Patent Application
20110018202
This invention relates to games, and more specifically to a game designed for competition between two opposing players, who take turns moving markers on a playing field, each being able to remove the other's markers by jumping over the same.
In a number of popular board games, markers are moved about on a board marked with spaces corresponding to allowable marker positions. The most well known of these games is “checkers,” in which each of two players has a set of pieces initially arranged in a predetermined starting pattern on a board having 64 squares in an 8×8 pattern. The players take turns moving markers diagonally, jumping and “taking” each other's pieces. There are numerous variations, including “Chinese checkers,” in which the allowable marker positions are arranged in a “Star of David” pattern.
Another board game, which is in the nature of a puzzle, designed for a single player, is the familiar “golf tee puzzle,” in which fourteen golf tees are placed in fourteen of fifteen holes in a triangular array on a board. The player can jump and remove any piece if there is an empty hole on the opposite side, and tries to remove as many tees as possible.
While the games were originally designed as board games, and are still played that way, they are also played by computer. Two opposing checkers players, for example, can play against each other while at different locations through an electronic communications network, e.g., the Internet, using personal computers programmed with suitable game software. Alternatively, a single player can play against a computer, which can be the player's own computer, or a suitably programmed server at a remote location. In a similar manner, a single player can play the golf tee puzzle using software on his or her own computer, or by remote access to a suitably programmed server.
The game according to this invention bears similarities to the checkers games and also to the golf tee puzzle. However, the initial set-up, i.e., the arrangement of markers at the beginning of the game, and the move options, are different from those of conventional games, and present a uniquely challenging strategy planning task to each player.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, in which the game can be described as a method, a playing field is marked with a two-dimensional array of spaces representing allowable positions for markers. These allowable positions are arranged in mutually perpendicular rows and columns. The field has at least eight rows and at least five columns, with first and second opposite ends to which the columns are perpendicular.
First and second groups of movable markers are set up on the playing field in a starting arrangement, the first group being associated with a first player and the second group being associated with a second, opposing, player. The markers of the first group are distinguishable from the markers of the second group, and disposed in a pattern as follows. A number of markers is disposed in successive allowable positions in a first row closer to one of the opposite ends of the playing field than to the other. An identical number of markers is disposed in successive allowable positions in a second row adjacent the first row but closer than the first row to the other end of the playing field. Each marker in the first row is in the same column as an adjacent marker in the second row. Additional markers are disposed in at least one V-shaped pattern, each V-shaped pattern consisting of two oblique rows extending to the second row from an apex position spaced from the second row by at least one unoccupied space. The second group is disposed in a pattern that is a mirror image of the pattern of the first group, and each apex position marker of the second group is in the same column as an apex position marker of the first group.
The players, taking alternating turns, move their own markers only in row-wise or column-wise directions. In each turn, a player either passes, giving up the turn, or selects a marker, and moves the same in one of three categories of moves. The categories consist of: (a) moving the marker to an adjacent unoccupied allowable space, ending the turn; (b) jumping over an adjacent marker into an unoccupied allowable space on the opposite side of said adjacent marker, ending the turn; and (c) jumping over an adjacent marker into an unoccupied allowable space on the opposite side of an adjacent marker, and continuing to jump one or more adjacent markers into unoccupied spaces on the opposite sides thereof.
Each player removes jumped markers from the field if the jumped markers are associated with the other player. At a mutually agreed upon time, or under mutually agreed-upon conditions, the player who has jumped and removed the larger number of the opponent's markers is considered a winner.
Preferably, in the starting arrangement, each apex position marker of the second group is separated from an opposite apex position marker of the first group in the same column by at least two rows of allowable positions
In a comparatively simple preferred version of the game, the field has twelve rows and seven columns, the number of markers in each of the first and second rows is seven, the number of V-shaped patterns in the first group is one, and the number of markers in the V-shaped pattern is five.
In a more complex preferred version, the field has twelve rows and fourteen columns, the number of markers in each of the first and second rows is fourteen, the number of V-shaped patterns in the first group is two, and the number of markers in each V-shaped pattern is five.
In a still more complex preferred version of the game, the field has twelve rows and twenty one columns, the number of markers in each of the first and second rows is twenty one, the number of V-shaped patterns in the first group is three, and the number of markers in each V-shaped pattern is five.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, in which the game can be described as a game apparatus, the apparatus comprises a playing and markers configured and arranged as described above.
Objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the drawings.
As shown in
Before play begins, the pegs are set up in an initial arrangement, an example of which is illustrated in
The second group of markers 16 is disposed in a pattern that is a mirror image of the pattern of the first group 14, and the apex position marker 36 of the second group 16 is in the same column as the apex position marker 38 of the first group. The apex position markers 36 and 38 are separated from each other by two rows, 40 and 42, of allowable positions.
After choosing which player has the first move, the players take alternating turns, moving their own markers only in row-wise or column-wise directions. In each turn, a player can pass, thereby giving up his or her turn, or selects a marker, and moves the same in one of three categories of moves. The categories consist of: (a) moving the selected marker to an adjacent unoccupied allowable space, ending the turn, (b) jumping the selected marker over an adjacent marker into an unoccupied allowable space on the opposite side of the jumped marker, ending the turn, and (c) jumping the selected marker over an adjacent marker into an unoccupied allowable space on the opposite side of the jumped marker, and continuing to jump one or more adjacent markers into unoccupied spaces on the opposite sides thereof, where possible. Each player removes jumped markers from the field if the jumped markers are associated with the other player. Although each player has various move options, the game cannot progress unless at various stages of the game, a player jumps into an unoccupied allowable space on the opposite side of an adjacent marker associated with an opposing player, and removes that adjacent marker.
At a mutually agreed upon time, or under mutually agreed-upon conditions, the player who has jumped and removed the larger number of the opponent's markers is considered a winner. An example of a mutually agreed-upon condition is a situation in which one player has no more markers, or has no available set of moves that could result in that player's having more remaining markers than the opponent.
An example of a move in category (a) is a move of marker 46 to space 48, space 50 or space 52. An example of a move in category (b) is a move of marker 52 to space 50 by jumping over marker 54. An example of a move in category (c) is a move in which marker 56 is jumped over marker 58 into space 60, then jumped over marker 46 into space 48, and finally, jumped over marker 38 into space 62. The move could continue by jumping marker 56 over marker 64 into space 66, and then over marker 68 into space 70. At that point, the turn ends because there are no more available moves for marker 56. When the turn ends, either by the player's voluntarily refraining from moving, or from moving further after one or more allowable moves, or is unable to make a move, the player associated with markers 16 makes the next move.
The field of allowable marker positions can have a number of variations. It can consist of as few as eight rows and five columns. In that case, the apex markers associated with the opposing players will be immediately adjacent to each other, and each apex marker will be spaced from the second row of markers by only a single unoccupied allowable marker position. The preferred game board, however, is as shown in
In the alternative version of the game board depicted in
The arrangement of
Another alternative to the arrangement of
In still another variation (not shown), the game board can be arranged to correspond to two of the game boards of
A variety of other arrangements within the scope of the appended claims can be adopted. The markers, of course can take any of various forms such as discs, balls, golf tees, etc., and the allowable marker positions can be defined by printed spaces, depressions or the like.
Although the game can be conveniently embodied as a board game, it can also be played using a personal computer or plural personal computers interconnected to one another. For example,
The computer version of the game can also be implemented by player-simulating software which enables a single player to compete against a computer. The player-simulating software can be loaded locally into a personal computer such as computer 85 or 86, or suitable player-simulating software can be loaded into a server 96 for remote access by one or more individuals using personal computers connected to the Internet. In addition, the software can be incorporated into a hand-held device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a game-capable mobile telephone, or a dedicated hand-held electronic game. Here again, the design of suitable player-simulating software is within the level of ordinary skill in the game software industry.
When the game is implemented by computer, provision can be made for selection by a player or players of a particular version from several versions of the game, such as a simple version corresponding to
The game according to the invention presents a challenge to each player to plan a strategy for removal of a maximum number of the opponent's markers by anticipating possible opposing moves. Variations on the game can be adopted. For example, a set of rules can be adopted in which the players do not have an option to “pass” or in which the players are limited to forward and sideward moves and do not have an option to move backward.
Numerous other variations on the game layout and on the move options can be adopted without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
