BOARD GAME SET

Abstract

A board game set includes a mat part, at least one first coil disposed in the mat part, and at least one game piece comprising a main body, a light-emitting unit, and an second coil, the light-emitting unit is disposed at the main body, the second coil is disposed in the main body and electrically coupled to the light-emitting unit, when the second coil approaches the at least one first coil, magnetic induction is generated and converted into electricity to be provided to activate the light-emitting unit.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to a board game set, more particularly relates to a board game set including light-emitting unit.

BACKGROUND

Board games are tabletop games that have at least one pre-marked board and various pieces used to be moved or placed on the board. Many board games feature a competition between two or more players as well as interesting rulesets or even strategic depth, thus board games always are a great way to spend time with family and friends.

To get the players immersed in the world that the game presents, game designers tend to put effort on improving the art and aesthetics of the appearances of the board and associated components. Therefore, the fun part of the traditional board games merely relies on the interaction between players and the one-way appreciation to the artwork but without any feedback from the pieces, board, or components.

SUMMARY

One embodiment of the disclosure provides a board game set including a mat part, at least one first coil disposed in the mat part, and at least one game piece comprising a main body, a light-emitting unit, and an second coil, the light-emitting unit is disposed at the main body, the second coil is disposed in the main body and electrically coupled to the light-emitting unit, when the second coil approaches the at least one first coil, magnetic induction is generated and converted into electricity to be provided to activate the light-emitting unit.

According to the board game set as discussed in the above embodiments of the disclosure, the light-emitting unit can be activated when the game piece is brought in proximity with specific area of the mat part, thus the game piece is able to emit light using the light-emitting unit to respond to how the user place or move the game piece, thereby achieving an active reaction to the operation of user and thus improving the user experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will become better understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not intending to limit the present disclosure and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a board game set according to one embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along line 2-2;

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of a board game set according to one embodiment of the disclosure when a game piece approaches a mat part; and

FIG. 4 a perspective view of a board game set according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed descriptions with the accompanying drawings. The inclusion of such details provides a thorough understanding of the disclosure sufficient to enable one skilled in the art to practice the described embodiments but it is for the purpose of illustration only and should not be understood to limit the disclosure. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as can be included within the spirit and scope of the described embodiments as defined by the appended claims. To this end, those skilled in the relevant art will recognize and appreciate that many changes can be made to the various aspects of the disclosure described herein, while still obtaining the beneficial results of the present disclosure. It will also be apparent that some of the desired benefits of the present disclosure can be obtained by selecting some of the features of the present disclosure without utilizing other features.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of better understanding the descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting. Unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass both direct and indirect mountings and connections. As used herein, the terms “substantially” or “approximately” may describe a slight deviation from a target value, in particular a deviation within the production accuracy and/or within the necessary accuracy, so that an effect as present with the target value is maintained. Unless specified or limited otherwise, the phrase “at least one” as used herein may mean that the quantity of the described element or component is one or more than one but does not necessarily mean that the quantity is only one. The term “and/or” may be used herein to indicate that either or both of two stated possibilities.

Firstly, referring to FIGS. 1-3, one embodiment of the disclosure provides a board game set 1 which may include a mat part 10 and at least one game piece 20. The mat part 10 may have any required shape and sized for one or more game pieces 20 to move or placed thereon. The mat part 10 and game pieces 20 may be employed to be elements for monopoly game or chess. The mat part 10 may be made of any suitable flexible material, such as rubber, silicon, or combination thereof, thus the mat part 10 is elastically deformable. Optionally, the upper portion of the mat part 10 for contacting the game pieces 20 may be made of Mylar, polyester, rubber, paper, or glass. The game piece 20, may also be called “component” in a board game, may be served as a chit, chis, dice, card, pawn, standee, miniature, or any object employed to be placed on the mat part 10.

The mat part 10 may include at least one first coil 11 therein. A power port 30 may be connected to a side of the mat part 10. The power port 30 may be electrically coupled with the first coil 11. The power port 30 may receive electrical energy from an external power and provides it to the first coil 11. The power port 30 may be, but is not limited to, a USB port or any suitable connector that can receive electrical current. The external power may be, but is not limited to, a socket, a computer, or a portable electronic product.

The game piece 20 may include a main body 21 and a second coil 22 disposed in the main body 21. In addition, the game piece 20 may include at least one light-emitting unit 23 disposed on the main body 21. The second coil 22 may be arranged adjacent to the bottom side of the main body 21 and may be electrically coupled to the light-emitting unit 23. The light-emitting unit 23 is, for example, a light-emitting diode (LED). The light-emitting unit 23 may be arranged within the main body 21 or partially exposed from the main body 21. At least part of the main body 21 may be light-permeable for guiding the light emitted from the light-emitting unit 23.

In such an arrangement, when the game piece 20 approaches the first coil 11 (as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3) with current traveling through the first coil 11 (that is, when the first coil 11 and the second coil 22 are brought in proximity with each other), mutual inductance is produced so that the magnetic field produced by the first coil 11 links with the second coil 22 and therefore induces an electromotive force and current in the second coil 22 for activating the light-emitting unit 23. As such, the game piece 20 is able to emit light in response to the placement of the placing the game piece 20 in one or more specific areas of the mat part 10. In other words, the light-emitting unit 23 of the game piece 20 is passively activated by the mat part 10. It is noted that the color and lighting mode of the light-emitting unit 23 is not limited. For example, the light-emitting unit 23 may have multiple lighting modes available, such as steady mode, flashing mode, and/or color-changing mode.

Optionally, the game piece 20 may further include a controller 24 and a switch 25 arranged thereon. The controller 24 may receive electrical power generated due to the interaction between the first coil 21 and the second coil 22. The controller 24 may be electrically coupled to the light-emitting unit 23 and the switch 25. The controller 24 may be any suitable microprocessor capable of processing and/or storing data involved in controlling the switch 25 and the light-emitting unit 23. The switch 25 may be a cycle switch. The switch 25 may be reachable and operable by user. Selectively switching or turning on the switch 25 can instruct the controller 24 to change the lighting mode of the light-emitting unit 23. It is noted that the lighting mode of the light-emitting unit 23 when the switch 25 is turned on or off is not limited. For example, when the switch 25 is turn on by user, the controller 24 may instruct the light-emitting unit 23 to perform steady lighting mode, flash lighting mode, or color-changing mode during the placement of the game piece 20 onto the first coil 11.

Optionally, the game piece 20 may further include a communication unit 26 therein. The communication unit 26 may be electrically coupled to the controller 24. The communication unit 26 may be any suitable Bluetooth communication module and is able to pair with one or more external devices (e.g., computer or smartphone). As such, user is allowed to transmit instruction to the controller 24 via the communication unit 26 and may further set up, adjust, or change the lighting mode of the light-emitting unit 23.

The previous embodiments are exemplary but not intended to limit the disclosure. Please refer to FIG. 4, another embodiment of the disclosure provides a board game set 1′. For the simplicity, only the main difference between the following and previous embodiments will be described in detail below. As shown, the board game set 1′ includes a mat part 10′ with an induction area EA. The induction area EA means the area of the mat part 10′ which has the first coils 11. In this embodiment, there may be a plurality of first coils 11 arranged in the induction area EA along a direction. The first coils 11 may be different in size, number of turns, or shape or have different current traveling thereon, so that the first coils 111 may induces different electromotive forces and currents in the second coils 22 of the game pieces 20. This makes it possible for the controller 24 to determine which one of the first coils 11 that the game piece 20 is placed onto; that is, the controller 24 is able to determine the exact location in which the game piece 20 is placed on the mat part 10′ by processing the specific induced emf and current on the game piece 20. Further, the controller 24 is able to activate a specific lighting mode of the light-emitting unit 23 in response to where it lands on the induction area EA; in other words, user may receive specific light reaction from the game piece 20 when placing it on different first coils 11; that is, the lighting mode of the light-emitting unit 23 is selectively switched or determined by the controller 24 in response to the second coil 22 approaches which one of the plurality of first coils 11. As such, a game piece 20 may produce different lighting effects when approaching different first coils 11. Optionally, the induction area EA of the mat part 10′ may have a specific pattern or pre-marks which may have different colors or illustrations respectively corresponding to or representing the locations of different first coils 11.

It is noted that the number and arrangement of the first coils on the mat part may be modified as required; in some other embodiments, there may be only one first coil on the mat part.

According to the board game set as discussed in the above embodiments of the disclosure, the light-emitting unit can be activated when the game piece is brought in proximity with specific area of the mat part, thus the game piece is able to emit light using the light-emitting unit to respond to how the user place or move the game piece, thereby achieving an active reaction to the operation of user and thus improving the user experience.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present disclosure. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary embodiments only, with a scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A board game set, comprising:

a mat part;

at least one first coil disposed in the mat part; and

at least one game piece, comprising: a main body; a light-emitting unit disposed at the main body; and a second coil disposed in the main body and electrically coupled to the light-emitting unit;

wherein, when the second coil approaches the at least one first coil, magnetic induction is generated and converted into electricity to be provided to activate the light-emitting unit.

2. The board game set according to claim 1, wherein the second coil is arranged adjacent to a side of the main body configured to contact the mat part.

3. The board game set according to claim 1, further comprising a controller electrically coupled to the second coil and the light-emitting unit and configured for controlling the light-emitting unit.

4. The board game set according to claim 3, further comprising a switch arranged on the at least one game piece and electrically coupled to the controller, wherein the switch is configured for changing a lighting mode of the light-emitting unit.

5. The board game set according to claim 3, wherein the at least one first coil comprises a plurality of first coils, a lighting mode of the light-emitting unit is selectively determined by the controller in response to the second coil approaches which one of the plurality of first coils.

6. The board game set according to claim 5, wherein the mat part comprises an induction area, the plurality of first coils are arranged in a direction in the induction area.

7. The board game set according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of first coils are different in number of turns.

8. The board game set according to claim 3, further comprising a communication unit electrically coupled to the controller of the at least one game piece and configured to be in signal communication between the controller and an external device.

9. The board game set according to claim 1, wherein the mat part has a power port electrically coupled to the at least one first coil and configured for receiving electric current for the at least one first coil.

10. The board game set according to claim 1, wherein the mat part is elastically deformable.