Patent Application
20050225031
This invention relates to the field of trivia board games. More particularly, a Road to Hollywood™ Board Game is presented in which players move along a pathway from the State of Maine to Hollywood advancing by discreet frames or squares by answering trivia questions about movies.
Many board games involving movie trivia exist in the prior art. The most popular of these board games is Trivial Pursuit®, in which opposite teams of players answer trivia questions concerning movies, sports, history, literature and other fields.
Still other games focus entirely on answering questions about movies. As an example of a movie question based board game, U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,928, issued to Salerno-Sonneberg, discloses a question and answer board game in which separate stacks of cards correspond to separate movie categories. The stacks of cards are divided into five different categories of movies. Each card in the stack has at least one quote from a movie in the title of the movie in that category. Correctly answering questions concerning a quote from a movie and the movie's title allows players to advance. An additional feature not disclosed or suggested in the Salerno-Sonneberg patent would be to include the name of the actor who said the quote and the date of release of the movie. It has been found that adding these additional features makes a movie-based trivia game more challenging. It is an object of this invention to provide a board game based not only on movie quotes and titles, but also on further details, for example, the name of the actor or actress who uttered the quote and the year of release of the movie.
Other board games have been developed which include a simulated travel across the United States. An example of that type of board game is disclosed in the 1995 U.S. Patent issued to Terlinden, U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,140. The Terlinden game board provides a geopolitical map of the United States with a number of playing positions stretched across the United States. Conditions for winning the game require a player to have a positive fiscal balance and to achieve the exact number of spaces required to hit the finishing position. While the Terlinden patent discloses simulated travel across the United States on a game board, it does not specifically focus on the ending point of Hollywood, Calif., nor does it require a player or team to answer trivia questions about movies to advance.
It is another object of this invention to provide a movie-based game board wherein the participants begin in Maine and meander throughout the United States arriving in Hollywood by answering questions about movies to advance their playing pieces.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a game board based on movies which also includes the birth places of famous actors or actresses which are encountered as the players progress throughout the pathway leading to Hollywood.
Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the below described specification.
A game board is presented which includes a graphic depiction of the United States, divided into the States of the Union. Layered on top of the map of the United States is a simulated reel of film, partially unwound, weaving a path throughout the United States, beginning in Maine, traversing the Continent, and ending in Hollywood, Calif. The simulated reel of film is divided into discreet frames or squares. Players begin in Maine with an object of advancing the through a number of frames or squares to reach Hollywood. Players advance their pieces by correctly answering questions concerning movies drawn from a series of game cards. Special Oscar squares are provided which allow players to draw from another stack of cards having instructions on movement of the pieces either towards the beginning (Maine) or towards the goal (Hollywood). The game ends when one team reaches Hollywood and correctly answers all four questions contained on the game cards.
A movie game board is provided. The game board has on it a geopolitical map of the United States of America, divided into states. Located in several states are designations noting the birthplaces of famous actors or actresses. For example, in a frame located over the State of Florida is a designation of Actress Faye Dunaway's birthplace. Located in a frame over the State of Oklahoma is a designation of Actor Brad Pitt's birthplace. The birthplaces are used in conjunction with the Oscar® cards.
Layered on top of the United States geopolitical gameboard is a reel of simulated film, attached to a circular reel that is located near the State of Maine on the upper right corner of the gameboard. The film weaves or meanders through the United States in an irregular path generally down the Eastern Seaboard to Florida, then up to the Great Lakes, down to Louisiana, back up to the Dakotas, down to Texas, up to Montana, back down to Arizona, up to Washington, then down to Hollywood, Calif. It is to be appreciated that this meandering simulated strip of film may be located in many states and may take many different designs and pathways. However, the general zigzag direction of the film as described above is preferred, since it allows the simulated filmstrip to cross many different states and also provides many different frames or squares upon which the players must advance.
The simulated filmstrip is divided into frames, or squares, upon which the player's token pieces must travel. A player's or team's token will be moved from Maine to Hollywood, Calif. a frame or a square at a time, depending upon the player or team supplying correct answers to a number of movie trivia game cards.
Located along the filmstrip route from Maine to Hollywood are various markers indicating the birthplace of famous actors like Jack Nicholson (New Jersey) or Debbie Reynolds (New Mexico). These birthplaces are provided for the player's entertainment, enjoyment, and information and also are part of the competitive nature of the game.
Also located on certain selected frames or spaces on the roll of film are stars, indicating that a player who lands on that particularly frame should draw from a set of Oscar® cards. Oscar® cards direct the players to either advance their tokens toward Hollywood or move their tokens backwards towards the start of the game in Maine. The use of the Oscar cards will be explained in the context of the game later in the specification.
A first set of quote cards is also provided. The quote cards reveal the movie category, including, for example, action/adventure, drama/mystery, science fiction/horror, comedy/western, and musical/children. Each card contains a quote from a movie in that card's category. The card also contains information revealing the movie from which the quote is derived, the actor or actress who said the quote, the character name that the actor or actress played in the movie, and the year of release of the movie. It is an object of this game for each player or team to correctly answer as much about the movie as possible in order to advance their token.
To add an element of luck and drama to the game, a second set of Oscar® cards is included. The Oscar® cards would include instructions for specific movement of the player's token. The Oscar® cards could direct the player to move ahead four places, to move their token to a particular actor's or actress' birthplace, or to move their token backwards a certain number of spaces.
To begin the game, the participants divide into two teams. Each team selects their own spokesman. It is important in the game to select a spokesman who has the best ability to convey the quotes to their team. It is within the rules for teams to change their spokesman at any time throughout the game after finishing the quote on any particular card.
Once a spokesman is selected, each team selects a limousine play piece and places its limousine play piece on Maine, the beginning of the meandering reel of film. Teams determine who goes first using any method of their own choosing. A team alternates turns regardless of whether they answer the questions on the card correctly or incorrectly.
Once the preliminary matters of selecting the spokesman and placing the play piece at the beginning has been completed, the spokesman for the first team selects a quote card from a first set of cards. The spokesman then tells his team the movie category and reads the quote on the quote card to his team. The spokesman may use impersonations, expressions, gestures, and mannerisms to convey to their team clues concerning the origin of the quote from a particular movie. For example, a spokesman may attempt to imitate the voice of Jimmy Cagney, Greta Garbo or Humphrey Bogart in reading the quote to their team, if that quote came from either of those movie stars. Spokesman can only read what is on the card and cannot add any additional words.
If the team correctly identifies the movie, they move their play piece one frame or square on the filmstrip toward Hollywood. After, and only after, naming the movie the team can move additional bonus squares by naming the actor or actress who said the quote (one frame), the character name of the actor or actress from that movie (one frame), and/or the year of release of the movie (one frame).
If the team does not know the movie after they hear the quote and has not made a guess, they can “bail”. If the team bails, the spokesman can tell the team the actor's or actress' name and the year of release of the movie. The team may then guess the name of the movie. However, once a team “bails”, it can only move two possible squares, first by naming the movie (one frame) and then by naming the character in the movie (one frame).
If after receiving the clue form the spokesman, revealing the actor's or actress' name and the year of release of the movie, the first team still cannot name the movie, the other team's spokesman is then allowed to repeat the quote to his own, second, team.
If the first team did not “bail” then the second team would be able to move their play piece a possible four frames or squares by first naming the movie (one frame), and then the actor or actress (one frame), then the character who uttered the quote (one frame), and/or the year of release (one frame).
If the other, first, team had “bailed” (and had their spokesman give clues to the answers by revealing the actor or actress and the release date) then the second team could only move a possible two frames by first naming the movie and then naming the character in the movie.
If a team “bails” and still cannot name the movie, they must move their limousine back one frame or square as a penalty. It is to be considered that a first team may not always want to “bail” because bailing gives clues to the other team. It is also a part of the rules that a second team cannot “bail” (and give the clues revealing the actor's or actress' name and the release date) on the other team's quote. Answering the other team's quote does not count as the team's turn.
A team cannot “bail” when it is in Hollywood.
Teams proceed in any order as determined at the initial start up of the game and continue until one team reaches Hollywood and answers all four questions on a quote card correctly.
Along the road to Hollywood there are Oscar® frames or squares which are identified by a star on the frame. Once a team lands on an Oscar® square and answers as many questions as possible for a particular quote, the team selects an Oscar® card from a second set of cards and follows the instructions on the card. The Oscar® cards can direct a team to move to a star's birthplace which is designated on the map. The Oscar® cards can also direct the team to move its token forward or backward a certain number of frames or have other instructions. Oscar® cards can thus either advance a team's play piece towards Hollywood or force the team to move their play piece back towards the starting point in Maine.
Certain important rules are included in the game in order to facilitate the orderly progression of the game and the correct sequence for answering the game questions.
The movie title must be correctly identified before any play piece is moved any additional frames. For example, a play piece may not be advanced if a team member correctly identifies the name of the actor who said the quote but cannot first identify the name of the movie.
At times, the quote itself or the movie title directly gives away an answer. When that happens, an additional question will appear on the movie question card relating to that movie or the actors/actresses from the movie. For example, if the quote would be “Some day I, too, will leave Casablanca”, the name of the movie in which those words were uttered (Casablanca) would have been revealed by the quote itself. In such cases, the quote card may include a question, for example, “What was the name of the restaurant owned by the main character in the movie?” (Rick's Café American). The additional question would take the place of the name of the movie.
If part of the character name is contained in a quote or the movie title, a team must give the full name to get credit. For example, if the quote is “Everybody comes to Rick's, eventually”, then the character name could not be simply “Rick”, but must be Richard Blaine, the name of the Humphrey Bogart character in the movie “Casablanca”.
Sometimes the same quote has been repeated in more than one movie. However, in playing this game, it is important to name the movie that made the quote memorable or famous. For example, the movie Casablanca was also heavily relied upon in the parody movie, “Play it Again, Sam”. In case the quote from the card would be “Here's looking at you kid”, the move named must be from the more famous predecessor, “Casablanca”, rather than the parody, “Play it Again, Sam”.
In some instances more than one person in a movie may have mentioned a particular quote. In such cases, it is the spokesman's responsibility to convey to his team the correct answer set out on the card. Further, sometimes the quote may actually be words from a poem or a song, either sung by the actor or actress or lip-synched. In such cases, the correct answer is the actor or actress who actually appears to utter the song in the movie. For example, the correct answer to the singing by Eliza Doolittle in the movie “My Fair Lady” is Audrey Hepburn, not the actress who actually did the singing.
In the case of nearly identical remakes of older movies rather than parodies, if a particular quote was used in each version of the movie, a team can select any version of the movie but all answers must be from that particular version. The answers to different versions will be indicated on the quote card itself However, one must be careful to remember that all quotes are not always the same in remakes.
The game is designed for recreational use by two or more players that are divided into two teams. The teams themselves should decide how accurate the answers must be and how much time to give the other team to answer. Depending upon the players, these parameters may be more or less strict. Teams should not take any notes during the playing of the game.
The game consists of a game board, four play pieces, 2000 quote cards, and Oscar® cards.
Slight variations or different embodiments of this invention are still within the keeping and spirit of this disclosure. However, advancing game tokens throughout the United States by answering quotes, and using other (Oscar®) cards to advance or retard the movement of a play piece specifically directing players to move to movie stars birthplaces are all important elements of this disclosure. Obviously, other embodiments and variations are still within the keeping and spirit of the movie trivia game board disclosed herein.
