Patent Application
20230132226
The present invention relates to games and methods of playing them and, more particularly, to a strategy game wherein each player has slightly different rules of play and the formation of the playable area is changeable between games.
In the strategy game space, current strategy games limit the number of viable strategies by applying the same set of rules to all players and using a monolithic, unchanging play area. As a result, players of equal skill are likely to come up with the same strategies, which in turn leads to stalemates, the feeling that the game is played out, and/or the feeling that the outcome is determined almost completely by luck or arbitrary (e.g., whomever starts first is more apt to win) as opposed to skill and strategy. Moreover, current strategy games also play roughly the same as the playable area is the same, game to game regardless of what board they are put on as; current games also do not take the shape of tiles into account in the rules or defining the playable area.
As can be seen, there is a need for a strategy game wherein each player has different rules of play, and wherein the playable area can be customized in innumerable arrangements as a function of the different polygon shapes of each of a plurality of game tiles that define the playable area, and thereby each unique playable area defines a unique gameplay configuration.
The ruleset for the game of the present invention is intended to entertain, first and foremost. This game presents different rules to different players to create a wider variety of viable strategies, thereby the present invention fills a gap in the strategy games market with never-before-seen gameplay.
The present invention also accounts for how game tiles interact with each other; specifically, the playable area is defined by innumerable mutable tessellation of game tiles. As a result, two different configurations or tessellations of the playable area most likely engender different effective strategies of the game. Accordingly, during some play action — for instance, during combat sequences of a two-player war game — the play action possibilities change as a function of the tessellation or contiguous arrangement all of the tiles.
In one aspect of the present invention, a game system including the following: ten or more tiles, each tile being planar and having a playing surface defined by a polygon; a plurality of first pieces; a plurality of second pieces; a set of first rules only applicable to the plurality of first pieces; a set of second rules only applicable to the plurality of second pieces; and an instruction consisting of each tile of the ten or more tiles being forming a contiguous relationship with at least two other tiles of the ten or more tiles.
In another aspect of the present invention, a tile game system includes the following: ten or more tiles, each tile having a playing surface defined by a polygon; a plurality of first pieces; a plurality of second pieces; a first set of rules only applicable to the plurality of first pieces; a second set of rules only applicable to the plurality of second pieces; and a precondition of applying the first and second set of rules, wherein the precondition comprises a tessellation of the ten or more tiles, wherein said tessellation is defined by a contiguous relationship between each tile and at least two other tiles of the ten or more tiles.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, the tile game system includes the following: wherein each tile define the polygon by edges, and wherein said contiguous relationship is defined by an abutment or an adjacency of edges of two tiles, wherein each tile provides one of a plurality of game play indicia, wherein the first and second set of rules enable the first and second pieces to traverse the playing surfaces of all but one of the plurality of game play indicia; and a gameboard defined by a perimeter, wherein a portion of the perimeter defines a bounds of the tessellation.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a strategy game embodied in a tile game system. The tile game system may have a plurality of game tiles, wherein each game tile has a polygon shape that may be different than the remaining plurality of game tiles, wherein each playable area is defined by contiguously placing the plurality of game tiles along a gameboard. Each player has different rules of play that combined with the different customizable playable areas provides a plurality of unique gameplay configurations that alters strategies from game to game.
In one embodiment, the plurality of game tiles 16, provided in various sizes shapes, can be abutted along their edges to form a continuous playing surface along gameboard 20. Each game tile 16 is typically planar (i.e., have a thickness at least one-thirds its length or width), and has a unique shape — relative to the remaining game tiles 16. The shape as used herein is understood to be the surface area of the game tile 16 (as it is otherwise planar), wherein the surface area shape is defined by a unique arrangement of sides — i.e., a plane figure with a plurality of sides — or polygon. Most game tiles 16 are quadrilaterals (four-sided polygon), through three-sided polygons and five-sided or more polygons are possible. The edges or sides of each game tile 16 should be contiguous with another side edge of an adjacent game tile 16 when customizing the playable area 50, with the exceptions of the boundary game tiles 17. In one embodiment, boundary game tiles 17 has one of their side edges generally aligns with one of the edges 21 of the gameboard 20, as illustrated in
As shown in
In certain embodiments, the tiles 16 of the present disclosure can include other shapes having non-linear sides (e.g., curves), a mixture of linear and non-linear sides, and can be three dimensional (e.g., not being a flat tile).
As shown in
The offensive player musters the plurality of offensive game pieces 12 and places them along the L tile pieces 16. While the defensive player musters the plurality of defensive game pieces 14 and places them along the WALL and C tiles 16 and the one CITADEL tile 16. The game is won by the defensive player if all of the janissary pieces 12 have been removed from play, and the offensive player wins if they capture the CITADEL tile 16 or all of the plurality of defensive pieces 14 have been removed from play.
The game may begin with the offensive player placing all of their pieces 12 onto the playable area 50. The offensive player may only place pieces onto L tiles 16. Afterwards, the defensive player places all of their pieces 14 onto the playable area 50. The defensive player may only place pieces on C tiles 16 or the CITADEL tile 16. No piece may start on a W tile 16, though pieces can move onto the W tile 16 during the course of the game play. At no time may a piece be on a WALL tile 16.
After the pieces 12 and 14 have been placed, the two sides (the offensive and defensive players) take turns moving pieces 12 and 14, respectively, starting with the offensive player. Pieces 12 and 14 are allowed to move onto any tile 16 that shares a side with — is contiguous with — the tile 26 the piece is currently on (i.e., players are not allowed to move to a tile 16 that only meets at a point). The offensive player must move one janissary piece 12 and one artillery piece 12 on their turn. Janissary pieces 12 are allowed to hop over an adjacent Artillery piece 12 and land in any tile 16 adjacent to the artillery piece 12. Janissary pieces 12 can only hop over one artillery piece 12 at a time, and an artillery piece 12 may not hop over one another. Janissary pieces 12 can also stack on top of fellow janissary pieces 12 to a max of four on one tile 16. Once stacked, they may move together as one unit, or only a few can be moved while leaving others behind.
The defensive player must move one piece (either an Infantry or a cataphract piece 14) every turn. The cataphract piece 14, however, is allowed to move across points and switch places with an ally piece on an adjacent (contiguous) tile 16. A player must move a piece on their turn.
Combat is initiated when a piece is moved onto a tile 16 occupied by an enemy. Artillery may never attack, but it can be attacked. When combat is initiated, both sides roll dice, and the higher number wins the battle. If the one who attacked wins the battle, the loser is removed from play and the winner moves onto the now unoccupied tile. If the one being attacked wins, the attacker returns to their tile 16 and nothing happens.
Stacked janissary pieces 12 roll a number of dice equal to the amount of janissary pieces 12 in the stack. Cataphracts pieces 14 may roll three times. If a janissary pieces 12 (or stack thereof) hops over an artillery piece 12 to attack and wins, it takes the tile like normal. If a single janissary piece 12 loses, it returns to the tile 16 it originally came from. If a janissary stack attacks a piece and loses, both in a normal attack or an attack by jumping over an artillery piece, it returns to its original tile 16 and loses one piece from the stack.
If there are multiple pieces surrounding an enemy when an attack is initiated (again, tiles 16 that meet only at a point are not considered adjacent), then the attacker is awarded a flanking bonus, which allows them to roll and eight-sided die instead of a six-sided one. Artillery counts towards the flanking bonus. WALL tiles 16 count towards the flanking bonus, but only for the defensive player. Flanking bonus applies only if the requirements for flanking are met (that there are two or more pieces of the attacking side adjacent to the target of the attack). The rules for number of dice rolls remain the same.
If two pieces engage in combat, but one piece is on the water (W tile 16) and the other piece is on land (the L tile 16), the piece on land receives the eight-sided die 18, regardless of whether it is attacking or defending. Water bonus is also applied only when the requirements are met (two pieces engage in combat but one piece is on land and another is on water). These are the only time the eight-sided dice are used. Otherwise, six-sided dice are always used.
Once per game, so long as there are no defense pieces 14 outside the city, the offense can call for reinforcements. All offensive pieces previously removed from play are brought back onto the field. This can only be done once per game. The Offense may not move any pieces on the turn reinforcements are called. Reinforcements must be placed on land tiles bordering the edge of the board.
By using the above-mentioned components and using them in accordance with the above-mentioned rules 30 the strategy game system 10 can be played in a way completely different from other games. The rules are crucial and are required, however many things could be tweaked slightly. The maximum stack number, the amount of flanking bonuses, adding additional rules for where pieces can start the game, and any other small tweak that keeps the rules largely the same could be implemented for better balancing and gameplay. In sum, a player would play the game with another person using the components and rules listed above to have fun and to simulate strategic thinking.
Additionally, while the design and rules listed above are intended for a board game, the same principles could easily be transferred to a video game.
The words “about,” “approximately,” or the like, when accompanying a numerical value, are to be construed as indicating a deviation as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for an intended purpose. Ranges of values and/or numeric values are provided herein as examples only, and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of the described embodiments. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (“e.g.,” “such as,” or the like) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the embodiments or the claims. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any unclaimed element as essential to the practice of the disclosed embodiments. In the following description, it is understood that terms such as “first,” “second,” “top,” “bottom,” “up,” “down,” and the like, are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms unless specifically stated to the contrary.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
