Game

Abstract

The present invention is a method of playing a variant of a hop-scotch game consisting of multiple turns. The game involves a group of players, where players take turns hopping on one foot from pre-determined starting points, through a series of boxed-off spaces, to a pre-determined destination. If the player reaches the pre-determined destination without falling, using both feet, or stepping on the edge of any of the boxed-off spaces, the player may claim one of the boxed-off spaces over which the player has traveled and which is not already claimed by another player by placing a mark within the boxed-off space. The game is over when all of the boxed-off spaces are claimed. The player with the most claimed boxed-off spaces wins the game.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates generally to games and more specifically to a novel playground game involving players hopping on one foot from one of two starting points, through a path of boxed-off sections, to a pre-determined destination.

2. Background

A number of games have been developed which involve the participants hopping on one foot from a starting point, through a path of boxed-off spaces, to a pre-determined destination. Hopscotch is one example of a popular game involving hopping on one foot through a path of boxed-off spaces. There are many variations of hop-scotch including games with novelty hopscotch mats depicting numbers and animals, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,409, issued to Barnes, discloses hopscotch mats which are self-illuminating and U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,032, issued to Butler, discloses hopscotch games which require various physical tasks.

Numerous other variations of hopscotch are known within the art and games similar to hop-scotch have enjoyed enormous success as children's playground games. While these games fulfill their respective particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a competitive, strategy based version of hopscotch which can entertain players for an extended period of time. Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of games now present in the art, the present disclosure provides a new, more competitive and strategic version of the traditional game of hop-scotch where players take turns hopping through a series of boxed-off spaces.

The present disclosure provides methods of use of a strategy based hopscotch game with two separate starting points. It is a game in which players compete to claim the highest number of boxed-off spaces to win the game. Each player can claim one of the boxed-off spaces by hopping on one foot from one of two starting points through the path of boxed-off spaces to the pre-determined destination without stumbling or stepping on the edges of the boxed-off spaces. A player can only claim boxed-off spaces which the player has traveled over during the previous turn and claim boxed-off spaces that have not been claimed by another player. The two starting points are different distances from the pre-determined destination. One starting point requires players to hop through fewer boxed-off spaces to reach the pre-determined destination than from a second starting point which requires players to hop through a greater number of boxed-off spaces to reach the pre-determined destination. Players must strategically weigh the benefits of a shorter path to the pre-determined destination against the benefits of potentially claiming from a larger pool of boxed-off spaces. Once a player reaches the pre-determined destination the player claims one of the boxed-off spaces by placing their mark within any unclaimed boxed-off space over which the player has traveled during the previous turn. The game ends when all the boxes have been claimed. The player with the most claimed boxed-off spaces wins the game.

The general object of the present disclosure is to provide a strategic and competitive iteration of a classic hop-scotch game with two separate starting points.

It is a further object of the present disclosure to provide a game that allows players to claim a number of boxed-off spaces to win the game.

It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a game which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.

It is a further object of the present disclosure to provide a game board which is of durable and reliable construction.

These together with other objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. Other systems, devices, apparatuses, methods, features, and advantages will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within the scope of the present disclosure, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present disclosure will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which the like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the views and where:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the game-mat used in one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tile and dry erase marker of the present disclosure used to claim boxed-off spaces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference is now made in detail to the description of the embodiments as illustrated in the drawings. While only a single embodiment is described in connection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit the disclosure to the embodiment below.

It should be clearly understood that reference numerals are intended to identify the same structural elements, portions, or surfaces consistently throughout the drawn figures, and may be further described or explained in the written specification, including the detailed description. The drawings are intended to be read together with the specification and are to be construed as a portion of the entire “written description”

Playground games such as hopscotch have long been popular games for young children. A typical hopscotch game involves hopping on one foot from a single starting point, through a set of boxed-off spaces, to a pre-determined destination. While this game is entertaining, it lacks a strategy based competitive element, and thus children tend to become bored with a standard hop-scotch game quickly. The hop-scotch like game in the present disclosure solves the existing problems associated with hop-scotch by adding a strategic and competitive component to hop-scotch. The present disclosure adds a strategic and competitive component by implementing a multi-turn system where players can both choose from one of two starting points and “claim” individual boxed-off spaces for strategic advantages.

Adverting now to the drawings, with reference to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, depicting a pre-made mat upon which the present disclosure can be played. The present disclosure is a method of playing a hopscotch like playground game. The game involves a group of players where each of the players takes turns proceeding from a first starting point 20 or a second starting point 22 through a path of boxed-off spaces 24 to a predetermined destination 28. In one embodiment of the present disclosure starting point 20, starting point 22, path of boxed-off spaces 24, and predetermined destination 28 are present on a pre-drawn 6′ by 6′ mat 30. In the preferred embodiment of the disclosure the boxed-off spaces 24 are placed in a spiral like formation. In this embodiment, pre-determined destination 28 on the inside of mat 30, and first starting point 20 and second starting point 22 on the outside of the mat. Although mat 30 is shown in FIG. 1 as a spiral like formation, it should be readily obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that mat 30 could be made in any semi-ellipsoid, polyhedral, or irregular shapes. Examples of irregularly shaped mats include designs, such as a squared off matrix, a triangle, organic shapes or a rectangle. This particular embodiment would be suitable for mats made of ethylene vinyl acetate (also known as EVA), rubber, plastic, polyurethane or the like materials.

Players may only proceed from staring point 20 or starting point 22 though the path of boxed-off spaces 24 by hopping on one foot. If the player stumbles, uses both feet, or steps on an edged line 26 of a boxed-off space 24, the player(s) turn is over (for clarity sake only one horizontal and one vertical line was marked as a edged line 26 in FIG. 1, it should be understood that all lines surrounding boxed-off space 24 is an edged line 26). If the player navigates the path of boxed-off spaces 24 to predetermined destination 28, the player may claim one of boxed-off spaces 24 by placing the player's mark 42 within the chosen boxed-off space 24. Once a player has claimed a boxed-off space 24, that player may land with two feet on the claimed boxed-off space 24 having that player's mark, without the penalty of ending that player's turn. The player may only land with two feet in boxed-off spaces 24 which the player has marked and claimed.

Players may only claim boxed-off spaces 24 which the player has traveled over in the previous turn of the game, and are not already claimed by another player. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, starting point 20 is closer to the finish than starting point 22, players who choose to begin at starting point 20 will have to navigate fewer boxed-off spaces 24 to reach pre-determined destination 28, but the player will also have fewer potential boxed-off spaces 24 to claim upon reaching pre-determined destination 28.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tile and dry erase marker of the present disclosure used to claim the boxed-off spaces. In the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the players claim boxed-off spaces 24 by removably placing the player's mark 42 such as the player's initials or artistic symbol on tile 40 with a dry-erase marker 50. For demonstration purposes only, player's mark 42 are shown as initials JC, player's mark 42 may be any text or artistic symbol which distinguishes a player from other players. Tile 40 is preferably a wipe-able sheet of a plastic having dry-erase board qualities. Attached on the underside side of tile 40 is a fastener, (the underside of tile 40 is the opposite side of the tile the player removably places player's mark 42). The fastener can comprise any means well known in the art to affix tile 40 to a surface, such as an adhesive, hook and loop fastener, suction cup device, or any other means to removably attach the tile to mat 30. It should be understood that each of the embodiments of the present disclosure could be made with or without a fastening device. The player uses the fastener to attach tile 40 to claim boxed-off space 24 on mat 30 to signify the player has claimed specific boxed-off spaces.

A winner is determined when every boxed-off space 24 has been claimed by all players. The player who claims the highest number of boxed-off spaces 24 wins the game.

Claims

1. A method of playing a game for a multiplicity of players taking turns, comprising:

a) beginning at one of at least one starting points and having a player hop on one foot through a series of boxed-off spaces having edged lines, proceeding to a pre-determined destination without skipping any of said boxed-off spaces;

b) returning said player to said at least one starting point if said player skips any of said boxed-off spaces prior to reaching said pre-determined destination;

c) returning said player to said at least one starting point if said player steps on the edged line of any of said boxed-off spaces prior to reaching said pre-determined destination;

d) returning said player to said at least one starting point if said player switches feet more than twice prior to reaching said pre-determined destination;

e) returning said player to said at least one starting point after reaching said pre-determined destination and allowing said player to claim one of said boxed-off spaces by writing an identifying mark in one of said boxed-off spaces over which said player has travelled and is not already claimed by another player;

f) returning said player to at least one starting point if said player lands with both feet in one of said boxed-off spaces, unless said boxed-off space has previously been claimed by said player, prior to reaching said pre-determined destination;

g) ending said game when all said boxed-off are claimed; and

h) winning said game by claiming the highest number of said boxed-off spaces.

2. The method of playing the game of claim 1 where said boxed-off spaces are pre-marked on a mat.

3. The method of playing the game of claim 2 where said mat is made of ethylene vinyl acetate, rubber, plastic, polyurethane or similarly durable materials.

4. The method of playing the game of claim 2 where said mark is removably written on a tile having a dry erase surface.

5. The method of playing the game of claim 4 where said tile is removably attached to said claimed spaces by a fastener.

6. The method of playing the game of claim 5 where said fastener is an adhesive, hook and loop fastener or suction cup.

7. A method of playing the game of claim 1 where said boxed-off spaces are organized in a spiral formation, semi-ellipsoid formation, polyhedral formation, or irregular shape, beginning at said starting point and ending at said predetermined destination.

8. The method of playing the game of claim 1 where said at least one starting point is a first and a second starting point.

9. The method of playing the game of claim 8 where the number of boxed-off spaces between said first starting point and said predetermined destination is different than the number of boxed-off spaces between said second starting point and said predetermined destination.

10. The method of playing the game of claim 9 where said number of boxed-off spaces having edged lines between said first starting point and said pre-determined destination is less than number of boxes between of said second starting point and said pre-determined destination.

11. A method of playing the game of claim 7 where after reaching said predetermined destination said player can only claim said boxed-off spaces on which the player has traveled in the previous turn of said player.

12. The method of claim 1 where multiple said players participate, waiting for a turn at one of said starting points.