Board game with audible timer

Abstract

A game is provided including a board, player pieces, and a play control mechanism. The play control mechanism includes a timer portion and a move-determining portion. Players move their player pieces along board spaces based on instructions from the move-determining portion as long as the timer portion is running. Once there is no time remaining, players whose player pieces are not on designated board spaces are penalized.

1 . A board game for a plurality of players comprising: 
 a board having a plurality of board spaces;    a plurality of player pieces adapted to move along the board spaces; and    a play control mechanism adapted to control progression of the player pieces along the board spaces, wherein the play control mechanism includes a primary portion adapted to indicate an allowed play interval and a secondary portion divided into a plurality of sections and adapted to indicate a subset of board spaces on which a particular player piece may be placed while the primary portion remains activated.    
   
   
       2 . The board game of  claim 1 , wherein the play control mechanism is integral with the board.  
   
   
       3 . The board game of  claim 1 , wherein the primary portion is a timer.  
   
   
       4 . The board game of  claim 1 , wherein the play control mechanism includes an activation mechanism operatively connected to at least one of the primary portion and the secondary portion.  
   
   
       5 . The board game of  claim 1 , wherein the secondary portion is adapted to indicate a subset of board spaces through at least one of an audio and a visual instruction.  
   
   
       6 . The board game of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sections of the secondary portion take the form of flowers.  
   
   
       7 . The board game of  claim 1 , wherein the play control mechanism is adapted to represent an animal.  
   
   
       8 . The board game of  claim 1 , wherein at least a region of the play control mechanism is movable and operatively coupled to the primary portion.  
   
   
       9 . A play control mechanism for a board game having a board with a plurality of board spaces and a plurality of player pieces adapted to move along the board spaces, the play control mechanism comprising: 
 a timer portion adapted to establish a random amount of time;    a move-determining portion adapted to indicate a movement pattern for at least one of the player pieces; and    an activation mechanism operatively coupled to the move-determining portion and the timer portion, wherein the activation mechanism is adapted to engage the move-determining portion and the timer portion independently.    
   
   
       10 . The play control mechanism of  claim 9 , wherein the move-determining portion includes indicia configured to indicate a particular subset of board spaces.  
   
   
       11 . The play control mechanism of  claim 9 , wherein the activation mechanism includes a move button adapted to activate the move-determining portion.  
   
   
       12 . The play control mechanism of  claim 9 , wherein the activation mechanism includes a timer button adapted to activate the timer portion.  
   
   
       13 . The play control mechanism of  claim 9 , wherein the play control mechanism is adapted to represent an animal.  
   
   
       14 . The play control mechanism of  claim 13 , wherein the play control mechanism has a movable portion that is configured to move when the timer portion has no remaining time.  
   
   
       15 . The play control mechanism of  claim 14 , wherein the movable portion is configured to represent a mouth of the animal.  
   
   
       16 . A method of playing a board game comprising: 
 providing a play control mechanism having a timer portion and a move-determining portion;    activating the timer portion,    activating the move-determining portion;    moving a player piece to a board space assigned by the move-determining portion; and    repeating the steps of activating the move-determining portion and moving a player piece if the timer portion remains activated.    
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising imposing a penalty on a player piece that is not positioned on a predetermined subset of board spaces when the timer portion is no longer activated.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising playing music as long as the timer portion remains activated.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising providing a visual display when the move-determining portion is activated.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising determining a winner based on which player piece is the first to complete a predetermined task.