Strategy game with geometrical structure

Abstract

The present invention is an educational and recreational apparatus having a geometrical structure or game device, which can be any structure of geometrical shapes with a plurality of nodes composed by edges. The game device can be designed as two-dimensional or three-dimensional, single-plane or multi-plane, latticed or non-latticed geometrical structure. Said nodes of a game device are categorized by the degree of freedom defined by the number of edges connected to the node. The game is played with two groups of spherical game pieces and begins with no game pieces positioning on the game device. While in playing, each player put a game piece in turn on nodes of the game device. Said game piece cannot be moved or removed after being put on a node until it is captured by opponent pieces. The player who occupies more nodes than opponent wins the game.

Description

[0001] U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,687B1, issued to Lenhart, discloses a multi-board game. Although the inventor defines the game as a board game, it provides players a multi-plane game device in which to form squares of one color with game pieces.

[0002] U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,685B1, issued to Sterling, discloses a three-dimensional board game. The game structure is also a multi-board structure, like the U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,687B1, and provides players a multi-plane game device instead of the flat single plane game board.

[0003] U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,819, issued to Underwood, discloses a three-dimensional strategy game. The game is played on a multi-board game structure, and game pieces are moveable among game boards.

[0004] All above multi-plane strategy games have not developed a game device utilizing geometrical structure, and playing the game on the nodes of the structure. Unlike above multi-plane strategy games, the present invention developed the game device based on the geometrical principles. Instead of playing on the grids of board surfaces or inserting spherical pieces inside the center of the game device cubes, the present invention developed the game by embedding spherical game pieces on the nodes of geometrical structure. Moreover, instead of using a single uniformed device to play the game, present invention allows players to develop their own game devices as long as their game devices follow rules and requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The present invention is a new pattern of the multi-plane strategy game playing on a multi-plane geometrical structure. Unlike prior art multi-plane strategy games such as multi-board strategic games or the game with 3-dimensional matrix, the present invention developed game device by utilizing the geometrical graph principles and concepts, and developed the strategic game by embedding spherical game pieces on nodes of the geometrical game device. Unlike prior art multi-plane strategy games such as multi-board strategy games and the games with multi-dimensional matrix, the present invention does not use the single uniformed structure as the standard game device. Instead, the present invention allows players to design and develop their own game devices as long as their designs following rules and requirements, such that the game device should be a kind of geometric graphic pattern with a plurality of nodes, and the edges or wires that formed nodes should be with identical length and diameter.

[0006] The game device developed by the present invention or by players can be classified with different categories. Based on dimensions, the game device can be classified as “two-dimensional” or “three-dimensional”. Based on the number of planes involved, the game device can be categorized as “single-plane”, “two-plane”, and “multi-plane”. Based on the characteristics of the structure, the game device can be grouped as “latticed” and “non-latticed”. Based on the degree of freedom of nodes, the game device can be classified as “three degree”, “four degree”, “five degree” and “six degree” devices.

[0007] Since there are different nodes with different degree of freedom in a game device, the game pieces, which are spherical shape with grooves on the surface for embedding on nodes of the game device, are accordingly categorized based on the number of grooves. The game piece with four grooves is used to embed on the four-degree nodes, and so is called “four degree game piece”. Similarly, the game piece with six grooves is classified as “six degree game piece”. And so on.

[0008] The game is played with two colored game piece groups, each color associates a single player. The game begins with no game pieces positioned on the game device. Then players embed game pieces in turn on nodes of the game device. Once a game piece is embedded on a node of the game device, it cannot be moved or removed until it is captured by opponent player's game pieces, or the game is over.

[0009] A game piece is captured if all adjacent nodes of the game piece were occupied by opponent player's game pieces. A group of game pieces are captured if all adjacent nodes of the group were occupied by opponent pieces and there are no non-occupied nodes inside the group.

[0010] The player who occupies more nodes than its opponent wins a game. However, since certain nodes of a game device are with more advantage than other nodes and first occupier of these nodes usually have more advantages (for example, nodes on the 2nd and 3rd lines from the corner of the latticed game device have more advantage than others for controlling the corner.), the present invention sets up rules inclining to the second mover

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0011] 1. Field of the Invention

[0012] The invention related to educational and recreational device and more particularly to a method of developing the integrating view of space and multi-plane geometrical graphs.

[0013] 2. Description of Related Art

[0014] Strategy games such as Chess, Checker and Go are usually played on game boards, which are flat, two-dimensional single-plane devices. The present invention is the strategy game playing on multi-plane device. The multi-plane geometrical strategy game is basically different from the board game in device and methodology.

[0015] Some multi-plane strategy games developed some specific structures with specific playing rules.

[0016] U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,681, issued to Allen, discloses a multi-plane strategy game structure consists of a lattice type matrix forming a plurality of open cubes. When playing, players insert game pieces, the play balls, into the center of the cube of the matrix. to balance the second mover's disadvantage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] FIG. 1 is the view of a 4-degree, two-dimensional, single-plane and 9 by 9 latticed game device. Graph “A”, the top graph, is the top down view of the game device. Graph “B”, the bottom graph, is the perspective view of the game device on a baseboard with several game pieces embedded on nodes of the structure.

[0018] FIG. 2 is the view of a 3-degree, two-dimensional, single-plane and non-latticed game device with a honeycomb pattern. Graph “A”, the top one, is the top down view of the game device. Graph “B”, the bottom one, is the perspective view of the game device on a baseboard with several game pieces embedded on nodes of the structure.

[0019] FIG. 3 is the view of a 6-degree, two-dimensional, single-plane and non-latticed game device with enhanced honeycomb pattern. Graph “A”, the top one, is the top down view of the game device. Graph “B”, the bottom one, is the perspective view of the game device on a baseboard with several game pieces embedded on nodes of the structure.

[0020] FIG. 4 depicts a game device (on the top) and a clip (on the bottom). The clip is the tool used to load and unload game pieces on the inner nodes of the game device. The drawing on top is the perspective view of the 6-degree, three-dimensional, 2-plane latticed game device with 9×9×9 pattern. In the drawing, “A” is the baseboard, “B” is the structure and “C” is game pieces embedded on the nodes. On the bottom of the figure, graph “D-1” is the sectional drawing of the clip. Graph “D-2” is the sectional drawing of the clip when the clip is in use for holding a game piece. Graph “D-3” is the perspective view of the clip.

[0021] FIG. 5 depicts a game device (on the top) and a clip (on the bottom). The top picture is the perspective view of a 5-degree, three-dimensional, 2-plane latticed game device with honeycomb pattern. “A” is the baseboard, “B” is the structure and “C” is game pieces embedded on the nodes. On the bottom of the figure, graph “D-1” is the sectional drawing of a clip. Graph “D-2” is the sectional drawing of the clip when the clip is in use for holding a game piece. Graph “D-3” is the perspective view of the clip.

[0022] FIG. 6 is the perspective view of a mono-degree, three-dimensional, 16-plane non-latticed game device with 4 game pieces on the nodes. For this game device, every node has 3 degree of freedom.

[0023] FIG. 7 is the perspective view of a mono-degree, three-dimensional, 6-plane non-latticed game device. This game device is a Dodecahedron shape structure. For this game device, every node has 3 degree of freedom.

[0024] FIG. 8 is the perspective view of a mono-degree, three-dimensional, 10-plane non-latticed game device. This game device is a typical Icosahedrons shape structure. For this game device, every node has 5 degree of freedom.

[0025] FIG. 9 is the view of a baseboard. Graph “A” is the perspective view of the board. Graph “B” is the top down view of the board. And graph “C” is the sectional drawing of the board from the section line “B-2”. The board is horizontally rotative around the center. Arrows “B-1” indicate the direction of rotating. Graph “C” depicts the detailed inner structure of the board. “C-1” is the main part of the board. “C-2” is a round disc embedded underneath of the main part with a metal ball (“C-3”) embedded in the board center, which made the board rotating. On the surface of the board, there are pluralities of holes. These holes are used to hold edges or poles supporting the structure or game device. In this board, holes are arranged in rectangular shape.

[0026] FIG. 10 is the view of a baseboard like the FIG. 9. The only difference from FIG. 9 is that the holes of the board are arranged in a honeycomb shape.

[0027] FIG. 11 depicts how the tube-and-wire-connecting method works. From the zoomed area, “A” is the hole on the board, “B” is the tube plugging into the hole, and “C”, is the wire plugging into the tube. Tube and varied wire connectors are shown on the bottom of the figure. “D” is the perspective view of the tube. “E-1” is a 600 wire-connector. “E-2” is a 72° wire-connector. “E-3 is a 90° wire-connector. “E-4” is a 108° wire-connector, and “E-5” is a 120° wire-connector.

[0028] FIG. 12 is the assembling view of the tube-and-wire-connecting. Like FIG. 11, “A” is the hole on the board to hold supporting pole; B's are tubes and C's are wire connectors. More than that, this figure further depicts the connecting method by applying more tubes and more wire connectors, which can be seen more clearly in the zoomed area.

[0029] FIG. 13 is an assembling view of the tube-and-wire-connecting system with labels on tubes and wires. “1”, “2” and “3” are wires. “a”, “b” and “c” are tubes.

[0030] FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a part of the honeycomb structure made by tube-and-wire-connecting. “A” is the hole on the board, “B” is the tube, and “C” is the wire connectors.

[0031] FIG. 15 is the view of game pieces. Picture “A-1” is the top view of the 4-degree game piece. Picture “A-2” is the front view of the 4-degree game piece. Picture “A-3” is the side view of the 4-degree game piece. Picture “A-4” is the section view of the 4-degree game piece. And picture “A-5” is the perspective view of the 4-degree game piece. In the middle line, the picture “B-1” is the top view of the 6-degree game piece. Picture “B-2” is the front view. Picture “B-3” is the side view. Picture “B-4” is the section view. And picture “B-5” is the perspective view. On the bottom of the figure, the picture “C-1” is the top view of the 5-degree game piece. Picture “C-2” is the front view. Picture “C-3” is the side. Picture “C-4” is the section view. And picture “C-5” is the perspective view.

[0032] FIG. 16 is the view of a three-dimensional, 16-plane non-latticed mono-degree game device with pieces on the nodes, which depicts some of the game rules: At the beginning, there is no game pieces positioned on the game device; The game is played by two players, who put game pieces in turn on nodes of the game device; There are two colored game piece groups, and each color associates to one player; and dark-colored game piece moves first. In the picture, the black-colored game piece moves first, then the white one, and then the black one, and so on.

[0033] FIG. 17 depicts how the black piece “7” captures a white-colored game piece “6”.

[0034] FIG. 18 shows the result of capturing depicted by FIG. 17.

[0035] FIG. 19 depicts how a group of black pieces (“1”, “3”, “9”, “11”, “15”) is captured by white pieces (“2”, “6”, “12”, “14”, “6”).

[0036] FIG. 20 shows the result of the capture depicted in FIG. 19.

[0037] FIG. 21 depicts the game rule: suicide is forbidden. The move of white piece “8” on the picture is illegal since the node is surrounded by the black pieces.

[0038] FIG. 22 points the node “A”, which is surrounded by black pieces. However, if a white piece puts on node “A”, it will not be suicide because it captures the black piece “45”.

[0039] FIG. 23 shows the legal move of white piece numbered “10”. After white piece “10” being put on the game device, the black piece “5” is captured.

[0040] FIG. 24 shows the result of the move depicted by FIG. 23. After being put white piece “10”, black piece “5” is removed from the game device.

[0041] FIG. 25 depicts an illegal move made by black piece “11”. Since the white piece “10” has just captured “5” (depicted in FIG. 24), the black piece “11” violates the rule of “immediately counter capture is not allowed”.

[0042] FIG. 26 shows that the black piece “11” moves to other position instead of doing “immediate counter capture”. The white piece “12” now can either moves on the position of “5” (see FIG. 23) or puts on somewhere else.

[0043] FIG. 27 shows that the white piece “12” does not fill in the position of captured black piece, the black piece “13” now has a chance to fight back and capture white piece “10”.

[0044] FIG. 28 shows the result of the capture done by black piece.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0045] As shown from FIG. 1 to FIG. 8, the game device of the present invention can be any type of geometrical structure. It can be two-dimensional (FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3) or three-dimensional (FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8). It can be set in a one-plane space (FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3), or in a two-plane space (FIG. 4 and FIG. 5), or in a multi-plane space (FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8). The game device can be developed with different geometrical types, either latticed like FIG. 4 or non-latticed such as FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.

[0046] These game devices can also be classified by the degree of freedom of their nodes. The number of edges connected to a node defines the degree of freedom of the node. The number of degrees of a node is equal to the number of edges or wires connected to the node. Suppose ‘N’ is a valid positive integer, said node is the node with “V” degree of freedom or “N” degree node if there are “N” edges connecting to the node. For example, four corner nodes of the game device in FIG. 1 are two-degree nodes because they all have two wires or two edges connected to the corner point. And those nodes on four sides of the game device in FIG. 1 are all with three edges connected together, so they are three-degree nodes. Then all other nodes in the center of the game device in FIG. 1 are four-degree nodes since they all have four edges connected together. Said game device is the mono-degree game device if all nodes of the game device have the same degree of freedom, otherwise, said game device is the multi-degree game device. The node with the highest degree in a game device determines the degree of the game device. For example, the game device in FIG. 1 is the 4-degree game device since the node with the highest degree is the 4-degree node.

[0047] FIG. 1 to FIG. 8 shows some cases of mono-degree game devices and multi-degree game devices. For example, the game device in FIG. 6 is a mono-degree game device because all nodes of the structure are three-degree nodes. The game device in FIG. 7 is also the mono-degree game device since all nodes in the structure are three-degree nodes. The game device in FIG. 8 is the mono-degree game device with five-degree nodes. Latticed game devices are multi-degree game devices because latticed device has corner and sides, and nodes in these different positions will accordingly be with different degree of freedom. For example, the game device in FIG. 4 is a latticed, three-dimensional, two-plane, multi-degree game device. Eight corner nodes are three-degree nodes (the supporting pole does not count for the degree of freedom). Nodes on twelve ridges are all four-degree nodes. Nodes on six side surfaces of the game device are all five-degree nodes. And the nodes in the center of the game device are all six-degree nodes. Since the degree of the game device is determined by the degree of the nodes that are with highest number of degrees, the game device in FIG. 4 is the six-degree game device. Similarly, the game device in FIG. 5 is five-degree game device.

[0048] Based on above categories, the game device in FIG. 1 is a two-dimensional, single-plane, non-latticed four-degree game device. The game device in FIG. 2 is a two-dimensional, single-plane, non-latticed three-degree game device. The game device in FIG. 3 is a two-dimensional, single-plane, non-latticed six-degree game device. The game device in FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional, two-plane, latticed six-degree game device. The game device in FIG. 5 is a three-dimensional, two-plane, and latticed five-degree game device. The game device in FIG. 6 is a three-dimensional, 16-plane, non-latticed three-degree game device. The game device in FIG. 7 is a three-dimensional, 6-plane, non-latticed three-degree game device. The game device in FIG. 8 is a three-dimensional, 10-plane, non-latticed five-degree game device.

[0049] To help players to reach the center nodes of latticed game devices in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the present invention suggests using clip to load and unload game pieces. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 depict the structure of the clip. On the bottom of the FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, graph “D-1” is the sectional drawing of the clip. Graph “D-2” is the sectional drawing of the clip when the clip is in use for holding a game piece. Graph “D-3” is the perspective view of the clip.

[0050] FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 depict the game device baseboard. The game device baseboard provides a physical base for building geometrical structures with tube-and-wire-connecting method. Based on the arrangement of the holes, which are used to hold the supporting poles, baseboards can be classified as the square baseboard and non-square baseboard. If all holes on the surface of the baseboard are arranged into the square shape like the one in FIG. 9, the baseboard is the square baseboard. Others are non-square baseboards like the one in FIG. 10.

[0051] On FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, there are three graphs to depict the structure of the baseboard. Graph “A” is the perspective view of the baseboard. Graph “B is the top view of the baseboard with curved arrow lines (B-1) indicating the board is rotative. And graph “C” is the section view of the baseboard from the sectional line B-2 to show how the inner structure of the board makes it rotary. “C-1” is the main part of the baseboard. “C-2” is a round disc embedded underneath the main part with a metal ball (“C-3”) embedded in the board center, which makes the board rotating.

[0052] The present invention introduces a tube-and-wire-connecting method for the game device building. FIG. 11 to FIG. 14 shows how the tube-and-wire-connecting method works.

[0053] FIG. 11 depicts the tube-and-wire-connecting method. From the zoomed area, “A” is the hole on the board, “B” is the tube plugging into the hole, and “C” is the wires plugging into the tube. For the tube and wire connecting properly, the inner diameter of the tube should be greater than or equal to the sum of two wire diameters. Tube and different type of wire connectors are shown on the bottom of the figure. “D” is the perspective view of the tube. “E-1” is a 60° wire-connector. “E-2” is a 72° wire-connector. “E-3 is a 90° wire-connector. “E-4” is a 108° wire-connector, and “E-5” is a 120° wire-connector. Users can select any of these wire connectors to create a needed geometrical structure.

[0054] FIG. 12 is the assembling view of the tube-and-wire-connecting. Like FIG. 11, “A” is the hole on the board to hold supporting pole; B's are tubes and C's are wire connectors. More than that, this figure further depicts the connecting method by applying more tubes and more wire connectors. There are two upright tubes on the board. The left one has two wire connectors. The right one has three tubes and four wire connectors composing a node. To connect tubes, the wire connector put one end into one tube and another end into other tube. On the top of the figure, ends of wire-connectors project out into the air, which means that the structure is not finished and the wire connectors are ready to connect another tube.

[0055] FIG. 13 is an assembling view of the tube-and-wire-connecting system with labels on tubes and wire connectors. Three tubes and three wire connectors are used to form a node. In the zoomed area, one end of wire-connector “1” is inserted in tube “a”, and another end is inserted in tube “b”. Then, one end of wire-connector “2” is inserted in “b” and another end is inserted in “c”. Further, one end of “3” is inserted in “a” and another end is inserted in “c”. The combination passed on from wire-connector “1”-“3”, wire-connector “1”-“2”, to wire-connector “2”-“3” to connect tube “a”, “b” and “c”. In this way, every two wire-connectors formed a “plug” that is wide enough to fill the inner diameter of the tube, and connected all three tubes together. The method can be applied to nodes with different degree of freedom. For example, the 4-degree node can be formed with 4 tubes and 4 wire connectors; 5-degree node can be formed with 5 tubes and 5 wire connectors, and so on.

[0056] A more complicate case of the tube-and-wire-connecting is shown in FIG. 14. On FIG. 14, a three-dimensional honeycomb structure is building. A hexagon shape has been made by the tube-and-wire connecting method. Further, on each corner of the hexagon, two wire ends project out waiting for a tube to be filled in. After all projected ends are filled; another run of tube-and-wire-connecting will start on the new layer of the structure. In this way, the whole structure can be built layer by layer.

[0057] The tube-and-wire-connecting method is used for building non-computer-based game device. If developing the computer-based geometrical structure, the tube-and-wire-connecting method will be no use. However, to develop a computer-based game device, developers should use the computer language or software that has functions of three-dimensional graph development, as well as the functions of three-dimensional graph animations.

[0058] When the game device is set up, the game can be played with game pieces. The game piece is a spherical shape with a number of grooves projected from the center. The degree of a node determines the number of grooves of the game piece. For example, if a game piece is used for embedding on the node with 4-degree of freedom, then the game piece should have 4 grooves. The number of grooves of a game piece determines the degree of the game piece. For example, if there are 4 grooves on a game piece, the game piece is the four-degree game piece.

[0059] FIG. 15 depicts three game pieces. One is the game piece with 4 grooves projected from the center, which is depicted from the top line of the picture. This is a 4-degree game piece that will be used for embedding on the 4-degree nodes. The second one, which is depicted from the middle line of the picture, is the game piece with 6 grooves projected from the center. This is a 6-degree game piece that will be used for embedding on the 6-degree node or 3-degree node. The third one, which is depicted from the bottom line of the picture, is a 5-degree game piece since it has 5 grooves projected from the center and will be used for embedding on the 5-degree node. Further, this figure displays detailed views of each of these three game pieces.

[0060] FIG. 16 to FIG. 28 depicts the rules of this multi-plane strategy game. A three-dimensional, 16-plane, non-latticed three-degree game device is used to explain these rules.

[0061] The first rule states: “There are two colored game piece groups. Each color associates to a single player.” In FIG. 16, two game piece groups are embedded on the nodes of the structure, one is black and another is white.

[0062] The second rule states: “The game device pattern should be designed, determined and accepted by both sides.” Since this multi-plane strategy game has no single uniformed “standard” game device, players have to decide which game device pattern should be used. Players can choose their liked game device patterns or even create a new pattern under the agreement of both sides.

[0063] The third rule states: “When beginning, no game pieces are positioned in the game device.” That means this multi-plane strategy game does not have pre-setting pieces on the game device before the game starts. So, when beginning, players are facing an empty game device.

[0064] The fourth rule states: “Each player embeds one game piece in turn on a node of the game device. The dark colored game piece moves first.” The FIG. 16 depicts this rule. The black piece moves first on position “1”, then white one moves on position “2”. And then, in turn, black moves on “3”. After that, the white piece moves on “4”.

[0065] The fifth rule states: “Once a game piece is embedded on a node, moving or removing it is not allowed unless it is captured or the game is over.” That means the game piece of the multi-plane strategy game is not moveable like game pieces in Chess.

[0066] The sixth rule states: “A piece is captured if all its adjacent nodes were occupied by opponent pieces. A group of pieces are captured if all its adjacent nodes were occupied by opponent pieces and there are no non-occupied nodes inside this group.” FIG. 17 to FIG. 20 depicts this rule in details. In FIG. 17, black piece “7” captured white piece “6” since all adjacent nodes of “6” are occupied by black pieces after “7” embedded on the node. Then FIG. 18 shows what it looks like after white piece “6” was captured. FIG. 19 shows how a group of black pieces is captured by white pieces when white piece “16” is embedded on the node. And then, FIG. 20 shows how it looks like after piece “16” captured the group of black pieces.

[0067] The seventh rule states: “Suicide is forbidden.” FIG. 21 shows how white piece “8” involved an illegal movement. Since all adjacent nodes of the position “8” are occupied by black pieces, put white piece on the node is equal to suicide, so it is illegal.

[0068] The eighth rule states: “Immediate counter capture is not allowed.” This rule is very important for the game to progress fairly and reasonably. Without this rule, the game will be locked in an endless capture and counter captures process. FIG. 22 to FIG. 28 depicts this rule.

[0069] FIG. 22 points the node “A”, which is surrounded by black pieces. However, if a white piece puts on node “A”, it will not be a suicide because it captures the black piece “5”. FIG. 23 shows the legal move of white piece numbered “10”. After white piece “10” being put on the game device, the black piece “5” is captured.

[0070] FIG. 24 shows the result of FIG. 23. After white piece “10”, black piece “5” is removed from the game device. According to the eighth rule, after white piece “10” captured black piece “5” (in picture FIG. 23 and FIG. 24), the black piece is not allowed to put back on the node to counter capture white piece “10” immediately. FIG. 25 depicts the illegal move of black piece “1”. FIG. 26 depicts the legal moves after the white piece “10” captured black piece “5” (depicted in FIG. 23 and FIG. 24). In this picture, black piece “11” does not do immediate counter capture but moves to other position. After that, the white piece “12” can either put the piece on the position “5” (depicted in FIG. 23) or put on somewhere else. FIG. 27 shows that white piece “12” does not put on the position “5” (depicted in FIG. 23). Since the white piece “12” did not fill in the position of “5” (see FIG. 23), the black piece has a chance to fight back and capture white piece “10”. The black piece “13” then captures white piece “10”. FIG. 28 shows the result of counter capture done by black piece.

[0071] The player who occupies more nodes than its opponent wins a game. However, since certain nodes of a game device are with more advantage than other nodes and the first occupier of these nodes usually has more advantages, the present invention sets up rules inclining to the second mover of the game to balance the second mover's disadvantage. For example, in the latticed three-dimensional game device, the 2nd and 3rd line nodes from corner point can control the nodes of the corner easily and efficiently. To occupy the whole corner, one or two game pieces on these nodes will do. So, the first occupier of these key nodes will have more advantage than that of the second mover. For this reason, the rule (The ninth rule) states that If the number of nodes of a game device is odd and total nodes equal to “N”, the player who moves first wins the game if said player occupied at least (N+1)/2+1 nodes. If the number of nodes of a game device is even and total nodes equal to ‘N’, the player who moves first wins the game if said player occupied at least N/2+1 nodes.

Claims

1. A method and apparatus of playing strategy game is a multi-plane strategy game, if said strategy game playing on a multi-dimensional and multi-plane game device.

2. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game, comprising:

A game device with a plurality of nodes composed by rigid edges or wires with the identical length and diameter.

Two groups of spherical game-pieces with identical color and varied degree of freedom.

A method of the game comprising a set of rules and steps.

3. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 2 wherein said game device is defined as a geometrical structure or geometrical type game device with a plurality of nodes formed by rigid edges or wires with identical length and diameter. Said geometrical structure can be 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional, single-plane or multi-plane, latticed or non-latticed device, and can be with different degrees of freedom. Said geometrical structure can be built up on a baseboard, which is a flat smooth plane with a plurality of holes on its surface for holding supporting poles (FIG. 9 and FIG. 10). Said geometrical structure can be built up with the tube-and-wire-connecting method (FIG. 11 to FIG. 14) for non-computer-based pattern. Said edges or wires that compose of the nodes are the rigid lines with identical length and diameter. Said nodes of the geometrical structure are the hubs or connection points on where edges or wires connected together (FIG. 1 to FIG. 8 displays some patterns of the game device).

4. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 3 wherein said tube-and-wire-connecting method is defined as a method of composing geometrical structures with a plurality of tube-type edges with the identical length and diameter, and a plurality of wire-connectors with varied angles. FIG. 11 to FIG. 14 displays some of these wire-connectors such as the 60° wire connector, the 72° wire-connector, the 90° wire-connector, the 108° wire-connector, and the 120° wire-connector. The inner diameter of said tube must be greater than or equal to the sum of two wire-connectors' diameters. FIG. 11, FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 depict the actual steps of connecting tubes with angled wire-connectors.

5. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 3 wherein said 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional geometrical structure is defined based on dimensions of the structure. Said structure is 2-dimensional if the structure is built on a single plane in the space, either the structure is float lying on a horizontal plane or upright on a vertical plane. Said geometrical structure is 3-dimensional if the structure is built in the multi-plane space.

6. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 3 wherein said single-plane or multi-plane device is defined by the number of planes involved in the space where the geometrical structure is built up. If said game device is built up on a flat surface, it is the single-plane game device (see FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3). If said game device is built up in space with two-plane, the game device is two-plane device (see FIG. 4 and FIG. 5). If said game device is built up in space with more than two planes, the game device is the N-plane device (see FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8), where “N” is a positive integer.

7. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 3 wherein said latticed or non-latticed geometrical structure is defined based on the geometrical types. If said structure is composed as gridiron framework, like latticed net (see FIG. 4), said structure is the latticed game device. Otherwise, the structure is non-latticed, like the structures in FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.

8. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 3 wherein the degree of freedom of said geometrical structure is defined by the highest number of edges connecting to a single node within said structure. The number of edges connected to a node determines the degree of freedom of the node. Suppose “N” is a positive integer, if “N” edges connected to a node, the node is the “N” degree node. Among all nodes within said structure, the highest degree node determines the degree of freedom of the structure. If all nodes within said structure have the same degree, the structure is defined as mono-degree game device. If nodes within said structure have different degrees, the structure is defined as multi-degree game device.

9. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 2 wherein said spherical game pieces with identical color and varied degree of freedom are defined by the number of grooves projected from the center of the game piece. Said game piece is the four-degree game piece if there are four grooves projected from the center of the game piece (see FIG. 15, top line). Said game piece is the six-degree game piece if there are six grooves projected from the center of the game piece (see FIG. 15, middle line). And so on. The four-degree piece is used to embed on the four-degree nodes, and the five-degree piece is used to embed on the five-degree nodes, while the six-degree piece can be used to embed on both three-degree nodes and six-degree nodes.

10. A method and apparatus of playing the multi-plane strategy game according to claim 2 wherein the method of said game comprising a set of rules and steps:

a. There are two colored game piece groups. Each color associates to a single player.

b. The game device pattern should be designed, determined and accepted by both sides.

c. When beginning, no game pieces are positioned in the game device.

d. Each player embeds one game piece in turn on a node of the game device. The dark colored (e.g. the black color) game piece moves first.

e. Once a game piece is embedded on a node, moving or removing it is not allowed unless it is captured or the game is over.

f. A piece is captured if all its adjacent nodes were occupied by opponent pieces. A group of pieces are captured if all its adjacent nodes were occupied by opponent pieces and there are no non-occupied nodes inside the group.

g. Suicide is forbidden. (FIG. 21 depicts this rule.)

h. Immediate counter capture is not allowed. (FIG. 22 to FIG. 28 depicts this rule.)

i. If the number of nodes of a game device is odd and total nodes equal to “N”, the player who moves first wins the game if said player occupied at least (N+1)/2+1 nodes. Or else if the first mover occupied (N+1)/2 nodes, the game is drawn. If the number of nodes of a game device is even and total nodes equal to “N”, the player who moves first wins the game if said player occupied at least N/2+1 nodes. Or else if the first mover occupied N/2 nodes, the game is drawn.