US20070187893A1

US20070187893A1 - Board game

Info

Publication number: US20070187893A1
Application number: US11/676,154
Authority: US
Inventors: Antony BROWN
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-02-16
Filing date: 2007-02-16
Publication date: 2007-08-16
Also published as: GB2435220A; GB0603113D0

Abstract

A board game for at least two players comprises a plurality of boards each board having a plurality of recesses located at the perimeter of the board, a plurality of counters each counter of a size suitable to be located within a recess of the board wherein the boards are arranged to be mounted one on top of another, the largest board being placed at the bottom and the arrangement of the boards being such that it forms a tower of boards, each board, except for the largest board, being mounted within the perimeter of the top surface of the board beneath it, the winner of the game being the first player to position a pre agreed number of counters of their own in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally across any of the boards.

Description

This nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on British Patent Application No. GB 0603113.2, which was filed in the United Kingdom on Feb. 16, 2006, and which is herein incorporated by reference.
According to the present invention there is provided a board game for at least two players comprising a plurality of boards each board having a plurality of recesses located at the perimeter of the board, a plurality of counters each counter of a size suitable to be located within a recess of the board wherein the boards are arranged to be mounted one on top of another, the largest board being placed at the bottom and the arrangement of the boards being such that it forms a tower of boards, each board, except for the largest board, being mounted within the perimeter of the top surface of the board beneath it, the winner of the game being the first player to position a pre agreed number of counters of their own in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally across any of the boards. This pre agreed number of counters can be four or five.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for playing a board game comprising a plurality of boards, a plurality of counters, said boards being mountable one on top of another substantially as shown in the accompanying drawings and the counters being of a suitable size to be positioned in the recesses of said boards.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows the boards of the game in a dismantled state;

FIG. 2 shows the boards mounted one on top of another with some counters in situ;

FIG. 3 shows another perspective view of the boards and counters of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows the boards mounted one on top of another in another arrangement for playing the game.

FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment of the board game comprising a number of boards mounted one on top of another.

Referring to FIG. 1 the boards 10 comprise a number of circular recesses 12 located around the perimeter 14 of each board. The recesses are deep enough to retain a counter as shown more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3.
The largest board comprises 20 recesses, the next largest comprises 16, the next largest comprises 12 recesses, the next largest comprises 8 recesses and the smallest comprises 4 recesses. All recesses are located equidistantly from one another and are distributed evenly around the perimeter of the boards such that each side of a board has the same number of recesses located therein.
In use the boards are stacked one on top of another in a number of different arrangements, however, in each arrangement any particular board is retained within the lateral confines of the board beneath it. That is to say that, for example, a board on top of another larger board does not have any of its edges protruding beyond the edges of the larger board which is underneath.
When the board game is played, the following rules determine how long it is played and which player is the winner.
Referring to FIG. 5 the boards comprise a series of hexagonal shapes, 30, joined together. However it is also envisaged that each board 32 is manufactured in one piece but in this embodiment simply comprises ‘saw toothed’ edges 34. In this particular embodiment each board again comprises a series of recesses 3 b in which a counter can be placed.

Rules

The aim of the game is to be the first player to achieve pre agreed row of counters either diagonally, horizontally or vertically.
Each player is provided with a set of 30 counters, 16. Each set of counters is of a different colour.
The boards are placed one on top of another as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, one player is chosen to go first and places a counter in any one of the recesses on the exposed recesses within the boards, OR instead of placing a counter in any one of the recesses the player can chose to rotate the floor by 90 degrees in either direction, any floor may be rotated. OR the player may choose to move a floor a single square horizontally, vertically but not diagonally.
Then the next player takes his turn repeating the step previously noted.
At all times a smaller board must remain within the confines of the board immediately below it.
The first player to acquire four counters in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally across any of the floors wins the game.
In another version of the game the boards may be arranged as shown in FIG. 4 at the beginning of the game. In either version of the game the rules are identical. In further embodiments of the invention, the players may agree that a certain amount of turns can expire before a board can be moved or rotated again.
In another version of the game shown in FIG. 5 the same rules apply except that the boards are allowed to be slidably moved (except for the bottom placed largest board), in any direction (not simply horizontally or vertically) such that at least three recesses of the board beneath are covered over.

Claims

1. A board game for at least two players comprising a plurality of boards each board having a plurality of recesses located at the perimeter of the board, a plurality of counters each counter of a size suitable to be located within a recess of the board wherein the boards are arranged to be mounted one on top of another, the largest board being placed at the bottom and the arrangement of the boards being such that it forms a tower of boards, each board, except for the largest board, being mounted within the perimeter of the top surface of the board beneath it, the winner of the game being the first player to position a pre agreed number of counters of their own in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally across any of the boards.

2. A board game according to claim 1 wherein the pre agreed number of counters is four.

3. A board game according to claim 1 wherein the pre agreed number of counters is five.

4. A board game according to claim 1 wherein the recesses are distributed evenly around the perimeter of the boards such that each side of a board has the same number of recesses located therein.

5. A board game according to claim 1 wherein each board except the bottom board is retained within the lateral confines of the board beneath it.

6. A board game according to claim 1 wherein each board comprises edges having a saw toothed configuration.