A PIECE OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAZE AND FREELY-CONSTRUCTIBLE 3D MAZE
A piece of three-dimensional maze, wherein at least two of six faces of a cube have opening faces such that a path connecting the opening faces of two faces is defined by flat plate of the cube.
The present invention relates to a piece for forming a three-dimensional maze in combination, and a freely-constructible three-dimensional maze constructed by using the pieces.
2. Description of the Related ArtMany of mazes on the market are constituted by two-dimensional planes and, for example, many of the mazes are played by changing an inclination of a maze plate to roll a ball etc. placed thereon.
Additionally, in proposed three-dimensional mazes, cubic pieces provided with ball paths are arranged or stacked so that a ball is moved between adjacent pieces e.g., as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-619 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Application Publication No. H01-135988 (Patent Document 2), and Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Application Publication No. S62-61279 (Patent Document 3).
SUMMARYHowever, in the three-dimensional mazes described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, paths are formed by piercing holes in cubes, which takes time and costs, and are difficult to form for mold molding due to bending and intersecting of paths in the pieces, and therefore, the pieces of three-dimensional maze were not easily mass-produced.
It is therefore one non-limiting and exemplary embodiment provides a piece of three-dimensional maze that is easy to create.
In one general aspect, the techniques disclosed here feature: a piece of three-dimensional maze, wherein at least two of six faces of a cube have opening faces such that a path connecting the opening faces of two faces is defined by flat plates of the cube.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to the present invention can relatively easily be formed since the path connecting the opening faces of two faces to each other is defined by flat plates of a cube.
The present disclosure will become readily understood from the following description of non-limiting and exemplary embodiments thereof made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like parts are designated by like reference numeral and in which:
A piece of three-dimensional maze according to a first aspect, at least two of six faces of a cube have opening faces such that a path connecting the opening faces of two faces is defined by flat plate of the cube.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to a second aspect, in the first aspect, at least two adjacent faces of the six faces of the cube may have opening faces continuous over the two faces.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to a third aspect, in the first or second aspect, the flat plates of the cube constituting the path may have a thickness equal to or less than ⅓ of the length of one side of the cube.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to a fourth aspect, in any one of the first to third aspect, the flat plates of the cube constituting the path may include a curved surface.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to a fifth aspect, in any one of the first to fourth aspect, the piece may be a corner piece in which two adjacent faces of the six faces of the cube have opening faces continuous over the two faces such that a path connecting the opening faces of the two faces to each other is defined by the flat plate of the cube.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to a sixth aspect, in any one of the first to fifth aspect, the piece may be a U-shaped piece in which three faces continuous along one direction among the six faces of the cube have opening faces continuous over the three faces such that a path connecting the opening faces of the three faces to each other is defined by the flat plates of the cube.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to a seventh aspect, in any one of the first to sixth aspect, eight vertices of the cube may be maintained.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to an eighth aspect, in any one of the first to seventh aspect, the flat plates of the cube defining the path may have openings.
A three-dimensional maze according to a ninth aspect constructed by using the piece of three-dimensional maze according to the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect.
Pieces of three-dimensional maze and a three-dimensional maze according to an embodiment will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, substantially the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals.
First EmbodimentIn the pieces of three-dimensional maze 2, 3, 4 according to the first embodiment, at least two of six faces of a cube have opening faces on the at least two of six faces. Therefore, the opening faces are supported by flat plates of the cube. A path connecting the two opening faces is defined by flat plates of the cube. Furthermore, the flat plates of the cube constituting the path have a thickness equal to or less than ⅓ of the length of one side of the cube.
The pieces of three-dimensional maze 2, 3, 4 can relatively easily be formed since the path connecting the opening faces of two faces is defined by the plates of the cube.
The flat plate of the cube constituting the path only needs to be able to define a ball path, and the flat plate constituting the path may be a flat face or a curved surface or may be a flat face partially having a curved surface. As a result, the piece of three-dimensional maze can easily be formed. The flat plate may be a polygonal face or an uneven face. The flat plate may have a slope along a direction of the path. The flat plate may have a substantially constant thickness. The flat plate of the cube only needs to be able to define a path, has a thickness equal to or less than ⅓ of one side of the cube, for example, and preferably has a thickness capable of maintaining a certain strength, for example, a thickness of 1 mm or more, more preferably 3 mm or more. As a result, when the pieces of three-dimensional maze are stacked, the faces thereof come into contact with each other at portions having the thickness, so that the faces of the pieces can be prevented from fitting in each other. For example, the flat plate of the cube can be made of resin, metal, wood, cardboard, etc. For uniform formation, the flat plate is preferably made of resin. The flat plate of the cube may be transparent or opaque. Furthermore, as shown in
Preferably, two adjacent faces have opening faces continuous over the two faces. In this case, a side serving as a ridgeline between the two faces does not exist, and the continuous opening faces are opened outward, resulting in a structure easily formed by mold molding. Examples of the piece of three-dimensional maze with two adjacent faces having continuous opening faces include the corner piece 2 and the U-shaped piece 4 described later.
In this piece of three-dimensional maze, among the eight vertices and the 12 sides of the cube, a discontinuous side may be included; however, the eight vertices are preferably maintained. When the pieces of three-dimensional maze are stacked up, the pieces of three-dimensional maze maintaining the eight vertices of the cube produce an effect of stabilizing the three-dimensional maze. For example, a straight piece, a corner piece, and a U-shaped piece described later maintain eight vertices and are therefore stable when stacked.
The corner piece 2, the U-shaped piece 4, and the straight piece 3 are specific examples of the pieces of three-dimensional maze 2, 3, 4 and will hereinafter be described.
<Corner Piece>The corner piece 2 will be described with reference to
A ball 16 enters the corner piece 2 via one opening face 9a of the opening faces and exits the corner piece 2 via the other opening face 9b in a right-angle direction. Therefore, in the corner piece 2, the ball path (9a->9b) bends at a right angle (right-angle path). When the opening face 9a of another piece comes into contact with the opening face 9b on one side of the right-angle path of the corner piece 2, the right-angle path forms a portion of a continuous path. By combining the eight corner pieces 2 such that the paths thereof are made continuous, the three-dimensional maze 10 is configured to have a route 11 in which the paths of the corner pieces 2 are made continuous. The combination of the corner pieces 2 of
The U-shaped piece 4 will be described with reference to
As shown in
Since the U-shaped piece 4 has three entrances, it is required to consider the arrangement of the piece more than when the straight piece 3 or the corner piece 2 is used, which is suitable for a brain training.
<Straight Piece>As described later, a three-dimensional maze may be formed by using a cubic piece composed of six faces all closed and having no opening face or a blind-end piece composed of one face that is an opening face and the other five faces having no opening face. These cubic and blind-end pieces are not primary constituent members of the three-dimensional maze in that the pieces do not form a route.
<Connection of Paths>As shown in
As shown in
As described above, the paths of the pieces can appropriately be connected to provide a route for forming a three-dimensional maze.
<3×3×3 Three-Dimensional Maze>A 3×3×3 three-dimensional maze is made up of 27 pieces, and 1000 or more different routes are available from the start piece to the goal piece, including pieces that the routes do not pass through.
As shown in
In an example shown in
The peepholes may be increased in diameter to form an opening allowing passage of the ball.
Although the three-dimensional maze may have any size, the maze with each side of about 60 mm is easy to use when played with both hands, for example. In the case of the 3×3×3 three-dimensional maze, one side of one piece is about 20 mm. To prevent adjacent pieces from fitting in each other, the thickness of each face of one piece of three-dimensional maze is preferably 1 mm or more, more preferably 3 mm or more. Additionally, the piece of three-dimensional maze becomes stable when four corners at least in contact with the center of one side of the cube are large. When the faces of the straight piece have the thickness of 3 mm, the inner cavity is 14 mm in width, and a ball having a diameter of about 13 mm can be rolled. In the case of a 4×4×4 maze, the piece is 15 mm on each side. If the thickness of each face of the piece of three-dimensional maze is 3 mm, the cubic inner cavity is 9 mm in width, and a ball having a diameter of about 8 mm can be rolled.
The 3×3×3 three-dimensional maze has 27 passage portions, and the 4×4×4 three-dimensional maze has 64 passage portions. In this case, when a large three-dimensional maze is created, it is not necessary to arrange the pieces of three-dimensional maze having paths at all locations. For example, a space may be filled in some locations with a regular hexahedron piece having six closed faces or a box-shaped blind-end piece made up of five faces with one face removed. Additionally, a transparent piece, an opaque piece, and a colored piece may be mixed. This can make the maze visually enjoyable.
Furthermore, the three-dimensional maze may be played by causing the ball to make a round trip between two entrances. Alternatively, in a 4×4×4 or more three-dimensional maze having an increased maze space, a goal may be disposed inside the three-dimensional maze so that the maze is solved by making a round trip. Furthermore, according to the piece of three-dimensional maze, a three-dimensional maze can freely be constructed, which allows a player to conceive various ways by himself/herself.
<Mold Molding>The pieces of three-dimensional maze have a path defined by plates of a cube such that the path is made wide for a ball, and particularly, the corner piece 2 and the U-shaped piece 4 have the path opened outward, so that the pieces are easily formed by mold molding. If path surfaces are sloped and opened outward and outside surfaces are also sloped, the pieces have a structure easily formed by mold molding and can be mass-produced. In this case, a side length of a piece of 20 mm on each side is reduced by about 0.5 mm in some positions; however, this does not affect when the maze is created by the pieces or is played.
The pieces of three-dimensional maze and the freely-constructible three-dimensional maze using the pieces provide the following effects.
(A) The three-dimensional maze can be solved by guiding the ball from an entrance to an exit by rotating the entire three-dimensional maze, for example, and can be created by connecting the paths of the pieces of three-dimensional maze from an entrance to an exit. In this case, the route of the ball is three-dimensionally imaged in the brain at the time of both creating and solving the three-dimensional maze, so that the brain is trained.
(B) Since the multiple types of the pieces of three-dimensional maze are provided, the pieces are enjoyably selected when a route of the of the three-dimensional maze is created.
(C) Since the ball path is formed by flat plates of a cube in each of the pieces of three-dimensional maze, a relatively large ball can be put in the path.
(D) Since the ball path is formed by open faces of a regular hexahedron rather than by drilling a hole in a cubic piece, the pieces of three-dimensional maze are easily formed by mold molding.
(E) Since the ball path is formed by flat plates of a cube in each of the pieces of three-dimensional maze, less material is required, and manufacturing costs can be reduced.
The present disclosure includes appropriately combining any embodiments and/or examples out of the various embodiments and/or examples described above, and the effects of the respective embodiments and/or examples can be produced.
The piece of three-dimensional maze according to the present invention can relatively easily be formed since the path connecting the opening faces of two faces to each other is defined by flat plates of a cube.
EXPLANATIONS OF LETTERS OR NUMERALS
- 1 piece of three-dimensional maze
- 2 corner piece
- 3 straight pieces
- 4 U-shaped piece
- 7 box
- 8 peephole
- 9a, 9b, 9c opening face
- 10, 10a, 20, 20a, 20b, 20c three-dimensional maze
- 11 route
- 12a, 12b, 12c entrance
- 15 lid
- 16 ball
- 17 face
- 17a box (upper portion)
- 17b box (lower portion)
Claims
1-9. (canceled)
10. A U-shaped piece used for creating a three-dimensional maze, comprising:
- a first flat plate;
- a second flat plate connecting to the first flat plate at right angles; and
- a third flat plate connecting to the second flat plate at right angles on the side opposite to the first flat plate so as to face the first flat plate,
- wherein the three flat plates forms a continuous opening on continuous three opening faces of a cube, the cube having the three flat plates and the three opening faces, the continuous three opening faces directing to different three directions, and defining a path through the opening,
- wherein two ridgelines between the opening faces of two adjacent opening faces of the cube, each ridgeline does not exist in the opening faces of the three opening faces so that the path is opened outward.
11. A corner piece used for creating a three-dimensional maze, comprising:
- a first flat plate;
- a second flat plate connecting to the first flat plate at right angles;
- a third flat plate connecting to the second flat plate at right angles on the side opposite to the first flat plate so as to face the first flat plate; and
- a fourth flat plate connecting to each of the first, second, and third flat plates at right angles on a side perpendicular to the first, second, and third flat plates,
- wherein the four flat plates forms a continuous opening on continuous two adjacent opening faces of a cube, the cube having the four flat plates and the two opening faces, and defining a path through the opening,
- wherein a ridgeline between the two adjacent opening faces of the cube does not exist so that the path is opened outward.
12. A freely-constructible three-dimensional maze constructed by using at least one kind selected from the U-shaped piece according to claim 10 and the corner piece used for creating a three-dimensional maze, comprising:
- a first flat plate;
- a second flat plate connecting to the first flat plate at right angles;
- a third flat plate connecting to the second flat plate at right angles on the side opposite to the first flat plate so as to face the first flat plate; and
- a fourth flat plate connecting to each of the first, second, and third flat plates at right angles on a side perpendicular to the first, second, and third flat plates,
- wherein the four flat plates forms a continuous opening on continuous two adjacent opening faces of a cube, the cube having the four flat plates and the two opening faces, and defining a path through the opening,
- wherein a ridgeline between the two adjacent opening faces of the cube does not exist so that the path is opened outward.
13. A freely-constructible three-dimensional maze constructed by using at least one kind selected from the U-shaped piece used for creating a three-dimensional maze, comprising:
- a first flat plate;
- a second flat plate connecting to the first flat plate at right angles; and
- a third flat plate connecting to the second flat plate at right angles on the side opposite to the first flat plate so as to face the first flat plate,
- wherein the three flat plates forms a continuous opening on continuous three opening faces of a cube, the cube having the three flat plates and the three opening faces, the continuous three opening faces directing to different three directions, and defining a path through the opening,
- wherein two ridgelines between the opening faces of two adjacent opening faces of the cube, each ridgeline does not exist in the opening faces of the three opening faces so that the path is opened outward and the corner piece according to claim 11.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 20, 2018
Publication Date: Sep 24, 2020
Inventor: Akihiko TANAKA (Obama-shi, Fukui)
Application Number: 16/649,251