Patent Grant
11176776
The embodiments herein relate generally to board games.
Most children begin to learn mathematics around the age of five. However, mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are abstract ideas for children that require great deal of practice to master.
On the contrary, Children learn words and language in a natural way by observing each other, parents, teachers or other adults. Most children do not need any special practice in mastering language. However, numbers and mathematical operations are abstract concepts which require practice to understand and familiarize.
Some children are naturally good at understanding mathematical abstract concepts whereas a lot of children appear to struggle to understand these concepts. In order to master the basic mathematical operations, children need continuous practice to get themselves familiar with the numbers, rules and operations.
Some other endeavors in this field include U.S. Patent Application Pre-Grant Publication 2016/0303468 filed by Foster, U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,342 issued to Verdell, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,471 issued to Bautista. However, none of those use a randomly generated number multiple times. In addition, none of those use all arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within a single game.
Embodiments of the disclosed invention solve these problems.
The game assembly has a gameboard that uses a continuous path segregated into individually labeled areas, also referred to as game spaces. Tokens, also referred to as game markers representing participating players, are placed at starting positions. (Alternatively referred as Start or first instruction card). The start instruction card designates beginning play money amount to the token holders. Engaging the random number generator produces an integer that directs the token to move to subsequent individually labeled area. The integer generated by the random number generator is used to move the tokens to subsequent areas. The same integer is used to link instruction on the associated instruction cards for adjusting the play money amount on the token.
In some embodiments, the first instruction card directs the token to receive two hundred fifty dollars from a town authority at a beginning of a game. The first instruction card can further direct the token to receive fifty dollars from a town authority after the beginning of the game.
The subsequent instruction cards (alternatively referred to as a second instruction card) can direct the token to pay one or more amount of money in sum to a town authority. The subsequent instruction cards can direct the token to pay a multiplication product of the integer and one or more amount of money to a town authority. The subsequent instruction cards can direct the token to receive one or more amount of money in sum from town authority. The subsequent instruction cards can direct the token to receive a multiplication product of the integer and one or more amount of money from town authority. The subsequent instruction cards can direct the token to receive amount of money in sum or as a multiple from town authority, and share the proceeds amongst other tokens.
The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention is made below with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals represent corresponding parts of the figures.
Embodiments of the disclosed invention utilize a game assembly along with some arithmetic operations. In addition, an augend and an addend are added to find a sum. In subtraction, a subtrahend is subtracted from a minuend to find a difference. In multiplication, a multiplicand and a multiplier are multiplied to find a product. In division, a dividend is divided by a divisor to find a quotient.
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A random number generator is needed to determine an integer such as an integer between one and six. The random number generator can be a die 18. The integer is determined once using the random number generator and then used to advance the token around the continuous path from a first individually labeled area to a second individually labeled area. The integer can be used to perform arithmetic operations in order to exchange money between at least one token 22 and the town authority. The integer could, for example, be at least one member of a variable set consisting of an augend, an addend, a subtrahend, a minuend, a multiplicand, a multiplier, a dividend, and a divisor.
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Gameplay proceeds as follows. First, place the game board 12 on a place with a flat surface, such as on a table or on the floor. A supporter may be placed under the game board. This is particularly helpful when the surface is not flat.
The play time of the game can be time based or iteration based. If timed based, a total play time of 30 to 60 minutes is recommended for players under the age 12, and for the older players, the time period may be set at 60 minutes. Time can be measured for a timer operating in a loop where the timer starts and the game proceeds until the timer reaches a timer limit. The board game can be played with multiple players. For instance, 2 to 4 players make up for an enriching playing experience. The principle participants of the game are players that have designated markers or “tokens” to advance around continuous play path and an imaginary entity referred to as a town authority. The town authority is tasked with collecting money from players on behalf of game spaces of the board game. The town authority is also tasked with paying money to players on behalf of game spaces. In a 2-player game setting, each player would have his/or her game marker to advance around continuous play path. In a 3 to 4 player game setting, one player can be designated the town authority to facilitate transactions. In a 5-player game setting, 4 players can advance around the continuous play path using designated game markers whereas the 5th player can exclusively function as a town authority to handle transactions between players and game spaces from the board game. In addition, the players should decide the playing order beforehand.
When the game starts, each player places a token in the Start game space. Then the first player rolls the dice or otherwise engages a random number generator. When the first die settles on a resting surface, the number on the upper surface is the navigating number. The player moves his marker around continuous play path based on the dice number to land in a new game space. The player picks the associated game space card and conducts operation by reading instructions from the game card based on the rolled dice number. Each game card can have varying instructions to follow, and transactions to conduct based on the die number. These transactions are amongst the players and/or between the players and town authority.
As used in this application, the term “a” or “an” means “at least one” or “one or more.”
As used in this application, the term “about” or “approximately” refers to a range of values within plus or minus 10% of the specified number.
As used in this application, the term “substantially” means that the actual value is within about 10% of the actual desired value, particularly within about 5% of the actual desired value and especially within about 1% of the actual desired value of any variable, element or limit set forth herein.
All references throughout this application, for example patent documents including issued or granted patents or equivalents, patent application publications, and non-patent literature documents or other source material, are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties, as though individually incorporated by reference, to the extent each reference is at least partially not inconsistent with the disclosure in the present application (for example, a reference that is partially inconsistent is incorporated by reference except for the partially inconsistent portion of the reference).
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “means for” performing a specified function, or “step for” performing a specified function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause as specified in 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶ 6. In particular, any use of “step of” in the claims is not intended to invoke the provision of 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶ 6.
Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above.
This application claims priority to provisional patent application U.S. Ser. No. 62/743,548 filed on Oct. 10, 2018, the entire contents of which is herein incorporated by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8500546 | Walker | Aug 2013 | B2 |
| 20100056241 | Acres | Mar 2010 | A1 |
| 20200101370 | Shivers | Apr 2020 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62743548 | Oct 2018 | US |
