Word Forming Game for Large Words

Abstract

This invention is a novel word forming board game that uses a unique combination of features that enables and rewards large word formation. In addition, chance is used to make the outcome less predictable and more fun for players of all skill levels. The game apparatus includes a larger number of board spaces, a large number of letter tiles, and chance components (multiplier, bonus word, swap card and swap tiles chance types). The method of play uses a large number of letter tiles per player hand, and the ability to exchange letter tiles at the end of each turn. The basis of the word points is the word length which rewards large word formation. The multiplier chance types amplify the impact of forming large words on the player score, with multiplier values as high as 10 and as low as 10, distributed so lesser skilled players can win more often.

Claims

1. A word forming game apparatus comprising: a. a pool of 150 to 300 letter tiles including the alphabet of the English or other language and one or more blank tiles, b. a game board containing 650 to 841 board spaces which allow the placement of letter tiles to form words of one or more letter tiles, c. a deck of cards of 50-54 cards that contains chance types, d. chance types which include one or more of bonus word, swap cards, swap tiles and multiplier chance types, e. multiplier cards which include positive, zero, and negative value cards with values of 10 to 10, f. multiplier cards with numerical values of 10, 5, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and/or 10.

2. A word forming game apparatus of claim 1, which is a physical or virtual based game.

3. A method of play which uses the apparatus of claim 1 comprising: a. players selecting letter tiles from 12 to 16 letter tiles in their hand in each turn from which they form a word, b. players placing one or more of the letter tiles on the game board in the available board spaces to create a word on the board (once one word is on the board, new words must be built off of an existing word on the board), c. the player selects a chance card, d. if the chance card type is a multiplier card, the turn is over and the player calculates and records points for the turn as the product of the number of letters in the word played and the number value of the multiplier card, e. if the chance card type is a bonus word, the player can play an additional word from the remaining letters in their hand, or save the card for the same purpose in another turn, f. if the chance card type is a swap cards, the player saves the card for future use, g. this card would be used to swap a low number card for a higher number card multiplier card, h. if the chance card type is a swap tiles card, each player gives the letter tiles in their hand to the player to their left, i. the player to the left of the player drawing the card replenishes the letter tiles played by the player to their right before their next turn, j. if there are three or more players in the game, and Bankrupt card is drawn, the players score for the turn is zero, and the players total score is set to zero, the player continues to play in their next turn, k. the player score for a turn is calculated as the product of the number of letter tiles in the word or words played multiplied by the numerical value of the multiplier card played, l. the player may then exchange any letter tiles remaining in their hand with letter tiles from the letter tile pool, m. the player replenishes the letter tiles that were played during the turn, n. the players take turns until one of the agreed upon game endings has been met, o. if the game ending is chosen where there are no letter tiles left and the tile pool and one player has used all of their letter tiles, then the remaining players are to play one of the remaining multipliers in their hand and then multiply by the number of remaining tiles, the score for this turn is subtracted from the players score, p. if the multiplier played is negative valued, the product is added to the players score.

4. An alternative method of play which uses the apparatus of claim 1 comprising: a. players receive 5 chance type cards from the card deck, b. if the player has a swap cards chance card, they may discard one of more cards in their hand with new card(s) from the card deck during any single turn, before forming a word or after they are done forming words during their turn, c. players selecting letter tiles from 12 to 16 letter tiles in their hand in each turn from which they form a word, d. players placing one or more of the letter tiles on the game board in the available board spaces to create a word on the board (once one word is on the board, new words must be build off of an existing word on the board), e. the player may now play one or more of their chance cards as follows, f. if the player plays a multiplier chance card, the player turn is over and the player calculates and records points for the turn, g. if the player plays a bonus word chance card, the player plays a word from the remaining letters in their hand, if the player is ready to end their turn, they play a multiplier card, h. the player score for the turn is calculated as the product of the number of letter tiles in the word or words played multiplied by the numerical value of the multiplier card played, i. the player may then exchange any letter tiles remaining in their hand with letter tiles from the letter tile pool, j. the player replenishes the letter tiles that were played to make word or words during the turn, k. the players take turns until an agreed upon game ending has been met.

5. An alternative method of play of claim 3 comprising: a. players selecting letter tiles from 12 to 16 letter tiles in their hand in each turn from which they form a word, b. players placing one or more of the letter tiles on the game board in the available board spaces to create a word on the board (once one word is on the board, new words must be build off of an existing word on the board), c. the player score for the turn is calculated as the number of letter tiles in the word played, d. the player may then exchange any letter tiles remaining in their hand with letter tiles from the letter tile pool, e. the player replenishes the letter tiles that were played to make word or words during the turn, f. the players take turns until an agreed upon game ending has been met.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The Game Apparatus and Embodiments

[0022] The game apparatus common to the three embodiments of this invention comprises:

a. a pool of 150 to 300 letter tiles including the alphabet of the English or other language and one or more blank tiles, and preferably 216 letter tiles,
b. a game board containing 650 to 841 board spaces which allow the placement of letter tiles to form words of one or more letter tiles and preferably 676 tiles.

[0023] Two of the three embodiments also comprise:

c. a deck of cards of 50-54 cards that contains chance types,
d. chance types which include one or more of bonus word, swap tiles, swap cards, and multiplier cards,
e. multiplier cards which include positive, zero, and negative value cards with values of 10 to 10.

[0024] The apparatus can be either a physical based or virtual game. The game may be played on various media, including but not limited to, physical media, electronic game consoles, computers, and interactive and social media networks accessed using computers, cellular devices, tablets, etc.

[0025] In each of the three embodiments of this invention a method of play uses the apparatus above to:

a. have players selecting 12 to 16 letter tiles in their hand in each turn from which they form a word.
b. players placing one or more of the letter tiles on the game board in the available board spaces to create a word on the board (once one word is on the board, new words must be build off of an existing word on the board),
c. The player exchanges less desirable letter tiles and replenishes letter tiles that were used to make word(s) at the end of the turn.

[0026] In two of the three embodiments of this invention, the method of play also uses chance types including number multiplier cards, and one or more of bonus word, swap cards, and bankrupt chance types. When a player chooses to play a bonus word card, then can form and additional word on the board using the remaining letters in their hand. A swap cards allows the player to exchange one or more of the cards in their hand for the same number of cards from the card deck. This card can only be played at the beginning or end of the hand, before forming a word or after all word forming is done for the players turn.

[0027] The method of game ending is chosen from standard methods known to those skilled in the art, such as, completing a number of turns for each player, achieving total score, playing for a set amount of time, playing until the letter tile pool is empty or until the first player had played all of the letters in their hand and no letters are left in the letter tile pool.

[0028] The apparatus of this invention, can use chance elements as playing cards, spinners, dice, of other game components known to those skilled in the art.

[0029] The words are formed according to customs of the language of the game, which for the English language is horizontally (left to right) and vertically (top to bottom). Further details of the three embodiments are given in the examples below.

Example 1. Apparatus

[0030] The following items are an example of an apparatus as a working example of this invention:

1. A square game board comprised of 676 spaces, 26 spaces wide by 26 spaces high.
2. Two hundred sixteen letter tiles comprised of the following distribution of letter tiles: A-17, B-4, C-5, D-9, E-24, F-4, G-6, H-5, I-18, J-2, K-2, L-8, M-5, N-13, O-17, P-4, Q-2, R-14, S-11, T-14, U-8, V-4, W-5, X-2, Y-5, Z-2, blank-6.
3. Fifty chance type cards comprised of the following distribution of card types (chance type, number of that type):
Bonus word, 6 each; Swap cards, 4 each, Multiplier cards (value and number of cards): 0 multiplier, 3 each; 1 multiplier, 5 each; 2 multiplier, 5 each; 3 multiplier, 5 each; 4 multiplier, 4 each; 5 multiplier, 4 each; 6 multiplier, 4 each; 7 multiplier, 4 each; 8 multiplier, 1 each; 9 multiplier, 1 each; 10 multiplier, 1 each; 5 multiplier, 2 each; 10 multiplier, 1 each.
4. In one embodiment (e.g. example 2 below), 2 additional Swap tiles cards are used.

Example 2. Method of Play in the First Embodiment-Original Game Version

[0031] The following steps are an example of the method of play as taught in this invention. The Apparatus in Example 1 was used for this example. There are four players in this example game. The method of play in this example consists of the following steps:

1. The players decide that they will play the game until the letter tile pool is empty and one player has played all of their tiles.
2. Each player selects one tile from the letter tile pool. The person with the highest letter of the alphabet earned to right to play first.
3. Each player selects 16 letter tiles from the letter tile pool starting with the first player and then the next player to the left of the first player.
4. The card deck is shuffled to randomize the cards in the deck.
5. The first player places 8 letter tiles on the board to form a word.
6. The first player then draws a chance type card from the card deck, it is a multiplier card with value of 3.
7. The first player records a score of 24 for their turn based on a product of the number of letter tiles in the word (8) and the number of the multiplier card (3).
8. The first player exchanges 2 of the 8 letter tiles that they did not play in the hand to improve the ability to play a word in their next turn.
9. The first player then also replenishes the 8 letter tiles from the letter tile pool for their next play.
10. The second player plays a word using one of the letters from the word on the board and an additional 6 new letters from the 16 letter tiles in their hand.
11. The second player draws a bonus word card. They decide to play the card in this turn and form a second word of length 5 letters. This brings the total number of letter tiles they played during this turn to 12.
12. The second player then draws a multiplier card with a value of 7.
13. The second player records a score of 84 based on a product of the number of letter tiles in the words formed during their hand (5+7=12) and the value of the multiplier card (7).
14. The second player decides to exchange three of the remaining tiles in their hand and replenishes the 10 letter tiles from the letter tile pool for their next turn.
15. The third player plays a word of length 7 letter tiles. They draw a swap cards card. They place this card face up on the game surface for use later. They then draw a number card of 10. They decide to use the swap cards card in this turn, and discard the 10 card and select another card. The card is a number 7 card. The players score is 49 for the turn (77). The player has avoided a score of 70 for the turn by playing the swap cards card.
16. The third player decides to exchange none of the remaining tiles in their hand and replenishes the 6 letter tiles that were used to form the word played from the letter tile pool for their next turn.
17. The fourth player plays a 9 letter word on the board and then draws a bankrupt card. The players score for the turn, and their total score are adjusted to zero.
18. Player 4 exchanges 3 letter tiles to improve their hand for the next turn and replenishes the 8 letters that were used to form the word played.
19. Player 1 plays a 6 letter word on the board and then draws a swap tiles card. Each player now exchanges tiles with the player to their left. The player to the left of player 1 replenishes the 5 tiles used by player 1 to form the word before their next turn. Player 1 then draws another card, it is a multiplier card with value 3. The score for Player 1 for the turn is 18 (63=18).
20. The players continue taking turns until the tile pool was empty and the third player has no tiles left.
21. The third players total score is the sum of the scores for each turn played.
22. Player 1 has 8 tiles remaining in their hand, they draw a number card of value 3. They calculate the product of the 8 tiles and the number card 3, which is 24 and subtract 24 points from the total score they accumulated during their turns.
23. Player 2 has 5 tiles left. They draw a 5 number card. They calculate the product of the 5 tiles and 5 number card, which is 25. They subtract 25 from their score, which adds 25 points to their total score.
24. Player 4 had 11 tiles left. They drew a number 0 card, so the product they calculate was 0 and no points were subtracted from their total score.
25. Player 3 had the highest number total score and won the game.

Example 3. Method of Play in the Second Embodiment-Gamer Game Version

[0032] The following steps are an example of the method of play as taught in this invention. The Apparatus in Example 1 was used for this example. There are four players in this example game. The method of play in this example consists of the following steps:

1. The players decide to choose a game ending of 500 total points.
2. Steps 2-4 of Example 3 are repeated here.
3. Each player selects 5 chance cards from the card deck.
4. The first player places 8 letter tiles on the board to form a word.
5. The first player then plays a multiplier card from their hand with number value 3.
6. The first player records a score of 24 based on a product of the number of letter tiles in the word (8) and the number of the multiplier card (3).
7. The first player exchanges 2 of the 8 letter tiles that they did not play in the hand to improve the ability to play a word in their next turn.
8. The first player replenishes the 8 letter tiles from the letter tile pool and chance cards from the card deck for their next play.
9. The second player plays a word using one of the letters from the word on the board and an additional 6 new letters from the 16 letter tiles in their hand.
10. The second player then decides to play a bonus word card from their hand and form a second word of length 5 letters.
11. The second player then plays a multiplier card from their hand with a value of 7.
12. The second player records a score of 84 based on a product of the number of letter tiles in the words formed (5+7=12) and the number of the multiplier card (7).
13. The second player decides to exchange three of the remaining tiles in their hand and replenishes the 6 letter tiles from the letter tile pool and also replenishes the chance cards used during this hand from the card deck for their next play.
14. It is the third players turn and they note that the highest number value multiplier card in their hand is 2 and there are other low number cards in their hand (5 and 0). The player uses their swap cards card to discard the low number cards and replace them with new cards from the card deck.
15. The third player plays a word of length 7 letter tiles.
16. The third player now plays a number 6 multiplier card.
17. The third players score is 42 for the turn (76).
18. The third player decides to exchange none of the remaining tiles in their hand and replenishes the 6 letter tiles played to form the word played from the letter tile pool and also replenishes the chance cards from the card deck for their next turn.
19. The four players continue taking turns until player 2 reached a score of 500 points.
20. Player 3 and 4 each play one more turn to match the number of turns played by player 2.
21. Player 2 had the highest total score and won the game.

Example 4. Method of Play in the Third Embodiment-Wordy Game Version

[0033] The following steps are an example of the method of play as taught in this invention. The Apparatus in Example 1 was used for this example. There are two players in this example game. The method of play in this example consists of the following steps:

1. The players choose a method of game ending of playing to 100 points.
2. Steps 2-3 of Example 3 are repeated here.
3. The first player plays a word with 8 letters, and records a score of 8, the sum of the letters in the word. In this embodiment, chance cards are not used.
4. The first player exchanges 2 of the 8 letter tiles that they did not play in the hand to improve the ability to play a word in their next turn.
5. The first player then also replenishes the 8 letter tiles from the letter tile pool for their next play.
6. The second player plays a word using one of the letters from the word on the board and an additional 6 new letters from the 16 letter tiles in their hand.
8. The players score is 7, the sum of the letters played in the word formed.
9. Player 1 and 2 take turns as above until player 2 reached 100 points. Since player one already had their turn for that round of play, the game is over.
10. Player 2 won the game as they had the most points.