US1204246A - Game-board. - Google Patents

Description

W. C. CARTER.

GAME BOARD.

APPLICATION man APR. 15, 1916.

1 4,246. Patented Nov. 7, 1916.

amve wlioz WHLTER C- CARTER WALTER G. CARTER, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

GAME-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 15, 1916. Serial No. 91,400.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WALTER C. CARTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game- Boards, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to game boards, and particularly to games on the order of checkers or chess, and the object of the invention is the provision of a game board so formed that a modification of the game of checkers may be played thereon, the board being so constructed that two, three or four .players may play at one time, the design of the board being such that the moves are rendered more complicated than in an ordinary game of checkers and the game made much more interesting.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan View of a board con structed in accordance with my invention; and Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view showing the use of circular checks in place of square.

Referring to Fig. 1, 2 designates a board of any suitable material, the field of this board being square and being divided into 169 squares or checks, 84 of which are white squares and 85 of which are squares having a different color, as for instance, black or red. The white squares are arranged alternately to the colored squares, as clearly seen from the drawing. The central square or space, which is designated 3, is preferably of a difierent color from the squares immediately surrounding it, as for instance, red, if the squares immediately surrounding it are black, and preferably is circular in form. Surrounding the central check or circle 3 are 25 black squares, or squares of a contrasting color to the central check, these 25 squares being arranged in a square, designated 4, the sides of which extend diagonally to the sides of the board or field. The space inclosing these 25 squares is preferably outlined by a line 5 touching the corners of the black squares inclosed within the space 4. Exteriorly to the line 5, and extending parallel to this line, there are 24 squares designated 6, which are preferably red or the same color as the central check 3.

This leaves 9 squares at each corner of the board which are black. The space inclosed within the line 5 is called the kings square, and the central check 3 is called the kings circle.

The game is played with ordinary checkers, or like pieces, and is played similarly to checkers, only the players start from the corners of the board and play toward the center. In playing, the object of any one player is of course to jump the men of any other player and remove them from the board and also get the pieces one by one into the kings square, that is, the space inclosed within the line 4 and to get the pieces one by one onto the kings circle 3. As soon as a piece moves into the kings square it has all the attributes of a king, that is, it can jump in all directions, but it is not crowned,

and the piece can only be crowned after it is moved onto the kings circle 3. After a piece has been moved into the kings square, as before remarked, it has all the attributes of a king except that it cannot be played outside of the kings square. After a piece has been crowned, however, it then has free movement over the entire board in any direction.

While I have illustrated in Fig. 1 a board laid ofl' into squares, this is not necessary as it may be laid off 'in circles as illustratedin Fig. 2, in which case, however, preferably the central square 3 has the form of a square to distinguish it from the circles.

It will be seen that the game lends itself to any number of players from two to four because it is played toward the center of the board, and furthermore, that'because of the subdivision of the board into the kings square and the kings circle the playingpf the game is rendered much more complicated and interesting. It is particularly essential in this game that the kings square 4 should have a sufficient number of checks in it to permit uncrowned kings within this square to have free movement over a relatively large extent of board, as otherwise the defense of the kings square against an adversary would be too easy, and one or two kings within the kings square, even though they had not been crowned, would render it extremely diflicult for an adversary to move his pieces into the kings square. Furthermore, by providing the red checks 6 which bound the red line'5, this red line is Patented Nov. *2, 1916. i

emphasized, and again special rules may be made for playing upon this line of red checks.

It will be noted that the checks 6 which bound the kings square or space extend diagonally across the field so as to leave at the corners of the field a certain number of checks, illustrated as 9 in number, which define the space within which the players dispose their men at the beginning of the game. In view of the fact that the checks upon which the pieces movemay be either round or square or have any other desired form, I will hereafter in the claims define these spaces as checks instead of squares.

Having described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A game-board having a square field laid off in alternate different colored checks and having a centrally disposed kings check of one color surrounded by a kings space having checks of a different color from. the central check, said kings space being square and defined by a line of contrasting color to the checks, the sides of the kings space extending diagonally with relation to the sides of the field.

2. A game board having a square field laid off in alternate different colored checks and having a centrally disposed kings check of one color surrounded by a kings space having checks of a difi'erent color from the central check, said kings space being square and defined by a line of contrasting color to the checks inclosed therein, the sides of the kings space extending diagonally to the sides of the field, the alternate sections exterior to the line and touching the line at the corners being of the same color as the line and as the kings check but differing in color from the other checks.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

I WALTER C. CARTER. Witnesses:

JNo. A. BLEICHNER, CHARLES HOELLEIN.

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