Patents Examined by Vishu Mendiratta
  • Patent number: 10232249
    Abstract: Described herein are systems and methods for stacking block games, which may include a game board or base including magnetized portions and a hover platform having at least one magnet connected thereto and being suspended above the game board or base and in a floating or hovering arrangement that can be generated by magnetic repulsion between the magnet of the platform and the magnetized portions of the game board or base. Further, a plurality of game pieces may be arranged in a stacked orientation on the platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: GEEKNET, INC.
    Inventors: Tyson Liotta, William Yonkers, Hans Fex
  • Patent number: 10226688
    Abstract: A weighted chess piece, comprising a base having a first cavity and a second cavity therein, wherein the first cavity is filled with loose particles of metal and the second cavity contains an electronic sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Inventor: Frank A. Camaratta, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10207174
    Abstract: A talent management portfolio game including a board representing an organization, whereby game pieces representing members of the organization having a potential value to the organization can be managed so as to maximize the value of the organization according to its members. Value pieces representing realized potential can be attached to the game pieces based on played talent action cards, thereby realizing some of the potential of the game piece. Game pieces can be promoted within the organization or exchanged in attempts to maximize the value of the organization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: MERCER (US) INC.
    Inventors: Kate M Frambach, Susan Dunn, Jason Jeffay
  • Patent number: 10195517
    Abstract: A method for playing a word-forming and word-guessing board game (10) between at least a first player and a second player includes (i) each of the players selecting a letter tile set (20), a card deck (22) and a dice set (26); (ii) each of the players utilizing a predetermined number of letter tiles (20) from their letter tile set (20) to form a word that is hidden from each of the other players; (iii) the first player utilizing their card deck (22) and their dice set (26) to win an opportunity to guess the word of any of the other players; and (iv) the first player making a guess of the word of any of the other players.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: THE UPPER DECK COMPANY
    Inventor: Ted J. Fechser
  • Patent number: 10179673
    Abstract: A toy includes a number of play objects that constitute surprises or prizes that are serially revealed to the child as the child removes various layers of wrappings from the toy. Some play objects are located between layers of wrapping. Other play objects are tucked into outer recesses of a spherical shell which is covered by the wrappings, such that removing one of the layers of wrappings reveals one compartment containing one play object at a time. Once all of the wrappings have been removed, the shell comes apart, thus revealing yet another play object. The play object within the shell can be a toy figure such as a doll, with other play objects that were previously revealed being clothing, accessories for the doll, or cards that contain information or other indicia that has a play relationship to the toy figure. The objects that are serially revealed bear a play relationship with one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: MGA Entertainment, Inc.
    Inventors: Paula Garcia, Ione Jefferies, Blanche Consorti, Cathy Martin
  • Patent number: 10166463
    Abstract: A pie game of chance and strategy is disclosed herein. The pie game includes a plurality of sector-shaped game pieces with favorable and unfavorable pie indicia printed thereon; a plurality of pans configured to be distributed to players of the pie game, each of the plurality of pans configured to hold a portion of the plurality of sector-shaped game pieces therein such that, when the pan is circumferentially filled with the portion of the plurality of sector-shaped game pieces, a complete circular pie is formed in the pan; and at least one die, the at least one die configured to determine an action taken by one or more of the players of the pie game when the at least one die is rolled by one of the players. A method for playing a pie game of chance and strategy is also disclosed herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Inventors: Kurtis Lee Gustafson, Norah Lee Gustafson
  • Patent number: 10143931
    Abstract: A toy construction set includes first and second construction elements, a pin, and a fastener including a body and a head. Each of the first and second construction elements includes through-holes and grooves on two major surfaces, respectively, of the construction element. A thickness of each groove is substantially the same. At at least one end of each groove, an edge of the groove is curved. The pin includes a body having a cavity and a member. A first portion of an edge of the member is curved, and a second portion of the edge of the member is straight. A thickness of the member is not larger than the thickness of each groove. The member of the pin is fixed in place in one of the grooves of the first construction element when the first and second construction elements are coupled by the pin and the fastener so as to constrain the pin from rotating with respect to an axis of the body of the pin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Shenzhen Bell Creative Science and Education Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Zuobing Wang, Zhiguang Dai
  • Patent number: 10143932
    Abstract: A building plate 1 a, 1 b, 1 c for a toy building set is provided, said building plate having a bracket plate 5 and a complementarily configured socket 7 to the effect that several building plates can be interconnected to form a larger building plate by mounting of the bracket plate 5 on a building plate 1 b in a socket 7 on another building plate 1 c.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: LEGO A/S
    Inventor: Kurt Jensen
  • Patent number: 10105590
    Abstract: A board logic game having a plurality of challenges for at least one player, the game comprising: a game board having game squares and at least one object square; at least one playing piece having a shape to fit within a game square, the at least one playing piece configured to be displaced between game squares; a challenge card specifying a maze structure, an initial game square position of the at least one game piece, and the at least one object square location; the maze structure having a maze template, the maze template including at least one maze piece, the at least one maze piece configured to be positioned within the maze template, the maze structure configured to be moved on the game board; wherein one of the plurality of challenges is solved by moving the maze structure on the game board and by thereby progressively biasing the playing piece to the at least one object square.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Inventor: Yossef Sonnenfeld
  • Patent number: 10105615
    Abstract: A fluid transference system, including: (a) at least two inflatable objects; (b) at least one variable-state fluid transfer conduit, interposed between a first and a second inflatable objects, the variable state conduit configured to allow fluid flow there-through in an open state and to disallow the flow in a closed state. A fluid transfer system, including: (a) an entry port; (b) an exit port; (c) a unidirectional main conduit defined between the entry port and the exit port; (d) an intermediate port; and (e) an intermediate conduit defined between the intermediate port and the main conduit, intersecting the main conduit between a first unidirectional valve and a second unidirectional valve, the main conduit defining a unidirectional fluid flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Inventor: Joseph Rogozinski
  • Patent number: 10065082
    Abstract: A golf club head includes a golf club body, a hosel connected to a heel portion of the golf club body, a face connected to a front of the golf club body, the face including an inner surface, an outer surface, and at least one boundary condition feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew James, Matthew David Johnson, Todd P. Beach
  • Patent number: 10010787
    Abstract: A three-dimensional maze structure contains: at least one body and at least one ball. Each body includes a central shaft, multiple partitions, and multiple paths. Each path is defined between any two adjacent partitions, among each path and any two adjacent partitions is formed a trapezoidal oblique surface, and each partitions is distributed by multiple semi-trapezoidal stop pieces, the stop piece has two peripheral ribs horizontally extending outward from two sides of each path to prevent the ball rolling out respectively, and between two facing peripheral ribs of any two adjacent stop pieces is defined a window. Each path has multiple fences and plural passages arranged in an irregular manner. Each ball rolls in each path of each body and a point with the trapezoidal oblique surface, hence each ball rolls and is stopped by the stop piece and then moves through horizontal path of any two adjacent partitions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Inventor: Kuo-Ming Tsai
  • Patent number: 9999829
    Abstract: A game system may comprise a board comprising a plurality of pegs extending from the board, wherein the pegs may be disposed in rows; at least one deflector configured to be coupled to at least two pegs aligned with one another; at least one ball configured to move on the board between and/or along the pegs and deflector(s) from a start end to a goal end of the board; at least one goal configured to be coupled to at least two pegs in a goal row of the rows of pegs, wherein the goal is configured to receive a ball; and a plurality of play selectors which determine a play for each player during a turn of a game. The goal of the game may be to get a ball into a goal by navigating across the board having the pegs and deflectors as obstacles to movement of the ball.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Inventor: Ted J. Fechser
  • Patent number: 9993739
    Abstract: A system for interconnecting discrete rigid member mating components creates different stable, freestanding three-dimensional figures such as robots. The mating components are positioned in tandem employ an elastic element through bores and each mating component has at least one slot that is aligned with a corresponding slot formed on adjacent mating component or body. The arrangement of the slots and elastic element permits each mating components to be maneuvered onto an adjacent mating component and retains its position without the use of hinges or other securing devices. A reconfigurable toy is constructed by interconnecting a plurality of different sized mating components. The mating components can thus be rearranged to form different-shaped figures including a robot that is reversibly transformable between a first configuration, which can comprise a myriad of forms, and a second configuration that is a cube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: David Weeks Studio LLC
    Inventor: David Weeks
  • Patent number: 9990799
    Abstract: A gaming table in which the outcome of the game is determined manually, and in which players place bets electronically and wins or losses are calculated electronically. The gaming system is applicable to any suitable game including roulette.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignees: SG Gaming ANZ PTY LTD, Crown Melbourne Limited
    Inventors: Brian Frost, Jason Choo
  • Patent number: 9987549
    Abstract: Game piece in the form of a polyomino or polycube or similar, consisting of a number of blocks (5) that are put together in an orthogonal pattern, characterized in that the game piece (4) comprises at least two parts (6) that are each formed by a number of aforementioned blocks (5) connected together in a fixed way, whereby these parts (6) are slidably coupled with respect to one another in such a way that they enable a number of forms of game pieces (4) to be formed with the game piece (4) concerned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: SMART, NAAMLOZE VENNOOTSCHAP
    Inventor: Rolf Vandoren
  • Patent number: 9968836
    Abstract: A ball for use in teaching proper throwing or pitching techniques in baseball or softball is disclosed. The ball provides an internal mechanism by way of a snap device or a channel having a shiftable weighted material to provide both an audible and visible indication of when a proper wrist snap release of the ball has occurred. The internal mechanisms disclosed can be incorporated into newly manufactured baseballs or softballs or placed into preexisting balls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Velocity Gravity Spin Innovations LLC
    Inventor: Kenneth Richard Fountain, III
  • Patent number: 9956496
    Abstract: An inflatable flying disc isincludes an inflatable annular body having an air inlet to inflate and deflate the flying disc; a base membrane being attached to the inflatable annular body along a peripheral edge; a first membrane being attached to the base membrane along the perimeter of the first membrane. The base membrane and the first membrane is form a water-tight compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Inventor: FengFei Yang
  • Patent number: 9943752
    Abstract: A sudoku-style game for use by a human player includes a game board surface presented to the player which has a plurality of P×Q sub-matrices of cells, each of the cells being divided into a first section and a second section, each section of each cell having sufficient space to contain a visually perceivable indicator, wherein P represents the number of rows in each sub-matrix, and Q represents the number of columns in each sub-matrix, a master matrix having the plurality of P×Q sub-matrices coupled one P×Q sub-matrix to another P×Q sub-matrix to form a desired game board shape, a solution to the game being the completion of the master matrix by the player so that no indicator is repeated more than a respective instructed number of times in each row and column.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Inventor: Glenn Frederick Mackay
  • Patent number: 9931579
    Abstract: A toy includes a number of play objects that constitute surprises or prizes that are serially revealed to the child as the child removes various layers of wrappings from the toy. Some play objects are located between layers of wrapping. Other play objects are tucked into outer recesses of a spherical shell which is covered by the wrappings, such that removing one of the layers of wrappings reveals one compartment containing one play object at a time. Once all of the wrappings have been removed, the shell comes apart into halves, thus revealing yet another play object. The play object within the shell can be a toy figure such as a doll, with other play objects that were previously revealed being clothing, accessories for the doll, or cards that contain information or other indicia that has a play relationship to the toy figure. The objects that are serially revealed bear a play relationship with one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: MGA Entertainment, Inc.
    Inventors: Paula Garcia, Ione Jefferies, Blanche Consorti, Cathy Martin