Game

Abstract

An educational board game in which there is a board marked in a grid and cards marked with a description, drawing or phonetic spelling of a word on one side and the correct spelling on the other, each card having categories of questions in degrees of hardness, as a player gets the spelling right he moves up the board and, when he reaches a promotion level on the board, he can move to a harder category of question.

Description

This invention relates to a modular type of educational and knowledge game that can be played by one or more persons. Generally, but not necessarily, each module is dedicated to a specific subject. A game's result may be decided quite independently of either skill or knowledge differences between competing players. The obtained results enable players and observers to assess the level of each player's skill or knowledge in the played subject(s). The game can be simultaneously, educational, challenging and enjoyable.

Inadequate knowledge of many educational and knowledge subjects (e.g. literacy, numeracy, etc.) can be the cause of shame and embarrassment and may damage individual career prospects. By means of using the appropriate subject module(s), the game enables unacceptably low standards of knowledge to be raised and high standards to be improved further. Usually, this raising of knowledge standards can be accomplished without the need for any form of educational supervision.

It is recognised that many games and sports, which rely on strength, skills, intellectual aptitude or specialised knowledge, require an appropriate compensating factor to be incorporated to provide all competing players with a reasonably equal possibility of winning, irrespective of their individual aptitude in that game or sport. Examples of such compensating factors include golf handicaps and horse-racing weight handicaps. In chess, a more competitive and enjoyable game is achieved when a stronger player starts with fewer pieces than the weaker one. A novel means of providing an individual subject—knowledge handicap has been incorporated into this game.

The process of learning and improving, e.g. spelling skills, is often tedious for several reasons, of which the following are some examples:

In English and other languages, there are many words with spellings which are quite dissimilar from their pronunciation. For example, “phlegm” is pronounced “flem”.

Many differently spelt words have the same pronunciation, for example, the English words “bough” and though” and words such as “roes”, “rose” and “rows”.

Countries, which speak an approximately common language, often have different ways of spelling the same words which have the same meaning, for instance “honor” in “American” English and “honour” in “United Kingdom” English.

In all English-speaking countries, no acceptable, educational means has previously existed to persuade and encourage older children and adults to improve their spelling skills and to broaden their vocabularies. Consequently, the overwhelming majority have spelling abilities ranging from mediocre to abysmal, irrespective of age, intelligence, occupation or reading ability.

I have now devised a modular, educational game which incorporates an automatically adjusted knowledge and skill compensating mechanism. By this means, one or more individuals can improve their knowledge and skill, in desired subjects, in an interesting, competing and self-challenging manner. This learning process is achieved within a structured, educational format and without the necessity for external, teaching supervision. the operation of the handicapping procedure, also provides means of assessing each player's specific knowledge attainment standard.

The knowledge and skill compensating mechanism enables two or more persons, to play against each other, on approximately level terms, despite their possessing unequal knowledge and/or expertise in a played subject. Each player and any observer is provided with a means to evaluate and record the knowledge and skill improvements of individual players in each of the played subjects. This mechanism also enables one player to play against him or herself and to re-test him or herself to improve knowledge and skill levels and to ensure that knowledge is stored in long term memory.

According to the invention there is provided apparatus for playing a game, the apparatus comprising cards and a board marked with a score recording means which can be divided into several zones, the cards optionally containing information on both sides—one side marked with one or more questions and the other side optionally marked with the answers to the questions, whereby when a question is answered correctly an appropriate place on the score recording means is marked accordingly and, after a predetermined number of questions have been answered, the number of places marked determine into which zone the player is placed. At the end of the game, the zone, in which a player's marker is placed, is a measure of the playing attainment of the player.

The score recording means is preferably a grid, e.g. of squares.

Preferably each of the questions can be allocated to an appropriate category in accordance with their difficulty. Each of these categories is identified by a distinguishing means which, for example, may take the form of a colour, letter or number. For example, when the game is to be played as a spelling game, each of the words, to be spelt, can be allocated to an appropriate category in accordance with that word's spelling difficulty.

Generally, but not necessarily, each card contains information on each of its two sides. For the sake of explanatory convenience, one side may be called the “Question” side and the other side may be called the “Answer” side. The design lay-outs, of each “Question” and its matching “Answer” sides, will cater for one or more, appropriately identified categories of questions and answers. Each category contains questions and answers corresponding to approximately the same standard of knowledge or skill. For example, in a word-spelling game, there may be four separately identified categories. The easiest spelt words may be in the “A” category, words of moderate spelling difficulty in the “B” category, more difficult words in the “C” category and extremely difficult words in the “D” category.

Alternatively, there can be two sets of cards, one with the questions on it and one with the answers. On the “Question” side is the means to identify the word or words requiring to be spelt. For example, this means may take the form of a written and/or drawn or painted description of the word—if these are appropriate—and/or the use of such a device as phonics, an example of which is the International Phonetic Alphabet, as an aid to the correct pronunciation (but not the correct spelling) of the word or words. There can also be a phonetic alphabet reference card.

Each player is provided with one or more markers or counters. The board is marked with a means to locate the progress of each player's marker or counter. For example, the means may be a grid lay-out whereby each player is allocated one or more vertical rows of squares in that grid.

The game may be played in accordance with laid-down rules or be played in a modified or different form, as desired by the players. For example, a game may comprise one or more “rounds”, each “round” being completed when a pre-determined number of questions have been answered. As one alternative example, a game may be completed when one or more players become(s) the first to answer correctly a predetermined number of questions and the ultimate “winner”, between two or more equally successful players, may be the only person who answers one or more additional questions correctly.

Each player commences each new “round” by a suitable means, e.g. by placing a counter or marker in a designated “Start” position beneath the vertical row of sequentially numbered grid squares allocated to that player. Each time a player answers a question correctly, a means is employed for this result to be noted, e.g. by advancing the player's marker or counter up to the next higher adjoining square of the appropriately allocated vertical row. Should the player fail to answer the question correctly, that player's counter may remain on its square or may be moved down, e.g. to the next lower adjoining square.

Optionally, the game's board design may be separated into different “Performance Zones”. For example, the may be four such zones whereby one may be deemed a “Promotion Zone”, another may be deemed a “Neutral Zone”, a third may be deemed a “Relegation Zone” and a fourth may be deemed an “Attainment Zone”. For the sake of playing convenience, there may be an easy means to identify one or more of these individual zones, e.g. by separating zones, by distinctive colours and/or heavy grid lines which may separate zones. The zones need not be marked as such but a given number of rows can be deemed the “Promotion Zone”, “Neutral Zone”, a “Relegation Zone” and “Attainment Zone”.

During each “round” in progress and after each “round” is completed, there is a means to assess each player's achieved result, e.g. by comparing the position of each player's marker or counter against an appropriate number and/or percentage, which may be printed sequentially on the board.

When a player plays a game in the easiest category of questions, that player could remain confined to playing that game in that category until, as a result of completing a part of any one “round” and/or on the completion of one or more “rounds” and answering a sufficient number of questions correctly, that player's marker has advanced to within the “Promotion Zone”. Then the player may be “promoted” to a higher grade of question difficulty. This promotion process can continue until the player reaches the category which contains the questions of the greatest difficulty.

The converse process also applies. During a part of any one “round” and/or when one or more “rounds” have been completed and a player's marker or counter finishes in or fails to advance out of a “Relegation Zone”, that player may be “relegated” to playing the remainder of that “round” or a subsequent “round” in an appropriately easier category.

The game can be used for acquiring any skill or knowledge in which answers to questions determine the level of skill and/or knowledge. With suitable cards, the game can be used to learn the vocabulary of a foreign language, acquire arithmetical mathematical skills, learn details of a particular subject, etc.

When used to acquire mathematical skills, the answer side can have an “explanation” of a mathematical problem on the question side. It may be convenient to have only one question on a card in such circumstances.

As the same board can be used independently of the subject matter on the cards, a card can have questions and answers relating to different subjects included on it and players can play against each other using different subject matter.

The invention can also be embodied in a form suitable for being played on a computer. In this case, the subject matter is stored in the computer together with the board.

When it is played, the game questions may be presented by one or more opponents or alternatively, be generated and presented automatically by the computer(s). The questions and/or the answers may be given visually and/or audibly. During the progress of a game, each player's level/grade of question difficulties may be adjusted by the player(s) or the computer at the end of a pre-set stage or after a pre-set number of questions and answers have been completed. Alternatively, the computer software may be programmed so that each player's performance may he monitored and under constant review. By way of example, the computer software may “average “each player's attainment level, over a constantly updated pre-selected number of questions and answers and the question difficulties adjusted accordingly. The computer can be pre-set to determine the appropriate levels for promotion and demotion.

In other respects, the software game is played substantially as set out herein for physical cards and board.

This invention can also be adapted as a television game, e.g. with a “Quiz Master” or one or more competing players providing questions of appropriate difficulty in accordance with the standard of knowledge success of each player.

In addition to displaying the game by means of card representations and/or board representations such as on a video display unit e.g. a television or computer screen, the players' performance can be alternatively or also displayed by other means e.g. a bar chart etc.

Often, it takes several attempts, perhaps over two or three days, to firmly remember the correct spellings and definitions of incorrectly spelt words. This problem is recognised and resolved by each player compiling, on a sheet of paper, the difficult words' correct spellings and definitions. The sheet can then be “swapped” with the comparable sheet of another player or given to a non-playing volunteer. After a short period of perhaps mutual testing, the correct spellings become “stored and fixed” into memory.

The invention is now described with reference to the following drawings in which are examples of a way of playing the game in which counters are used and in which—

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a board for playing the game and

FIGS. 2 and 3 are cards for use in the game.

The game parts comprise:—

• • one phonetic guide-lines explanatory sheet for each player.
  • the playing board.
  • spelling challenge cards.
  • counters (discs).

In addition—

• • each player needs two sheets of paper and a pen or pencil.
  • for each game, the players need just one reasonably comprehensive English dictionary and one clock or watch, indicating the time in seconds.

The Challenge Cards—FIGS. 2 and 3

Each game is supplied with cartons of challenge cards. Each carton is identified by its own externally-printed code, e.g. UK2 or US3.

Each carton contains 60 cards. This quantity enables all 60 cards to be dealt out equally to any number of players between two and six.

Each challenge card has 4 blue frames on one face 2a, 3a and corresponding red frames on the reverse face 2b and 3b.

Within each blue frame and its corresponding red frame is the identical, phonetically-spelt challenge word, accompanied by its definition or description.

Each challenge word's Grade of Spelling Difficulty is printed within each blue frame—GI, in the top frame, is the most difficult word to spell. In descending order, the G2, G3 and the bottom-framed G4 word are progressively easier to spell.

Only the red-framed side displays the challenge words' correct spellings.

The Playing Board Lay-Out—

The left-hand, vertical column is numbered sequentially from 0 to 10 upwards. This column indicates the ROUND being played.

Six players' STARTING BLOCKS, lettered A, B, C, D, E and F, are located to the right of the base of the ROUND column. Each STARTING BLOCK is at the base of its own vertical column.

Below the STARTING BLOCK vertical columns are their corresponding GRADES OF SPELLING DIFFICULTY vertical columns, also lettered A, B, C, D, E, and F. To their left is a vertical column lettered G1, G2, G3, and G4. These four letters indicate each, of the four Grades of Spelling Difficulty words, which the individual players have to attempt to spell.

Playing the Game

Usually, the first dealer is also the first challenger. That player is decided by agreement. The dealer/first challenger gives each player four of the same coloured counters (discs). The first challenged player is the person immediately adjacent to the first challenger in a clockwise direction.

The first challenged player places a counter on STARTING BLOCK “A”.

Continuing clockwise—the other players place their counters consecutively on the next unoccupied STARTING BLOCKS, e.g. the second challenged player on STARTING BLOCK “B” etc. The first challenger's counter is the last to be placed.

Dealing the Challenge Cards—

Only open one carton of 60 cards at any one time. All the 60 cards should be returned to their individual carton each time before any more cards are dealt from another carton. This ensures that each pack of cards remains complete and that recently played and memorised cards do not reappear too soon. Because many more cartons of different cards will become available in the future, it will become increasingly important to avoid “mixing up” the packs.

The dealer opens a carton, removes and shuffles (mixes around) the 60 challenge cards and deals all 60 cards equally to all the players, distributing them in a clock-wise direction.

The cards must always be dealt with their blue-framed faces upwards. The red-framed faces being downwards, the correct spellings remain hidden from prying eyes!

Deciding and Identifying Each Player's Grade of Spelling Difficulty—A previous player should commence a new game by attempting to spell words in the same Grade in which he or she finished the last game.

A first-time player should look at the words and phonetics in the red frames of some of the dealt challenge cards and elect to play in whichever Grade of Spelling Difficulty he or she considers to be appropriate to his or her spelling skills, e.g. G2 or G3.

Each player places a second counter on his or her appropriate G1, G2, G3 or G4 square, vertically below his or her A to H starting block.

The commencing Grades of Spelling Difficulty are not too important—Either prior to or on the completion of Round 5 and again, on the completion of Round 10, “over-achievers” will be promoted automatically, to harder Grades. Conversely, “under achievers” will be demoted to appropriately easier Grades.

Commencing Round 1—

The dealer places a counter on the “Round 1” square in the left-hand vertical column.

The first challenger (usually the dealer) then challenges the adjacent A player (the first challenged player in a clockwise direction) to spell the appropriate word in the A player's Grade, e.g. G3.

The first challenger looks at the appropriate word and its phonetic pronunciation in the red-framed face of one of the dealt cards, e.g. the G3 word.

The Challenger Pronounces the Challenge Word and Also Reads Aloud its Definition—

Should any challenger have difficulty in pronouncing the challenge word or be uncertain of its correct pronunciation, he or she says “Help needed”. Any other player(s) can then become a pronunciation helper.

Alternatively, any player(s), unconvinced of the challenger's correct pronunciation or definition of the challenge word or who wants to check if the word has been selected from the challenge card's correct Grade, e.g. G3 instead of G2, can say “Inspection wanted”. This objection must be raised within 10 seconds of the challenger pronouncing the word and giving its definition.

Players in the same grade of spelling difficulty as the challenged player, e.g. G3, or in a lower grade, e.g. G4, can look only at the card's blue-framed side. Because this does not reveal the challenge word's correct spelling, they remain eligible to attempt to spell the challenge word for a possible bonus point, should the challenged player make a spelling error.

Player(s), in a higher grade than the challenged player, are not eligible to attempt to spell the challenge word for a bonus point, e.g. a G2 player can not challenge for a G3 word. For that reason, they may look secretly at the correct spelling of the word on the card's red-framed side. It may help them and the challenger to pronounce the word more accurately.

Of course, players with different accents and dialects may pronounce the same words differently. Such different pronunciations may be equally correct!

After the challenge word has been pronounced and its meaning given and any pronunciation or other disagreements have been settled amicably (!), the dealer says—“Spell That!”. The “A” player has a maximum of 40 seconds to start to spell the word aloud. Within that time, the challenged player may decide to scribble down possible alternative spellings on one of the two sheets of blank paper, before making a choice.

If the “A” player does not start to spell the word at the end of 40 seconds, the dealer calls “Time up!” and the “A” player must attempt to start to spell the word immediately or forfeit that point-scoring opportunity.

Important—Nobody must ever interrupt any player's incorrect spelling attempt before it is fully completed. An early interruption will give a clue, to bonus-seeking players, of the nature or the location of the spelling error.

If the “A” player spells the challenge word correctly, the challenger says “correct!” and the “A” playing counter is moved up from 0 to 1. That concludes the first challenge question.

Should the “A” player spell the challenge word incorrectly, the dealer says “Wrong”.

That ends the “A” player's point-scoring opportunity.

Bonus Point Attempts.

If the “A” player's spelling attempt fails, the dealer passes the same word-spelling challenge clockwise to the first of the other players who is in no higher Grade than that of the “A” player, e.g. only a G3 or G4 player can attempt to win a bonus point by spelling a G3 word.

The dealer says “Spell that!” to the first bonus-point eligible candidate. The bonus point spelling attempt must commence within 10 seconds of the challenge being passed to that player. After 10 seconds, the challenger says “Time up!” and the player must start to spell the word immediately or forfeit that bonus point opportunity.

If the challenge word is spelt correctly, the challenger says “Correct!” and that bonus point player moves his or her playing counter up one space.

If the challenge word is spelt incorrectly, the dealer says “Wrong!”. The bonus point chance passes clockwise to the next eligible player(s) and the above process is repeated.

If all the bonus-point attempts fail, the dealer reads out the correct spelling. The card can then be passed round with the red-framed side upwards.

Be prepared—immediately the challenge word is first pronounced, all potential bonus point players should scribble down alternative, possible spellings, unless they are really sure of the correct spelling. The bonus point opportunity may suddenly occur. Also it is important to check whether you can spell the word correctly.

Of course, the challenger sees the true spelling and is not eligible to try for a bonus point!

To help resolve queries and disagreements—the dictionary can be consulted by players who are no longer eligible to try for a challenge or a bonus point in the Round being played.

The second and subsequent challenges in the first Round—The A player becomes the new challenger and the B player (adjacent clockwise to the new challenger) becomes the new challenged player. Exactly the same procedure is repeated as above until each player has been the challenger and the challenged player once. That then concludes the first Round.

The Second and Subsequent Rounds—

The dealer moves the left-hand Round counter from square 1 to square 2. This indicates the commencement of the second round. Exactly the same order and method of play is used, in the second and in subsequent Rounds, as in the first Round.

Adjustments of Grades of Spelling Difficulties.

Before Round 5 has been completed—Players who score 5, including the combined total of correctly answered challenges and bonus points, are immediately promoted and challenged in the next higher Grade. Their counters are moved up, e.g. from G4 to G3.

After Round 5 has been Completed—

Players, who have scored 4 or 5 and have not already been promoted before the completion of Round 5, are promoted to the next higher Grade, e.g. from G3 to 2. Conversely, players, who have only scored 0 or 1, are demoted to the next lower Grade. Their counters are moved down, e.g. from G3 to G4 and they are challenged in that easier Grade. Of course, G1 players can not be promoted higher or G4 players demoted lower

After Round 10 has been Completed—

Players, who have scored 8, 9 or 10, are promoted to the next higher Grade.

Players, who have scored 0, 1 or 2, are demoted to the next easier Grade.

Beyond Round 10—

The original Round-indicating counter is left on Round 10 and a second counter is placed on Round 1. These two counters together indicate that Round 11 is being played. For subsequent Rounds, the new counter is advanced upwards.

If the game proceeds beyond Round 20, the second counter is also left on Round 10.

A third counter is placed on Round I and advanced upwards. The three counters indicate that 20+ Rounds are being played.

Round 11 and subsequent Rounds are played as previously but the players' Grades of Spelling difficulty are not adjusted again in that same game.

The outright winner is the player whose counter is the first and only counter to reach 10 in that Round.

Should 2 or more players' counters, e.g. B, C and D, reach 10, in the same Round, those finalists engage in the following “sudden death” play-out:—

The Round counter is moved up, e.g. from 14 to 15.

The first finalist, e.g. B, challenges the second finalist, e.g. C, to spell a challenge word in C's Grade. If C spells the word correctly, this is indicated by leaving C's first counter on 10 and placing a second counter on C's square 1. Together, they increase C's total score to 11.

Then C challenges a possible third finalist, e.g. D, to spell a word in D's Grade. Again, if successful, D's total score would be 11.

D then challenges the next finalist, e.g. B, to spell a word in B's Grade. If B makes an error, B is eliminated. This leaves the remaining finalists to “fight it out” in the next Round(s).

The winner spells a word correctly in the same Round in which the other finalist(s) make an error.

If more than one game is to be played, the winner(s) of each game leave one counter on e.g. on square 10 which can be made larger for this purpose, before commencing the next game. This indicates the one win advantage to be “carried forward”.

To help a player to improve his English spelling skills quite dramatically, the following procedure can be followed.

Whenever you make a spelling mistake, write down that word's correct spelling and description or definition on the second sheet of paper (not the sheet on which you have scribbled down your spelling attempts). After the game, “swap” your second sheet of paper with that of another player and re-test each other or give the sheet to somebody else to re-test you again. It may take a number of attempts, over a few days, before you securely “store into memory” all the several words' correct spellings and meanings. But do persevere—Generally, spelling standards are so low that you could soon become an expert speller as compared with most others!

The Phonetic Pronunciations. (Used on Cards of FIGS. 2 and 3)

In English, the alternative usage, of capital (upper case) letters or small (lower case) letters, is a convention rather than a necessity. Uniquely, they are used here as pronunciation aids:—

• ALL VOWELS IN CAPITAL LETTERS—A, E, 1, 0 and U—are pronounced LONG, e.g.:—
• pAn pain, tEm team. tim=time. bOn=bone. kUt=cute. All vowels in small letters—a, e, i, o and u—are pronounced short, e.g.:—kat=cat. peg=peg. wip=whip. od=odd.kub=cub.

The letter I (L) is always printed as a capital L—This avoids confusion with the capital letter I (i), e.g.:—mlL mile: Lit=light: IL=aisle:

The * (star) symbol. In spoken English, many words contain syllables which are pronounced as brief, imprecise sounds, very roughly like “uh” or “ah”, dependent on the speaker's accent or dialect. Often, such a sound is quite different from that syllable's correct spelling. The * (star or asterisk) symbol indicates such a misleading, brief sound. The following are some examples: bi*r=buyer: wud*nt=wouldn't: det*r=debtor: troo*ft=truant.

The letter j is always pronounced hard, e.g.:—juj=judge: Lej=ledge

The (r) symbol acts as an (optionally) silent command to elongate and alter the pronunciation of the immediately preceding vowel, e.g.:—ba(r)m=balm: ho(r)k=hawk: do(r)n=dawn: hu(r)d=herd or heard.

The following combined consonants and/or vowels change their separate sounds to one collective sound:—

• air: kair=care ar: Lark=lark aw: tawt=taught. aw=awe. ch: woch=watch
• —CH: LOCH=Loch (Gaelic for lake)
• oi: boi=buoy and boy. oo: hoo=who. ow: Lowd=loud. sh: ak sh*n=action.
• th this=this. TH: THis*L=thistle. ur: hurd=herd. burd=bird. zh: vizh*n=vision.

The cards are placed with the question side facing upwards and the counters for each player are placed in the ‘start’ positions in different columns on the board. Each player takes a card in turn and attempts to answer a question in his chosen category. If a player gets the answer correct he or she advances one square up the grid otherwise the counter is not moved.

After twenty questions the positions of the counters are noted.

Thus it can be seen that the game is both competitive and educational and can be played by one person or by players of different skill levels competing against one another.

Claims

1. A method of playing an educational board game in which each player is given a card with at least one question marked on it, there being a recording means divided into a plurality of zones and having a plurality of sequentially numbered columns, whereby each player tries to answer a question on his card and, if the question on the card is answered correctly, an appropriate place on the score recording means is indicated and, after a predetermined number of questions have been answered, the number of places indicated on the recording means determine into which zone the player is placed; at the end of the game the zone indicated is a measure of the playing attainment of the player.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the recording means comprises a board marked in a grid with each column in the grid being sequentially numbered,

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which each card has a plurality of questions marked on one side and the answers on the other side.

4. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which each of the questions is allocated to an appropriate category in accordance with their difficulty and each of these categories is identified by a distinguishing means.

5. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 in which the questions relate to how to spell words.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 in which each of the questions takes a form selected from one or more of drawn or painted descriptions of the word, the use of such a device or as phonics.

7. A method as claimed in claim 5 or 6 in which there is also a phonetic alphabet reference card.

8. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 in which the recording means comprises a board marked in a grid with each column in the grid being sequentially numbered in accordance with its difficulty and each player has a token placed on the board in accordance with each question answered and when a player plays a game in a category of questions, that player remains confined to playing that game in that category until, as a result of completing a part of any one “round” and/or on the completion of one or more “rounds” and answering a sufficient number of questions correctly, that player's marker has advanced to a predetermined “Promotion Zone” and the player is “promoted” to a higher grade of question difficulty.

9. An educational board game comprising cards and a board on which there is a grid marked with each column in the grid being sequentially numbered; the cards being marked with one or more questions on one side and the board being divided into a plurality of zones.

10. An educational board game as claimed in claim 9 in which each card has a plurality of questions marked on one side and the answers on the other side.

11. An educational board game as claimed in claim 9 or 10 in which each of the questions is allocated to an appropriate category in accordance with their difficulty and each of these categories is identified by a distinguishing means.

12. An educational board game as claimed claim 11 or 12 in which the questions relate to how to spell words.

13. An educational board game claimed in any one of claims 9 to 12 in which each of the questions takes the form of a written selected from one or more of drawn or painted descriptions of the word, the use of such a device or as phonics.

14. An educational board game claimed in any one of claims 9 to 13 in which there is also a phonetic alphabet reference card.

15. An educational board game as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 14 in which there is also a phonetic alphabet reference card.

16. An educational board game as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 15 in which the board and/or the cards are represented on a video display unit.

17. An educational board game as claimed in claim 16 in which the video display unit is connected to a computer and the information for playing the game is generated and presented automatically by the computer(s).

18. An educational board game as claimed in claim 17 in which the questions and/or the answers are given visually and/or audibly and, during the progress of a game, each player's level/grade of question difficulties is adjustable by the player(s) or the computer at the end of a pre-set stage or after a pre-set number of questions and answers have been completed.

19. An educational board game as claimed in claim 17 in which the questions and/or the answers are given visually and/or audibly and, during the progress of a game, the computer software is programmed so that each player's performance can he monitored and reviewed.

20. An educational board game as claimed in claim 19 in which the computer is pre-set to determine the appropriate levels for promotion and demotion.