WO2001045812A1

WO2001045812A1 - Puzzle game

Info

Publication number: WO2001045812A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/034601
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yoshio Yamada
Original assignee: Alex And Champ, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-12-20
Filing date: 2000-12-18
Publication date: 2001-06-28
Also published as: AU2584701A

Abstract

A puzzle game comprises a plurality of polyhedrons of the same shape, each polyhedron having a plurality of surfaces, and fragmented representations on each surface of the polyhedrons, wherein one fragment representation from each polyhedron is part of a game target representation.

Description

PUZZLE GAME

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present design relates to a physical or computer-based puzzle game by which players struggle to restore an original picture, pattern, character or any other kind of notation which were fragmented and partially printed or painted on the faces of a group of parts.

2. Description of the Background Art

A jigsaw puzzle is a game where a player attempts to arrange a set of pieces into a predetermined order. The player is aided by image portions placed on one of the two sides of each of the pieces. After arranging all the pieces into the predetermined order, the image portions typically form a single integral image. However, jigsaw puzzles are typically not very difficult. Jigsaw puzzles do not retain the player's enthusiasm very long. Accordingly, a more complex jigsaw puzzle is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a puzzle game which resolves the shortcomings of the conventional jigsaw puzzle by increasing complexity.

The puzzle game includes several polyhedrons of the same shape that form one group of parts. Sets of fragmented representations, e.g., image portions like pictures, patterns, characters or any other kind of notations, are printed or painted on each surface of the group of parts. Only one combination of fragmented representations on one selected surface of one group of parts forms one complete representation. All other combination of fragmented representation printed or painted on other surfaces of one group of parts form incomplete representations, and may include trap patterns. Ridge corners of group of parts may be cut or rounded to remove partial representations on those portions.

By adopting a large number of polyhedrons of the same shape, and enabling selection from the many faces and rotational orientations of the polyhedrons, the present design offers wide range of options for the players to choose. By cutting the ridge of the polyhedrons or rounding the ridge of polyhedrons and thereby removing a fraction of the representation on the face of each polyhedron, the difficulty of the game is further increased. Therefore, players can enjoy this new game much longer with greater excitement.

One embodiment of the puzzle game comprises a plurality of polyhedrons of the same shape, each polyhedron having a plurality of surfaces, and fragmented representations on each surface of the polyhedrons, wherein one fragment representation from each polyhedron is part of a game target representation.

Another embodiment of the puzzle game comprises representations of puzzle pieces, each puzzle piece being a polyhedron of the same shape and having a plurality of surfaces, each surface having a fragmented representation thereon wherein one fragmented representation from each puzzle piece is part of a game target representation; a player interface engine for receiving player input indicating the order and orientation of the puzzle pieces; and a display engine for creating graphical information to display the representations of the puzzle pieces on a display device in accordance with the player input.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the puzzle game with the game target pattern shown;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cube of the puzzle game; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of puzzle game with an incomplete trap pattern shown;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the puzzle game with the game target pattern shown;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the puzzle game with an incomplete trap pattern shown;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer system embodying the present invention; and FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating details of the puzzle game software of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles, features and teachings disclosed herein.

The present invention provides a puzzle game which resolves the shortcomings of the conventional jigsaw puzzle by increasing complexity.

As shown in FIG. 1, puzzle game 1 comprises nine cubes 3-11. Puzzle game 1 represents the entire view of the game equipment. Game target pattern 12 is partitioned into nine pieces of fragmented patterns 12a-i which are printed or painted on the selected surfaces 3a- 1 la of the group of nine cubes 3-1 1. The other remaining five surfaces other than 3a-l la, namely, patterns 3b-f, 4b-f, 5b-f, 6b-f, 7b-f, 8b-f, 9b-f, lOb-f, 1 lb-f are printed or painted with fragmented patterns, all of which are similar to but different from and have no exact match with game target pattern 12. Some of the surfaces of cubes 3-11 and some of the fragmented representations of are omitted from illustration for simplicity.

In example game play, cube 3 out of the nine cubes 3-1 1 may be selected and placed with the surface 3e up. Then, cube 10 may be placed with surface lOd up, and cube 6 with surface 6f up. Then, following the placement of the remaining cubes 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 11 , with surfaces 4b, 5a, 7a, 8a, 9d and 1 lb up, the player hopes to create the game target pattern 13. However, as shown FIG. 3, game target pattern 13 is not constructed as expected by the player. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the puzzle game 1 with an incomplete trap pattern shown. Likewise, it is not easy for the player to complete the representation within few tries. However, the player will eventually achieve the right combination of the surfaces to realize the game target pattern as shown in FIG. 1.

In another embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the puzzle game 20 includes four cubes 23-26 with their corner ridges cut to show trimmed surfaces 22. Game target pattern 27 is partitioned into four fragmented patterns 27a-d which are printed or painted on the specific surfaces, namely, surfaces 23a- 26a. The other remaining five surfaces other than surfaces 23a-26a, namely, 23b-f, 24b-f, 25b-f, 26b-f are furnished with fragmented patterns 28-32, all of which look similar to, but are different from game target pattern 27. In FIG. 4, some of the surfaces of cubes 23-26 and some of the representation of 27-32 are omitted from illustration for simplicity.

In example game play, cube 23 out of the cubes 23-26 is selected and placed with the surface 23e up. Next, cube 24 may be placed with surface 24c up, and cubes 25 and 26 with those surfaces which the player expects to constitute the target representation up. However, as shown FIG. 5, game target representation 27 is not achieved as expected. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the puzzle game 20 with an incomplete trap pattern shown. The difficulty for the player is much greater by providing the rounded or corner cut ridge 22, where interconnection of printed or painted pattern is removed and the player must speculate the right connections. Therefore, the game cannot be completed easily even with small numbers of parts.

The present invention adopts several tens of parts of polyhedrons of the same shape to form a group of parts whose individual face may be painted with different pictures, patterns, characters or any other kind of notations. The variation of the game is tremendous by the combination of the rotation of each face multiplied by the number ef faces of the polyhedrons. The game is already complicated even with small numbers of parts in use. However, the larger the number of parts adopted, the harder the game will be. Moreover, the difficulty for the player is much increased by corner cutting or rounding the ridges of polyhedrons where connecting pattern is removed, thus players must speculate the missing portion in search of right representation to complete the game. With the present design , player's enthusiasm on the game is prolonged and can last much longer than conventional puzzle games.

Although the above embodiments have been described with reference to physical game pieces, one skilled in the art should recognize that the puzzle game invention can be embodied in a computer game simulation. That is, the polyhedrons of the game puzzle can be computer 2D or 3D images. A player can manipulate a joystick or keyboard to rotate, flip or move the pieces.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 600 in accordance with the present invention. The computer system 600 includes a processor 605, such as an Intel Pentium microprocessor or a Motorola Power PC microprocessor, coupled to a communications channel 620. The computer system 600 further includes an input device 610 such as a keyboard, mouse or joystick, an output device 615 such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display, a communications device 625, permanent storage 630 such as a magnetic disk, and working memory 635 such as Random-Access Memory (RAM), each coupled to the communications channel 620. The communications channel 620 may be coupled to a network such as the wide- area network commonly referred to as the Internet. One skilled in the art will recognize that, although the permanent storage 630 and working memory 635 are illustrated as integral units, the permanent storage 630 and working memory 635 can be distributed units.

Puzzle game software 640 may be stored in permanent storage 630 and loaded into working memory 635 (as illustrated) for execution by processor 605. Alternatively, the puzzle game software 640 can be downloaded via the communications interface 625.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the system 600 may also include additional information, such as network connections, additional memory, additional processors, LANs, input/output lines for transferring information across a hardware channel, the Internet or an intranet, etc. One skilled in the art will also recognize that the programs and data may be received by and stored in the system in alternative ways. For example, a computer-readable storage medium (CRSM) reader 645 such as a magnetic disk drive, hard disk drive, magneto-optical reader, CPU, etc. may be coupled to the communications channel 620 for reading a computer- readable storage medium (CRSM) 650 such as a magnetic disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, RAM, etc. Accordingly, the system 600 may receive programs and data via the CRSM reader 645. Further, it will be appreciated that the term "memory" herein is intended to cover all data storage media whether permanent or temporary.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating details of the puzzle game software 640. Puzzle game software 640 includes game piece representations 705, display engine 710, and player interface engine 715. Game piece representations 705 include the graphical information needed for displaying each of the surfaces the polyhedrons, either in 2D or 3D, and in any rotational orientation. That is, each surface of each polyhedron can be displayed in any of the available rotational orientations. The display engine 710 displays the polyhedrons in accordance with the selected surface and orientation on output device 615.

The player interface engine 715 accepts player input to manipulate the game puzzle pieces. For example, the player can select a game puzzle piece, a surface to face up, and a rotational orientation for the surface. If the input device 610 is a keyboard, selection of game pieces may be effected by use of the arrow keys, selection of a surface may be effected by the number keys, and rotation may be effected by selected alphabetic keys.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention is by way of example only, and other variations and modifications of the above-described embodiments and methods are possible in light of the foregoing teaching. Although the network sites are being described as separate and distinct sites, one skilled in the art will recognize that these sites may be a part of an integral site, may each include portions of multiple sites, or may include combinations of single and multiple sites. Further, components of this invention may be implemented using a programmed general purpose digital computer, using application specific integrated circuits, or using a network of interconnected conventional components and circuits. Connections may be wired, wireless, modem, etc. The embodiments described herein are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting. The present invention is limited only by the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A puzzle game, comprising: a plurality of polyhedrons of the same shape, each polyhedron having a plurality of surfaces; fragmented representations on each surface of the polyhedrons, wherein one fragment representation from each polyhedron is part of a game target representation.

2. The puzzle game of claim 1 wherein the polyhedrons have ridges to remove part of the fragmented representations.

3. A computer- readable storage medium storing computer code, comprising: representations of puzzle pieces, each puzzle piece being a polyhedron of the same shape and having a plurality of surfaces, each surface having a fragmented representation thereon wherein one fragmented representation from each puzzle piece is part of a game target representation; a player interface engine for receiving player input indicating the order and orientation of the puzzle pieces; and a display engine for creating graphical information to display the representations of the puzzle pieces on a display device in accordance with the player input.

4. A puzzle game, comprising: representations of puzzle pieces, each puzzle piece being a polyhedron of the same shape and having a plurality of surfaces, each surface having a fragmented representation thereon wherein one fragmented representation from each puzzle piece is part of a game target representation; a player interface engine for receiving player input indicating the order and orientation of the puzzle pieces; and a display engine for creating graphical information to display the representations of the puzzle pieces on a display device in accordance with the player input.