Patent Application
20070267814
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
The present invention takes the form of the means and methods for a board game that allows a number of competing players to individually move his or her token around a marked and spaced board surface, according to the number of spaces a token may move during one's turn of play and as assigned by a chance device. Upon landing upon one of the board's marked spaces, one is allowed to undertake, as dictated in part by the nature of the marked space landed upon, various entrepreneur endeavors of the player's choice and which are often unique to a specific urban environment which can be selected as the locale for the game's setting.
For example, a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the configuration of the game's board surface so that it reflects what can be described as an “inner city” culture and where the types of entrepreneur or business endeavors available to such “inner city” residents include: (a) “connect” with a buyer found in a chosen neighborhood to sell specified merchandize that was bought from a wholesale, (a) take a “street risk” by trying to resell merchandize bought on the street, (c) organize and conduct an “event or party” for which attendees must pay an admission charge, (d) “gamble” and (b) buy and operate an established, ongoing “street” business.
The object of the game is to determine who among the players can accumulate the greatest wealth or number of points as a result of their chosen endeavors.
Representative identities given to these marked spaces include: (a) the names of a specific city's streets, along with a given point or money value for the respective streets, (b) the names of the city's communities, (c) the names of the city's parks, (d) the names of the city's key transit stations, and (e) named locations where specific actions can be taken (e.g., entrepreneurship endeavors, purchase of services, penalties imposed, or one may simple rest). See
Some of the writings on these marked spaces 4 are distinctive and provide information that is an essential part of the operational mechanics of playing the present invention. These writings and their significance will be explained in the later discussion of the rules for playing the present invention.
Other elements of this game are shown in
These elements include: a player's representative token 12 or piece which has a specific number from 4 to 11 assigned to it and that is moved by a player from space to space about the board 2, some form or currency 14 (e.g., play money or numbered chips) that is used by the players to conduct various business endeavors, pay service fees and fines, etc. during the course of the game, a first chance device 16 (e.g., pair of dice) whose use determines how many spaces on the board a player's token may move during each of a player's turns to participate, a second chance device 18 such as a specialized “profit” cube or dice, with face markings such as “triple return,” “double return,” “robbed,” “no profit,” “go to jail,” “$10,000,” that a player uses to determine the payoff on a specific “street risk” taken by the player, a number of copies of the same, two-sided, “business inventory card” 20 which determines the value or cost of value of various street businesses that can be located on specified of streets which appear on the board's surface, a collection of “street risk” cards 22 that have written on them the outcome of a specific street risk taken by a player, a collection of “connection” cards 24 that have written on them the cost of the various types of merchandize that a player can purchase from reputable distributors for resell in the cities various communities, a collection of specialty cards 26 for specialty service business endeavors that do not require one involved in the endeavors to keep hours at a specific location (e.g., vending machine supplier 26a, event organizer 26b) and having written upon them the monies to be collect for performing the prescribed services, a collection of transportation cards 28 which entitle the holder of one of such the card to specified transportation services, a collection of various types of “street business” cards 30 that represent an assortment of ongoing businesses that can be purchased and operated by the individual game players, with these cards having written upon them the cost or point value of operating each of the respective businesses, and a collection of ‘street business’ checks 32 which have various monetary values that are printed are the front of these checks.
An examination of the “connection” 24 and “street business” cards 30 reveal that their design and the writings on them reflect the business opportunities that are perceived to exist for many “inner city” residents (i.e., the urban environment that serves as the background or setting for a preferred embodiment of the present invention is one where “inner city” residents would live). One reason for this configuration was to attempt to try to increase the interest level of potential board game players.
Examples of the types of goods listed on the “connection” cards 24 that can be bought and sold through a “connection” with an “inner city” setting for a preferred embodiment of the present board game include: tee shirts, boots, sweat suits, video games, CDs, DVDs, fruits, vegetables, bottles of water, candy & snacks, sport watches, stereo equipment, clothing, and jewelry.
Examples of the “street businesses” and their corresponding cards 30 that are a part of a preferred embodiment of this board game include: corner store 30a, liquor store 30b, beauty salon 30d, barber shop, bail bond business, car wash 30c, tattoo shop, nail salon, carry-out food restaurant, pawn shop, cleaners, record shop, coffee shop, automobile repair shop, footwear store, clothing store, day care center, bar & lounge, tanning salon, massage parlor, funeral home, fitness center, pool hall, and night club.
The board setup and the initial organization of the game are relatively simple. A pile is made of both the individual “connection” 24 and ““street risk” 22 cards. These individual piles, with the cards oriented face-down, are then placed on one of the trapezoidal shaped areas of the board's surface so that they are easily accessible (i.e., within arm's reach) by all the players who are assumed to be sitting around the board's perimeter. Similar piles are made for the “business 30,” “specialty 26,” and “transportation 28” cards, with these cards oriented face-up, and placed on other of the board's trapezoidal areas. One of the players agrees to, in addition to playing the game, manage the affairs of an assumed Bank that initially holds the excess play money 14 and other elements of the game.
The individual players select or have assigned to them one of the tokens 12 and then place his/her token on the designated colored space which is the assigned point on the board from which that player will make an initial move (e.g., number the colored spaces the same as numbers assigned to the tokens; have the players assigned a token number by the chance device; then have the players play in turn according to their token's number, with, for example, the lowest numbered token moving first—alternatively, dice can be rolled to determine who moves first, etc.). Each player is initially given a specified amount of seed money or capital (e.g., $2,500) and a business inventory card 20.
The players then take turns using the chance device 16 to determine how many spaces on the board a player may move his/her token. The movement of a player's token is not restricted to be in any one direction (e.g., clockwise). It may move up, down or sideways as it passes from one marked space to another adjoining marked space. The only exception to such movement being when a player's token arrives at a space that is identified as being a transit stop. Here, the player may purchase a transit pass, or use a previously acquired transportation card 28, to transfer to any other transit stop on the board and “possibly” continue the token's space jumping until all of its identified number of moves have been expended.
Note that in the previous sentence it was indicated that a player could “possibly” continue to move his/her token. The reason for indicating “possibly” is that a player is not required to move his/her token the maximum number of spaces indicated by the number given by the chance device when it's that player's turn to move. A player may elect to land on or arrive at a desired marked space which can be reached by not having to use all of allowed moves (e.g., one rolls a 7 on a pair of dice, and is then allowed to move any number of spaces between 1 to 7).
Where a player moves his token will depend on how the player wishes to try to make his/her money. This is determined by the nature of the space (e.g., “connect,” “street risk,” “vending,” “promoting,” “gambling”) to which one elects to move his/her token.
For example, to make a “connection,” one must move his/her token to a space marked “connect” 34. See
What a player can acquire is dictated by the player selecting from the various options that are presented in writing on the “connection” card which he/she previously took from the top of the pile of such cards (e.g., select to sell $1,000 worth of white & black tee shirts 38 from the connection card marked “clothing/shoes,” see
As previously noted the outcomes that a player can receive are “triple return (e.g., profit of $2,000 on the $1,000 investment),” “double return,” “robbed” (i.e., street entrepreneurial efforts can be dangerous—you lose your $1,000 investment), “no profit,” “go to jail & forfeit your connection card” (i.e., street entrepreneurial efforts can have aspects whose legality can be questionable—you sold to a crook who paid you with stolen marked money and are immediately apprehended by a policeman who has reason to search you and upon searching finds the stolen, marked money) or “$10,000 profit”. The Bank pays to the player any profits made or collects any losses incurred by the player. Any forfeited “connection” card is returned to the bottom of the pile.
Alternatively, a player may take a “street risk” by moving his/her token to a space marked “street risk” 40. See
It should be noted that the text on these “street risk” cards have being written to reflect scenarios with which inner city residents might be familiar or to which they easily can relate. Examples of such writings include: (a) “You found a package that fell from a company truck. You decided to sell the package in a nearby neighborhood. You tried selling the package to an undercover police officer—GO TO JAIL,” (b) “You meet up with a friend who is selling dirt bikes on which you can make a profit by reselling them. You acquire the bikes and resell them a few days later. Collect $5,000,” (c) “You found a package that fell from a company truck. You decided to turn the package in to authorities. You were rewarded. Collect $1,000,” (d) “You meet up with a friend who talks you into going in with him on a business plan to open a pet store. The business fails. Lose $10,000,” (e) “You found a package that fell from a company truck. You decided to sell the package in a nearby neighborhood. You were jumped for the package. Go to local hospital and pay service fee of $1,000,” and (f) “You're experiencing problems with your transportation so you decide to get a ride from a hack. The hack decides to rob you. Lose $1,000.”
Another alternative entrepreneurial endeavor which a player may elect to pursue by moving his/her token to a spaced marked “vending” is to establish a specialty vending business. Upon landing on a “vending space 42,” one may elect to pay the price denoted on the space to thereby establish a “vending business.” See
Yet another entrepreneurial endeavor which a player may elect to pursue by moving his/her token to a spaced marked “event or party organizer” is to act in another type of a specialty business as a promoter and organize a fee-for-admission event such as a party or other type of special event. Upon landing on a “party/event organizer or promoter space 44,” one may elect to pay the price denoted on the space to thereby go into the party/event promoting business. See
A still further alternative money making endeavor which a player may elect to pursue is gambling. To make this election, the player moves his/her token to an especially marked and numbered space (e.g., a space marked “park” 46 where it is know that one can gamble with little concern for attracting police attention). See
After a player has accumulates some profits to go with his/her initial seed money, the player may want to go into a possibly more lucrative endeavor, such as establishing an ongoing “street business”. The cost to buy these businesses ranges from $10,000 to $150,000 and is paid to the Bank. The purchase of such a business is documented by the player taking that “business” card 30 from the pile on the board that corresponds to and is representative of the business that the player has been bought.
A business owner profits from such a business when the player, in one of his/her following turns to move, gets a specified number from the chance device (e.g., a number that is equivalent to that of the player's token). The “street business” owner then collects a check 32 from the Bank in an amount that is equivalent to what the owner paid for the business and as documented on the “business” card that the player is holding.
A player is allowed to buy such a business when he/she elects to move the player's token to one of the “street” identified spaces 48 on the board. It should be noted that these street spaces have a certain point or monetary value assigned to them and which are clearly marked on the board. The importance of these assigned points is that it restricts the value or type of a business that can be established on the street where the player's token is sitting. Only those businesses that have the same identified point value as the street's (see the business inventory card 20) can be established on this street. For example, on a street having a point value of 25, only “25 point” businesses such as “corner store,” “liquor store,” “car wash,” “sub-shop”, “pizza shop,” “nail salon,” etc. can be established.
In the event that a player owns multiple businesses and has one which is more valuable than the others (i.e., a higher amount was paid for it or it has a higher point value), when such a player gets a number from the chance device that allows him to profit from his/her business, this player is allowed to dictate to the Bank that he/she be given a check in the amount of the value of the player's more expensive business.
The rules of the game can be established such that business owners occasionally have to make some payments on the value of the businesses they are operating. For example, certain numbers from the chance device can be designate to require a business owner to pay certain taxes to the Bank when the business owner, in using the chance device to determine the number of spaces he/she may move the player's token, is given any of these designated numbers. For example, in rolling dice, the roll of a 2 requires the business owner to make a tax payment to the Bank of $500, while the roll of a 3 requires a tax payment of $1,000.
To promote board awareness and attentiveness to a competitor's moves, the board has one or more “Police” or other specialty marked spaces (e.g., “Industrial danger Area”) marked spaces 50 over which a player should not move his/her token as the penalty for inadvertently moving over such a space is that the player has to “Go To Jail” or some other holding area (e.g., a hospital) and must surrender any “connection” cards that he/she may have acquired. As with other such board games, a player is considered to have completed a move of one's token when he/she takes one's hand off of their token at the completion of a move. If a “Police” or “Industrial Area” marked space is on the route of one's just completed move, then that player's token passed over the “Police” or “Industrial Area” space and that player must “Go to Jail” or a similar holding area (e.g., a hospital).
Once a player has been sent to “holding area” (e.g., a jail), that player may, when it is next his/her turn to move, get out of the holding area by certain specified actions: (a) pay the Bank a specified amount (e.g., $2,000), or (b) wait for the chance device to give the held player a specified number (e.g., in rolling dice, the player gets out upon rolling a 7 or 11). Additionally, a player's situation can also worsen if a certain specified event occurs (e.g., in rolling dice, the player rolling a 12 goes to prison or intensive care—then, the only way out is to roll a 7).
Although the foregoing disclosure relates to preferred embodiments of the invention, it is understood that these details have been given for the purposes of clarification only. Various changes and modifications of the invention will be apparent, to one having ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as it will eventually be set forth in claims for the present invention.
