BOARD GAME

Description

CONTINUITY AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This patent application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/386,102.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a board game, and more particularly to a word-based board game for entertainment, the board game being capable of being played on an electronic device with a screen, online or off-line, or alternatively as a physical board game with a playing area and a set of playing elements marked with letters and point values, wherein the board game may be enjoyed by oneself or with two or more players.

BACKGROUND

Competitive board games involving forming words with tiles each marked with a letter of an alphabet and a point value for the goal of achieving the highest point total to win have been known. One such example is the Scrabble® game, which allows two to four players to play against one another by placing tiles, each marked with a letter of the alphabet, onto a board divided into rows and columns forming square playing spaces. Some playing spaces in the Scrabble® game have been marked so players have earned more points by forming words that have touched the marked playing space.

Another similar game that has been known is the Words With Friends game, which has assigned different points to each letter of the alphabet. The Words With Friends game has provided a different board layout than the Scrabble game, but it has presented a similar style of game play that has involved special playing spaces with more point values.

Adversarial board games having involved capturing another player's playing element have been known in the art. One such strategic game, known as Chess, has involved playing differently valued playing elements (pieces) and having moved them strategically across the board to checkmate the opponent's king piece to win the game. And while Chess has been played electronically on a computer of late, it has not involved converting another player's lettered or numbered elements to count directly towards your score. Still another similar known adversarial board game has been Checkers, wherein a player has been enabled in capturing an opponent's pieces, and wherein a player ultimately has won if their opponent has no longer been able to make any more moves on the board.

Another known game is, the Go game. The Go game is a two-player game wherein a player has been enabled in capturing an opponent's playing elements, and wherein a winner is determined by the amount of territory on the board that has been claimed by the player.

Still another known game has been the Othello game. In the Othello game, two players have played with playing elements (discs) that have been colored differently on each side—one side has been black and the other side has been white—with one color representing each respective player. In the Othello game, the player with black playing elements has typically gone first, and each player has taken turns until one player has not been able to make a valid move, or until there have been no valid moves left for either player. In the Othello game, an opponent's discs have been able to be captured by following the rules of the game, and the captured discs have been flipped to the color representing the player who had captured the disc. The winner of an Othello game has been the player having had the most discs on the board flipped to their color at the end of the game when no more moves have been possible.

While many previous games exist for word-based board games and adversarial board games, there has not been a board game that has involved the flipping of lettered playing elements having point values to add to a player's score while subtracting from an opponent's score. Thus, a better and more entertaining word-game that is adversarial in strategy and involves such flipping of such playing elements would be desirable.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a game with a playing area defining a plurality of individual playing spaces. One of the plurality of individual playing spaces is pre-marked on the playing area to indicate a starting location. A portion of the plurality of individual playing spaces are pre-marked on the playing area to indicate safety.

Furthermore, the game has a plurality of playing elements which may be drawn, played, or remain temporarily in a pool. The plurality of playing elements may be played during a player's turn and randomly drawn from the pool of remaining playing elements after a player's turn. The plurality of playing elements may be possessed by a player of a plurality of players and may be ready to be played during the player's turn on the playing area. The plurality of playing elements may be further adapted so that each player of the plurality of players is enabled in playing successive turns if, during each turn, a playing player so chooses to form a word out of the plurality of playing elements currently in possession by the playing player. Each playing element of the plurality of playing elements is marked to indicate a letter of an alphabet and a corresponding point value or marked as “WILD” to allow the playing element to represent any letter of the alphabet, except for “S”, and a point value of “0”.

A first player may play during a first turn a number of playing elements onto successive adjacent playing spaces of the playing area to form a word, preferably being required to cover the starting location playing space, as well as corresponding individual playing spaces in one direction (or alternatively in an embodiment of the game in more than one direction) on the playing area, to earn points for a score of the first player equal to a sum of each of the point values corresponding to those of the plurality of playing elements used to form the word during the first turn. After a player has played, the player may randomly draw more playing elements, from the pool of playing elements to be held in possession for subsequent turns, corresponding to the number of playing elements immediately previously played. At least one other player of the plurality of players may also make plays forming words out of the playing elements.

Upon any successive turn, any player may change a score previously earned by any other player upon forming a new word by playing at least one playing element connected with any other player's previously played playing element, or playing elements, on the playing area, to subtract from the score of the any other player the corresponding point values of the any other player's previously played playing element, or elements, that are a part of the new word or words thus formed by the player, unless the playing elements played on the playing area forming a word previously played by another player had been played over one of the plurality of individual playing spaces pre-marked to indicate safety. In addition, any word formed using all 7 of a player's playing elements (a word of 7 or more letters in length) would also render the playing elements in that word as safe. In such cases, only the point values of the playing elements played by the player during the player's turn would be added to that player's score for that turn.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, the playing area may be square shaped and have 15 rows and 15 columns evenly spaced to form 225 square-shaped individual playing spaces.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, the individual playing space pre-marked to indicate a starting location may be a centrally-located playing space.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, the individual playing spaces pre-marked to indicate safety may be marked on each corner playing space lying in an outer peripheral portion of the playing area, a centrally-located playing space between each corner playing space lying in the outer peripheral portion of the playing area, and each corner playing space lying in a next inner peripheral portion adjacent the outer peripheral portion of the playing area. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other, or different, pre-marked playing spaces may be used without departing from the scope of the game as claimed.

In an embodiment, the playing area may be a board and the plurality of playing elements may be a plurality of tiles. Each tile has at least two sides and each side of each tile is pre-marked to associate with a player. Each player plays the tiles on the side associated with the player on the playing area so the tiles already on the playing area, such tiles being part of the new word thus formed by the current player, may be flipped to the side associated to the current player when the current player forms at least one word by adding at least one additional tile to tiles already played on the playing area by another player. The sum of the flipped tiles' point values indicate points to be added to the current player's score and points to be subtracted from the another player's score during the game.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, the game is to be played electronically. Each of the plurality of playing elements is capable of being designated as any particular player's playing element upon being drawn by the player. During the game, a playing element already on the playing area may be automatically changed from being designated as one player's playing element to a current player's playing element when the current player forms at least one word by adding at least one additional playing element to form a word with the playing elements already played on the playing area by another player to indicate points to be automatically added to the current player's score and points to be automatically subtracted from the another player's score. The points to be thus added and subtracted comprise the tiles comprising the newly formed word by the current player.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, a method of playing a game may be made of steps: (i) obtaining a playing area divided into individual playing spaces, where a portion of the individual playing spaces are marked to indicate safety and an individual playing space is marked to indicate a starting location. The game further has a set of playing elements, wherein each playing element, except for a limited number of “wild” playing elements, is marked to indicate a letter of the alphabet having a corresponding point value also marked thereon. Each of the limited number of wild playing elements may be used to represent any letter of the alphabet except an “S” and having a corresponding point value of zero marked thereon; (ii) randomly dealing each player a set number of playing elements from a pool of playing elements corresponding to a maximum number of playing elements that each player is allowed to possess at a time (e.g., preferably seven such playing elements); (iii) playing a first turn where a first player may either: (a) play two or more of the playing elements in the first player's possession on the playing area to form a word in a direction; (b) play two or more of the playing elements in the first player's possession on the playing area to form a word in a direction to keep the playing elements safe, where one or more of the playing elements are played over one or more individual playing spaces marked to indicate safety; (c) randomly exchange any or all of their playing elements in the set number of playing elements with playing elements from the pool of playing elements; or (d) pass the first turn; (iv) adding up point values of the playing elements played on the playing area by the first player to comprise an interim score for the first player; (v) restocking the set number of playing elements for the first player by obtaining random playing elements from the pool of playing elements; (vi) playing a next turn, wherein a current player must either: (a) play one or more of their set number of playing elements on the playing area to form another word or words in one or more directions where the current player may steal playing elements and their point values from counting for one or more previous players if the another word or words were formed using one or more playing elements previously played on the playing area by one or more previous players, unless any of the one or more playing elements of the one or more previous players used was previously played by the one or more previous players to form a word or words on the individual playing space marked to indicate safety or made safe through a player having played all playing elements in that player's possession during a single turn; (b) exchanging any or all of their playing elements in the set number of playing elements with randomly drawn playing elements from the pool of remaining playing elements unless 10 or less playing elements remain in the pool of remaining playing elements; or (c) pass the turn; (vii) adding point values of stolen playing elements from one or more of the previous players to a sum of point values of the playing elements played on the playing area by the current player to add to an interim score for the current player, and subtracting a sum of the point values of the stolen playing elements from the interim score of the one or more previous players to whom the stolen playing elements previously belonged; (viii) restocking the set number of playing elements for the current player by randomly drawing playing elements from the pool of remaining playing elements; (ix) repeating steps (vi)-(viii) until no playing elements are remaining in the pool of remaining playing elements and one of the players has played all of the remaining playing elements in their possession or each player passes their turn consecutively; (x) adding to the interim score of each player a combined point value of any playing elements left in the other player's possession to obtain a final score for each player; and (xi) determining a winner by comparing final scores.

In such embodiment, a total number of the set of playing elements may be 100 and the set number of playing elements to possess by each player may be 7. Various of the embodiments described herein may be preferably played on a computer or with a tablet or smart-phone.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, the game is to be played by a plurality of players. The game provides a playing area defining a plurality of individual playing spaces. One of the plurality of individual playing spaces is pre-marked on the playing area to indicate a starting location, and a portion of the plurality of individual playing spaces are pre-marked on said playing area to indicate safety. The game further provides a set of playing elements comprising individual playing elements that may be played on the plurality of individual playing spaces of the playing area to cover corresponding individual playing spaces. The individual playing elements are adapted to be randomly drawn from the set of playing elements and a number of the individual playing elements is possessed by each player per turn.

Each player is enabled to play successive turns if the player so chooses and may form at least one word using the individual playing elements in the player's possession or already played on the plurality of individual playing spaces of the playing area to earn a score. Each of the individual playing elements is marked to indicate a letter of the alphabet and a corresponding point value for evaluating the score or marked to allow it to represent any letter of the alphabet each player chooses, except for “S”, and a corresponding point value for evaluating the score.

The playing area and the set of playing elements are used to start the game by playing a number of individual playing elements onto successive adjacent playing spaces including the individual playing space pre-marked to indicate the starting location to form preferably a single word in one, or alternatively more than one connected-word, horizontal or vertical direction on the playing area to earn points for the score of a first player equal to a sum of each of the point values corresponding to those of the individual playing elements used to form the one word, or alternatively more words, during a first turn. Each player randomly draws more individual playing elements from a remaining set of playing elements to be held in possession for subsequent turns. The drawn individual playing elements correspond to the number of playing elements immediately previously played by each player.

In subsequent turns, each player may make subsequent plays by forming words on the playing area by playing individual playing elements in each player's possession. Upon any successive turn, each player may change a score previously earned by any other player upon forming at least one word using at least one individual playing element in each player's possession adjacent to at least one of any other player's previously played individual playing elements on the playing area to enable subtracting from the score of the any other player the corresponding point values of the any other player's previously played playing element or elements that are a part of the word or words thus formed, unless the individual playing elements played on the playing area forming at least one word previously played by another player had been played over one of the individual playing spaces pre-marked to indicate safety, in which case only the point values of the playing elements played by each player during the player's turn would be added to that player's score for that turn. A playing element marked as “Wild” may be assigned a point value of zero (“0”), and point values of the other playing elements may be as indicated elsewhere in this specification and/or Figures.

In such embodiment, the playing area may be square-shaped and have 15 rows and 15 columns to form 225 square-shaped individual playing spaces. The individual playing space pre-marked to indicate a starting location may be a centrally-located playing space. The individual playing spaces pre-marked to indicate safety may be each corner playing space lying in an outer peripheral portion of the playing area, a centrally-located playing space between each corner playing space lying in the outer peripheral portion of the playing area, and each corner playing space lying in a next inner peripheral portion of the playing area adjacent the outer peripheral portion of the playing area.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, the plurality of playing elements may be: 2 blank playing elements (or marked as “WILD” to indicate any letter of the alphabet except “S” and having “0” point value, 9 playing elements marked “A” and having “1” point value, 2 playing elements marked “B” and having “3” point value, 2 playing elements marked “C” and having “3” point value, 4 playing elements marked “D” and having “2” point value, 12 playing elements marked “E” and having “1” point value, 2 playing elements marked “F” and having “3” point value, 3 playing elements marked “G” and having “2” point value, 2 playing elements marked “H” and having “3” point value, 9 playing elements marked “I” and having “1” point value, 1 playing element marked “J” and having “5” point value, 1 playing element marked “K” and having “4” point value, 4 playing elements marked “L” and having “2” point value, 2 playing elements marked “M” and having “3” point value, 6 playing elements marked “N” and having “2” point value, 8 playing elements marked “O” and having “1” point value, 2 playing elements marked “P” and having “3” point value, 1 playing element marked “Q” and having “5” point value, 6 playing elements marked “R” and having “1” point value, 4 playing elements marked “S” and having “1” point value, 6 playing elements marked “T” and having “1” point value, 4 playing elements marked “U” and having “2” point value, 2 playing elements marked “V” and having “4” point value, 2 playing elements marked “W” and having “3” point value, 1 playing element marked “X” and having “4” point value, 2 playing elements marked “Y” and having “2” point value, and 1 playing element marked “Z” and having “5” point value. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other point value combinations may be substituted without departing the scope of the game as claimed.

The plurality of playing elements may be a corresponding plurality of tiles. Each tile may have at least two sides, wherein each side of each tile is pre-marked to associate with a player of a plurality of players, and wherein each player plays the tiles on the side associated with the player on the playing area. During the game, the tiles already on the playing area may be flipped to the side associated to a current player when the current player forms at least one word by adding at least one additional tile to tiles already played on the playing area by another player to indicate points to be added to the current player's score and points to be subtracted from the another player's score.

The game may preferably be played electronically and each of the plurality of playing elements may be capable of being designated as any particular player's playing element upon being drawn by the player. During the game, a playing element already on the playing area may be automatically changed from being designated as one player's playing element to a current player's playing element when the current player forms at least one word by adding at least one additional playing element to form a word with the playing elements already played on the playing area by another player to indicate points to be automatically added to the current player's score and points to be automatically subtracted from the another player's score by computer program.

The subject matter of the present invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. However, both the organization and method of playing, together with further advantages and objects thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following descriptions taken in connection with accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a playing area defined into a plurality of individual playing spaces, showing a centrally located playing space pre-marked as a starting position and showing twelve playing spaces pre-marked to indicate safety in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 in a plan view of a plurality of playing elements each marked to indicate a letter of the alphabet and a point value, or marked as “WILD” to represent any letter of the alphabet except “S” and having a point value of “0” in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a playing area defined into a plurality of individual playing spaces, showing a first player (Player 1) starting the game at a central playing space pre-marked as a starting position and playing the playing elements “C 3”, “A 1”, and “R 1” to form the word “CAR” horizontally to earn an interim score of 5 points in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a continuation of the game started in FIG. 3, showing a second player (Player 2) playing the playing elements marked “R 1”, “E 1”, and “D 2” vertically to form “RED” and simultaneously form “CARE” horizontally using Player 1's playing elements “C 3”, “A 1”, and “R 1” already on the playing area to earn an interim score of 9 points and to change Player 1's interim score to 0 points in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a continuation of the game in FIGS. 3-4, showing Player 1 playing the playing elements marked “E 1” and “A 1” to vertically to form “ERA” using the playing element marked “R 1” from “CARE” already present on the playing area and simultaneously forming “ER” and “AD” horizontally using “R 1” and “D 2” already present on the playing area to earn an interim score of 6 points and changing Player 2's interim score to 5 points in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a continuation of the game in FIGS. 3-5, showing Player 2 playing the playing element marked “S 1” to horizontally form “SCARE” using the playing elements “CARE” already present on the board, to earn an interim score of 7 points for Player 2 and to change Player 1's interim score to 5 points in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a continuation of the game in FIGS. 3-6, showing Player 1 playing the playing elements marked “C 3”, “R 1”, “O 1”, “W 3”, and “S 1”, where the placement of “S 1” is on top of a playing space pre-marked to indicate safety, to horizontally form “SCARECROWS” using the playing elements “SCARE” already present on the board to earn an interim score of 21 points for Player 1, to change Player 2's interim score to o points, and to make the playing elements forming the word “SCARECROWS” safe and always belonging to Player 1 in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a continuation of the game in FIGS. 3-7, showing Player 2 playing the playing elements marked “A 1”, “E 1”, and “D 2” to vertically form “AWED” using the playing element “W 3” already present on the board in the previously-played word “SCARECROWS”, failing to earn the point value of the playing element “W 3” because “SCARECROWS” is touching a playing space pre-marked to indicate safety and earning an interim score of 4 points, and not affecting Player 1's interim score in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is an online embodiment of the game playable on a computer or a mobile device, showing a Player 1 with an interim score of 10 points earned from horizontally having formed “ROUGHER” using “R 1” “O 1” “U 2” “G 2” “H 3” “E 1” and R 1” but having lost “O 1” to Player 2 when Player 2 vertically formed “SNOW” by playing “S 1” “N 2” and “W 3” adjacent to “O 1” played by Player 1 to earn an interim score of 7 in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 is an alternative embodiment, or layout, of an online version of the game allowing stocking and restocking of 8 playing elements per player and playable on a computer or a mobile device, and wherein different buttons are incorporated than the online embodiment shown in FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a plan view of a playing area 200 for a game 100 in accordance with an aspect and embodiment of the disclosure. In FIG. 1, the playing area 200 is a square board 200, but other shapes known in the art, such as a rectangle, or a curvilinear-edged board, may be used. The playing area 200 is defined into a plurality of individual playing spaces 201. The current embodiment of the playing area 200 has fifteen evenly-spaced rows and fifteen evenly-spaced columns of square playing spaces 201, totaling in 225 individual playing spaces 201. The playing spaces 201 do not need to be square shaped and other shapes known in the art, such as rectangles or circles, may be used, and the playing area 200 may be made of differing number of rows and columns to form individual playing spaces 201. Therefore, there may be more or less than 225 playing spaces 201 as desired.

FIG. 1 shows a centrally located playing space 201 pre-marked as a starting position 202. While the playing space 201 pre-marked as a starting position 202 is centrally located in this embodiment, the playing space 201 pre-marked as a starting position 202 may be located anywhere on the playing area 200 and any of the multiple playing spaces 201 could be pre-marked as a starting position 202. The starting position 202 as shown is pre-marked with the word “START”. However, any symbols, letters, or words could be used to pre-mark a starting position 202 on an individual playing space 201 on the playing area 200.

The playing area 200 in the embodiment as shown has twelve playing spaces 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203. In FIG. 1, the individual playing spaces 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203 are marked on each corner playing space 201 lying in an outer peripheral portion of the playing area 200, a centrally-located playing space 201 between each corner playing space 201 lying in the outer peripheral portion of the playing area 200, and each corner playing space 201 lying in a next inner peripheral portion adjacent the outer peripheral portion of the playing area 200. However, the individual playing spaces 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203 may be anywhere on the playing area 200 and any number of individual playing spaces 201 may be pre-marked to indicate safety 203 without departing from the scope of the game as claimed. In FIGS. 1 and 9, the individual playing spaces 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203 as shown are each pre-marked with a symbol of a lock. However, any symbols, letters, or words may be used to pre-mark an individual playing space 201 to indicate safety 203 on the playing area 200. For example, FIGS. 3-8 shows the word “SAFE” being used pre-mark the individual playing space 201 to indicate safety 203.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a plan view of a plurality of playing elements 300 of the game 100. Each of the plurality of playing elements 300 may be drawn to be possessed 305 (shown in FIG. 9), played (shown in FIGS. 3-9), or remaining in a pool (not shown). The individual playing elements 300 may be played on the plurality of individual playing spaces 201 (shown in FIGS. 1, 3-9) on the playing area 200 (shown in FIGS. 1, 3-9) to cover corresponding individual playing spaces 201 (shown in FIGS. 3-9). How the game 100 is played will be covered in detail below. As shown in FIGS. 2-9, the plurality of playing elements 300 may be a plurality of tiles 300. However, the plurality of playing elements 300 is not limited to being a plurality of tiles 300 and may be of type of playing elements 300 known in the art.

Each playing element 300 is marked to indicate a letter 301 of an alphabet and a corresponding point value 302 or marked to allow to represent any letter of the alphabet, except for “S” 303, and a corresponding point value 302. The letters 301 may be that of any other language besides the alphabet of English. In the embodiment of playing elements 300 as shown in FIG. 1, the word “WILD” is used to represent any letter of the alphabet except “S” 303 and this playing element 300 has a point value 302 of “0”. However, any word or symbol, or may be even left blank, may be used to represent the playing element that represents any letter of the alphabet, except “S”, and it may be of any point value 302 besides “0”.

In an electronic version of an embodiment of the game 100, the playing element 300 marked to allow to represent any letter of the alphabet except for “S” 303 may have a triangle symbol 304 that may be clicked to switch between available letters of the alphabet. Electronic version of the game 100 will be explained in detail below.

In FIG. 2, there is also shown the number 305 of playing elements 300 available in the game 100. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, there are a hundred total playing elements 300 and the available number 305 of each of the different letter 301 bearing playing elements 300 are shown below each playing element 300. The embodiment of playing elements 300 as shown consists of:

• • 2 playing elements 300 marked as “WILD” to indicate any letter of the alphabet except “S” 303 having “0” point value 302
  • 9 playing elements 300 marked with letter “A” 301 having “1” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “B” 301 having “3” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “C” 301 having “3” point value 302
  • 4 playing elements 300 marked with letter “D” 301 having “2” point value 302
  • 12 playing elements 300 marked with letter “E” 301 having “1” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “F” 301 having “3” point value 302
  • 3 playing elements 300 marked with letter “G” 301 having “2” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “H” 301 having “3” point value 302
  • 9 playing elements 300 marked with letter “I” 301 having “1” point value 302
  • 1 playing element 300 marked with letter “J” 301 having “5” point value 302
  • 1 playing element 300 marked with letter “K” 301 having “4” point value 302
  • 4 playing elements 300 marked with letter “L” 301 having “2” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “M” 301 having “3” point value 302
  • 6 playing elements 300 marked with letter “N” 301 having “2” point value 302
  • 8 playing elements 300 marked with letter “O” 301 having “1” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “P” 301 having “3” point value 302
  • 1 playing element 300 marked with letter “Q” 301 having “5” point value 302
  • 6 playing elements 300 marked with letter “R” 301 having “1” point value 302
  • 4 playing elements 300 marked with letter “S” 301 having “1” point value 302
  • 6 playing elements 300 marked with letter “T” 301 having “1” point value 302
  • 4 playing elements 300 marked with letter “U” 301 having “2” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “V” 301 having “4” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “W” 301 having “3” point value 302
  • 1 playing element 300 marked with letter “X” 301 having “4” point value 302
  • 2 playing elements 300 marked with letter “Y” 301 having “2” point value 302
  • 1 playing element 300 marked with letter “Z” 301 having “5” point value 302.
    The number 305 of playing elements are not limited to the numbers 305 shown in FIG. 2, and the point value 302 of each of the playing elements 300 are not limited to the point values 302 shown.

Referring to FIGS. 3-8, FIGS. 3-8 shows a sequence of play between a first player 400 (Player 1) and a second player 500 (Player 2). FIG. 9 shows a snapshot of a play between a first player 400 (Player 1) and a second player 500 (Player 2) on an online version of the game 100, which will be covered in more detail later. For FIGS. 3-9, the first player 400+s played playing elements 310 are marked with horizontal line pattern as shown and the second player 500's played playing elements 310 are marked with diagonal line pattern as shown. In an embodiment of the game 100, each playing element 300, or tile 300 as shown in FIGS. 2-9, has at least two sides and each side of each tile 300 may be pre-marked with colors, symbols, or patterns to associate with a player (The first player 400 and the second player 500 in FIGS. 3-9). Each player 400, 500 would play the tiles 300 on the side associated with the player 400, 500 on the playing area 200 so the played tiles 310 already on the playing area 200, such tiles 300 being part of the new word thus formed by a current player 400/500, may be flipped to the side associated to the current player 400/500 when the current player 400/500 forms at least one word by adding at least one additional tile in possession 350 to played tiles 310 already on the playing area 200 by another player 500/400. The flipped played tile's 310 point value 301 (shown in FIG. 2) indicates points to be added to the score 401/501 of the current player and points to be subtracted from the score 501/401 of another player during the game 100.

The plurality of playing elements 300 may be drawn to become possessed playing elements 350 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 9), played playing elements 310, or playing elements that remain in a pool to be available to be drawn later. In the beginning of the game, a set of playing elements 300 are randomly drawn from the pool. The set number of playing elements 300 to possess may be preferably 7, as shown in FIG. 9, but may be of another number if desired without departing from the scope of the game as claimed.

In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, a method of playing the game 100 may be:

• • (i) obtaining a playing area 200 divided into individual playing spaces 201, where a portion of the individual playing spaces 201 are marked to indicate safety 203 and an individual playing space 201 is marked to indicate a starting location 202 as shown in FIGS. 1, 3-9. The game 100 further has a set of playing elements 300 as shown in FIG. 2 and described in detail above.
  • (ii) randomly dealing each player 400, 500 a set number of playing elements 300 from a pool of playing elements 300 corresponding to a maximum number of playing elements that each player is allowed to possess at a time (possessed play elements 350 (as shown in FIG. 9)).
  • (iii) playing a first turn 311 (as shown in FIG. 3) where a first player 400 may either:
    • (a) play two or more of the possessed playing elements 350 on the playing area 200 to form a word in a direction;
    • (b) play two or more of the possessed playing elements 350 on the playing area 200 to form a word in a direction to keep the played playing elements 310 safe by playing one or more of the possessed playing elements 350 over one or more individual playing spaces 210 marked to indicate safety 203;
    • (c) randomly exchange any or all of their possessed playing elements 350 with playing elements 300 from the pool; or (d) pass the first turn.
  • (iv) adding up point values 302 of the played playing elements 310 on the playing area 200 by the first player 400 to comprise an interim score 401 for the first player 400.
  • (v) restocking the set number of possessed playing elements 350 for the first player 400 by obtaining random playing elements 300 from the pool.
  • (vi) playing a next turn, wherein a current player 500/400 must either:
    • (a) play one or more of their possessed playing elements 350 on the playing area 200 to form another word or words in one or more directions where the current player 500/400 may steal played playing elements 310 and their point values 302 from counting for one or more previous players 400/500 if the another word or words were formed using one or more previously played playing elements 310 on the playing area 200 by one or more previous players 400/500, unless any of the one or more played playing elements 310 of the one or more previous players 400/500 used was previously played by the one or more previous players 400/500 to form a word or words on the individual playing space 201 marked to indicate safety 203;
    • (b) exchanging any or all of their possessed playing elements 350 with randomly drawn playing elements 300 from the pool unless 10 or less playing elements 300 remain in the pool; or
    • (c) pass the turn.
  • (vii) adding point values 302 of stolen played playing elements 310 from one or more of the previous players 400/500 to a sum of point values 302 of the played playing elements 310 on the playing area 200 by the current player 500/400 to add to an interim score 501/401 for the current player 500/400, and subtracting sum of the point values 302 of the stolen played playing elements 310 from the interim score 401/501 of the one or more previous players 400/500 to whom the stolen played playing elements 310 previously belonged.
  • (viii) restocking the possessed playing elements 350 for the current player 500/400 by randomly drawing playing elements 300 from the pool.
  • (ix) repeating steps (vi)-(viii) until no playing elements 300 are remaining in the pool and one of the players 400/500 has played all of the remaining possessed playing elements 350 or each player 400/500 passes their turn consecutively.
  • (x) adding to the interim score 401/501 of each player 400/500 a combined point value 302 of any possessed playing elements 350 left in the possession of the other player 400/500 to obtain a final score 401/501 for each player 400/500.
  • (xi) determining a winner by comparing final scores 401/501.

The steps above are demonstrated in FIGS. 3-8. Referring to FIGS. 3-8, there is shown an embodiment of the game 100 showing in plan view of a square playing area 200 defined into a 15×15 plurality of individual playing spaces 201. In this embodiment, the plurality of individual playing spaces 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203 are pre-marked with the word “SAFE”.

FIG. 3 demonstrates a beginning of the game 100 after each player 400/500 were dealt a set number of playing elements 300 from the pool of playing elements to acquire possessed playing elements 350. The first player (Player 1) 400, starts the game 100 at a central playing space 201 pre-marked as a starting position 202 (not shown) by playing 3 of the possessed playing elements 350, marked “C 3”, “A 1”, and “R 1” onto successive adjacent playing spaces 201. The played elements 310 forms the word “CAR” horizontally, which forms the played elements of the first turn 311. The first player 400 earns an interim score 401 of 5 points by adding up point values 302 of “C 3”, “A 1” and “R 1”. Since there were no played playing elements 310 to be stolen, the interim score of the second player 500 remains 0.

After the first turn is played, the first player 400 will randomly draw 3 more playing elements 300 from the pool to have in hand the same amount of possessed playing elements 350 per turn until the pool runs out of playing elements 300.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a continuation of the game 100 started in FIG. 3, showing a second player (Player 2) 500 playing the possessed playing elements 350 marked “R 1”, “E 1”, and “D 2” vertically to form “RED”, forming the played elements of the second turn 312, and simultaneously forming “CARE” horizontally using the first player 400's played playing elements 310 “C 3”, “A 1”, and “R 1” already on the playing area 200. The second player 500 earns an interim score of 9 points from their played element 310 (the played elements of the second turn 312) “R 1”, “E 1”, and “D 2” and the stolen played playing elements 310 “C 3”, “A 1”, and “R 1” by summing up all point values 302 of “R 1”, “E 1”, “D 2”, “C 3”, “A 1”, and “R 1”. Since the second player 500 stole played elements 310, the interim score 401 of the first player 400 is changed to 0 points by subtracting from the previous score of 5 from FIG. 3 the point values 302 of the played playing elements 310 “C 3”, “A 1”, and “R 1 that were stolen. As seen, all played elements 310 on the playing area 200 now belong to the second player 500.

The set of possessed elements 350 of the second player 500 will be replenished from the pool of playing elements 300 by randomly drawing 3 playing elements 300, which is equal to the number of the played elements of the second turn 312.

Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a continuation of the game in FIGS. 3-4. The first player 400 plays the possessed playing elements 350 marked “E 1” and “A 1” (the played elements of the third turn 313) to vertically form “ERA” using the played playing element 310 marked “R 1” from “CARE” already present on the playing area 200. This move by the first player 400 also simultaneously forms “ER” and “AD” horizontally using played elements 310 “R 1” and “D 2” already present on the playing area 200. Thus, the first player 400 earns an interim score 401 of 6 points by summing up all point values 302 of “E 1”, “A 1”, “R 1”, “R 1”, and “D 2” and adding it to the previous score 401 of 0 in FIG. 4. The interim score 501 for the second player 500 changes to 5 points by subtracting the stolen played elements 310 “R 1”, “R 1”, and “D 2” from the previous score 501 of 9 in FIG. 4.

Again, though not shown, the first player 400 will randomly draw 2 more playing elements 300, matching the number of the played elements of the third turn 313, from the pool to have in hand the same amount of possessed playing elements 350 per turn until the pool runs out of playing elements 300.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a continuation of the game 100 in FIGS. 3-5, showing the second player 500 playing the possessed playing element 350 marked “S 1” (the played element of the fourth turn 314) to horizontally form “SCARE” using the played playing elements 310 “CARE” already present on the playing area 200. The second player 500 earns an interim score of 7 points by adding “S 1” from the played element of the fourth turn 314 and stolen played element 310 “R 1” from the first player 400 to their previous score 501 of 5 as shown in FIG. 5. The interim score 401 for the first player 400 changes to 5 points by subtracting score value 302 of “R 1” from the previous score 401 of 6 points shown in FIG. 5.

Although not shown, the second player 500 will randomly draw 1 playing element 300, matching the number of the played elements of the fourth turn 314, from the pool to have in hand the same amount of possessed playing elements 350 per turn until the pool runs out of playing elements 300.

Referring to FIG. 7, there is shown a continuation of the game 100 in FIGS. 3-6. The first player 400 plays the possessed playing elements 350 marked “C 3”, “R 1”, “O 1”, “W 3”, and “S 1” (the played element of the fifth turn 315), where the placement of “S 1” is on top of a playing space 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203, to horizontally form “SCARECROWS” using the played playing elements 310 “SCARE” already present on the playing area 200. The played playing elements 310 forming the word “SCARECROWS” are now safe and will always belong to the first player 400. The first player 400 earns an interim score 401 of 21 points from adding to the previous score 401 of 5 points from FIG. 6 the sum of the played element of the fifth turn 315, “C 3”, “R 1”, “O 1”, “W 3”, and “S 1”, and the sum of the played playing elements 310 stolen, “S 1”, “C 3”, “A 1”, “R 1”, and “E 1”. The score 501 for the second player 500 changes to 0 points from subtracting from the previous score 501 of 7 points from FIG. 6, point values 302 of “S 1”, “C 3”, “A 1”, “R 1”, and “E 1” stolen.

Again, though not shown, the first player 400 will randomly draw 5 more playing elements 300, matching the number of the played elements of the fifth turn 315, from the pool to have in hand the same amount of possessed playing elements 350 per turn until the pool runs out of playing elements 300.

Referring to FIG. 8, there is shown a continuation of the game 100 in FIGS. 3-7, showing the second player 500 playing the possessed playing elements 350 marked “A 1”, “E 1”, and “D 2”0 (the played element of the sixth turn 316) to vertically form “AWED” using the played playing element 310 “W 3” already present on the playing area 200 from the previously played word “SCARECROWS”. The second player 500 fails to earn the point value 302 of the played playing element 310 “W 3” because “SCARECROWS” is touching a playing space 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203. Thus, the second player 500 earns an interim score 501 of 4 points by adding to the previous score 501 of 0 points from FIG. 7 the sum of the point values 302 of “A 1”, “E 1”, and “D 2”, the played element of the sixth turn 316. The interim score 401 for the first player 400 is unaffected.

FIG. 9 shows an online version of the game 100 playable on a computer or a mobile device. The playing area 200 is square shaped and defined into a 15×15 plurality of individual playing spaces 201. In this embodiment, each of the plurality of individual playing spaces 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203 are pre-marked with a symbol of a lock 203. Same playing methods as previously discuss applies to the online version as well. The set number of possessed playing elements 350 in FIG. 9 is 7 but may be of a different number.

FIG. 9 shows a screen of the second player (player 2) 500, who's markings are diagonal. In accordance with one or more aspects and in an embodiment of the disclosure, in an online game 100, each of the plurality of playing elements 300 is capable of being designated as any player 400/500's possessed playing element 350 upon being drawn by the player 400/500. During the game 100, a played playing element 310 already on the playing area 200 may be automatically changed from being designated as that of one player 400/500 to the playing element 310 of a current player 500/400 when the current player 500/400 forms at least one word by adding at least one additional possessed playing element 350 to form a word with the played playing elements 310 already on the playing area 200 by another player 400/500. The point values 302 of these played playing elements 310 are to be automatically added to the score 510/410 of the current player 500/400 and the stolen points are automatically subtracted from the score 410/510 of another player 400/500 as described previously.

FIG. 9 shows the first player 400 (Player 1) with an interim score 410 of 11 points earned from horizontally having formed “ROUGHER” using “R 1” “O 1” “U 2” “G 2” “H 3” “E 1” and R 1”, and not having lost “O 1” to the second player 500 (Player 2) when the second player 500 vertically formed “SNOW” by playing “S 1” “N 2” and “W 3” adjacent to “O 1” played by the first player 400 to earn an interim score 501 of 6. This is true since in the case of “ROUGHER” all 7 playing elements were used, so this word would be considered safe—just as if one of the letters had been played on an individual playing space pre-marked with a lock for safety. FIG. 9 further shows that there are also locked icons 709 with a number next to them to indicate how many of the played playing elements 310 are indicated as safe. However, any words or symbols may be used to indicate how many played playing elements 310 are safe.

As shown in FIG. 9, the screen for the second player 500 shows features that may be used to perform actions in the game 100. Any other player will have the same screen similar to that shown in FIG. 9, but specific to their possessed playing elements 350 and their options or features. The second player 500 may play possessed playing elements 350 by click and dragging (or in a mobile device, holding and dragging) the possessed playing element 350 onto the desired playing space 201 on the playing area 200. Once the possessed playing elements 350 are placed on the playing area 200, clicking on the “PLAY” icon 700 allows the second player 500 to confirm the submission of the played elements 310 they have placed on the playing area 200, which are the played playing elements 310 “S 1”, “N 2”, “O 1”, “W 3”, and end the turn for the second player 500. Clicking on the optional “CHAT” icon 701 allows the second player 500 to communicate with the first player (player 1) 400 over computer network, such as the Internet, if desired. Clicking on the “RECALL” icon 702 allows automatic removal of the played playing elements 310 from the playing area 200 and convert the played playing elements 310 back to possessed playing elements 350. Clicking on the “SWAP” icon 703 allows the second player 500 to choose the possessed playing elements 350 to randomly exchange with playing elements 300 from the pool of playing elements 300. Swapping will end the turn of the second player 500. Clicking on the “PASS” icon 704 allows the second player 500 to end their turn without making any other moves for the turn. Clicking on the “<” icon 707 allows the second player 500 to leave the game 100. Clicking on the “?” icon 708 allows the second player 500 to access helpful information about the game 100, such as the rules.

The placement of icons (or buttons) may be anywhere on the screen and the symbols and words for the icons may be anything that conveys the information required without departing from the scope of the game as claimed. The layout of the game 100 and placement of the different features may also be changed as well without affecting the game 100. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the number of tiles 300 (playing elements 300) remaining in the pool of remaining playing elements 300 is shown as “TILES LEFT” 705. In FIG. 9, 72 tiles 300 (playing elements 300) remain in the game 100. In FIG. 9, “S S S S” icon is used to show the number of letter “S”s played 706 on the playing area 200, with a bold “S” designating an S has been played. Thus, as shown in FIG. 9, 1 “S” has been played and there are still three “S's” in circulation, either in the element pool or in a player's possessed elements 350. In the preferred embodiment, there are 4 playing elements 300 marked with letter “S” 301 and a point value 302. As seen in FIG. 9, there are one “S 1” played on the playing area 200, and the game screen shows the first “S” of “S S S S” icon 706 bolded to indicate that one played playing element 310 bears letter “S”. While the preferred embodiment only accounts for letter “S” and uses “S” for each letter of “S” remaining, other symbols, letters, and indications may be used to show any letters of the alphabet remaining or played in the game 100.

While FIG. 9 shows one embodiment of how the online version of the game 100 could be set up and played, other layouts and methods of playing known in the art may be used without departing form the scope of that claimed in a concluding portion of the specification. For example, referring to FIG. 10, there is shown an alternative embodiment of a game 100′ having an alternate game board 200′ and how it could be laid out. Game board 200′ uses the same or similar playing elements 310′, 350′ from a same or similar pool of playing elements 300 (not shown on FIG. 10) as a previous embodiment, as well as a similar layout to that shown in FIG. 9, but with a few differences as follows: each player receives 8 (instead of 7) possessed playing elements 350′, there need not be any chat feature associated with the game 100 or 100′ as shown in FIG. 10, the location of the locked score 709′ and the players' scores 401, 501 may be switched, the question mark (for access to the rules) 708 may be removed, and the “TILES LEFT” designation 705 may be moved over alongside the SSSS's left designation 706 and replaced with a “LAST MOVE” designation 1004.

The play shown in FIG. 10 is shown having proceeded as follows: first, player 1 first played horizontally the tiles “G 2” “E 1” “O 1” “L 2” “O 1” “G 2” “I 1” “C 3”, forming the word “GEOLOGIC”, giving player 13 points (interim score—not shown), and since this word used all 8 of the letters in player 1's possession to that point, per the rules of this embodiment of game 100′ stating that a player that plays all of its paying elements 350′ achieves lock, or safety, status for that word played. Thus, player 1 achieved a lock, or safety, status for this played word at which point its lock indicator next to player 1's name was changed to 8. Next, player 2 played the additional two letters “A 1” and “L 2” for “GEOLOGICAL”, adding only 3 points to player 2's score (since player 1's play of “GEOLOGIC” is locked the playing elements don't change to player 2's benefit as they normally would if player 1's word hadn't been locked), but since the “L 2” playing element was played covering a safety lock icon 201′ these latter two letters only of the word “GEOLOGICAL” became locked, or safety status, for player 2 so that its lock indicator next to player 2's name was changed to 2. Next, player 1 played the additional two vertically-oriented letters “A 1” “W 3”, and this play added 4 points to player 1's score, making it a total of 17 points, there being no change to player 2's score as a result of this last move. There was no change to player 2's score since its “A 1” ad “L 2” letters were locked as a result of having been played covering a lock icon 201′

The “LAST MOVE” designation 1004 of this embodiment of the game 100′ shows the change in score resultant of the previous, or last, move, so for example as shown in FIG. 10, with the addition of the letters “A 1” “W 3” by player number 1 to form the word “LAW”, the score changed by adding only 4 points to player 1's score as designated with the “+4” indication whereas player 2's score remained unchanged as designated with the “0” to the right of the “LAST MOVE” designation. If the last move is the last that could be made, or if a player resigned, then the “LAST MOVE” indicator would read “GAME OVER”. And because the vertically-oriented play of “A 1” “W 3” to the end of “GEOLOGICAL” (to form the word “LAW”) was played on a locked space under the previously played “L 2” element 310′ of “GEOLOGICAL”, therefore no change occurred to player number 2's score and no further change occurred to the lock status of either player's display after the last play described above.

Further, by way of layout differences for game board 200′, a “RESIGN” button 1001 may be added, allowing a player to end the game at any time, the “RECALL” button 702′ may be replaced with a “PASS TURN” button 1002, and a “SHUFFLE” button 1003 may be made to toggle with a “RECALL” button 1005. Thus, once a player places a playing element 310′ on the board at the start of their turn, the “RECALL” button 1005 appears until the player submits its move (i.e., taps the “PLAY” button 700′) at which time the “SHUFFLE” button 1003 reappears. Thus, until a player plays a tile, the player has the option of shuffling its possessed playing elements 350′.

As with a previously described embodiment of the game 100, play continues in game 100′ until either a player cannot play, a player resigns, and/or there are no longer any playing elements 300′ to play. Thus, in this latest described embodiment of the game 100′, scoring and final scoring of the game is similar, or the same, as that of game 100, except each player's score is based in part on the player being allowed to possess 8 playing elements 350′ instead of 7 playing elements.

Please note that not all playing spaces 201, playing spaces 201 pre-marked to indicate safety 203, and played playing elements 310, and possessed playing elements 350 are marked with lead lines and reference numerals on FIGS. 1-9, as well as with similar or corresponding primed references in FIG. 10, but all of which are easily identifiable from this specification and the Figures as noted.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated that one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the inventive principles disclosed are not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein, and that various aspects of the invention may be modified without departing from the true spirit of the invention as claimed.