AU730700B3 - Board golf - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 Complete Specification Petty Patent BOARD GOLF The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: Ref PHS JGB 1216.a BOARD GOLF This invention is a new knowledge game constructed upon a golf format with scoring by means of the "Stableford" points method.

1. This new game is designed to enable an unlimited number of players to compete in a knowledge quiz by "playing" a particular golf course and to win by achieving the highest number of"Stableford" points.

2. By the "Stableford" points system a "pro" (professional) player (having no handicap) secures one point for a bogey, two points for a par, three points for a birdie, four points for an eagle and five points for an albatross.

3. It is assumed that:- 3.1 Par 3's have a maximum scoring potential of 4 points, i.e. a hole-in-one equals an eagle; 3.2 Par 4's have a maximum scoring potential of 5 points, i.e. a hole-in-one equals an albatross; 3.3 Par 5's have a maximum scoring potential of 5 points, i.e. a hole-in-one is an impossibility but 2 equals an albatross; 3.4 A question that might produce a fifth point on a par 4 will be more difficult than a question that might produce a fifth point on a par 4. A "question" is one of the eighteen (18) questions comprising the whole game.

Each "question" will have within it multiple parts enabling up to a maximum of five correct answers.

JGB 1216.a Unlike simple knowledge quizzes and unlike simulated golf board games the novelty of this new game and the feature of the present invention is that the questions are designed such that the majority of players should secure one point (a bogey) on each of the 18 holes (questions) that it takes to complete the game.

Less players (but a significant portion) should secure a par (two points), less still will achieve a birdie, whilst eagles, and albatrosses will be unusual.

JGB 1216.a 6. By way of example: 6.1 On a par 3 a question will be asked that will require four answers: most people would know one answer, fewer two, fewer three and it would be very difficult for someone to get the fourth answer. By way of example: Q: name four actors from "The Sound of Music"? It is perceived that most people would get a bogey, i.e. Julie Andrews, a fair number would get a par, i.e Christopher Plummer. To get a birdie or an eagle would test most people.

6.2 On a par 4 the question might again allow four answers but to get the almost impossible fifth point an extra question might be asked. By way of example: Q: what were the last four teams in the 1998 Soccer World Cup? Albatross point: Which team did the winning team first defeat in the Series? 6.3 On a par 5 the question will allow five answers with ascending degrees of difficulty. Example: Q: name five 19th Century English Prime Ministers.

Many people would get Gladstone and Disraeli, less Palmerston, and then people would struggle.

7. Games will be golf course specific, viz. "Play St. Andrews", "Play Pebble Beach", "Play Royal Melbourne". The eighteen questions necessary to play a particular game will follow the par configuration of the course concerned. A board, which otherwise does not play a role in the game, will depict the course layout with a brief description of each hole and giving its stroke index. Games will thus promote particular courses.

1216.a 4 8. The questions will be graded in their degree of difficulty to reflect the stroke index of the holes on the particular course. This refinement is designed to make the game more attractive to people knowledgeable in golf.

9. Some questions will be specific to the course concerned. Assume the course is Royal Adelaide. The question on the first hole (a par 4) might then be:- Q: you are teeing off on the first tee and are a right-handed player.

1. what prominent feature is behind you? 2. what direction are you facing? 3. what lies between you and the clubhouse? 4. what is the name of the flora that borders the left-hand side of the fairway? And for the albatross: who laid out the course that you are commencing to play? The Answers: 1. railway line.

2. east.

3. 18th green.

4. mallee scrub.

Players will have the choice of playing the particular game particular course) as a member or non-member. Those opting to play as members would have a high proportion of local questions such as ildicated in paragraph 8.

11. Players can choose to play as "pro's" (professionals), "handicappers", or "hackers". A "handicapper" will have a handicap of nine A "hacker" will JGB 1216.a have a handicap of eighteen Thus a hacker will get a shot on every hole and a handicapper on each of the holes of the particular game (course) having stroke indexes 1 to 9. Players have the alternative option of allocating their own handicap. No player, however, can score any point on a hole unless he or she gets at least one part of the question correct.

12. Each game would include eighteen packs of questions (possibly 40 50 cards per pack). Each card will have the number of the hole upon it on both sides with questions and answers on opposite sides and superimposed over the number of the hole. Members and non-members questions and answers can appear on the same card. In addition to the "hard copy" game the same game might be replicated on a CD for playing through a PC. The game also might be perceived to lend itself to a one-hour television game show featuring a new course each week.

Marketing 13. It is envisaged that the game would be released simultaneously in the United States, Britain, Australia, etc. with a number of clubs participating. Other, less prominent clubs, may seek to have a game produced for their own clubs, with possibly local advertising a feature of the board.

14. Questions, not specific to the course concerned, can be duplicated across the games. Inevitably the general knowledge questions would have their own country flavour, e.g. sporting questions in the US would naturally be on baseball, rather than cricket in the UK or Australia, or basketball, rather than soccer or rugby.

JGB 1216.a Description and Differentiation of the Current Art The use of the game of golf as the format of board games is what is meant by the term "current art". Current art golf games include U.S. Pat. No. 5497999 and U.S.

Pat. No. 5692751. Both of these games and games commented upon by the patent descriptions of each differ markedly from this new game.

U.S. 5497999 is a game designed for a discrete purpose, i.e. "teaching the rules of golf'. The only knowledge required is the rules of golf. The questions bear no relation to the questions in this new game particularised and differentiated by the dependent claims.

U.S. 5692751 is a game which seeks to simulate the game ofgolf. It is played with pieces which move across an illustrated playing hole by means of a simulated golf shot the result of which is dictated by the degree of correctness of answers to questions put to the player. Such questions bear no relation to the questions in this new game particularised and differentiated by the dependent claims. This new game does not seek to simulate the game of golf. Rather it is a knowledge game constructed around the golf format including a recognised golf scoring system, i.e.

the Stableford system.

1216.a

Claims (3)

1. This is a question and answer knowledge game constructed around a golf format (eighteen multiple answer questions) based upon the par configurations and stroke indices of actual golf courses with scoring by means of the "Stableford" points method allowing for maximum Stableford points for the par of the particular hole being "played" to be earnt.

2. The question and answer knowledge game of claim 1 wherein the degree of difficulty of questions will reflect the stroke index of the hole being "played".

3. The question and answer knowledge game of claim 1 wherein questions are designed not only to reflect the degree of difficulty of the hole being played as described in claim 2 but also so that one point can be relatively easily obtained but an ascending degree of difficulty will render more points harder to obtain, whilst a handicapping system will enable players to compensate for weakness attributed to age or competence. P.A. HEYWOOD-SMITH November 2000 Ref PHS JGB 1216.a