WO2005044409A1

WO2005044409A1 - Spatial strategic game

Info

Publication number: WO2005044409A1
Application number: PCT/HU2004/000104
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gábor KOVÁCS
Original assignee: Soliter Hungária Kereskedelmi Kft.
Priority date: 2003-11-11
Filing date: 2004-11-11
Publication date: 2005-05-19
Also published as: HU2776U; HU0300276V0

Abstract

The invention relates to a spatial strategic game, which consists of game pieces (1) and a base panel (2). The game pieces (1) are same sized, building block like elements having cube covering surfaces.There are nests (5) provided on the base panel (2) for supporting three neighbouring sides of a game piece (1) placed in one of said nests (5) and for holding it in a corner-down position. The nests (5) are spaced apart in such a distance to allow the three sides facing each other of three game pieces (1) placed in three neighbouring nests (5) to form a new nest (5') adapted to support a further game piece (1) in a corner-down position.

Description

SPATIAL STRATEGIC GAME

The invention concerns a spatial strategic game, which consists of cube like building blocks and a base element. There are many logical and strategy games available, the aims of which are the building of spatial constructions. The 'flat board games' include dominos, where the pieces are marked in some way with a marking and the pieces are placed, side-by-side, depending on certain rules. DE 875 467 shows a game where spatial constructions have to be created according to the game rules, in which the pieces consist of elements having plane sides of different colours. The players place the elements onto an existing base/board, taking into consideration the colours of the sides. At the beginning of the game according to US 635 2262 all players are given different coloured but uniform shaped pieces, which can be placed on top of each other. To gain points the players have to place the pieces onto a game board and on top of each other.

Another type of the spatial games is where the pieces have to be removed from a built- up construction. This type of game is usually associated with skill but there is a strategic aspect too, the order in which the game pieces are to be removed needs thorough consideration. A typical game of this type is Morocco, which consists of sticks, all possessing a different values, which have to be removed from a randomly constructed pile, without moving the other sticks. Another type is the popular game called Jenga, which always starts with the game pieces arranged in certain construction. However, because of the inequality of the pieces, it varies each time which piece can be removed without disturbing the others. There are other types of spatial strategic games, where in fact the spatial construction has a purely aesthetic aspect, which does not contribute to the logic of the game. Mah Jong is one of these games. At the beginning, the game pieces are arranged to form a 3 dimensional wall, which is then de-assembled piece by piece during the game. This however this is accomplished in a perfectly deterministic manner and the rules of the game concern the markings on the game pieces.

Each year there are more and more games in the market, which, due to their fine and detailed game pieces are usually expensive, while on the other hand are difficult to play because of their complicated rules. The complex rules tend to be restrictive and after a while become repetitive. There is demand however, for games, which are simple and economical to produce, which can be enjoyed by both young children and older people, and which provide a wide range of combinations and so do not become boring. The aim of the present invention is to produce such a strategic game that improves the overall concept of building and mental aptitude. As well as guaranteeing a simple, entertaining game with an unrestricted number of variations. We have realised that even games consisting of very simple game pieces may offer a wide range of possibilities if the game pieces are assembled in a non-custom ary way (not with theirs plains sides down) on a special base panel, such that they face the base panel with one of their corners, that is, they are held in a position having a vertical testatlό. The invention provides a spatial strategic game, which consists of game pieces and a base panel. In order to achieve the above mentioned aims the game pieces are same sized, building block like elements having cube covering surfaces. There are nests provided on the base panel for supporting three neighbouring sides of a game piece placed in one of said nests and for holding it in a corner-down position (meaning a position in which one of the body diagonals is substantially vertical). The nests are spaced apart in such a distance to allow the three sides facing each other of three game pieces placed in three neighbouring nests to form a new nest adapted to support a further game piece in a comer-down position.

According to an advantageous embodiment at least one side of the game pieces has a marking. More advantageously the game pieces are provided with markings on all of their sides. Depending on the number of players, there can be 2 or 3 kinds of markings. The pieces can thus be distributed such that each player receives game pieces with one kinds of marking.

In one type of the possible embodiments the nests are formed on the upper panel surface of the base panel. For example three stump cubes facing each other form the individual nests. Each stump cube is equal in size to the cube shaped covering surface of the game pieces, but one of their corners is missing. The stump cubes are connected to the base panel on their missing corner side and the neighbouring stump cubes touch by their edges. In another embodiment all individual nests are made up of three supporting elements, which protrude from the base panel and are designed to support three sides of a game element placed in the nest. The base panel can in both cases be produced by injection moulding. For games made of wood the stump cubes creating the nests and support elements can be individually attached to a wooden base panel by using an adhesive or by any other method. According to another type of the possible embodiments the nests are formed under the upper panel surface of the base panel, the nests are triangular column like grooves in the base panel where the edges of the triangular base of the column is not greater than the diagonal of the face of the covering cubes of the game pieces. Another option is the that nests are triangular pyramid like indents in the base panel where the edges of the base of the pyramid is not greater than the diagonal of the face of the covering cubes of the game pieces. This type of geometric base panel can be produced very simply by injcetion moulding. In any case it is required that the nests hold the game pieces which are placed into them in the same height, that is, their corner facing upwards should be in the same level. This makes it possible to build further layers on top of the bottom layer of game pieces.

Another advantageous embodiment allows a regular triangular pyramid to be built from the game pieces. In this case the game pieces and the nests are arranged on the sides of concentric regular triangles, and the base panel is a regular triangle as well.

In another embodiment at least one right-angled triangular shaped wing is hingedly connected to the base panel, which wing can be folded up against the pyramid.

Advantageously all three sides have wings attached to them. By folding the wings over the pyramid a packaging can be obtained. Thus making the game easy to store or transport.

In as much as nests are provided on the wings, those game pieces not used in the building, or removed during the game can be stored in the nests on the wings. This feature makes the game suitable as a travel game because the wings can function as a table surface. The nests secure the game pieces, which are therefore kept in their place.

The game according to the invention is extremely entertaining, consists of simple units and thus can be produced very economically. At the same time these simple units provide a wide variation of situations, which may occur during playing.

Some embodiments of the game have a construction enabling them to serve as travelling games, which can be played by two or three players.

The further details of the invention will be explained by means of figures and exemplary embodiments. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the game in an assembled state. Fig. 2a is a top plan view of the base panel of Fig. 1. Fig. 2b is a perspective view of a second embodiment enabling a different assembly. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a stump cube for forming the nests. Fig. 4 is top plan view of a base panel according to another embodiment. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the nest shown on Fig. 4 with a game piece placed in it. Fig. 6a is top plan view of a base panel according to another embodiment. Fig. 6b is top plan view of a base panel similar to that of Fig. 6a. Fig. 7 is top plan view of a base panel according to another embodiment. Fig. 8 is a top plan view of another embodiment of the game. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a game piece. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a game piece. Fig. 11 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a game piece baring a marking. Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a base panel having five game pieces arranged on it. Fig. 13 is top plan view of a base panel and base panel extension. In Fig. 1 an embodiment of the game according to the invention can be seen in a totally built-up form. The game consists of game pieces (1) and a triangular base panel (2). The figure shows game pieces (1) of equal size, which are placed on the base panel (2). The form of the completed game consists of cubes placed together to create a pyramid (3). This pyramid (3) is built up of 84 game pieces (2) of which 28 are arranged on the base panel (2).

In Fig. 2a the base panel (2) can be seen having protruding nests (5), which are on the upper panel surface (4). The nests (5) are at such a distance apart on the base panel (2), that three game pieces (1) placed in any three neighbouring nests (5) create a new nest (5") (see Fig. 12). Each of the nests (5) are formed of three neighbouring stump cubes (6) facing each other with sides A, B and C. All stump cubes (6) coincide with the game pieces but having one corner cut off. Fig. 3 shows this type of stump cube (6), the cut off corner (7) being shown by dashed line. This cut off corner (7) is a regular triangular pyramid with its base edges corresponding to the three diagonals of the three neighbouring faces of the cube. The stump cubes (6) fit at the base panel (2) at the cut off corner (7) and they are placed against each other along their edges. Fig. 3 shows the largest possible corner size. A smaller corner (7) can however be cut off as well to form a stump cube (6). For example, a smaller triangular pyramid can be cut off too, advantageously a regular triangular pyramid so as to allow a regular triangular pyramid (3) to be built on the base panel. The smaller are the missing corners (7) of the stump cubes (6) the further the game pieces (1) will be from the upper panel surface (4) when placed in the nests (5). One possibility is to glue the stump cubes (6) on their missing corner surface to the upper panel surface (4). Another possibility is to engrave the covering surface of the stump cubes into the material of the base panel (2), which could be solid wood. In Fig. 2b the base panel (2) has been provided with stump cubes (6). The position of these stump cubes (6) is at an angle of 60° to those seen in Fig. 2a therefore the nests are formed in a different way. Hence, a different type of pyramid can be built fro m the game pieces. In Fig. 4, each individual nest (5) is made up of three pieces, consisting of supporting elements (8), which can be seen from a top plan view. In Fig. 5 it can be seen how the game piece (1) is placed into the nest (5) made up of three supporting elements (8). The three sides of the game piece (1) are supported by the supporting elements (8), which are in the current embodiment three sticks protruding from the base panel . The supporting element (8) trios can be rotated by 60° too.

Any other type of units can be contemplated which are adapted to support a cube shaped game piece (1) placed on one of its corners.

Another possibility is that the nests (5) are not placed on the upper surface of the base panel (2), but underneath, formed within its thickness. An exemplary embodiment is shown in Fig. 6a and 6b, the nests (5) are triangular column like grooves (9) in the base panel (2) where the edges of the triangular base of the column is not greater than the diagonal of the face of the covering cubes of the game pieces (1). These types of grooves (9) can, for example, be cut out from the base panel (2) with the help of a triangular shaped tool. The difference between the two figures is the orientation of the triangular shaped grooves (9). Accordingly, game pieces (1) fitted into the grooves (9) of Fig. 6a will take up the position as shown in Fig. 2a.

In Fig. 7 the nests (5) are triangular pyramid like indents (10) in the base panel (2) where the edges of the base of the pyramid is not greater than the diagonal of the face of the covering cubes of the game pieces (1). The game pieces (1) can be placed in the indents (10) with one of their corners facing downwards, and as seen previously the corresponding part of a stump cube reaches above the base panel (2).

These types of indents (10) can be brought about very easily for example with the use of moulding. The base panel (2) can also be used for the storage of game pieces (1) and packaging. This can be seen in Fig. 8. Wings (11) are attached to the base panel (2) on all three sides. The wings (11) are right-angled triangles, the spans of which correspond to the side edges of the base panel (2). In certain embodiments nests (5) can be created on the wings (5'), which can correspond or differ from the type of nests (5) on the base panel (2). So, during the game, the game pieces (1) not placed on the base panel (2) can be stored by the players on the wing's (11) nests (5') or placed on top of each other. In Fig. 8, we have shown triangular nests (5') on two wings (11). The wings (11) are attached by means of a hinged connection (12) to the base panel (2). They can be folded in the direction of the upper panel surface (4). Their sizes are such that the wings (11), when bent up cover the pyramid (3) construction. The wings (11) therefore not only store the unused game pieces (1), but can also serve as a safe storage case for the game pieces (1). Even though it is possible to build a supported pyramid (3) on the nests (5), it is not necessary for the game pieces (1) to be cubes. It is enough for the covering surface of the game pieces to determine a cube. It will be understood by those experienced in the art what cube shaped covering surface means. In Fig. 9 and 10 we can see different embodiments of game pieces (1) having cube covering surfaces. The game piece (1) shown in Fig. 9, has had its corners removed and the sides have openings. Paired parallel disks highlight the game pieces (1) in Fig. 10, which are secured in the centre point of the cube by means of rods. It is however important that the form of the game pieces (1) allow them to be put on top of each other like building cubes, and that they can be place in suitably shaped nests (5), to be held in a corner-down position so as to build the pyramid (3) in Fig. 1 .

Another important feature of the game pieces (1) is that they can have markings (17) as shown Fig. 11. The game pieces (1) can have different types of markings (17) on every side, but in the simplest case, the game pieces (1) can possess the same type of marking (17) on each side. This type of marking (17) can be for example a number, letter or a colouring.

A possible way of playing with the game is where the players alternately place the game pieces (1) on the board panel (2) or onto the already laid game pieces (1 ). Fig. 12 shows the game in a 2-player situation at the beginning of the game, where only a small number of game pieces (1) have been placed on the base panel. In this example the game pieces (1) are uniform cubes, the marking (17) is the painting on the sides of the cubes. The pieces are painted the same colour and the set consists of two types of coloured game pieces (1). The players select a colour, and alternately they place the game pieces (1) on the base panel or in the nests (5") already created by the game pieces (1). If the nests (5) are arranged in such a way on the base panel (2) as to allow the pyramid (3) seen in Fig. 1 to be constructed upon them, in this case one possible object of the game could be to place the last remaining game piece (1 ) on the top of the pyramid (3). If the nests (5) are arranged in any other way, a similar object can be to have more game pieces (1) left at the end of the game. To achieve these objects the players aim to create nests (5") out of their own pieces (1), following which their opponent must place one of his game pieces (1) in the newly created nest (5) and most also place another piece (1) somewhere. Thus the player having created a uniform coloured nest (5") will have one more piece (1) left yet to be placed somewhere than his or her opponent. The number of game pieces (1) belonging to the game can also vary. The base panel (2) allowing the construction of the pyramid (3) shown in Fig 1. has 28 nests (5) , which are arranged on the sides of concentric regular triangles. This means that around a centre nest (5) 9 other nests (5) are formed on the sides of a regular triangle, and these again are surrounded by another 19 nest arranged on the sides of a larger regular triangle. Thus, a pyramid (3) consisting of 84 game pieces (1) can be built up on such a base panel (2). There is of course the possibility of having less or more nests (5) and game pieces (1). In the first column of Table 1 , we have given the number of nests (5) receiving the game pieces (1) which form the edge of the base of the pyramid (3), in the second column the number of game pieces (1) that can be placed on the base panel (2) and in the third column the total number of game pieces (1) forming the pyramid (3).

The above rules do not only determine the size of the possible pyramid (3) but the number of players too since at the start of the game each player is given an equal number of game pieces (1). The pyramid (3) having 7 game pieces (1) on it's edges (and thus 84 game pieces (1) in total) is the smallest pyramid (3) to consist of such a number of game pieces (1) which number can be divided by both 2 and 3. Therefore 2 or 3 players can play with this game. The game consisting of a total of 56 pieces, according to the above rules can only be played by 2 people because 56 is not divisible by 3. The games having less game pieces (1) but which are either divisible by 2 or 3 offer a narrow possibility of game variations, thus making these games simple and ideal for children. Similarly, increasing the number of pieces (1) that can be placed on one edge of the base panel (2) will broaden the strategic possibilities and also increases the time of the game. It is also possible to provide embodiments where the number of game pieces (1) and the size of the base panel (2) can be increased or decreased. For example the embodiment seen in Fig. 13, has a base panel (2) having 6 nests (5) on each edge, which can be extended by a base panel extension (18) having 7 nests (5) in one single row. With this extension (18) a pyramid (3) of 84 game pieces (1 ) can be constructed on the base panel (2). This number is ideal because a game consisting of 28-28 game pieces (1) provided with the same type of marking (17) and which is adapted for 2 people can be enlarged to a game for 3 people by adding the base panel extension (18) and 28 more game pieces (1) having a third type of marking (17). The base panel extension (18) can be fixed to the base panel (2) using any known methods for example providing the appropriate edges with mating elements like clips. Several other embodiments can be envisaged concerning the game pieces (1), the construction that can be built from them, and the base panel (2). It is not necessary for a pyramid (3) to be built from the game pieces (1), nor that the construction be symmetrical. With the above game rules this would mean that the aim is not to place the last piece (1) on the top of the pyramid (3), but to force the opponent dispose of all of his or her game pieces (1). The game rules are of course optional, it is also possible that the aim of the game is to de-construction the building according to certain rules. The regularity of the game piece (1) is not a requirement, the important thing is the cube covering surface and the ability to place them in a building block like manner on top of each other.

Claims

1. Spatial strategic game which consists of game pieces (1) and a base panel (2), characterised in that game pieces (1) are same sized, building block like elements having cube covering surfaces, there are nests (5) provided on the base panel (2) for supporting three neighbouring sides of a game piece (1 ) placed in one of said nests (5) and for holding it in a corner-down position, the nests (5) are spaced apart in such a distance to allow the three sides facing each other of three game pieces (1) placed in three neighbouring nests (5) to form a new nest (5") adapted to support a further game piece (1 ) in a comer- down position.

2. Game according to Claim 1 characterised in that at least one side of the game pieces (1) has a marking (17).

3. Game according to Claim 2 characterised in that the game pieces (1) are provided with markings (17) on all of their sides.

4. Game according to Claim 1 or 2 characterised in that all game pieces (1) have only one kind of marking (17).

5. Game according to any of Claims 2 to 4 characterised in that there are 2 or 3 types of markings (17).

6. Game according to any of Claims 1 to 5 characterised in that the nests are formed on the upper panel surface (4) of the base panel (2).

7. Game according to Claim 6 characterised in that the nests (5) are made up of the three sides of three stump cubes (6) facing each other and which stump cubes (6) are cubes of the same size as determined by the covering surface of the game pieces (1), but with one corner missing, and these stump cubes (6) are connected to the base panel (2) on their missing corner side and the neighbouring stump cubes (6) touch by their edges.

8. Game according to Claim 6 characterised in that the nests (5) are support units (8) protruding from the base panel (2).

9. Game according to any of Claims 1 to 5 characterised in that the nests (5) are formed under the upper panel surface (4) of the base panel (2).

10. Game according to Claim 9 characterised in that the nests (5) are triangular column like grooves (9) in the base panel (2) where the edges of the triangular base of the column is not greater than the diagonal of the face of the covering cubes of the game pieces (1).

11. Game according to Claim 9 characterised in that the nests (5) are triangular pyramid like indents (10) in the base panel (2) where the edges of the base of the pyramid is not greater than the diagonal of the face of the covering cubes of the game pieces (1 ).

12. Game according to any of Claims 1 to 11 characterised in that the game pieces (1) can be assembled and de-assembled as to create a regular triangular pyramid (3), and the game pieces (1) and the nests (5) are arranged on the sides of concentric regular triangles.

13. Game according to Claim 12 characterised in that that the base panel (2) is a triangular panel having at least the size of the base of the pyramid (3) which can be constructed from the game pieces (1).

14. Game according to Claim 13 characterised in that at least one right-angled triangular shaped wing (11) is connected to the base panel by means of hinged connection (12), which wing (11) can be folded up against the pyramid (3).

15. Game according to Claim 14 characterised in that nests (5') are provided on the wing(s).