Game of creativity

Description

This invention relates to educational board games, particulary to board games that teaches players to solve problems and address opportunities through collective and individual actions and responsibility.

There are various forms of educational entertainment board games that aim to teach about business relationships such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,976 Apparatus and Method for Learning About the Relationships and Personalities of a Group of Two or More Persons.

Other games aim to teach about corporate structure such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,824 Corporate Authority a Board Game About the Rank and Order Structure of Corporate Job Title and thee Consequences of Two Separate Companies Merging. The object of this game is for the players to keep their job and take control of the merging company.

Some games such as WO9820948 issued to Kiyosaki et al. aim to teach players specific principles such as the principles of personal finance, basic accounting principles and, prudent investment, but fails to teach general creativity and problem solving.

The principles of creativity, addressing opportunities and solving problems are sometimes taught in expensive and time-consuming seminars, or, they may be taught in more or less well written books. Some individuals, however, do not have the time or ability to spend the sums required or even the inclination to attend such seminars or the ability to learn the principles from a book.

It is apparent that it would be highly desirable to provide a game that teaches players how to be creative, solve problems and address opportunities that can be taught in a short time frame and in a way to make it both fun and effective. It is to these ends that the present invention is directed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a board game that allows persons to learn how to solve problems and address opportunities through collective and individual responsibility that goes some way to overcoming the abovementioned disadvantages in the prior art or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.

In a first aspect, the present invention consists in a game played by two or more players, intended to teach the players to solve problems and address opportunities through collective and individual responsibility, wherein the players work as a team rather than individuals, said board game including:

• • a game board having marked thereon a playing track, said track being divided into four sides and four corner spaces, each said side consisting of sequential spaces, each said side being distinctly labelled;
  • a distinct game token for the team, which is moved along said track;
  • a plurality of cards to be shared by all players of said board game and to be drawn by the team, said cards marked with indicia, and comprising a first set of “define” cards; a second set of “explore” cards; a third set of “innovate” cards; and a fourth set of “incubate” cards; and
  • one or more dice rolled by players to obtain an indication of how they should move their token on said track; and
  • said side on which the team token is located directing which sub-set of cads a player must draw from.

To those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The disclosures and the descriptions herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the board game of the present invention;

FIG. 1A is a plan view of the top left quadrant of the board game;

FIG. 1B is a plan view of the top right quadrant of the board game;

FIG. 1C is a plan view of the bottom left quadrant of the board game;

FIG. 1D is a plan view of the bottom right quadrant of the board game;

FIGS. 2A to 2N are illustrations of the Define cards.

FIGS. 3A to 30 are illustrations of the Explore cards.

FIGS. 4A to 4Y are illustrations of the Innovate cards.

FIGS. 5A to 5BQ are illustrations of the Quote cards.

FIGS. 6A to 6AR are illustrations of the Random cards.

FIGS. 7A to 7T are illustrations of the Incubate cards.

Playing the game will enhance players' collective and individual creativity as the team address opportunities or solve problems. The game is designed to be played by two or more players but it's not a competition. Players collaborate with each other to creatively address opportunities or solve problems. Throughout the description the players will be referred to as “the team”. There is no fixed duration for completing a game, it can last an hour or several weeks depending on the topic chosen.

FIG. 1 shows a game board 101 for playing the subject game. Each of the spaces shown in FIG. 1 has indicia The indicia are too small to be clearly seen in FIG. 1. However, the game board is broken up into sections for purposes of illustration as indicated by the segments A, B, C and D which are separated by lines 141 and 142 which have no other purpose. Thus, it will be understood that the designators A, B, C and D and the lines 141 and 142 are not part of the game board 101.

The board consists of a track 101 consisting of four sides marked “define” 102, “explore” 103, “innovate” 104 and “incubate” 105. The corner spaces are marked “ignite” 106, “unite” 107, “ilnagine” 108 and “select” 109.

The game includes a game token to represent the players and a dice for indicating moves. The aim of the game is to move around the board 101 in the following sequence. Define 102, Explore 103, Innovate 104 and Incubate 105.

During the definition phase 102 the team will define a problem and or an opportunity. During the exploration phase 103 the team explores the characteristics or root cause of the problem or opportunity. During the innovation phase 104 the team work together to come up with ideas to address the problem or opportunity. During the incubation phase 105 the team look at ways of building support for the team ideas and solutions.

Between the four main phases of play are transitional stages on three of the corner squares of the board: “unite” 107, “imagine” 108, and “select” 109. In the unite square 107, the team write a definition of the problem or opportunity that the team agree on. The wording in the square instructs the teams to “Create a statement using 100 words or less that clearly defines your Problem/Opportunity. This statement should summarise the discussion you had during the Define Phase. Once your statement is complete, roll the dice and move onto the Explore Phase.”

In the imagine square 108, the team write a vision of what the team want to achieve. The wording in the square instructs the teams to “Create a statement using 100 words or less outlining what will be different as a result of addressing the Problem/Opportunity—your vision. Aim beyond what you think you can achieve. Once your statement is complete, roll the dice and move onto the Innovate Phase.”

In the select square 109 the team select the most promising idea(s) from the ideas the team generated during the innovation phase. The wording in the square instructs the teams to “Use one or more of the following options to select the idea(s) that you want to progress.

• • Choose best idea(s)
  • Prototype
  • Shortlist Ideas
  • Develop criteria to help select the best idea(s)
    Once you have done this, roll the dice and move on to the Incubate Phase.”

There is a set of activity cards for the define, explore, innovate and incubate phases of the game. The define cards are shown in FIGS. 2A to 2N with text 201 to 215 to prompt the players. The explore cards are shown in FIGS. 3A to 20 with text 301 to 315 to prompt the players. The innovate cards are shown in FIGS. 4A to 4Y with text 401 to 425 to prompt the players. The incubate cards are shown in FIGS. 7A to 7T with text 701 to 719 to prompt the players. To set the game up these cards are put face down beside the board on the side that they correspond to. Quote cards shown in FIGS. 5A to 5BQ with text 501 to 569 and random cards shown in FIGS. 6A to 6AR with text 601 to 644 are put on their places 131 and 132 on the board. A game counter is put on the ignite corner 106.

To play the game the players consider who is needed in the team. Include as many people as possible who have a stake in the problem or opportunity that the players are addressing.

To start the game a player rolls the dice and the team move the counter along the define phase 102. The team pick up a define activity card from the top of the pile, read the card and discuss and complete the activity described on the card with the team. Activity cards are put aside once the team have completed what's on them.

The track contains quote 171 and random 172 spaces and if the team land on a quote 171 or random 172 spaces the team pick up a quote or random card. The team need to incorporate what's on the Quote or Random card with what's on the activity card the team picked up. This may require some imagination. How the team interpret and incorporate what is on Quote and Random cards is entirely up to the team. Quote and Random cards are returned to the bottom of the pile after use.

A player rolls the dice and the team counter is moved again before picking up the next activity card. If the team land on a Quote or Random space again, they pick up another Quote or Random card. The team continue rolling the dice and completing activities in this way until the team have completed at least four activities in the Define Phase.

If the team reach the end of the Define Phase before completing four activities, they simply turn around and move the counter back along the same side of the board. Once the team have completed four activities the counter is moved directly to the Unite corner at the end of the Define Phase and the team complete the activity described there.

The team continue moving around the board in the same way for the Explore, Innovate and Incubate Phases completing at least four activities in each phase. The team also complete the activities described in the Unite, Imagine and Select corner stages in between phases.

Some of the Explore Phase activity cards only relate to solving problems. Other Explore Phase activity cards relate to both solving problems and addressing opportunities. Explore Phase cards that relate to solving problems only have the word problem next to their title. Explore Phase activity cards that relate to both problems and opportunities have the words problem and opportunity next to their title. The team need to decide which of these cards are most relevant and useful to the problem or opportunity the team are working on.

Around the edges of the board the team will see a variety of behaviours 181, 182, 183 and 184 described. These are behaviours that are proven to increase the creativity and innovation. All players should adopt all of the behaviours described on the board during play. All players can take responsibility for making sure that these behaviours are encouraged.

The game board game is not a game in the conventional sense. People playing the game co-operate rather than compete with each other. The game guides players through a structured methodology for solving problems or addressing opportunities. The game is subject neutral, players can use it to address opportunities or solve problems in any industry or sphere. Players are asked to move through the following phases: define, unite, explore, imagine, innovate, select and incubate.

The define phase helps players develop a range of definitions of the problem or opportunity. In the unite phase, players create a written statement summarising the definition. In this stage, players reach agreement on the definition of the problem or opportunity.

In the explore phase players explore the root cause, background and context of the problem they are trying to solve or the context and characteristics of an opportunity they are trying to address. In the imagine phase, players imagine the vision or goal they want to work towards in other words what they are trying to achieve. This stage includes having players write a vision statement for what they are trying to achieve.

The innovate phase helps players generate a range of ideas that they can use to address the problem or opportunity. The select phase help players select the ideas they want to proceed with from the many ideas they have generated. The incubate phase helps players get the best support for the development of their ideas.

The problem solving and opportunity addressing methodology of the game is embedded in the sequence the team follows as it moves around the board. The four main phases of the game; define, explore, innovate and incubate each have a set of cards. The completes at least four activities in each phase to ensure the phase is completed thoroughly.

Activities on these cards are frequently combined with either “Random” or “Quote” cards. Random cards describe a range of random stimulus. Quote cards have well known quotes on them. By randomly combining the quote cards and the random cards with the activity cards for each phase, the game fosters creativity by introducing random inputs.

The team can bend the rules of the game if it will help the team be more creative and successful. If the activity described on a card does not seem to suit the team's problem or opportunity, they can pick another card. If the Quote or Random card does not seem to add much to the discussion the card can be put at the bottom of the pile and the next card from the pile selected. The team can also decide to do more or less than four activities in each phase of the game.

If the team is working on an opportunity where there is no problem to solve, the team may find the explore phase is less relevant. If so, the team can choose to skip this phase completely.