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[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/233,016 filed Sep. 19, 2000.
[0002] 1.Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a board game, and in particular an board game to played by individuals to test their potential romantic, emotional, sexual, mental and/or physical compatibility with each other under an entertaining and enjoyable set of rules.
[0004] 2. Background of the Invention
[0005] There are well known board games covering a wide variety of topics. Many test players knowledge of trivia. Many simulate various sports activities. Many allow players to accumulate mock wealth and/or power. However, applicant is unaware of any board games that investigate the respective players'potential romantic, emotional, sexual, mental and/or physical compatibility with each other under an entertaining and enjoyable set of rules.
[0006] It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide an enjoyable and entertaining board game.
[0007] It is another aspect of the present invention to determine the romantic, emotional, sexual, mental and/or physical compatibility of the respective players for each other.
[0008] These and other advantages are provided by the present invention which in preferred embodiments relates to a board game where, through a series of questions, players reveal various character traits to others, and learn various character traits of others, with the potential for finding compatibility between two or more of the players. The questions asked of a particular player are determined by the location of the player's game piece on a board including a plurality of sequential spaces. The spaces include some visual aspect to designate the space as belonging to one or more categories. A random number is obtained by a random number generator, such as a dice, and the player's piece is moved the number of spaces indicated by the generator. The player is then asked one or more questions or asked to perform an act, depending on the space on which the player's piece lands.
[0009] The present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which:
[0010]
[0011] The present invention will now be described with reference to
[0012] The general philosophy behind the game, Compatibility, is to create situations in which each player must reveal their characters in relation to concepts of sexuality, romance, emotions, and the mental, psychological and physical attributes those concepts imply so that the players might develop an understanding of the possibility and extent of compatibility that each of them has with every other player. The game is based on the idea of compatibility, as the title might suggest, so the goal of the game is to reveal the potential compatibility of each player to the other players. Resulting from each activity that a player must perform, this potential will reveal itself.
[0013] In addition to a vast array of related activities, the activities of the category cards demand that the players tell intimate stories about themselves, make physical gestures towards other players, play out dramatic events which might reveal a player's character, or pick from an array of choices that might reveal to the other players whether or not that particular player is compatible with them. They also may be asked to answer specific questions that further reveal their character in relation to issues dealing with but not restricted to romance, sex, love, and friendship.
[0014] The strategical goal of the game is two fold. The first of these goals is to advance in a consecutive fashion along on the game board the number of spaces it takes to get to the finish of the game. The finish of the game might be indicated by a theoretical end of a line, or final space on the game board when the first person to reach that final point arrives at that point. The second goal of this game is to acquire, through the successful completion of the activities demanded by some of the category cards, “compatibility cards.” The “compatibility cards” are cards made of some material in some shape, and of some size. For example the “compatibility cards could be made of thick paper in the shape of hearts, colored red, about two square inches in size. These “compatibility cards” indicate that two players have successfully completed an activity together and are therefore considered compatible.
[0015] When the game is over, the “compatibility cards” are counted and while there are no distinct winners or losers, the number of compatibility cards that one player acquires with another player may indicate that they are compatible.
[0016] The operation of the game called Compatibility
[0017] This game can be played with any number of players more than two. It is recommended for six or more players.
[0018] The following is the order and operation the game will take:
[0019] 1-Each player at the game will pick a game piece (see contents) that they would like to represent them during the duration of the game which will be used to transverse the board game from space to space from start to finish.
[0020] 2-Each player at the game interacts with a random number generator, whose numbers range from one to six, a dice perhaps. Each player interacts in the same way in order to decide who will begin the game. The person with the highest number will start and the other players will follow him in order determined by their clockwise position in relation to the first player who plays the game.
[0021] 3-The player who starts we shall call Player one. He or she will start the game by interacting once again with the number generating object, such as a dice, which will reveal a number between one and six. When that player generates a number, that person moves his or her game piece the number of spaces generated by the numerical value of the dice. Player one will land on a spaces which will have on that space a word which will indicate which category card player one should pick and read.
[0022] 4- Player one will then perform the activity that the corresponding category card asks of him or her. In the space will be written a word or phrase or sentence that will indicate to them to perform a certain activity. The space itself may indicate to perform a certain activity without picking a category card, or it may indicate to player one to pick a category card. When this happens, the player must pick the category card indicated on the space and perform the activity asked of player one. Player one may wish not to perform the activity asked by the category card. If this happens, player one will receive a strike card, a card, for example, which will indicate that player one did not perform the activity asked by the category card. During the duration of the game, any player receiving three strikes is out of the game.
[0023] 4
[0024] 4
[0025] 5-After the successful completion of the activity requested by the category card, the next player takes his or her turn in the same fashion as the first player and so on with each player after that. The game may end when one or more players are out of the game (after accumulating three strikes), or when one or more player's pieces reach the end of the sequential spaces.
[0026] The layout of the game board
[0027] The layout of the game will be in the form of a board
[0028] As shown in
[0029] At the center of the game board, at the center of the spiral is a spinner
[0030] Category cards
[0031] The category cards can be placed on the board in some designated space, other than the 20 to 32 spaces that the players cross on their way to the finishing space or end space of the game. It is understood that the number of spaces may vary outside of the 20 to 32 to space range in alternative embodiments.
[0032] During the game, there will be instances when a player deserves certain consequences for their responses to certain tasks or as a randomly assigned consequence of the results of the turn that they have with the game. One such consequence will result in the player having to miss a turn. When this happens, such a player is said to be “in the doghouse”(see contents). When a player has to be in the doghouse for some reason, then a separate and sturdy image of a doghouse is placed over their game piece on the board, indicating to the rest of the players that that player is in the doghouse and as a result must miss his or her next turn.
[0033] The Category Cards
[0034] The fundamental activities of the game take place when a player lands on a space, picks a category card and performs the activity requested by the card. There are a number of categories in which a player will be asked to perform certain tasks. Each of these categories differs from each other in the type of tasks asked to be performed, though each of these categories have as their unifying concept the following, but not limited to the following goal of breaking down sexual, social, and emotional borders that might exist between people who are not keen on opening up their minds and hearts and bodies to the idea of revealing intimate details about themselves, their emotive character or the borders that identify their bodies.
[0035] In the appendices A through J, there are examples of some of the kinds of tasks or questions that are asked of the players. These appendices are a sampling and are not thoroughly indicative of the kinds of questions or tasks that the ideal version of this game might include.
[0036] Category A, examples of which can be found in appendix A, has as its basic precept the idea of revealing facts, perhaps secrets, which are related to the past experiences of each player. In general, and not obligatory, the goal of category A is to make each player reveal an intimate secret about their pasts which would generally but not specifically reveal to other players facts about a player's sexual, emotional, and intimately physical character. In so doing, each player learns about the other players. In so doing a particular player might find reason to favor one player over another, or simply learn to like the person telling the story about their past experiences with topics including but limited to sex, love, family, friends, and any other entity that might be relevant to the story a player tells when they pick this category A card.
[0037] When a player, let us call her player ONE, picks this card, as indicated by the corresponding word on the space of the board game, player ONE must read the task out loud, answer the question asked out loud, then in a designatable short period of time, of perhaps at least fifteen seconds in some versions of the game, player ONE must answer the question explicitly stated and some questions perhaps implicitly stated by the card to the other players. In most versions of this game, there will be a timed period of time which will begin the story that player ONE tells and which will also end the story that player ONE tells.
[0038] After player ONE answers the question in the allotted time period. embellishing his or her story perhaps, player ONE spins the spinner which in the ideal version of the game is centered in the middle of the board game, to randomly choose another player, who we will call in this circumstance, player TWO, who will then decide, based in the player ONE'S response to the question asked by the category card A, the number of spaces that player one will either advance or retreat. If player TWO thinks, for example, that player one's response was unpleasurable or somehow offensive or reprehensible, player TWO will tell the player one to retreat two spaces, that being the maximum amount of spaces that player TWO agrees or finds pleasurable player ONE'S response to the question demanded of him or her, player TWO will tell player ONE to move ahead two spaces, that being the maximum amount of spaces that player TWO can ask player ONE to advance in the ideal version of the game. Player TWO, however can choose to move player ONE, two back, one back, none back or ahead, one ahead or two ahead, these choices acting as the range of the amount of spaces that player TWO can ask of player ONE in the ideal version of the game.
[0039] Player ONE may choose not to answer the question being asked by the category A card. Player ONE has the opportunity to do so but not without consequences. In the ideal version of this game, player ONE would receive, if he or she decides not to answer the question written on the category A card, a strike card (see contents). A strike card is a card that indicates that a player did not want to fulfill the requirements asked of him or her by a category card, the strike card could be a white card with a black X on it, or it could be of some other design as long as its language indicates to the other players of the game, and most importantly, player ONE, that he or she declined to perform the activity requested, as in this case, by category A. Any player of the game who receives three strike cards may no longer play in the game and are effectively eliminated from participating in the game. In other words, three strikes and you are out.
[0040] By doing this, player TWO judges player ONE and the whole task and whole turn reveals not only an intimate secret about a player, but also what other player thinks of that intimate secret. In this category A, players are judged by their peers for the deeds they have done in the past. In this category A, players might therefore suggest ways in which they would act in certain situations in the present or future when dealing with certain issues which while focusing on sex, love, romance, friendships, family and similar topics, is also not necessarily limited to those topics, for the issues raised in this category A are always related to the infinite amount and infinite variety of the kinds of issues each player has had to discuss in his or her story of his or her past. In this category A, no players receive compatibility cards, but only advance or retreat on the board according to the judgment of another randomly chosen player.
[0041] Category B, shown in Appendix B, is a category designed to make players choose between two concepts thereby revealing to the other players the kind of person he or she is by the quick choices he or she makes. Category B is designed to match those choices with another randomly chosen player in the hopes of unveiling the similarities and differences between tow players. When a player, let us call this player X, lands on a category B space on the board, he or she spins the spinner to choose a different randomly chosen partner, who we will call player Y to perform the activity of category B with player X. Then another player, a third player, not player X nor player Y, but a player who we will call payer Z, reads the sets of either/or concepts. Either/Or concepts are two words or phrases which when read aloud ask the players X and Y to choose one or the other. See appendix B for examples which might be used in the ideal version of the game. The concepts in the ideal version of the game that these phrases or words might invoke are: social, physical, sexual, aesthetic, emotive, political, libidinal, media related or spiritual. The concepts of this game would not be limited to these particular concepts but are most likely to invoke said concepts.
[0042] When the reader, player Z, reads the first set, the reader counts to some number say 3 in the ideal version of the game, and on three, both player X and player y say one of the two concepts the reader, player Z, read. Player Z does this a certain number of times, depending on how many either/or concepts are listed on the card. For example, player Z may read the terms, “RED OR BLACK.” When player Z does this, and then counts to three, both player X and player Y answer at the same time which concept they prefer. If both player X do not get a compatibility card.
[0043] Out of the number of sets of either/or concepts listed on the category B card, if players X and player Y get one or no matches, they do not get any compatibility cards and instead they go to the doghouse (see contents). The both of then are put in the doghouse, which means that some smallish structure big enough to completely cover or envelope the game pieces which represent players X and Y, and small enough to fit on the spaces in which the game pieces of payer X and player Y sit are put on top of their game pieces, indicating that thy have been punished and that they therefore in the ideal version of the game, forfeit their next turn.
[0044] But if the players get two or more matches in the either/or concept choices of category B, then they get compatibility cards for each correct match. If player X and player Y get three matches out of the four listed either/or choices of category B card, then player X and player Y get three compatibility cards. A compatibility card in general is a card which will have on it written the names of two players who have successfully completed a task together. In this instance, three compatibility cards will be written with the names of the players X and Y. These cards are then put into a vessel, s box got example, which will hold all of the compatibility cards, unseen by all the players. (see contents)
[0045] Category C, shown in Appendix C, is designed to loosen up and break down any borders that might exist between players. It is designed to put players in some degree of a compromising situation where their character is revealed in relation to various ideas including some of the following: the emotive, sexual, physical, mental, spiritual and social quality of the contact they have with another player.
[0046] Category C is designed to put a player, let us call him player M, who lands on the space which indicates to player M to pick the corresponding category C card, in a situation where they must perform a task that involves another player let us call her player T. For example, when player M picks a category C card, player M follows the instructions on the card, which will either require player M to read the task aloud, or to read it silently to his of herself. Then player M performs whatever the task requires on the card. Sometimes if the player declines to perform the task, he or she will get a previously mentioned strike card. A category C card might ask player M to read the card to him or herself, then spin the spinner and say something to that randomly chosen person or player M may be required to touch another person in an awkward and physical manner. For a general gist of the types of activities that category C might entail see appendix C,
[0047] The performance of this categorical activity does not earn any player involved a compatibility card, but it may or may not advance or back up a player on the game board. For the most part, category C simply requires players to perform activities that ar fun and revealing and may cause embarrassment. Implied is the overcoming of certain boundaries that people have regarding issues of sex. love and romance and the successful completion of this category C will aid in advancing the understanding that different genders have about intimate issues. it will help people understand how a particular player feels about specific issues that arise in the emotional, romantic and sexual arena.
[0048] Category D, shown in Appendix D, is an activity designed to reveal what a particular person, let us call him player
[0049] The category D is designed to reveal what one gender thinks about the other gender. It is designed to reveal what a person might do in a given situation and it gibes the other players ideas as to what kind of person player one might be. This category is designed to give players a chance to decide for themselves in a quantifiable manner the outcome of a compatibility pairing because they choose for themselves based on player
[0050] When player
[0051] Sometimes the card will ask player
[0052] After player
[0053] This category has the potential to yield a compatibility card; it can yield as many cards as there are players voting for whether or not they think player
[0054] Category E, shown in Appendix E, is an activity which also yields a compatibility card. Category E asks players to answer specific questions that take issue with among a large variety of issues, their everyday likes and dislikes, their demographic details, their financial inclinations, their aesthetic inclinations or tastes, for example. Category E requires a player, let us call her player
[0055] She then must spin the spinner to pick a randomly chosen person of the compatible sex. When the randomly chosen partner is picked, let us call this person player
[0056] In this category, the questions are designed to ask two questions along the general formula but not contentially limited to the following:
[0057] A-On a scale of one to four how serious are you?(1 is funny, 4 is serious)
[0058] B-On a scale of one to four how serious would you want your partner to be?
[0059] (1 is funny, 4 is serious)
[0060] The responses will match if the player
[0061] When there is a match, both player's get an aforementioned compatibility card between the two of them.
[0062] Category F, shown in Appendix F, is a category designed to establish the manner in which a person might try to meet another person with the hopes of making sexual, emotional or romantic advances. It is designed to reveal the manner in which a person might incorporate certain mental strategies in the attempt at meeting another person. The activity demanded by the player who picks this card, after having landed in the space on the board game that indicates that he or she should pick the card, requires the player, let us call her player
[0063] In this category, the task of the card might be to think of a way to ask a certain person out on a date, or to think of a way to convince player
[0064] Category G, shown in Appendix G, is designed to reveal a player's sense of creativity and identity by asking specific questions that require them to personify their mental, social ,emotional, sexual and romantic traits. This category is designed to bridge the gap between players by giving each player the opportunity to guess how each player of the compatible sex answers the question of the category G card. Category G is designed to test the knowledge or intuition of each player by giving then the opportunity to make a guess about what another player would say, or about how another player might answer the question posed on the category G card. For samples of the kinds of questions that this category implies see appendix G.
[0065] When a player lands on this space which indicates that a category G card should be picked, the player picks it up and reads it aloud. The question on the card is for everyone at the game to answer. All players must answer this question by writing his or her response down on a small piece of paper. The responses are then put into piles, one for men, and one for women. While the order is not pertinent, let us say that one man reads the responses of the men. A woman should not read the male responses, because it is her job to guess who said what. (In a heterosexual game, which while probable, is not definitively the only version of the game) The women at the game would them guess which man said what. Likewise, the female pile is read by a woman and the men have to guess which women said what. If one man and one woman guessed each other correctly, then they get, between the two of them. a compatibility card.
[0066] Category H, shown in Appendix H, includes, on a single card, questions/activities from
[0067] Category I, shown in Appendix I, is designed to introduce a degree of randomness to the game. As in life and relationships that exhibit the strange and awkward phases that seem to have no rhyme or reason, Category I is designed with that degree of randomness in mind. The concepts implied by the cards are related, though not limited to, issues of sex, love, romance, dating, friendship and anything remotely related to those concepts. The tasks required or the situations listed on the category Card I do not give a player the opportunity to receive a compatibility card, but rather advances or retreats the game pieces on the board.
[0068] When a player lands on a category I space on the board, he or she picks the card and simply follows the instructions on the card. The card may ask the player to spin the spinner and do something with or to that person. The card may simply say that something has happened and as a result the player must perform some activity, usually involving the movement of his or her game piece. For a list of Category I card activities, see appendix I.
[0069] Category J, shown in Appendix J, is designed to loosen up and break down any borders that might exist between players. It is designed to put players in some degree of a compromising situation where their character is revealed in relation to various ideas including some of the following: the emotive. sexual, physical, mental, spiritual, and social quality of the contact they have with another player.
[0070] Category J is designed to put a player, let us call him player P, who lands on the space which indicates to player P to pick the corresponding category J card, in a situation where they must perform a task that involves another player P to read the task aloud, or to read it solently to his of herself. Then player P performs whatever the task, he or she will get a previously mentioned strike card. A category J card might ask player P to read the card to him or herself, them spin the spinner and say something to that randomly chosen person or player P may be required to touch another person in an awkward and physical manner. For a general gist of the types of activities that category J might entail see appendix J.
[0071] The performance of this categorical activity does not earn any player involved a compatibility card, but it may or may not advance or back up a player on the game board. For the most part, category J simply requires players to perform activities that are fun and revealing and may cause embarrassment. Implied is the overcoming of certain boundaries that people have regarding issues or sex, love and romance and the successful completion of this category J will aid in advancing the understanding that different genders have about intimate issues. it will help people understand how a particular player feels about specific issues that arise in the emotional, romantic and sexual arena. This category is very similar to the category C cards.
[0072] One game board with a certain number of spaces on which are written the names of the categories or tasks to be performed by the player that lands on those spaces. This game board, while not limited to, may be made of a thick cardboard in a design suitable for any number of player above two. On the game board, a design which spatially orients players and allows for easy flow of game pieces from beginning ti end if the game.
[0073] A certain number of game pieces, each different, which are chosen by different players to represent them. These game piece can be made of any color, shape, or size, but might be made of materials and of certain shapes that would give players a reason to identify with those game pieces. For example, game pieces that allow for the game players to form identifications with those game pieces as well as game pieces as game pieces that are conceptually related within the discursive boundaries of the sexual, romantic, physical, or emotional faculties perhaps with a humorous tome, would be appropriate. A small plastic bed, a petite sized red heart or a small statuette of Cupid, for examples, all would serve the design parameters for such an array of game pieces.
[0074] a certain number of “dog houses,” each of which may be placed on top of the game pieces to indicate that that person must miss a turn. these “dog houses” are called “dog houses” because in the ideal version of the game they might resemble a small cardboard replica of a doghouse, and also called “dog houses” to play on the colloquialism used when a man or woman who is in a relationship does something wrong and is therefore culpable and might be as a result of some indiscretion, be put in the “dog house.” the dog houses, though not limited to, may be made of cardboard or plastic. The dog houses should be big enough to completely for over the game pieces which represent players and it should be small enough to fit neatly within the space on which a payer must wait until one of his or her turns has passed.
[0075] A particular number of blank compatibility cards. These compatibility cards, though not limited to, may be made of thick paper which can be written on. they might be made in the shape of some related concept to the game as a whole. For example, the compatibility cards could be made in the shape of a heart, on which players can write their names.
[0076] A certain number pencils might be included in the game, or not, though they would be necessary in the function of the game since some writing tasks will be required in order to play game.
[0077] A small timer, perhaps in the shape or style of some conceptually related material or shape or design which has a conceptual relationship to the topics of sex, love, romance or friendship. It might be made of a small plastic thirty second sand timer, in the shape of a man's or woman's body, for example.
[0078] A spinner which in an ideal version of the game might be situated at the center of the board, which might be made of some material and design which would relate to the concept of the whole game, some related concept to sexuality, romance, love, lust or some such related concept. For example, in an ideal version of the game, while not limited to the following, might be a light weight six inch glass bottle which spun could point towards the randomly chose person to be chosen. Such an idea would draw associations with that old teenage past time, the game “spin the bottle,” which is conceptually related to topics of sex, romance, love and lust and also serves the function of a spinner.
[0079] Category cards for each category. Category Cards as described above and in the style of appendices A through J, would serve as the foundational materials in the functioning of the game. They can be made out of a thick paper, though are not limited to such material, in a design conceptually related to the game as a whole and might, as a design, draw associations commonly associated with topics of sexuality, compatibility, physicality or romance and love.
[0080] A certain number of strike cards which like the category cards, might be made of thick paper, through is not limited to said material. The strike cards may be made in a design which reflects their function, that of indicating that a player declined some activity requested by one or more of the category cards.
[0081] A particular number or random number generators, most likely one, but one which would generate a number between one and six, something similar to a die. One that has six sides would be an ideal random number generator for the ideal version of the game.
[0082] One or more compatibility boxes. In these compatibility boxes the compatibility cards must be put when a pair of players receives a compatibility card. It must be made of a material which is not transparent as the box is intended to keep the information contained on those cards secret until the game is over. It may be made in a design conceptually related to, but not limited to the whole concept or the game, that of compatibility, romance, love, lust, friendship or any topic related to those topics.
[0083] Although the invention has been described in detail herein, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments herein disclosed. Various changes, substitutions and modifications may be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as described and defined by the appended claims.