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  Board gamesUSPTO Application #: 20080099992Title: Board games Abstract: A board game comprising a playing board having a surface marked with an array of vertical and horizontal rows of abutting squares, each square having a number marked within it and a pack of cards having on one side a plurality of questions and on the other side the answers to those questions, the questions and answers on each individual card of the pack being different from those on each other card but relating to the same subject. The cards may have an axis of symmetry about which they can be folded such that both the questions and the answers on a card can be viewed by the player holding that card but that one or the other of the questions and the answers is concealed from the other players during play. The game may also include a word insertion guide. (end of abstract) Agent: Workman Nydegger - Salt Lake City, UT, US Inventors: Wee Hock Soh, Diane Lesley Soh USPTO Applicaton #: 20080099992 - Class: 273272 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080099992. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001]This invention relates to board games and more particularly to crossword board games in which players place letters on a playing board to spell out a grid of intersecting words. It provides particularly an educational board game that can be played by players of any age to increase their knowledge of a variety of subjects. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION [0002]Many crossword games are known in which the players form words from cards or tiles that have letters depicted on one surface by placing them on a surface such as that of a playing board or a table using one or more letters of words already formed and displayed on the surface to form a crossword grid. The cards or tiles generally also bear numbers the magnitude of which depends on the frequency of use of the letter in the language in which the game is designed to be played, which determines the difficulty of playing a card or tile of high value. The game is scored by adding together the values of the cards or tiles forming the new word or words added to the grid in a player's turn. Two such games are "Lexicon", which uses playing cards and which can be played on any surface and "Scrabble" which uses tiles and is played on a board marked with squares in which the tiles are placed and some of which are marked to increase the value of a tile placed on such a square or the total value of a word, one or more tiles of which are placed on such a square or squares. [0003]These games are fun to play and very good for teaching the spelling of words but unless a word is challenged and has to be looked up in a dictionary the meaning of a word that is not part of the vocabulary of one or more of the players will not necessarily be learnt. Moreover the educational part of the games is limited and cannot be extended to subjects other than spelling. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0004]This invention provides a board game that not only teaches spelling and the meaning of words but can also be used to teach many other subjects, for example, mathematics, history, languages, general knowledge and geography and many other subjects that can be taught by a question-and-answer method. [0005]According to the invention a board game comprises a playing board having a surface marked with an array of vertical and horizontal rows of abutting squares, each square having a number marked within it and a pack of cards, each card having on one side a plurality of questions and on the other side the answers to those questions, the questions and answers on each individual card of the pack being different from those on each other card but relating to the same subject. [0006]The cards may have an axis of symmetry about which they can be folded such that both the questions and the answers on a card can be viewed by the player holding that card but that one or the other of the questions and the answers is concealed from the other players during play, [0007]As mentioned the subject dealt with on the playing cards will normally be spelling and understanding of the meaning of words or phrases and the questions normally of the form "What is the meaning of . . . ?" or "What word or phrase means . . . ?". Questions of the first type will normally be given on the outside surface of the folded card with the answer given on the inside surface but the cards can preferably be folded so that either surface can be outside. The questions of the second type can be framed from the given answers to the questions of the first type. [0008]Other subjects can dealt with in the game and, for example, history questions may be, for example, "In what year did . . . occur?", in which case the game will be a cross-number game, or "What event occurred in the year . . . ?". Similar types of question may be formulated for many other subjects. [0009]The array of squares on the board is preferably rectangular and, more preferably square and the numbering of the squares is preferably symmetrical about the central square. The squares are preferably of various colours with the squares of each particular number all being the same colour since this makes it easier to distinguish between the higher and lower numbered squares. [0010]Preferably the playing surface of the board is divided into zones. [0011]Unlike other crossword types of word game, the answers to the questions are written directly on the board. [0012]The board preferably has an erasable surface so that it can be written on using a suitable writing instrument and wiped clean for re-use. The board may, for example, be made wholly of a plastics material or made of cardboard or other base material with a coating of plastics material on one or both sides. Alternatively, the board may be disposable, for example, a sheet of paper, so that it can be written on by pen or pencil. [0013]The game preferably also includes a word insertion guide for use with the board game described and claimed in Patent Application MY 20041148 comprises a strip of material having a length at least the width of the playing area of the playing board and having along one edge portion of one side a plurality of divisions corresponding to the squares on the playing board, said edge portion being of transparent material at least in a strip extending the length of the guide and at least as wide as the squares on the board and either encompassing or abutting the divisions and having, at least in said edge portion, a surface that is capable of being written on and subsequently wiped clean. [0014]The game may be played by any number of players singly or in teams. Basically the game consists in a player asking another player or group of other players a question from a card and if the questioned player or one of the group of players gets the answer correct that player writes the answer on the board. If no one gets the correct answer the questioning player writes the answer on the board. In a simplified form of the game, clues such as the initial letter of the required answer and/or the number of letters and words in the required answer may be given, in addition to the question itself. [0015]Scoring is based on the total of the numbers in the squares used when the answer is written on the board. If the board is divided into zones the square score may be multiplied by the number of zones occupied by letters of the word. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT [0016]The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [0017]FIG. 1 is a view of the playing surface of the game board; [0018]FIGS. 2 and 3 are views of the front and rear surfaces, respectively, of a playing card; and [0019]FIG. 4 is a view of one form of word insertion guide for use in playing the game. [0020]As shown in FIG. 1, the game board comprises a square of cardboard having a plastics playing surface 1 that can be written on using a suitable ink and later wiped clean. [0021]Playing surface 1 is printed with an array of squares 2 in a square grid 3 having 29 squares 2 on each side. Grid 3 is divided into nine zones by bold lines 4, the zones comprising a centre zone 5 consisting of the centre square 2 only, a first intermediate cruciform zone 6 symmetrically surrounding zone 5 and the arms 7 of which are one square long and three squares wide, a second intermediate cruciform zone 8 symmetrically surrounding zone 6 and the arms 9 of which are two squares long and seven squares wide, a third intermediate cruciform zone 10 symmetrically surrounding zone 8 and the arms 11 of which are three squares long and thirteen squares wide, and four corner zones 12, 13, 14 and 15 that have sides of five squares. A numerical value 16 is allotted to each individual square, the values 16 in each row and column being arranged symmetrically. The values allotted are 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 25 and the squares allotted each different value are differently coloured. Continue reading... Full patent description for Board games Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Board games patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Board games or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Method and apparatus for playing a game on a playing surface Next Patent Application: Method of providing a running side bet wager on craps Industry Class: Amusement devices: games ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Board games patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 1.13015 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Medical: Surgery , Surgery(2) , Surgery(3) , Drug , Drug(2) , Prosthesis , Dentistry |
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