Patent Application
20240316446
The present invention relates to puzzle game apparatus, and more particularly to a movable puzzle platform, wherein the puzzle platform is movable with respect to one or more players for allowing the player to move the puzzle platform for placing the puzzle pieces thereon at different planar directions, such that the player does not need to physically travel from side to side of the puzzle platform.
Puzzles are devised over the years and are among the most popular board games generally played alone by an individual. It is well known that puzzles are good for the brain. Studies have shown that playing puzzles can improve cognition and visual-spatial reasoning, and can train concentration and patience.
Other than as a means of entertainment and enjoyment, players would like to challenge themselves by playing higher piece counts of the puzzle. Generally speaking, the higher the piece count, the harder the puzzle is. However, a common drawback or a burden for the player is that the finished size of the puzzles is relatively large. For example, a finished size of 1,000 piece puzzles is about 30″×24″, a finished size of 5,000 piece puzzles is about 60″×40″, and so on. In other words, these puzzles require a relatively large playing surface such as the surface of a table or a puzzle board for putting all the pieces together to form a puzzle figure. Therefore, to play a relatively large puzzle, for example 60″×40″ or more, the side length of the puzzle board is longer than the player's arm length that the player is unable to reach the other sides of the puzzle board, so that the player is required to move around the playing surface to put pieces at different directions and portions near each side of the puzzle board. As a skilled player, the strategies for playing the puzzles are configured for sorting the pieces into groups and assembling the border first. Therefore, the player will need to move from one side of the playing surface to another side thereof to play the puzzles. Furthermore, it could take hours, days or even months to compete a larger scale puzzle. One or more puzzle pieces could be missed accidentally or unintentionally. It is sad that the player usually finds out there is a missing piece at the end. Therefore, how to avoid losing any pieces, it is best to find a container to save all the unfinished pieces.
A need exists for a tool that retains all the unfinished pieces and while allowing the player to conveniently player the puzzle. It is to the provision of such a tool that the present disclosure is primarily directed.
The invention is advantageous in that it provides a movable puzzle platform, wherein the puzzle platform is movable for allowing a player to conveniently play the puzzles.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform, wherein the player is able to move the puzzle platform for placing the puzzle pieces thereon at different planar directions, such that the player does not need to physically travel from side to side of the puzzle platform.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform, wherein the player is allow to move a desired portion of the platform to be in front of the player for putting the designated puzzle thereon in a handy manner. In other words, the invention allows the player to move the puzzle platform rather than the player moves around the puzzle platform.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform, wherein the puzzle platform can be selectively and smoothly moved front-and-back, sideward, and in 360° rotations.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform including a supplement arrangement, wherein the unfinished puzzle pieces can be stored in the supplement arrangement to prevent the puzzle pieces being lost or missed accidentally or unintentionally.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform with a supplement arrangement, wherein the supplement arrangement is held in the puzzle platform to prevent any unwanted access of the supplement arrangement especially when moving the puzzle platform.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform, wherein the operation is simple and easy by moving and/or rotating the puzzle platform on the playing surface.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform, wherein the assembly of the movable puzzle platform is simple by coupling a board accessible unit at a bottom surface of a puzzle board of the puzzle platform.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform, which can be packed with the puzzle pieces to form a puzzle game kit, such that the puzzle platform serves as a puzzle frame for framing the puzzle pieces once the puzzle pieces are completed.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform with a supplement arrangement which includes one or more section puzzle boards each configured for the player to put a group of puzzle pieces together to preassemble a section of the puzzle figure that may also stored in the movable puzzle platform before putting on the main puzzle board.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a movable puzzle platform, wherein no expensive or complicated structure is required to employ the present invention in order to achieve the above mentioned objectives. Therefore, the present invention successfully provides an economic and efficient solution to create a convenient playing tool for the user to play the puzzle pieces, especially the large scale puzzle.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows, and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a movable puzzle platform for placing a plurality of puzzle pieces thereon, comprising:
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the present invention comprises a puzzle game kit, comprising:
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings. These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
The following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Referring to
As shown in
The board accessible unit 20 is coupled at the bottom surface 11 of the puzzle board 10 and configured for allowing the puzzle board 10 sliding on the playing surface, wherein the board accessible unit 20 provides accessibility for the puzzle board 10 to move the puzzle board 10 at different planar directions with respect to the playing surface.
The puzzle board 10 can be circular, square or rectangular shape. According to the preferred embodiment as shown in
As shown in
It is appreciated that electronic puzzle game is provided as software or APP that the user or player can play the puzzle game with a display such as a TV screen, LED screen or computer monitor. However, the player may generally use a smaller screen to play because a relatively larger screen such as 50″ or more TV screen supported on a playing surface is difficult for the player to reach all sizes of the screen. In one alternative embodiment, the puzzle board 10 can be embodied as an electronic screen, such as a TV display or LED screen, and the top surface 12 is the screen surface that serves as puzzle floor for the player to select and put puzzle piece images together, wherein the board accessible unit 20 is mounted to the bottom of the electronic puzzle board 10 for allowing the electronic puzzle board 10 to smoothly slide on the playing surface that provides accessibility for moving the electronic puzzle board 10 at different planar directions with respect to the playing surface.
As shown in
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the puzzle board 10 is adapted for being self-rotated 360° on the playing surface via a rotation movement between the first and second moving members 21, 22. In other words, the user is able to selectively rotate the puzzle board 10 from one longitudinal side to another opposed longitudinal side or to any one of the shorter transverse sides without walking around the puzzle board 10. For example, the user is able to assemble one puzzle piece 100 at one side of the puzzle board 10 and to rotate the puzzle board 10 at 180° in order to assembly another puzzle piece 100 at an opposed side of the puzzle board 10, so as to speed up the assembling time of the puzzle pieces 100.
In one embodiment, the first and second moving members 21, 22 are first and second ring members respectively coaxially engaged with each other. In other words, a diabase 40er of the first moving member 21 is smaller than a diabase 40er of the second moving member 22. The board accessible unit 20 comprises further comprises a first bearing unit 23 coupled between the first and second moving members 21, 22, such that when the first moving member 21, i.e. the first ring member, is rotated within the second moving member 22, i.e. the second ring member, the puzzle board 10 is self-rotated 360° on the playing surface. Particularly, an outer circumferential surface of the first moving member 21 is engaged with an inner circumferential surface of the second moving member 22 via the first bearing unit 23 to enable the second moving member 22 being coaxially rotated with respect to the first moving member 21. In one embodiment, the first bearing unit 23 is constructed to have a holding ring and a plurality of ball bearings spacedly retained at the holding ring in a rotatable manner, such that when the holding ring is coaxially held between the first and second moving members 21, 22, the ball bearings are rotatably sandwiched between the first and second moving members 21, 22 so as to enable the first and second moving members 21, 22 being coaxially moved with each other.
The board accessible unit 20 further comprises a second bearing unit 24 provided at a bottom side of the second moving member 22 for sliding the puzzle board 10 on the playing surface at different planar directions via the second moving member 22. Accordingly, assumed that the playing surface defines xyz axis. Via the second bearing unit 24 at the second moving member 22, the puzzle board 10 is able to selectively slide on the playing surface at any direction with respect to the xy coordinate surface. Via the first bearing unit 23, the puzzle board 10 is able to selectively rotate on the playing surface with respect to z axis. In other words, the puzzle board 10 is able to freely move at two-dimensional direction, so as to adjust the planer angle of the puzzle board 10 with respect to the user. The first moving member 21 comprises a first flat base 211 and a first rolling surface 212 arranged along the first flat base 211. The first rolling surface 212 is curved towards the first flat base 211. The first bearing unit 23 is partly overlapped with the first flat base 211 in a thickness direction of the board accessible unit 20. The second moving member 22 comprises a second flat base 213 and a protrusion 214 protruded from the second flat base 213 toward the first moving member 21 for engaging with the first bearing unit 23, a recess 215 extending from the second flat base 213 towards the first moving member 21 for dividing the second flat base 213 into a first part 216 and a second part 217. The area of the first part 216 is substantially greater that of the second part 217. The first bearing unit 23 is partly overlapped with the first part 216 of the second flat base 213.
In one embodiment, the board accessible unit 20 is detachably coupled at the bottom surface 11 of the puzzle board 10. As shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
As shown in
According to the preferred embodiment, the drawer cavities 31 are formed at the transverse sides of the puzzle board 10 respectively. Particularly, two drawer cavities 31 are spacedly formed at each of the transverse sides of the puzzle board 10. In other words, two puzzle drawers 32 are slidably coupled at each of the transverse sides of the puzzle board 10. Therefore, four puzzle drawers 32 are slidably coupled at the transverse sides of the puzzle board 10. It is worth mentioning that each puzzle drawer 32 is independently actuated to slide in-and-out of the corresponding drawer cavity 31. Since the puzzle drawers 32 are slidably coupled at the transverse sides of the puzzle board 10, each puzzle drawer 32 is relatively long enough and each drawer cavity 31 is deep enough to retain the puzzle drawer 32 therein so as to prevent the puzzle drawer 32 being slid out of the drawer cavity 31 accidentally or unintentionally when moving the puzzle board 10 on the playing surface. Accordingly, a length of each puzzle drawer is slightly smaller than half of the length of the puzzle board 10 between the transverse sides thereof.
The supplement arrangement 30 further comprises a drawer holder 33 provided at the puzzle board 10 to retain the puzzle drawers 32 in the drawer cavities 31 respectively. In one embodiment, the drawer holder 33 comprises a first magnetic element 331 provided at an inner wall of the drawer cavity 31 and a second magnetic element 332 provided at the puzzle drawer 32 to magnetically attract with the first magnetic element 331 so as to retain the puzzle drawer 32 in the drawer cavity 31. Due to the magnetically attracting force between the first and second magnetic elements 331, 332, the puzzle drawers 32 are held within the drawer cavities 31 respectively to prevent the puzzle drawer 32 being slid out of the drawer cavity 31 accidentally or unintentionally when moving the puzzle board 10 on the playing surface. When a pulling force is applied at one of the puzzle drawers 32 to overcome the magnetically attracting force, the puzzle drawer 32 can be pulled and slid out of the drawer cavity 31.
As shown in
In one application, as shown in
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202111131554.1 | Sep 2021 | CN | national |
| 202122334815.1 | Sep 2021 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/541,685 filed on Dec. 15, 2023, and a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/505,587 filed on Oct. 19, 2021 which claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application Nos. 2021111315541 and 2021223348151 filed on Sep. 26, 2021, the contents of each of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 18541685 | Dec 2023 | US |
| Child | 18732602 | US | |
| Parent | 17505587 | Oct 2021 | US |
| Child | 18541685 | US |
