US1179076A - Geographical-game apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

C. L. CRUVER.

GEOGRAPHICAL GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION HL'ED SEPT- 19 1914.

Patented A111. 11, 1916.

l l l l I I y Gums) THE coLumslA PLANOGRAPH ,C0., WASHINGTON, n. c.

' CURTIS L. CRUVER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GEOGRAPHICAL-GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

Application filed September 19, 1914. Serial No. 862,515.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CURTIS L. CRUVER, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Geographical- Game Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to game apparatus, its general object being to provide an apparatus for use in playing a game which will be instructive both as to the relative sizes and locations of various countries or other geographical divisions of the globe, and as to the flags, shields or other emblems distinctive of each of the said geographical divisions.

More detailed objects are to provide a game board marked in geographical divisions equipped with means for readily supporting movable markers bearing legends pertaining to the said divisions; to provide simple means for readily designating each of the markers to indicate the player by whom the marker was placed in its position on the game board; to provide simple means for holding the said movable markers before they have been used in the game in such position that certain portions of the distinctive markings upon all of the same may be simultaneously visible to the players; and to provide detachable means for concealing a portion of the distinctive legend upon each marker.

Further objects will be apparent from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a game board embodying my invention, as it appears during the progress of the game. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section through one of the sockets of the game board, together with an elevation of a movable marker in the form of a national flag and of a playerdesignating auxiliary marker attached thereto. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the flag of Fig. 2 showing thereading matter upon the rear face of the flag. Fig. 4 is an elevation of one of the said auxiliary markers. Fig. 5 shows an alternative type of movable marker comprising a standard bearing a shield emblematic of a geographical division, and also shows another type of player-designator attached thereto.

In its general aspects, my invention aims to provide a game board having upon its face a map of some portion of the globe, which map preferably does not have upon it the names of the countries or other geographical divisions displayed thereby, but only the outlines of said geographical divisions; or

it may have the said outlines plus the name of a prominent point in each of the said divisions, such as the capital of the latter if the division is a country. Within the field corresponding to each of these geographical divisions, the game board is equipped with at least one socket adapted to receive a movable marker bearing some legend pertaining to one of the geographical sections of the game board. This movable marker as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 comprises a flag 1 of celluloid or other suitable material attached to a standard 2, the lower end of which standard will readily slip into one of the sockets 3 upon the game board 4. One side or face of each of the flags 1 preferably shows only the colored fields characteristic of the flag of a certain country, while the reverse side of the flag (as shown in Fig. 3) carries the name of the country together with a brief summary of its history or'of other interesting information regarding the said country. By making the flags proper out of a stiff material, such as celluloid, they can readily be kept from curling, so that the reading matter thereon may be concealed from View while the entire face of the flag is visible to the players. For this purpose, the stems of the flags may be slipped into auxiliary sockets 5 disposed upon the edge of'the game board, before the game is started, thereby permitting all of the flags to be disposed about the game board where the players can readily see the same and have access to the same, as partially indicated in Fig. 1.

The game may then be played in any one of many ways, as for example by having one of the players successively call out the names of the various countries, whereupon each player takes his turn at selecting the flag which he believes to designate the country named and at placing this flag upon the game board in the field which he believes to designate the said country. It will be evident that since the descriptive matter upon the flag is concealed and since the countries are not marked with their names, the player must learn both the location of each country and its distinctive flag in order to insure a correct play, as otherwise the score (which may be kept by counting the total number of flags correctly placed by each other) will not count for him. To prevent the name and other reading matter on the reverse side of the flag from being seen during the progress of the play, I preferably provide a plurality of legend-concealing elements which may be attached to each flag before the same is moved from its horizontal socketed position, such as a member 6 made of opaque celluloid or card-board and provided with clips 7 for securing the same to the flag. By making these legend-concealing elements of different colors, one of which is assigned to each player, I avoid any disputes as to wvhich player has placed the respective flags in position on the game board, so that the said elements also serve as player-designators. However, I do not wish to be limited to this particular type of auxiliary marker for designating the player who maipulated each particular movable marker, nor to the flag form of the legend-bearing movable marker, nor to the use of a pointed stem and a corresponding socket on the game board. For example, Fig. 5 shows another type of movable marker comprising a stem or standard 8 supporting a shield 9 emblematic of one of the geographical divisions on the game, board and itself supported by a relatively heavy base 10. In this case, the player placing such a marker upon the game board may be designated by attaching a split ring 11 to the said movable marker, the said split ring being furnished in a variety of colors, and rings of one color being selected by each of the players. Neither do I wish to be limited to the equipping of the game board with peripheral sockets 5, nor to the other details herein disclosed, as it will be evident that these might be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fields corresponding to geographical sections, and a plurality of movable markers each bearing upon one face an unworded emblem characteristic of one of said sections and upon its reverse face wording relating to the same'section.

2. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fields corresponding to geographical sections, a plurality of movable markers bearing legends respectively characteristic of the said geographical sections;

and a plurality of player-designating auxiliary markers interchangeably attachable to each of the said markers.

3. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fields corresponding to geographical sections, a plurality of movable markers bearing legends respectively char acteristic of the said geographical sections, and a plurality of auxiliary markers interchangeably attachable to each of the said markers, each thereof when attached to one of the said markers concealing a portion of the legend upon the latter.

4. A game apparatus including a game board displaying a map of a plurality of countries, a plurality of movable markers each bearing upon one face theflag of one of the said countries and bearing upon its reverse side reading matter relating to the corresponding country, and a plurality of player-designating members interchangeably attachable to each of the said movable markers and each thereof when thus attached concealing the said reading matter upon the reverse side of the flag.

5. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fields corresponding to geographical sections, a plurality of movable markers each bearing upon one face an emblem characteristic of one of the said geographical sections and bearing upon its reverse face wording relating to the corresponding section, and means for supporting the said movable markers in a position displaying their first named faces and concealing their said reverse faces.

6. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fields corresponding to geographical sections and a plurality of markers bearing upon their faces unworded emblems respectively characteristic of the said sections, said board having socket formations associated with each of said sections for receiving the corresponding marker.

7. A game apparatus including a game board bearing a map including a plurality of countries and having the capital of each country designated thereon, and markers bearing upon their faces the flags of the re spective countries, said board being also marked with position-indicators associated respectively with the said countries for receiving the flags thereof.

In testimony whereof I have signed my namein presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CURTIS L. CRUVER.

"Witnesses IV. A; Pn'rnns, M. M. BOYLE.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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