U.S. patent application number 13/195446 was filed with the patent office on 2013-02-07 for strategy board game.
The applicant listed for this patent is Kurt Hildebrand. Invention is credited to Kurt Hildebrand.
Application Number | 20130032999 13/195446 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47626496 |
Filed Date | 2013-02-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130032999 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hildebrand; Kurt |
February 7, 2013 |
STRATEGY BOARD GAME
Abstract
A strategy board game of territorial conquest for two to four
players. Each player commands an army of twenty-four pieces on a
playing board divided into five regions called territories. The
pieces rest on the intersections of lines on the board called
Points. In each territory there exists a special board Point
referred to as a Base. The pieces in the game at all times have a
specific direction that they face on the game board. The facing of
the piece determines its vulnerability to capture by another piece.
In addition to facing, different types of playing pieces are
assigned different attributes such as Movement number, Attack
number and Blocking faces which affect the utility of each piece in
game situations. A notation system allows text play of the game.
Electronic embodiments allow game play on electronic devices.
Inventors: |
Hildebrand; Kurt;
(Wimberely, TX) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Hildebrand; Kurt |
Wimberely |
TX |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
47626496 |
Appl. No.: |
13/195446 |
Filed: |
August 1, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
273/242 ;
273/288 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 2003/00883
20130101; A63F 3/00643 20130101; A63F 3/00075 20130101; A63F 3/02
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
273/242 ;
273/288 |
International
Class: |
A63F 3/02 20060101
A63F003/02; A63F 3/00 20060101 A63F003/00 |
Claims
1. A strategy game comprising: (a) a playing field divided by lines
into a plurality of square sections arranged into a grid with
coordinates, each section having a center and being diagonally
subdivided by diagonal lines that intersect at the center whereby
the intersection of lines defines a point, and further wherein
subsets of adjacent sections are demarked to define a plurality of
territories each territory having a boundary perimeter that
encompasses a base point inside the territory; and (b) a plurality
of sets of playing pieces, each set of pieces having an identifier
to identify the pieces of the set as belonging to a particular
player, the pieces of each set being subdivided into a plurality of
types each piece having defined attributes specific to its type and
each playing piece comprising: (i) a directional indicator to
denote the front face of the piece, (ii) an indicator to denote the
maximum number of points the piece is allowed to move without
attacking an opponent's piece, an indicator to denote the maximum
number of points the piece is allowed to move to attack an
opponent's piece, and (iv) one or more indicators to denote the
directions from which the piece cannot be attacked by an
opponent.
2. The game of claim 1, further comprising a notation system for
recording the moves of a game.
3. The game of claim 2, comprising only the notation system.
4. The game of claim 1, wherein the game is adapted for play with
an electronic device.
5. A game piece for a strategy board game in which the board
comprises a plurality points along which the piece moves, the piece
comprising: (i) a directional indicator to denote the front face of
the piece, (ii) an indicator to denote the maximum number of points
the piece is allowed to move without attacking an opponent's piece,
(iii) an indicator to denote the maximum number of points the piece
is allowed to move to attack an opponent's piece, and (iv) one or
more indicators to denote the directions from which the piece
cannot be attacked by an opponent.
6. A game piece for a strategy board game in which the board
comprises a plurality points along which the piece moves, the piece
having a set of attributes, the attributes of the piece comprising:
(i) a plurality of faces, one of which faces is the front face,
(ii) a Movement number, (iii) an Attack number, and (iv) one or
more or more blocking faces.
7. The game piece of claim 6, wherein the piece comprises a portion
having a distinctive shape such that the shape indicates the
attributes of the piece.
8. The game piece of claim 7, wherein one or more of the attributes
are manifest on the piece.
9. The game piece of claim 8, wherein one or more of the attributes
are manifest by display on the piece.
10. The game piece of claim 9, wherein the attributes of Movement
number and Attack number are displayed on the piece.
11. The game piece of claim 10, wherein the piece is one type of a
plurality of types of pieces, the piece further comprising a
portion that denotes the type and a portion that denotes the
attributes.
12. The game piece of claim of claim 11, wherein the attributes of
the piece are denoted by the portion that denotes the type of the
piece.
13. The game piece of claim 6, wherein the game piece is
virtual.
14. The game piece of claim 13, further comprising machine readable
instructions encoded in a machine that executes the instructions
for display of the piece by the machine.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This disclosure relates generally to board games and more
particularly to a strategy board game and apparatus.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Strategy board games are a popular genre of board games. The
classic strategy board game is chess, but the genre also includes
Checkers and Go, for example.
[0003] An abstract strategy game is a strategy game aiming to
minimize luck without a theme. Some strategy games, however, will
have a theme such as territorial conquest. In the strictest sense
abstract strategy games conform to the definition of a board or
card game in which there is no hidden information, no
non-deterministic elements (such as shuffled cards or dice rolls),
in which (usually) two players or teams take a finite number of
alternating turns. The most enduring of humanity's classic board
games, including Checkers, Chess, Go, and Mancala, fit into this
category.
[0004] Strategic play is sometimes said to resemble a series of
puzzles the players pose to each other. At least one commentator
has noted the relationship between puzzles and abstract strategy
board games in that each board state presents the player with a
puzzle to solve: what is the best move? Every such board
state/puzzle could, theoretically, be solved using only logic.
Accordingly, a strategy game can be thought of as a sequence of
puzzles that can each be solved logically. Game play consists of
each player posing such a puzzle to the other, iteratively. Good
players are the ones who find the most difficult puzzles to present
to their opponents.
[0005] For purists, an abstract strategy game cannot have random
elements or hidden information. In practice, however, many games
that do not strictly meet these criteria are commonly classified as
abstract strategy games. Games such as Continuo, Octiles, Can't
Stop, Sequence, and Mentalis could be considered abstract strategy
games, despite having an element of luck or bluffing. A smaller
category of non-perfect abstract strategy games manages to
incorporate hidden information without using any random elements.
The best known example here is Stratego.
[0006] It is not unusual for an abstract strategy game to have
multiple starting positions. In these types of games, some way to
choose which player goes first, such as flipping a coin, for
example, may be the only element of chance in the game. That is,
the election of which player goes first is determined outside of
the game itself. Nevertheless, most people agree that although one
of them is starting each game from a different position, the game
itself still has no luck element.
SUMMARY
[0007] A board game of the present disclosure is a strategy board
game of territorial conquest. Two to four players each command an
army of twenty-four pieces on a playing board divided into five
regions called territories. The pieces rest on the intersections of
lines on the board called Points. In each territory there exists a
special board Point referred to as a Base. The object of the game
is to prevent the opponent (or opponents) from occupying any of the
special Base Points on the board.
[0008] One of the central strategic elements of the game is the
concept of facing. The pieces in the game at all times have a
specific direction that they face on the game board. The facing of
the piece determines its vulnerability to capture by another
piece.
[0009] In addition to facing, the different types of playing pieces
are assigned different attributes such as Movement number, Attack
number and Blocking faces which affect the utility of each piece in
game situations.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure,
and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following
descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
in which:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary
embodiment of a playing grid for a 2 player game of the present
disclosure.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary
embodiment of a playing grid for a 4 player game of the present
disclosure.
[0013] FIG. 3A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Scout piece of a game of the present
disclosure.
[0014] FIG. 3B is top view schematic illustration of the Scout
piece of FIG. 3A.
[0015] FIG. 4A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Fighter piece of a game of the present
disclosure.
[0016] FIG. 4B is top view schematic illustration of the Fighter
piece of FIG. 4A.
[0017] FIG. 5A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Defender piece of a game of the present
disclosure.
[0018] FIG. 5B is top view schematic illustration of the Defender
piece of FIG. 5A.
[0019] FIG. 6A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Juggernaut piece of a game of the present
disclosure.
[0020] FIG. 6B is top view schematic illustration of the Juggernaut
piece of FIG. 6A.
[0021] FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary
embodiment of a game set up for a 2 person game of the present
disclosure.
[0022] FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary
embodiment of a game set up for a 4 person game of the present
disclosure.
[0023] FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic annotated illustration of game
piece attributes of an exemplary embodiment of a game of the
present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0024] In order to explain the game, the playing grid, the pieces
and the strategic elements of game play, it will be helpful to
define the terminology that will be used herein. These terms will
help one understand the features shown in the drawings.
[0025] Terminology
[0026] Point: Refers to the intersection of four or eight lines on
the game board; upon which a piece may rest.
[0027] Four-point: Refers to the intersection of four diagonal
lines on the game board.
[0028] Eight-point: Refers to the intersection of eight lines (four
horizontal/vertical and four diagonal) on the game board.
[0029] Base: One of five special Points on the game board that is
marked with any special symbol such as a darkened or bold plus (+)
sign formed by the intersecting lines.
[0030] Territory: A defined region on the game board, denoted by
darkened or bold lines, shading, coloration, or some other
means.
[0031] Border-point: Any Point on the board that is part of a line
marking the border between two territories.
[0032] Move: Refers to one legal movement of a piece on the game
board.
[0033] Turn: Refers to one player's total number of moves allowed
before another player is allowed to move. A player may at times
during the game have multiple moves per turn.
[0034] Movement number: Refers to the maximum number of Points that
a given piece may move (without capturing another piece) during a
player's turn.
[0035] Attack number: Refers to the maximum number of Points away
that a given piece may attack and capture another piece during a
player's turn.
[0036] Block/Blocking Direction: Refers to any one of the faces on
a given piece from which direction that piece cannot be captured by
another piece. Markings upon the piece to denote the blocking faces
could be made with any convenient symbol such as stylized armor, a
stylized brick shape, a solid color, or any other designation
intended to aid the memory while playing.
[0037] Not block-able: A special property of a specific piece that
allows that piece to capture other pieces regardless of their
blocking directions.
[0038] Turning now to the drawings and referring initially to FIG.
1, FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary embodiment
of a playing grid for a 2 player game of the present disclosure.
Depending on the specific embodiment of the game, grid 100 may be
depicted on a wood or cardboard playing surface, for example, or on
plastic or cloth surfaces, which are particularly advantageous for
travel versions of the game. Alternatively, grid 100 may be
depicted on an electronic screen, including touch screens, for
electronic embodiments.
[0039] The standard two-player game board is a nine-by-nine grid of
lines 100, with each of the 64 resultant squares bisected by
forty-five degree diagonal lines. The resulting network consists of
145 intersections--called Points--upon which the game pieces may
rest. Preferred embodiments for both the 2 player and 4-player
grids provide alphanumeric coordinates along x-axis 102 and the
y-axis 104 of the grid 100 layout.
[0040] Each territory contains one Base. Pieces may rest on any of
the 145 board Points, including the darkened edges of the board and
the darkened Border-points between territories. Grid 100 is
subdivided by straight lines that intersect at right angles and at
45.degree. degree angles to make Points. Types of Points include
Four-points 130 with 4 lines radiating from them, Eight-points 140
with 8 lines radiating from them, Border-points 150, 152, edge
points 160 and Bases. Five specific points on the game board are
called Bases and marked in this case with a darkened (+). Five
regions called Territories are denoted on the board by darkened
lines. During game play, the player whose turn it is declares which
Territory the piece he or she intends to move is moving from. A
piece on a Border-point 150 may be declared to be in either
Territory of the border.
[0041] A Base is considered to be controlled or owned by a player
when that player has a game piece of his or her color resting
directly on the Base point (in this case marked with a darkened +).
Each player begins the game with the ownership of one Base. A
player must own at least one Base to remain in the game. Any player
that at the start of his or her turn does not own at least one Base
is eliminated from the game. Five Bases 110, 112, 114, 116, 118,
are disposed around the grid. Each Base is in one territory and
each territory 120, 122, 124, 126, 128 has one Base.
[0042] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary
embodiment of a playing grid for a 4 player game of the present
disclosure. The four-player grid 200 is identical in layout to the
two-player grid 100, but is larger in proportion. Instead of based
on a nine-by-nine line grid, the four-player board is based on an
eleven-by-eleven grid. The four-player board contains a total of
221 points but has the same five Bases 210, 212, 214, 216, 218 and
territories 220, 222, 224, 226, 228.
[0043] FIG. 3A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Scout piece of a game of the present
disclosure. Typical of a specific embodiment of a game piece, Scout
piece 300 has a footer 310, upon which is mounted a figurine 320.
To more easily distinguish the types of game pieces, each figurine
has a particular distinctive design.
[0044] FIG. 3B is top view schematic illustration of the Scout
piece of FIG. 3A. Features and attributes of a Scout piece are
displayed on the footer 310. Footer 310, like the footers of the
other pieces, has an octagonal perimeter shape with 8 sides or
"faces." Stylized arrowhead pointer 312 is a directional indicator
which indicates the direction in which the piece is facing. The
face of piece 300 to which the pointer 312 points is sometimes
referred to as the "front" of the piece or "front-facing." As
described herein, in specific embodiments, the attributes of the
types of pieces are manifest on each piece, usually by printed or
electronic display on the footer. Alternative embodiments for
experienced players, for example, dispense with the explicit
manifestation of the piece attributes because the attributes are
implicit in the shape of the figurine.
[0045] Stylized blocking brick 314 indicates the face at which an
attack by an opposing player's piece is blocked. Piece identifier
315 indicates that the piece is a Scout and therefore has the
attributes of a Scout. Among the attributes of a Scout piece is the
Movement number 318, which is the number of points it is allowed to
move and the Attack number 316, which is the number of points it
may move to attack an opponent's piece. In the case of a Scout
piece, a Scout may move a maximum of 4 points and may attack an
opponent's piece that is 1 point away.
[0046] FIG. 4A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Fighter piece of a game of the present
disclosure. Footer 410 of Fighter 400 has affixed on top of it
figurine 420, which has a distinctive shape so that a Fighter piece
can be visually distinguished from the other types of pieces.
[0047] FIG. 4B is top view schematic illustration of the Fighter
piece of FIG. 4A. Directional indicator 412, Piece type indicator
415, and attributes Movement number 418 and Attack number 416 are
displayed on footer 410. Among the other attributes of a Fighter
400 are blocking faces 414A, 414B, and 414C, also displayed.
[0048] FIG. 5A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Defender piece of a game of the present
disclosure. Footer 510 of Defender 500 has affixed on top of it
figurine 420, which has a distinctive shape so that a Defender
piece can be visually distinguished from the other types of
pieces.
[0049] FIG. 5B is top view schematic illustration of the Defender
piece of FIG. 5A. Directional indicator 512, Piece type indicator
515, and attributes Movement number 518 and Attack number 516 are
displayed on footer 510. Among the other attributes of a Fighter
400 are blocking faces 514A, 514B, 514C, 514D, and 514D, also
displayed.
[0050] FIG. 6A is a side view schematic illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a Juggernaut piece of a game of the present
disclosure. Footer 610 of Juggernaut 600 has affixed on top of it
figurine 620, which has a distinctive shape so that a Juggernaut
piece can be visually distinguished from the other types of
pieces.
[0051] FIG. 6B is top view schematic illustration of the Juggernaut
piece of FIG. 6A. Directional indicator 612, piece type indicator
515, and attributes Movement number and Attack number 517 are
displayed on footer 510. The Juggernaut piece has unlimited
movement and unlimited Attack numbers, indicated by the X-X
designation. Among the other attributes of a Juggernaut 600 are
blocking faces 614A, and 614B, also displayed.
[0052] FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary
embodiment of a game set up for a 2 person game of the present
disclosure. Game play involves a set of pieces, referred to herein
as an army, of one player against an army of pieces of one or more
opposing player attempting to eliminate all the Bases of the
opposing player(s). Accordingly, preliminary to beginning game
play, the pieces of each army are arranged on their assigned
starting positions on the grid 100. Each army occupies one
Territory and owns one Base. Player 1's army 710 is arranged in
Territory 120 and controls Base 110. Player 2's army 720 is
arranged in Territory 124 and controls Base 114. The pieces of each
army are distinguished from the pieces of other armies by some
convenient indicia such as color.
[0053] FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic annotated illustration of an
exemplary embodiment of a game set up for a 4 person game of the
present disclosure. The armies for player 1 and player 2 are set
out as described for the two player game (See FIG. 7). Player 3's
army is arranged in Territory 222 and controls Base 212. Player 4's
army is arranged in Territory 226 and controls Base 216. In
preferred embodiments, Territory 228 is left vacant and Base 218 in
Territory 228 is left unoccupied in both the 2 player and 4 player
games.
[0054] FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic annotated illustration of game
piece attributes of an exemplary embodiment of a game of the
present disclosure. A portion of an exemplary embodiment of a game
board of the present disclosure is depicted, with center Base 118
of Territory 228 in the upper left and Base 114 of Territory 224 in
the lower right. Border 910/912 is represented by bold lines. Scout
game pieces 310A, 310B and 310C are deployed about Points on the
board. Fighter piece 410 of an opposing player's army is located on
a Point in Territory 224 facing 412 Scout 310A. A Fighter piece has
the Movement number attribute of 3 and the Attack number attribute
of 3 as well, therefore it can move 3 up to three Points and
capture a piece that is up to 3 Points away (counting the Point the
captured piece is resting on). Scout 310A is safe from Attack by
Fighter 410 because it is more than 3 Points away. Scout 310B,
however, can be captured and removed from the board by Fighter 410,
so that Fighter 410 occupies the Point presently occupied by Scout
310B, because Scout 310B is within 3 Points of Fighter 410.
Although Scout 310C is within 3 Points of Fighter 410, Scout 310C
is safe because its face 312 in line with Fighter 410 is a blocking
face 314.
[0055] It will be understood that the movement and attack
attributes of the types of game pieces are displayed on the footer
of each piece to assist those who are learning the game and to
serve as a convenient reminder to players of the Movement and
Attack numbers of each type of piece. However, as players become
familiar with the attributes of each type of piece, the display
will become less important. Over time, alternative embodiments or
versions of the game in which the pieces do not display the
attributes will appear because, like chess pieces, players will be
so familiar with the attributes that the attributes become second
nature. Specific alternative embodiments provide a printed legend
of the attributes to which a player can refer in cases where the
pieces themselves do not display the attributes. For example,
versions of the game provide a printed legend on the game board and
other versions provide a legend in a printed instruction booklet of
the rules of the game.
[0056] Moving Pieces
[0057] All pieces move in straight lines from one Point to another
Point on the grid. The front facing direction of a piece has no
relation to the allowed directions that piece may move--all pieces
may move in any direction that is not directly blocked by another
piece. All pieces may move up to the allowed maximum Movement
number for that piece type, unless directly blocked by another
piece.
[0058] The moving of pieces changes their facing on the game board.
The facing of a piece is determined by the last direction that the
piece moved. The arrow (e.g., reference number 312 of FIG. 3) on
the game piece (which is to say the front-facing of the game piece)
always faces away from the last Point on which the piece was
resting.
[0059] The Rules of Movement
[0060] 1. Pieces may move any number of Points up to the maximum
for that piece type.
[0061] 2. Pieces must move in a straight line, with no changing
direction mid-move.
[0062] 3. Pieces may not move through, over, or around other pieces
that occupy Points on the line they are traversing.
[0063] 4. A piece may move between two other pieces, so long as
there is a visible line on the board between the starting Point and
the ending Point.
[0064] 5. Pieces may not change facing (rotate in place) without
moving.
[0065] 6. Except for Attack (capturing), pieces may not move to a
Point on the board that is already occupied by another piece.
[0066] Attacking and Capturing Pieces
[0067] Attack is a special type of movement that allows one player
to take another Player's piece off the board, by placing one of his
or her own pieces on the point that the eliminated piece previously
occupied. Attack moves follow all the same rules as Movement moves,
with the exception that one piece may occupy the Point upon which a
different player's piece currently rests.
[0068] The Attack number for the various piece types is different
and usually smaller than the Movement number. This means that a
piece may move a certain number of Points without capturing a
piece, but may only capture a piece by moving within a different
maximum number. In addition, one piece may only capture another
piece if the line on which the first piece will move is not
protected by one of the second piece's blocking directions.
[0069] The Rules of Attack
[0070] 1. Pieces may capture other pieces any number of Points
away, up to the maximum Attack number for that piece type.
[0071] 2. Pieces must Attack in a straight line, with no change of
direction mid-move.
[0072] 3. Pieces may not Attack through, over, or around other
pieces that occupy Points on the line they are traversing.
[0073] 4. A piece may Attack between two other pieces, so long as
there is a visible line on the board between the starting point and
the ending piece.
[0074] 5. Pieces may not attack other pieces which have a blocking
face in the direction of the attacking piece--except Juggernaut
pieces, which ignore all blocking faces when attacking.
[0075] The Operations of a Single Turn
[0076] 1) Player counts his or her Bases to determine how many
moves are allowed this turn.
[0077] 2) Player chooses the first piece to move.
[0078] 3) Player declares which Territory the piece is moving from,
so that all other players may hear.
[0079] 4) The player moves the first piece.
[0080] 5) The player repeats the declaration and movement, without
moving one piece more than once, and without moving more than one
piece per Territory, and without violating any other rules of
Movement or Attack, until all allowed moves have been finished.
[0081] 6) The next player begins at step 1.
[0082] Ending the Game
[0083] Winning
[0084] A player wins the game by being the last player in the game
that owns one or more Bases.
[0085] Losing
[0086] A player loses the game if at the start of his or her turn,
the player owns zero Bases. If the player is unable to make a legal
move for three consecutive turns, that player loses. If a player
moves the same piece between the exact same two Points for three
consecutive turns (while the other player(s) are able to make
different moves), that player loses.
[0087] Drawing
[0088] A draw occurs in the game for the following reasons:
[0089] 1) All players in the game agree to a draw.
[0090] 2) All players in the game repeat the exact same move, with
the exact same piece, between the exact same two Points on the
board, for three consecutive turns.
[0091] 3) No player in the game is able to make a legal move.
[0092] Symbolic Game Notation System
[0093] The following system of symbolic coordinate notation (See
FIG. 1) may be used to record and replay games. The notation system
could also be used to exchange moves in order to play games in real
time with or without any game board or set--for example blindfolded
games where moves are exchanged verbally, games by postal mail with
moves exchanged in writing, games by email, or games played by any
other means of relaying text verbally, electronically, or in
writing. The following example outlines the general coordinate
notation system, symbolic conventions, and examples of usage. The
same system and conventions apply for both 2-player and 4-player
games.
[0094] Notation System Symbols and Conventions
TABLE-US-00001 Symbol Meaning Example S Scout S(a1)-(b2) F Fighter
F(a1)-(b2) D Defender D(a1)-(b2) J Juggernaut J(a1)-(b2) - Move
(Moves) S(a1)-(b2) x Capture (Captures) S(a1)x(b2) (xy) Board
coordinates S(a1)-(b2) [+] Bases now under control. This notation
(the end of a turn is used at the end of a player's turn during
which the in which the number of controlled player occupied a new
Bases changed, or at the very start of Base) a player's turn follow
the loss S(a1)-(c3)[2+] (capture by an opponent) of one or (the
beginning of a more Bases. turn after which an Note the symbol +
means Base not plus. opponent deprived this In other words [2+]
means "two Bases player of a Base) under control" not "two
additional [1+]S(a1)-(b2) Bases". $ Denotes new piece added to the
board S(b2)x(c3)[+2] = and the facing of that new piece. Add $F(b4)
= (c5) one line to the game record for the $S(c1) = (e1) player's
turn, at the end of the turn, $S(a3) = (a5) for each new piece
added to the board. In the example the The facing coordinate is the
most player captured a Base immediate adjacent Point to the new at
(c3), eliminated piece that the piece is facing. another player,
and chose to restore a Fighter to (b4) and Scouts to (c1) and (a3).
The new Fighter faces toward c5, the new Scouts face toward e1 and
a5 respectively. [0+] Simply means the player has been [0+]
eliminated and loses the game. Use this notation as the final
"move" in the column of the losing player.
[0095] Sample Game Record Demonstrating Notation System The
following game record shows 5 turns of an example game between two
players. For four player games, an additional column is added for
each additional player.
TABLE-US-00002 Turn Player 1 Player 2 Explanation 1.
S(o7)-(o15)[2+] F(a11)-(a5) Player 1 moves a scout from o7 to o15.
Player 1 player now controls two bases. Player 2 moves a fighter
from a11 to a5. 2. S(k3)-(e3) S(c11)-(c3) Player 1 moves a scout
from k3 S(o15)-(p16) [2+] to e3 and another scout from [1+] o15 to
p16. Player 1 has (by necessity) moved off a base and so now
controls only one base. Player 2 moves a scout from c11 to c3.
Player 2 player now controls two bases. 3. F(o5)-(i5) F(a5)-(a1)
Player 1 moves a fighter from S(d14)-h(10) o5 to i5. Player 2 moves
a fighter from a5 to a1 and a scout from d14 to h10. 4. F(q7)-(k7)
S(f14)-(i11) Player 1 moves a fighter from F(a1)-(b2) q7 to k7.
Player 2 moves a scout from f14 to i11 and a fighter from a1 to b2.
5. F(m3)-(i3) F(c13)-(c9) Player 1 moves a fighter from S(h10)-(j8)
m3 to i3. Player 2 moves a fighter from c13 to c9 and a scout from
h10 to j8.
[0096] The game is described herein without concern for the medium
in which the components of the game are manifest. Specific
embodiments provide a physical playing grid with tangible playing
pieces. Alternative embodiments are adapted for play with an
electronic device and provide a virtual playing environment wherein
a virtual playing grid and virtual pieces are displayed
electronically on a screen. A user interface may be provided for
game play. Examples of suitable user interfaces for electronic
embodiments include but are not limited to interactive touch
screens, keyboards, computer mice, virtual keyboards, voice
recognition technologies and so forth.
[0097] Accordingly, for adaptation of the game to electronic
embodiments, the present disclosure provides programs stored on
machine readable media to operate computers and electronic devices
according to the principles of the present disclosure to encode the
rules of the game and to display the board and pieces. Machine
readable media include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage
medium (e.g., hard disk drives, floppy disks, tape, etc.), optical
storage (CD-ROMs, optical disks, etc.), and volatile and
non-volatile memory devices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs,
DRAMs, SRAMs, firmware, programmable logic, thumb drives,
downloadable files, etc.). Furthermore, machine readable media
include transmission media (network transmission line, wireless
transmission media, signals propagating through space, radio waves,
infrared signals, etc.) and server memories. Moreover, machine
readable media includes many other types of memory too numerous for
practical listing herein, existing and future types of media
incorporating similar functionally as incorporate in the foregoing
exemplary types of machine readable media, and any combinations
thereof. The programs and applications stored on the machine
readable media in turn include one or more machine executable
instructions which are read by the various devices and executed.
Each of these instructions causes the executing device to perform
the functions coded or otherwise documented in it. Of course, the
programs can take many different forms such as applications, for
certain mobile devices applications that are known colloquially as
"apps," operating systems, Perl scripts, JAVA applets, C programs,
compile-able (or compiled) programs, interpretable (or interpreted)
programs, natural language programs, assembly language programs,
higher order programs, embedded programs, and many other existing
and future forms which provide similar functionality as the
foregoing examples, and any combinations thereof.
[0098] Many modifications and other embodiments of the game,
pieces, and playing apparatus described herein will come to mind to
one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains having the
benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions
and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that
the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific embodiments
disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended
to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although
specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and
descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
* * * * *