GB2180459A - Apparatus for playing a game - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for playing a game comprises e.g. four boards and sixty cards. The boards are divided into nine regions arranged in 3-region rows and columns. The cards comprise five subsets of twelve cards each. The twelve cards of each subset have a common numeric indicium thereon and three pictorial animal representations are distributed equally over the subset (i.e. the subset has four of each representation). The numeric indicium of each subset differs from that which characterizes each of the others so that the set as a whole features five different numeric indicia of which there are twelve represented on cards. Each of four players is dealt five cards. Playing the cards to the boards is practiced by each player with respect to his board according to game rules with the object of filling as many of the eight rows and columns (including two diagonals) with three cards whose numeric indicia have a sum (the line target) (which is nine in Fig. 10) equal to the sum applying to another row or column so filled. The sum of the card indicia in all such equal rows and columns has subtracted from it the sum of the card indicia in 2-card rows, and 3-card rows which do not equal the line target, to give a final score for each player for that game. Game end is signified by the call of a player who has exhausted his cards or when a replenishment pile of cards initially constituted by the balance of the 60-card set not dealt out to the players is exhausted by such cards being taken into the hands of players according to game rules to replenish cards played to board. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for Playing a Game The invention relates to apparatus for playing a game of skill and chance for two or more players, the game being intended to develop arithmetic skills in particular and generally to encourage the development of mental agiiity.

Games designed to encourage mental agility and in particular to develop literacy as well as numeracy and arithmetic skills, especially in children, have been available in a wide variety of forms for many years. "Scrabble" is one such game, the game being played on a board with alphanumeric counters and thus combining linguistic knowledge and word powerwith a marginal need for numeracy in recognizing and applying numeric score values associated with alphabetic significations. Ordinary playing cards combine numeric card significations with pictorial representations and can be used to play various games requiring both powers of recognition and powers of numeracy and arithmetic skills.

According to the invention, there is provided an apparatus for playing a game of skill and chance for two or more players and intended to develop arithmetic skills, the apparatus comprising a plurality of boards each representing a player and divided into a plurality of zones arranged in rows and columns thereof, the rows and columns all being of equal zone content and, with inter-row and inter-column registration, arranged such that the first zone of the first row is separated from the last zone of the last row by the same number of zones as separate said first zone of said first row from the last zone thereof, and a set of a plurality of cards for transfertothe boards by the players in play according to game rules, each card bearing two different and unrelated indicia signifying, respectively, two different identities including a numeric first identity and a second identity, there being at least as many different second identity indicia distributed through the card set there are card zones on a board, at least as large a plurality of each that there are as many cards as there are total zones on the boards in aggregate and more different second identities than first identities, the distribution of said identities being such thatthe set is divisible into a plurality of sub-sets equal in number two the number of different numericfirst identities, the cards of each of which all have the same common numeric identity, as many different second identities as there are columns on a board and component second identities none of which are distributed in any other of the sub-sets of the cards.

The cards and the numeric indications thereof are conveniently such that each player can have his board zones all occupied by cards in such a way that the columns, rows and preferably diagonals are all identical in terms of the arithmetic sums of the numeric significations associated with the cards thereof. Thus, for example, the arithmetic sum for each row and column may be 9 as made up, for example, by three cards bearing the digit "3" (or equivalent value represented by an alternative symbol) or one such card and two others bearing, respectively, the digits "4" and "2".

In general, the boards will have at least nine zones arranged in three rows and three columns each of three zones each. Boards having exactly this number and arrangement of zones involve the most acceptable balance between enjoyment of play and mental exercise so that apparatus comprised thereof constitute a preferred embodiment of the invention.

The word "board" connotes no limitations as to the type or nature of the material thereof and thus, although the boards may be made of board material such as cardboard, they may be made of other material, such as plastics material, metal or timber.

Atypical board in game apparatus according to the invention comprises a sheet of board material printed on one face thereof with indicia dividing the board into nine rectangular zones distributed over three columns and three rows together defining a rectangular playing area. The board may be printed in similar fashion on its other face with the same or a different zone layout.

The term "card" is used in its general sense and in particular does not convey any limitation as to the material of which the cards are made. Thus, the term signifies any suitable substrate for the surface markings referred to. Typically, the cards will be made of flat board material but they may in the alternative be made of timber or of a plastics material.

The numeric first identities signified on the cards will generally be expressed as Arabic numerals although Roman numerals could in the alternative be used as could other symbols having numeric signification (e.g. a unit code such as entities such as dots equal in number to the intended numeric signification).

The second identities will generally be symbolic or pictorial, preferably the latter, particularly in game apparatus intended for children, since the game can then serve the additional purpose of developing pictorial recognition abilities. For example, the second identities could together form a set of different animals or birds so as to encourage recognition of animals or birds and differentiation between, for example, a horse and a zebra, as an educational exercise.

The number of different second identity indicia is at least equal to the number of card zones on a board (e.g. nine indicia), so that a board may be completed with cards which all differ from each other in respect of the second identity, and will preferably exceed that number by at least 50% to provide variety in the possible cards which can be placed on the board.

So that each board can be completed (i.e. a card placed over each board zone), the number of cards must be at least equal in number to the number of board zones in aggregate and this is preferred in apparatus according to the invention. Since sensible game rules will provide circumstances where only a certain card type can be played, or is ideal for play, onto the board, it is desirable that such cards be distributed amongst a greater number of cards, preferably a number of cards at least 50% larger than the number of board zones and conveniently less than twice the number as the number of board zones.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows the variety of cards, in terms of different second identities, in a first sub-set, the numerals adjacent each representation signifying the number of cards in the sub-set carrying that second identity; Figures 2 to 5 show the variety of cards in second, third, fourth and fifth sub-sets, respectively, in the same way as the first sub-set is represented in Figure 1; Figure 6 is a diagrammatic representation of one preferred form of board for use in the game apparatus of the invention, the numerals shown outside of the board surface representing coordinates for reference purposes, as will be explained in the following description; and Figures 7 to 10 show exampies of how the board of Figure 6 may be carded, the cards being represented by card numeric first identities.

As shown in Figures 1 to 5, the set of cards comprises five sub-sets each comprising twelve cards, indicia representative ofthree different second identities being distributed over the sub-set, in each case, in equal number. Thus, the first sub-set shown in Figure 1 comprises four cards carrying a representation of a mole, four cards-carrying a representation of a snake and four cards carrying a representation of a rabbit. In the other sub-sets, as shown in Figures 2 to 5, the identities represented are, in order of occurrence, a hare, a seated rabbit, a hedgehog, a squirrel, an otter, a stoat, a fox, a badger, a running rabbit, a pony, a stag and a horse.

The total number of cards in the set is sixty and it will be appreciated that there are tweive each of five different numeric indicia.

The game apparatus comprises four boards as shown in Figure 6, so that the game may be played by four players, each comprising nine zones arranged in three columns and three rows. The board may be of sheet cardboard with the zones printed on one (or both) of its plane faces but could be, for example, a plastics moulding formed with surface depressions for receiving and retaining cards therein.

The game is started by allocating a board to each player and then selecting a dealer for the cards by any of the various methods common to card games.

The dealer then deals cards out sequentially one at a time to each of the three other players and himself until each player has five cards. Dealing commences with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds in clockwise fashion, the cards being dealt face down onto a surface such as a table top on which the game is played, caution being exercised to ensure that neither the dealer nor any of the other players sees the playing face of the cards as they are dealt.

The cards of the set which remain after dealing are set on the table top to form a replenishment pile (face down).

The player to the left of the dealer opens play and is restricted to taking possession of the top card from the replenishment pile followed by placing one of his resulting six cards either on his board in one zone or discarding one card to form the start of a discarded pile on the table top. The next player to play in the clockwise direction in which the cards were first dealt has the same playing options but may at his option also elect to take a discarded card from the discarded pile. The same options apply to all players in all subsequent plays (provided that there remains a card supply in both piles) together with additional playing options as set forth in the game rules which follow.

The object of the game is for a player to score points by playing cards to his board in such a way that a scoring line comprises three cards the sum of whose numeric identities is equal to a pre-selected vaiue falling in the range S12 (the line target).

Play and scoring are subject to the following rules: A. Play Rules: 1. Players play in turns, commencing with the player to the left of the dealer and continuing in clockwise sequence until the game ends.

2. Play for each turn comprises the player concerned doing any one of the following: (i) transfer a card from the replenishment pile or the discard pile to the player's hand followed by transfer of a selected card from the hand to either the board or the top of the discard pile; (ii) transfer a card from the player's board to his hand followed by transfer of a selected card from the hand to the top of the discard pile; or (iii) transfer a card from the replenishment pile or the discard pile to the player's hand followed by either: (a) interchange the position of any two cards on the player's board and subsequently transfer a card from the hand to the top of the discard pile; or (b) repiace a card on the player's board by one from the hand and subsequently (1 ) transfer the replaced card to the player's hand and discard a selected card to the top of the discard pile, (2) transfer the replaced card to a vacant board zone on the player's board, or (3) transfer the replaced card to an occupied board zone on the player's board, take the card occupying that zone into the player's hand and then discard a selected card from the resulting hand to the top of the discard pile.

3. No card may be played to the board if its play results in the board having more than one card thereon having the same animal representation.

4. If a player notices that he is not in compliance with Rule A3, or non-compliance is drawn to his attention, he must remove all excess identical cards from the board and discard them face up to the discard pile as his next turn without acquiring any fresh cards.

5. Cards discarded to the discard pile must be placed face up at the top of the pile.

6. The game ends when the replenishment pile is exhausted or when any player so requests on carding all his board zones, with each card being used at least once in a scoring line (as defined in Rule B1 below), subject to the proviso that any such request is of no effect if the player making it is found not to be in compliance with Rule A3 (any such player being disqualified and the game continuing with the remaining players). If only one player remains, that player is the same winner but he may continue to increase his score if match play is involved (see Rule B6).

B. Scoring Rules: 1. Scoring lines are the lines containing two or more cards between the following co-ordinates in Figure 6, namely: 1-1 7-7 22 88 p3 510 66 4~9 2. Scoring is calculated by determining the sum of the numeric indicia for cards in scoring lines, selecting the line sum totals which are equal and then calculating the score according to the equation: X-Y=score Where Xis the sum of all the scoring line totals which are equal to the line target and Y is the sum of all the scoring line totals not so equal.

3. A scoring line is taken into account in the calculations under Rule B1 if it is completely occupied by cards (positive score) or occupied by two cards only (negative score). A line having no cards features as a zero calculation, as does a line with one card only.

4. A player who is found when calculating the scores to have two or more cards on his board having the same animal representation is disqualified and scores zero.

5. The calculated score at game end determines the winner of the game as the player with the highest score.

6. A set of games (e.g. 4 games or play until a player scores 100 or more) may be played as a match, match winner being the highest scoring player of the match. Any negative effective score in a single game may be deemed a zero score for the purposes of taking account of it in the overall match score but it could, by agreement of all players at the start of the match, be treated as a negative score. In the event of a tie in match scores, the winner is the joint highest scorer with the highest game score.

Figures 7 to 10 of the drawings illustrate the techniques involved in skilful play to achieve maximum scoring and emphasize the importance of card positioning and the sophisticated arithmetic planning and tactic this involves.

Scoring in these figures is as follows:- Figure 7:-lines 56,7-7, 3--3 and 510 score 11 each. The negative scores of lines 1-1(9), 2-2 (6) and 4--9 (4) must be subtracted from this to give the effective total score as follows: (11+11+11+11)-(9+6+4)=44-19=25 Figure 8:-lines 1-1,2-2, 3--3, 6, 7-7 and 8--8 score 8 each.The negative scores of lines 4--9 (6) and 510 (11) must be subtracted from this to give the effective total score as follows: (8+8+8+8+8+8)-(6+1 1 )=48-17=31 Figure 9:-lines 1-1, 6, 7-7 and 8-8 score 9 each. The negative scores of lines 2-2 (7), 33 (11), 44 (7) and 55(13) must be subtracted from this to give the effective total score as follows:- (9+9+9+9)-(7+11 11+7+ 1 +7+13)=36-38=-2 A negative effective score, as above, will normally be deemed a zero score under game rules but in a match may, as mentioned earlier, be treated as a negative score for the purposes of determining match score.

Figure 10:-All scoring lines score the same, in this case 9 each, giving a total of 72. There are no negative scores and so the effective total score is 72. This game play represents near ideal play, involving effective positioning of cards as well as effective selection of line total.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, a game apparatus comprises: 1. m (e.g. 4 or more) boards each having n2 zones arranged in n rows which are in registration with one another so as to present n columns of said zones, where n is an integer of preferably 3 and m is an integer, and 2. a set of cards at least equal in number to m(n)2, preferably about 60 cards in the case of a game where n=3 and m=4, each card bearing a digit or digit-signifying symbol of from 1 to (n+2) and a pictorial representation having no significance in relation to the digit"symbol, the set being divisible into n+2 subsets all of which have a common digit'symbol and each of which comprises 4n cards and n different pictorial representations distributed therein, the distribution of indicia on said cards being such that each board can be assembled with a card on each zone in such a way that all columns and rows of the boards have a value identical to that of each other row and column of the same board (and preferably also to all rows and columns of all other boards) as expressed in terms of the sum of the digits represented on said cards in each of said rows and columns.

The invention as described earlier without reference to the drawings may include any one or more features of the invention as described with reference to the drawings.

Claims (10)

1. An apparatus for playing a game of skill and chance intended for two or more players and to develop arithmetic skills, the apparatus comprising a plurality of boards each representing a player and divided into a plurality of zones arranged in rows and columns thereof, the rows and columns all being of equal zone content and, with inter-row and inter-column registration, arranged such that the first zone of the first row is separated from the last zone of the last row by the same number of zones as separate said first zone of said first row from the last zone thereof, and a set of a plurality of cards for transfer to the boards by the players in play according to game rules, each card bearing two different and unrelated indicia signifying, respectively, two different identities including a numeric first identity and a second identity, there being at least as many different second identity indicia distributed through the card set as there are card zones on a board, at least as large a plurality of each that there are as many cards as there are total zones on the boards in aggregate and more different second identities than first identities, the distribution of said identities being such that the set is divisible into a plurality of sub-sets equal in number to the number of different numeric first identities, the cards of each of which all have the same common numeric identity, as many different second identities as there are columns on a board, and component second identities none of which are distributed in any other of the sub-sets of the cards.

2. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the cards and the numeric indications thereof are such that each player can have his board zones all occupied by cards in such a way that the columns, rows and diagonals are all identical in terms of the arithmetic sums of the numeric significations associated with the cards thereof.

3. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the arithmetic sum for each row and column is 9.

4. An apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the boards have at least nine zones arranged in three rows and three columns each of three zones each.

5. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the board comprises a sheet of board material printed on one face thereof with indicia dividing the board into nine rectangular zones distributed over three columns and three rows together defining a rectangular playing area.

6. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the second identities are symbolic or pictorial.

7. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the second identities together form a set of different animals or birds so as to encourage recognition of animals or birds as an educational exercise.

8. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the number of different second identity indicia is at least equal to the number of card zones on a board so that a board may be completed with cards which all differ from each other in respect of the second identity.

9. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein, so that each board can be completed, the number of cards is at least equal in number to the number of board zones in aggregate.

10. An apparatus for playing a game, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.