Board Game and Method of Play

Abstract

The present device is a board game for playing a variety of pawn advancement games and comprises a playing board having a central game grid with surrounding borders of different colors. Each colored border has five areas: OUT, PLAY, YES, NO, and WINNERS. Each player is assigned to a colored border and is provided a spotted die for rolling, a numbered die for assigning, and at least one pawn. The player's border, dice, and pawns have matching colors. Each player has an objective to move their colored pawns across the game grid from the player's border to the last line of the game grid farthest away. Advancement of each pawn is determined by the rolled values of the spotted dice, the assigned values of the numbered dice, and switching of pawns. The first player moving all their pawns into their WINNERS area is declared the winner.

1 . A board game for playing a plurality of games, comprising:
 a playing board having a board surface with a plurality of spaces in a central area forming a game grid and a plurality of borders surrounding the game grid with each border having a different color and each border having an OUT area, a YES area, a NO area, a WINNERS area, and a PLAY area;   a spotted die for each player, used for rolling, with the spotted die matching the color of each player's border area;   a numbered die for each player, used for assigning, with the numbered die matching the color of each player's border area;   a rolling cup;   at least one pawn for each player with the color of each player's pawn matching the color of each player's border area;   whereby a plurality of games may be played on the playing board with each player being assigned to a different colored border, each player provided at least one pawn of the same color as the assigned border, and each player having an objective to move each player's colored pawns across the game grid starting from the player's border to the last line of the game grid farthest away from the player's border with the advancement of each pawn determined by the rolled values of the spotted dice, the assigned values of the numbered dice, and the switching of pawns when multiples of the spotted dice are rolled.   
   
   
       2 . The board game of  claim 1  wherein the number of borders is exactly four. 
   
   
       3 . The board game of  claim 2  wherein the game grid is a plurality of same sized squares. 
   
   
       4 . The board game of  claim 3  wherein the game grid is exactly sixteen squares wide and sixteen squares long creating a game grid with a total of 256 same sized squares. 
   
   
       5 . The board game of  claim 4  wherein each spotted die is a six-sided spotted die with the values from one to six and each numbered die is a six-sided numbered die with the values from one to six. 
   
   
       6 . A method of playing a first game comprising the steps of:
 a) providing the board game as recited in  claim 1 ;   b) instructing each player to be assigned to a different colored border;   c) instructing each player to place the player's own pawns into the player's own   OUT area with each player using the same number of pawns;   d) instructing each player to roll each player's spotted die to determine who is the first roller, with the player having the highest roll becoming the roller starting the game and play proceeding to the left after the first roller's turn;   e) instructing the roller to put all of the players' spotted dice into the rolling cup;   f) instructing the roller to roll the spotted dice all at one time;   g) instructing the roller to choose one spotted die of any color to use for the movement of only one of the roller's pawns;   h) instructing the roller to make a move with one of the roller's pawns and if none of the roller's pawns can be moved the entire turn is lost;   i) instructing that the roller has to roll a six to bring a pawn into the PLAY area;   j) instructing that when the roller rolls a six on any spotted die, the roller can use the six to move a pawn from the roller's OUT area into the PLAY area;   k) instructing that if the roller has used a six on any spotted die to move a pawn into the PLAY area that pawn cannot be moved onto the game grid until the roller's next turn;   l) instructing that if the roller has a pawn already on the game grid or the PLAY area, the roller can choose to move such pawns on any turn;   m) instructing that the roller may move pawns from one space to another space with each space counting as one spot on the chosen spotted die;   n) instructing that the roller may move pawns forward, left or right, but a pawn can never be moved backwards or diagonally;   o) instructing that the roller may not move a pawn to a space that the pawn just left until the next turn;   p) instructing that the roller may use a six on a chosen spotted die to move a pawn that is already on the game grid if the player wants to use the six that way instead of using the six to bring another pawn from the OUT area into the PLAY area;   q) instructing that the roller may use multiple sixes to bring multiple pawns into the PLAY area, but multiples can not be used any other time to move more than one of the roller's own pawns;   r) instructing that if the roller brings a pawn or pawns into the PLAY area, the roller cannot make any other moves during that turn;   s) instructing the roller has to use all of the moves on the chosen spotted die with only one pawn, but the pawn can be moved sideways, in one direction only, to use up extra moves, except to finish;   t) instructing that the roller can move a pawn sideways for any reason that the roller wants, but a pawn can not be moved sideways if the pawn would be moving back into a space that the pawn just left, until the next turn;   u) instructing that the roller can start anywhere on the first row of the game grid on the roller's side and finish anywhere on the last row of the game grid on the opposite side of the playing board;   v) instructing that a pawn has to finish on the last row of the game grid by moving forward with an exact count and cannot move sideways first to use up extra moves;   w) instructing that the starting space is chosen when the pawn is brought onto the game grid from the PLAY area and the starting space is counted as move one;   x) instructing that once the player removes the player's hand from a pawn that pawn movement is complete and the player is not allowed to change the move;   y) instructing that the object of the game is to go across the game grid to the opposite side;   z) instructing that a pawn is finished when the pawn lands on any space in the last line of the game grid across from where the pawn started and the pawn will be placed in the WINNERS area that matches the pawn's color; and   aa) upon one player moving all of the player's pawns into the player's WINNERS area, that player has won the game.   
   
   
       7 . The method of playing the first game of  claim 6  further including the following steps of:
 a) instructing that if more than one player is playing, the roller can bump other players' pawns back to the PLAY area;   b) instructing that the roller does not have to end the roller's move exactly on a space with another pawn to bump it, but the roller's pawn has to pass over the space with the bumped pawn during the move and if there are any more spots on the chosen spotted die, the rest of the move has to be made after the bump;   c) instructing that the bumped space counts as a spot on the chosen spotted die;   d) instructing that bumping another player's pawn can be done by moving sideways in one direction only if the roller wants to;   e) instructing that if the roller moves over a space or lands on a space with another pawn of a different color, the other pawn is bumped whether or not the roller wants the pawn bumped;   f) instructing that the roller cannot bump the roller's own pawn and cannot share a space with any other pawn including one of the roller's other pawns;   g) instructing that sharing a space would cause a bump;   h) instructing that a roller can not pass over one of the roller's own pawns as this would be a bump;   i) instructing that a roller can go around another pawn by moving sideways in one direction only to avoid a bump or to get around the roller's own pawn; and   j) instructing that a roller can bump more than one pawn in a single move.   
   
   
       8 . The method of playing the first game of  claim 7  further including the following steps of:
 a) instructing that after the roller chooses the value of one of the spotted dice to use for the roller's own pawn move, the roller can choose to assign the values of the other spotted dice to the other players;   b) instructing that assignments are tracked with the numbered dice by each player being assigned a value turning that player's own numbered die to the value being assigned by the roller and moving the numbered die from the YES area to that player's PLAY area;   c) instructing that when a player's turn comes and the player has a numbered die in the PLAY area with an assigned value, the player does not get to roll, but has to move according to the assigned value;   d) instructing that after a player has played the assigned value the player moves the player's numbered die to the NO area to show that the assigned value has been used and the player cannot be assigned a value for the next round;   e) instructing that any player without an assigned value would roll as usual when it is that player's turn;   f) instructing that an assignment can not be done to a player unless that player has at least one pawn on the game grid or in the PLAY area;   g) instructing that any value can be assigned or ignored by the roller, the decision is the roller's choice only;   h) instructing that values of the spotted dice can only be assigned based on matching colors and the roller can only assign the value of a colored spotted die to a player with the same color of pawns;   i) instructing that the roller cannot assign the value of the roller's own spotted die to another player;   j) instructing that if the roller uses a value from another player's colored spotted die for the roller's move that value cannot be assigned to another player;   k) instructing that each player can only be assigned a value for one turn at a time, after being assigned a value that player has to be allowed a turn to roll before that player can be assigned a value again, ensuring that each player is allowed to roll at least every other round; and   l) instructing that at the beginning of a new roll, if the roller's numbered die is in the NO area, the numbered die must be moved to the YES area, indicating that the roller can be assigned a value during the next round.   
   
   
       9 . The method of playing the first game of  claim 8  further including the following step of:
 a) instructing that a subsequent roller can assign a new value to a player who already has a value currently assigned to that player's numbered die.   
   
   
       10 . The method of playing the first game of  claim 9  further including the following steps of:
 a) instructing that if two-of-a-kind, three-of-a-kind or four-of-kind is rolled this is called a multiple and pawn switching can be done;   b) instructing that any spotted die that has a value matching any of the other spotted dice is part of the multiple and each pawn of the same color as one of the spotted dice in the multiple can be switched by the roller;   c) instructing that the roller switches two pawns of different colors by moving the first pawn to the location of the second pawn and moving the second pawn to the original location of the first pawn;   d) instructing that any spotted die that has a number that does not match any of the other spotted dice is not part of the multiple and any player with a pawn of that color cannot be forced to switch;   e) instructing that the roller can switch one of the roller's own pawns only if the color of the roller's pawn matches one of the spotted dice in the multiple;   f) instructing that the roller does not have to do any switching if the roller does not want to switch;   g) instructing that the roller can choose any two colors of the spotted dice in the multiple and can switch the places of two pawns having the chosen two colors;   h) instructing that the roller gets to choose which pawns are switched even for the other player's pawns;   i) instructing that switching is considered a move by the roller if the roller switches the roller's own pawn with another player's pawn;   j) instructing that if the roller switches other players' pawns but does not switch the roller's own pawn then the roller would still have to use another spotted die to move the roller's own pawn;   k) instructing that any spotted die's value not used in some other way can be assigned by the roller to the player with the matching color numbered die;   l) instructing that a switch can not move any pawn into the OUT area or into the WINNERS area;   m) instructing that a switch can not move any pawn out of the OUT area or out of the WINNERS area;   n) instructing that the player can switch a pawn on the game grid with a pawn in a PLAY area by moving the pawn in the PLAY area to the place where the pawn on the game grid is located and the pawn on the game grid is moved back to that pawn's corresponding colored PLAY area; and   o) instructing that a roller cannot put a pawn of a particular color into the PLAY area of a different color.   
   
   
       11 . The method of playing the first game of  claim 10  further including the following steps of:
 a) instructing that the game can also be played with partners forming teams;   b) instructing that the first player to get all of that player's pawns into the WINNERS area wins the game for that player's team;   c) instructing that a player's bumps, assignments and switches can be used to assist a player's own partner or slow down the other team's players;   d) instructing that the roller can still not assign the value of the player's own spotted die to another player not even the player's partner;   e) instructing that partners have to play across from each other and not next to each other; and   f) instructing that partners are not allowed to discuss strategy during the game.   
   
   
       12 . The method of playing the first game of  claim 11  further including the following steps of:
 a) instructing that the length of time needed to play the game can be varied by using fewer pawns for each player;   b) instructing that the length of time needed to play the game can be varied by using fewer players; and   c) instructing that the game can be made easier and shorter by not doing bumping, assigning or switching.   
   
   
       13 . A method of playing an additional game comprising the steps of:
 a) providing the board game as recited in  claim 1 ;   b) instructing using only one player;   c) instructing the player plays by score;   d) instructing the player to be assigned to a colored border;   e) instructing the player to select one or more pawns matching the color of the player's border;   f) instructing the player to place the player's pawns into the player's OUT area;   g) instructing the player to use only one spotted die;   h) instructing the player be the permanent roller and to take continuous turns rolling the spotted die until game play is finished;   i) instructing that the roller has to roll a six to bring a pawn into the PLAY area;   j) instructing that when the roller rolls a six, the roller can use the six to move a pawn from the roller's OUT area into the PLAY area;   k) instructing that if the roller has a pawn already on the game grid or the PLAY area, the roller can choose to move such pawns on any turn;   l) instructing that the roller may move pawns from one space to another space with each space counting as one spot on the spotted die;   m) instructing that the roller may move pawns forward, left or right, but a pawn can never be moved backwards or diagonally;   n) instructing that the roller may not move a pawn to a space that the pawn just left until the next roll;   o) instructing that the roller may use a six to move a pawn that is already on the game grid if the player wants to use the six that way instead of using the six to bring another pawn from the OUT area into the PLAY area;   p) instructing the roller has to use all of the moves on the spotted die with only one pawn, but the pawn can be moved sideways, in one direction only, to use up extra moves, except to finish;   q) instructing that the roller can move a pawn sideways for any reason that the roller wants, but a pawn can not be moved sideways if the pawn would be moving back into a space that the pawn just left until the next roll;   r) instructing that the roller can start anywhere on the first row of the game grid on the roller's side and finish anywhere on the last row of the game grid on the opposite side of the playing board;   s) instructing that a pawn has to finish on the last row of the game grid by moving forward with an exact count and cannot move sideways first to use up extra moves;   t) instructing that the starting space is chosen when the pawn is brought onto the game grid from the PLAY area and the starting space is counted as move one;   u) instructing that once the player removes the player's hand from a pawn that pawn movement is complete and the player is not allowed to change the move;   v) instructing that the object of the game is to go across the game grid to the opposite side;   w) instructing that a pawn is finished when the pawn lands on any space in the last line of the game grid across from where the pawn started and the pawn will be placed in the WINNERS area that matches the pawn's color;   x) upon the player moving all of the player's pawns into the player's WINNERS area the game play is finished;   y) instructing that the score is tallied by counting the number of rolls used to have all pawns reach the opposite side of the playing board; and   z) instructing that the objective of the game is to obtain the lowest score possible depending on the number of pawns used and the size of the game grid.