Board Game for Teaching Probability

Abstract

The present invention provides a board game comprising a board having spaces, a game piece for moving sequentially along the spaces, area designations for demarking game play modes according to a location of each of the spaces, a die for rolling according to a first game play phase wherein a player has a chance to encounter an opponent by rolling the die and a second game play phase wherein a player has a chance to defeat the opponent upon roll of two six-sided dice.

Claims

1. A board game comprising: a board having spaces; a game piece for moving sequentially along the spaces; area designations for demarking game play modes according to a location of each of the spaces; dice for rolling according to the game play mode; and a first game play phase and a second game play phase wherein during the first game play phase a player rolls a single die to determine whether there will be an encounter with an opponent and a second game play phase wherein a player roles two six-sided dice to determine whether an imaginary battle has been won between the player and the opponent.

2. The board game of claim 1 further comprising a total of at least five game play rounds and the player has a 16.67% chance to defeat an opponent upon each roll of two six-sided dice.

3. The board game of claim 2 wherein a better chance to defeat an opponent is obtained at the Castle Shop.

4. The board game of claim 1 wherein the spaces include one of a stone and a star.

5. The board game of claim 1 wherein the area designations include one of a Light Forest, Dense Forest, Swamp, Light Mountain, Hard Mountain, Dark Mountain, Dragon's Lair, Troll Bridge and Castle.

6. The board game of claim 1 wherein the game play mode includes one of a Goblin Battle, Kobold Battle, Super Goblin Battle, Orc Battle, Stone Golem Battle, Mountain Giant Battle, Troll Battle, Dragon Battle, Jester Test, Good Wizard Test and Bad Wizard Test.

7. The board game of claim 1 further comprising game play mode including gold rewards of between 0 and 100 pieces of gold rewarded.

8. The board game of claim 1 further comprising the game using a pair of dice.

9. The board game of claim 8 wherein a third game play phase includes the dice causing a win for a monster.

10. The board game of claim 1 wherein the game piece represents a group of players.

11. A process of playing a game comprising the steps of: moving the game piece along spaces on a game board, the spaces being located in area designations demarking game play modes; rolling a die during a first game play phase and setting a chance to encounter an opponent upon roll of a die; rolling two six-sided dice during a second game play phase and setting a chance to defeat an opponent upon roll of the dice.

12. The process of claim 11 further comprising the steps of: during the first game play phase, setting a 1 in 6 chance to encounter an opponent upon roll of the die.

13. The process of claim 11 further comprising the steps of moving a game piece sequentially along area designations including one of a Light Forest, Dense Forest, Swamp, Light Mountain, Hard Mountain, Dark Mountain, Dragon's Lair, Troll Bridge and Castle.

14. The process of claim 11 further comprising the steps of participating in game play modes include one of a Kobold Battle, Orc Battle, Stone Golem Battle, Mountain Giant Battle, Goblin Battle, Super Goblin Battle, Troll Battle, Dragon Battle, Jester Test, Good Wizard Test and Bad Wizard Test.

15. The process of claim 11 further comprising the steps of having at least five game play rounds at each space.

16. The process of claim 11 further comprising the step of using a pair of six-sided dice and the game play mode includes the dice causing a win when rolled to a seven.

17. The process of claim 11 further comprising the step of using a pair of six-sided dice and the game play mode includes the dice causing a win when rolled to 4 or 10 when first weapon is purchased at the castle or a 5 or 9 is rolled to purchase a second weapon.

18. The process of claim 11 further comprising the steps of having at least five different monsters as opponents and a third game play phase where two six-sided dice are rolled in each round to determine whether the monster defeats the player.

19. The process of claim 11 further comprising the steps of using a math problem or logic problem to allow a player to get a reward or avoid a penalty.

20. The process of claim 11 further comprising the steps of having health points for each player and deducting the health points upon each play when the player gets hit and loses a die roll.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] FIG. 1 is a plan view of the board of the game depicting spaces for movement of game pieces and different game play areas of the game; and

[0013] FIG. 2 is a schematic flow diagram of the game depicting movement between the game play areas of the game.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The present invention has many embodiments. An example, of one embodiment includes a rectangular game board. The players start in the bottom left at stone 10, and will move one game spot (stone) per turn with a game piece or token. In an embodiment, a game piece represents a group of players. In another embodiment, each game piece may represent an individual player. The game is played until any single player is killed or until the game piece reaches stone 80 (in the upper right of FIG. 1) and the dragon is defeated.

[0015] In an embodiment, the dice are not used to move the game pieces. The game pieces just move sequentially along from space to space (from bottom left of FIG. 1 upward to upper right). At first, they are in the Light Forest area 10, and the chance of a monster encounter is 1/6. The player rolls a single die (6-sided). Each time they step onto a stone; if a 1 comes up, they are now battling some monsters. The opponents in the game are imaginary monsters, for example Goblins, Super Goblins, Kobolds, Ores, Stone Golems, Mountain Giants, Dragon or Trolls.

[0016] There are the same number of monsters as there are players in each group, and so each battle is 1-1 (1 player: 1 opponent). In the Light Forest area 10 the players have a 50% chance of encountering the weakest monsters (Goblins), and a 50% chance of the second-weakest, Kobolds. The player rolls the single die again, and if it shows 1, 2, or 3, it's a battle/encounter with Goblins, or a 4, 5, or 6 yields Kobolds. In the Dense Forest area 20 the players have a 50% chance of encountering the weak Kobolds and a 50% chance of encountering the stronger Super Goblins.

[0017] The strength or weakness of a monster is determined by its ability to hit the player. The players start with 10 health points each, while the monsters have only 1 (with some exceptions). The players start out with a first game play phase to see if they will have an encounter with an opponent/monster. The second game play phase is to determine it the player will defeat the monster by hitting if they roll a 7 when they roll two six-sided dice. Then in a third game play phase the monster determines if it will defeat the player. For example, a goblin hits if it rolls a 3 on their two six-sided dice; or Kobolds hit if they roll a 4 on their two six-sided dice. Play goes for five rounds, with the players always rolling first. If the battle isn't over in five rounds, the monster runs off. The players get gold rewards for killing any monsters (Goblins, Kobolds) that they did hit. To make it clear, assume the first battle is players versus goblins. Also assume there are five players. You pair off little figurine game pieces to illustrate that there are five battles about to commence, each with one human player versus one Goblin.

[0018] Player 1 rolls two dice, as do players 2, 3, 4, and 5. If anyone rolled a 7, that person's corresponding monster is dead. Any remaining Goblins now get to roll two dice for their first round.

[0019] Any Goblins that roll a total of 3 hit their corresponding player, doing 1 point of health damage. If humans/players roll numbers other than 7, or goblins roll numbers other than 3, the rolls are meaningless (e.g. not applicable, so player must roll over). This continues for five rounds (if any Goblin is still alive). After the fifth human round, the remaining Goblin gets an attack roll, and then it runs away successfully, keeping its gold. The encounter is now over. The human group gets 1 gold for every Goblin that was killed. The gold is maintained for the group of players and spent as a group in order to promote teamwork and sportsmanship.

[0020] Moving to the next stone on the board. In an embodiment, there are 12 Light Forest stones starting at stone 10, then 12 Dense Forest stones starting at post 20, then 10 Swamp stones starting at post 30, 8 Light Mountain stones starting at post 40, 6 Hard Mountain stones starting at post 50, 1 Darkest Mountain stone 80 at post 60, and 1 Dragon's Lair cave 70.

[0021] As the players move to the new areas, both the likelihood of encounter and strength of monster increase. As shown in FIG. 2 and Table 1 for the Light Forest 10, there was only a 1 out of 6 chance of battle, in the Dense Forest 20, that becomes 2 out of 6 (either 1 or 2 rolled), while in the Swamp 30 it's 3 out of 6, it's 4 out of 6 in the Light Mountain 40, and 5 out of 6 (either 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 rolled) in Hard Mountain 50, and 6 out of 6 on the Darkest Mountain 60 stone. The Darkest Mountain (which is only one stone 80); the encounter happens with 100% chance.

[0022] In the Light Forest 10, there was a 50% chance of Goblin and a 50% chance of Kobold and the opponent is 50% to be Goblin, who hits the players on a 3. The encounter is 50% to be a Kobold, who hits the players on a 4. Beating a Goblin yields 1 gold, while beating a Kobold yields 2 gold (see Table 1).

[0023] While in the Dense Forest 20 it is a 50% chance of Kobold (hits players on 4, yields 2 gold) and a 50% chance of Super Goblin (hits players on 5; yields 3 gold when beaten).

[0024] In the Swamp 30, any encounter is with an Orc party, with the Orcs hitting the players on a 6, and in the Light Mountain it's always Stone Golems (hit players on either a 5 or a 9). In the Dark Mountain 60 it is Mountain Giants, who hit players on a 6 or an 8.

[0025] The Dragon's Lair 70 will always yield a battle with the Dragon. The gold reward per monster also increases, Goblins are 1 per killed, Kobolds are 2, Super Goblins 3, Orcs 4, Stone Golems 5, and Mountain Giants 8 (except for Trolls).

[0026] In an embodiment, there exist one monster per player; so if there are four players, and they encounter Kobolds, there are 4 (the two exceptions are Trolls, where always 2 occur, and the Dragon, where always one does). If three Kobolds get killed by the players, and one runs away, then the group has earned 32=6 gold. The Trolls never run away, nor does the Dragon, but the other monster would run away after five battle rounds.

[0027] In the Castle 25 (FIG. 1) there's the Castle Shop, where (among other things), the players can buy the ability to instead of hitting on a 7, hitting on other rolls.

[0028] A Jester, Good Wizards, and Bad Wizards are characters in the game (not opponents). In addition, only two characters show up once (the Jester is there only once when the players first enter the castle 25, and the Good Wizards are only there the first time the players cross their star 72) while the other, the Bad Wizards, will always be there when crossing a black star 74, 76 on the way back toward the castle 25. There are nine Good Wizards and each has his own star. Good Wizard one shows up at first star 72 (just once). Good Wizard two shows up at second star, and so on . . .

[0029] There is a Troll Bridge 35, where two Trolls await the humans. The Trolls are especially difficult, but there are only two of them, regardless of the number of players. If there is a battle, players decide which Troll each of them is attacking, and then begin. The Trolls never run (they must be killed, and they have four health points eachso the players must hit each four times) and the Trolls hit the players (only one per attack) if they roll either a 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9. The Trolls give 3 gold each when killed.

[0030] The Dragon in the Lair 70 always hits all players each round after passing stone 80. The players still get to attack first, and the Dragon has 5 health points. Then the Dragon does one damage to each player with its dragon breath. This continues until the Dragon is dead. The players win 100 gold if they kill the Dragon. There is only one of the Dragon, and it is 100% chance for an encounter and to be in his Lair 70 (or cave). The players all try to hit Dragon, and Dragon has five hit points. The Dragon doesn't run ever, so the battle finishes when the group have landed five successful hits (rolling a 7 on two six sided dice), or one of them dies. Players strike first, and after they each roll, the Dragon attacks back. He does this by breathing fire, which doesn't need a percentage roll, because it hits 100% of the time for all of the group, doing 1 damage to each player. The battle and game are over when at least one of the players die.

[0031] The yellow stars 72 on the game board (representing the Good Wizards), the black stars 74, 76 (representing Bad Wizards) and the Castle 25 are important areas on the board (FIG. 1). Wizards ask questions that the players answer and find out more about the game.

[0032] The Good Wizards show up after any encounter on that stone or star 72 (and each star thereafterone Good Wizard per non-black star), and either give clues to help the players, or ask math or logic problems for the group to solve. If the group is correct, they get rewards (either gold or additional weapons meaning the humans can now hit on a 12 for example, in addition to a 7). This is an important part of the game, because the game master can customize the questions to the skill level or interest of the players. These Wizards 72in addition to the Jestermake the game more interactive than just set questions printed up on cards. For example, the first game, the first Good Wizard gave the players a clue to decipher that ended up reading DON'T TRY TO FIGHT TROLLS . . . and as the players figured it out, they realized that they could pass the Troll Bridge, and if they didn't start to fight, then the trolls would let them pass unscathed. Depending on the skill level (or age) of the players, the game master (acting as the Good Wizard) can customize the game by providing different clues for the players to decipher.

[0033] Example Wizard questions are as follows: [0034] A. Good Wizard 72 asks Deductive reasoning question. There are four friends: Abby, Chris, Tom, and Suzy. They each have a different favorite food: one likes pizza, another like apples; someone else likes carrots, and finally, the last person likes chicken. We know these three clues: [0035] 1. Abby's favorite food was once a living animal. [0036] 2. Tom loves vegetables. [0037] 3. A person who has exactly four letters in their name likes pizza. [0038] So, which food goes with each person? [0039] Answer: Abby chicken, Tom carrots, Suzy pizza, Chris apples. [0040] Good Wizard rewardgives hint: Dark water repels the Mountain Giants. [0041] B. Good Wizard 72 asks Full house question. You roll 5 six-sided dice. Three match; they are all one number and the other 2 are both a second number. If you add them up, you get the total 8. What do the dice show? [0042] Answer: 2-2-2-1-1 [0043] Good Wizard reward-players hit on 2. [0044] C. Good Wizard 72 asks first Pizza question. If you have a pizza, and eat half of it for lunch, and then eat half of what is left over at dinnertime, how much of the original pizza is left? [0045] Answer: 1/4 [0046] Good Wizard reward4 gold. [0047] D. Good Wizard 72 asks Lion, lamb, grain question. You have a lion, a lamb, a sack of grain, and a boat. Currently, you are stuck on one side of a river and want to get everything across. You can only bring one item with you in the boat at a time. If you ever leave the lion and the lamb together, the lion will eat the lamb. If you ever leave the lamb and the grain together, the lamb will eat the grain. How do you get all three across the river? [0048] Answer: you bring the lamb across first, and leave the lamb across the river and return with an empty boat. Next, you put the grain in the boat. When you get to the other side, drop off the grain while getting the lamb back in the boat. Return with the lamb, and leave it in the original spot while getting the lion on the boat. Take the lion over, and leave it with the grain, and return with an empty boat. Then get the lamb and go across, and you are done. [0049] Good Wizard reward10 gold. [0050] E. Good Wizard 72 asks second Pizza question. If you have a pizza, and eat half of it for lunch, and then eat half of what is left over for a snack, and then eat half of what is left over after snack as dinner, how much of the original pizza is left? [0051] Answer: 1/8 [0052] Good Wizard rewardhit on 3. [0053] F. Good Wizard 72 asks the second Full house question. Same as number B above, but the five dice now total 23. What do the dice show? [0054] Answer: 5-5-5-4-4 [0055] Good Wizard rewardhit on 11 and 12.

[0056] The Castle 25 is home to the Castle Shop (see Table 2), where the players can use their gold to buy certain items. For example, the players may use 4 gold pieces to get health back up to two points for whoever needs it, or some items to help in future battles. The relative value of these items is part of the thing the players will have to figure outsome are things they should never choose to buy, but figuring that out is part of the fun for them. The Castle 25 also has the Jester, who is willing to gamble with them up to three times. The players can decide beforehand how much gold to risk, and then the Jester asks a math or logic question or riddle, and if the players get it right (in three minutes unless otherwise noted), they win the amount they picked initially. If the players don't, then they lose that amount. The Jester is at the Castle 25 and may ask the players the following questions: [0057] Jester 1GROUP QUESTION (requires five correct answers to win): I give one piece of candy to (first person), 2 pieces to (second person), 3 to (third), 4 to (fourth), 5 to (fifth), and 6 to (first), 7 to (second), and so on, until Ive given out three rounds of candy. Each of you write down how many pieces total I gave you. [0058] Jester 2 -SPEED QUESTION (twenty seconds): What is the first odd number after 85? [0059] Jester 3 -I, the Jester, have 40 gold. My friend Fester has twenty more gold than I have. He gives half of his gold to Lester. Then Lester splits his gold into three equal piles, and gives one of those piles to Mester. Mester goes to the store and buys a sandwich for two gold. How much gold does Lester still have?

[0060] The game play moves sequentially from stone 10 to post 20 through the Light Forest where the players may meet Goblin 120 and Kobold 130. Next the players move through the Dense Forest between post 20 and post 30 where they may meet Kobold 140 and Super Goblin 150. Also the players may stop in the Castle 25 and meet the Jester 155 and Shop Keeper 157. Then moving between post 30 and post 40, the players may meet Ores 160 and Trolls 170 and troll bridge 35. Just after post 40, the players come to a Dark Bad Wizard; if the players answer the Bad wizard correctly they can proceed back to the Castle 25 (to replenish); if they answer wrong, then the players lose 1/4 of their gold.

[0061] Traveling between post 40 and 50 the players are in the Light Mountain where they may meet the Stone Golem 180. Then the Hard Mountain area is between posts 50 and 60, where the players may meet Mountain Giant 190 and Bad Wizard 76 (only if the players turn back toward the castle). At the final area, the Dark Mountain the players encounter Mountain Giants and when they reach the Lair 70 the players must encounter the Dragon 195.

[0062] Table 1 describes the game play modes including the area and board location, the Monster or opponent, the chance for an encounter with the Monster, the Player die roll to hit, Monster die roll to hit, the number of gold pieces for winning the encounter and number of points.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Game Play Modes Chance Player Die Roll Monster Die Roll Number of Monster Board for Encounter Hit On Number Hit On Number Gold Pieces Hit Location Opponent (Phase 1) (at first) (Phase 2) (Phase 3) for Reward Points Light Goblin/ 1/6 7 (16.67%) 3 Goblin 1 Goblin, 2 1 Forest Kobold (5.56%), 4 Kobold Kobold (8.33%) Dense Kobold/Super 2/6 7 4 Kobold 2 Kobold, 3 1 Forest Goblin (8.33%), 5 Super Goblin Super Goblin (11.11%) Swamp Orc 3/6 7 6 4 1 (13.89%) Light Stone Golem 4/6 7 5, 9 5 1 Mountain (22.22%) Hard Mountain 5/6 7 6, 8 8 1 Mountain Giant (27.78%) Dark Mountain 6/6 7 6, 8 8 1 Mountain Giant Troll Trolls (2) 100% 7 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 3 4 Bridge (66.67%) Dragon's Dragon 100% 7 n/a 100 5 Lair Castle Jester n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Yellow Good Wizard n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Star Black Star Bad Wizard n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

[0063] The probabilities of rolling a particular number on two six-sided dice are as follows:

[0064] The chance of rolling a total of 2 is 2.78 percent

[0065] The chance of rolling a total of 3 is 5.56 percent

[0066] The chance of rolling a total of 4 is 8.33 percent

[0067] The chance of rolling a total of 5 is 11.11 percent

[0068] The chance of rolling a total of 6 is 13.89 percent

[0069] The chance of rolling a total of 7 is 16.67 percent

[0070] The chance of rolling a total of 8 is 13.89 percent

[0071] The chance of rolling a total of 9 is 11.11 percent

[0072] The chance of rolling a total of 10 is 8.33 percent

[0073] The chance of rolling a total of 11 is 5.56 percent

[0074] The chance of rolling a total of 12 is 2.78 percent

[0075] The players may realize that they should travel past the Castle 25 in order to earn more gold, and then return back to the Castle Shop to buy things. This is a great strategy, but there will be two black stars 74, 76 that only come into play if the players head back toward the Castle 25 (the Bad Wizards show up only if the players are heading back to the Castle and pass by the black star). Then the Bad Wizards show up, and ask another math question. But if the group gets it wrong, they lose 1/4 of their gold! If they get it right, the wizard simply disappears.

[0076] Below is Table 2 that provides an example of items that players can purchase in Castle Shop:

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Castle Shop Items Item to Number of Gold Purchase Description Pieces Item 1: Full health right now 10 gold Item 2 You hit monsters on 5 and 9 30 Gold (instead of 7) Item 3 You hit monsters on 4 and 10 10 gold (instead of 7) (You cannot buy both item 2 and Item 3) Item 4 Dark sea water (1 bottle) 20 gold Item 5 Armor that can absorb 2 hits 15 gold (distributed to all players) Item 6 Shield that can absorb 1 hit 10 gold (distributed to all players) Item 7 Weak Health potion (1 bottle) 4 gold (restores 2 health points) Item 8 Strong Health potion (1 bottle) 9 gold (restores all health)

[0077] The present invention is described above by providing examples of the game, yet the invention is to be granted its proper scope solely according to the claims which follow: