1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a game board. More particularly, it relates to a novel six fold game board.
2. State of the Art
Historically, the packaging of board games prior to the early 1980's was, in the main, based on the concept of a single fold game board packaged with the playing pieces, accessories and instructions in a large box (e.g., the Monopoly® game board). Mindful perhaps of costing and to be different, Trivial Pursuit® was one of the first, if not the first, to introduce a four fold game board. This change/saving of size was further developed in the later 1980's with the Pictionary® three fold board—presumably again to be both cost effective and to offer a new packaging design.
The last decade has also seen many changes in the games industry that adversely affect sales of traditional board games. Specifically, the emergence of challenges from electronic games and online gaming has had a significant impact in the games industry.
Today, as a result of the growing popularity of the CD disk and the introduction of the DVD, and their utilization in the games industry via, e.g., Play Stations® and Nintendo Wii's® game consoles, the market share of traditionally packaged board games has diminished. More worryingly in the past two years is the steady increase in the direct cost of raw materials, transport and wage costs—and the additional sales taxes these add to the final retail or shelf prices of board games.
Today, traditional board games are also considered too big and bulky to have in modern smaller apartments and starter homes where storage space is often limited. They look out of place on coffee tables, taking up too much room when not in use and appear bulky on shelves. Also it is difficult to transport board games to functions such as family gatherings, etc., because the game is too big and bulky and travel versions of the game are typically too small and don't employ a board. The opposite is true with electronic games provided with CD's and/or DVD's. These games are easy to store on the readily available CD/DVD racks and the like, which enables the games to be stored in full view and readily accessible for impromptu use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel, six fold game board which affords an innovative multi-fold game board design.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a multi-fold game board which reduces manufacturing and material costs, significantly reduces packaging volume and waste and is more eco-friendly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a novel multi-fold game board which can be folded to a compact size, thereby reducing required storage space in both transport and at the point of sale, i.e., it significantly reduces the required product shelf space in retail stores.
It is of more particular object of the present invention to provide such a novel multi-fold game board which can be folded to allow it to be stored and made available in a manner comparable to CD's or DVD games and which would still allow the playing of a game in the traditional game board manner.
More particularly, it is the object of the present invention to provide such a novel six fold game board that folds flat to a size equivalent to the size of an industry standard DVD case.
Certain of the foregoing and related objects are readily attained according to the present invention by the provision of a six fold game board comprising six generally rectangular flat panels of generally equal size serially arranged in pairs disposed adjacent to one another to define two outer pairs and one inner pair, said panels of said inner pair being joined by a fold line and said panels of said outer pair each being separated by a slit and with each panel of said outer pairs each being connected to an adjacent panel of the inner pair by a fold line, whereby the outer panels can be folded over the adjacent inner panels and the inner panels can subsequently be folded over one another to define a folded game board having a width and length generally equal to the dimensions of one of said rectangular panels.
Preferably, the game board panels are generally square shaped. Most desirably, the panels have an approximate size of 6.69 in.×4.72 in.
Certain of the foregoing and related objects are also attained according to the present invention by the provision of a method for folding a six fold game board of the type described above, comprising the steps of folding one of the panels of each outer pair over the adjacent panel of the inner pair; folding the other of the panels of each outer pair over the previously folded one panel of the respective outer pair to produce a partially-folded game board composed of two three-ply panels connected to one another via the fold line joining said inner pair of panels; and folding one of said three-ply panels over said other of said three-ply panels to produce a folded game board having a width and length equal to the dimension of one of said rectangular panels.
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Turning now in detail to the drawings, therein illustrated are two embodiments of a novel six fold game board embodying the present invention.
More particularly, as seen in
A second embodiment of the invention is shown in
As a result of the foregoing construction, the six fold game board of
As noted above, the game board panels are generally rectangular in shape and are dimensioned so as be generally equivalent to an industry standard size of a DVD (6.69 in.×4.72 in.). When opened, this results in a fully opened game board, having dimensions of approximately 14.78 in.×14.88 in. In this DVD concept size, the cost savings factor is believed to achieve approximately a 35% reduction in manufacturing, transportation and material costs.
Various modifications can be made as will apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, although the panels are preferably rectangular, they could be square shaped. In addition, although the size of the panels are specifically geared to the industry standard size of a DVD box, other dimensions might be more suitable for a particular application. In addition, the order of folding of the panels to form the three-ply panel subassemblies can be changed and the panels can be possibly designed to be reversibly folded for some applications. Thus, while only several embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many changes and modification may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application is being filed concurrently with U.S. Design patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled “SIX FOLD GAME BOARD”, filed on Jul. 10, 2008.