GB1597713A - Board game apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(54) BOARD GAME APPARATUS (71) I, WANG LIANG TOON, a citizen of Singapore of 10A Jalan Kuras, Singapore (20) do hereby declare that the invention for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to board game apparatus.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for playing a game comprising in combination playing pieces for each player and a board, the board having three identical areas each of which is marked with a rectangular grid and each of which defines the "territory" of a player, a central zone between the areas and extending the full width of each area so that the areas are entirely separated from one another by the central zone, the central zone being marked with lines each extending from a point on the innermost line on one grid to a point on the innermost line of another grid and parallel to lines of the third grid, and, in each said area, an additionally marked portion which defines the "palace" of the player and which is (a) central of the area in its direction of width, (b) bounded on one side by that edge of the area which is remote from the other areas, and (c) extends over only part of the depth and part of the width of the area, the playing pieces for each player including an "emperor" to be moved only within that player's palace, defensive pieces to be moved only within that player's territory and offensive pieces to be moved in that player's and other player's territories.

A preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to Figures 1 to 9 of the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 shows the markings on the board.

The game is for three players, referred to herein as blue, green and red, and on the board as shown the three corresponding grids are indicated by the letters B, G and R. Each grid has six horizontal lines and nine vertical lines intersecting to define 54 points. Between the grids is an area known as the "channel" in which there are lines connecting each of the points on the innermost rows to points on the innermost rows of the other grids. Each line is parallel to the rows of the grid of which points are not interconnected by that line.

The board is marked with numbers and letters for easy reference. The horizontal lines are numbered 0,1,2,3,4,5 and vertical lines are marked LR, LK, LC, LG, E, RG, RC, RK, RR. L stands for Left and R stands for Right. Thus LR means Left Rook, LK means Left Knight, LC means Left Canon, LG means Left Guard, E means Emperor and so on. The first letter in a board reference is B, G or R, standing for the colour.

The whole layout is called the board and the board comprises the three grids or territories. The area BLR5, BRR5, GLR5, GRR5, RLR5 and RRR5 being the channel.

The horizontal lines BLR5- BRR5, GLR5 - GRR5 and RLR5 - RRR5 are called "borders". Thus BLUE's border is BLR5 to BRR5. GREEN's border is GLR5 to GRR5 and RED's border is RLR5 to RRR5.

In each grid, the triangle (LCO, LGI, E2, RG1 and RCO) is called the "palace".

Terminology for movement of pieces is much as in chess.

Thus, Rook GLK2 x RRKO Knight means the Rook in Green's territory at LK2 captures the Knight in Red's territory at RKO. The first letter G and R denotes the territory it is in and the second and third letter and the number is the co-ordinate which shows the exact position in the territory.

Similarly, Rook GLK2 - RRKO means the Rook in Green's territory at LK2 moves into RED's territory to RKO.

If there is a check or checkmate, it will be denoted by the letter "C" and "CC" respectively.

There are altogether, in this embodiment, 18 pieces comprising a set for each player and they are 2 rooks, 2 cannons, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 2 forts, 2 guards, 5 pawns and 1 emperor.

Rooks, canons, knights and pawns are known as offensive pieces and bishops, forts, guards, and emperor are classified as defensive pieces. Offensive pieces can cross border and channel and are not restricted to their own territory. Defensive pieces are restricted to their own territory and they cannot cross the border or channel. Concerning the pieces: Offensive pieces 1. Rook is the strongest piece on the board and can travel from one corner of the board to another if there is no obstacle. They can move forward, backward, horizontally or vertically.

2. Canon is the second strongest piece and its movement is identical to that of the Rook except when it is capturing an opposition piece. To capture an opposition piece it must have an obstacle piece (only one - its own or an opposite's) in its path so that it can pass over the obstacle piece to capture the opposition piece.

3. Knight is the third strongest piece on the board. Its movement is in the form of an L but if there is a piece directly in front of it, it will be blocked. It cannot be blocked even though there are pieces on other points of the L. It can move all over the board.

4. Pawn can only move forward and may not move horizontally when in its own territory.

It can move one step at a time only. Pawn can move horizontally when in opposition territory. Once it moves into opposition's territory it cannot move back into its own territory but it may move into the third party's territory as long as it does not proceed one step deeper into the opposition's territory.

Defensive pieces 5. Fort's function is defensive and it is a blocking instrument because it cannot capture or be captured. It can only move one step at a time horizontally and it is restricted to line 5 of its own territory.

6. Bishop is a defensive piece and its movement is restricted to its own territory. It moves from one corner of a square (a square comprising of four small squares) diagonally to another. A Bishop has eight positions of rest. If there is a centre piece in its diagonal path it will be blocked, i.e. it cannot proceed along that way.

7. Guard moves in a diagonal manner one step at a time along diagonal lines marked out on the board. It has six points of rest. The enclosure of the diagonals represents the palace of the Emperor.

8. The Emperor can only move one step at a time forward or backward, horizontal or vertical and its movement is restricted to its palace which is marked out by diagonals forming a triangle. The Emperor cannot move diagonally nor out of its palace.

The movement of the pieces will be described in greater detail with reference to Figures 2 to 9.

Rook Rooks can move forward, backward, horizontally or vertically and they can take any number of steps in one move if there are no obstacle piece or pieces in their path. If there is an opposition's obstacle piece in its path, it can stop short before it or it can capture it i.e.

takes the opposition's piece off the board and occupy its position. Rooks can move all over the board.

Example: Figure 2 Rook BRC3 - BRR3 Rook BRC3 - BLR3 Rook BRC3 - BRCO Rook BRC3 - GLCO Rook BRC3 - RLC3 Rook BRC3 x RLC2 Bishop From this example it will be seen how pieces can cross the channel in alternative ways, leaving a territory at a border along either of the two lines, and following those lines with the selected one of the other two territories.

Canon Canons move in an identical manner to Rooks. They can move forward, backward, horizontally or vertically and can take as many steps as possible in one move. If there is an obstacle piece in the path, Canon must either stop short or it can use it as a "pivot" to hurl itself at another opposition's piece further down the path thus capturing the opposition's piece and occupying the captured piece's position. Canon cannot use a "pivot" to land in a position previously unoccupied by any piece i.e. it cannot jump over an obstacle piece unless it is effecting a capture, and it cannot effect a capture in any other way. Canon can move all over the board.

Example: Figure 3 Canon BRC4 - BRR4 Canon BRC4 - BLR4 Canon BRC4 - BRCO Canon BRC4 - BRC5 Canon BRC4 - RLC2 Canon BRC4 x GLC2 Bishop (the presence of a Fort at GLC5 allows this capture) Knight Knight can move forward or backward and its movement is in the form of an 'L'. Its actual movement is taking one step and then cutting diagonally across to the other side of the small square. It follows that if there is a piece directly in front of it, it will be blocked and would not be allowed to proceed in that direction. Knight can move all over the board.

Example: Figure 4 Knight RRC3 - RRG5 Knight RRC3 - RRK5 Knight RRC3 - RRR4 Knight RRC3 - RRR2 Knight RRC3 - RRK1 (Blocked) not allowed Knight RRC3 - RRG1 (Blocked) not allowed Knight RRC3 - RE2 Blocked) not allowed Knight RRC3 - RE4 Blocked) not allowed Knight BRC4 - BRK2 Knight BRC4 - BRR3 Knight BRC4 - BRR5 Knight BRC4 - BRG2 Knight BRC4 - BE3 Knight BRC4 - BE5 Knight BRC4 - RLK5 Knight BRC4 - RLG5 Knight BRC4 - GLK5 Knight BRC4 - GLG5 The manner in which the Knight crosses the channel will be particularly noted, in that, in going from BRC4 to RLK5, RLG5, GLG5 or GLK5 it takes a step forward to BRC5 and then the diagonal step to the far end not of one of the lines in the channel from BRC5, but of one of the lines from the adjacent points BRK5, BRG5.

Pawn Pawns can only move one step at a time and they can only move forward. They may not move horizontally unless they have crossed the channel. Once they have crossed their own border and the channel and landed in an opposition's border, they may never retreat again back into their own border. As long as they stay along the opposition's border, they may move horizontally and cross the channel as many times as they wish. Once they step off the border and move one step deeper into the opposition's territory, they may not move back again to the border.

They can only move backward if there has been a change of command as in the case of the Emperor being defeated and the victor being in change. If RED defeated BLUE and BLUE's pawn is at (RLK4), RED can command the pawn (previously BLUE's) to move forward into GREEN's territory and as far as BLUE's border. RED may not move the pawn into BLUE's territory i.e. step off BLUE's border. If GREEN defeated BLUE, the pawn may not retreat owing to the fact that it is already in enemy's territory (RED).

Example: Figure 5 Pawn BRR4 - BRR5 Pawn BLR5 - GRR5 Pawn BLR5 - RRR5 Pawn RE5 - GE5 Pawn RE5 - RLG5 Pawn RE5 - RRG5 Pawn RE5 - RE4 Pawn RLK4 - RLR4 Pawn RLK4 - RLC4 Pawn RLK4 - RLK3 Pawn RRK4 - RRC4 Pawn RRK4 - RRK3 Pawn RRK4 x RRK4 Knight It will be noted that crossing the channel is one step.

Fort Fort can only move horizontally and it can only move one step at a time. It cannot capture or be captured by any piece. It is primarily a blocking instrument and its function is to patrol the border, thus it cannot move away from the border. It can only move to a position which is emtpy.

Example: Figure 6 Fort BE5 - BRG5 Fort BE5 - BLG5 Fort BRK5 - BRC5 Bishop Bishops can move diagonally forwards or backwards but within their own territory only, and they must cross two squares in a move. If a diagonal is blocked at the first square Bishop cannot move on that diagonal in that direction.

Example: Figure 7 Bishop BLC2 - BLR4 Bishop BLC2 - BLRO Bishop BLC2 - BE4 Bishop BLC2 - BEO Bishop BLC2 - BE4 Bishop BRC2 - BEO Bishop BCC2 - BRRO Bishop BRC2 x BRR4 Pawn Bishop RLC2 - RE4 (Red's Bishop is blocked from going to REO, RLRO, RLR4 by Green's pieces as shown).

Guard Guards move diagonally forward or backward but only one step at a time. They cannot move out of the palace and they have 6 positions of "rest" as shown in Figure 8 by little stars in the Blue territory.

Example: Figure 8 Guard RLG1 - RE2 Guard RLG1 - REO Guard RLG1 - RLCO Emperor The Emperor can only move one step at a time and it can move forward, backward, horizontally or vertically. The Emperor cannot move diagonally or out of its palace which is triangular in shape as marked out by LCO, LGI, E2, RG1 and RCO. The Emperor cannot "face" another Emperor as indicated in a Rule which states: "The Emperor cannot directly "face" another opposition Emperor without another piece or pieces in their path. It follows that the Emperor cannot move into a position so that occurs. "Face" means there are no pieces in its path so that it can be captured if the opposition Emperor acquires the mobility of a Rook".

Emperor cannot move diagonally.

Example: Figure 9 Emperor RE1 - REO Emperor RE1 - RE2 Emperor RE1 - RRG1 Emperor RE1 - RLG1 Emperor GEO - GLGO Emperor GEO - GRGO Emperor GEO - GE1 Emperor BLGO - BLG1 Emperor BLGO - BLCO The Blue Emperor cannot go to BEO as he would there "face" the Green Emperor at GEO. He would not, however, face the Red Emperor because the Red Fort at RE5 blocks this.

In play, the players take successive turns, and the Rules are as follows: 1. There is only one winner and the whole game is considered drawn if there is no eventual winner.

2. No player can capture his own piece.

3. A player cannot pursue (intending to capture) or check to and from two positions with one piece for more than 3 consecutive moves.

4. The Emperor must be protected at all times and all costs.

5. Once a player is checkmate he cannot move any of his pieces. Once the checkmate is removed he can continue play.

6. The Emperor cannot move into a position where it may be captured i.e. it cannot expose itself to a check or checkmate.

7. The Emperor cannot directly "face" another opposition Emperor without another piece or pieces in their path. It follows that the Emperor cannot move into a position so that that occurs. "Face" means there are no pieces in its path so that it can be captured if the opposition Emperor acquires the mobility of a Rook.

8. The player who captures the Emperor of one of the opposition has the right to all its "Manpower" and can use them to attack the third player. It follows that all the pieces will be treated as his own and he cannot contravene rule 2 which means he cannot capture his own pieces.

9. A player cannot concede defeat or give up playing as long as he has one offensive piece in his possession. He can only do so if he is one of the remaining two players.

10. Rooks, Canons, Knights and Pawns are known as offensive pieces and they can move into an opposition's territory. Forts, Bishops, Guards and Emperor are classified under Defensive pieces and they cannot move into an opposition's territory.

11. The first player that loses all his offensive pieces will cease to play the moment his last piece is taken off the board. Thereafter his Defensive pieces and Emperor will remain where they are and they can be captured if so desired by the other players. After the first player has "ceased to play" the game can be fought to the last piece.

12. If a piece checkmates the Emperor it must capture it on its next move or it will be forfeited automatically. Automatically forfeited means the removal of the danger of capture to the checkmated Emperor. Automatic forfeiture is not a move. If a piece checkmates the emperor it does not have to capture the emperor on its next move. It may make an alternative move but will then be taken off the board.

13. If a piece checks the Emperor and this move results in a checkmate due to the action of the third player he may or may not capture the Emperor. He may remain or remove himself from the position. However, if he remains in the position he is obliged to capture the Emperor on his next move as he is deemed to have checkmated it.

14. If a piece is forced to check the Emperor although it did not move into such a position (it being there "originally") the fact being caused by the third player moving one of his pieces so that the occasion arises it must remove itself from the position or it can remain to check the Emperor in which case it would have considered to have moved i.e. it loses a move in effect.

At the start of the game, each player's pieces are set out on the board in the manner shown in respect of the Blue pieces in Figure 1, the pieces being indicated by their initial letters.

Figures 10 to 12 show other possible boards. That of Figure 10 comprises only five rows in each territory, but again nine columns. The palace is marked differently, as shown. The board of Figure 11 is the same as Figure 10 except that the palace is in the same form as in Figure or Figure 1.

The board of Figure 12 is smaller, each territory having seven columns and four rows.

The palace is as in Figure 1.

The game can be played on the boards of Figures 10 to 12 in the same way, although fewer pieces will usually be used in each set,1- and the pieces required are indicated by the capital letters in one territory in each of these Figures.

The palace in each territory may be coloured differently from the rest of the board, which will usually be drawn in black lines on a white background.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. Apparatus for playing a game comprising in combination playing pieces for each player and a board, the board having three identical areas each of which is marked with a rectangular grid and each of which defines the "territory" of a player, a central zone between the areas and extending the full width of each area so that the areas are entirely separated from one another by the central zone, the central zone being marked with lines each extending from a point on the innermost line on one grid to a point on the innermost line of another grid and parallel to lines of the third grid, and, in each said area, an additionally marked portion which defines the "palace" of the player and which is (a) central of the area in its direction of width, (b) bounded on one side by that edge of the area which is remote from the other areas, and (c) extends over only part of the depth and part of the width of the area, the playing pieces for each player including an "emperor" to be moved only within that player's palace, defensive pieces to be moved only within that player's territory and offensive pieces to be moved in that player's and other players' territories.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each grid comprises nine columns and six rows.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each grid comprises seven columns and four rows.

4. Board game apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 10.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4, modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 11.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4, modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 12.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (7)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. Figures 10 to 12 show other possible boards. That of Figure 10 comprises only five rows in each territory, but again nine columns. The palace is marked differently, as shown. The board of Figure 11 is the same as Figure 10 except that the palace is in the same form as in Figure or Figure 1. The board of Figure 12 is smaller, each territory having seven columns and four rows. The palace is as in Figure 1. The game can be played on the boards of Figures 10 to 12 in the same way, although fewer pieces will usually be used in each set,1- and the pieces required are indicated by the capital letters in one territory in each of these Figures. The palace in each territory may be coloured differently from the rest of the board, which will usually be drawn in black lines on a white background. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. Apparatus for playing a game comprising in combination playing pieces for each player and a board, the board having three identical areas each of which is marked with a rectangular grid and each of which defines the "territory" of a player, a central zone between the areas and extending the full width of each area so that the areas are entirely separated from one another by the central zone, the central zone being marked with lines each extending from a point on the innermost line on one grid to a point on the innermost line of another grid and parallel to lines of the third grid, and, in each said area, an additionally marked portion which defines the "palace" of the player and which is (a) central of the area in its direction of width, (b) bounded on one side by that edge of the area which is remote from the other areas, and (c) extends over only part of the depth and part of the width of the area, the playing pieces for each player including an "emperor" to be moved only within that player's palace, defensive pieces to be moved only within that player's territory and offensive pieces to be moved in that player's and other players' territories.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each grid comprises nine columns and six rows.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each grid comprises seven columns and four rows.

4. Board game apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 10.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4, modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 11.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4, modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 12.