PORTABLE BOARD PUZZLES

Abstract

A portable puzzle comprising a board containing a recess sized for holding seven regular twelve-sided prisms, one prism centrally located and the other six surrounding the center prism, and also comprising seven regular twelve sided prisms each having an upwardly presented face displaying six pairs of different colored segments, each segment extending radially outwardly from the center of the prism to a different side, the color arrangement of each prism's segments being varied from prism to prism but having been prearranged such that when the prisms are placed within the recess of the game board in one preselected manner, the contiguous edges of adjacent prisms will face segments of the same color.

Description

This invention relates to portable pattern alignment puzzle games. Applicant has no knowledge of any cross-related applications. This invention has no connection with any federally sponsored research and development program.

BACKGROUND

Puzzles have existed for decades as conventional forms of amusement, entertainment and interest occupying devices. Puzzle solvers regularly enjoy mental exercises in shape, space and color identification and recognition provided by puzzles. Experienced puzzle solvers find simple and uncomplicated puzzles boring and unchallenging, and conventionally avoid such puzzles. There exists a need for complex puzzles which are small, portable, and suited for convenient storage in a briefcase or handbag while in a partially solved condition.

To satisfy these needs, applicant has invented a small, portable puzzle, sized and shaped for carrying in briefcases or folders or the like, which is complex and challenging, and which may be readily stored in a partially solved condition when matters arise causing interruptions in puzzle solving. A puzzle of the type hereinafter described may be stored for days, weeks and months, and it may be readily carried into places where people customarily look for something to occupy their time, such as in airports, physician's offices or while traveling.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides a portable puzzle comprising seven equally sized twelve sided prisms removably disposed in a recess of a solving board to which the individual pieces of the puzzle are magnetically attracted such that said pieces may be held and moved about in the recess without the use of interlocking configurations, and which, during periods of non-use, may be readily stored in convenient locations. The face of each prism presents twelve colored segments extending in a swirling path from the center of the prism to the sides on the periphery of the prism. Each prism has two segments each of six different colors. The arrangement of colors on the face of each prism differs from the arrangement of colors on every other prism. The object of the puzzle is to place the individual prisms in the recessed solving board in such manner that there are the same colors on the abutting sides of the various prisms when the prisms are properly disposed in the recess of the solving board.

IN THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred embodiment of my invention in the solved condition;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the solving board with the prisms removed;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the prism 100;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the prism 80;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the prism 40;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the prism 60;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the prism 120;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the prism 140; and

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the prism 160.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now in more detail by reference character to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, A represents a puzzle assembly comprising a base 20 and seven prisms 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160. The base 20 is provided with a recessed base 22 of magnetic material for purposes more fully to appear.

The prism 40 is a regular twelve sided prism having twelve outwardly extending swirls 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 and 52 as shown in FIG. 5. Similarly, the prism 60 is a regular twelve sided prism having twelve outwardly extending swirls 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 and 72 as shown in FIG. 6; the prism 80 is a regular twelve sided prism having twelve outwardly extending swirls 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91 and 92 as shown in FIG. 4; the prism 100 is a regular twelve sided prism having twelve outwardly extending swirls 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111 and 112 as shown in FIG. 3; the prism 120 is a regular twelve sided prism having twelve outwardly extending swirls 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131 and 132 as shown in FIG. 7; the prism 60 is a regular twelve sided prism having twelve outwardly extending swirls 141, 142,143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151 and 152 as shown in FIG. 8; and the prism 160 is a regular twelve sided prism having twelve outwardly extending swirls 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171 and 172 as shown in FIG. 9. The central portions of each prism is coated with a metallic coating for magnetically holding each prism in the recess 22 for purposes presently more fully to appear.

The recess 22 is sized for simultaneously accepting all seven prisms, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160 arranged such that one is located in the center of the recess and the other six are placed around the central prism. The recess 22 has a wall 24 sized and shaped such that when the seven prisms are disposed in the recess 22, each of the prisms 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160 will fit snugly in the recess 22, and adjacent prisms will have one of its outwardly presented faces against an outwardly presented face of another adjacent prism, as best shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, which presents a top plan view of my invention, the upwardly presented faces of each prism 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160, present a pattern where one swirl from one prism flows into one swirl on each adjacent prism. By selectively altering the color arrangement of the twelve swirls the prisms, a puzzle is created in which only one arrangement exists where abutting swirls from adjacent prisms will be of the same color. The puzzle is more complex than it seems because of the thousands of possible combinations which will not present the desired pattern.

The six preferred swirl colors are red, orange yellow, green blue and purple, arranged such that there are only two sections of the same color on each prism. It should be here noted that the order of placements of the colors on the individual sections of the individual prisms is crucial to the creation of the puzzle. Referring now to Table I, the correct order of section colors on the separate prisms is set out such that there will be only one correct solution in the thousands of possible combinations.

USE AND OPERATION

It should be noted that when one prism is positioned in the center of the recess 22 and the other six prisms are positioned in the recess 22 about the centrally positioned prism, that the central prism will be in abutment with each of the surrounding prisms, and each of the surrounding prisms will be in abutment with the central prism and each adjacent peripheral prism. The object of the puzzle is to position the prisms such that each side which abuts a side of an adjacent prism abuts a section of the same color as the abutting section.

In operation, the prisms are positioned and repositioned in the recess of the base until the color of each abutting section is the same. By coating the base and individual prisms out of materials which have magnetically attractive properties, solution of the puzzle may be continued on a day to day basis if desired. This is a necessary feature where, as here, there are over a million possible combinations of prism positions and locations and yet only one correct solution. Because of the inherent difficulty, a challenging portable puzzle can be provided which is readily adaptable for use wherever people are accustomed to spending long waiting periods looking for something to do such as at airports, and while traveling, particularly in automobiles and airplanes where freedom of movement is restricted and waiting boredom looms.

The following table presents one suggested combination of colored segments on each prism to create a suitable puzzle:

Prism 40	Prism 60	Prism 80	Prism 100
Edge	Color	Edge	Color	Edge	Color	Edge	Color
41	Orange	61	Red	81	Purple	101	Orange
42	Purple	62	Blue	82	Red	102	Green
43	Green	63	Green	83	Green	103	Red
44	Red	64	Red	84	Blue	104	Yellow
45	Orange	65	Purple	85	Purple	105	Orange
46	Blue	66	Blue	86	Orange	106	Blue
47	Yellow	67	Purple	87	Yellow	107	Purple
48	Purple	68	Orange	88	Green	108	Green
49	Green	69	Green	89	Red	109	Purple
50	Yellow	70	Yellow	90	Yellow	110	Red
51	Blue	71	Orange	91	Blue	111	Yellow
52	Red	72	Yellow	92	Orange	112	Blue
	Prism 120		Prism 140		Prism 160
	Edge	Edge	Edge	Color	Edge	Color
	121	121	141	Orange	161	Yellow
	122	122	142	Yellow	162	Red
	123	123	143	Green	163	Green
	124	124	144	Blue	164	Purple
	125	125	145	Red	165	Blue
	126	126	146	Yellow	166	Yellow
	127	127	147	Blue	167	Orange
	128	128	148	Red	168	Green
	129	129	149	Purple	169	Purple
	130	130	150	Green	170	Orange
	131	131	151	Orange	171	Red
	132	132	152	Purple	172	Blue

The puzzle may be made even more challenging by placing lenticular lenses (not shown) over the upwardly presented faces of each prism.

It should be apparent that changes and substitutions in the unique and novel arrangement, combination, assembly and interaction of the various parts, colors and components shown and described herein may be made without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Claims

1. A puzzle comprising a board provided with a recess, a plurality of prisms sized and shaped for snug-fitting disposition in the recess, each of said prisms being provided with an upwardly presented face, and indicia means on the upwardly presented face on each of said prisms, said indicia means on each of the prisms containing a preselected color scheme arranged such that only when the prisms are disposed in the recess in a predetermined manner, the contiguous portions of adjacent prisms will present a preselected design to the viewer.

2. The puzzle of claim 1 in which the prisms are seven in number and each prism is similarly shaped and has twelve sides of substantially equal length.

3. The puzzle of claim 1 in which the prisms are seven in number, each prism is similarly shaped and has twelve sides of substantially equal length, and each indicia means presents twelve colored segments, each segment starting at the center of the prism face and following a path to one of the twelve sides of each prism.

4. The puzzle of claim 1 in which the prisms are seven in number, each prism is similarly shaped and has twelve sides of substantially equal length, and each indicia means presents twelve colored segments, each segment starting at the center of the prism face and following a path to one of the twelve sides of each prism, and the twelve segments are colored in six different colors, two segments for each color.

5. The puzzle of claim 1 in which the prisms are seven in number, each prism is similarly shaped and has twelve sides of substantially equal length, and each indicia means presents twelve colored segments, each segment starting at the center of the prism face and following a path to one of the twelve sides of each prism, the twelve segments are colored in six different colors, two segments for each color, and the arrangement of the colored segments on the various prisms is such that a colored segment of one prism will abut a colored segment of the same color from an abutting prism when the prisms are placed in the preselected position.

6. A puzzle comprising a board provided with a recess, seven twelve sided regular prisms sized and shaped for snug-fitting disposition in the recess, each of said prisms being regular in shape and having twelve sides, each prism also being provided with an upwardly presented face having indicia means, said indicia means including twelve segments, each of which extend from the center of that prism to one of the twelve sides thereof, each segment being colored in one of six different colors, each indicia means on each prism having no more than two segments of the same color, the color arrangement of the six colored segments on each of the seven indicia means being different from the color arrangement of the six colored segments on every other prism, the colored segments arrangements being such that when the prisms are placed in the recess in a preselected manner, abutting sides of adjacent prisms will be in alignment with a segment of the same color from an abutting prism.

7. The puzzle of claim 6 in which one of the prisms is located centrally in the recess and the other six prisms surround the centrally located prism.

8. The puzzle of claim 6 in which one of the prisms is located centrally in the recess and the other six prisms surround the centrally located prism in the recess, and the colored segments of the prisms are presented through lenticular lenses.

9. The puzzle of claim 6 in which one of the prisms is located centrally in the recess and the other six prisms surround the centrally located prism, each of the outer prisms abut the central prism on one adjacent side and abuts each laterally adjacent prism on one side.