TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to methods and devices for playing a board game similar in some respects to chess.
BACKGROUND
Conventional chess is a turn based board game involving different types of pieces having specific movement patterns and characteristics. Chess variants may make use of the underlying structure of conventional chess, albeit with significant variation or modifications to the board, the style of play, the pieces, and more.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments disclosed herein may include features relating to specific features of gameplay for a board game called “Castle Board Game,” Castle Crown” or simply “Castle.” These embodiments may build on the underlying turn-based structure of chess and other board games, and may include additional features including, among other things, fixed fortified components on the board representative of siege warfare, stationary game pieces, and moving game pieces with particular movement patterns and special features.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the following drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
To understand the present invention, it will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example game board with pieces in the starting or initial position.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example king game piece.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example housecarl game piece and its corresponding movement.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example templar game piece and its corresponding movement.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example lancer game piece and its corresponding movement.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example archer game piece and its corresponding movement.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example priest game piece and its corresponding movement.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example sentry game piece and its corresponding movement.
FIG. 9 illustrates an example scenario for promoting a sentry.
FIGS. 10A-F illustrate an example method of assembling a game board for use with the game pieces of the present disclosure.
FIG. 11 illustrates example starting positions of the game pieces on the game board of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
While this invention may take various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail various embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.
Castle Crown (“Castle”) is distinctly different than all other variations of Chess.
In one embodiment, the position of the King may be in a fixed position on the game board. The King does not move. The board may be a 9×9 square board, containing 81 spaces on which game pieces may be placed. Some spaces may be inaccessible to one or more of the game pieces, depending on the type of piece and current status of the game. In other examples, the board may be a 9×11 rectangular board, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6.
The board may have two ‘Castles’ that include the last two rows on either side of the board. The first row of the Castle may be called the ‘Inner Ward’ (i.e., the row farthest from the center of the board). The second row of the castle may be called the ‘outer ward.’ The King may be positioned in the inner ward.
Two physical or imaginary walls may exist between (1) the inner ward and the outer ward, and (2) between the outer ward and the rest of the game board. These walls may restrict movement of one or more game pieces into the Inner and Outer wards of the Castle, thereby protecting the King's fixed position. In some cases, an opposing player may not advance and breach both walls in a single turn.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example game board with the initial positions of each piece. The pieces may include:
- King—may be positioned in the center space of the inner ward. This piece is stationary and may not move during game play. Each player may have one king. The king is illustrated in FIG. 2.
- Housecarl—this piece may be positioned initially to the side of the King in the inner ward. In some examples the respective housecarl's of the first and second players are positioned on the same side (i.e., symmetrically, such that both are on the left or right of the respective king), while in other examples, the respective housecarls may be positioned on opposite sides of the respective kings (i.e., asymmetrically, such that one is on the left and one is on the right of the respective King). The housecarl movement may include movement in any direction, for any number of spaces. In some examples, the housecarl may move in a given direction until it runs into another game piece. In other examples, the housecarl may move through game pieces, onto an open space. In some examples, the housecarl may be limited to movement one space in any direction, while still being able to hop over the King (e.g., movement of two spaces in that instance, assuming the space on the opposite side of the king is unoccupied). The housecarl may move freely between the inner and outer ward, however if the housecarl is moved outside the outer ward it is sacrificed. This may occur when the housecarl is moved outside the outer ward in order to capture an opponent' game piece. Each player may have one housecarl. Movement of the housecarl is illustrated in FIG. 3.
- Templar—each player may begin with one templar. The templar may be positioned initially in the inner ward next to the king, on the side opposite the housecarl. Movement of the templar may be similar to the movement of the queen in traditional chess. In some examples, the templar may move in any direction in a straight line, up until it reaches another game piece. In other examples, the templar may move through other game pieces on the board onto an open space. The templar and it's movement are shown in FIG. 4.
- Lancer—each player may begin with two lancers. The lancers may be positioned initially in the inner ward, on the outermost two spaces away from the king. The movement of each lancer may be similar or identical to the rook in traditional chess. In some examples, the lancer may move in a straight line in any non-diagonal direction for any distance until it reaches another game piece. In other examples, the lancer may move in a straight line in any non-diagonal direction for any distance, including movement through game pieces on the board. The lancer and its movement are illustrated in FIG. 5.
- Archer—each player may begin with two archers. The archers may be positioned initially in the inner ward, on the third outermost two spaces away from the king (next to the templar and housecarl). The movement of each archer may be similar or identical to the bishop in traditional chess. In some examples, the archer may move in a straight line in any diagonal direction for any distance until it reaches another game piece. In other examples, the archer may move in a straight line in any diagonal direction for any distance, including movement through game pieces on the board. In some examples, the archer may also include movement forward toward the middle of the board by one space on the first movement of the archer. The archer and its movement are illustrated in FIG. 6.
- Priest—each player may begin with two priests. The priests may be positioned initially in the inner ward, on the second outermost two spaces away from the king (between the lancers and archers). The movement of each priest may be similar or identical to the horse or knight in traditional chess (e.g., an L shaped movement of one space in a first non-diagonal direction and two spaces at a 90 degree angle from the first movement). In some examples, the priest may jump over pieces in its way, so long as the final space to which it is moving is not occupied by another piece. The priest may also be able to enter both the inner and outer ward of the opposing player in a single turn. The priest may be the only piece with this ability. Further, the priest may be camouflaged to blend in with the playing surface of the board. The priest and its movement are illustrated in FIG. 7.
- Sentry—each player may begin with 8 sentries. The sentries may be positioned initially in the outer ward, leaving the center most space un occupied (i.e., the space immediately in front of the king). The movement of each sentry may be similar to the pawn in traditional chess. However the sentry may include additional movements. The Sentry may move, subject to opponent wall restrictions, two spaces forward per turn. The Sentry may attack an opposing piece one space directly forward, but only when the Sentry is attacking from within the outer ward of his own Castle. The Sentry may make one-space lateral movements within its own Castle. Further, the sentry may take an opponent who hops two spaces to his side (e.g., an opposing Sentry moving two spaced forward offset by one row). The Sentry may move diagonally one space to take the opposing Sentry. This movement may be called “En Passant”. All other Chess Pawn movement restrictions may apply. The sentry and its movements are illustrated in FIG. 8.
An additional move called the “castle” may be carried out under certain circumstances. The “castle” move may be carried out before either the Archer of Lancer on one side of the board have been moved, and after the Priest on the same side has moved out of its starting position, such that the space between the Archer and Lancer of the same side of the King is vacant. The “castle” move includes moving the Archer to the empty position between the Archer and the Lancer (i.e., the Priest starting position), and moving the Lancer to the Archer's starting position. The “castle” move may be performed on both sides of the board if desired.
Each piece can move backward into its own castle without any problem, assuming that movement restrictions specific to each piece are applied. Each piece also can only move into one ward of an opponent per move (either from the center of the board into the outer ward, or from the outer ward into the inner ward).
FIG. 9 illustrates the movement of sentries near the opponent's wall, and the feature that any sentry that enters the outer ward of the opponent can be promoted, similar or identical to the promotion that occurs in traditional chess when a pawn reaches the opponents end of the board.
FIG. 11 illustrates the regions of the game board (e.g., inner ward, outer ward, and theatre), as well as an example starting position for each game piece.
FIG. 1 also illustrates that the rows of the game board of the inner ward and outer ward may be raised, or at a different elevation than the center rows. Further, there may be a physical wall or border delineating the inner and outer wards. There may also be raised portions making up the sides of the game board, which may or may not include spaces on which game pieces may be positioned during game play.
Some examples may include physically providing the game board and/or pieces so as to enable players to physically move the pieces around the game board during play. However it should be noted that some embodiments may include providing the ability to play the modified chess game disclosed herein on a computing device. The methods and embodiments disclosed herein may be carried out on a smartphone, tablet, computer, or other computing device having a display and a user interface. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the concepts disclosed herein may be readily applied in a computing device context to allow players either physically together or remote from each other to play the modified chess game.
In some examples, the game board may be assembled in a particular manner. A sex step process of assembling the game board is shown in FIGS. 10A-F. In one example, two pieces of material (material 1 and material 2) may be selected such that they have different colors. The materials may be the same (e.g., wood, plastic, etc.) however they may be selected such that one is light colored and the other is dark.
The first and second materials may be cut longitudinally in step two, shown in FIG. 10B, in order to create a plurality of narrow strips of the first and second materials. Step 3, shown in FIG. 10C, may include sequencing the first and second materials such that they alternate between the first material and the second material. The strips may be joined together in any suitable manner, including mechanical components (e.g., nails, screws, etc.) as well as glues or other adhesives.
In step 4, shown in FIG. 10D, the combined material from step 3 may be cut perpendicular to the direction of the strips, to create a plurality of squares, rectangles, or other such shapes alternating between the first material and the second material.
In step 5, shown in FIG. 10E, the strips from step 4 may be rotated such that adjacent strips have opposite positioning of the first and second materials.
In step 6, shown in FIG. 10F, the strips of step 5 may then be affixed to each other in a manner similar or identical to step 3. In some examples, the outermost strips may be raised slightly with respect to adjacent strips, so as to create the inner and outer wards described herein. In addition, some examples may include affixing a raised wall to a top or bottom of one or more of the strips, or between two strips so as to defined the inner and outer wards as described herein.
It should be understood that the descriptions, examples, methods, and other disclosure provided herein show possible examples of implementations and merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without substantially departing from the spirit and principles of the techniques described herein. All modifications are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
Patent Application
20210008442
