GB2244657A - Football board game - Google Patents

Abstract

A board game apparatus comprising a board 10 acting as a playing field and at least two Figures (Figure 3), for moving over the board. Each Figure has its own goal region into which an opposing player endeavours to move his Figure to register a score. The movement of the Figures is determined by a first die 11 of conventional configuration and a second die 12 having a plurality of faces provided with indicia which indicate that a player must select a card from a respective set of playing cards (not shown). Further sets of playing cards may be provided. <IMAGE>

Description

Bard Gan,le Aparats The present invention relates to a board game apparatus, for simulating a game involving at least two players who compete to score points or goals.

According to the invention there is provided a board game apparatus comprising at least two figures for moving over the board acting as a playing field, each figure having its own goal region into which an opposing player endeavours to move his figure to register a score, wherein the movement of the figures is determined by a first die of conventional configuration and a second die having a plurality of faces provided with indicia which indicates that a player must select a card from a respective set of playing cards.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which; Figure 1 is a plan view of a board for playing a game according to the invention; and Figures 2 to 5 are schematic perspective views of the game components namely the two dice, a pawn, a goal ring and a sand timer respectively.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a board 10 having four route paths W, X, Y, Z coloured to correspond with the respective colour of a pawn, for each player one of which is shown in Figure 3.

The ultimate objective in playing the game is to win the game by scoring more goals than your opponent within a specific and pre-determined period of time.

Achieving this objective is accomplished by advancing a players pawn along the route path of the game board 10 in a manner as determined by rolling two dice and selecting cards from any one of 5 different packs, for which spaces are provided on the board 10 and annotated Penalty, Centre Circle, Free Agent, Defensive Trap and Wild Card.

This selection of cards may be decided by the dice rolled or may be optional on the part of the game player. Some cards are of a definite and compulsory nature, others are optional and in many cases may be purchased by the player. The players' ability to evaluate the merit of the cards offered and, if purchased, the timing of their use comprises the strategy content of the game.

The game commences with the selection of a Banker who essentially controls and arbitrates the application of the games procedures and rules. The Banker allocates an appropriate volume of dummy monetary notes to the players, shuffles the cards, places 2 million in dummy notes in the Players Injury Fund and then commences the rotation of play. All the players (2, 3 or 4) select one of the four pawns (Figure 3) to represent them in the game and places it on the corresponding coloured 'Kick Off' position 14 at each end of the board. Commencing with the Banker and rotating in a clockwise direction each player rolls both dice (Figure 2). One die 11 is green with spots numbering one to six and the second die 12 is white with spots numbering four, five, six and the instruction 'Free Agent', 'Wild Card' and 'Free or Wild' depicted on each respective faces.The spots decide how many spaces the player moves forward and the word instruction indicates the pack of cards from which the player selects the top card.

Selecting a card from any of the two packs of cards indicated on the white die may present the player with a card whose instruction is compulsory or it may present an opportunity to purchase the strategic situation outlined thereon. To purchase a card a player may use his/her original allocated money or if there is not enough of that the player may sell cards already purchased by first offering them to opponents and then if they are not interested, they may be sold to the Bank at their face value. If a player has no money or cards to sell at specific times in the game then that player may borrow Loan Money from the Bank up to a maximum of 5 million.

The prohibiting consequence of borrowing loan money is that the borrowing player may not score a goal while the borrowed money remains in the possession of that player. To manoeuvre your pawn into a scoring position while in the possession of loan money and then to dispose of that money and maximize your position by scoring a goal requires a strategic ability on the part of the player.

Besides getting into limited debt by borrowing loan money a player may increase its liability to the Bank to such an extent as to be declared bankrupt. In practice it is possible to remain in the game while in this financial state but the probability of success is very limited. Any player exceeding 15 million in total debt has to cease participation in that game.

If the player declines to purchase a card offered to him/her from a pack the other players in the game may then attempt to purchase it instead. This scenario may present a situation of more than one player wishing to buy the declined card and a bidding process may ensue.

This bidding process is controlled by a 30 second sand timer (Figure 5) after which its time displacement the bidding terminates with one final bid being offered by each of the involved parties. Any cards purchased in a game may only be used in any future turn after their time of purchase. The ability of players to evaluate the merit of cards selected or offered for sale by opponents, and if they purchase those cards, the timing of their use is an important skill in helping that player advance or conversely to limit the progress of an opponent. The combination of rolling both dice and the use of cards is essentially how each player progresses along the game board.

Having advanced from the original 'Kick Off' position 14, along the spaces numbered 1 to 14, the player will eventually reach the area called the Center Circle which also acts as space number 15. When a player reaches this area he/she has to stop automatically regardless of how many other spaces the player may have been entitled to move forward in that specific turn to play. To get out of the Centre Circle the player has to select the top card from the Centre Circle pack.

Eventually, after an indeterminate number of turns to play, every player will get out of the Centre Circle and move along towards goal by way of the Direct Attack or the Indirect Attack route. The Direct Attack takes the player on a route directly toward goal whereas the Indirect Attack takes the player on a more hazardous and protracted route to goal.

The Direct Attack is represented by the spaces numbered, in reverse, from 14 to 1 inclusive. The player's position on the Direct Attack will dictate the conditions under which it may attempt to score a goal. A goal cannot be scored if the player is in debt to the Bank or by solely using cards to advance to move forward.

The two dice have always to be used in any combination of manoeuvres to score a goal. In addition if a player is positioned on any of the spaces numbered 6 to 12 that player only needs to roll the exact or greater number of that space with both dice in order to break the plane of the goal line 16, 16' and thus score a goal. When a player is positioned in any space numbered 1 to 5 he/she has two options. That player has to roll the exact number of the space occupied, with both dice, or alternatively he/she may place 1 million in the Players Injury Fund and then select the top card from the Penalty pack in the hope that it will indicate that the player has scored a goal. If the player is not directed along the Direct Attack having exited the Centre Circle he/she has to progress along the Indirect Attack.

The Indirect Attack is numbered, in reverse, from 14 to 6 inclusive. Space number 6 is also represented by the Defensive Trap. If a player progressing along this route does not select a card from a pack or does not already own a previously purchased card which will transfer him/her over onto the more desirable Direct Attack then that player will continue to progress along this route until he/she lands in the Defensive Trap. As was the case with the Centre Circle, that player has to stop automatically on reaching the Defensive Trap regardless of how many additional spaces he/she may have been entitled to move forward in that turn. To get out of the Defensive Trap the player in each of his/her turns has to select the top card from the Defensive Trap pack and eventually the player will arrive on the Direct Attack and hopefully go on to score a goal.

As previously stated, a goal cannot be scored if a player is in debt to the Bank. This implication and its remedial action is amply outlined in the rules. When a legitimate goal is scored a series of procedures takes place: (1) The goal scorer gets a white 'Goal Ring' (Figure 4) from the Banker and places it down over his/her pawn.

(2) The scorer to his/her original 'Kick Off' position. The other players, who have progressed past the Centre Circle retreat back into the Centre Circle and remain there. Those players who were in the Centre Circle when the goal was scored stay in the Centre Circle and those players who did not reach the Centre Circle return to their respective Kick Off positions.

(3) The goal scorer gets 1 million from the Banker and the Banker also puts an additional 1 million into the Players Injury Fund.

When all this activity is complete the players renew their efforts to score more goals.

The first player to receive two white Goal Rings over his/her pawn can take a maximum of 8 million from the Players Injury Fund. The two similarly coloured goal rings do not have to be received one after the other but simply the first player to get two rings before any opponent. If there is not 8 million in the Fund the scorer is given the balance from the Bank.

When the Injury Fund has been reduced by 8 million by the first player with two white rings, the Banker then issues the green Goal Rings to the next goal scorers until a player earns two green rings. Again the first player with two green rings takes 8 million out of the Fund. The colour of the Goal Rings used is alternated after each time the Injury Fund is reduced by 8 million.

i.e. Start with the white rings, then use the green rings, back to the white and again change to the green, if necessary. Each player retains all rings earned, regardless of colour, during the course of a game. If the Penalty Shoot-Out format is being used the rings are returned to the Banker for that exercise which is outlined in its own section of the Rules.

In the event of the pre-agreed time to play the game has expired and two or more players are equal in the number of goals which they have scored, those players may wish to resolve this situation with a Penalty Shoot-Out.

In a Penalty Shoot-Out situation the following procedure applies: (1) The Banker extensively shuffles all the cards in the Penalty pack and then places that pack in the Centre Circle, number 15.

(2) Those players involved in the Shoot-Out place their pawns on space number 4 of the same colour in the Penalty area opposite their original Kick Off position, and (3) Staying in the same rotation as used in the game (the Banker first etc.), the first Shoot-Out player selects the top card from the Penalty pack and reads its instruction. If that player scores a goal he/she gets a white Goal Ring from the Banker which is placed over his/her pawn. When the instruction has been complied with, that card is then returned to the bottom of the Penalty pack. The next Shoot-Out player in the rotation repeats the exact same exercise. When all the players in the Shoot-Out have selected one card each, this exercise is repeated 4 more times until all the players have selected a total of 5 cards each. The player who has scored the most goals after the 5 selections is the winner.If the result is still a draw the players may wish to repeat the exercise described above once again or go directly to the Sudden Death Penalty Shoot-Out, the ultimate decision maker.

As in the Penalty Shoot-Out procedure the Banker extensively shuffles the Penalty pack, places it in the Centre Circle and the players, in the same rotation of play as in the regular game, each of the remaining players in this Shoot-Out select one card each in turn.

If in any one round of selecting a card each, one player scores and any other player fails to score in the same turn, that player who did not score drops out of the game. This rule applies in every round of the Sudden Death procedure until eventually one winner emerges.

DESCRIPTION OF CARDS There are five different packs of cards with the game, which total 106 in number.

(1) WILD CARD This pack contains 20 cards which reflect the general every day events in the life of a soccer club and also events which commonly occur in the course of a soccer game. Cards selected from this pack will have a positive or negative effect on the progress of that player along the game board.

(2) CENTRE CIRCLE This pack has 20 cards which basically instruct a player as to what his/her next move will be while they are located in the Centre Circle. That move may be in retreat, stay put or to move forward along the Direct Attack or the Indirect Attack.

(3) PENALTY There are 20 cards in the Penalty pack. When a player selects a card from this pack he/she will be instructed if a goal was scored or if they may have to retake the penalty kick by selecting another card from this same pack.

(4) DEFENSIVE TRAP The Defensive Trap has 20 cards. These cards basically decide the next move by a player who is stopped in this trap. That move may be to the Direct Attack, stay put on the board or move along the Indirect Attack.

(5) FREE AGENT There are 26 cards in this pack. Twelve (12) of the 26 cards have a photograph of a soccer personality or in some markets that photograph will be replaced with the name of a team position on the actual playing field. The cards may offer the game player an opportunity to buy the card selected which will have a monetary value and a set of conditions exclusively associated with having purchased that card. Other non-purchasable cards will reflect a positive or a negative effect on the progress of a player.

All the cards in this game are unique in its instruction. There are 59 unique cards in the game some of whom are duplicated to bring the overall total to 106 cards.

GAME COMPONENTS DICE There are two 16mm dice (Figure 2) in each game: The die 11 is a regular green die with spots numbering from 1 to 6. One configuration of numbers per facing.

The die 12 is a custom white die with each facing showing: 4 spots, 5 spots, 6 spots, WILD CARD, FREE AGENT and FREE or WILD respectively.

PAWNS There are four pawns (Figure 3) per game each with a different colour to correspond with the four route colours W, X, Y, Z on the game board. The height of the pawns will be 1" with a 5/8" diameter base.

GOAL RINGS Each game will have 2 sets of 10 goal rings (Figure 4).

Each set of rings will have a different colour. The rings will measure 5/8" in diameter with a 1/16" thickness.

SAND TIMER Each game will have a 30 second sand timer, similar in design to a traditional 'egg timer'.

Claims (8)

1. A board game apparatus comprising at least two figures for moving over the board acting as a playing field, each figure having its own goal region into which an opposing player endeavours to move his figure to register a score, wherein the movement of the figures is determined by a first die of conventional configuration and a second die having a plurality of faces provided with indicia which indicates that a player must select a card from a respective set of playing cards.

2. A board game apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first and second dies are of unique colour.

3. A board game apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the second die has three faces which indicate sets of playing cards.

4. A board game apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the other three faces of the second die are marked to indicate a numeral.

5. A board game apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein there is provided a timer means for use in accordance with a set of game rules.

6. A board game apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein there is provided a plurality of goal ring members.

7. A board game apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein there is provided monetary notes for use by players in accordance with the game rules.

8. A board game apparatus substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.