GB2241900A - Board game - Google Patents

Abstract

A board game comprises a hexagonal board and a plurality of small hexagonal spaces disposed on the board. Selected spaces carry a letter of the alphabet. Means of random selection are arranged to determine (i) a letter of the alphabet: (ii) a subject category: and optionally (iii) the length of a word, position of a letter in a word or the frequency of occurrence of a letter in a word. From the information given by the random selection means (roulette wheel, dial and pointer, cards, dice or electronic device) each player in turn attempts to identify a word in the time allowed by a timer. <IMAGE>

Description

BOARD GAHE This invention relates to a board game.

According to the present invention, a board game comprises a hoard. a plurality of coloured pieces adapted for use on the board. means of random selection and a timer, wherein the means of random selection are arranged to determine: 1. a letter of the alphabet.

2. a subject category.

In a preferred aspect of the invention the means of random selection may be arranged to select the length of a word, the position) of a letter in a word or the frequency of occurrence of letter in a word.

The game incorporates rules whereby a player at each turn nay actuate the means of selection and attempt to identify a word relating to a topic selected by the means of selection. The word chosen must contain a letter selected by the means of selection 711d must have either a length selected by the means of selection rs must contain the selected letter in a position in the word selected by the selection means.

The meals of selection may comprise a roulette wheel type of mechanism. one or more packs of cards, a multi-sided die (or multi-side dice), movable pointers on fixed dials, rotatable dials with fixed pointers or other means known to those skilled in the art.

The game is further described by means of example, and not in any limitative sense. with reference to the accompanying drawings of which Figure 1 illustrates a board of a game in accordance with this invention.

The board may be a regular hexagon, in the shape of any other polygon. or square, rectangular or circular.

The playing area consists of a plurality of small coloured aces. These spaces may be hexagonal or any other shape. They are linked together by straight lines or in any other obvious fashion. These small linked spaces are arranged in one shape of A larger hexagon or other regular or irregular shape.

A preferred arrangement in accordance with this invention is a board in the shape of a regular hexagon conveniently 30 - 50 cm across with 37 coloured spaces grouped into 6 different colours.

These spaces are linked by straight lines as illustrated in the Figure 1. These spaces are arranged in the shape of one large hexagon.

In each space there may be a letter, or letters or symbols.

According to this invention, one letter per small coloured hexagon is preferable.

Each letter of the alphabet may appear once or more than once. The preferred arrangement according to this invention is for the following letters to appear twice: A. E. I. J. K. L, N. O, Q. R, S. T, U, V, X and Z. The letters J. K. Q, V. X and Z appear in the central small hexagon.

The other letters appear just once.

The pieces may be hexagonal, circular, square. rectangular or any other shape. It is preferable according to this invention for the pieces to be hexagonal or otherwise shaped rings without centres. This enables the letter in each space to be still visible despite there being a piece on that space. The pieces may be flat or raised.

The means of random letter selection may be in the form of a roulette wheel, a dial and pointer cards or some other means known to those skilled in the art. The preference according to this invention is for a roulette wheel type of mechanism, known as a "Rouletter". or for an electronic device.

A "Rouletter" may be divided into any number of sections. A preferred arrangement here is for 30 sections comprising all 26 letters of the alphabet and 4 spaces reserved for a special "challenge" symbol. for example a star.

An electronic timer is preferred. The timer may be arranged to show a star symbol approximately one in eight occasions. The timer may comprise a casing. acuating button and liquid crystal display arranged to display a letter or challenge symbol when the button is pressed.

The timer may be of an electronic nature and may be combined with the random letter selector described above, or it may be of the mechanical. wind-up variety or a sand-timer.

The time allowed for each turn may be of any duration from five seconds to two minutes or more.

The preferred arrangement in accordance with this invention is for a thirty second timer of the electronic variety, integral with the electronic letter selector in the one unit.

The playing cards indicate. using a colour code and a minimum of explanatory words, various conditions. These conditions relate to the length of words. the position of a letter in a word or the frequency of a letter in a word. The cards may relate to any other such variables.

These conditions may also be determined by means of a random selection method such as a dial and pointer, a die or any other method known to those skilled in the art.

The cards may depict numbers, letters or any other symbols.

Tt is preferred that a single number or letter to appear on each card.

One or more lists are provided of any number of categories from which one is chosen by the player.

A preferred arrangement is for two lists each consisting of twenty categories. The lists may be provided on folded sheets which may be arranged so that only one list is visible.

List A consists of categories requiring common nouns only, whilst half of the categories in list B require proper nouns as answers.

Categories may be grouped together, making the game easier, and the more difficult categories could be omitted. Such changes are compatible with a children's version of the game.

The means of selection of category may be a random one, the preference being for a twenty-sided die. A die of another shape may be used. The random selection method may employ pointers with dials or cards or any other means known to those skilled in the art.

It is also possible that the selection of subject category is not by random means. A category may be selected by the deliberate choice of the players.

The category lists may be printed on the board, or on separate cards or on the backs of the playing cards.

LOST FOR WORDS (Rules) EQUIPMENT Came board, a random letter selector, a thirty second timer, 40 playing cards, 6 category cards. a twenty-sided die, 6 pads of paper and 6 pencils.

THE AIM The aim of the game is to form a straight line of four hexagons in your colour.

To change a cooured hexagonal space to your colour, you must occupy that space with one of your pieces.

In order to occupy a space you must come up with a correct word according to the rules set out below.

PREPARATION FOR PLAY Each player chooses a colour from the choice of 6.

The cards are snuffled and 5 are dealt to each player. the remainder being placed in a pile. face down.

Decide which categorv list, A or B. you wish to use. (all players must use the same list).

Place the letter selector and timer next to the playing board.

If there are more than two individual players, or more that 2 teams, then provide each with a pad and pencil.

ORDER OF PLAY 1. Each player rolls the die, the highest going first.

2. The first player uses uses the letter selector to obtain a letter. If it is not a letter that you wish to use in a word, then you may have one more spin.

If you get a red star instead of a letter, then this is a challenge in which everyone takes part. For more information, see the paragraph under CHALLENGES".

3. You must play one of your five cards.

The red numbers tell you how long the word must be.

The green numbers tell you what position the letter must be in the word.

Decide which card suits you letter best, eg for an A. a green 2 card may be best. This means that "A" must be the second letter in your word. which may be of any length.

An "L" card means that your letter must be the last letter of your word.

"T" car means that you use your letter twice (at least) anywhere in your word.

The "T" cards are jokers and can be used to represent any other declared card.

The card you Decide to play should be placed, face-up, beside the down-facing pile and a replacement car picked up from the down-facing pile. so that you always have 5 cards in your hand.

4. You must roll the twenty-sided die to obtain a number.

lok for the corresponding number in the category list. This will indicate the category to which you word must belong.

5. Start the thirty-second timer.

you have thirty seconds to think of a word which is a member of the category you have chosen.

There is a clarification of the categories after the rules.

Disputes may arise as to whether an answer fits a particular category or not. Should these become too heated, the player concerned should go again.

Example: Letter - a D Card - a green 3 Category - mammals One possible answer is "BADGER", D being the third letter.

Answers of two or more words are quite acceptable. eg "RED SETTER".

If a player cannot come up with a correct answer within the time. then see under BONUSES.

The same correct answer cannot be used twice in the same game.

No slang words, abbreviations. plurals or foreign words are allowed.

MOVING In "Lost For Words". you move either by playing one of your own pieces on the board or by removing one of your opponent's.

a) PLAYING: If a player, using the example above, gives the correct answer "BADGER", he places one of his pieces on the hexagon showing the "D". Once a hexagon is covered by a piece, that piece cannot be covered by another colour, but CAN be covered by the same colour again. This would have the effect of stengthening a player's hold on that hexagon. The central hexagon does not count as any particular colour, but may be covered by any player successfully using a J, K, Q, V, X or Z.

b) REMOVING: If player A gives a correct answer, he may.

instead of putting down one of his own pieces, sabotage" another player by removing one of that person's pieces. he may not simply remove ANY piece, but only a piece on a hexagon showing the letter that has just been used - in the above example, a D.

After you move. play passes to the player on the left.

BONUSES If a player A fails to come up with an acceptable answer within tile thirty seconds, then another player can score a bonus if he can offer a correct written answer as soon as the time is up. The bonus is only available to the player immediately to player A's left. Should he fail to produce a correct answer, then the offer moves on to the next player on the left, and so on. If a player gives a correct bonus answer, he then proceeds as in the paragraph on moving.

CHALLENGES If player A. on using the letter selector, gets a red star, it means there is a challenge.

For a challenge, player A obtains a letter from the letter selector.

A card from the down-facing pile is turned over.

The category die is then rolled.

The timer is started and all the players must think of a suitable answer according to the letter, random card and die.

The first player to shout out a correct answer wins the challenge and proceeds as in the paragraph on moving.

Whether the challenge is correctly answered by anyone or not, play moves on to the next person onthe left.

CLARIFICATION OF CATEGORIES All answers in list A must be common nouns and must be found in a dictionary agreed upon before the start of the game.

Most of the categories are self-explanatory but the following require a little clarification.

LIST A 2) BODY - Parts of the human body 7) FL.OWERS - Garden flowers. but not herbs, trees or vegetables 11) HOUSEHOLD - Furniture, applicances, fixed itesm eg door 12) INSECTS - Also creep-crawlies eg worms, spiders 15) MONEY - Units of currency, names of coins eg "dime" 16) MUSIC - Includes instruments and musical terms eg "key" 17) TOOLS - Includes kitchen and stationary utensils 18) TRANSPORT - Includes obsolete forms LIST B Names of people. as in categories 1, 2, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 20. refr to surnames only.

For those categories in list B that appear in list A, the same conditions apply.

1) ACTORS - Also actresses. Only those for whom acting is their main job 2) ARTISTS - Includes sculptors 5) BUILDINGS - Specific buildings, types of buildings 7) CARS - Makes and Models 10) COUNTRIES - Inlcudes names of countries no longer in existence 13) INVENTORS ETC - Also famouns explorers and discoverers 14) LEADERS - Politician, monarchs and the like 15) MOUNTAINS - and hills. Also ranges 16) POP GROUPS - Includes individual artists 17) RIVERSiSEAS - Also lakes 18) SPACE - Heaven; entities, spaceships, terms eg light year

Claims (9)

1. A hoard game comprising a board. a plurality of coloured pieces adapted for use on the board, means of random selection and a timer. wherein the means for random selection are arranged to determine (i) a letter of the alphabet (ii) a subject category.

2. A board game as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means of random selection is arranged to determine the length of a word, the position of a letter in a word or the frequency of occurence of a letter in a word.

3. A board game as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the board is hexagonal.

4. A board game as claimed in claim 3 wherein the playing area comprises a plurality of hexagonal spaces.

5. A board game as claimed in claim 4 wherein the hexagonal spaces are linked.

6. A board game as claimed in any of claims 3 to 5 wherein the board comprises 37 spaces each having a colour selected from 6 predetermined colours.

7. A board game as claimed in any of claims 4 to 6 wherein each space includes a letter or symbol.

8. A board game substantially as herein before described.

9. A board game including a board substantially as helteinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.