteer shall roll the dice of FIG. 4, whereby the banker volunteer with the highest dice role will be the banker. In the event of a tie during this roll of the dice to determine the banker, subsequent dice rolls will continue until one volunteer has a higher dice roll. Only one banker is allowed.
Referring FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 3A, 4, once each player has selected their figurine from figurine set 40 and the banker has been determined, each player will roll the dice, such as the dice as illustrated as die 45 and die 46 of dice popper 45 of FIG. 4. The player that rolls the highest on this initial dice roll will be the first player that begins the game and will have first move in the game. In the event of any tie during this roll of the dice to determine the order of players, subsequent dice rolls will continue until one candidate has a higher dice roll. Referring FIG. 1, the game's remaining players will each be given a turn after the previous player to his or her immediate right has completed their turn. The player's turns follow a sequencing in a clockwise progression, such as from a plan view over gameboard 1, relevant to the players arranged around gameboard 1 of FIG. 1.
The clockwise motion of the player's turns, one after another around board 1 is followed throughout the game, such as until any player, also referred to as a candidate, achieves the requirements of Rule 15 of FIG. 1 to win the game and/or presidency. During the game, as any player moves and lands on a given state, he or she is given the corresponding amount of electoral votes of that state, by payment via at least one of electoral votes 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 with electoral vote values of 1, 2, 6, 12, 20, 50, and 100 respectively, to transfer the correct number of electoral votes to that player.
Additionally, referring FIG. 1, gameboard 1 has four Battle Ground states comprising Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona, whereby any player candidate moving to and landing on a Battle Ground State may optionally take a chance of rolling the dice again for doubles in order to double their electoral votes received from that state. If this player candidate chooses to take this chance on a Battle Ground State and fails to roll doubles on his or her corresponding dice roll, he or she shall lose half of the electoral votes obtained when he or she landed on said Battle Ground State returning the lost votes back to electoral vote bank 28 of FIG. 2. Optionally, prior to the start of the game, player candidates can decide to add additional and/or remove Battle Ground States through various rule setting, such as making any state beginning with any vowel an additional Battle Ground State whereby anyone landing on that state may optionally choose the chance of rolling doubles in order to double their electoral votes received from that state. Again, should any player moving to and landing on a Battle Ground State decide to take the chance of doubling their electoral votes and fail to roll doubles on the dice, he or she shall lose half their votes obtained by landing on the corresponding state. Any doubling or halving of electoral votes yielding a fraction of an electoral vote, such as a M of an electoral vote shall round up to the next whole electoral vote value.
In the current exemplary embodiment, gameboard 1 of FIG. 1 also contains 13 activity card states including 7 Democratic 2020 activity card states and 6 Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity card states. In FIG. 1, Democrat 2020 activity card states are labeled with by the number 10 and also show a donkey on any Democratic activity card state, including the states of New York, Hawaii, Virginia, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, and California. In FIG. 1, Republican Stop the Steal 2020 activity card states are labeled by the number 8 and also shown with an elephant on any Republican Stop the Steal activity card state, including the states of Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Texas, Montana and Utah.
Referring gameboard 1 of FIG. 1, whereby any player candidate landing on any activity card state, either a Democrat Activity Card State 10 or a Republican Activity Card State 8, must draw a card from the corresponding Republican Stop the Steal activity card base 4 or the Democrat 2020 activity card base 6 as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6. As an example, a player landing upon a Democratic activity card state must draw a Democratic activity card regardless of their party affiliation. Similarly, a player landing upon a Republican activity card state must draw a Republican activity card regardless of their party affiliation. After drawing the activity card the player must read and comply with the instructions provided on the activity card, which may include gaining or losing votes, losing a turn, losing half of their votes, being assassinated, gaining an assassination attempt not successful card, gaining a get out of Capital Hill card, answering a question to gain or lose votes, being relocated to a different state on the board, being retained at Capitol Hill, others not mentioned here. If a player is successfully assassinated, the player is out of the game. If a player is relocated to another state on the board, he or she does not collect electoral votes of the relocated state, and does not get credit for visiting the states in between. An “assassination attempt not successful card” is held by a drawing player, and will nullify of an assassination attempt on the same player should he or she draw an assassination attempt card later. A player is out of the game if he or she is assassinated and does not have an “assassination attempt not successful card”. Optionally, a player may choose to sell any “assassination attempt not successful card” to another player for a negotiated amount of electoral votes. For any activity card drawn by a player with a question, a timer may be optionally used to limit the time a player candidate can respond or answer to any activity card request. Such a timer may be a sand type gravity timer, where once the sand runs out, the player is out of time.
Referring FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 3A, 4, to start the game, each player candidate places their respective figurine indicia on space number one and/or the starting line, such as the state of Maine in the current exemplary embodiment, which is the top right corner state of gameboard 1. Player one, the person that rolled the highest initial dice roll to become the first player after the banker was determined, will roll the dice again to take his or her first turn, and will move player one's figurine indicia the number of states from Maine corresponding to this dice roll in a clockwise fashion, on border 2 of gameboard 1 of FIG. 1. As an example, if player one rolls a 7 on his or her first turn, he or she would move clockwise seven states from the first space Maine, touching New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and landing on New Jersey. Player one will then receive the corresponding electoral votes of the state he or she lands on, 14 electoral votes in the case of New Jersey, from the banker of electoral vote bank 28.
Following any player's turn, any next player is to the immediate left of any player whom has just completed his or her turn, and said next player will take his or her first turn similarly, by rolling the dice to determine how many moves from space 1 he or she will move in clockwise movement round board 1 of FIG. 1. As an example, following player one, if the second player of the game roles a six on the dice of FIG. 4 on his or her first turn, player two will move six states from Maine, landing on New York and will receive 29 electoral votes from electoral vote bank 28 of FIG. 2. In addition, because New York is marked with a Democrat Donkey, New York is a activity card state. Any player landing on a activity card state of boardgame 1 must choose the corresponding party activity card such as a Democratic 2020 activity card 7 or a Republican Stop the Steal activity card 5 from either the Democratic activity card base 6 and Republicans Stop the Steal 2020 activity card base 4, respectively, as shown in FIG. 1. Any player required to draw any activity card must draw a card from either the Republican activity card stack 5 or from the Democrat activity card stack 7 corresponding to the party affiliation of the activity state the player has landed upon.
For illustration, player two whom has landed on New York as described above chooses a Democrat activity card from the 20 possible cards of Democratic activity card stack 7 of FIG. 7. In this example, as luck would have it, player 2 draws the Republican activity card with the instruction of “NAME THE CAPITAL OF GEORGIA AND RECEIVE 15 VOTES.” In this instance, if player 2 can correctly name the capital of Georgia, player two will receive an additional 15 electoral votes from the banker of the electoral vote bank 28 of FIG. 2. For this example, let's say candidate 2 correctly names the capital of Georgia, player two will receive 15 votes in addition to the 29 votes he or she received when player two landed on New York as New York has 29 corresponding electoral votes. While activity card instructions of this first exemplary embodiment are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, it is contemplated that other activity instructions are possible, only limited by the maker of the game.
This first exemplary embodiment of the game continues in the fashion described herein, with as many players as desired, until any player achieves Rule 15 of FIG. 1, whereby he or she accumulates 270 electoral votes and has visited, either by moving through and/or landing on, all 50 states, such as passing around the board at least once. When a player has achieved this a player must shout out “Stop the Steal! I have won the Presidency!,” or alternately “I AM THE PRESIDENT ELECT!”
Patent Application
20240399239
