Board game with two playing areas

• US 5,131,663 A
• Filed: 04/29/1991
• Issued: 07/21/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: David Klein
• Original Assignee: David Klein
• Inventors: Klein, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Theatrice
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pierce, William M.
• Application Number:
  US07/692,628
• Time in Patent Office: 449 Days
• Field of Search: 273/243, 273/256, 273/261
• US Class Current: 273/256
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00072 played along an endless track, e.g. monopoly A63F3/00069 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00119 Board games concerning music, theatre, cinema, or art
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/0052 with a plurality of boards used during one game, i.e. separate game boards or playing areas
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/001 Games or toys connected to, or combined with, other objects; Objects with a second use as a toy or game

Abstract

The invention concerns a game based on the music business comprising a board means (12) resembling a double album foldable sleeve, consisting of two separately marked game playing areas (15,26) each having a plurality of distinct compartments (15B,27-28), random number selector means (22-24,51), a plurality of distinct counters (50), a plurality of instruction cards (16-20), a form of artificial currency, award indicators (52) and rules consisting essentially of the following:

a) in each of the playing areas the players move from compartment to compartment following the instructions

b) while playing in the first playing area the players go round (normally in a single direction) and accumulate money (from a bank holding the money supply).

c) in the second playing area the players move from a start end to an award end but normally can select in which direction they move on any turn. During this movement the players are obliged to pay money to the Bank but can collect awards.

d) the winner is the first player to collect a preselected number of awards/points or to have collected the most awards when the players decide to finish the game.

e) all players start in the first playing area but can move to the second playing area and back to the first playing area as they decide, probably subject to certain limitations on the position in either playing area from which they can move to the other playing area.

Claims

1. A game for a plurality of players, the game simulating the music business and comprising a board game, random number selector means, a plurality of distinct counters each representing one player during play of a game, a plurality of instruction cards, a plurality of award tokens and rules;

the board defining a playing area defining a plurality of distinct compartments serially linked and representing movement increments of each counter along that area, at least some of the compartments being marked with instructions some of which include an instruction to take an instruction card, the random number selector means having indicia for indicating numbers to dictate the number of increments of movement of the players'"'"' counters along the compartments of the playing area of the board, whereby instructions are attributed to each player in accordance with the compartment upon which movement of the player'"'"'s counter terminates;

each operation of the random number selector means, counter movement, and following of instructions constituting one turn of a player;

the instructions on the compartments and the instruction cards consisting of instructions representing one of a music dealing business occurrence and a music chart occurrence, which instructions result in the players accumulating and spending money and in which the playing area is marked with a plurality of award winning parts, each comprising a plurality of consecutive compartments, the award tokens comprising a plurality of sets of tokens one associated with each such part of the playing area, an award token of a set being won by a player who remains in one of the award winning parts of the playing area for a pre-set plurality of consecutive turns of that player.

2. A game for a plurality of players, the game simulating the music business and comprising a board means, random number selection means, a plurality of award tokens and rules;

the board defining a playing area defining a plurality of distinct compartments serially linked and representing movement increments of each counter along the area, at least some of the compartments being marked with instructions some of which include an instruction to take an instruction card, the random number selection means having indicia for indicating numbers to dictate the number of increments of movement of the players'"'"', whereby instructions are attributed to each player in accordance with the compartment upon which movement of the player'"'"'s counter terminates;

each operation of the random number selection means, counter movement, and following of instructions constituting one turn of a player;

the instructions on the compartments and the instruction cards comprising of instructions representing one of a music dealing business occurrence and a music chart occurrence, which instructions result in the players accumulating and spending money and in which the playing area has the compartments arranged in a spiral and numbered consecutively with one at the center representing the top of a music chart;

the award tokens comprising a plurality of sets of tokens, one associated with each such part of the playing area, an award token of a set being won by a player who remains in one of the award winning parts of the playing area for preset plurality of consecutive turns of that player.

3. A game for a plurality of players, the game simulating the music business and comprising a board means, random number selector means, a plurality of distinct counters each representing one player during play of the game, a plurality of instruction cards, a plurality of award tokens and rules;

the board defining a playing area defining a plurality of distinct compartments serially linked and representing movement increments of each counter along that area, at least some of the compartments being marked with instructions some of which include an instruction to take an instruction card, the random number selector means having indicia for indicating numbers to dictate the number of increments of movement of the players'"'"' counters along the compartments of the playing area of the board, whereby instructions are attributed to each player in accordance with the compartment upon which movement of the players'"'"' counter terminates;

each operation of the random number selector means, counter movement, and following of instructions constituting one turn of a player;

the instructions on the compartments and the instruction cards consisting of instructions representing one of a music dealing business occurrence and a music chart occurrence, which instructions result in the players accumulating and spending money;

the award tokens comprising a plurality of sets of tokens, one associated with each such part of the playing area, an award token of a set being won by a player who remains in one of the award winning parts of the playing area for a preset plurality of consecutive turns of that player.

4. A game for a plurality of players based on the music business comprising a board means, random number selector means, a plurality of distinct counters, a plurality of instruction cards, a form of money, and rules, the board having two halves which fold together or open out for play, a first of the halves being marked with a first playing area divided into compartments and cards associated with the first playing area including instructions relating to promotional music business deals a majority of which result in the players acquiring money, a second of the halves being marked with a second playing area divided into compartments and having associated instruction cards, the compartments and cards associated with the second playing area relating to a music chart and including instructions a majority of which result in the players spending money and acquiring awards, the second playing area being marked with a plurality of winning parts each including a plurality of compartments and the players acquiring awards by staying in an award winning part for a preselected plurality of consecutive turns, the award tokens comprising a plurality of sets of tokens, one associated with each such part of the playing area, an award token of a set being won by a player who remains in one of the award winning parts of the playing area for a reset plurality of consecutive turns of that player.

5. A game for a plurality of players, the game simulating the music business and comprising a board means, random number selector means, a plurality of distinct counters each representing one player during play of a game, a plurality of instruction cards, a plurality of award tokens and rules;

the board defining first and second separate playing areas, each defining a plurality of distinct compartments serially linked and representing movement increments of each counter along that area, at least some of the compartments of each area being marked with instructions some of which include an instruction to take an instruction card, the players being able to choose in which area their counter will move at different times during play of the game;

the random number selector means having indicia for indicating numbers to dictate the number of increments of movement of the players'"'"' counters along the compartments of the areas of the board, whereby instructions are attributed to each player in accordance with the compartment upon which movement of the player'"'"'s counter terminates;

each operation of the random number selector means, counter movement, and following of instructions constituting one turn of a player;

the plurality of instructions cards including a first set of instruction cards associated with the first playing area and a set of instruction cards associated with the second playing area, the instructions on the compartments of the first playing area and the first set of instruction cards consisting of instructions representing music dealing business occurrences, a majority of which instructions result in the player accumulating money;

the instructions on the compartments of the second playing area and the second set of instruction cards consisting of instructions representing occurrences associated with a music chart, a majority of which instructions result in the player spending money while acquiring award tokens; and

the second playing area being marked with a plurality of separate award winning parts, each such part comprising a plurality of consecutive compartments, the award tokens comprising a plurality of sets of tokens one associated with each such part of the second playing area, an award token of a set being won by a player who remains in an award winning part for a pre-set plurality of consecutive turns of that player.

6. A game according to claim 5, in which the music dealing business occurrences represent different deals and activities in the music business at least some of which are selected from promotional deals, publishing deals, recording deals and merchandising deals.

7. A game according to claim 6, in which the second playing area represents a music chart with players moving up the chart from a start compartment to an end award winning compartment which represents the top of the chart.

8. A game according to claim 6, one of said parts of the second playing area adjacent an end compartment is designated a platinum disc area and comprises from seven to nine compartments;

a further one of the parts of the second playing area next to the platinum disc area and designated a gold disc area comprises from 14 to 18 consecutive compartments and a third one of the parts of the second playing area next to the gold disc area and designated a silver disc area comprises from 20 to 28 consecutive compartments and award tokens of different instructions back to the first playing area.

9. A game according to claim 6, in which the board, having first and second separate playing areas is constructed so that the playing areas coincide with two values are won by a counter staying in the platinum disc area for a predetermined plurality (preferable four) of consecutive players turns, staying in the gold disc area for a predetermined plurality of consecutive player turns or staying in the silver disc area for a predetermined plurality of consecutive player turns.

10. A game according to claim 6 which includes further tokens marked with a numeral indicating the number of positions which can be moved when the token is played which can be collected by the players as they move round one or both playing areas, these further tokens including some which allow the players to select or change the number of increments to be moved at a turn instead of using the random number selector means.

11. A game according to claim 5, in which the second playing area represents a music chart with players moving up the chart from a start compartment to an end award winning compartment which represents the top of the chart.

12. A game according to claim 5 in which the award winning parts each comprise at least seven consecutive compartments and in which at least one other of the compartments is marked as an award winning compartment whereby a player whose counter terminates its movement in an award winning compartment receives an award token.

13. A game according to claim 12, in which the second playing area represents a music chart with players moving up the chart from a start compartment to an end award winning compartment which represents the top of the chart.

14. A game according to claim 12 in which one of said parts of the second playing area adjacent an end compartment is designated a platinum disc area and comprises from seven to nine compartments;

a further one of the parts of the second playing area next to the platinum disc area and designated a gold disc area comprises from 14 to 18 consecutive compartments and a third one of the parts of the second playing area next to the gold disc area and designated a silver disc area comprises from 20 to 28 consecutive compartments and award tokens of different values are won by a counter staying in the platinum disc area for a predetermined plurality (preferably four) of consecutive player turns, staying in the gold disc area for a predetermined plurality of consecutive player turns or staying in the silver disc area for a predetermined plurality of consecutive player turns.

15. A game according to claim 12, which includes tokens marked with an indication which will enable a player to block a player'"'"'s move when that token is played.

16. A game according to claim 12, which includes further tokens marked with a numeral indicating the number of positions which can be moved when the token is played which can be collected by the players as they move around one or both playing areas, these further tokens including some which allow the players to select of change the number of increments to be moved at a turn instead of using the random number selector means.

17. A game according to claim 12, in which the board, having first and second separate playing areas is constructed so that the playing areas coincide with two halves of the board whereby the two halves are connected by a fold line with the two playing areas on the two halves respectively, which halves fold together but can be opened out for play.

18. A game according to claim 17, in which each playing area of the board is of square shape similar in size to a record album approximately 30.5 cm in dimension.

19. A game according to claim 5, in which one of said parts of the second playing area adjacent an end compartment is designated a platinum disc area and comprises from seven to nine compartments;

a further one of the parts of the second playing area next to the platinum disc area and designated a gold disc are comprises from 14 to 18 consecutive compartments and a third one of the parts of the second playing area next to the gold disc area and designated a silver disc area comprises from 20 to 28 consecutive compartments and award tokens of different values are won by a counter staying in the platinum disc area for a predetermined plurality of consecutive players turns, staying in the gold disc area for a predetermined plurality of consecutive player turns or staying in the silver disc area for a predetermined plurality of consecutive player turns.

20. A game according to claim 5, which includes tokens marked with an indication which will enable a player to block a player'"'"'s move when that token is played.

21. A game according to claim 5, which includes further tokens marked with a numeral indicating the number of positions which can be moved when the token is played which can be collected by the players as they move around one or both playing areas, these further tokens including some which allow the players to select or change the number of increments to be moved at a turn instead of using the random number selector means.

22. A game according to claim 5, in which the board, having first and second separate playing areas is constructed so that the playing areas coincide with two halves of the board whereby the two halves are connected by a fold line with the two playing areas on the two halves respectively, which halves fold together but can be opened out for play.

23. A game according to claim 22, in which each playing area of the board is of square shape similar in size to a record album approximately 30.5 cm in dimension.