LASER STRATEGY GAME BOARD

Abstract

A game may include a first game board having a plurality of shaped holes distributed in a regular pattern, a laser piece generating a laser beam, a laser target piece responsive to the laser beam, and mirror pieces each having a matching shape for insertion in the shaped holes of the first game board to reflect the laser beam along a path from the laser piece to the laser target piece. The mirror pieces may be inserted at a limited number of azimuth angles in the game board, such as multiples of 22.5°. The game board and mirror pieces may be marked with a series of lines aligned with the azimuth angles so that the direction of reflection of the laser beam can easily be determined by inspection.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention is related to board games and in particular to a new strategy board game using laser light.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Traditional board games are well known and include various type of boards and passive pieces which are moved around by the game players.

What is needed are improvements in the board game play and equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of game board 10 including laser source game piece 12, mirror game piece 14, blocking or tunnel game piece 16 and target game piece 18.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of laser source game piece 12 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of mirror game piece 14 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of blocking or tunnel game piece 16 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 FIG. 4 is an isometric view of target game piece 18 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of game play piece or die 36.

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of game play piece or die 38.

FIG. 8 is an isometric view of another embodiment of the game board and pieces.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A game may include a first game board having a plurality of shaped holes distributed in a regular pattern, at least one laser piece generating a laser beam, at least one laser target piece responsive to the laser beam to indicate game play, and a plurality of mirror pieces each having a matching shape for insertion in the shaped holes of the first game board, wherein the mirror pieces may be positioned to reflect the laser beam along a path from the laser piece to the laser target piece.

The mirror pieces may be inserted at a limited number of azimuth angles in the game board, such as multiples of 22.5°. The mirror pieces may be marked with a series of lines aligned with the azimuth angles so that the direction of reflection of the laser beam can easily be determined by inspection. The game board may be marked with a series of lines along the azimuth angles radiating out of each of the shaped holes so that the direction of reflection of the laser beam can easily be determined by inspection. The laser and laser target pieces are mountable to the game board for alignment with the azimuthal angles, for example by insertion in the shaped holes, so that the laser beam path can easily be determined by inspection.

A second game board may be attachable to the first game board to extend the pattern of shaped holes available for game play which may include moving and rotating the mirror pieces. Blocking game pieces insertable in the shaped holes to block the laser beam may be provided.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

Referring now to FIG. 1, game board 10 may have any shape and include a series of spaced apart holes 24 at regular or irregular spacing of a particular shape matching game pieces 12, 14, 16 and 18, for example, by having a hexagonal shape. Alternately, the game pieces may fit within spaced holes 24 at a series of fixed rotational positions or may have holes in their bottoms matching a post or protrusion from each spaced hole 24 location on game board 10. Each game piece may be located with respect to each spaced hole 24, fixing both the location and the rotational orientation of each game piece. At the beginning of play, the game pieces may be set in predetermined locations.

As shown in FIGS. 1-7, game pieces 12, 14, 16 and 18 may be positioned in initial locations in 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the top row of game board 10, respectively. Additional mirror and block game pieces 14 and 16, as well as laser and target game pieces 12 and 18, may also be positioned in other initial positions such as shown in the row below the top row. A separate target game piece 18, and/or laser game piece 12, may be provided for each game player or each team. During game play, the movements of the game pieces may be limited to rotation and/or movement from one spaced hole location 24 to another, unless for example, blocked by the presence of another game piece in its path. In this way, game play includes a substantial strategy factor requiring that the game players must move their pieces, and/or take advantage of other player's movement of game pieces, in order to move their desired game pieces into an appropriate position.

The goal of the game play may be to align laser beam 26, from laser game piece 12, with target 32 of target game piece 18. The direction of laser beam 26 may be affected by the positions of mirrors 28, of mirrored game pieces 14, which reflect or otherwise redirect laser beam 26. Laser beam 26 may be blocked by properly positioned blocking pieces 16 (or non-reflecting surfaces of other game pieces), or if properly aligned, pass through with tunnels or passageways 30 in blocking game pieces 16.

Game piece 12 may conveniently be a class 1 or class 2 laser light source powered by a battery contained therein. Laser game piece 12 may include a switch for turning the laser beam on and off manually and/or by inserting game piece 12 in a spaced hole location 24 on game board 12. As shown in FIG. 2, laser beam 26 may exit one of the faces of laser game piece 12 or be mounted on an adjustable pivot to leave game piece 12 at a predetermined angle.

Mirror game piece 14 may contain mirrors 28 on one or more faces of the game piece. The sides of mirror game piece 14 without mirrors act to block the laser beam. Blocking game piece 16 may be used block laser beam 26 from any direction and/or may include tunnel 30 there through so that if blocking game piece 16 is properly aligned with laser beam 26, the light is permitted to pass through the game piece. Target game piece 18 may include photodetector 32, as a game target, which detects laser beam 26 and may indicate laser beam 26 hitting the target by lights, buzzers or other enunciators 34.

The height above game board 10 of laser 26, mirror 28, tunnel 30 and target 34, after insertion of game pieces in the game board, are preferably consistent even though the height of the various game pieces may be different.

In one embodiment, the players move their pieces alternately, like in a game of chess. In other embodiments, each player's moves during game play may be controlled by one or more game play pieces, such as dies 36 and 38, appropriate cards or other ways of determining for the player taking a turn which game pieces may be moved and/or rotated and preferably by how much. As an example, die 36 may be a cube having 6 faces, each of which indicate which game piece may be moved or rotated while die 38 may indicate the direction and/or magnitude of movement or rotation of the game piece indicated by die 36. The game play pieces may also indicate that the current player get a disadvantage, for example, by losing a turn or gets an advantage by for example getting an extra turn or being able to move or rotate a game piece more than is indicated by the game play pieces.

Referring now to FIG. 8, in an alternate embodiment, game board 40 may be octagonal and have a series of spaced holes 42 which are generally round but have a series of notches around their periphery compatible with the outline or perimeter of a bottom portion of the various game pieces, such as mirror game piece 44. This permits game piece 44 to be inserted in any spaced hole 42 at one of a series of azimuth angles, such as multiple of 22.5°. A series of alignment lines 48 may be marked on the bottom of mirror game piece 44 at fixed angles, such as by having one line perpendicular to the face of the mirror on mirror piece 44 and several on either side of that line at, for example, 22.5°, 45° 67.5°. These lines 48 may be lined up with similar path lines 50 marked on the top surface of game board 40 so that the line of sight of the laser beam before and after reflection may easily be determined.

Game board 40 may include color coded beam generator and target pieces such as black laser beam generator game piece 52, black target 54, white laser piece 56 and white target piece 58. These pieces may be mounted in fixed positions on game board 40 or preferably have a bottom portion similar to mirror pieces 44 so that they may be inserted, and/or moved or rotated, in spaced holes 42 for game play. Mirror pieces 44 may be used by any player or preferably, they may be color coded so that each player may use only mirror pieces of a specific color. The object of the game play is for the players to try to align their mirror pieces 44 so that the laser beam from that player's beam generator piece strikes the target piece for the other player or vice verse. For example, as shown in the figure, laser beam 60 from laser beam generator piece 56 strikes mirror 62 along mirror alignment line 48 at 67.5° on the right and is reflected along mirror alignment line 48 at 67.5° to the left to strike mirror piece 64. Laser beam 60 is then reflected from mirror pieces 66 and 46 until it strikes black target piece 54 at which point the player using these white pieces has won the game. Many variations of this game play may be used.

It should be noted that several of the sides of game board 40 may include slots 68 together with arrows indicating that connecting links from other game boards may be added to increase the difficulty of game play. Alternately, other boards (and/or the equivalent of targets, lasers and mirror pieces) may be positioned in the vicinity of game board 40 to increase play difficulty but such other boards and pieces are preferably rigidly linked to game board 40 to prevent unintentional misalignments.

Game board 40 may itself be configured from multiple pieces, split for example in to two pieces at hinge 70, for ease of storage and setup. Alternately, the subparts of game board 10 may be separated along line 70 and an additional, perhaps rectangular piece, may be inserted to increase game play difficulty.

Further, more than two players may play, for example by combining two or more sets of game boards, or other supplemental game board sections, and game pieces. In order to identify which mirror and other pieces belong to which player, colored clips may be provided which can be mounted for example on grip 72 as shown on mirror piece 74 to identify the players.

Claims

1. A game comprising: a first game board having a plurality of shaped holes distributed in a regular pattern; and at least one laser piece generating a laser beam, at least one laser target piece responsive to the laser beam to indicate game play, and a plurality of mirror pieces each having a matching shape for insertion in the shaped holes of the first game board, wherein the mirror pieces may be positioned to reflect the laser beam along a path from the laser piece to the laser target piece.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the mirror pieces may be inserted at a limited number of azimuth angles in the game board.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein the azimuth angles are multiples of 22.5°.

4. The invention of claim 2 wherein the mirror pieces are marked with a series of lines aligned with the azimuth angles so that the direction of reflection of the laser beam can easily be determined by inspection.

5. The invention of claim 4 wherein the game board is marked with a series of lines along the azimuth angles radiating out of each of the shaped holes so that the direction of reflection of the laser beam can easily be determined by inspection.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein the laser and laser target pieces are mountable to the game board so that the laser beam path can easily be determined by inspection.

7. The invention of claim 6 wherein the laser and laser target pieces are mountable to the game board by insertion in the shaped holes.

8. The invention of claim 1 further comprising: second game board attachable to the first game board to extend the pattern of shaped holes available for game play.

9. The invention of claim 1 wherein game play includes moving and rotating the mirror pieces.

10. The invention of claim 1 further comprising: blocking game pieces insertable in the shaped holes to block the laser beam.