Board game

Abstract

A hoard game for a number of players comprising a playing surface having a plurality of defines spaces ( 3 ) arrayed in two dimensions and playing pieces having an upper and a lower surface each including a representation of one letter of an alphabet character set. The first player forms a word on the playing surface, each subsequent player in turn places playing pieces upon the surface to form a word wherein each subsequent word added must incorporate at lease one playing piece previously played by the same player and play continues until one player forms a bridge of playing pieces in which each piece, except the first and last piece, is adjacent two pieces, and the first and last pieces are adjacent one piece.

1 . A board game for a number of players comprising: 
 a playing surface which contains a plurality of defined spaces arrayed in two dimensions within a framework;    playing pieces for placement on the playing surface, each playing piece having an upper an a lower surface, both the upper and the lower surface including a representation of one letter of an alphabet character set; wherein 
 each player chooses a plurality of playing pieces from a common pool of playing the pieces;  
 a first player is determined;  
 a starting and ending side is determined for each player;  
 the first player places some or all of his playing pieces upon the playing surface to form a word in a language predetermined before play commenced;  
 each subsequent player in turn places playing pieces upon the playing surface to form a word; wherein each subsequent word added to the playing surface must incorporate at least one playing piece previously played by the same player; and  
 play continues until one player forms a bridge of playing pieces in which each piece, except the first and last pieces, is adjacent two pieces, and the first and last pieces are adjacent one piece.  
   
     
     
         2 . A board game as claimed in  claim 1  wherein each player attempts to build a bridge of playing pieces from one side of the playing surface to another side by placing playing pieces diagonally upon the playing surface in a manner selected from: vertically, horizontally and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         3 . A board game as claimed in claim any preceding claims wherein at least one of the first played pieces of each player must lie adjacent each player's own side of the playing surface.  
     
     
         4 . A board game as claimed in any preceding claims wherein each subsequent word added to the playing surface to form a section of a bridge is comprised: 
 wholly of a player's own playing pieces;    of a player's own playing pieces, and incorporates one playing piece played by another player; wherein the playing piece incorporated is either a consonant or a vowel, as predetermined by the players before commencement of play.    
     
     
         5 . A board game as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the playing surface is a playing surface with a framework which is a geometrically regular array of 15 by 15 spaces per side.  
     
     
         6 . A board game as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the upper and lower surface of the playing pieces are visually distinct.  
     
     
         7 . A board game as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the upper and lower surfaces of each playing piece are visually distinct one from the other.  
     
     
         8 . A board game as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the alphabet character set is selected from the group: English, Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian or Georgian or a combination of any of these.  
     
     
         9 . A board game as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the playing pieces are manufactured of material selected from the group: wood, paper, cardboard, plastic, and a combination of these.  
     
     
         10 . A board game for one or more players as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the rules of play are embodied in at least one computer program, the playing surface being displayed on at least one visual display unit, and the placement of the playing pieces is conducted by means selected from: keyboard, mouse and other computer control devices, and a combination thereof.  
     
     
         11 . A board game substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to any one of FIGS.  1  to  3  of the drawings.