Patent Application
20060237910
The present disclosure relates generally to games, and more particularly to games that include a plurality of tiles, a plurality of cards, and a randomizing device.
Examples of games wherein players compete for control of territory on a game board can be found in the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,906,372, 6,431,547, 6,527,273, and 6,641,400, U.S. Patent Application Publication 20030127800, non-U.S. patent applications GB2,221,165 and WO81/01522, and in the Parker Brothers game “Risk,” the Milton Bradley game “Stratego,” the Avalon Hill/Stackpole game “Outdoor Survival.” All of the aforementioned disclosures are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and for all purposes.
The present disclosure describes game apparatus that may include cards, tiles, and/or selection devices, and methods of game play suitable for use with such apparatus. Some embodiments have a plurality of cards that each include resource indicia adapted to indicate a resource value associated with the card. Some embodiments have a plurality of tiles that each include bonus indicia that may be adapted to indicate a resource value associated with the tile. Some tiles may optionally include cost indicia adapted to indicate a resource cost such as a total of resource values or some other condition or requirement to be satisfied in order to play the tile.
The game may be based on a theme, for example, to enhance play value and/or marketability of commercial embodiments, to facilitate player comprehension of a set of rules of game play, and so forth. In a commercial embodiment of the present game, components are based on a theme of the establishment of tents of trade in a desert bazaar, and game indicia may reflect or incorporate this theme. For example, the “resources” may represent water, camels, spices, and silk as part of desert commerce. Similarly, the tiles of this commercial embodiment may represent tents that may be established in the desert bazaar. Each tent may produce a bonus resource once it has established in the playing area. Other embodiments may use alternate themes, such as settlement of a surface of a moon or some fictitious planetary surface, or the like. In these embodiments, the resources may represent resources required for the settlement of this fictitious location.
Some methods for playing the game may include playing a tile on the playing surface and paying a resource cost indicated by the cost indicia of the tile. In some methods, the resource cost may be adjusted by the bonus indicia of any previously played tiles that may have a predetermined location relationship with the tile. Some methods for playing the game may include operating a selection device to produce a selection result, collecting at least one card indicated by the selection result, for example, if the selection result matches one selection result from a subset of a group of possible selection results, or collecting no cards, if the selection result matches no selection result from the subset of the group of possible selection results. Some methods may optionally include a step for paying a resource cost with one or more cards having a collective resource value.
An illustrative example of a game is illustrated in
Accordingly, spaces 22 may be of any suitable shape or shapes and sizes to provide either a regular or an irregular array. For example, the board 12 of
As shown in
Scoring track 26 is shown disposed around the perimeter of board 12. The scoring track may include a plurality of scoring spaces 32 that include sequentially increasing numeric indicia. For example, scoring track 26 may include spaces with sequentially increasing numeric indicia from 0 to 50, or any other numeric range. Scoring track 26 may be adapted for use with scoring markers 28, which may be one of the plurality of markers 20. In this arrangement, one scoring marker 28 corresponding to each player of game 10 may be advanced through scoring spaces 32, corresponding to points accumulated by the players.
Any other suitable scoring mechanism may be included with game 10, such as a separate or standalone score board similar in form and function to scoring track 26 illustrated in
In the example shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, the four resources may represent elements of the game theme, such as water, camels, silk, and spice, and are represented by blue, orange, purple, and green shapes, respectively, on cards 14. Other examples may include any number and type of resources and resource markings, and cards may have resource markings representative of the resource value of any combination of resources.
Reverse face 40 may include a common pattern or indicia such that cards are indistinguishable when viewed from the reverse side. The markings on the reverse face of the card might be a pattern or logo used in the commercialization of the game, or a simple pattern of colors, although other markings are possible. In other embodiments (not shown), cards 14 may show an indication of their resource value in both faces. In such examples, reverse face 40 may include a duplication of resource indicia 42 from the playing face 38.
In place of cards 14, game 10 may include any suitable elements such as tokens, markers, chips, and the like. Game 10 may alternatively include other various means of tracking resource values held by each player, such as multi-valued mechanisms similar to those described above in reference to scoring track 26. These alternate devices for tracking resource values may be integrated with scoring track 26, in its illustrated form or any alternate form, or may be separate elements to game 10.
Tiles 16, shown more particularly in
In the present example, tiles 16 and spaces 22 have substantially the same size and shape. In some embodiments, tiles 16 may be adapted for placement on a playing surface 24 that may not include any spaces, such as an unmarked board or a tabletop.
Tiles 16 may include a playing face 48 that is opposite a reverse face 50. Playing face 48 may include playing face indicia 52 related to the game play values of each tile, whereas reverse face 50 may include a common pattern or indicia such that tiles 16 are indistinguishable from each other when viewed from the reverse face. The markings on the reverse face of the tile might be a pattern or logo used in the commercialization of the game, or a simple pattern of colors, although other markings are possible.
Playing face indicia 52 may include bonus indicia 54 and cost indicia 56. Either bonus indicia 54 or cost indicia 56, or both, may be removable from tiles 16, or, as shown in
In other examples, bonus indicia, cost indicia, or both indicia may include any number of markings, the number of markings may be variable from tile to tile, and any resource may appear in multiple markings on a tile. Optionally, at least one tile 16 may include bonus indicia 54 indicating each resource, and/or at least one card 14 may have resource indicia 42 indicating each resource.
In alternate embodiments, tiles 16 may include a first and a second face (not shown). The first face of tiles of these embodiments may include bonus indicia 54, and the second face may include cost indicia 56. Accordingly, the values of either the bonus indicia or the cost indicia may always be visible, depending upon the orientation of the tile.
In some embodiments, game 10 may further include a concealing device (not shown) such as a sack or box that is adapted to enclose some or all of the tiles to conceal the values of the bonus indicia and cost indicia of enclosed tiles from the players of the game. However, in the example shown in
Returning again to
Faces 60 may include selection indicia 62 that are adapted to indicate resource indicia of one or more cards 14. Accordingly, selection indicia 62 may be adapted to indicate the four resources relevant to game play. Specifically, dice 58 may include one or more faces that include selection indicia corresponding to each resource. In the illustrated embodiment, the four resources, each indicated by one of four colors, appears on one face of each of the three dice. The other two faces of each die bear a wildcard indicia, which is indicated by the white color, and a null indicia, which is indicated by the letter “X”. The wildcard indicia may be adapted to indicate two or more of the resources, and may alternately be indicated by multiple colors representing each of the resources that the wildcard indicia is adapted to represent, or a symbol such as a question mark (?). The null indicia may be adapted to represent neither of the resources, and may alternately be indicated by an additional color, such as black, or by an alternate symbol such a frowning face.
This illustrated example provides equal weighting for each resource, as well as for both the wildcard indicia and the null indicia. Other embodiments may provide unequal weighting for one or more resources, the wildcard indicia, or the null indicia, such as by having one or more indicia appear more than once, or not at all, on at least one die.
In other examples, fewer or greater than three dice or other than six-sided dice may be used. In other embodiments, other elements may be used instead of, or in addition to one or more dice. For example, selection device 18 may be embodied by one or more spinners, by a grouping of rotating wheels in a mechanical device similar to a slot machine, by a suitable electronic device, and so forth.
Board 12, cards 14, tiles 16, and markers 20 may be manufactured from a material or different materials which are sufficiently durable to withstand repeated game play, but are also economical for a mass-production game of this type. Typical materials include cardboard, plastic, metal, and wood.
In some methods of game play with the components described above, play of game 10 may occur in two phases. Specifically, play may commence with a setup phase and continue with a rotation phase in which players each execute a turn in sequence with other players of the game.
During the setup phase, players of the game may place the game components in condition to start game play, and allot each player an initial set of cards 14. For example, in the example of
Also in the setup phase, players may then take turns establishing a hand 36 of an initial allotment of cards 14 by operating selection device 18 and collecting a number of cards 14 indicated by the selection result. In the present example, players may roll each of dice 58 a predetermined number of times as specified in an exemplary set of rules, and collect one card 14 that is indicated by the selection indicia 62 of each face-up face 60.
Thus, a player may collect one card from the corresponding pile of cards for each die 58 that has a face having selection indicia representing one of the four resources face-up after rolling. In this example, a player would also collect one card from any of the piles 34 of the player's choosing for each die 58 that has a face having wildcard indicia face-up after rolling. Also in this example, a player may be blocked or prohibited from collecting any card corresponding to any die 58 that has a face having null indicia face-up after rolling. Each player may roll dice 58 three times, collect cards as a result of each roll, and then pass play on to the next player.
Specifically, for example, if a player rolls the dice shown in
In other examples, specific combination of die result may correspond to specific cards or combinations of cards that a player may collect. In still other examples, a predetermined number of cards may be dealt in random fashion to each player prior to sorting the cards and establishing piles 34.
Tiles 16 may be then randomized and arranged such that the values of bonus indicia 54 and cost indicia 56 are concealed. At least one set having a predetermined number tiles may be formed such that the bonus indicia and cost indicia are visible to all players. In the illustrated embodiment, tiles may be shuffled and placed in one or more piles 66 with the playing face of each tile facing downward. Two sets of four tiles each may be removed from the piles and placed such that the values of playing face indicia 52 are visible to all players. In other examples, tiles may be randomized and placed into a concealing device.
Play of game 10 may then transition to the rotation phase in which players each execute a turn in sequence with the other players of the game. During a turn, each player may have the option to collect cards 14 or choose to play tiles 16 onto board 12.
A player who elects to collect cards 14 may operate selection device 18 to produce a selection result. Depending on the selection result, the player may collect one or more cards 14, or may collect no cards. If the selection result matches one selection result from a subset of a group of possible selection results, the player may collect at least one card indicated by the selection result. However, if the selection results do not match a selection result from the subset of the group of possible selection results, the player may collect no cards. In some embodiments, the player may collect a designated number of cards from a designated group of cards. The designated number and the designated group may be indicated by the selection result.
In other embodiments, a player may operate selection device 18 by rolling a plurality of dice 58 in order to obtain a selection result. In these embodiments, the player may roll each of the dice to produce a first die result, and then divide the dice into a first group and a second group that each includes at least one die. The player may then roll each of the dice in the second group to produce a second die result for each die in the second group. The selection result may be formed by the first die results of the dice in the first group and the second die results of the dice in the second group. Additionally, the subset of the group of selection results may correspond to each selection result that has more than one die result that relates to a common resource indicia.
In the present example, a player who elects to collect cards 14 may first draw one card from a pile 34 of the player's choosing, and add the card to the player's hand 36. The player may then roll dice 58 to determine what additional cards the player may collect, if any. In this example, the player may first roll each of the dice 58 a first time to obtain a first die result for each die. The player may then determine whether the face-up face 60 of more than one die 58 includes selection indicia that indicate a common resource.
If the combination of the first die results form such a “match”, then the player may choose to draw a number of additional cards having the common resource indicia indicated by the number of matching dice from this first roll. The number of cards may correspond to the number of matching dice. If the combination of the first die results do not result in a “match”, then the player may not draw additional cards as a result of the first roll of dice 58.
If the player did not draw additional cards as a result of the first roll of dice 58, the player may choose to roll on or more dice a second time in order to attempt to obtain more “matching” dice. The player may divide dice 58 into a first group including one or more dice having a face up-face 60 with selection indicia that indicate a designated common resource, including any wildcard indicia, and a second group including the other dice. The player may re-roll the second group to obtain a second die result for each die in the second group. The player may then determine whether the face-up face 60 of more than one die 58 in the second group includes selection indicia that indicate the designated common resource of the first group, including any wildcard indicia.
If the player has obtained a “match” after the second roll of dice 58, the player may draw a designated number of additional cards having the designated common resource indicia of the first group of dice. The player may draw number of cards corresponding to the number of dice that include the selection indicia that indicate the designated common resource of the first group, and may add the additional cards to the player's hand 36. After the second roll, if there is not face-up face 60 of more than one die 58 including selection indicia that indicate the designated common resource of the first group, then the player may not collect additional cards.
During a turn, a player who instead opts to play tiles 16 onto board 12 may play a tile on the playing surface, and pay a resource cost indicated by the cost indicia of the tile and the bonus indicia of any tiles that have a predetermined location relationship with the tile. In some embodiments, a player may pay a resource cost by surrendering a quantity of cards having a collective resource value relating to the resource cost.
In other embodiments, the resource cost may be determined by the cost indicia of the tile and the bonus indicia of any previously placed tiles that may be adjacent to the tile. In some embodiments, the tile may be placed in a corresponding space on a board. In some embodiments, each player places tiles and pays the associated resource cost in sequence with the other players of the game, and may place as many tiles and pay the associated resource cost as desired before passing play to the next player.
In the example shown, a player may choose a tile from one of the sets 68, and pay the associated resource cost of the tile. In this illustrated embodiment, the resource cost of placing a tile into a specific space may be indicated by the cost indicia of the played tile and the bonus indicia of any other tiles that may have been played in spaces adjacent to the space of the played tile. However, in other embodiments, other location relationships may be used. For example, diagonal relationships or relationships of spaces having common indicia may be used. Optionally, different methods of determining the resource cost may be used, such as operating selection device 18 to produce a selection result indicative of the resource cost, or similar.
Referring now to
Accordingly,
Second tile 16b may be played in any non-adjacent space 78 with the resource cost to the player of one of each of the resource corresponding to the colors green, purple, and red. However, second tile 16b may be played in any adjacent space 76 with the resource cost to the player of one of each of the resources corresponding to the colors green and purple, since the player may take advantage of the resource value of first tile 16a, specifically one resource corresponding to the color red, as indicated by bonus indicia 54a.
Several of adjacent spaces 76 lie adjacent to multiple tiles from either first group of tiles 16c or second group of tiles 16d. Accordingly, the resource cost of placing second tile 16b, or any other tile 16, into an adjacent space 76 that is adjacent to multiple tiles from either first group of tiles 16c or second group of tiles 16d may be indicated by the cost indicia of the played tile and the bonus indicia of multiple tiles that may have been played adjacent to the played tile. For example, second tile 16b may be placed in adjacent space 76a with the resource cost to the player of one resource corresponding to the color green, since the player may take advantage of the resource value of the two adjacent tiles.
During a turn of game 10 of this illustrated embodiment, a player may choose to play as many tiles, and pay the corresponding resource cost, as desired. In some embodiments, where multiple sets of tiles 68 are established, a player may continue to play tiles from one set only during a turn. Whenever a set of tiles 68 is exhausted, or at the end of a player's turn, additional tiles 16 may be added to sets 68 from the piles 66 to restore the sets to the predetermined number of tiles.
In some embodiments, played tiles may be placed onto a playing surface without spaces or other markings. In these embodiments, the resource cost may be indicated by the cost indicia of the played tile and the bonus indicia of any other tiles that may be adjacent to the played tile on the playing surface.
In other embodiments, tiles may have different sizes or shapes than spaces, and spaces may be adapted to receive one or more tiles. In these embodiments, the resource cost may be indicated by the cost indicia of the played tile and the bonus indicia of any other tiles that may have been previously played in spaces adjacent to the space corresponding to the played tile. In still other embodiments, the resource cost associated with playing a tile may be indicated by the cost indicia of the played tile and the bonus indicia of any other tiles that have other location relationships with the played tile, such as diagonal, or tiles played in spaces on a board 12 that include similar or common indicia (not shown).
According to rules of play in some embodiments of game 10, some adjacent spaces 76 may not be available for placement of tiles 16. In these embodiments, any group of tiles may not include more than a predetermined number of tiles. A group of tiles may include any tiles than have a predetermined location relationship with one or more other tiles. In the example shown in the figures and described herein, any group of tiles may not include more than seven tiles that occupy adjacent spaces.
In the exemplary game situation shown in
Players may pay resource costs by surrendering a quantity of cards 14 that have a collective resource value relating to the resource cost. Players may earn cards to pay resource costs either during the setup phase of playing game 10, during a turn during which the player opted to collect additional cards, as described above, or during other game activities. Optionally, at any time during a turn when a player is playing tiles, the player may choose to trade a first combination of cards having a first collective resource value for a second combination of cards having a second collective resource value. In the example in the figures, a player may trade any three cards for one card having any resource value. In other examples, other numbers of cards, which may include specific combinations of cards, may be traded. In the example shown, play of game 10 may end when there are no more spaces available to play tiles.
According to rules of play in some embodiments of game 10, a player may set removable player affiliation indicia on a played tile to indicate the player who played the tile. In some of these embodiments, when a tile is played that completes a group of more than a predetermined number of tiles, a score of each player may be incremented by an amount indicated by a number of tiles in the group having removable player affiliation indicia indicative of each player. In these embodiments, a group of tiles may include a played tile and any other tiles that may have a predetermined location relationship with the played tile.
In some embodiments, a scoring marker 28 of each player may be moved from one scoring space 32 in a scoring track 26 to another scoring space. In some embodiments, removable player affiliation indicia may be removed from each tile in a completed group, after scoring the group.
For the example shown in the figures, a group of tiles may include the played tile and any other tiles that may be adjacent to at least one other tile in the group. Moreover, a group of tiles, for this example, may be scored when it includes seven or more tiles. In the game situation depicted in
Accordingly, if the blue player places any tile in one of spaces 96 and completes a group of seven adjacent tiles, the red player and the yellow player each score two points because second group of tiles 86 includes two tiles with red removable player affiliation indicia 64 and two tiles with yellow removable player affiliation indicia 64. Additionally, the blue player would score two points for the two tiles shown in
Players of game 10 may have other opportunities available to score points. For example, any tile 16 that is played such that the tile does not have a predetermined location relationship with any other tiles may score a predetermined of points for the player who played the tile. For example, the player who played first tile 16a in
In some of these embodiments, the resource value of tiles 16 that include removable player affiliation indicia 64 from each player may only be available to some players. In other of these embodiments, the resource value of tiles 16 that include removable player affiliation indicia 64 from each player may be available to all players.
The number of removable player affiliation indicia that are provided with game 10 may vary. In some embodiments, there may be enough removable player affiliation indicia to set one marker on each tile that a player may play during the course of a game. In other embodiments, there may not be sufficient markers to set one on each played tile. In these embodiments, each player may employ various strategies to increase opportunities to score points.
This disclosure may include one or more independent or interdependent inventions directed to various combinations of features, functions, elements and/or properties. While examples of apparatus and methods are particularly shown and described, many variations may be made therein. Various combinations and sub-combinations of features, functions, elements and/or properties may be claimed in one or more related applications. Such variations, whether they are directed to different combinations or directed to the same combinations, whether different, broader, narrower or equal in scope, are regarded as included within the subject matter of the present disclosure.
The described examples are illustrative and directed to specific examples of apparatus and/or methods rather than a specific invention, and no single feature or element, or combination thereof, is essential to all possible combinations. Thus, any one of various inventions that may be claimed based on the disclosed example or examples does not necessarily encompass all or any particular features, characteristics or combinations, unless subsequently specifically claimed. Where “a” or “a first” element or the equivalent thereof is recited, such usage includes one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements. Further, ordinal indicators, such as first, second or third, for identified elements are used to distinguish between the elements, and do not indicate a required or limited number of such elements, and do not indicate a particular position or order of such elements unless otherwise specifically indicated.
The methods and apparatus described in the present disclosure are applicable to toys, games, and other devices, and to industries in which amusement devices are used.
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/674,161, filed on Apr. 21, 2005, Mexican Application No. ______, filed Feb. 9, 2006 of the same title, and Canadian Application No. ______, filed Feb. 9, 2006 of the same title, which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60674161 | Apr 2005 | US |
