US3337220A - Game for simulating tactics of the sport of curling - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 22, J. F. TAYLOR GAME FOR SIMULATING TACTICS OF THE SPORT OF CURLING Filed June 12, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR JAMES FREDERICK TAYLOR poien? ogeni Aug. 22, 1967 I J. F. TAYLOR GAME FOR SIMULATING TACTICS OF THE SPORT OF CURLING Filed June 12, 1964 -2 Sheets-Sheet 1-;

PRECEDENCE LIST OUT-TURN INTURN 9 4 fi-i 5 r 5 g FIG. 4 I5 n IO I5 I8 8 I6 I3 l6 6 l3 3 38\\ 39 TAKE-OUT DRAW sLow ICE TAKE POSITION FARTHEST FROM CENTER BUT IN PLAY, ON SIDE YOU CALLED.

BEAUTIFUL DRAW SHOT, PLACE STONE'IN THE POSITION OF YOUR CHOICE ON SIDE YOU CALLED.

, LFQ LL INVENTOR JAMES FREDERICK TAYLOR puteni cg eni United States Patent Ofilice 3,337,220 Patented Aug. 22, 1967 GAME FOR SIMULATING TACTICS OF THE SPORT OF CURLING James Frederick Taylor, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as-

signor to Creative Marketing Incorporated, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed June 12, 1964, Ser. No. 374,609 3 Claims. (Cl. 273-135) The present invention is concerned with apparatus designed to be manipulated during the playing of a game of chance for exercise of strategic skill, in simulation of the tactics applied to the ice sport known as curling.

The apparatus comprises an operable combination of a game board having a scoring area or house simulating the area marked by concentric circles and cross lines on a curling ice sheet; a plurality of substitutable scoring areas for superimposition on said house each marked with different patterns of numerically identified possible stone positions; gaming or playing pieces such as miniature replicas of curling stones; chance position-determining devices; chance-determining means for selecting among instructions favorable and unfavorable to play; and a measuring guide for use in counting up a score. In addition various ancillary devices may be provided such as a conventional score board and end indicators.

While the positioning of stones is determined by chance means, such as a plurality of dice, the player is provided, according to the rules of play, with the choice of placing guard stones ahead of any of his rocks, upon announcing his intention, and successfully rolling the number of a rock on the sheet. By using chance position-determining means which provide greater inherent probabilities for rolling certain numbers than others, the player may gain advantage by tactical selections shrewdly made in view of the situation on the playing board, with the result that the game is found to simulate to a keenly satisfying degree tactical choices resembling those facing a skip in the sport of ice curling. I

The apparatus and the game which is played with it are described more particularly hereinafter in the following specification and by the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a game board representing a curling ice sheet having numbered stone positions in a SCOIlng area;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse section through an alternative game board having a pocket but otherwise similar to FIGURE 1, the section being taken along line 2-2 thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a pair of substitutable ice sheets marked with randomly placed indicia designating positions of a delivered stone;

FIGURE 4 is a side view in elevation of a gaming piece in simulation of a curling stone;

FIGURE 5 is a table of precedence of positions for measurement in counting up a score for an end;

FIGURE 6 is an illustration in plan of favorable and unfavorable instruction cards, selected by chance; and,

. FIGURE 7 is an overhead view of one form of chancedetermining die for indicating card selection and other instructions for guiding play.

The game board indicated generally at 19 in FIGURE 1 bears markings comprising a system of concentric circles 21, 22, 23 and 24 respectively representing, to some suitable scale, the twelve-foot, eight-foot, four-foot and onefoot diameter rings of the house marked at an end of an ice sheet as prescribed in the ice sport of curling.

Left and right side lines 25 and 26, the hog score 27, and the back score 28 are marked in their appropriate positions on the board surface 20 relatively to the circles;

vin addition the area between the hog score and the back score is marked by a center line 29 parallel with the side lines, and by a transverse line or sweeping score 30 at right angles thereto, intersecting the center line at the center of the ring 24. The area designated A to the left of the center line 29, as viewed in the direction from the hog score to the back score, is referred to herein as the out-turn area while the area B to the right is designated as the in-turn area. The significance of these designations lies in the fact that a player on a curling ice sheet, by deliberately imparting anticlockwise or clockwise rotations to a stone as it is delivered, may thereby cause it to veer respectively toward the left or right along a curving track and so to control its position when delivered with respect to the center line.

The game board 19 may comprise a single piece of card or board material of suitable stiffness having a smooth and durable upper surface 20 suitably coloured to simulate a curling ice sheet on which, in addition to the house and reference lines, there are placed a complete series of sixteen randomly-placed numbers 3 to 18 inclusive, in each of areas A and B. The numbers designate all the possible positions in and around the house at which a played stone may be set, i.e. these are scoring positions which when selected instruct a player to occupy the position by one of his pieces. The selection is indicated by casting three dice cubes and summing the numerical values of their upturned faces (not shown). There may of course be any larger number of positions as may be desired, and other chance means than dice may be provided to select among them by chance, the foregoing description being intended to be illustrative of one embodimentonly. There should however not be such a large number of positions that the possibility of players selecting the same position, and thereby removing any stone previously set thereon, is too low.

The random position of a particular number of the progression or sequence in out-turn area A is different from the position of that number in in-turn area B. The majority of the scoring positions lie within the outer circle 21.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, an alternative form of game board is shown in transverse cross section, comprising the base 31 and a thinner transparent or translucent cover sheet 32 aflixed to the base along its side margins 33, providing a pocket or channel 34 open at its ends for receiving any one of a plurality of interchangeable number-carrying house sheets 35. There may be as many sheets provided as are needed to lend variety and interest to the game, each one differing from all the others in the pattern of its numbers.

Each sheet 35, 35' as shown in plan in FIGURE 3 bears the markings and score lines representing a curling ice sheet. Alternatively, the markings may be permanently placed either on the under or upper side of the cover sheet 32 to provide registration marks for guidance in positioning an inserted sheet. The board may also be elongated to provide two opposed ends rather than the single end in FIGURES 1 and 3, for a closer similarity with a curling ice sheet.

The positions of the numbers identifying stone scoring positions are spaced so that the closest pair on any ice sheet lie apart by a distance roughly equal to the diameter of circle 24, which surrounds the button, i.e., the center ring of the house. The gaming piece 36 shown in FIG- URE 4 is opaque and preferably has a diameter just slightly less than the button diameter, i.e., it should be scaled according to the rules of the sport of curling. With a game piece is centered thereon. Suitably colored handles 37 provide easy identification.

In the sport of curling the scoring of an end, when each player of opposing teams has delivered his quota of stones, involves inspection of relative stone positions, and, where necessary, calling on the umpire to make a measurement. The number of rocks of one team which lie nearer the center than any stone of the opposing side is the score counted for that team. In the present game the relative radial distances of each number on a particular sheet such as 35 or 35' are predetermined, so that measurement to ascertain which stone of a pair seemingly equally distant from center is in fact nearer is simply effected by reference to a table. Such a table, showing only the precedence order for all stone positions on sheet 35 of FIGURE 3, is shown by FIGURE 5. This table lists in descending order the precedence of the number positions of both areas A and B. For example, the number appears just outside the circle 23 of this sheet in both area A and area B and the table advises that the 5 in area B is closer to the center. Similarly, a stone on 15 in area A lies closer to the center than a stone 14 also located in area A, which fact could not be positively established by visual comparison and personal judgment.

In FIGURE 6 the two chance-determining cards 38 and 39 represent unfavorable and favorable instructions that may be designated by operating a chance device such as a die or wheel which selects one or the other of a pair of card stacks. All cards in the stack with card 38 adversely modify the number position on which a stone would be set by casting the position determining dice, while those stacked with card 39 are beneficial to the player. Typical unfavorable instructions might include the following:

Swept stone right through the house;

Sand on the ice ruined your shot, remove stone;

Burnt rock, was touched by your lead: remove;

Hack was slippery, shot was wide of broom: remove; Stone did not cross the hog score: remove.

Typical favorable instructions might include:

Cover out-tum position 7 on your next shot;

Place a guard in position of your choice on next shot; Replace nearest competitive stone by your own; This can break a tie end for you.

As many cards may be provided in each stack as may be desired, to simulate all the accidents of mischance and good fortune experienced in actual curling play. Cards grouped with card 38 are labelled TAKE-OUT while those grouped with card 39 are labelled DRAW, in simulation respectively of forfeited or ineffective deliveries and of plays which deliver a rock to potentially scoring positions.

In addition to the spoiling of a shot or its fortuitous success, as may be indicated by the chance-determining cards in simulation of circumstances of ice surface and the inconsistencies of player delivery, many other probabilities affecting the play must be recognized. The sport recognizes the possibility that when a player has sent a stone down the ice, its course and distance may be altered as permitted by the rules of the play, through the sweepers efforts. The players team may sweep while the stone is sliding up to the sweeping score, and thereafter the opposing team may sweep to try to clear the rock through the house. The sweeping may take the stone right through, or it may be not sufliciently brisk to carry the stone over the hog score, and the stone then must be removed. These and other possibilities are allowed for by providing a chance-determining die having a plurality of faces, on which one face at least exposes the instructions too light while at least one other exposes the instructions too heavy. Other faces provide guidance in the selection from the favorable or from the unfavorable chance card groups.

There are also possibilities that sweepers efforts either Choose draw card; Choose take-out" card; Too light: remove;

Too heavy: remove; Sweep closer to center; Sweep away from center.

By the adoption of a die body with a suflicient number of faces the foregoing indications may be interspersed with blanks, or still others added, or some may be repeated.

The Sweep Closer to Center indication would, for example, give a player curling on the sheet 35 who has rolled the number 12 on the number-determining dice, and who has chosen to play an in-turn shot, the right to set his stone instead on the position 3. Had he however been instructed to Sweep Away From Center he would be obliged to move to number 9 position.

The very lucky delivery known as*on the button, viz. delivery of a stone into circle 24, may occur in the sport, and may be simulated in the present game by the fortuitous occurrence that like numbered faces turn up on each of several dice used for chance position-determining. Assuming that three dice are cast this occurrence may statistically be expected once for every 216 throws, and gives the player the right to set his stone in the center of the house. The chance-determining means, such as die 40, may however deny this good fortune to the player. If the latter die has several blank faces the probability that the player will achieve such lucky play may be made more nearly the same as the counterpart occurrence in the sport.

Should a player set his stone, as a result of the position determination selected, into the position adjacent the button, and the chance-determining die turns up the Sweep Closer indication, the player then will set his stone on the button.

All of the rules for the sport of curling with regard to team organization, sequence of play, length of game, and courtesies to opposing players, are applicable and indeed necessary in the present game, which While presenting no opportunity for physical skills, nevertheless offers mental challenges and opportunities for conducting team play in accordance with those precepts by which skilled players would be guided in the sport of curling. In general, teams comprise up to four players to a side and an end consists in each player delivering two stones alternately with delivery by a corresponding player of the opposing team, until all eight stones have been delivered, the scoring for each end being recorded according to the rules already referred to. In game apparatus as herein described eight stones compete for position among sixteen numerically marked shot positions, thereby assuring that the simulation of hitting a stone and removing it from the house will arise frequently, through the rolling of dice by a player and counting the same number as that on which a stone rests.

It is a tactical decision at each play for the player to choose his field of play, that is, to decide for either an in-turn or an out-turn delivery, and so to predetermine the area where his stone will be set, should adverse chance not render his shot futile. Such choice will require particularly keen study of the numbers covered by stones of each team in playing the last three or four stones of the end not only because play into an area occupied wholly or mainly by opposing stones offers the possibility of taking out an opponents stone, but because the probability of rolling certain numbers is greater than the probability of rolling others. Those skilled in the art of dice games will appreciate that scoring a 3 or an 18 by casting three six-sided dice together is a least probable occurrence, while the scoring of numbers intermediate the number sequence is most likely. Consequently choosing to play into an area in which a stone of ones own side lies near to center on less probable dice totals than the numbers of stone positions occupied by opposing team stones may be tactically the better choice.

In addition to the foregoing tactical considerations a player may seek to protect a Well placed shot by announcing beforehand his intention to place a guard ahead of the stone, or in terms of the game, to repeat the dice throw by which the stone Was placed; in such circumstance, a successful roll does not take out his own stone but places the guard. Should an opposing player make the same throw, only the guard is removed.

The game offers exercise in alertness and powers of observation, as may be understood from the following example. Assuming that several stones lie on the scoring areas, a player may roll the dice total 11, having chosen the in-turn side. Should none of the exposed numbers be 11, the players will realize that the position is covered by someones stone. The player must however place his shot as though it had struck and ejected the covering stone, or else be penalized by forfeiting his play. If the player removes the correct covering stone he may set his own in its place; but if through inattention he is led to uncover some number position not 11, and move an opponents stone, the latter must be reset and the players shot is wasted. If the stone lifted from the sheet is of the players own side and the number uncovered is not 11, the lifted stone and the players stone are both removed from the sheet.

While the foregoing description has particularly described certain physical forms of game apparatus operably associated with each other in simulation of conventional items used in the sport of ice curling, it is to be understood that the described embodiments are proposed by way of example and illustration only, and that numerous other constructions and arrangements may be fully equivalent to these while essentially retaining the same concepts and substance of my invention. I therefore claim as my invention those combinations as are fairly embraced within the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination of a game board and cooperative gaming pieces for simulating tactical disposition of curling stones in the ice sport of curling, said board having at least one end area marked with a set of concentric circles including a center button circle in scale representation of the scoring circles of a house on a curling ice sheet, a center line bisecting said area and passing through the center of said set of circles, a plurality of numerical markings designating playing positions dispersed at random within and Without said house, said numerical markings comprising an arithmetical consecutive number series and being duplicated on each side of said center line to provide In-Turn and Out-Turn fields of play for positioning gaming pieces, the minimum spacing of said numbers in each said field of play being not less than the diameter of said button, said gaming pieces being opaque and having circular plan form and a diameter equal to said button diameter, and the size of said numbers being no greater than that of the base of the gaming piece whereby a gaming piece centered on a numbered playing position in a field of play obscures the number of that positionwithout interfering with the centering of a gaming piece on an adjacent number.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said board comprises a rectangular base support member having a contiguous transparent sheet cover bearing said house markings and said center line, said cover being affixed to said support member along its side margins and being open at its ends, said board further comprising a rectangular insert sheet which is removably insertable between said support member and said cover, said insert sheet bearing all of said numerical markings and being registrable with reference to the indicia on said cover.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2 wherein said number series comprises the group 3 to 18 inclusive.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,525,023 2/ 1925 Brown 273-134 X 2,557,583 6/1951 Vitale 273-134 2,900,189 8/ 1959 Howlett 273-136 X FOREIGN PATENTS 495,506 8/ 1953 Canada.

918,248 10/ 1946 France. 1,134,934 12/1956 France.

290,020 7/1953 Switzerland.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. THE COMBINATION OF A GAME BOARD AND COOPERATIVE GAMING PIECES FOR SIMULATING TACTICAL DISPOSITION OF CURLING STONES IN THE ICE SPORT OF CURLING, SAID BOARD HAVING AT LEAST ONE END AREA MARKED WITH A SET OF CONCENTRIC CIRCLES INCLUDING A CENTER "BUTTON" CIRCLE IN SCALE REPRESENTATION OF THE SCORING CIRCLES OF A "HOUSE" ON A CURLING ICE SHEET, A CENTER LINE BISECTING SAID AREA AND PASSING THROUGH THE CENTER OF SAID SET OF CIRCLES, A PLURALITY OF NUMERICAL MARKINGS DESIGNING PLAYING POSITIONS DISPERSED AT RANDOM WITHIN AND WITHOUT SAID "HOUSE," SAID NUMERICAL MARKINGS COMPRISING AN ARITHMETICAL CONSECUTIVE NUMBER SERIES AND BEING DUPLICATED ON EACH SIDE OF SAID CENTER LINE TO PROVIDE "IN-TURN" AND "OUT-TURN" FIELDS OF PLAY FOR POSITIONING GAMING PIECES, THE MINUMUM SPACING OF SAID NUMBERS IN EACH SAID FIELD OF PLAY BEING NOT LESS THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID "BUTTON", SAID GAMING PIECES BEING OPAQUE AND HAVING CIRCULAR PLAN FORM AND A DIAMETER EQUAL TO SAID "BUTTON" DIAMETER, AND THE SIZE OF SAID NUMBERS BEING NO GREATER THAN THAT OF THE BASE OF THE GAMING PIECE WHEREBY A GAMING PIECE CENTERED ON A NUMBERED PLAYING POSITION IN A FIELD OF PLAY OBSCURES THE NUMBER OF THAT POSITION WITHOUT INTERFERING WITH THE CENTERING OF A GAMING PIECE ON AN ADJACENT NUMBER.

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