EP1356852A1

EP1356852A1 - A container for a board game

Info

Publication number: EP1356852A1
Application number: EP03425215A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ivano Rizzo
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-04-15
Filing date: 2003-04-04
Publication date: 2003-10-29
Also published as: ITBO20020202A1; ITBO20020202A0

Abstract

The container (1) for a board game comprises a bag (2) made from paper material, for containing playing elements such as tokens and/or cards or similar playing pieces, the board game comprising a printed playing area (8) made on an outside face (7) of the bag (2).

Description

The present invention relates to a container for a board game.
More specifically, the invention pertains to a container for a board game that includes a printed playing area on which tokens or similar game pieces can be positioned and moved.
Traditional board games are usually packaged in hard boxes made of cardboard or plastic. The box contains a game board, often folded so that it will fit into the box, tokens, dice, the rules of the game, and any other items needed to play the game.
Containers of this type, consisting of boxes, are not free of disadvantages.
A first disadvantage lies in the fact that the hard boxes occupy a considerable amount of space in comparison with their contents, which are often small and require very little space.
The large amount of space occupied by the boxes constitutes a serious drawback when transporting the games from manufacturers to wholsesalers and retailers and when storing the games.
Moreover, the prior art hard packages/containers have on them printed reproductions of the characteristic elements of the game to make it possible to distinguish between different games. These printed reproductions, whose sole purpose is to permit recognition of the game, are very expensive.
The present invention therefore has for an object to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a container/package for a board game, the board game being of the type comprising a playing area and playing elements such as tokens and/or cards or similar playing pieces, the container being characterised in that the playing area is located on at least one face/surface of the container.
The novel board game container according to the invention advantageously combines in a single item both the container of the game and the board or playing area on which the game is played.
According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, the printed playing area of the game appears on an outside face/surface of the container.
The playing area printed entirely on the outside of the container makes it possible to easily distinguish the game inside the container.
The technical characteristics of the invention, with reference to the above aims, are clearly described in the claims below and its advantages are apparent from the detailed description which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention provided merely by way of example without restricting the scope of the inventive concept, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view from above of a preferred embodiment of the board game container according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view from above of another preferred embodiment of the board game container according to the present invention.

With reference to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 denotes in its entirety a container for a board game according to the present invention.
As shown in Figure 1, the container 1 consists of a bag 2 made of graphically printable paper, of the type normally given in a shop to help buyers carry the goods they have purchased in the shop.
The bag 2 has a front wall 3 and a rear wall 4 opposite each other, two sides 5 and a bottom 6.
The front wall 3 has an outside face 7 that has printed on it a playing area 8 which can be used to play the aforementioned board game.
Inside the bag 2 there are playing elements such as tokens and/or cards or other playing pieces, which are not illustrated in the drawings, as well as the rules of the game, also not illustrated.
The sides 5 are of the extensible type enabling the front and rear walls 3, 4 to be moved towards and away from each other.
At an upper portion of it, each wall 3, 4 has a handle 9 on it.
The two handles 9 together form a grip 10 by which the bag 2 can be carried.
As shown in Figure 2, the container 1 consists of a bag 11 made of graphically printable plastic. The bag 11 comprises a front and a rear wall 12, 13, respectively, opposite each other and joined along their perimeters with the exception of an upper edge 12a, 13a so as to create an opening for the bag 11.
In the same way as the bag 2 described above, the front wall 12 of the bag 11 has an outside face 14 that has printed on it a playing area 8 which can be used to play the aforementioned board game.
At their upper edges 12a, 13a, the front and rear walls 12, 13 have plastic edge strips 15 applied to them, each extending along one of the upper edges 12a, 13a.
The plastic edge strip 15 of each wall 12, 13 has an arc-shaped portion 15a to form a handle 16.
The two handles 16 on the edge strips 15 together form a grip 17 by which the bag 11 can be carried.
When the game is not being played or when it is being transported or is on display, the bags 2 and 11 are used to hold all the elements required to play the game. When required, all the elements can be taken out from inside the bag 2, 11 and the playing area 8 appearing on the front wall 3, 12 of the bag 2, 11 itself can be used to play the game.
In practice, the bag 2, 11 can be extended in volume to accommodate the playing elements (not illustrated) but when required, can be flattened out and used in the same way as an ordinary game board on which the playing elements can be positioned and moved.
In an alternative embodiment which is not illustrated, the bag 2, 11 has a flat stiffening element inside it (not illustrated) acting as a base providing sufficiently firm and flat support for the playing area 8 to enable the game to be played more easily. This stiffening element consists, for example, of a square piece of cardboard placed inside the bag 2, 11.
In yet another embodiment, which is not illustrated, the bag 2, 11 has two different playing areas printed on respective outside faces, one on the front wall 3, 12 and one on the rear wall 4, 13. This solution enables the same container 1 to be used to hold two different games or to play the game according to two alternative variants.
In further embodiments, which are not illustrated, the playing area 8 is printed on a separate medium and the medium then attached to an outside face 7, 14 of the bag 2, 11, for example, by gluing.
It will be understood that the invention can be adapted and modified in several ways without thereby departing from the scope of the inventive concept. Moreover, all the details of the invention may be substituted by technically equivalent elements.

Claims

A container for a board game, the board game being of the type comprising a playing area (8) and playing elements such as tokens and/or cards or similar playing pieces, the container being characterised in that the playing area (8) is located on at least one face (7; 14) of the container.
The container for a board game according to claim 1, characterised in that the face (7; 14) is an outside face.
The container for a board game according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that it consists of a bag (2; 11) made from graphically printable material.
The container for a board game according to claim 3, characterised in that the bag (2) is made from paper material.
The container for a board game according to claim 3, characterised in that the bag (11) is made from plastic material.
The container for a board game according to any of the foregoing claims from 1 to 5, characterised in that it has a grip (17) by which it can be carried.
The container for a board game according to any of the foregoing claims from 3 to 6, characterised in that it comprises a stiffening element, said stiffening element being placed inside the bag (2; 11).