Patent Application
20090127782
1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to games about law, specifically, the application of players' dexterity in the use of wooden gavels and a sound block in determining the application of game rules.
2. Prior Art
Previously, there have been legal games, such as LA Law, Verdict II, and Law & Order. Said prior art relied on the determination of player turn sequence and the application of rules by randomization or domain knowledge. Prior art randomization methods typically incorporated the use of dice, spinning wheels, or randomly drawn cards.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the invention are:
a. the use of dexterity as an additional means for determining player turn sequence and the application of rules based on the order in which a sound block is struck by multiple gavels;
b. the use of gavels and a sound block incorporates courtroom accoutrements in determining player turn sequence and the application of rules.
In accordance with the invention, the use of 2 or more gavels and 1 sound block provide a method by which player sequence and application of rules can be determined using a courtroom accoutrement.
OBJECT: As a Prosecutor, accumulate evidence and get a guilty verdict before your opponents do.
SETUP: Shuffle the deck. Deal each player 6 cards face down (see
HOW TO PLAY: The player to the Dealer's left goes first. Start by drawing a card from the Draw Stack to make a 7 card hand. The player must either: (A) Offer Evidence, (B) play a Special card, or, (C) discard into the Discard Stack. All players replenish their hands up to 6 cards from the Draw Stack and play continues. Play generally progresses clockwise, but one or more players may be skipped or lose their turns depending on the cards played.
Offering Evidence To score points, a player must get evidence admitted. To get evidence admitted, a player must offer the evidence. Evidence cards have a value in the corner (either 1, 2, or 3) and come in four colors: red, blue, green, and brown. To offer the evidence, place the card face up in front of the player. Opposing players may immediately attack the card (see “Attacking Evidence” below.) If no one attacks the evidence, it is successfully admitted into evidence for that player. Admitted evidence cannot be attacked and is placed in front of the player where opposing players can see it. The player replenishes their hand back to 6 cards from the Draw Stack. Play continues clockwise.
Attacking Evidence Once an Evidence card has been offered, opposing players may immediately attack it. Attack cards have a sword in the corner and come in four colors: red, blue, green, and brown. Attack evidence by placing an sword card of the same color as the evidence card on top of the evidence card (see
If the attack is not defended (see “Defending Evidence” below) the Evidence is thrown out. The Evidence card and the sword card are placed in the Discard Stack and each player replenishes their hand from the Draw Stack. The successful Objector gets to take the next turn, skipping other players. (In
The Dealer gets to take the next turn, and Player 3 is skipped).
Defending Evidence When an attack card is played, the player who offered evidence may defend it. Defense cards have a shield in the corner and come in four colors: red, blue, green, and brown. Defend evidence by placing a shield card of the same color as the evidence card (See
SPECIAL CARDS: All special cards are black and can be played in specific situations: Motion Cards Motion cards may only be played during a player's turn instead of offering evidence or discarding. The player places the motion card face up on the table and says, “Motion.” As quickly as possible, all other players hit the sound block with their gavels and say “Denied.” The last player to deny the motion suffers the penalty listed on the motion card. Ties are decided by the player who played the Motion card. The player who played the Motion card takes another turn. Types of Motion Cards:
Mistrial Cards The Mistrial Card is the atom bomb of the deck, wiping out an entire case. Mistrial cards may only be played during a player's turn instead of offering evidence or discarding. The player who plays this card may declare a mistrial on an opponent's case. The player places the mistrial card face up in front of the opposing player and says “Mistrial.” The opponent's entire case is thrown out, and all of their admitted evidence is discarded. Play proceeds clockwise from the player of the mistrial card.
WINNING THE GAME: There are two ways to win: (1) The first player to accumulate 12 or more points of evidence automatically wins. (2) Any player who has accumulated 3 or more points of evidence at the beginning of their turn can choose to “Go to the Jury.” The narrow Verdict cards are used for this. The points of evidence determines the probability of winning. The player takes one “Guilty” verdict card for each point of admitted evidence in their case, then takes enough “Not Guilty” cards to bring the total number of verdict cards to 12. Opposing players have the opportunity to play a “Mistrial” card, which replaces one “Guilty” card with a “Mistrial—Hung Jury” card.
One opposing player is selected to shuffle the 12 Verdict cards face down. The player going to the jury selects one Verdict card. If the card selected is a “Guilty” card, the player going to the jury wins. If the card selected is a “Not Guilty” card, the player going to the jury has lost and is out of the game. Play resumes, and continues clockwise. If the “Mistrial—Hung Jury” card is selected, the player going to the jury must discard all admitted evidence and retry his case.
Out of Order: When a player makes an error, they are declared “Out of Order.” The Out of Order card is placed in front of the player. The player loses their turn if they have the Out of Order card when their turn comes.
Only one player may be “Out of Order” at a time. Any player who is Out of Order may still object to evidence and deny motions. A player may be declared out of order if they:
Accordingly, the reader will see that, according to the invention, I have provided a method for determining to whom a penalty will be assessed by use of the courtroom accoutrement of wooden gavels and a wooden sound block.
While the above description contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but as exemplifications of the presently preferred embodiments thereof. Many other ramifications and variations are possible within the teachings of the invention. Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, and not by the examples given.
