WO2012010954A2

WO2012010954A2 - Dice with rearrangeable pips

Info

Publication number: WO2012010954A2
Application number: PCT/IB2011/001691
Authority: WO
Inventors: József PRECHL
Original assignee: Prechl Jozsef
Priority date: 2010-07-19
Filing date: 2011-07-19
Publication date: 2012-01-26
Also published as: WO2012010954A3; WO2012010954A4

Abstract

Dice with pips that can be rearranged by the player to alter chances of throwing a given number are described. Dice are built from tetrahedral components, which rotate relative to each other. A special pip design renders the rotatable structure compatible with displaying numbers from 1 to 6 in the basic state (Figure 1). When pips are rearranged, numbers from 0 to 6 can be displayed and numbers from 1 to 6 can be absent, displayed once or twice or more in a given rearrangement state. Unique pip distributions on tetrahedral components of the dice allowing maximal variability are described. Bases of games using dice with rearrangeable pips are also introduced.

Description

Dice with rearrangeable pips

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to logical toys, board games, puzzles, gambling devices and educational devices. The device described in the present invention can be used in place of an ordinary cubic die in all applications, and further extends the possibilities of using dice for novel games.

Backgrounds of the invention

A standard six-sided die is a cubic object, with six sides or faces, each marked with different numbers of pits or dots, called pips. On a standard six-sided die pips from 1 to 6 are displayed and values on opposite faces always add up to 7. There are two ways to arrange the pairs 1-6, 2-5 and 3-4 : a left handed die with 1-2-3 running clockwise around their common vertex, a right handed die with 1-2-3 running counterclockwise around their vertex. Standard dice are thrown to provide random numbers for games or other purposes.

A cube can be divided into 5 tetrahedral components, one of which is regular. The regular, equilateral tetrahedron is hidden inside the cube, each of its four vertices is a vertex of the cube, each of its six edges is a diagonal of one of the cube's faces. The surfaces of the regular tetrahedron are equilateral triangles. Four identical right-angled tetrahedra, each covered by an equilateral triangle congruent to those constituting the surface of the regular tetrahedron and by three right-angled, isosceles triangles, fill out the rest of the space of the cube. The right-angled, isosceles triangles of these outer tetrahedra each form half of a face of the cube. The two halves of each face are separated by the diagonal that is the edge of the central regular tetrahedron. Devices based on cubes, which are built from tetrahedral components have been described. Patent US 4,063,725

(Snyder, December 20, 1977) describes a changeable- configuration geometric device including four right tetrahedrons hinged together with an equilateral

tetrahedron in such a manner that the various

tetrahedrons may be swung relative to one another to form a large number of different overall configurations for the device.

A cube composed of five tetrahedra, a central regular tetrahedron and four outer tetrahedra fixed to the central one in a manner allowing their rotation is described in US patent 4,461,480 (Mitchell, July 24, 1984).

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention utilizes a device similar to the one described in US patent 4,461,480. An axis of rotation that is perpendicular to the surface of the central regular tetrahedron and passes through the center of the equilateral triangle will allow rearrangement of the half faces of the cube by rotating an outer tetrahedron around its axis of symmetry by 120 degrees in any one direction. Various designs and mechanical or magnetic solutions for producing such a device and also assuring firm stops at every 120 degree turns of the tetrahedra are known by those skilled in the art and are not subject of the present invention.

A standard six-sided die shows central symmetry of the pips on its faces, which is not compatible with a cubic structure built from tetrahedra as described above. The present invention is based on the design of pip patterns that are compatible with a cube, with diagonals dissecting each of its faces, which is composed of five tetrahe- dra: a central regular tetrahedron and four outer tetra- hedra, all of which can be rotated around their axes of symmetry. In order to fit pips of a die onto a cubic structure, with diagonals dissecting each face of the cube, pips need to be distributed on the two half-faces. Since the maximum number of pips on an ordinary die face is 6, pips from 0 to 3 should appear on the half-faces. One possible way of arranging the pips on a half-face of a cube, which is the right-angled, isosceles triangle surface of an outer tetrahedron, is shown in Figure 1. When using pip arrangements on tetrahedral faces shown in Figure 1, patterns standing for values 0 to 6, appearing on the cube faces, are generated. These pip distributions and patterns are different from those on standard dice, and form the basis of the present invention (Figure 1) . Numbers 0, 2, 4 and 6 can be displayed by symmetric arrangement of pips, the line of symmetry being the diago- nal dividing the face of the cube. In this case, two tetrahedral surfaces with identical pip patterns are rendered next to each other. Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 can be displayed by an asymmetric arrangement of pips, when tetrahedral surfaces with different pip patterns are ren- dered next to each other. Thus, values 2, 3 and 4 can be displayed in two different ways (Figure 1) . On the dice, revealed in the present invention, therefore the number of the pips and not their pattern determines the values represented by a particular face. This

ensures that all possible combinations of the tetrahedral faces results in values between 0 and 6.

3

INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (RULE 20.6) "arrangement" refers to the state of the outer tetrahedra relative to each other and the central tetrahedron. Thus, pip "distribution" is determined by manufacturing, pip "arrangement" is determined by turning the components of the device.

There are several ways of distributing 21 pips of a die over the six faces, using patterns that obey the rules defined above. Considering the fact that there is one way of displaying 6 (3/3), two ways of displaying 5 (3/2, 2/3), three ways of displaying 4 (3/1, 1/3, 2/2), four ways of displaying 3 (0/3, 3/0, 2/1, 1/2), three ways of displaying 2 (1/1, 2/0, 0/2), and two ways of displaying 1 (0/1, 1/0) in the above described manner, on two tetrahedral half-faces of a die face, there are overall 144 possible ways of distributing pips to produce left- handed or right-handed cubic dice bearing numbers from one to six, with opposite faces adding up to seven. Of these distributions, only one unique distribution

satisfies the conditions (I-IV) listed below for a right handed die, and one unique distribution for a left handed die (as shown in figures 2 and 3) . The present invention includes, but is not limited to, dice displaying these unique pip distributions. Conditions for distributing pips on the outer tetrahedral components that provide for the highest variability in the rearranged patterns and yet closest similarity to ordinary dice are as follows:

I. Pips can be arranged such that values are displayed exactly as on an ordinary die; displayed values range from 1 to 6, opposite faces add up to 7.

II. On a given outer tetrahedron, all three isosceles triangular faces carry different numbers of pips. III. Each of the 4 outer tetrahedral components of the die bear pips that are distributed differently from those on the other three outer tetrahedra.

IV. By properly positioning the tetrahedra, any of the numbers from 1 to 6 can be displayed at least twice, or completely removed from, the faces of the die.

The present invention describes dice with specially arranged pips displayed on a cube, which is composed of a central regular tetrahedron and four right-angled

tetrahedra that are affixed in a rotatable manner to the central tetrahedron. Rotation of a particular tetrahedral vertex of the cube by 120 degrees results in the

reconstitution of the cubic shape, along with the

rearrangement of pips on the three faces of the cube of which the particular rotated tetrahedron forms part

(Figure 4). Thus, relative to the central tetrahedron, a particular outer tetrahedron has three positions which reconstitute a cube, to which correspond three

arrangement states of the pips on the affected die faces. It is deductible from this statement that the four tetrahedral vertices together have a total of 81

different positions relative to the central tetrahedron. Depending on the distribution of pips on the constituent outer tetrahedra, these 81 different positions can represent a theoretical maximum of 81 different

arrangements of numbers from zero to six on the six surfaces of the dice. The present invention reveals that dice with specially designed pip arrangements displayed on cubes with rotating tetrahedral vertices introduce a novel factor into dice-based games: players can

intentionally change the chance of throwing a particular number by rotating the tetrahedral dice components and thereby rearranging pips on the dice. The basic rules of scoring, using the dice described in the present invention, are the same as those with an ordinary die. The player throws a die and when the die has come to a full stop the number on the top face is registered .

On ordinary dice, opposite faces always add up to 7. The present invention describes dice with rearrangeable pips, on which numbers on opposite faces add up to different numbers, depending on the current arrangement of pips. Therefore, players can also register numbers on top and bottom faces. This way numbers from zero to 12 can be scored by rolling the dice. In a particular implementation, the four outer tetrahedra are identified by using different colors for the

tetrahedral body or different colors for the pips on a given tetrahedron. Identification of the four tetrahedra can help following the changes a player makes to the die during games, particularly when both top and bottom faces are counted, and when players are allowed to make limited rotations .

There are several ways to introduce rotation of the vertices into dice games. General options include the following game modes for two or more players.

Freehand mode: any number of rotations is allowed

before/after throwing the die. This mode allows the player to set an optimal arrangement of pips for

achieving the highest probability of throwing a required number .

Limited rotations mode: only a limited number of

tetrahedral vertices are allowed to be turned

before/after throwing the die. The player has to identify the vertex to be rotated and the direction of rotation to achieve the ideal probability of throwing a given number. Defensive play: rotation is allowed before rolling the die. The player rearranges the pips for himself/herself , aiming to increase chances of throwing a given number. Offensive play: rotation is allowed after rolling the die. The player rearranges the pips for his/her

opponents, aiming to decrease chances of throwing a given number .

It will thus be apparent that a unigue game device is provided which has a wide range of uses. The device may be built in any scale desired, and could, for example, be built in the form of a small hand-held cube which could simply be used as a changeable-configuration play object. It should be noted that the various tetrahedrons and coupling elements may comprise any of various materials, such as, but not limited to, plastic, wood, paper or metal .

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated herein, it is appreciated that certain variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Such

improvements, modifications and embodiments will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon review of this disclosure. Such improvements, modifications and embodiments are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the following claims.

Examples

The following example is provided by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

Example 1 (Figure 4) Removing 5 and 1 while tripling 3 on the die surface The right handed standard configuration is set on a die described above and shown in Figure 2 as a starting arrangement, that is numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are displayed (1, 4 and 5 are visible) . Tetrahedral component C is rotated clockwise by 120 degrees. The resulting arrangement displays numbers 2, 3, 3, 3, 4 and 6 (3, 3 and 4 are visible) . The chance of throwing 3 using the die with this arrangement is three times the original (3:6 instead of 1:6), while the chance of throwing 1 or 5 is zero.

Claims

1. Cubic dice composed of 5 tetrahedra, a central regular tetrahedron and 4 outer tetrahedra that

constitute the surface of the cubic dice, these latter connected to the central tetrahedron in a rotatable manner .

2. Cubic dice, possessing the structure described in claim 1, with diagonally divided faces, on which a single triangular half-face carries 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 pips. Distribution of the pips on a particular face of these dice can be asymmetric, on the two sides of the diagonal (represented here in parenthesis as one side/other side), for the values 1 (0/1), 2 (0/2), 3 (0/3 or 1/2), 4 (1/3), and 5 (2/3); or symmetric for the values 2 (1/1) and 4 (2/2) and 6 (3/3) .

3. A right handed cubic die of claim 1, characterized by the following pip distribution. The number of pips displayed on the 4 outer tetrahedra (tetrahedron A, B, C and D) constituting the surface of the cubic die, going clockwise when viewing from above is: A 0-3-1, B

3-2-1, C 2-3-1, D 2-3-0 pips (Figure 2) .

4. A left handed cubic die of claim 1, characterized by the following pip distribution. The number of pips displayed on the 4 outer tetrahedra (tetrahedron A, B, C and D) constituting the surface of the cubic die, going clockwise when viewing from above is: A 3-0-1, B 3-2-0, C 3-2-1, D 2-3-1 pips (Figure 3) .

5. Board games based on the cubic dice with specially distributed pips and rotating tetrahedral vertices, as described in claims 1-4, which exploit the possibility of altering the chances of throwing by the player.

6. Digital games based on the virtual forms of the dice described in claims 1-4.