Investment board game

Abstract

An investment board game and game method are disclosed. The board includes an endless path along which the players” game pieces are moved. The path includes a plurality of stock spaces, each representing a stock and a stock purchase price. Upon moving to one of the stock spaces, the player is permitted to purchase shares of stock for that space. If shares are purchased, the player must draw a stock value card which has the potential of changing the closing value of the stock. The stock value cards are preferably arranged into low, medium and high risk card sets, with the player being limited to selecting from one of the sets depending on the present value of the stock. A plurality of personal risk spaces are dispersed among the stock spaces along the path, and a player who moves to one of these spaces must draw a personal risk card that is likely to monetarily award or penalize the player. The board similarly includes a plurality of global risk spaces, and a player who moves to one of these spaces must draw a global risk card that has indicia representing a change in the purchase price and closing value for at least one stock. Spaced apart along the path are also a busted space and a confinement space, with the player who has landed on the busted space being required to move to the confinement space pay a penalty, and miss at least one turn.

1 . An investment board game comprising: 
 a plurality of game pieces, with each of the pieces representing a player;    a board having a plurality of stock spaces defining at least in part an endless path along which the game pieces are moved,    each of said stock spaces including indicia identifying a stock, and further including a stock purchase price area in which a purchase price for the stock may be represented;    a monetary system useable to purchase the stock;    mechanism operable to provide a random space count for movement of the game pieces along the path;    a chance indicator useable to determine a closing value for the stock purchased by the player,    said indicator being configured so that determination of the closing value requires player selection of one of a plurality of risk levels, wherein the risk levels differ from one another by their respective ranges of possible changes in stock value; and    a stock portfolio device operable to permit input and storage of the purchased stock and the closing value for the purchased stock.    
     
     
         2 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said board including a plurality of personal risk spaces interspersed among the stock spaces along the path; and    a plurality of personal risk cards to be drawn by the player when the player's game piece is moved to one of the personal risk spaces,    at least some of the personal risk cards including indicia representing a monetary award or penalty for the player.    
     
     
         3 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 2 , 
 said board including a pair of personal risk card areas so that drawn and undrawn personal risk cards may be stored separately on the board.    
     
     
         4 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 2 , 
 said personal risk cards including a set of judgment day cards to be drawn by the player only when instructed to do so by another one of the personal risk cards,    each of said judgment day cards including indicia identifying a monetary penalty and a number of turns to be missed by the player.    
     
     
         5 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said board including a plurality of global risk spaces interspersed among the stock spaces along the path; and    a plurality of global risk cards to be drawn by the player when the player's game piece is moved to one of the global risk spaces,    each of said global risk cards including indicia representing an increase or decrease in the purchase price and closing value for at least one stock.    
     
     
         6 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 5 , 
 said board including a pair of global risk card areas so that drawn and undrawn global risk cards may be stored separately on the board.    
     
     
         7 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said board including a start space and a return to start space,    said start and return to start spaces being spaced from one another along the path.    
     
     
         8 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 7 , 
 said board including a busted space that includes indicia representing a number of turns to be missed by the player when the player's game piece is moved to the busted space,    said board including a confinement space to which the game piece is moved and located during a missed turn as a result of landing on the busted space,    said busted and confinement spaces being spaced from one another along the path.    
     
     
         9 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 8 , 
 said spaces being arranged in such a manner that the path is generally rectangular and presents four corners,    said start and return to start spaces being located at opposite corners of the path,    said busted and confinement spaces being located at opposite corners of the path.    
     
     
         10 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said stock spaces being arranged into a number of stock groups, with each of the stock groups including at least one of the stock spaces and having distinguishing indicia so that the stock groups are distinguishable from one another,    said at least one of the stock spaces for each of the stock groups being provided with the distinguishing indicia for that stock group.    
     
     
         11 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said monetary system comprising a plurality of faux bills.    
     
     
         12 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said mechanism including at least one six-sided die, with each of the sides including indicia representing a number.    
     
     
         13 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said chance indicator including a plurality of stock value cards, each including value change indicia representing a change in stock value or no change indicia representing no change in stock value.    
     
     
         14 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 13 , 
 said stock value cards being arranged into a high risk card set, a medium risk card set, and a low risk card set,    said high risk card set having cards with value change indicia that cooperatively identify a greater range of changes in stock value than the cards of the medium risk card set, said medium risk card set having cards with value change indicia that cooperatively identify a greater range of changes in stock value than the cards of the low risk card set.    
     
     
         15 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 14 , 
 said high and medium risk card sets each having a greater number of cards with value change indicia identifying a stock value decrease than cards with value change indicia identifying a stock value increase.    
     
     
         16 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 15 , 
 said high risk card set having a greater proportion of cards with stock value decrease indicia to cards with stock value increase indicia than the medium risk card set.    
     
     
         17 . An investment board game as claimed in claim  16 ; and 
 a six-sided stock value die useable when one of the cards is to be drawn from the low risk card set,    said stock value die having three sides with indicia indicating that any value change indicia of the drawn card shall be considered an increase in stock value,    two sides with indicia indicating that any value change indicia of the drawn card shall be considered a decrease in stock value, and one side with indicia indicating that there is no change in stock value regardless of any value change indicia of the drawn card.    
     
     
         18 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said stock portfolio device comprising a log for each player,    said log including a plurality of shares purchased spaces and closing value spaces, with each of the shares purchased spaces and closing value spaces being associated with indicia identifying one of the stock spaces such that the number of shares purchased and closing value of the stock can be entered and stored.    
     
     
         19 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 18 , 
 said log comprising a booklet including a plurality of laminated pages, with the shares purchased spaces and closing value spaces being provided on the pages.    
     
     
         20 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 19 , 
 said stock spaces being arranged into a number of stock groups, with each of the stock groups including at least one of the stock spaces and having distinguishing indicia so that the stock groups are distinguishable from one another,    said at least one of the stock spaces for each of the stock groups being provided with the distinguishing indicia for that stock group,    said stock groups being represented on separate ones of the laminated pages, with each one of the laminated pages including the distinguishing indicia for the corresponding stock group.    
     
     
         21 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 20 , 
 said chance indicator including a plurality of stock value cards, each including value change indicia representing a change in stock value or no change indicia representing no change in stock value,    at least one of said laminated pages including indicia representing each of the stock value cards so that the player can track which cards have been drawn.    
     
     
         22 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1;  and 
 a laminated bid card including a bid value space and a shares bid space that cooperatively permit player entry of the price per share and number of shares for which the player's bid is made.  
 
     
     
         23 . An investment board game as claimed in  claim 1 , 
 said stock purchase price area including indicia identifying the purchase price; and    a plurality of laminated elements, there being at least as many laminated elements as stock spaces,    each of said laminated elements presenting a stock purchase price face on which the purchase price for one of the stocks may be erasably written, and an opposite shares available face on which a number of shares available for a stock space may be erasably written.