US3658338A

US3658338A - Board game apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3658338A
Application number: US858725A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kurt O Wheelock
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1969-09-17
Filing date: 1969-09-17
Publication date: 1972-04-25
Anticipated expiration: 1989-04-25

Abstract

A game board having representations of two celestial bodies such as the earth and the moon on its top surface, and having tokens representing space stations for orbiting the two celestial bodies, as well as tokens simulating spaceships adapted to link up with the space stations and to travel from one celestial body to the other. Rotatable disks carry slugs under the board surface. The tokens are attracted to the slugs by magnetism so as to move with the slugs in orbits around the celestial bodies. The disk associated with the moon is constructed to receive members representing buried treasure.

Description

United States Patent [151 3,658,338 Wheelock 14 1 Apr. 25, 1972 [54] BOARD GAME APPARATUS 2,795,427 6/1957 Sachs ..273/139 x [72] Inventor: Kurt 0. Wheelock, 27580 Evelyn Court, FOREIGN PATENTS QR ppu -n Warren, Mich. 48093 1,526,893 4/1968 France ..273/1 34 1 1 17, 1969 1,229,005 3/1960 France ..134/

21 A l.N 858 725 l 1 PP 2 Primary E.raminer-Delbert B. Lowe Attorney-Whittem0re, Hulbert & Belknap [52] U.S. Cl ..273/134 AE, 46/240, 273/134 AA 1 [51] 1 Int. Cl. ..A63f 3/00 [57] ABSTRACT [58] Field ofSearch ..273/1,130,131,134,135,

. A game board havmg representatlons of two celestial bodies 273/136, 139, 46/140, 35/45 such as the earth and the moon on 1ts top surface, and havlng [56] References Cited tokens representing space stations for orbiting the two celest1al bod1es, as well as tokens s1mulat1ng spaceships UNITED STATES PATENTS adapted to link up with the space stations and to travel from one celestial body to the other. Rotatable disks carry slugs 3,006,] l 1 10/1961 Koch... ..46/24O X under the board surface. The tokens are attracted to the slugs 313771067 4/1968 pro'em "46/240 X by magnetism so as to move with the slugs in orbits around the 3,387,393 6/1968 Musser... ..35/4 celestial bodies. The disk associated with the moon is con- 2,282,430 5/1942 Sm1th 46/24 x structed to receive members representing buried treasure. 2,548,495 4/1951 Robins ..46/240 X 2,632,648 3/1953 Neuzerling ..46/240 X 9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures J l //4 I /4 V 7, I Z6 /02 #4 9/ 5' e 4 r A" a N m; 5 92 8 7 s /0a a 24 76 ;/Q O zr zz 60 e l s l a AMOVE'AA/PT/IJfiAC'JTAT/O/V u/v/rs 3 0 ,9. /F O/V/MOOM/VO/VT/ORTAZASl/PE 1 7 c. Mar: MOO/V ts/wcz .sr4r/a/v 04 /75 I 6 60 s .0. mar! row? sPAQmw/ 20 9 72 5224c? ///v/r5 PATENTEDAPR 25 m2.

SHEET 10F 2 K M: w fm Fw Y BOARD GAME APPARATUS SUMMARY CF THE INVENTION One object of this invention is to provide a space game having tokens representing space stations and spaceships.

Another object is to provide a space game having means for hiding buried treasure on one of the celestial bodies represented on the game board.

Another object is to provide a game board having a rotatable member provided with a slug of material beneath the surface of the board, and a token movable over the surface of the board and attracted by magnetism to the slug so as to move with the slug in a circular path.

Another object is to provide a game board having a representation of a celestial body on its surface, a rotatable member having a slug of material beneath the upper surface, and a token representing a spaceship or a space station movable over the surface of the board and attracted by magnetism to the slug so as to move in a circular path with the slug in an orbit around the celestial body.

Another object is to provide a game board having first and second rotatable members with command indicia associated with the first member and dependent upon the angular position of the first member to determine the movement of the second member.

Another object is to provide a game board in which the first member has an annular series of numbers for determining the increments of rotation to be given to the second member depending upon the angular position of the first member.

Another object is to provide a game board having a rotatable member under the representation of a celestial body provided with slots for receiving tokens representing buried treasure, and in which the upper surface of the board has holes adapted to register with the slots in order to permit the tokens to be inserted into and withdrawn from the slots.

Another object is to provide a game course comprising a plurality of place units over which a token representing a game piece is adapted to move in sequence, and means for varying the length of the course.

Other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a game board constructed in accordance with my invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detail view of the rotatable member or disk associated with the moon.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the rotatable member or disk associated with the earth.

FIG. 4 illustrates in perspective tokens representing a space station and a spaceship.

FIG. 5 shows the two tokens of FIG. 4 in a stacked relationship with the spaceship on top of the space station.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 6- 6.in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 7 7 in FIG. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the game board is generally designated 10 and in this instance comprises a rectangular board of cardboard or like material which may have a center fold line 12 for folding the two halves of the board together when it is not being used. 14 designates magnetic tokens representing space stations, 16 designates magnetic tokens representing spaceships and 18 designates tokens of permeable material representing pieces of treasure.

The upper surface 20 of the game board 10 has indicia representing two celestial bodies in spaced relation to one another. In this instance the celestial body 22 is the earth and the celestial body 24 is the moon. It will be understood that such representations of the earth and the moon may be merely two-dimensional pictorial representations not raised above the surface 20 of the game board.

There is a circular recess 26 in the undersurface of the board which is concentric with the earth 22. A flat circular rotatable member or disk 28 is disposed in the recess 26 in concentric relation with the earth 22. A fastener 30 passing through the center of the earth and through the center of the disk 28 supports the disk for rotation in the recess.

The disk 28 has a series of equally spaced holes 32 arranged in a circle concentric with its center. A person playing the game may insert his finger into one of the holes 32 to rotate the disk 28 in the direction of the arrow 34. As seen in FIG. 1, there is a window 36 in the upper surface of the game board which has an arcuate portion 38 that overlies the circular series of holes 32 and is of a length equal to the distance between the remote edges of any two adjacent holes in the series. Obviously a person may insert his finger through the window into a hole 32 and index the disk 28 an increment of rotation equal to the distance between the holes 32.

The disk 28 also has an inner series of numbers and an outer series of numbers arranged in circles concentric with its axis of rotation. The numbers in each of the two series are spaced from one another the same angular distance as the holes 32. As will be understood from FIG. 1, two numbers, one in each series of numbers, are visible in a radial extension 40 of the window 36 in any indexed position of rotation of the disk. There is a command indicia on the surface of the game board associated with each series of numbers. Associated with the inner series of numbers is the following command indicia C: Move moon space station units." Associated with the outer series of numbers is the command indicia D: Move your spaceship 2 or space units." The command indicia C and D are shown for convenience in the lower right corner of the board, but in actual practice will be printed in arcs indicated by

dotted lines

37 and 38 so that the numbers on the disk 28 appear in the blank spaces.

The disk 28 has embedded in it three equally angularly spaced slugs 42 located on a circle concentric with the axis of rotation of the disk 28. The disk 28 also has three additional slugs 44 embedded in it in equal angularly spaced relation on a larger circle concentric with the axis of rotation of the disk 28. The slugs are of a permeable material so as to be attracted to the magnetic tokens l4 and 16. Actually the slugs could also be magnets.

There is a series of dots and ovals 46 spaced equal angular distances from one another in an inner orbit 48 pictorially represented on the upper surface of the game board around the earth 22. The orbit 48 overlies and coincides with the circle traced by the slugs 42 carried by the rotatable disk 28. There is also a series of dots and ovals 50 represented pictorially on the upper surface of the game board in equal angularly spaced relation in an outer orbit 52 around the earth. The orbit 52 overlies and coincides with the circle traced by the slugs 44. The angular distance between the dots and ovals 46 and between the dots and ovals 50 is equal to the angular distance between holes 32.

The game board has a circular recess 54 in its undersurface beneath the moon 24. A flat circular rotatable member or disk 56 is disposed within the recess 54 in concentric relation to the moon 24. A fastener 58 passing through the center of the moon and through the center of disk 56 supports the disk 56 for rotation on its axis.

The disk 56 has a series of equally angularly spaced holes 60 arranged in a circle concentric with its axis of rotation. The disk 56 may be rotated in the direction of the arrow 62 by the insertion of a finger into one of the holes 60. As seen in FIG. 1 there is a window 64 in the top surface of the game board which has an arcuate portion 66 overlying the circle of holes 60. The portion 66 of the window is of a length equal to the distance between two adjacent holes 60. A player may insert his finger through the window into one of the holes 60 and index the disk 56 an increment of rotation equal to the distance between two adjacent holes 60.

The disk 56 has three slugs 68 embedded in it in equally angularly spaced relation on a circle concentric with its axis of rotation. Like slugs 42 and 44, slugs 68 are of a permeable material so as to be attracted to the

magnetic tokens

14 and 16. Actually slugs 68 could also be magnets.

The disk 56 has a plurality of elongated radially extending slots or tunnels 71-79 adapted to receive tokens 18 representing buried treasure. The upper surface of the game board has a plurality of holes 81-86 through the representation of the moon 24.

The arrangement of tunnels 71-79 and holes 81-86 in the present instance is such that in certain indexed positions of the disk 56 none of the tunnels registers with any of the holes. However, in the next indexed position of the disk 56 the holes 82, 84, and 86 register with the inner ends of the

tunnels

72, 75, and 78. In the next indexed position, the

holes

81, 83, and 85 register with the outer ends of

tunnels

71, 74, and 77 and in the next indexed position the holes 82, 84, and 86 register with the inner ends of

tunnels

73, 76, and 79. The holes 81-86 are large enough to permit the tokens 18 representing buried treasure to be inserted into the tunnels in disk 56 and to be withdrawn therefrom through the holes without interference.

The disk 56 has inner and outer series of numbers equally angularly spaced from one another and arranged in concentric circles, as shown in FIG. 2. The numbers in each series are spaced from one another angularly the same distance as the holes 60. As will be understood from a consideration of FIG. 1, two numbers, one in each series of numbers, are visible in a radial extension 90 of the window 64, in each indexed position of the disk 56. There is a command indicia on the surface of the game board associated with each series of numbers. Associated with the inner series of numbers is the following command indicia A: Move earth space station units. Associated with the outer series of numbers is the command indicia B: If on moon, hunt for treasure time (s). The command indicia A and B are shown for convenience in the lower right corner of the board, but in actual practice will be printed in arcs represented by

dotted lines

87 and 88 so that the numbers on the disk 56 appear in the blank spaces.

The top surface 20 of the game board has a series of equally angularly spaced dots and ovals 92 pictorially represented in a circular orbit 93 about the moon. The orbit 93 coincides with and overlies the circle traversed by the slugs 68 upon rotation of the disk 56. The angular distance between the dots and ovals 92 is equal to the angular distance between the holes 60.

A series of dots 100 extend in an S-shaped path from the outer orbit 52 around the earth to the orbit 93 around the moon, and a series of dots 102 extend in an S-shaped path from the orbit 93 around the moon back to the outer orbit 52 around the earth. The orbital dots and

ovals

46, 50, and 92 may be considered space units over which the space stations and spaceships pass in sequence from one to the next as the game is played. The

dots

100 and 102 are also space units which the spaceships move over in sequence from one to another during their travel to and from the moon.

The following rules are suggested for players or astronauts who wish to play the game.

A. How to Become the Winning Astronaut By traveling to the moon; picking up one treasure, and returning to earth more times during the game than any of the other astronauts.

B. How to Prepare for Blast-Off 1. Take one of the space stations 14 and place it near the earth 22 on the oval marked S. This earth space station will be moved by magnetic attraction around the earth in the orbit 52 by a slug 44 when disk 28 is turned. Disk 28 should be moved in the same direction as the arrow 34 until the earth space station 14 goes around the earth and once again lands on the same oval S. The space station 14 will move from one space unit 50 to the next in sequence each time the disk 28 is indexed, and in each indexed position of the disk 28 the space station will stop on a space'unit 50. The disk 28 is moved by a finger inserted in a hole 32, and is indexed one increment of rotation by moving the hole 32 from one end of the arcuate portion 38 of window 36 to the other.

2. Place the nine moon treasures underneath the moon 24 in the following way: Look on the moon 24 and pick out the six lunar holes 81-86 where the treasures will be buried. After locating the six lunar holes, the disk 56 is turned in the direction of arrow 62 until no tunnels 71-79 appear where the lunar holes are. Then, disk 56 is turned until three of the tunnels appear at three lunar holes. One token l8 representing treasure is placed in each of these holes and should be pushed into the tunnels out of sight with the finger or by gently stroking the moon 24 near the hole with a spaceship 16 so that the treasure is magnetically drawn into the tunnel and away from the hole. The disk 56 is again moved until three more tunnels appear at the second set of three holes. One treasure is placed in each of these tunnels just as before. The disk is again moved until three more tunnels appear at the first set of three holes. One treasure is placed in each of these tunnels. There are nine different tunnels and each now holds one treasure.

3. Another space station 14 is placed near the moon 24 on the oval marked 5. This moon space station moves by magnetic attraction around the moon in an orbit 93 by a slug 68 when the disk 56 is moved. This disk 56 is moved in the same direction of the arrow 62 until the moon space station goes around the moon and once again lands on the same oval marked with an S. The space station will move from one space unit 92 to the next in sequence each time the disk 56 is indexed, and in each indexed position of the disk 56 the space station will stop on a space unit 92. Each astronaut may now pick out a spaceship 16 and blast off. The disk 56 is indexed one increment of rotation at a time by inserting a finger in a hole 60, in the same manner as disk 28.

C. How to Blast-Off Each astronaut waits until it is his turn and then carries out Space Commands A, B, C, and D. They are printed on the board on the

arcs

37, 38, 87, 88 near the moon 24 and near the earth 22. The first astronauts turn now beings. First Astronaut: Read Space Command A and index disk 28 and hence the earth space station 14 the number of space units shown in the window 36. Each dot or oval is one space unit. Skip Space Command B until on the moon and ready to hunt for treasure. Read Space Command C and index disk 56 and hence the moon space station 14 the number of space units shown in the window 64. Read Space Command D; place spaceship 16 anywhere on earth; and move the spaceship either two space units or the number of space units shown in the window 36. Count the dot nearest the earth as space unit one. First Astronaut: Your turn is over; however, your spaceship will not stay where it is now. It will be attracted by one of the slugs 42 and will move in an orbit around the earth from one space unit to the next when the space station and disk 28 move. Second Astronaut: Your turn begins now. Read Space Command A and index the disk 28 and hence the earth space station the number of space units shown in the window 36. Skip Space Command B until on the moon and ready to hunt for treasure. Read Space Commands C and D and carry them out in that order. Second Astronaut: Your turn is over; however, however, your spaceship will also be attracted by one of the slugs 42 and will move in an orbit around the earth from one space unit to the next when disk 28 and hence the space station moves.

D. How do the Spaceships Get to the Moon? When it is your turn to carry out Space Command D follow the dots 111, 112, and 113 and try to move your spaceship from the inner orbit 48 of the earth to its outer orbit 52. You can only move your spaceship in the same direction as shown by the arrow 34. In other words, you cannot move backwards. If your spaceship has passed the space unit 111 that leads to the outer orbit, then you must go around the earth again until you position your spaceship so that you will move out on the dots 111, 112, and 113 and on to the outer orbit 52 when it is your turn to move under Space Command D. When you are in the earths outer orbit 52, link-up with the earth space station I4; then separate from the space station on your next turn; and try to position your spaceship to move beyond the outer orbit on Space Command D. If your spaceship has passed space unit 114 that leads to dots 100, then you must go around again before you can proceed on dots 100. Once you are following the dots 100 leading away from the earth and towards the moon you are on your way to the moon; and you have made a Trans-lunar Injection.

E. How to Position a Spaceship in Orbit so that It Can Get to the Moon Each time it is your turn, very carefully note where your spaceship is immediately after you have carried out Space Command D. Has your spaceship moved to a different part of the orbit or has it ended up within one or two space units of where it was the last time you carried out space Command C? If your spaceship hasnt moved much then you should take the other choice available to you when carrying out your Space Command D. Sometimes you are better off to decide on just moving your spaceship two space units; at other times, moving your spaceship the number of space units shown in the window will move your spaceship out of orbit. There is no set rule to help you decide which Space Command D to carry out. After a while you will be able to sense what to do.

F. How Does an Astronaut Land on the Moon? By going into lunar orbit; linking-up with the moon space station; separating from the space station on his next turn; and positioning his spaceship so that on Space Command D he can move his spaceship from dot 115 to dot 116 closest to the moon and then on the moon. Of course, if he has orbited past dot 115, he must go around again before he can follow dots I and 116 to the moon. The spaceship must always go in the same direction as the arrow 62.

0. .After Landing on the Moon, How does this Astronaut Find Treasure? After landing on the moon, the astronaut waits for his next turn before hunting for treasure. Astronaut on moon: Carry. out Space Command A. Then read Space Command B to find out how many times you can hunt for treasure. If the number one (1) appears in the window you can hunt for treasure in one (1) lunar hole. When the number two (2) or three (3) appears in the window hunt for treasure in two (2) or three (3) lunar holes. Most of the time you will be able to see tunnels underneath the moon by looking into the lunar holes. Sometimes, however, no tunnels will appear and you will not be able to hunt for treasure at all until it is your next turn. The easiest way to hunt for treasure is to look in a lunar hole to see where the tunnel leads, and stroke the moon near the hole with your spaceship so that the treasure is magnetically drawn out of the tunnel and into the hole where it can be picked up by your spaceship. You can only carry one treasure at a time on top of your spaceship.

H. How Does Spaceship Blast Off from the Moon? As soon as you find treasure carry out Space Command C and then Space Command D. Count the dot 117 nearest the moon as space unit one. Follow the dot 117 back into orbit around the moon.

.I. How to Get Back to Earth By linking up with the moon space station in lunar orbit; separating from the space station on your next turn; and positioning your spaceship in the moons orbit so that you will move from dot 118 back to earth via space units 102. If you orbit past dot 118, you must go around again before you can proceed from dot 118 and follow dots 102 back to earth. You have now made a Trans-earth Injection.

K. How to band on Earth By going into the earths outer orbit; linking up with the earth space station; separating from the space station on the next turn; going into earths inner orbit via

dots

121 and 122; and moving from dot 123 in the inner orbit to dot 124 nearest the earth and landing on earth. Again, if you orbit past dot 121 you must go around again before you can proceed to the inner orbit, and if you orbit past dot 123 you must go around again before you can land on earth.

L. When Back on Earth what Happens? Take off the treasure from the top of the spaceship and start back for another. Whoever gets the most treasures wins. You don't have to use all nine treasures. You can play shorter games by putting seven, five, or even three treasures on the moon.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A game board having first and second rotatable members adapted to be indexed in increments of rotation, said second member having operating means responsive to rotation thereof, said game board having means associated with said first member providing a number station, said first member having a series of numbers movable past said number station upon rotation of said first member, and incomplete command indicia for governing the indexing of said second member, said command indicia being provided on said game board and positioned adjacent said number station so as to be completed by the number displayed thereat.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein said first member has operating means responsive to rotation thereof, said game board has means associated with said second member providing a number station, said second member having a series of numbers movable past said second-mentioned number station upon rotation of said second member, and incomplete command indicia for governing the indexing of said first member, said command indicia being provided on said game board and positioned adjacent said second-mentioned number station so as to be completed by the number displayed thereat.

3. A game board having an upper surface, a rotatable member beneath said upper surface having slots adapted to receive game tokens representing buried treasure, for example, and a plurality of holes in said upper surface, certain holes registering with certain slots in a predetermined rotative position of said rotatable member to permit said tokens to be inserted into or removed from said slots through said holes, other holes registering with other slots in another rotative position of said rotatable member to permit said tokens to be inserted and removed as aforesaid, and in still another rotative position of said rotatable member, none of said holes and slots being in register.

4. The structure defined in claim 3, wherein said holes are formed in a pictorial representation of a celestial body on said upper surface, and tokens simulating space vehicles, said second mentioned tokens being magnetically attracted to said first mentioned tokens.

5. A game board having a plurality of space units spaced apart from one another over a game course, a token representing a game piece movable from space unit to space unit over said course, some of said space units within said course being arranged in a closed loop, a second token representing a space station and with which said first-mentioned token is adapted to be linked, means for orbiting said second token from space unit to space unit within said closed loop, and means for releasably linking said first-mentioned token to said second token so that said first-mentioned token will orbit with said second token from space unit to space unit within said closed loop, whereby said second token becomes in effect a moving space unit to vary the length of the course traversed by said first-mentioned token.

6. The structure defined in claim 5, said closed loop being circular, said orbiting means comprising a rotatable member beneath said game course rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center of said closed loop, said orbiting means having a slug to which said second-mentioned token is magnetically attracted and movable along the path of and beneath said closed loop upon rotation of said rotatable member.

7. The structure defined in claim 6, including means for indexing said rotatable member angular distances corresponding to the angular distance between the space units.

8. A game board having an upper surface, a representation of a celestial body on said upper surface, a member rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center of said body and having beneath said upper surface a series of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric with the axis of rotation of said member and having a radius greater than the radius of said body, tokens movable over said upper surface and magnetically attracted to said slugs so as to move in an orbit around said body upon rotation of said rotatable member, a representation of a second celestial body on said upper surface spaced from said first-mentioned body, a second member rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center of the second body and having beneath said upper surface a second series of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric with the axis of rotation of said second member and having a radius greater than the radius of said second body, second tokens movable over said upper surface and magnetically attracted to the slugs in the second series so as to move in an orbit around said second body upon rotation of said second rotatable member, said board having on its upper surface means in each orbit representing space units spaced equal distances from one another, means representing a line of spaced apart space units connecting said orbits, and means for indexing each rotatable member increments of rotation equal to the spacing between the space units in the associated orbit.

9. A game board having an upper surface, a representation of a celestial body on said upper surface, a member rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center of the body and having beneath said upper surface a series of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric with the axis of rotation of said member and having a radius greater than the radius of said body, tokens movable over said upper surface and magnetically attracted to said slugs so as to move in an orbit around said body upon rotation of said rotatable member, said board

Claims

1. A game board having first and second rotatable members adapted to be indexed in increments of rotation, said second member having operating means responsive to rotation thereof, said game board having means associated with said first member providing a number station, said first member having a series of numbers movable past said number station upon rotation of said first member, and incomplete command indicia for governing the indexing of said second member, said command indicia being provided on said game board and positioned adjacent said number station so as to be completed by the number displayed thereat.

9. A game board having an upper surface, a representation of a celestial body on said upper surface, a member rotatable on an axis coinciding with the center of the body and having beneath said upper surface a series of angularly spaced slugs arranged in a circle concentric with the axis of rotation of said member and having a radius greater than the radius of said body, tokens movAble over said upper surface and magnetically attracted to said slugs so as to move in an orbit around said body upon rotation of said rotatable member, said board having on its upper surface means in said orbit representing space units spaced equal distances from one another, means for indexing said rotatable member increments of rotation equal to the spacing between said space units, said indexing means comprising finger holes formed in said rotatable member in a circle adjacent the periphery thereof, the angular distance between said holes corresponding to the angular distance between said space units, and a window in said board overlying the circle of holes and of a length approximating the distance between two adjacent holes.