US1903661A - Appliance for playing games - Google Patents

Description

April 11, 1933. w STOREY 1,903,661

APPLIANCE FOR PLAYING GAMES Filed Aug. 4, 1930 by m Patented Apr. 1 1, 1 933 s l UNITED STATES PATENT Qt WILLIAM HENRY STOREY, OF SOUTHEND-ON-SEA, ENGLAND APPLIANCE FOR PLAYING GAMES Application filed August 4, 1930, Serial No. 473,018, and in Great Britain September 12, 1929.

The present invention relates to appliances side of the square. Opening to the fifth for playing a game. square 2a from the right hand end of each The object of the invention is to enable a side of the track is a start 3, each of the new game to be played. four starts on the board being coloured With the above object in view, according to characteristically, for instance red, green, the invention, appliances for playing a new yellow or blue respectively. The starts 3 game are provided comprising a board, are preferably large enough to accommodate men, and a pack of cards the faces of which four counters or men 4, of the usual type have a design or a number shown thereon, such as is used in the well known game of the cards being used to control the counters Halma four being the preferred number of or men which are moved in a certain direcmen provided for each possible player in tion on a track marked on a playing board. the game.

The board may conveniently have four or The track 2 is also provided with continusiX homes and four or six starts, one ous arrow like markings 5, termed slides, 15 start point and one home point being as shown passing over regularly disposed allocated to a particular colour of men groups of the divisions 2a, the said markings and the numbered or Otherwi inscribed being preferably coloured to correspond to ds are turned p y the p y 111 turnthe start opening in the side of the track The track is lIltO dlVlSIlOIlS and ac- 2 along vhich they are situated cording to the card turned p h Players Leading off the third square or division 2a 40 the invention showing men positioned while Y Counters e in a clockwise from each right-hand end of a side of the ent leleekwlse dlreetlen round track, track is a short length of track 6 comprising which is preferably located substantially at fi divisions 6a and ending in a 7 the edge of the beard- Thls may be square for the accommodation of four men, each hexegonal or round: of y other track 6 and home 7 being coloured in the venlent shape, and the men are moved same Way as the 3 Opening on the z tt'ack if approprtage same side of the board. A track 6 may cong pomt tower S t approprla e veniently extend at right angles to the side 0 home i or change Places wlthpr replace of the track 2 on which it opens as shown. other men on the board to sun: the Wlsh Suitable markin 's, such as arrow; 8, may be v a: of a play 61 and as allowed and dlrected by made on the board to direct a players attenl b r cle tl i iit i ihvention ma be readil tion to the home when moving a man und erstood I will iiow describe tlfe preferred round the track and arrows 9 can be marked on the track to indicate the general direcmethod of carrying the above mentioned emf t f 1 bodiment thereof into practice with referg movemen 0 a man mum 16 ence to the accompanymg drawmg m Whlch In the space inside the track in the centre i gg g g i i g g gg 15 33 355332? of the board are marked spaces 10 1n which cards can be laid which are turned up by a game is in phm players to determine the movement of men Figure 2 is a plan View of one of the cards round the track. The cards used are suitused for controllingthe movements of men" ably eofnprlsed a P of forty 9 Card$ on the board Shown in Figure each of the cards being marked w th one of 45 Referring to the drawing, it will be seen elwen mal'klngs and each F g belng '95 that the appliances shown comprise a square earned y each l' Cards 111 the P board 1, around the edge of which is marked The marklngs are he clphers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, '7, a track 2 divided into sixty squares or divi- 11, 12, and the word Sorry, Whlch sions 2a in which men can be placed, there word is a trade-mark registered and applied being sixteenof these divisions along each as a name to dist nguish the game played with the parts forming this embodiment of my invention.

The preferred method of numbering the cards to be readable with equal facility by all players is illustrated at 12 (Figure 1).

The board 1, men i and the pack of cards for use in the game may be formed in any well-known manner and it will be readily appreciated that the pack of cards may be replaced by a set of domino like objects or any other suitably inscribed controlling means, which may be used in a similar manner to the card pack.

The game Sorry is played in the following way :Each player owns a start, four correspondingly coloured men, and the corresponding home. The object of the game is for a player to move the four men under his (or her) control from his start into his home by means of suc cessive moves governed by cards drawn off the pack preferably located in the space provided at the centre of the board. Players may cut to decide who shall make the first draw, a Sorry card counting the highest. A player moves a man out of his start as soon as he turns up a card marked with a 1 or with a 2, and places the man in the division into which the start opens. A man can also be brought out into play when a Sorry card is turned up, but only under certain circumstances as hereinafter described. The turning up of the cards by a player defines his moves in the following way If a card marked 1 is turned up the player must either move a man out from his start or move one of his men forward one division 2a along the track 2 or a division 6a along his track (5. If a card marked 2 is turned up a player must either move a man out from his start or move one of his men forward two divisions 2a or Go and the player also has an extra turn. If a card marked 3, 5, 8, or 12 is turned up the player must move one of his men forward the corresponding number of divisions 2a or 6a. If a card marked l is turned up, a player must move one of his men backward four divisions 2a or 6a, the normal direction of movement (clockwise) along the track 2 being indicated by the arrows 9 (see Figure 1), and the normal direction of movement along a track 6 being towards the home 7. Upon turning up a card marked 7 a player must either move one of his men forward seven divisions 2a or 211 and 6a or move two of his men forward numbers of divisions 2a and/or 6a totaling seven. If he turns up a card marked 10 a player must move one of his men either forward ten divisions along the tracks 2 or G or backward 1 division, and if a card marked 11 is turned up the player must either move one of his men for ard eleven divisions along the track 2 or along the track 2 and a track 6 or he can reverse the positions occupied by one of his men in a division 2a of the track 2 and one of his opponents or opponents men in the same track. Finally on turning up a Sorry card a player must take a man from his start and place it in a division 2a occupied by a man belonging to an opponent, the opponents man being returned to its start. If a player has no man in his start or if none of his opponents has a man in the. track 2 he cannot use a Sorry card.

If as a result of a move a man reaches aposition in a division 2a at the beginning of a slide marking 5 the man moves on to the end of the slide, every other man in its oath, regardless of colour, being returned to the appropriate start A man does not slide on a marking of its own colour. If a man terminates its move on a division of the track 2 occupied by an opponents man, the opponents man must be returned to its start, and in no circumstances do two men occupy the same division 2a or 6a. The tracks 6' cannot be entered by a backward move but may be entered by a forward move if a backward move has positioned a man in front of or to the right of the appropriately coloured track 6.

A man may be moved by a backward move out of a track 6 but cannot be moved out of a home 7. The home 7 must be reached due to the turning up of the exactly numbered card or by dividing a seven move. hen the card pack has been used once it may be reshufiled and used again or to save interruption of the game two or more packs may be used.

The above game may be modified to provide amusement for a single player. In the preferred modification, the player controls the moves of the sets of men in two opposite starts 3, drawing for, and moving men of each colour alternately, the object of the game being to move two men of each colour into the respective tracks 6 and two men into each of the respective homes 7, the game being lost when the player is compelled to move a third man of one colour into its home 7.

I have described above one embodiment of my invention. The above apparatus used as above described is calculated and has been proved by experience to be a prolific source of amusement and provides a game which calls for the exercise of a great deal of judgment while being dependent in a measure on an uncertain factor such as is calculated to add to the excitement of the game, though due to the choice of moves allowed when certain cards are turned up, the influence of the element of chance as a determining factor is much reduced in comparison with the skill exercised by a player in choosing his moves. One of the chief efiects of the element of chance is to handicap a player who has all his men out of his start and cannot use a Sorry card. A game played as above is thus always to a certain extent evened up and is consequently always exciting even when played by a skilled player and an unskilled player.

As before mentioned, my new apparatus may be constructedin any convenient way, as far as the actual formation of the board, cards or the like and counters or men. For instance, the board may be formed of millboard, wood or any other material and the tracks, homes and starts may be marked out thereon in any desired way, as by printing, inscribing or painting, but preferably the design is printed on a sheet of paper which is pasted over the board in well known manner. The board can preferably be folded up for convenience in transport and storage. The spaces 10 may be countersunk and/or might be provided with holding means to contain or grip a pack of cards and hold it in position. The men may be ordinary headed conical Halma men, or fiat discshaped counters or men provided with means adapted to hold them in a division of the tracks as in the well known travellers chess sets. The formation of the cards or the like used for controlling the movements of the men has been described above and will be readily obvious. The board and cards may be modified if desired to permit of six players partaking in the game, say by employing a hexagonal board and providing a home and a start on each side of the board as with the square board previously described, or may be modified to permit more or less players to take part as desired.

Instead of turning up the cards to control the movement of men, cards could be dealt out so that each player has a hand and uses his cards at his discretion to enable him to move men, the used cards being taken out of the hand and disposed of in any convenient manner.

The hand could be formed of a certain number of cards dealt to the player from ashuflled pack, or could be formed of sets of cards coloured or otherwise characterized to correspond to the colours of the men controlled by the player, each set being comprised of cards of the same denominations so that each player at the start of the game possesses cards of equal value to those possessed by any of his opponents.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. A game apparatus including a game board having the marginal edge marked to I portion of the trackway ing units, and serve as a starting point for each unit, each side of the board adjacent the track being further provided with an additional track extending parallel to one side trackway and at right angles to the adjacent side trackway, such additional track having plain communication with the right angle and being transversely divided to form squares and terminating in an enlarged space, the trackway at each edge of the board being further provided with a supplemental trackway of relatively narrow width and extending throughout a predetermined number of squares of such trackway, said supplemental trackway serving to provide for a particular playing function in connection with the units reaching such supplemental trackway.

2. A game apparatus including a game board having a playing surface and provided near and throughout its marginal edge with an endless trackway divided transversely to indicate playing unit bases, said trackway at intervals being provided with a plurality of pairs of laterally extending adjacent distinctive areas, each having playing connection with the trackway, one of said areas being shorter than the adjacent one and providing an enlarged, inwardly extending terminal portion to receive and serve as a starting point for a number of playing units, the other of such areas being transversely divided in correspondence with the trackway and terminating beyond the enlarged terminal portion of the adjacent area in a relatively enlarged area to provide a home for the playing units, the pairs of distinctive areas being uniformly spaced one from the other throughout the length of the trackway and each adjacent pair being distinctively colored with respect to any other adjacent pair, the trackway beyond each starting area in the playing direction being provided with a supplemental area of less width than the trackway and of a length to extend over a number of squares of the trackway, there being one supplemental area for each pair of laterally extended areas, with the supplemental area in advance of a pair of laterally extended areas in the playing direction being colored to correspond with such pair of laterally extending areas, the supplemental areas having a particular playing function in connection with the trackway.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

WILLIAM HENRY STOREY.

define a track, with such track divided transversely to indicate squares, each side of the board adjacent the track being formed with a marked outline to receive a number of play-

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