GB2148724A - Board game apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus comprises a playing board (1) having two opposing playing areas (2, 3), each playing area representing at least one octave of a piano keyboard, main playing pieces (10) and supplementary playing pieces (14) which are detachably mountable thereon. In playing the game, the playing pieces are moved between the keys of the piano keyboard, the movement of the playing pieces being determined by the "Hierarchy" thereof which in turn is determined by the number of supplementary playing pieces mounted on the main playing pieces. Instead of a board, the playing area may be displayed on a video unit. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Board game The present invention relates to a board game.

According to the present invention there is provided a board game comprising a playing board comprising two opposing playing areas, each playing area representing at least one octave of a piano keyboard, a plurality of main playing pieces, each main playing piece having means for detachably mounting thereon at least four supplementary playing pieces, and a plurality of supplementary playing pieces detachably mountable on the said main playing pieces.

The board game according to the present invention provides a game to be played by two players.

The playing board may comprise two piano keyboard representations put back-to-back i.e. with their black key-containing edges adjacent each other. Each playing area of the board can be one, two or more octaves long although the two octave length is preferred. The playing board may be displayed on any suitable material or by electronic means, e.g. on a video display unit.

Each keyboard representation comprises white keys and black keys in the same way as the conventional piano keyboard.

The playing pieces used can be of any suitable shape but, in view of the nature of the board game, the playing pieces preferably have the shape of written notes. Each playing piece may thus comprise a main part on which there are detachably mounted supplementary parts. It is the number of supplementary parts on each playing piece which, during play, determines the value of and the permissible moves for the playing piece.

Conveniently each main playing piece is in the form of a note having a stem extending therefrom, each stem being provided with a plurality of projections which cooperate with holes in the supplementary playing pieces so that the supplementary playing pieces may be detachably mounted on the main playing pieces.

The invention is further illustrated by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 shows a playing board for use according to the present invention, Figure 2a shows a main playing piece for use in the present invention, Figure 2b shows a supplementary playing piece for use with the main playing piece of Figure 2a, and Figure 2c shows a main playing piece with three supplementary playing pieces detachably mounted thereon.

Referring to Figure 1, the playing board 1 shown comprises two opposing playing areas 2 and 3, each representing two octaves of a piano keyboard arranged back-to-back. Thus each playing area comprises sixteen white keys comprising the white keys indicated 4 and the start and destination positions 5 and 7 respectively, together with black keys 7 in their conventional positions. In addition positions of playing pieces on the board are indicated by circles 8.

Figure 2a shows a main playing piece 10 having a stem 11 on which there are a series of projections 12.

Figure 2b shows a supplementary playing piece 14 having a hole 15 in one end thereof.

Figure 2c shows the playing piece 10 of Figure 2a on which three supplementary playing pieces as shown in Figure 2b are detachably mounted by fitting projections 12 through holes 15 in the supplementary playing pieces 14.

The playing pieces may be of any suitable colour though preferably they should be readily distinguishable on the black and white playing areas e.g. in red, yellow, gold.

The game may be played as follows: Each octave of the playing board comprises 13 steps i.e. moves from one key to the adjacent key.

Where two white keys have an intervening black key the two white keys are not considered adjacent each other but rather are considered to be two steps away from each other i.e. one step from the first white key to the intervening black key and one step from the intervening black to the second white key.

Accordingly for each player on the board of Figure 1 there are 26 steps.

The object of the game is to remove or have removed from the board all of your opponent's playing pieces or at least to remove as many as possible. The player who loses the game is the player with no playing pieces remaining on the board or, if neither player has sufficient playing pieces left on the board to form a chord, then the player who loses is the player with the least number of playing pieces.

To start the game each player is provided with nine playing pieces each (for the two octave board) of which comprises a single supplementary playing piece detachably mounted on the main playing piece. Such playing pieces with one supplementary playing piece are called playing pieces of Hierarchy 1. These playing pieces are arranged on the playing board at the positions indicated by circles 8 in Figure 1. Thus there are three steps (3 semitones) between each playing piece. This corresponds to diminished chords.

The playing pieces can be moved to left or right along the respective playing areas. The number of steps which each playing piece can be moved in one move is determined by the number of supplementary playing pieces mounted on the main playing piece (i.e. by its Hierarchy). Thus a playing piece with one supplementary playing piece i.e. of Hierarchy 1 can be moved only one step at a time, while one with two (Hierarchy 2) can be moved two or less steps while one of Hierarchy 3 (i.e. three supplementary pieces) can be moved a maximum of three steps etc. This is provided that there are no obstacles in the way. Only one playing piece can occupy a note at a time and it is not permitted for a player to move his playing pieces to move over or "jump over" his own playing pieces already on the board.

The players take turns to move one of their playing pieces the required number of moves according to the Hierarchy of that playing piece.

Which of his playing pieces to move and whether to move it the maximum number of moves allowed by the Hierarchy of the piece or less is at the decision of the player.

During the progress of the game each player aims to arrange his playing pieces in the form of "chords". For example three playing pieces may form a "chord" when the separation between the first and second playing pieces is four steps while that between the second and third playing pieces is three steps. Playing pieces of any Hierarchy can be used as part of a chord.

During the movement of playing pieces, playing pieces are capable of "taking" (i.e. causing to be removed from the board) opponent's playing pieces if they have a superior Hierarchy thereto. However pieces which form part of a chord cannot be taken in this way i.e. they are "protected". Thus a playing piece of Hierarchy 2 can cause to be removed from the opponent's facing playing area any unprotected playing piece of Hierarchy 1 which is on the opposing playing area zero, one ortwo steps away from the playing piece of Hierarchy 2. Similarly a playing piece of Hierarchy 3 is capable of taking a playing piece of Hierarchy 2 or 1 which is one, two or three steps away from it on the opponent's side of the board.However a playing piece of Hierarchy 1 cannot cause a playing piece of Hierarchy 1 to be removed from the other side of the board nor can a playing piece of Hierarchy 2 take a playing piece of Hierarchy 2 from the other side of the board, etc. Of course for any Hierarchy 2 or 3 playing piece to take any playing piece from the opponent's side of the board, that playing piece must itself be free to move the required number of steps on its own side of the board.

In this way the player is able to attack and remove from the board unprotected playing pieces of his opponent. Although the opposing playing areas are not mirror images of one another, there is no ambiguity as to which playing piece can be taken.

Thus a playing piece of Hierarchy 2 can take any unprotected Hierarchy 1 playing piece in the opponent's playing area which is up to two steps away from it e.g. in Figure 1, the fifth black area from the start (B flat) has two white areas on the opponent's side which are each one step away from it and two black areas which are each two steps away from it, so that unprotected pieces in these areas can be taken by a Hierarchy 2 playing piece on the fifth black area.

As mentioned above, when play starts each playing piece is of Hierarchy 1. Changes in the Hierarchy of playing pieces occur when a chord (as described above) has been formed by the player.

This this change in Hierarchy can occur for example in one of three ways: 1. The supplementary piece of any playing piece from the second or third positions in the chord is detached and added to the playing piece at the first position to give a playing piece of Hierarchy 2. If the playing piece in the first position is already of Hierarchy 2 is is raised to Hierarchy 3 when the chord is formed. In this way no new playing pieces are introduced. Indeed, any playing piece left without any supplementary piece is then removed from the playing board. Thus the player may have to choose between gaining a playing piece of higher value and losing a playing piece.

2. In another version of the game, any playing piece from amongst those of the chord can be chosen to be raised in Hierarchy by removal of a Hierarchy from one of the other playing pieces.

3. In yet another version of the game, when a chord is formed, a supplementary playing piece may be removed from a common store and mounted on the first playing piece of the chord to raise its Hierarchy.

When each playing piece in a formed chord has a Hierarchy 2 and none less, then a supplementary part from any playing piece from the chord can be chosen and mounted on the playing piece in the first position so that it attains a Hierarchy 3. Simiarly a Hierarchy 4 can only be obtained when each member of the formed chord has a Hierarchy of 3 or more.

Claims (4)

1. A board game comprising: a playing board comprising two opposing playing areas, each playing area representing at least one octave of a piano keyboard, a plurality of main playing pieces, each main playing piece having means for detachably mounting thereon at least four supplementary playing pieces, and a plurality of supplementary playing pieces detachably mounted on the said main playing pieces.

2. A board game according to claim 1 wherein, on the playing board, each playing area comprises two octaves of a piano keyboard.

3. A board game according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the main playing pieces have the shape of written notes comprising a stem, each stem being provided with a plurality of projections which cooperate with holes in the supplementary playing pieces so that the supplementary pieces may be detachably mounted on the main playing pieces.

4. A board game substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.