US2167074A - Game device - Google Patents

Description

iii

Patented July 25, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

My invention relates generally to amusement devices and more particularly to that class of device generally known as a die which can be rolled over a table or other flat surface, so as to turn up certain numbers or other indicia. Devices of this type can be used for playing various games of skill and chance and, as will become apparent hereinafter, the die of my invention lends itself to the playing of various novel games.

It is one of the objects of my invention to provide a die which has a large number of faces upon which various indicia may be placed so as to make the die more readily adaptable to games of different kinds.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a die with which it is possible to play both number and letter games and combinations of the two.

It is also an object of my invention to provide a die which is simple and easy to construct and yet has an attractive and novel appearance.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become evident from the following description of a preferred form of my invention and by reference to the accompanying drawing inwhioh:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my preferred form of die, and

Figs. 2 to 7 are plan views of the six faces of the die.

Referring now to the drawing and particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, it will be seen that the die of my invention comprises generally an octahedron in which the major axes or planes of axis have been extended outwardly to form a plurality of webs or wings. Or, considering the die from another aspect, it can be said to be formed by three intersecting plates of substantially equal size forming eight right-angular quadrants in each of which is placed an equilateral pyramid with its apex inserted into the apex angle of the quadrant formed by the plurality of plates, thus giving in each quadrant an angular flat face or facet, the three corners of which terminate at the edges of the three plates forming the quadrant in which the facet is placed, and providing therefore an angularly disposed facet surrounded by or enclosed by three webs or wings formed by the extending ends of the three plates beforementioned.

The plurality of webs formed by the intersecting plates above-mentioned are indicated by the numerals 50 in the drawing and the facets are indicated by the numerals 60, it being thought that since all webs are alike and all facets are alike and since each web and each facet is provided with indicia in the form of numbers or letters, it will not be necessary to further indicate of each web is beveled off, so that the outer edge of the web is substantially parallel to the line of contact or point of juncture between. the web and the particular facet adjacent thereto.

As seen best by an inspection of Figs. 2 to 7, inclusive, each facet is provided with a numeral, the numerals preferably running from 2 to 9, inclusive, and therefore totalling 44 for all facets. The numbers are preferably disposed on the facets so that opposite facets will always total up to 11 so that when the die is rolled and falls in such a position that a facet is substantially horizontal or may be said to be up the number on that facet subtracted from 11 will give the number on the opposite facet which is at that moment down and obstructed from View. The edges of the webs are also provided with numerical indicia which can, of course, be in the form of any type of number but are preferably formed by a series of lines simulating roman numerals. In the preferred form shown, these web edges are numbered with even numbers only running from 2 to 12, the total number of each pair of opposed edges being 14. Thus, when the die is rolled in such a way that a pair of web edges come up horizontally and no facet is horizontal the total number of digits on the upturned edges, plus the total number of digits on the web edges which are totally hidden from view, will always equal 14. The webs or wings 50 are preferably each provided with a letter or letters on each opposite face thereof, so that when the die is in a fiat position as illustrated in Figs. 2 to '7, four letters will always be visible except in those cases where a wing is provided with two letters in which case, of course, five letters will be visible. In the cases where the die upon coming to rest stops in a position with one facet 60 uppermost three wings will be visible from above, so that three letters will always be visible and more if one or more of the wings is provided with two letters; it being noted that there are 24 wings upon which to place the 26 letters of the alphabet, so that it becomes necessary for only two of the wings to have two letters, the rest of them having one letter each.

In constructing the die of my invention, it should be so proportioned that it has what may be said to be substantially equal balance, that is to say, when the die is rolled out over a table or board, it will have as much tendency to make a three point landing with one facet 60 uppermost as it will to make a flat landing where a pair of wing edges will be uppermost. I have found that beveling the corners of the wings 5U greatly facilitates the production of this necessary balance although it is not essential that the corners be beveled in a flat straight line, as they may be rounded or snubbed in such a manner as to eliminate the sharp corners which otherwise would be present, and it is to be understood that when in the claims I use the term regular plates, I mean to include dies both with and without beveled, rounded, or snubbed corners. Any suitable material can be used in the construction of my invention, so long as it is durable and is adapted to receive indicia thereon, it being understood, of course, that various means may be employed in the fabrication of the die, such means forming no part of this invention.

In the preferred form illustrated in the drawing, it will be seen that I have used Arabic numerals on the facets and pseudo Roman numerals on the wing or web edges with letters upon the faces of the wings. It will be understood,

,of course, that the particular type of lettering or numbering which I employ forms no part of this invention, but I have found that the types herein illustrated greatly facilitate the ready distinguishability of the various parts of the die.

As before-mentioned, the die of my invention lends itself to the playing of many different games and to illustrate this ready adaptability of my invention, I will briefly describe a few of the games which can be played with said die.

The simplest game of all perhaps is one closely akin to the well-known game of dice with this modification, that the number showing when the die comes to rest on the three point landing can be taken as the point number or the number to be thrown again and the difference between the point number and 11 will be the number of throws which the player has in order to try and make his point. If he makes his point within the required number of throws, he then has another chance to throw a point number and so on. If however, he does not make his point within the required number of throws, the die passes to the next player. In such a game, it will be seen that the player throwing a high point number, as for instance a 7 or an 8, will score a greater amount if he repeats and makes his point, however, he has fewer chances in which to make his point because the higher number subtracted from 11 gives a small number of chances in which to throw the die.' On the contrary, the player throwing a low point number as for instance, 2 or 3, while scoring a large amount upon making his point still has many more chances in which to make that point than has the preceding player.

Another simple number game which can be played with the die of my invention, employs all faces and edges of the die. While any apt terminology can be used for the game, I find that words Buying and Selling well describe the procedure which is as follows. When a player upon throwing the die turns up a facet as is the case when the die makes a three point landing, he is said to have an opportunity to buy merchandise from his neighbor in an amount equal to the number turned up. If in throwing the die, it makes a fiat landing, and the wing edges are uppermost with their respective numbers, the player is said to sell to his neighbor an amount of merchandise represented by the numbers showing. Various modifications and additional rules to this fundamental procedure can, of course, be employed and so long as the die is substantially equally balanced, the chances of turning up a "buy combination are about equal to the chances of turning up a sell" combination. If desired, each of the players can be provided with a given number of cards or markers, and when a facet is turned up the player is entitled to withdraw the number of markers from the bank indicated by the number on the facet turning up. If he turns up a wing edge, then he is obligated to pay the bank the number of markers corresponding to the numeral on the wing edge which he has turned up as the result of throwing the die.

Various letter games can also be played with my die which may be combinations or modifications of the well-known anagrams. For instance, if the player turns up a facet then he has three wing faces and, consequently, three letters added to his collection which he may use in forming words or sentences. If he is fortunate enough to throw the die in such a way that it comes to rest on the wing edges, then four wing spaces are visible from above and that player adds four letters to his collection, thus giving him an advantage over the previous thrower.

While the form of my invention illustrated and described herein is deemed to be the preferred form thereof, and fully capable of providing the advantages and attaining the objects 'hereinbefore set forth, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of my invention and that various modifications which will become apparent to those skilled in the art are meant to be included in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A game device of the character described which comprises a generally cube-like die formed by three equal sized regular plates intersecting at substantially right angles to one another forming eight equal quadrants, each quadrant being provided with a facet angularly disposed with respect to the faces of the wings formed by said intersecting plates.

2. A device as described in claim 1 in which the facets present triangular faces, spaced away from the point of juncture of said plates.

3.. A device as described in claim 1 in which each of the facets is provided with a different number and each of the wing faces is provided with a letter.

4. A device as described in claim 1 in which each of the facets is provided with a number, the numbers on the facets being chosen so that the total of numbers on oppositely-disposed facets always equals eleven;

5. A device as described in claim 1 in which the facets are each provided with a number and the edges of the wing portions are each provided with a number.

6. A device as described in claim 1 in which each of the wing edges is provided with a different number, the total of all of the numbers on all of the wing edges being equal to forty-two.

7. A device of the character'des'cribed which comprises an octahedron provided with outwardly-extending wings of equal size and shape on its major axes, said wings dividing the facets of the octahedron, the corners of said wings being beveled, there being numeric indicia on each of the facets of said octahedron and on each of the wing edges and there being letters on each of the wing faces.

ROY E. HILKER.

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