U.S. patent number 3,678,602 [Application Number 05/006,432] was granted by the patent office on 1972-07-25 for vocabulary building game cards and holder.
Invention is credited to Anthony A. Alam.
United States Patent |
3,678,602 |
Alam |
July 25, 1972 |
VOCABULARY BUILDING GAME CARDS AND HOLDER
Abstract
The present invention comprises a vocabulary building card game
wherein two or more sets or decks of cards bear word parts which
have word definitions such as roots and affixed of the same type
respectively are employed. Each card also bears on the reverse side
the definition of its respective root or affix. A dealing rack or
holder is provided to receive the decks of cards in respective
selection positions and is adapted to permit withdrawal of the
cards without previous exposure of the word part displayed thereon.
The holder is marked at the different selection positions to
indicate which particular word part deck is there positioned.
Inventors: |
Alam; Anthony A. (Aliquippa,
PA) |
Family
ID: |
21720854 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/006,432 |
Filed: |
January 28, 1970 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
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754030 |
Aug 20, 1968 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
273/299;
273/148A; 434/167 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F
1/02 (20130101); A63F 1/06 (20130101); A63F
9/0098 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63F
9/00 (20060101); A63F 1/00 (20060101); A63F
1/02 (20060101); A63F 1/06 (20060101); A63f
001/10 () |
Field of
Search: |
;273/1R,148A,152.7
;35/35J,71 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Oechsle; Anton O.
Assistant Examiner: Shapiro; Paul E.
Parent Case Text
CROSS-REFERENCE
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.
754,030, filed Aug. 20, 1968 entitled Vocabulary Game, and now
abandoned.
Claims
I claim:
1. A vocabulary building card game comprising a plurality of card
decks, each of said decks displaying a different morpheme group
indicia such that one of said card decks displays word roots upon
one face of each card contained therein and the remaining of said
card decks respectively display different word affix groups upon
one face of each card contained in the respective group decks, each
of said cards bearing indicia comprising the definition of its
displayed morpheme on the face opposite said one face, a dealing
holder receiving said decks of cards in respective selection
positions with the aforesaid morpheme group and definition indicia
concealed and adapted to permit withdrawal of said cards without
previous exposure of the aforesaid morpheme group and definition
indicia displayed thereon, and further exposed indicia at said
respective selection positions to indicate the morpheme group there
positioned.
2. The vocabulary building card game of claim 1 characterized in
that each of said cards bears thereon a usage example of its
respective prefix, root or suffix.
3. The vocabulary building card game of claim 1 characterized in
that each respective set of cards is a different color.
4. The vocabulary building card game of claim 1 wherein said
dealing holder consists of a box for containment of the card game
having a bottom with upwardly extending side walls and a lid with
downwardly extending side walls to enclose the side walls of said
bottom, and a card cover strip having a pair of parallel end
flanges extending in the same direction for reception between the
side walls of said bottom and said lid.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a card game and more
specifically a vocabulary building game used for educational and
amusement purposes.
The primary object of vocabulary building games is to provide a
game which is enjoyable for the individual to play and thereby
encourages one to increase his vocabulary with efficiency.
However, the vocabulary games in existence at the present time
require the learning of new words merely by memorization of the
word itself. An example of such a game is disclosed in U.S. Pat.
No. 2,265,334. However, it is the principal object of the present
invention to provide a vocabulary building game which requires
memorization only of the smallest word or word part that conveys
meaning or has a word definition and cannot be further divided into
a smaller element such as roots and affixes. By knowing the meaning
of all word parts, one can readily learn and recognize the meanings
of new words by using and recognizing combinations of these words
or word parts.
On the other hand, most all vowels and consonants per se convey no
meaning in and of themselves and therefore are unsuitable for
vocabulary games when used either alone or in combination with
morphemes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The game of the present invention utilizes the principal of
morpheme recognition wherein parts of words used in distinguishing
word meaning are identified. The game requires knowledge of word
roots and affixes such as prefixes, suffixes and infixes. Thus, a
principal object of the present invention is to teach the players
the make up of words and their meanings and how they are to be
applied to other words. By understanding and knowing the definition
of word parts one can readily combine these word parts in different
manners to obtain new words and to recognize the meaning of words
which they would not otherwise be familiar with.
The present invention is a vocabulary building game which generally
comprises a plurality of predetermined sets of word display objects
such as cards or the like. Each set of cards bears either affixes
of the same type or roots, respectively. In other words, each card
set contains one morpheme group wherein the morpheme groups consist
of affixes of the same type such as all prefixes or all suffixes or
all roots. A dealing rack or holder is provided to receive the sets
of display elements in respective selection positions and is
adapted to permit withdrawal of the display elements without
previous exposure of the morpheme group displayed thereon. The
combination of the dealing holder with its received display
elements includes exposed indicia means at the respective selection
positions to indicate the morpheme group there positioned.
Each card may also be provided with the definition of its
respective root or affix and preferably on the reverse side
thereof.
Each card may also be provided with a numeral thereon to indicate
the scoring value of the card with the higher scoring values on
cards bearing infrequently used prefixes, roots, suffixes or
infixes.
The cards may also be provided with a usage example of its
respective affix or root. Such examples enhance player memory
ability.
Another object of the present invention is to provide each separate
deck or set of cards with its own individual color. This permits
the cards to be easily separated into their own decks or sets. It
also provides a means for quick recognition of the type of word
part or morpheme with which the player is dealing with at the
time.
Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following
description and claims.
The drawings show for the purposes of exemplification without
limiting the invention or claims thereto, certain practical
embodiments illustrating the principles of this invention
wherein:
FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating the faces of nine cards, three
cards to each set wherein each set displays a different morpheme
word group.
FIG. 2 is a rear view illustrating the reverse side of the top
cards appearing in each set of FIG. 1, respectively.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the combination of card
decks with a dealing holder in accordance with the teachings of the
present invention.
As previously mentioned, the card game of the present invention
deals only with the smallest word elements which still retain
meaning or have definitions in and of themselves. It can be readily
seen that by learning these morpheme word elements that one will
automatically recognize the meaning of all words which are made up
of a combination of these elements. By understanding the meaning of
each element, one can readily understand and know a word made up of
any combination thereof.
Referring to FIG. 1, the vocabulary building card game of the
present invention is illustrated in one embodiment wherein three
sets of cards A, B, and C, are provided. Each set of cards
represents a different morpheme group and in this instance set A
represents word prefixes and set B represents word roots and set C
represents word suffixes.
FIG. 1 merely illustrates three cards from each different set or
deck whereas under normal playing conditions each deck would
contain many more cards.
It is further obvious that more or less decks or sets of cards may
be employed as desired. For example, the game may be played with
four sets of cards by using word infixes as an additional morpheme
group. It is also obvious upon viewing the present invention that
one may play the game with only two decks or sets of cards which
bear for example only roots and suffixes, respectively, or only
prefixes and roots, respectively.
The rules of play, of course, may vary greatly depending upon the
desires and skills of the particular players involved. As one
example the game may be played in three different phases.
The first phase of the game would concern the use of the root cards
or the B deck only and the second phase of the game would be played
with the root and prefix cards A and B alone and the third phase
would be played with the root, prefix and suffix cards B, A and C,
respectively.
If desired, each deck might contain many hundreds of cards bearing
different word morphemes. Furthermore, some of these word parts
which have meaning or morphemes may be repeated throughout each
individual deck.
As an example of some of the morphemes which might be employed in
the way of prefixes, roots and suffixes, a list is set forth
hereinafter of examples of each of these different word groups
together with their individual word definitions which preferably
appear on the reverse side of the card.
Prefix Definition Root Definition
__________________________________________________________________________
ambi both agri field bi two chrom color contra against derm skin
dec ten ethno race en in facil easy hemi half ge earth hyper over
hem blood multi many jun join omni all legis law pan all mega great
pro forward nomy law se aside ocul eye sug under ped foot terr land
sen old uni one zo animal
__________________________________________________________________________
Suffix Definition
__________________________________________________________________________
an designating, belonging to ant one who acts ard rd does something
excessively ble capable of, worthy of el to make into, to practice
full inclined to ify full of, to make, state of ing conveys idea
itis inflammation of let little or one who acts ous state or
quality phobia fear of some like, same ure act or process, result
of
__________________________________________________________________________
A dealing rack or holder is provided with individual compartments
or selection positions to receive each different set or deck of
cards illustrated in FIG. 3. The holder 4 is adapted to permit the
withdrawal of a card, such as by exposing a corner thereof, without
permitting one to view the indicia displayed on either face of the
card before the same is withdrawn from the compartment.
The combination of the holder 4 with the respectively received card
decks or sets A, B and C is provided with indicia means at the
respective selection positions to indicate the morpheme group there
positioned. Here, the rack or holder 4 is marked with P, R and S to
indicate the respective selection positions of prefixes, roots and
suffixes.
However, this indicia means may also be carried out by providing
each card set with a different color as is illustrated, or by
marking the exposed portions of the cards with a P, R or S,
respectively, instead of the holder itself.
The dealing holder is also unique in that it utilizes the game box
5 itself. Thus holder 4 in reality consists of the box 5, having
lid 6 and bottom 7, and card cover 8. Card cover 8, in this
instance, is manufactured of cardboard and comes originally
packaged in box 5 with the cards and game directions.
When put into use, the cards and cover 8 are removed from box 5 and
box 5 is closed and inverted as shown. The outside downwardly
pending side flanges 9 of cover 8 are inserted in the opening
between lid 6 and bottom 7. Thus, as the cards are removed from
under cover 8, the side flanges 9 are gradually further introduced
into box 5 between lid 6 and bottom 7 to assure that the morpheme
indicia on the cards is always covered and not exposed as the decks
are diminished in size.
It can be noted from FIG. 1 that the cards of each deck are given
the same color and each deck is given a different color from an
adjacent deck. In this instance the root deck B contains green
cards and the prefix group A contains yellow cards and the suffix
group C contains red cards. The color of the cards signifies the
degree of difficulty in playing the game in the progression of
phases as previously mentioned and further identifies the set. In
other words, when root cards alone are used first and alone, it is
somewhat easier for the player to give the definition of the root.
However, when the root cards are combined with the prefix cards and
meaningful combinations must be made of the two or definitions of
both must be given then the game becomes more difficult, the score
naturally increases in correspondence to the difficulty.
Thus, the root cards are colored with green to indicate "go"
(meaning less difficult), the prefix cards are therefore colored
yellow to indicate caution and greater difficulty. When cards from
all three sets or decks of cards are used together to formulate
words made up of morphemes from the prefix, root and suffix decks
together, the game naturally becomes more complex and the suffix
cards are therefore colored red to indicate "stop" meaning that the
difficulty of giving the definition of the completed word or each
morpheme individually has become much more difficult. The
understanding of this color coding will become much more apparent
upon reviewing the example rules set forth hereinafter.
Assuming the game is to be played in three different phases as
mentioned previously, the first phase is started by a player
drawing one card from the root cards or deck B. The player keeps
the card with the face up on the playing surface. The player must
then give orally the meaning of the root which the card bears. The
player may then verify his answer by turning over the card to the
reverse side where the definition is given together with an example
use of the root in a word as is clearly illustrated in FIG. 2.
It may be seen from the drawings that the top card 1 in the B deck
of FIG. 1 contains the root "tend." Assuming that the player
withdraws this card from the deck, he would then give the
definition of this root and verify the same by turning the card 1
over to reveal its reverse side as indicated in FIG. 2. The
definition of the root "tend" is given as "to strech" and an
example of how the root would be employed in a word is given at the
bottom. Here the example given is "pretending" and the morpheme in
question is underlined to emphasize its position in the example.
Likewise the definition of the prefix and suffix is also given on
the back of its respective card together with an example use as
seen by cards 2 and 3 in FIG. 2.
If the player's answer is correct then the player may receive for
example 1 point. If the answer is incorrect then no point is given.
The other players may then repeat the same steps.
To add further excitement to the game and give it more of a flavor
of a game of chance, the decks may be provided with wild cards that
may be used to represent any desired morpheme which the player may
select.
This phase 1 of drawing root cards may be continued as long as
desired or as one might set by the rules whereafter phase 2 may be
started. In phase 2 both a root and prefix card are drawn and the
player must orally give the meanings of each card. If his answer is
correct then he may receive a point for each correct answer.
The game may further be enhanced by providing bonus points to the
player if the prefix and root card may be combined to spell a
word.
The drawing of just roots and prefixes may be continued as long as
the rules might set forth. Then phase 3 may begin where a card is
drawn from the root, prefix and suffix decks, respectively. The
player must then give the meaning of each word element or morpheme
and he may also be given bonus points for combining the cards to
form a word made up of a prefix and root, or root and suffix, or
prefix and suffix.
From the foregoing description of how the game might be played, it
will become apparent to the player that the rules may be greatly
varied and that the card game of the present invention may be
played in many different and varied ways. As further examples as
how the intrigue of the game may be enhanced, one may employ
wagering rules whereby a player might wager points already received
as to whether he will correctly give the definition of the next
cards which he will draw.
As a further example, all the cards withdrawn by each player may be
retained so that at the end of the game the players might be
permitted within time limits to formulate as many words as possible
from the morphemes to obtain extra points.
It should further be apparent that when the term "card" is employed
that this also includes any suitable display element or body such
as blocks or squares of wood or any other suitable material.
In order to facilitate scoring and to have a scoring system which
is in conformity with the difficulty of the word element or
morpheme involved, the cards may be marked with a number
corresponding to the number of points which each player should
receive. In other words, instead of giving say for example 1 point
for each root card alone to which the player orally gives the
definition, each root might have a different number adjacent
thereto to indicate the variance in difficulty of giving the
definition of different roots.
* * * * *