US2536380A - Game board with marked game pieces - Google Patents

Description

1951 r F. J. LUCASSEN 2,536,380

GAME BOARD WITH MARKED GAME PIECES Filed Jan. 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l kwas 25 lllllll 3 'llilliifiifllfifliiliiiiliilliil (2/ K ev \?3 INVENTOR.

FRED J- LUGASSE/V ATTORNEYS Jan. 2, 1951 F. J. LUCASSEN 2,536,380

GAME BOARD WITH MARKED GAME PIECES 1 Filed Jan. 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Him/25 /5 AA 3 Patented Jan. 2, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAD REGARD WITH MARKED .RI'EEESZ Ere-(1J1 Lueassen, San Erancisco,. Q%lii.

ADDlicationJanuaryB, 1950; Serial No. 1369137 12. Claims; 1.

This invention relates, to new and. useful. im provements in. game apparatus;

The. present inventionrelates to a. game which maybe played by, 2-, 3, or, 4 players. It employs. a. board; marked oft intosquares and. gamepieces whiohmay. be-placediover the squares. Some of.

the gamepieces have. point, values and. when a. player succeeds.- inmoving. such. a gamepiece off the. board he: earns. p.oints,. the. first. players reaching a predeterminednumber of. points w-inning. theame. Other. gamepieces are provided with indicia. which. designate the. gamepieces as moyeable toward. or. away from the player, as hereinafter appears.

The equipment; necessary. to. play. the. same comprises; the. board and; playing. pieces; Thus.

the. equipment is relatively. inexpensive. game. is highly enteraining. in. that it. requires. concentration. and ability to predict the probable future moves of. onesiopponent, whereas chance Fig. 5. is. a. diagrammatic. view showing the :3

completionof. the move shown in Fig. 4".

Fig. 6.1 is-a. diagrammatic view showing, the commencement. of a typical second move in a game.

Fig. 7" is a. diagrammatic. view, showing the,

completion oi. he move. shown. in. Fi 6;.

The; gameboardj l0; used in. this. invention has a square, fiat playing surface, dividedtinto sixteen.

squares,..f1our squares. in eachrow and. column.

The. squares are. marked with suitable indicia. to. indicate, the proper position for the gamepieces I]; at. the. commencement. of. the game. The gamepieces; i l 1 are substantially square blocks of.

the same size as the squares of. the game board.

and. have flat. bottom. suriaces so that they may be. easily. slid overthe surfaceof. the game board. For. convenience, in moving; the gamepieces.. they maybebeveledior reeessedas shownby reierence.

numeral. l2.. around; beton edg so.- thatthey te higher. in thelcenter of. the top surface than; at.

the, edges, of the top. surface, Thereby an.indi-. vidual gamepieoemay more, readily be piclredgupa orv drawntoward or away. fromtheplayer, alLof.

which. manipulations. are required. in the, progress.

of. the game.

Senenteen gamepiecesi. e..,.. one. more. than.

2. the number of squares on theboard are usedqin playing the, game. Six. of the gamepieces. are. painted red- (13), five are-painted green (14), two. are; painted. halfred. and half green. l-5.),

- andthe fourremaining gamepieces (Mi, I1; I 8

are provided with numerical symbols designating; point values which may be plus. or minus. and thuscount-for or againstthe playen: Theboard is initiallyset up :asindicated -inFig. 2 and the-re is one additional red piece l3 which is handedtorthe player whocommences the'game.v The player commencing the game takes. the 1 red game-piece i3. andplaces it, at the far end, of any of themn mepieces facinghim. and. then bQd? ily moves all the gamenieees n... s i o u n... to

ward him one square. This. manipul tion p she one gamepieee ofi the. playing area of theiboard and said gamepiece is handed to the second player. If. the gamepiece which is forced oi? the board. by the-first.player is.red (1.3),, theseoond player must position the redlgamepiece [3 at thefar. end of. any oi the four columns facing. him, andthen. push. all the gamepieces in that column towardhim one square. If,.on.the other hand, the. gamepiece. handed theisecond. player is-green (Ml, he must. place the green gamepiece l t at the. near end; of any of. the four. columns and, Qushallthe gamepieces in saidoolumnone square. away from him. If the gamepiece handed to.

v the secondipiayer, isbothred-and-green (15);, the.

second. player may employ it. either as a red: gamepiece. or. a green gamepiece, or... in other Worclahe may. move any of. the-columns toward. or awayfrom him. one. square at. hisoption. The

' ame. continueswith eachplayer receiying ared;

(13% or, green. (.14.),v or twol-colored. (i5) game-.. piece. and using itto move. any of. thecolumns toward or. away from. him, depending upon the;

marking of said. game iece.

The objectofthe game is to, force positivevalue; point pieces. H5. or Ll. off the playing area of the board-.andthusscore Points. Thusgf one of the players. succeeds in. pushing the LOG-point piece 1.5. off, theboard hescores 1.00 points. If he succeeds in pushing the 75-point piece i1 ofi the; boa d. he, scores. 75. points. If. he succeeds; in

pushing ne of. the two-colored. point pieces. 1.5.- It n. the

tates removal of a red (I3), green (M), or twocolored piece (l5) which had immediately theretofore occupied the original position of the point piece, such red, green or two-colored piece is handed to the next player in turn. If a different point piece I6, I! or l8 happens to occupy the initial position of the returned point piece, the former must in turn be restored to its own original position, and this may require several successive moves until a red l3 or green M or twocolored piece I5 is liberated to be used by the next player in turn. A total winning score is determined at the beginning of the game and the first player to reach this score wins.

The gameboard is painted with the original positions of the gamepieces designated thereon as shown in Fig. 1. The surface of the board 10 is marked with red and green arrows 25 and 26 so as to remind the players in which direction the colored gamepieces I 3 and I4 must be moved. Further, to facilitate keeping score, the game board may be provided with anumber of markers or beads 31 strung along a wire 32, each marker 3! representing a given number of points. The board is cut out in a rectangular section 33 and the wire 32 on which the markers 3! are strung is embedded adjacent said cut-out portion. Thus, the markers 3| may be slid along the wire 32 as a player scores points to indicate his 7 total.

If two players play the game they sit at adjoining sides rather than opposite one another. Nhen four players play, they play as partners and alternate around the board in making plays. When three players play. two are partners and the other player opposes the partnership. It will be observed that o ponents move the playing pieces in transverse directions. 7

In Figs. 4. to 7, inclusive, are shown diagrammatically the first two moves in a typical game. In Fig. 4 the first player has positioned the red gamepiece !3 at the far end of the second column of playing pieces facing him on the playing board and is ready to pull the gamepiece l3 toward him along with the four gamepieces in said column. In Fig. 5 is shown the completion of the move initiated in Fig. 4. It will be seen that said first move has liberated a green playing piece M from the playing area of the board. The liberated green playing piece M is, accordingly, handed to the second player, who sits on the first player's left. In Fig. 6 is shown a typi- 4 the use of two-colored pieces l5 and the assignment of scoring value thereto is also optional.

Although I have described my invention in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it is understood that certain changes and modifications may be made therein Without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A board game apparatus comprising a board having a playing area divided in aligned rows cal initial move by the second player. It will be noted that since the'playing piece handed to him is green (I 4) instead of red (I3) he has placed the green piece M at the near end of the third column of playing pieces facing him on the playing board and is prepared to push the green playing piece l4 and the four playing pieces in the selected column away from him one square. In Fig. 7 isshown the completion of the move initiated in Fig. 6. This move has liberated from the playing area of the board a green playing piece 14 which will be handed to the next player in turn.

It will be understood that although in the figures, descriptions and accompanying drawings the board ID has been divided into sixteen squares and there are seventeen gamepieces l l, the number of squares and gamepieces may be varied. Thus, a board having nine squares and ten gamepieces might be used, or a board having twentyfive squares and twenty-six gamepieces might be used as desired. The number of pieces assigned scoring values is also a matter of discretion and rality of flat-bottomed, square playing pieces dimensioned to be placed to overlie said squares and to be slid over the playing area, the total number of said pieces being one greater than the number of squares, each of said pieces being dimensioned to substantially occupy one square, each of said pieces bearing an indicium, a first indicium on at least one piece indicating scor ing value, second indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating required movement of a column of pieces in a direction toward the player, and third indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating required movement of a column of pieces in a direction away from the player.

2. A board game apparatus comprising a board having a playing area divided in aligned rows and columns of squares of equal size, and a plurality of fiat-bottomed, square playing pieces dimensioned to be placed to overlie said squares and to he slid over the playing area, the total number of said pieces being one greater than, the number of squares, each of said pieces being dimensioned to substantially occupy one square, each of said pieces bearing an indicium, first indicia on at least one piece indicating scoring value, second indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating required movement of a column of pieces in a direction toward the player, and third indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating required movement of a column of pieces in'a direction away from the player, and fourth indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating movement of a column of pieces either toward or away from the player at his option.

3. A board gameas defined in claim 2 in which said first indicia are displayed on a plurality of pieces and some of saidfirst indicia indicate plus scoring value and others minus scoring value.

4. A board game as defined in claim 2 in which said first indicia are displayed on a plurality of pieces and some of said first indicia indicate plus scoring value and other minus scoring value, and wherein the indicated values of said first indicia vary in amounts.

5. A board game as defined in claim 2 and wherein said fourth indicia indicate scoring value.

6. A board game as defined in c1aim.2 and wherein the number of pieces having second indicia and the number of pieces having third indicia differ by one. l

7. A board game apparatus comprising a board having a fiat square playing area divided into aligned rows and columns of squaresof equal size and ,a plurality of playing pieces adapted to be placed overlying said squares and to he slid over the surface of the playing area, the total number of said pieces being one greater than the number of squares, each of said pieces being dimensioned substantially to occupy one square, each of said pieces bearing an indicium, first indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating plus scoring value; second indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating a minus scoring value, third indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating required movement of a column of pieces in a direction toward the player, fourth indicia on plurality of pieces indicating required movement of a column of pieces in a direction away from the player, the number of pieces having third indicia and the number of pieces having fourth indicia differing by one, and fifth indicia on a plurality of pieces indicating movement of a col umn of pieces either toward or away from the player and also indicating scoring value.

8. A game as defined in claim 7 and wherein said board is marked with the positions of said pieces at the beginning of the game, the markings on said board corresponding to the marlzings of the overlying pieces at the start of the game.

9. A board game comprising a board having a flat square playing area divided into sixteen equal squares, and seventeen playing pieces each of said pieces having at least one flat face dimensoned to overlie one of said squares, two of said pieces having positive scoring value indicia,

two of said pieces having negative scoring value 1.

indicia, six of said pieces having indicia indicating that they must be moved in one direction relative to the player, five of said pieces having indicia indicating that they must be moved in the opposite direction relative to the player, and 1 two of said pieces having positive scoring value indicia and indicia indicating that they may be moved either toward or away from the player at his option.

10. A game comprising a board having a given number of player stations, said board having a flat playing surface provided with a predetermined number of gamepiece receiving squares, said squares arranged in columns and rows, each column and row comprising an equal number of squares, and gamepieces exceeding in number by one piece the number of squares provided on said board, said gamepieces each having a flat board contacting surface and being dimensoned to overlie one of said squares and comprising at least one value piece having value indicia thereupon and two sets of player pieces having identifiable indicia thereupon, one set including one player piece more than the other set, said player pieces being of substantially equal size and formed so that when one piece is moved slidably against another piece the piece moved against moves in a substantially straight path.

11. A game comprising a board having a given number of player stations, said board having a flat playing surface provided with a predetermined number of gamepiece receiving squares, said squares arranged in columns and rows, each column and row comprising an equal number of squares and gamepieces exceeding in number by one piece the number of squares provided on said board, said gamepieces each having a fiat board contact surface and being dimensioned to overlie one of said squares and comprising at least one value piece having value indicia thereupon and three sets of player pieces having identifiable indicia thereupon, the first of said sets having one player piece more than the second of said sets, said player piece being of substantially equal size and formed so that when one piece is moved slidably against another piece the piece moved against moves in a substantially straight path.

12. A game comprising a board lcavin a given number of player stations, said board having a flat playing surface provided with a predetermined number of gamepiece receiving squares, said squares arranged in columns and rows, each column and row comprising an equal number of squares, and a plurality of gamepieces, said gamepieces each having a flat board contacting surface and dimensioned to overlie one of said squares and comprising at least one value piece having value indicia thereupon and two sets of player pieces having identifiable indicia thereupon, said player pieces being of substantially equal size and formed so that when one piece is moved slidably against another piece the: piece moved against moves in a substantially straight path.

FRED J. LUCASSEN.

CITED

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