GB2204246A - An adult board game based on activities common in public houses, sports and social clubs - Google Patents

Abstract

A board game for up to six players uses dice, play-money, activity cards, and playing board with locations representing public houses 7 - 11, sports and social clubs 12, and related activities 13 - 20. Play mimics use of facilities with gain or loss of memberships or licenses, mixed with sporting, gambling, behavioural, rank/status, and financial complications. Players may have different start positions 1 - 6 providing unique individual sequences, and numerical basis of events creates scores. Beginners game players have equal money and objectives and one winner. Expert version has start number determining start money and specifying objectives; assessment based on expectations may give more than one winner. <IMAGE>

Description

AN ADULT BOARD GAME BASED ON ACTIVITIES COMMON IN PUBLIC HOUSES, SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUBS This invention relates to an adult board game for up to 6 players. Board areas represent pubs, clubs, and related activities. Play uses dice, play-money, and activity cards, and mimics social, sporting, gambling and financial events with players as customers or guests, members, or licensees. Events numerical basis enables performance comparison.

Board games involve chance and skill. Many are maximum chance/minimum skill type and have themes such as location, tactics, escape, mystery, territorial, speculation or anti-speculation. Typically, players start from one location with identical objectives. One wins and losers have no order. Before game end, it is clear who will win, interest is lost.

Game theme or scale of transactions is unreal.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an adult board game with different start positions, in which all players get a score. Theme is true to life and transactions credible. Game end is unpredictable.

Rules of play allow for 2 different skill levels, beginners and experts.

Board design and personal start positions give unique sequences without inherent advantage. Game result is unknown until after players residual currency, membership and licensee values, and rank bonuses are totalled as scores. Surprising results occur and competitive spirit is always high. Theme is activities commonly occurring in sports and social facilities with licensed premises. Concept parallels daily routine of many adults.

Game events simulate gain, renewal, suspension or loss of memberships or licenses, and rank changes. Excitement results from behavioural, sporting, gambling and financial complications. Game ends when no licensee-ships are available.

Start position in beginners version identifies location and order of play, objectives are similar and start money identical. Provided cash balance is healthy, opportunities encountered must be taken. Winner has highest total points, game takes less than 2 hours. The expert rules give a 2 - 3 hour game, board procedure is similar. But money issued to players and their individual objectives vary according to start number.

Purchase is not compulsory. Performance is assessed relative to expectations from implied status of start number. Winners all perform to expectations, losers do not.

A specific representation of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the drawing, showing board design and distribution of various types of location: Start positions 1 - 6; Five public premises 7 - 11, licenseeships available; Forty clubs, as 12, memberships available; Eighteen automatic penalty locations, six at each of three levels of severity 13 - 15; Eighteen automatic benefit locations, six at each of three levels of advantage 16 - 18; Sixteen "make a deal" locations 19, a card to be taken; Thirty-four "action" locations 20, a card to be taken; Twenty-eight individual blank squares, as 21, in play; Large blank background area, as 22, not in play.

Any board layout permitting easy two-dimehsional movements is usable.

The figure shows 165 locations in a crossroads configuration. Dedicated to blank squares ratio is 4/1 permitting a fast game. Locations are colour-coded using a dozen representative colours on a neutral background.

Start squares are coded as blanks, and the forty clubs each have one of six colours reflecting accountancy breakdown, other locations are straightforward.

Start positions are allocated using a dice. Then starting money is issued, 15,000 each in beginners game. Table 1 shows currency available and denominational breakdown. A total of 90,000 issued leaves 18,000 starting bank float. After trade back of largest denominations to bank, there is 48,000 in lesser notes still in circulation. Cash balance falling below 2,000 during game is risky, one wrong card pickup causing insolvency.

Players unable to pay a fine are bankrupt and out of game, memberships or licenseeships are not transferable in any way and revert to banker for re-availability in play.

TABLE 1. GAME CURRENCY Denomination Number Totals 5,000 12 60,000 1,000 20 20,000 500 20 10,000 250 20 5,000 100 50 5,000 50 100 5,000 20 100 2,000 10 100 1,000 FULL TOTAL 108,000 Start positions are numbered, initial direction of play is arrowed, all players moving anti-clockwise on board edge. Players move in turn around board according to roll of 2 dice, start number 1 moving first.

One dice determines number of moves, and other the left or right turns, dice rolled simultaneously. A single left or right turn is compulsory, when practical. If necessary 2 turns are made, always in same direction, ie. clockwise or anti-clockwise. Common sense dictates movements on board edges and at corners. Markers are left facing direction of play for next turn. Hexagonal public premises 8 - 11 are treated as middle of a simple crossroads. Players passing through must go left or right, or straight through if turn was already made, but a player landing on the premises must proceed straight at start of next move and make turns later. Community club 7 is also a crossroads but consists of four squares. Players passing through turning left make turn on first rank, players passing through turning right do so on second rank.

Players landing on club count one or two squares and move out straight ahead next time, leaving any turning till later.

Tables 2 and 3 illustrate the numerical basis of public premises licenseeships and club memberships respectively. Bonus points for sporting and administrative rank are also shown.

TABLE 2. PUBLIC PREMISES LICENSEESHIPS In Licence Over- End- Team Premises Status Going Renewal Visits Usage Value Player Night Club Owner 7,000 350 140 100 10,000 Licensed Hotel Owner 5,000 250 100 75 7,500 Free House Pub Owner 4,000 200 80 60 6,000 Brewery Pub Manager 2,000 - 60 50 3,500 100 Community Club Steward 1,500 - 50 40 3,000 100 TABLE 3. SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUBS Clubs Membership Over- End- Rank Bonuses Group & Names Fee Renewal Guests Usage Value Team Capt Comm Life 1. Country Club 750 500 200 75 1,000 150 250 250 750 Racehorse Club 600 400 160 60 800 120 220 200 600 Yacht Club 600 400 160 60 800 120 220 200 600 Golf Club 450 250 120 50 600 100 200 150 450 Health Spa 350 230 100 40 500 - - - - Leisure Centre 300 220 50 40 400 - - - - 2. Equestrian, flying, skiing, skating 400 200 50 40 600 150 250 250 400 3. Fraternal 1 500 400 160 60 750 - - 250 500 Fraternal 2 400 300 120 50 600 - - 200 400 Political 1 300 200 80 40 500 100 150 200 300 Political 2 200 140 60 30 350 100 150 150 200 Political 3 150 100 40 30 250 100 150 150 150 4. Archery, athletics, badminton, bowls, boxirg, climbing, cycling, dance, fishing, gun, pigeon, rowing, snooker, squash, swimming & tennis 250 150 40 30 250 100 150 200 250 5. Cricket, football, hockey, rugby 150 150 30 30 250 100 150 150 200 6. Ex-service 200 150 70 40 300 100 150 150 200 Singles Club 200 150 70 40 300 - - 250 Works 1 or 2 150 150 50 30 250 80 120 150 Bingo club 100 100 40 30 200 - - - - NOTE: Capt means captain, Comm means committee member, and Life means life member Numerical philosophy is largely self-explanatory.Ingoing for a manager or steward is required bond, licence renewals being paid via brewery or club. Visitor/guest fees are paid when landing on an unavailable facility. Over-usage refers to landing on one's own facility, excessive usage usually has a penalty. Management are expected to promote team activities personally, owners are not. Licenses and memberships appreciate from ingoing/fees to an end-value whilst in good standing. Certain facilities are commercial ventures unassociated with sports leagues, bonuses are irrelevant. Fraternal organisations are not outgoing sportswise for obvious reasons, but have extensive rank structures. Membership of some facilities automatically terminates with change in circumstances.

There are numerous clubs classified into 6 distinct groups with colourcodes. Differences in prestige and desirability also occur within a group. Group 1 comprises elite clubs with social aspects very important along with sports participation, which may be a multisport emphasis.

Group 2 is elite in a solo participant sense, an expensive group in every respect. Group 3 political and fraternal social clubs are not predominantly sports activities. Group 4 comprises clubs with a single sports discipline and mix of social, solo and team activities. Group 5 comprises clubs for team sports with most members as supporters rather than participants. Group 6 are relatively inexclusive, semipublic facilities with little emphasis on permanent memberships.

There can only be one member of any club, all others landing there are guests. Every club has a membership card, appropriately colourcoded. Club name, group number, renewal fee, over-usage fee, and endvalue are printed on front of each card, this information is needed by holder during play. Rank bonus numbers, when relevant, are printed on card back. Board location has club name on it and membership fee and guest fee, which all players need visible throughout game Similarly, with public premise licensee cards there is printed information on front and rear, and board locations have ingoing, renewal, and visitor fees printed on. Landing on certain board locations 13 - 18 invokes automatic fines or receipt of money, in fixed amounts. Table 4 provides details. There is no overall positive or negative implication for the game. Names and fixed amounts are printed on board locations.

TABLE 4. AUTOMATIC FIXED-AMOUNT LOCATIONS Description Number Amounts Phone turf accountant 6 - 250 Use bookie's runner 6 - 100 In local bar 6 - 50 Pub landlady wins pools 6 + 250 Guvnor's birthday 6 + 100 Trade rep buying 6 + 50 Another type of board location 19 requires a player to take the next "make a deal" card. Risks are high, as evident from Table 5. A bad card pushes a player with susceptible cash balance into insolvency and thus out of game. Conversely, a player in pessimistic circumstance gets renewal of confidence after a good card. There is slight overall negative bias to counteract the mass of end-values and bonuses accumulated in play.

TABLE 5. MAKE A DEAL CARD TYPES Description Main Effect Other Effects Arrange financing of club modernisation Life member 500 commission Amusement company benefits from help + 800 Set up cabaret entertainments + 1200 Buy dodgy gear cheaply, no problems + 1000 Do relief steward, shortages at end Resign club - 1200 Get club catering for pal + 1000 Finance a "get rich quick" scheme - 1200 Purchase stolen gear, repercussions Resign club fined 1000 Proposed a lunatic for membership Resign club Finance clubmates new business + 1500 Guarantee bank loan, pal defects - 1500 Buy used car from pub acquaintance 1500 repairs Other than the life membership conferring card, all cards are returned to the bottom of the pack for reuse. Make a deal cards are shuffled after each public premises is taken, this simulates the drastic changes occurring when a new licensee takes over.

Another type of board location 20 requires players to take the next "action" card, and these cards are also shuffled after each new licenseeship occurs. Most cards are not high-risk, but several have special significance.

TABLE 6. ACTION CARD EFFECTS Type Description Number Value Comments RANK team player 12 + keep card, bonus team captain 8 + keep card, bonus committee member 10 + keep card, bonus life member 5 + keep card, bonus STATUS lose one public license 1 --- once per game only members wild card 1 ++ free visits, bonus barred from club 3 - lose bonus too suspended from membership 2 - guests visit free renewal fees due 3 - all clubs application approved 2 + move in and join chairman owes favour 2 + out of suspension LICENSEES renew license fees 2 - all licenses ONLY stock deficiency 2 - 200 serving minors 2 - 150 serving after hours 2 - 100 BEHAVIOUR using bad language 2 - 100 bounce cheques 2 - 100 guests misbehave 2 - 80 unable to drive home 2 - 70 SPORTING win singles title 2 + 200 at club in winning team 2 + 150 in league sports gear stolen 2 - 120 replacement cost unsportsmanlike conduct 2 - 100 GAMBLING play fruit machine 2 + 180, - 80 personal bets 2 - 180, + 80 win members draw 1 + 150 win club sweepstake 1 + 120 win in Xmas draw 1 + 90 Loss of public license is critical since end-values range to 10,000.

After a single use the card is put aside. The game would never finish if this particular card were re-usable. However, the members wild card is retained by player for indefinite reuse and 2,000 bonus at game end.

Cards causing renewal of club fees can be serious to a player with many memberships. Cards involving rank bonuses are kept attached to the back of preferred membership card, if club is lost then so is bonus. Naturally if a player gets two identical rank cards they cannot both be attached to the same membership card. Action cards have a definite negative effect on play since about half of the 80 cards are eventually out of play. There is a slight recycling effect but the pack becomes increasingly negative as positive cards are used up. Near game S s end, with only one licenseeship still available, and players all round it but not on it, action cards (very negative by now) can deplete players cash balance viciously at the trickiest part of the game.

Insolvency creeps in suddenly.

Guidelines for an experts game are shown in Table 7. Winners must have at least the end-money stipulated, one public license, three rank bonuses, and memberships according to group expectation.

TABLE 7. GUIDELINES FOR AN EXPERT GAME Start End Group Requirements Minimum Number Money Money Pub 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Cards 1 18,000 2,000 1* 1 1 opt 3 1 X 3 2 17,000 1,700 1* 1 1 1 2 1 X 3 3 16,000 1,400 1 1 1 1 2 1 opt 3 4 15,000 1,200 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 5 14,000 1,100 1 opt opt 1 2 opt 1 3 6 13,000 1,000 1 opt opt opt 3 opt 2 3 NOTE: * means manager or steward licenses not acceptable.

X means clubs in this group are not available to player.

opt means optional, club counts in score but not essential.

Maximum start currency total is 93,000, leaving 15,000 bank float.

Membership card tendered to banker on resignation from a club must be the one of highest end-value irrespective of any rank cards attached to it. It frequently is the one with most attached cards and the recycling effect of positive action cards is crucial to an expert game because of minimum rank card requirements.

For convenience one dice has 3 sides labelled L and 3 as R. This means different coloured dice are not required and players do not have to remember whether 1 - 3 is L and 4 - 6 is R, or vice versa. The banker ideally is a spectator, since the only transactions not handled by the banker are visitor/guest fees from one player to another. If only 3 or 4 players are available currency per player may be increased such that total spending power of the players is equivalent to that of all 6 players. All numerical information is also incorporated into a master sheet used by banker as an instant check on players, and as a ready reckoner at game end.

Claims (3)

1. An adult board game for up to six players comprising dice, play money, two types of activity cards, and a playing board containing various locations representing sports and social clubs 12, public licensed premises 7 - 11, and related activities 13 - 20, wherein players act as visitors, members or licensees of such facilities, experiencing sporting, gambling, behavioural, rank, status, and financial complications, events numerical basis enabling performance comparison, and wherein players start equal with similar objectives and all start from the same board position 1, game theme is true to life with credible transactions and game ending is unpredictable.

2. An adult board game as claimed in claim 1, wherein players start from different board positions 1 - 6 resulting in unique individual sequences closely paralleling daily social routine of many adults.

3. An adult board game as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein start numbers imply differences in status and players get varying start money and differential objectives, board procedure remaining the same, with players performances being assessed relative to start number expectations and thus creating a second skill level suitable for more advanced players, in effect taking the real-life theme to it's ultimate conclusion.