Board Game with Levitating Magnetic Game Pieces in a Race

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Reserved for a later date, if necessary.

The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:

Most existing board games with magnetic game pieces lack a plurality of elements of chance, a race along a track, from start to finish, and the excitement of levitation and interplay among players' magnetic game pieces. Many board games with magnetic game pieces don't take advantage of the fun and excitement of levitation. Some magnetic board games are designed to be educational for children from 3 to 6 years of age, and are not a game that would interest older children and adults. This board game bears little familiarity with any other board game.

In one referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,970A, each player has a base, a vertical peg and magnetic discs. The object of the game is for one player to win all of the opponents' discs. Each player selects a color of one peg and multiple magnetic discs. A player drops a disc down the peg of the player to her left. That peg has one magnet at the base. If the dropped disc is repelled, that player takes back the disc. If both discs snap together, both discs belong to the player who dropped it. He proceeds to the next player to the left. One element of chance is a spinner device and the other is that it is unknown whether a player's disc will be attracted or repelled when dropped upon another player's peg. There is no race from start to finish. There are only two elements of chance. Repelled discs don't stay and levitate. There can't be multiple levitating discs on a peg.

One of the referenced games, U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,526A, is a three-dimensional game apparatus including a game board. The object of play is to effect token occupancy of three playing positions in a planar or interplanar line. Magnetic tokens provide for three-dimensional alignment of player tokens in three planes. An element of chance is eliminated because the faces of ring magnets are marked to indicate their magnetic field. There is only one element of chance. The game is static. There is no race to the finish. It is overly complicated and unexciting.

Another referenced game, U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,865, is played on a game board having alternate paths of movement. The object of the game is for one player to capture and control all of the other players' magnetic game pieces. Dice are rolled and there is magnetic repulsion and capture. An element of chance is eliminated because game pieces have visual identification to indicate magnet orientation. The fun and excitement of levitation or suspension of a game piece, or multiple game pieces, above other game pieces, as a result of magnetic repulsion, is eliminated, because there are no pegs. There is no race from start to finish. The game misses out on the most delightful and entertaining elements which are levitating game pieces and a race from start to finish.

In another referenced game that is apparently nonpatent, “Magnetic Match Rings”, the player selects one of 40 cards, each with an illustration of a pattern of multi-colored, ring magnets, stacked on a peg. The player simply tries to stack multi-colored ring magnets on the player's peg to try to match the stack illustrated on the card. There is no track with a race to the finish. There is no element of chance. There is no horizontal movement. There is only one player and no competition. The game is not for adults but is for boys and girls, age 3 and up.

Another referenced game that is apparently nonpatent, “Magnetic Ring Board Game”, is very similar to the Magnetic Match Rings game above, except four children can compete in this game. Each child is given an illustration of a pattern of multi-colored, ring magnets, stacked on a peg. Children compete to see who can be the first to duplicate the pattern with their own multi-colored, ring magnets, on their own pegs. There is no track or a race to finish. There is no horizontal movement. There is no interaction of a players' ring magnets with other players' ring magnets. It is not dynamic. The game is not for adults. It is an educational STEM science toy for boys and girls, age 4 to 6, for play and color recognition.

The game of skill and chance, for children and adults, is comprised primarily of a game board, on the planar surface of which is a plurality of contiguous tiles or segments, forming a track, with a peg in each tile. There is a plurality of magnetic game pieces, each with a center hole. Each peg receives magnetic game pieces that slide freely down the pegs. Each player selects a set of a plurality of one color of magnetic game pieces to permit differentiation of players' game pieces from each other.

The object of the game is to be the first player to move all of his magnetic game pieces along the track, tile to tile, and peg to peg, from start to finish.

Each player, in turn, rolls dice, one of three elements of chance, indicating the number of tiles the magnetic game piece is to be moved. If a game piece lands on a peg with another game piece already occupying that peg, the relative magnetic polarities of the two game pieces are unknown in advance, which is a second element of chance. The top game piece will float or levitate above the lower game piece if they are of the same polarity. The top game piece will attract and magnetically capture the lower game piece when the two game pieces have opposing magnetic fields. All captive game pieces belonging to the player with the top, captor game piece count when crossing the finish. Captive game pieces that do not belong to the player with the top captor game piece do not count when crossing the finish.

When a player's magnetic game piece lands on any one of certain marked tiles or pegs, he or she is directed to draw a card from a stack of randomly, shuffled cards, a third element of chance. Cards direct players to make one of a plurality of possible moves that the player must make, including moving forward or backward a number of tiles, or flipping his game piece. If the game piece to be flipped is the captor of another player's magnetic game piece, they flip together which causes the captor to become the captive and the captive to become the captor.

In addition to multiple elements of chance, there is more excitement and interplay among players' magnetic game pieces based on skill and strategy.

The invention has many advantages over prior art. Magnetic game pieces are moved horizontally along the track, as well as vertically, in three dimensions, down pegs. Magnetic game pieces in most other games move either vertically or horizontally, but are rarely moved three-dimensionally. Magnetic game pieces can levitate. Magnetic game pieces can capture a single magnetic game piece or multiple game pieces. These and other features and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following description when taken into consideration with the accompanying drawings.

In the figures, the following components of the preferred embodiment are shown in connection with the corresponding reference numeral identified below:

It is to be noted, however, that the appended figures illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments that will be appreciated by those reasonably skilled in the relevant arts. Also, figures are not necessarily made to scale but are representative.

The board game of skill and chance involves players, each player moving his or her plurality of magnetic game piecesalong a track to compete to be the first player to move all of his magnetic game piecesfrom startto finish. The track is composed of a series of contiguous tiles, with a vertical pegin the center of each tile. There is a hole in the center of each magnetic game pieceenabling it to freely slide down a peg. Each player selects a plurality of magnetic game piecesof one color to differentiate her magnetic game piecesfrom other players' magnetic game pieces.

During the players' magnetic game pieces'movements along the track, there is a plethora of new dimensions of unexpected and exciting interplay among the players' magnetic game pieces, from beginning to end, from startto finish.

Each player, in turn, rolls the dice, one of three elements of chance in the game, indicating the number of tiles that player's magnetic game pieceis to be moved. If a player lands on a pegalready occupied by another magnetic game piece, the relative polarities of the magnetic game pieces are unknown, in advance, a second element of chance. If the polarities of the two magnetic game piecesare the same, the top magnetic game piecewill become a levitating magnetic game piece, suspended in tile above the lower magnetic game piece. If the two magnetic game pieceshave opposing polarities, they will attract and the top magnetic game piecewill become a captor magnetic game piece, capturing the lower one. The drawing shows multiple possible, potential combinations, orientations and relationships among magnetic game pieces, which may stack on a pegor pegs.

One embodiment of the game is illustrated in the perspective view. The game has a thin baseof uniform cross-section, consisting of a piece of material, thick enough to allow for a plurality of holes of a limited depth into which a plurality of pegsare inserted. In one embodiment, the baseis solid PVC, Polyvinyl chloride. In other embodiments, the basemay be made of any of a plurality of materials including, but not limited to wood, metal, acrylic, plastic, cardboard or any other material appropriate to the intended use. In this embodiment, the track is square, but can be rectangular, round, serpentine, or of any shape or design.

When a player's magnetic game piecelands on a designated tile, he or she is directed to draw a card from a stack of randomly, shuffled cards, a third element of chance. Cards direct players to make one of a plurality of possible moves that player must make, including but not limited to, moving forward or backward a number of tiles, or back to start. Some cards direct the player to flip his game piece, changing the orientation of its magnetic fields. When two or more opposing players' magnetic game piecesare attached and the top, captor game pieceis directed to flip, then both magnetic game pieces flip together, the bottom, captive game piece, becomes the top, captor game pieceand the bottom, captive game piecebecomes the captor game piece.

All captive magnetic game piecesbelonging to the player with the top captor magnetic game piececount when reaching the finish. Captive game piecesnot belonging to the player with the top, captor game piecedo not count when reaching the finish. In addition to multiple elements of chance, there is more excitement based on skill and strategy. Before a player rolls the dice, that player must determine and indicate with a marker which one of his game pieceshe or she will move in that turn. A player may decide it is to his advantage not to move his or her captor game piecethat has captured, or is in-control above one or more of another player's or players' game pieces, in order to prevent them from moving toward the finish tile. Before introducing a magnetic game pieceinto play, a player may strategize which orientation of polarities of that magnetic game piecemay be better.

Before play begins, players may agree to change the rules in a variety of ways to shorten or increase the duration of play. Using one die will increase the duration. Using two dice will speed up the game. Using more game pieces per player will increase game time while using fewer game pieces per player will shorten the game time. Also, before play begins, players will roll dice to see who goes first and who has first choice of game piececolors. The second roll and second choice of color goes to the person to his left.

In this embodiment, the game board basehas a plurality of contiguous tilesforming a track from startto finish. This embodiment has a limited number of tilesto better explain the game. The game may have a plurality of many more tilesthan shown in the perspective view. In other embodiments, there are only pegs.

A pegis inserted in the center of each tile. In this embodiment, pegsare made of solid PVC plastic. In other embodiments, the pegsare made of any of a variety of materials, including but not limited to wood, or any non-ferrous material, or clear acrylic plastic which enhances the appearance of levitating magnetic game pieces. Pegsmay also be white in color or of any color. Some pegsthat indicate a card must be drawn, may be of a different color or be marked in a way that distinguishes them from the other pegs. Players may agree where to insert the different colored pegsbefore the game begins

Cards, dice and marker are conventional and therefore are not shown in the perspective of.

The invention has many advantages over prior art. Magnetic game piecesare moved horizontally along a track, as well as vertically, in three dimensions, down pegs. Game piecesin most other games move either vertically or horizontally, but rarely three-dimensionally. Players' magnetic game piecesinteract and interplay with other players' magnetic game piecesand with their own magnetic game piecesin a plurality of ways. One player's magnetic game piecemay levitate above other players' magnetic game pieces. A magnetic game piecemay capture or be captured by other magnetic game pieces. One player's magnetic game piecethat is at the top of a stack of players' magnetic game pieceswill be in control of the other game pieces, preventing them from moving.

Although the method and apparatus is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead might be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the disclosed method and apparatus, whether or not such embodiments are described and whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the claimed invention should not be limited by any of the above-described embodiments.

Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open-ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” should be read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like, the term “example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof, the terms “a” or “an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more,” or the like, and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,” “standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that might be available or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future.

The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instances shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases might be absent. The use of the term “assembly” does not imply that the components or functionality described or claimed as part of the module are all configured in a common package. Indeed, any or all of the various components of a module, whether game control logic or other components, might be combined in a single package or separately maintained and might further be distributed across multiple locations.

Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described in terms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations. As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives might be implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying description should not be construed as mandating a particular architecture or configuration.

All original claims submitted with this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forth herein.