Patent Application
20130069306
This invention relates generally to games, and particularly to games that are consistent with a decorative theme.
People often adorn their homes for various holidays (e.g. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc.) with decorations that are consistent with well-established themes for that holiday or holiday season. This can be particularly true when the home has young children as inhabitants or as frequent visitors. For example, people traditionally decorate their homes for Christmas with various traditional icons that reflect the Christmas theme, such as Christmas trees, garlands, angels, ornaments, Santa Clauses of various motifs, nativity scenes, elves, etc. The Easter holiday tradition inspires images of Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, baby chicks and perhaps general signs of Spring as well.
Games have been invented for teaching and promoting cognitive and other skills of young children, including reading and spelling, as well as simply finding or recognizing a particular shape or character, particularly when they are hidden somewhat in plain sight, but perhaps within a busy background. Teaching games can be both fun as well as instructive, and could be made particularly exciting when combined in a thematically consistent manner with the various holiday seasons celebrated throughout the year. These games would be fun for adults to play as well, especially when they can encourage the participation and success of young children participants, while indulging with them in the spirit and excitement of the current holiday season.
Applicant's invention is a thematically decorative hide and seek game that combines the fun of looking for and finding a hidden item, with the festive motif that is typically enjoyed during a given holiday. The game is fun for both children and adults, and provides the additional benefit of stimulating the minds of children to look for and identify a holiday character, while heightening the enjoyment of the holiday season. The hideable character blends in so well that it literally hides in plain sight among all of the other decorations in a room consistent with the given holiday motif. Moreover, blocks are employed to spell words that signify the status of the game, and which can serve to stimulate children to read and spell while playing the game, as well as to highlight the relationship between letters in two words, such as an anagram.
In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, a thematically decorative hide and seek game includes a hideable component that is thematically consistent with a decorative motif, and a set of blocks. Each block has an alphanumeric character displayed on at least one of its surfaces. The set of blocks is capable of being arranged to spell at least two words. The hideable component is first displayed at a predetermined home base location in conjunction with and proximately to the set of blocks. The set of blocks is arranged to spell the first word to indicate that the hideable component is ready to be hidden in plain sight. Upon hiding the hideable component in plain sight, the set of blocks is rearranged to spell out the second word at the home base to indicate that the hideable component has been hidden somewhere in plain sight and is waiting to be found. Upon finding the hideable component, the hideable component is returned to the home base and the set of blocks is rearranged to spell the first word to indicate that the hideable component is ready to be hidden again.
In further embodiments, the hideable component is a character that is thematically consistent with a holiday motif.
In further embodiments, the character is an elf and the holiday motif is Christmas.
In other embodiments, the hideable component is made of washable material.
In still further embodiments, the hideable component comprises means for attaching the hideable component to various surfaces and structures.
In further embodiments, the first word is a reverse anagram of the second word.
In still other embodiments, the first word is a name for the character and the second word is a word that is thematically consistent with the holiday motif.
In accordance with other aspects of the invention, a method of playing a thematically decorative hide and seek game includes placing a hideable component that is thematically consistent with a decorative motif in a proximate relationship at a predetermined home base with a set of blocks. Each block has an alphanumeric character displayed on at least one of its surfaces. The set of blocks is capable of being arranged to spell at least two words. The set of blocks is arranged to spell the first word to indicate that the hideable component is ready to be hidden in plain sight. The hideable component is hidden in plain sight. The set of blocks is then rearranged to spell out the second word at home base to indicate that the hideable component has been hidden in plain sight and is waiting to be found. Players search for the hideable component until found, and then return the hideable component to the home base. The set of blocks is then rearranged to spell the first word to indicate that the hideable component is ready to be hidden again.
Applicant's invention will be more fully understood with reference to the Detailed Description set forth below, in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:
The hideable component 202 is preferably made of materials that can withstand repeated handling, and especially by children. For example, component 202 could be made of washable cloth stuffed with a soft compressible material, or any other materials that are suitable for rendering the hideable component 202 suitable for repeated handling. In an embodiment, component 202 can also include various means by which it can be attached to or supported by various surfaces or structures, thereby increasing the ways and locations in which it can be hidden. Such means can include hooks, strings, Velcro, wire, etc., and functional equivalents thereof.
The second component of the decorative hide and seek game of the invention is a set of blocks 204 each having at least one letter displayed thereon. When playing the game of the invention, the set of blocks 204 is initially located at a home bass 300 in proximity with hideable component 202, as illustrated in
While it is desirable that the first two words be anagrams of one another, this is not required. Given that each of the set of blocks has four surfaces upon which letters can be placed, the first and second words are not necessarily so constrained. In other embodiments, the letters for each word can be repeated on more than one surface of the blocks so that they can be a different color for each word. In other embodiments, the first and second word can be spelled by simply rotating the blocks to the opposite or a different surface, while maintaining them in the same order.
In an embodiment of the decorative hide and seek game of the invention, the hideable component 202 should be hidden in plain sight. Put another way, component 202 should not be hidden in a manner that obscures or conceals its presence, such as underneath blankets, pillows, etc. Rather, it is placed among other holiday decorations and furnishings within the room, where it can blend in with the thematic holiday decor.
Those of skill in the art will recognize that other modifications and alterations could be made to the embodiments described above, without exceeding the intended scope of the invention. For example, a time constraint could be placed on the game that could range from minutes to days. The set of blocks could be made to spell other words in addition to a word thematically consistent with the intended holiday, or the name of the hideable character component. Moreover, as previously mentioned, other embodiments of the thematically decorative hide and seek game of the invention could be created having a hideable component character and first and second words all thematically consistent with other holidays or motifs.
