Interchangeable game pieces and method of game play

Abstract

A board game that incorporates a playing surface and movable game pieces. In some embodiments the game pieces include a character portion and a movement portion. The character portions may be interchangeable with the movement portions. In some methods of game play, players maneuver their game pieces between regions of the board to attain points.

1 . A movable game piece comprising: 
 a movement portion adapted to enable movement of the game piece along a playing surface, the movement portion including a rotatable component mounted within a housing;    a character portion having character indicia; and    a fastening mechanism adapted to removably couple the character portion to the movement portion.    
   
   
       2 . The game piece of  claim 1 , wherein the fastening mechanism is configured to press fit the character portion to the movement portion.  
   
   
       3 . The game piece of  claim 2 , wherein the fastening mechanism includes a telescoping ledge configured to seat against the movement portion.  
   
   
       4 . The game piece of  claim 3 , wherein the ledge is located approximately 0.02-0.03 inches from an engagement edge of the character portion.  
   
   
       5 . The game piece of  claim 2 , wherein the fastening mechanism includes an angled region on at least one of the character portion and the movement portion.  
   
   
       6 . The game piece of  claim 1 , wherein the fastening mechanism includes one or more protrusions extending from one of the character portion and the movement portion and adapted to insert into one or more apertures in the other of the character portion and the movement portion.  
   
   
       7 . The game piece of  claim 1 , wherein the fastening mechanism is configured to couple the movement portion and the character portion when the character portion is moved laterally relative to the movement portion.  
   
   
       8 . The game piece of  claim 1 , wherein the character portion has a washable surface.  
   
   
       9 . A game comprising: 
 a game board having a playing surface; and    a plurality of movable game piece components including: 
 one or more movement portions adapted to move along the playing surface;  
 one or more character portions; and  
 one or more fastening mechanisms each adapted to interchangeably couple one of the character portions to one of the movement portions.  
   
   
   
       10 . The game of  claim 9 , wherein the character portions have permanent character indicia.  
   
   
       11 . The game of  claim 9 , wherein the character portions each include a character figure extending from an upper surface of the character portion.  
   
   
       12 . The game of  claim 9 , wherein the fastening mechanisms are configured to press fit one of the character portions to one of the movement portions.  
   
   
       13 . The game of  claim 12 , wherein the fastening mechanisms include one or more telescoping ledges.  
   
   
       14 . The game of  claim 13 , wherein the movement portions have a rotatable component mounted within a housing and the one or more telescoping ledges are configured to suspend a region of the character portion away from the movement portion such that the character portion does not contact the rotatable component.  
   
   
       15 . The game of  claim 9 , wherein the fastening mechanisms include hook-and-loop material.  
   
   
       16 . The game of  claim 9 , wherein the game board includes one or more means for tallying a score.  
   
   
       17 . The game of  claim 9 , wherein the game board includes one or more barriers configured to restrict movement of a game piece.  
   
   
       18 . A method of playing a table game comprising: 
 providing a game board having a playing surface imprinted with board indicia;    providing a plurality of movement portions and character portions adapted to be coupled together;    selecting and coupling a character portion having character indicia to a movement portion to form a game piece;    urging the game piece along the playing surface from an initial position towards a final position; and    tallying points as indicated by the board indicia associated with the final position of the game piece.    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the points are tallied as determined by a combination of the board indicia and character indicia.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein a subset of character indicia from which one of the character portions is selected is determined by a prior point tally.