US3073601A - Game apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 15, 1963 Filed Jan. 6, 1960 s. A. BAlLLO 3,073,601

GAME APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

SAM A. BA |u o \rdlvsoN, LEms MCRAE ATTORNEYS Jan. 15, 1963 s. A. BAlLLO 3,073,601

GAME APPARATUS Filed Jan. 6, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VEN TOR. SAM A BAI LLO N\LsoN,LEwl$ FMcRAE ATTORNEYS United States 3,073,661 Patented Jan. 15, 1963 This invention relates to game apparatus, and particularly to an arrangement wherein provision is made for containing apparatus useful in the playing of several different games. The arrangement is particularly characterized by the provision of a gameboard having indicia thereon for facilitating the positioning of slidable player pieces such as circular discs, the various discs being arranged into two opposing teams, and the object of the game being for each of the players to manually slide the discs of his team along the gameboard surface so as to strike the opponents discs and direct them into a peripheral pocket area. The winner of the game is the player who successfully drives the opponents discs off of the board into the pocket area.

It will be seen from the above discussion that the gameboard forming one component of the apparatus is of such character that considerable skills are attained in the playing of the game. Thus the game is more than a mere game of chance and is accordingly relatively more'enjoyable for the players due to the keenness of competition involved in the striving for proficiency in skills.

Preferably the slidable disc game is removably arranged on a storage-forming base structure having the aforementioned peripheral pocket area therein arranged .to conveniently receive the discs as they are thrown off of the gameboard. The gameboard is arranged centrally within the base structure so as to overlie a storage space for the discs. In order to provide variety in play the base structure and gameboard are preferably arranged with respect to one another such that additional gameboards can be accommodated within the base structure area. The additional gameboards can be of various dimensions and can be marked off to play any of several games, as for example backgammon, chess, Chinese checkers, etc. The arrangement of the base and various gameboards is such that the gameboards can be interchangeably positioned with respect to one another within the base, with a desiredvone of the boards uppermost in the series so as to permit the playing of any desired game. By this arrangement a single base structure can .be employed to operatively mount each of the various ,gameboards and to store the counter devices, discs and other paraphernalia utilized in playing of the various games.

From the above brief discussion it will be appreciated that one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide a game apparatus, including a three dimensional base and series of gameboards, wherein the boards can be stored within the base during periods of non-use and wherein any one of the gameboards can be positioned atop the other gameboards within the base to permit playing of any desired game.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved base-gameboard arrangement wherein the base provides a storage space for containment of the apparatus utilized with the gameboards.

A further object of the invention is to provide a base structure and gameboard arrangement wherein a peripheral trough area or pocket area is disposed adjacent outer peripheral edge portions of the board to receive discs dislodged from the gameboard in the playing of a game thereon, thereby enabling the discs to be conveniently collected during the progress of the game and preventing them from being lost or mislaid.

- 0 A further ob ect of the invention is to provide a game- 7 board-base construction of the above-mentioned charac- 2. ter wherein the base defines a peripheral trough area having a portion thereof extending above the level of the gameboard so as to provide a peripheral back stop wall for deflecting the flying discs into the subja-cent portions of the trough structure.

In conjunction with the above-mentioned object, it is w an ancillary object to provide a back stop wall having a declined configuration such that the discs in striking the wall are automatically directed downwardly rather than being allowed to deflect upwardly and away from the trough.

A general object of the invention is to provide a game apparatus, including a base and series of gameboards, wherein various different games such as backgammon, Chinese checkers, poker, and deflectable-disc games may be played using common features of the base.

An additonal object is to provide an apparatus of the above-mentioned type wherein the various gameboards and base may be readily clamped together in the non-use positions so as to permit their convenient storage without possibility of certain game components being lost, mislaid, damaged, etc.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the fol lowing description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a base structure utilized in one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken through two gameboards employed in one embodiment of the invention, with the gameboards having registering recesses and locator projections therein for facilitating their positionment on one another and on the base shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the FIG. 1 base, showing the FIG. 3 gameboards arranged thereon;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view showing components utilized in construction of the base shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on the same line as FIG. 2 but showing the FIG. 3 gameboards installed thereon;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the FIG. 6 assembly, showing the use of a rubberband-like strap for retaining the gameboards in a locked storage position within the base; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a slidable disc which maybe employed in playing a game with the FIG. 6 apparatus.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it

part by the upstanding walls of particular utility in storing such items as poker chips, checkers, dice, cards, spinners, discs, chessmen and other also serve to define the storage area indicated generally by numeral 23. The storage area is 3 paraphernalia employed in the playing of games on boards 30 and 31.

In order to reinforce the base structure walls 12 through 15 and 19 through 22 there may be provided a series of ribs 24, said ribs having depressed upper edges as at 25 for a purpose to be clear later.

Storage area 23 is preferably compartmented by the two diagonally extending walls 26 and 27, said walls being thickened in the areas 28 thereof to form material for defining the sockets 29.

The walls 19 through 22 define a substantially square area within the trough structure 18 for receiving either one of the game boards 30 or 31. Each of these gameboards is formed with a plurality of downwardly extending locator pin portions 32 and a plurality of upwardly facing recesses 33, the arrangement being such that either board can be positioned in the upper central portion of the base with its locator pins 32 seated within the various sockets 29.

It will be appreciated that boards 30 and 31 are interchangeable such that either may be positioned uppermost in the series. Of course if desirable, the board not in current use may be discarded and stored in some area remote from the base; however for convenience the nonused board can be stored below the board currently in use, as for example as shown in FIG. 6. The boards may be of different sizes if desired, and of course any suitable number of boards may be utilized.

Referring to FIG. 4, the board 31 there shown is marked otf with two lines 40 and 41 interconnected by a third line 43 to define a first court area 42 for receiving sixteen slidable discs 50 of the type shown to an enlarged scale in FIG. 8. These discs may be of the size of the conventional checkers and may be positioned within court area 42 on the various locator spots identified by numerals 39. A second court area 44 is defined by the marking lines 45, 46 and the interconnecting line 43. When the game is being played by two people each of the players positions his sixteen discs (preferably of different colors) in one of the court areas 42 or 44. As explained previously, the object of the game is for one player to propel a selected one of his discs against the discs of the opponent so as to dislodge the opponents discs from the gameboard and into the peripheral trough structure 18.

One of the players (termed the attacker) begins the play by shooting one of his discs toward the discs of the opponent (termed the defender). When the attacker misses a shot he becomes the defender and the opponent becomes the attacker. Preferably the three discs located in the first row of the defenders discs (designated by the numeral 48) are arbitrarily designated as guard discs, i.e., these discs cannot be used as targets in the initial stages of the playing of the game. Also, the discs in the first row of the attackers discs (row 48a) must be utilized as the shooter discs in the initial stages of the game. Thus in playing the game the one starting the game places his finger behind any one of the discs in row 48a and snaps his finger against the disc edge so as to propel it toward one of the opponents discs located in a row in back of the opponents row 48, i.e., he cannot direct his propelling disc against the opponents first row 48 of guard discs. If the attacker successfully propels his first disc against a disc 50 of the defender and dislodges it into the trough 18, he then propels either of the remaining discs in his row 48a toward one of the other discs in the opponents rearward rows of discs, the object being to dislodge at least one of the defenders discs into the trough with each shot. If the starting player fails to dislodge any of the opponents discs into the trough then the defender becomes the attacker and shoots discs from row 48 against the first players discs in the back rows. When the first row of discs in the attackers array has been shot he is then free to shoot one of the discs in the rear rows. The players alternate after each missed shot until one of the players has no more discs left on the board. The other player is then declared the winner. The players may keep count of the number of games each has won by utilizing counting pegs 51 in conjunction with the openings 53 in walls 13 and 15. Thus, as each player wins a game he advances his peg 51 to the next opening 53 in his series.

In playing the game it has been found that certain rules are desirable in order to maintain a desired degree of skill on the part of the players and to make the game of suflicient length that each player has an opportunity to shoot his discs during the game. Thus, as previously explained, in the early stages of the game one player cannot shoot his discs against the first row of the opponents discs. Also, each player must shoot discs from his first row of discs before utilizing any of his other discs. Further, under the preferred rules of the game each player is precluded from shooting his discs against any of the opponents discs located in his court until his court is free of his own discs, i.e., each player must trade shots between courts rather than shooting within a single court. In this manner each of the shots is of relatively greater length as compared with the dimension of the board, and the necessary accuracy skills are accordingly increased.

In playing the game a considerable speed can be given to the discs with a snapping motion of the player's fingers, and accordingly it is desirable to provide a trough structure such as trough 18 in order to trap the discs and prevent them from flying olf indiscriminately about the room during the course of the game. As will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 6, the peripheral wall of the base is inclined at an angle 16. This inclination is effective to deflect the flying disc downwardly into the trough instead of allowing it to bounce back onto the gameboard or fly off and over the top edge of the peripheral wall 17. The reinforcement ribs 24 are provided with the recessed upher edges 25 so that they will not form ski slopes for allowing the discs to slide off and over the top edges of the peripheral walls. In actual practice the game has been found to perform remarkably andwith consistent trapping of the discs, even at relatively high disc speeds.

The previous description of gameboard 31 has centered on the use thereof by two players in playing the game. It should be noted however that the gameboard ismarked in such a way that four players can also play the game if desired. In this connection it will be noted that marked lines 40 and 45 define a triangular court 52. Similarly, lines 41 and 46 define a second triangular court 52a. In like manner lines 54 and 55 define a triangular court 56. Additionally lines 57 and 58 define a fourth triangular court 59. Each of these four triangular courts has marked spaces therein for positioning six discs. Courts 56 and 59 are located within the previously mentioned courts 42 and 44, and when the gameboard is used by four players the areas of courts 42 and 44 outside of court areas 56 and 59 are not used.

The game is played in similar manner as when two players play, i.e., one player drives one of his discs against any of the opponents discs and attempts to dislodge the opponents disc into the surrounding trough structure. He continues shooting until he misses, either by entirely missing the opponents disc, hitting the opponents disc without deflecting it into the trough, or driving his own disc into the trough. The game is won when only one of the players has discs remaining on the board. He is declared the winner.

It has been previously pointed out that gameboards 30 and 31 are interchangeable. Board 30 may have any suitable indicia thereon, depending on the type of gam which it is desired to play therewith. Thus the gameboard can be marked oflf to permit playing chess or checkers, Chinese checkers, backgammon, etc. Since the markings for these games are well known in the art the drawings herein have not been amplified to show these conventional markings.

In addition to the games requiring markings on the boards, the illustrated apparatus can also be utilized to play card games such as poker which do not require any markings on the playing surface. Thus a plain game- 'board may be provided for the playing of poker or other card games. In the playing of such card games the peripheral trough structure 18 provides a series of compartments for the ready reception of poker chips or counters, etc.

The previous discussion has been directed to the structure and function of the apparatus, irrespective of the materials utilized in its formation. It is contemplated that any of several materials can be employed in fabrieating the various structures and components, among which may be mentioned wood, sheet metal, paperboard, and plastic. When the illustrated base structure is formed of plastic, one preferred method is to form it as a two-piece assembly as illustrated by FIG. 5. Thus referring to FIG. 5, the peripheral walls 12 through 15 are formed as an annular plastic molding 6i), and the remaining portions of the base are formed as a second plastic molding 61. The two moldings may then be secured together by any convenient means such as gluing, or controlled solvent application, or heat applica;

tions, etc. I

It will be seen that the illustrated assembly is particularly adapted to the convenient playing of several different games using the common base. The central compartment area 23 of the base serves as a convenient storage area for chips, dice, marbles, discs, or other paraphernalia employed in the playing of the various games. The various gameboards are preferably retained on the base in a secure manner during periods of non-use in order to retain the paraphernalia within area 23 and in order to prevent loss or mislaying of the boards. For this reason there is preferably employed a clamping device such as the rubberband 65 shown in FIG. 7. This band is provided with loop portions 66 at its opposite ends which fit over pins 67 carried by walls 1.9 and 21. By the use of band 65 the entire assembly can be carried from place to place and set up on a moments notice ready for play. If desired, the base may be provided with self-contained folding legs so as to obviate the need for a separate subsurface such as a table or the like.

During the above description the device has been described in considerable detail, particularly with respect to the structure and arrangement of preferred components. However, it will be appreciated that various modifications and redesigns of parts may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In game apparatus,

a base having a bottom Wall,

an inner upstanding annular wall carried on said bottom wall and cooperating therewith to defin a central storage area for game paraphernalia,

an outer upstanding annular wall carried on the peripheral edge of the bottom wall to cooperate with said inner wall in defining an annular game piece trough around said storage area,

6 a plurality of upstanding game board support pillars positioned within said storage area and defining socket-forming recesses in their upper surfaces, said pillars being equal in height to said inner wall, said outer wall being of a height greater than said inner wall and pillars, and a game board having projections engageable with said pillar sockets to be held in place above said storage area.

2. The combination of claim 1 and further comprising pins projecting from the inner annular wall into different portions of the trough; and an elongated resilient strap having loop-shaped end portions adapted to lock onto the pins, with the central portion hereof snugly engaging the upper surface of the game board to hold the game board in place On the base during non-use periods.

3. In a game apparatus, a flat, generally square base having an upper surface, a peripheral wall surrounding said base and extending above said upper surface, said wall slanting inwardly toward the center of said base, a plurality of game board supports formed on said base and positioned on said upper surface within the confines of said wall, said supports being of lesser height than said wall, partitioning ribs formed on said upper surface of said base and interconnecting said supports and said peripheral wall, and game board index means formed on said supports, whereby a game board is adapted to be positioned on said supports below the top of said wall and out of peripheral contact with said wall.

4. In a game apparatus, a first molding comprising a flat generally square base having an upper surface and an outer periphery, an endless inner wall formed integral ly with said base upper surface and positioned inwardly of said periphery, a plurality of pillar-like game board supports formed on said base upper surface within said endless inner wall, and connecting walls extending be tween said supports and said endless inner wall, said endless inner Wall and said connecting walls being of common height, a second molding comprising an endless outer wall adapted to extend around the periphery of said base, and having an inward slant from bottom to top, and being of a height greater than said inner wall, said supports and said connecting walls, said second molding being superimposed on said base and secured thereto, and webs extending between said inner wall and said outer wall, said webs having inner portions common to the height of said inner wall and having outer portions extending to the height of said outer wall and conforming to the inner profile of said outer Wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 250,458 Shay Dec. 6, 1881 715,794 Haskell Dec. 16, 1902 753,561 Edmunds Mar. 1, 1904 847,655 Davidson Mar. ,19, 1907 2,344,737 Schlesinger Mar. 21, 1944 2,655,381 Ferling Oct. 13, 1953 2,848,237 Svejnoha Aug. 19, 1958

Claims (1)

1. IN GAME APPARATUS, A BASE HAVING A BOTTOM WALL, AN INNER UPSTANDING ANNULAR WALL CARRIED ON SAID BOTTOM WALL AND COOPERATING THEREWITH TO DEFINE A CENTRAL STORAGE AREA FOR GAME PARAPHERNALIA, AN OUTER UPSTANDING ANNULAR WALL CARRIED ON THE PERIPHERAL EDGE OF THE BOTTOM WALL TO COOPERATE WITH SAID INNER WALL IN DEFINING AN ANNULAR GAME PIECE TROUGH AROUND SAID STORAGE AREA, A PLURALITY OF UPSTANDING GAME BOARD SUPPORT PILLARS POSITIONED WITHIN SAID STORAGE AREA AND DEFINING SOCKET-FORMING RECESSES IN THEIR UPPER SURFACES, SAID PILLARS BEING EQUAL IN HEIGHT TO SAID INNER WALL, SAID OUTER WALL BEING OF A HEIGHT GREATER THAN SAID INNER WALL AND PILLARS, AND A GAME BOARD HAVING PROJECTIONS ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID PILLAR SOCKETS TO BE HELD IN PLACE ABOVE SAID STORAGE AREA.

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