US3464701A - Game apparatus for playing threedimensional chess and tic-tac-toe - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 2, 1969 MAHONEY 3,464,701

GAME APPARATUS FOR PLAYING THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHESS AND -TIC-TACTOE Filed Dec. 6, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Michael Mohoney BY wwzza/ ATTORNEY M. MAHONEY GAME APPARATUS FOR PLAYING THREE-DIMENSIONAL Sept. 2, 1969 CHESS AND TIC-TAC-TOE 6, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec.

36' as H FIG.8.

INVENTOR Michael Muhoney iii? ATTORNEY United States Patent C US. Cl. 273-131 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A game apparatus made of transparent material in the form of a rectangular four sided frame having four play boards mounted in vertically spaced relation therein, each play board being slidable from a normally retracted position in said frame to an extended position on a different side of the frame. Each play board is marked off by lines or ridges into sixteen substantially square game piece receiving areas for receiving game pieces of different players in selected areas in the course of a game to produce a desired arrangement of the game pieces on all the play boards when they are placed in a predetermined relation to each other. For playing tic-tac-toe each player has four game pieces, and for playing chess game pieces having chess symbols thereon are provided.

The present invention relates to an amusement apparatus for use in games wherein one or more players may participate.

The primary object of this invention is to devise a new and improved apparatus providing means by which one may develop skill in visualizing three-dimensional geometric relationships.

A further object is to make a new and improved threedimensional apparatus for playing games of the chess or tic-tac-toe type.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved three-dimensional game apparatus to be played by an individual or by two or more persons.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved three-dimensional game apparatus including means for supporting game pieces in three-dimensional spacial arrangement on slidable game boards which are vertically spaced in the apparatus and in their extended positions facilitate ready access to all the play piece positions on all boards of the apparatus.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing description, with reference to the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus with four playing boards in retracted position;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus with the playing boards in the extended position;

FIGURE 3 is a plan 'view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view in elevation of one of the play boards taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the apparatus as shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a side view as seen along the section line 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of a modified play board on which the spaced lines are replaced by ridges; and

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view thereof, taken on the line 88 of FIGURE 7.

Referring now to the drawings, in FIGURE 1 it should be noted that the apparatus is indicated as a whole by the ice reference character 10 and comprises a box-shaped frame 12 which is open at the top and bottom and contains four playing boards 14 slidably disposed in the grooves 16. The frame and playing boards may be constructed of any suitable clear, transparent material such as glass or transparent plastic. Each of the playing boards is extendable from a retracted or closed position, as seen in FIGURES 1 and 3, to an extended playing position, as seen in FIG- URES 2, 5 and 6.

The frame is provided on each side with a support groove 18 which receives the rear end of a playing board, the groove having a central guide slot 20. Also formed in each side of the frame is a slot 22 aligned with the groove 18 in the opposite side, said slot permitting the associated board to slide out of the frame into its extended position. Stops 24 may be provided at the rear corners of each board to prevent its complete detachment from the frame when it is pulled by means of the grip tab 26 extending from the edge of the board. A guide tab 28 extends from the rear edge of each board for cooperation with the corresponding slot 20 to guide the rear edge of the board into the support groove 18.

The slot 22 is widened across substantially the entire width of the frame to accommodate the height of the game pieces 30 which are placed on the board during a game, so that they will not be displaced as the board is moved into retracted or closed position in the frame. Obviously, the same accommodations exist even when the apparatus is used in the upside-down position, as may be seen by an inspection of FIGURE 6, since the opposite edges of the widened portion of slot 22 are equally spaced from adjacent faces of the board 14.

In the particular apparatus illustrated, there are four vertically spaced boards, each board 14 having sixteen substantially equal areas 32 marked off by three spaced parallel lines 34 intersecting three other spaced parallel lines 36 of equal length at right angles. The apparatus provides an arrangement of the areas 32 on different boards whereby four such areas may be visibly lined up in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction when the boards are all retracted or closed.

The apparatus is further provided with four sets of differently colored game pieces 30, the number of pieces in each set being four.

In other rectangular forms of this apparatus, the device may be similarly constructed to provide a different number of areas 32 marked off by other than the three spaced parallel lines 34 intersecting the other three spaced parallel lines 36.

In place of the lines 34 and 36, ridges 34 and 36 may be formed on the face of a board 14', and may be supplemented by peripheral ridges 38, as shown in FIGURES 7 and 8, to prevent accidental displacement of the game pieces from the areas in which they have been placed if the apparatus should be excessively jarred when the boards are moved from the extended to the closed position.

This apparatus is especially suited for the following games, although it may obviously be used in many other ways:

THREE-DIMENSIONAL TIC-TAC-TOE The object of the game is for a player to arrange his pieces on the extended boards such that, when the boards are placed in a closed position, his four pieces form a straight line in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal direction through the lined boards.

Each player chooses a set of colored pieces. Each of the four boards is extended. The first player puts a piece on a play area. Players alternately place one piece on vacant play areas of their choosing until one player decides that he has aligned his four pieces in a straight line.

He then declares that he has won. The extended boards are returned to their closed position where his claim can be verified. If his four pieces do, indeed, line up, he wins; if not, he forfeits the game.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHESS The game is played as in conventional two-dimensional chess with the following exceptions:

(1) The game is played with at least two of the play boards in their extended positions so that the players may readily visualize an entire chess board of sixty-four playing piece areas as being composed of all four play boards arranged in a predetermined relation to each other, and visualize the relationship between the chess pieces on the entire chess board, the game pieces being in the same form as pieces 30 except that chess game symbols are inscribed on each game piece.

(2) The boards may be brought into their aligned or closed position when a players King is in check or when a Queen is under attack.

(3) A player may challenge a move made by his opponent, whereupon the boards are moved into their closed position. If the move is legitimate, the challenger then forfeits a move; if illegitimate, the piece is returned to its original square and the challenger gets a free move.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a means by which one may develop a skill in visualing geometric relationships as already mentioned. Every intelligence test contains problems relating to interpretation of spacial and geometric relationships between objects. While this game board is used to play games such as threedimensional tic-tac-toe, as a. player develops his skill in playing the game he also develops the intellectual insight required to solve complex spacial problems, thereby improving a necessary skill so important in measurement of IQ.

The manner in which this skill in visualizing geometric relationships is demonstrated or tested is by utilizing the game boards, which are part of the overall apparatus, in unaligned or extended positions as described above, when playing games such as three-dimensional tic-tac-toe. This requires the players to mentally reconstruct the entire array and the relationship between the various pieces. A players ability to do this has a direct bearing on how well he can play the game. Of course other factors are involved which relate to his ability to win, but the first prerequisite is skill in visualizing spacial relationships.

Many other ways of using this apparatus may be devised for games as well as teaching purposes, and many obvious modifications in the arrangement of the parts and details of construction may be made in this apparatus 4 without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A game apparatus comprising a frame, a plurality of play boards, a plurality of sets of game pieces, the frame and play boards being constructed of transparent material, each play board having a plurality of game piece receiving areas defined by intersecting lines disposed on the face of the play board for the selective reception of the game pieces, means slidably positioning the play boards in vertically spaced relation within the frame and enabling movement of each play board outwardly of the frame from a different side thereof, stop means on each play board to prevent its detachment from the frame whereby each play board may be moved from a retracted position within the frame to a position extending outwardly from a different side of the frame.

2. The game apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the frame is of cubical shape and the play boards are substantially square, the intersecting lines on the play boards being at right angles to each other and so spaced that the game piece receiving areas are substantially square.

3. A game apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein the intersecting lines on each play board consist of three equally spaced parallel lines parallel to opposite side edges of the board and intersecting three equally spaced parallel lines parallel to the other edges of the board, each set of lines being spaced equal distances from the board edges, whereby sixteen square game piece receiving areas are formed.

4. A game apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein the side edges and intersecting lines of each play board comprise ridge portions of the same material of which the board is made to aid in maintaining the play pieces in their selected receiving areas during the course of the game.

References Cited Time Magazine, Feb. 4, 1952, page 15, item entitled Three-Dimensional Chess.

Playthings Magazine, December 1964, page 72.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 273136

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