US1966793A - Game board device - Google Patents

Description

July 17, 1934. L. L. FULLER 1,966,793

GAME BOARD DEVI CE Filed May l, 1935 z l /l ,Z Z l interes nonno nevica non it. por-nam, N. o. Atentados tiny, i, nies, saisine. sessie il Claims.

This invention-relates'hroedly to gaine board devices and particularly to a war gaine in which .playing pieces representing ring units of opposing armies are moved into various positions on a hoard to fire upon opposing pieces in certain other positions on the board.

A broad object oi the invention is to provide a game that involves slrill in playing, with or without the element of chance at the option of the' sition into which it may he moved.

playing pieces.

Stili another object is to provide a war game board with cooperating pieces representing firing units adapted to he moved into various prescribed positions on the hoard, in which receptacles for receiving the pieces areprovided in the various l, positions (and the receptacles so shaped or in clined with reference to the pieces as to differently limit the eective range of hre of the pieces in the various positions.

The construction'y and inode oi 'operation oi the device will be apparent from the following detailed description which refers to the drawmg; i

Figure 1 is a plan view'oi a genie hoard in accordance with the invention; l

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the con-lstruction of one ci the pieces to be used with the board;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a spinner element that may be employed in playing the game; and

Figure 4 is a detailed sectional View, talr'en in the plane Ill-1V or Figure 1, showing the construction oi? the receptacles for receivingk the As shown in Figure 1, rny game boardroomprises a base having a plurality oi spaced apart receptacles for receiving' playing pieces. 'Ii'he receptacles are indicated as the small circles ynumlc'ered 2 to 2o, inclusive, and 25thV T2li', in-

elusive, on .rieure l. Each receptaclel actually comprises a shallow, circular opening or' hole in the hoard. Thus, as shown in Fiigure t, the

hoard Se ice oi substantial thiclmess inchA (Cl. 27g-Ml) or more) and the receptacles provided by drilling holes in the board, such as shown at 2, which holes are ofsubstantial depth butdo not extend completely through the board. All of the receptacles shown in Figure 1, with the exception oi receptacles 19 and 19', are formed the same as the receptacle 2 shown in Figure i. The re. ceptacles 19 and 19', however, are formed in separate blocks 31, which may be glued or otherwise secured to the surface of the board 30. The blocks 31 are'inclined as shownin Figure l for a. purpose to be described later.

Each playing piece may be in soldier as shown in Figure 2y having a rie 26 at shoulder position and extending horizontally as shown. and is provided with a base designated 'l generally at 27 adapted to iit into the receptacles on' the hoard. Thus, each base may comprise a lower cylindrical portion 28 adapted to it snugly within the receptacles and be held securely against tipping when inserted in the receptacle. An important feature of the game is that each piece i the formof o when positioned within a receptacle has its hori' zontal firing range restricted to a deiinite arc.

"To this end, the cylindrical portion 28 of the.

hase oeach piece is `provided at one side with an outwardly projecting key 29 and each receptacle is provided with a key-way 32 adapted to receive the irey 29 of a piece positioned in that receptacle. By varying the circumferential lengths of the key-ways 32 vin diierent receptacles, the latitude of rotation of pieces positioned in the different receptacles may be varied. Thus, referring to Figure l, the receptacle 13 is provided with a relatively narrow key-way 32 which is only large enough to receive the key 29 of a piece so that a lpiece inserted in receptacle 13 cannot he `turned and can point only in onedirection. It

l mitting a piece positioned therein to'be rotated through an arc sufficient tore either on recep tacle 9 or receptacle 10. it can be readily determined by inspection of the board what the hori vaorital range of a piece positioned in any receptacle will be. It will be observed that because of the positioning and dimensioning oi the key-ways on the various receptacles, some receptacles are in the line o :dre of pieces in sorneV other reco teclee but out oi the line or range or the `oisnii so j other receptacles. Some of the receptacles, such as 14, 14', 11, 11 and 20 have two disconnected key-ways so that a piece positioned therein has two separate ranges of lire but cannot be changed from one range tothe other without removing the piece from the receptacle and reinserting it.

I prefer to make the positions represented by` some oi' the receptacles invulnerable to ilre from pieces in all but a limited number of other receptacles and to this end the board is either painted or constructed to indicate that receptacles 2, 3, 4, 5, 2', 3', 4' and 5' are in trenches which are protected from horizontal ilre. Thus, the` cross hatched areas 1 and 1' may be colored distinctive-V ly to indicate trenches and the shaded areas surrounding receptacles 6, 7, 8, 6', 'I' and 8 may be colored the same as the areas lfto indicate that the latter receptacles representV positions in shell holes shielded from horizontal fire. Since all of the receptacles except 19 and 19' have vertical axes, pieces positioned therein will lproject very holes.

tically and the riiles on the pieces will extent horizontally so that pieces in those receptacles cannot fire on pieces positioned in the trenches or shell However, because of the fact that the receptacles 19 and 19 are inclined from the vertical as shown-in Figure 4, the riie of a piece positioned in either one of those receptacles is deflected downwardly to command the associated trench. Thus, the receptacle 19 commands the receptacles 2 in the trench 1 and the receptacle 19 commands the receptacles 2' in the trench 1.

To readily distinguish them from thev other receptacles, receptacles 19 and 19' may be surrounded with colored areas 33, colored differently from the areas representing the trenches and the shell holes.

The various straight lines connecting diiIerent receptacles indicate the permissible paths of movement of pieces from one receptacle to an=l other. Obviously, the total number of receptacles, their positions and the permissible paths of moveployed to represent pieces in opposing armies,

/ each'set being differently colored so that they may be readily distinguished apart. Many different rules may be adopted for playing vthe game but a desirable set of rulesis as follows:

(1) Each player starts with a set of 11 pieces located in the receptacles 2 and 2', respectively,

.in the trenches positioned on opposite sides of the board:

(2) The players in checkers;

(3) On each turn aplayer may move twice or shoot once; f

(4) Pieces may be moved in either direction but only .along the lines interconnecting the receptacles; y

(5) The determination of whethera shot is a hit or a miss is left to chance, by spinning an arrow on an indicator such as is shown in Figure 3. The tw'o halves of the indicator; cardl are colored differently and if the head ofthe arrow comesto rest on one color the shot is counted as a hit, and if it comes to rest on the other color the shot is counted as a miss.

(6) A piece that has been hit is removed from the board and that playerwins who first succeeds in eliminating, vor hemming in to prevent further movement, all the' pieces his Opponent,

play `alternately in turns as (7) Pieces in the receptacles in the shell holes or trenches cannot shoot.

(8) Pieces in the shell holes cannot behit from y any other position.

(9) Pieces in the trenches cannot be hit except by pieces in the elevated and inclined receptacles 19 and 19', respectively.

(10) Shifting a piece in one of the doiible range receptacles 14, 14', 11, 11' or 20 from one range to the other c'ounts as a move.

(11) A player may pass. If both players pass in succession, the game is a draw.

As will be noted, there are certain favorable places into which a player tries to get his pieces as soon. as possible. To give some idea of the strategy of the game, it may be pointed out that positions 14 and 14', are easily arrived at from the trench positions adjacent thereto and are favorable positions in which to get a piece for the Vreason that they control wide areas. V'.lheir 95 weakness consists in the fact that pieces in those positions maybe shot by pieces in positions 11 and 11' whereas the latter positions are out of the range of nre of pieces inreceptacles 14 and 14. Positions 11 and 11'l are less easily arrived at than positions 14 and 14 butcontrol a wider area and are less vulnerable. 'The only position from which receptacles 11 and 11 may be fired upon is receptacle 20. It should be noted that a piece in receptacle 20 cannot be shot from rei ceptacles 11 or 11' but that it has a very limited range itself` and is vulnerable vfrom the easily arrived at positions'14 and V14'. n ,I

It will be observed from inspection of the board that some positions are ineffective so far as shoot- 1,10

Ving is concerned. Thus,y a piece positioned in receptacle 9 or 9' will be pointed straight oil the eld and a piece in receptacles 15 or 15 will have in its range of re only the shell hole position'4 V7k or 7' which is invulnerable to fire. It willalsoV be observed that quite a number of positions control only one other position.

Obviously many variations may be made in the board and in the rules for playing the game, I some of which changes will now be discussed.

Rule 3 may be changed, if desired, to permit a player on each turn to move only once or shoot once. This introduces more luck into the game.

If desired, the element of chance may be eliminated and the game made one of pure skill by considering that every shot is a hit. If this is done, the. game is much like checkers` or chessin its intellectual demandsV Where the element .of chance is eliminated it is perhaps best to make oneshot equal to three moves so that a turn con- 313 sists of lshooting once or making three moves.

It is to be understood, of course, that where the chance element is introduced, it need not necessarily be provided by aspinner. Dice may be employed. Furthermore, if a spinner is used, @1T-:5 the chances of hitting or missing may ve varied. Thus, three-'fourths of the circle in which the spinner rotates might be painted one color and onlythe` remaining quarter another color. A single die may be substituted for the spinner, the T15 die having 2, 3, 4 or even 5 of its six sides painted one color andOthe remainder another color.

Obviously, the game need not be confined to the particular arrangement of receptacles and interconnecting lines shown in Figure 1. A much l'l more complicated iield could be drawn up and, to avoid confusion in a, more complicated field,

'the distance a piece might shoot could be limited.

If desired, the rules of the game'may be altered to permit pieces in shell holes or trenches to shoot although still making them invulnerable to lire from other positions.

Although in the particular board described and shown in the drawing the trenches and shell ho-les are represented by colored areas, if desired the eld may be constructed of stamped or molded material in which the trenches and shell holes are actually depressed below the level of the re- Inainder of the field. By so depressing the trenches and shell holes and employing pieces of suitable height, it may be made apparent from inspection of the board with the pieces positioned thereon that the pieces in the trenches and shell holes can neither iire on other pieces or be fired upon from other positions (with the exception, of course, of positions 19 and 19' which command the trenches adjacent thereto). Alternatively, instead of depressing the areas of the board representing the trenches and shell holes, those areas might be realistically shown as protected positions by providing an elevated barrier or parapet in front of the trenches and surrounding each shell hole.

Because of the fact that numerous variations in the game board device described may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, it is understood that the limits of the invention are to be defined o'nly as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a war game device, a playing board representing a eld o f action, having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possible position in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets of playing pieces representing ring units of opposing armies, each piece including a pointer element indicating the direction of fire of the piece and having a base portion adapted to be rotatably supported in said receptacles, and cooperating elements on one at least of said pieces and one at least of said receptacles for positively limiting the arc of rotation of that piece in that receptacle and correspondingly limiting the range of iire of the piece when in that position.

2. In a war game device, a playing board representing a field of action, having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possible position in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets o playing pieces representing firing units of opposing armies, each piece including a pointer element indicating the direction of re of the piece and having a base portion adapted to be rotatably supported in said receptacles, each piece also including a stop element andthe receptacles comprising means cooperating with the stop elements on the pieces for positively limiting.

the arc of rotation of pieces positioned in different receptacles by different amounts whereby pieces in different position on said board have diierent ranges of re.

3. In a war game device, a playing board representing a iield of action, having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possible position in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets of playing pieces representing ring units of opposing armies, each piece including a pointer eiement indicating the direction of re of the piece and having a base adapted to register with said-receptacles, some of said receptacles being so directed as to limit the vertical angle of re of a piece therein to one elevation and other receptacles being so directed as to limit the vertical angle of fire of a piece therein to another elevation, and some of said receptacles being distinctively identied to represent positions vulnerable to re at oneof said elevations and invulnerable to re at the other elevation.

4. n a war game device, a playing board rrepresenting a field of action, having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possible position in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets of playing pieces representing firing units of opposing armies, each piece including a pointer element indicating the direction of lire of the piece and having a base adapted to register with said receptacles, a rst and a second group of said receptacles respectively being positioned on opposite sides of said board and distinctively identified to represent positions invulnerable from'horizontal re, other receptacles intermediate the rst and second groups distinctively identified Ato represent positions vulnerable to horizontal fire, at least one of said other receptacles being so directed that the kvertical angle of re of a piece positioned therein is inclined below the horizontal to permit it to re on pieces in at least one of said first and second groups of receptacles.

5. A war game device as described in claim 3 in which some of said receptacles are grouped and identiiied to represent positions in juxtaposed trenches invulnerable to attack, other receptacles are spaced between the trenches and identied to represent positions in shell holes invulnerable to attack, and still other receptacles are spaced between the trenches in positions in the line of lire from pieces in some receptacles and out of line or"l re of pieces in other receptacles.

6. A war game device as described in claim 2 to permit rotation of the piece therein through at least two distinct ranges of orientation while preventing rotation of the piece from one range to the other without removing the piece from the receptacle. f

8. A war game device as described in claim 2 in which the various receptacles are interconnected with indicating lines for indicating bee tween which receptacle pieces may be moved, in which one of said receptacles is identified to represent a base position for initially placing a piece at the beginning of a game, in which an intermediate receptacle shaped to substantially limit the range of nre or a piece therein lis connected directly to said base position, and in which` still another receptacle shaped to permit wide range of re or" a piece therein is connected to said base position only through said intermediate receptacle.

LON L.' FULLER.

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