Variably Scored Skill Game

The present invention is directed to a game, particularly a game of skill. While the game is applicable to use as a contest between two or more players, it is most advantageously employed as a promotional game in the field of consumer sales.

Contest games have often been used in the retail sales area, and in a variety of ways. Games are used, for example, in the fast food industry as an inducement to perspective customers to patronize a particular establishment or chain of establishments. In such a use, the prizes awarded are generally the products purveyed by the particular establishment, as well as, or in addition to, cash, trips, or other merchandise.

One application of the invention is for promotional purposes. The most important aspect of a promotional game is control of the prize winner. The promoter must be guaranteed that there will be only one ultimate winner. In the prior art, the primary method of assuring that there would be a single ultimate winner was to incorporate chance. Thus, in the prior art, a manufacturer would produce a limited number of winning pieces and a much larger number of losing pieces.

Games have frequently been used in the promotion of consumer products, either to increase the sales of a particular brand because of the inducement provided by the prizes available through successful completion of the game, or as a means to introduce a new product. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,532 to Kamille describes a game with a playing surface having two fields of play. The first field of play provides a plurality of multiple choice questions, each of the choices being identified by a symbol. The second field of play combines the symbols identified in the first field of play to provide an answer to a question or inquiry there.

An object of the invention is to provide a multiplayer skill game in which the player is faced with a choice as to where the game ends, wherein winning is dependent on a player's skill, and the score is dependent on the player's confidence level.

Another object is incorporating a scoring system by which the prize winners of a promotional game can be limited.

The invention includes:

A game with a playing surface having one or more playing fields. One of the playing fields has a player response area. For each playing surface, there exists a designated elicited response. One or more clues are printed on the playing surface, and the clues are each related to the elicited response in some way.

The inventive method includes:

A method of playing a game including reading a clue on a playing surface and marking a response that is analytically determined to parallel an elicited response.

An alternative embodiment includes:

A skill game with multiple playing surfaces, each having one or more fields of play, a player response area, one or more clues, an elicited response, and a scoring system.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a representation of a playing surface or card at the beginning of play;

FIG. 2 is a representation of a playing surface or card of FIG. 1 wherein a clue is revealed; and

FIG. 3 is a representation of a playing surface or card of FIG. 1 wherein two clues have been revealed;

FIG. 4 is a representation of a playing surface or card of FIG. 1 wherein three clues have been revealed;

FIG. 5 is a representation of a playing surface or card of FIG. 1 wherein four clues have been revealed;

FIG. 6 is a representation of a playing surface or card of FIG. 1 wherein four clues have been revealed and an answer has been marked by a player in the response area;

FIG. 7 is a representation of a second embodiment of a playing surface or a card wherein a category is denominated with three clues; and

FIG. 8 shows a representation of a playing surface or card as in FIG. 7 where the category and all three clues are revealed and an answer is written in the response area by a player.

FIGS. 9-12 show an alternate embodiment of a playing surface disclosing five inquiries with individual player response areas with difference inquiries revealed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views and more particularly in FIG. 1, a playing surface or card 12 is provided with a single field of play including a player response area 13 with a number of letter spaces 6 which corresponds exactly to a the number of letters required to spell an elicited response. The card also has printed on its face four clues 1-4 to that elicited response; each clue is covered with a removable concealing material.

The game as illustrated in FIGS. 1-6 is a game of skill with an element of discretionary risk, but without a factor of chance or predetermination. A player takes up a game piece as shown in FIG. 1 and immediately is given an indication of the elicited response. The correct response will contain the same number of letters as the number of spaces 6 provided in the player response area 13. In FIG. 2 a clue has been revealed by removing the concealing material to provide the player with both a word prompt 7 and a letter prompt 8. Therefore, the player might mark an answer into the player response area 13 knowing that; the elicited response has some relation to the word prompt 7 and contains the letter prompt 8 somewhere amongst its letters. Alternatively, the player may reveal another clue. The player is faced with a choice of entering a response based on the information already presented by the first clue 4 or, the player may reveal a second clue as shown in FIG. 3, however, each clue that is revealed reduces the point value of this card so it is to the player's advantage to make a determination as soon in the game process as possible. FIG. 3 shows a game card 12 wherein two clues have been revealed, again a player must make a decision whether to enter a response or reduce the point value of the card and reveal further clues as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Finally, in FIG. 6 the player enters a response 9 which the player hopes will parallel the elicited response based on the relation of the word prompts 7 and letter prompts 8 and the space prompt 6. In an alternate embodiment, the number of clues can be extended to match the number of letters in the response so that at some point the entire response is revealed with the game piece still maintaining some point value. Again, referring to FIG. 1 as a player collects more and more game pieces he may choose to guess at a response based on the number of spaces 6 provided, thus not requiring a first clue 4 to be revealed.

FIG. 7 shows an alternate embodiment, including a free letter 11 either instead of the space prompt 6. In another alternate embodiment, both a free letter and space prompt could be used. FIG. 7 also provides a printed category 10 to help the player to focus on a particular subject area. FIG. 8 shows clues 1-3 revealed and a response 9 written in by a player.

The word prompts 7 can be either descriptive words, synonyms, neumonics that trigger an association or counter-association to a player or predetermination of a winner by random selection or, as show in FIG. 8 above, the clues can make up a sentence to described an elicited response.

Another alternative embodiment is shown in FIGS. 9-12 wherein a category designation 10 is covered by a removable concealing material, and the clues 1-5 are individual inquiries each with a player response area 6. In this embodiment of the game, the player can reveal and answer the inquiries sequentially or randomly. This embodiment is scored based on the number of correct answers. As in the above embodiments, there is no score if any response is incorrect.

Another alternative embodiment includes a scoring system which incorporates the suits, face characters and numbers of an ordinary card deck.

Another alternative embodiment includes a scoring system which allows the player to collect a set such as the fifty states wherein each of the questions represents a state and up to five states are available on each card.

This invention has successfully eliminated chance, while maintaining a factor of self-determination that puts the fate of the player under his own control as opposed to being subject to a random event. This ability to effectively wager on one's skill without being subject to chance is a great advance over the prior art. The scoring system includes the provision that only correct responses receive any score and the score for each game piece is dependent on the number of clues that have been revealed in whole or in part. An ultimate winner is assured by providing that the largest point total wins. Ties can be broken or the prize divided. Alternate embodiments could include picture clues in addition to or in place of word prompts and letter prompts.

In game surfaces the present invention are to be employed in a promotional type of game, and obviously, they will be single use type of playing surfaces; i.e., the playing surfaces submitted to some agency who collects and tabulates the scores. On the other hand, if the playing surface or cards are to be used in a contestant-type of game, it may be desirable to form the cards of washable type surface, so that, once the answers and scores are tabulated, the answers can be wiped off of a card and the card reused. Obviously, whichever type of game the playing surfaces or cards are employed in, there will be a plurality of such cards, each containing different questions and clues and the degree of difficulty can be varied.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the intended claims the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described.