Most conventional board games in which scoring is involved are provided with playing tokens and separate scoring tokens or a scoring pad. It is not always convenient to use a separate scoring pad. With separate scoring tokens, it is difficult to see at a glance how many points an opponent has. In addition, unscrupulous or dishonest players may tend to accumulate tokens to which they are not entitled.

In addition, in knowledge-based games such as Trivial Pursuit the same set of questions does not always suit players of different levels, in that they are either too difficult or too easy. A further drawback of such games is that if they are played often enough, the players tend to become familiar with the questions and corresponding answers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for playing a board game comprising a playing board defining at least one playing path divided into a plurality of playing zones, a plurality of playing cards, a plurality of playing tokens, the playing zones including a plurality of"Contest" zones. and the playing cards including"Contest"cards which are associated with the"Contest"zones, and which carry contest-provoking instructions.

By the term"contest-provoking instructions"is meant instructions designed to provoke a contest between at least two of the players, whereby the relative skills of the players are pitted against one another, with the remaining players determining or judging the outcome of the contest rather than the result being based on a predetermined answer.

Preferably, the"Contest"zones include"Opinion"zones and the contest cards include"Opinion"cards which carry debate or discussion-provoking opinions.

In a preferred form of the invention, the apparatus includes a plurality of scoring tokens, each of the playing tokens being configured to carry a plurality of scoring tokens with each of the scoring tokens having points associated therewith for keeping a player's score.

Conveniently, the playing tokens are formed with a pedestal from which a column projects and the scoring tokens are formed with an aperture sized to receive the column in such a way that a plurality of scoring tokens can be stacked on the column. Typically, the scoring tokens are configured to have at least two different scoring denominations.

Advantageously, the playing zones include"Penalty"and"Reward"zones associated directly with the respective winning and losing of points, and "Chance"zones associated with corresponding"Chance"cards.

Preferably, the"Chance"cards are integral with the"Contest"cards, in that "Opinion"and"Contest"text is carried on opposite faces of the same card.

The apparatus conveniently includes a set of playing instructions, at least one random move generator and a timer for timing the length of a contest instituted between at least two players by an instruction carried on one of the"Contest" cards.

Typically, the board is arranged in a spoked wheel configuration, comprising an outer wheel path, an inner wheel path, a central winning hub zone and a plurality of spoke paths extending radially from the hub zone and joining the inner and outer wheel paths.

The playing path may be configured so as to ensure that the players ultimately land on"Contest"zones at least 50% of the time.

Typically, the concentration of"Penalty"zones increases from the outer wheel path towards the central winning hub zone.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for playing a board game comprising a playing board defining at least one playing path divided into a plurality of playing zones, a plurality of playing cards, a plurality of playing tokens, and a set of playing instructions, the playing zones include a plurality of"Contest"zones, and the playing cards include"Contest" cards which are associated with the contest zones, and which carry contest- provoking instructions, the instructions being arranged to institute a contest between the player landing on the"Contest"zone and another selected player, the outcome of which is determined by the remaining players.

In a preferred form of the invention, the apparatus further includes a plurality of scoring tokens, each of the playing tokens being configured to carry a plurality of scoring tokens with each of the scoring tokens having points associated therewith for keeping a player's score, the instructions further being arranged to determine the number of points won by a player on winning or drawing a contest.

According to a still further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of playing a board game using apparatus including a playing board defining at least one playing path divided into a plurality of playing zones, a plurality of playing cards, and a plurality of playing tokens, the playing zones include a plurality of"Contest"zones, and the playing cards include"Contest"cards which are associated with the opinion zones, and which carry contest-provoking instructions, the method including the steps of landing on one of the"Contest" zones, selecting a"Contest"card and instituting a contest with an opponent in accordance with the instructions on the"Contest"card, the outcome of the contest being determined by a vote taken by the remaining players.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure l shows a top plan view of a board forming part of the game playing apparatus of the invention; Figure 2 shows a pictorial view of playing and scoring tokens of the invention ; Figure 3 shows typical plan views of playing cards of the invention; and Figure 4 shows pictorial views of the remaining game playing apparatus of the invention, namely playing dice and a timer.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings, a game playing apparatus of the invention includes a board 10, a plurality of playing tokens 12A and 12B, a plurality of scoring tokens 14 and 16, playing cards 18, a timer 20 and dice 22.

The board 10 has a series of playing paths defining individual playing zones or squares arranged in a spoked wheel configuration including an outer wheel path 24, an inner wheel path 26, a plurality of spoke paths 28 and a central hub zone 30."Opinion"squares 32 are provided at the intersections between the inner and outer wheel paths and the spoke paths."Penalty"and"Reward"squares 34 and 36 respectively are provided at intervals along the various paths and are associated directly with the winning or losing of points."Press Card"squares 38 which operate as"Chance"squares are also provided at intervals along the paths, and are associated with one of the"Press"playing cards"18.

"Destination"squares are provided on the spoke paths in the region of the hub 30. and include"Prison","Holiday'"and"Hospital"squares 42.1,42.2 and 42.3 respectively. Dice squares 44 are also provided on the inner and outer wheel paths 24 and 26, to institute a roll of the die 22.

Referring now to Figure 2, each of the tokens 12A and 12B is in the form of a pedestal 46 from which a column 48 projects. The scoring tokens include annular silver tokens 14 to which a value of 100 points or votes is attache, and annular gold tokens 16, to which a value of 500 points or votes is attached. It can clearly be seen from the playing token 12B how the individual annular scoring tokens can be passed over and retained by the columns 48 in a stacked configuration. In this way, the score of each player can immediately be ascertained merely by viewing his or her token and counting the number of stacked silver and/or gold scoring tokens. In order to assist in distinguishing between the gold and silver tokens, the gold token may be bigger in size. A 1000 point gold token may alternatively be provided.

The cards 18 are printed on both sides, and include a"Press"side 50 and an "Opinion"side 52. The"Press"side is in the form of a chance card, and is picked up whenever a player lands on a"Press"card square 38. The card may have printed on it a statement such as"You are caught sleeping with your secretary. Take your spouse on holiday". This will force the player to move to the holiday square 42.2, which means that he or she has to miss a turn. The "opinion"side 52 carries a debate-provoking statement or premise such as "Women are better drivers than men"or"Babies are ugly".

The game is played in the following manner. Each player selects a coloured token 12A and places it on any one of the sixteen opinion squares 32. Each player then rolls the die, and the player with the highest score starts. The starting player throws the die and moves his or her token the indicated number ol squares around the board in any desired direction, provided that he or she does not traverse the hub zone 30 otherwise known as the"Presidential I'latform"until having secured, say, 1200 votes. In the case of a 1000 point or vote gold token being provided, 1000 votes may be set as the qualifying number of votes required to run for"President"During play, players may land on a blank square, in which case they have to remain on that square until the next turn. If a player lands on a dice square 44, the die must be rolled again and the player then moves accordingly.

When landing on a"Press"square, a player must take a card 18, read the "Press"side 50 thereof and act in accordance with the instructions on the "Press"side of the card. Landing on"Hospital"and"Holiday"squares involves missing a single turn, whilst landing on a"Prison"square involves missing two turns. A"Reward"square results in a player winning the number of votes indicated on the square, whilst a"Penalty"square involves losing the indicated number of votes.

When a player lands on an"Opinion"square, the player draws a card 18 and reads the"Opinion"side 52 thereof. Having read the opinion, such as"Babies are ugly", the player then may choose any other player who is not in prison, hospital or on holiday, to be an opponent. The opponent's playing token is then moved to the same square as the player's token. The player who initially landed on the"Opinion"square must then speak in support of the opinion for up to one minute, using the timer 20. The opponent then speaks against the opinion for up to a minute. Either the player or opponent may refuse to support or oppose an argument on moral or ethical grounds, in which case they lose the debate by default. The remainder of the players making up the voters then choose the best speaker, either by agreement or by a verbal vote. Abstentions are permissible. Either the candidate or the opponent may concede in the face of a clearly brilliant argument. In the event of a tie or blanket abstentions, the player who initially drew the"Opinion"card wins. The winner then throws the die and is awarded 100 votes for each number thrown. For example, a three on the die converts to 300 votes. The winning player then selects the 100 vote scoring tokens 14 and places three of them on his or her column, and he/she continues his or her turn by rolling the die and moving until the turn is completed. Rather than being debate-based, the"Opinion"cards may contain propositions or topics which are discussed rather than debated by opposing players.

Once a player has amassed 1000 or 1200 votes or any other predetermined number of votes, he or she may decide to run for President. This must be announced to the other players. The announcement is made at the beginning or during a multi-move turn, before the next throw of the die. The player then throws the die and has to move directly towards the"Presidential Platform" zone 30 at the centre of the board along the shortest route. The first player to land exactly on the"Presidential Platform"whilst in possession of the required number of votes (say 1000 or 1200) is declared to be the winner. If the score of a player drops below the required number of votes, the player must then win more votes before being allowed to run for president by approaching the "Presidential Platform"zone 30.

The distribution of squares on the board has been carefully calculated so as to optimize the flow of the game. In particular, the square distribution between the'Opinion"squares 32 has been calculated so that players will tend to land on the"Opinion"squares, on average, 50% of the time, if they so desire. regardless of where they are located. This is achieved by suitable positioning of the"Penalty"and"Reward"squares 34 and 36 on the respective outer and inner wheel paths 24 and 26, with the"Penalty"squares effectively serving as an incentive for a player to choose an alternative square, and in particular an "Opinion"square.

The number of squares between the outer wheel or playing path 24 and the central hub zone 30 are also calculated to prevent players from running for president from the outer playing path 24 except when they are positioned on one of the opinion squares on the outer path. The"Penalty"squares 34 increase in frequency and severity as players move inwardly along the spoke paths 28 from the outer playing path 24 to the central hub zone 30. This has the effect of creating an overall cost in votes or points associated with running for president, which obliges players to develop an end game strategy which would normally involve accumulating more points than are absolutely necessary along the outer playing path so as to have a points"cushion"before running for president.

An advantage of having the cards printed on both sides is that, as the game proceeds, a natural shuffling process occurs in that during the course of a game, depending on whether a"Press"or"Opinion"side of a card is utilized, that card is then recycled with the result that, for each game, a different sequence of "Press''and"Opinion"statements are utilized.

A significant distinction of the board game of the invention over games such as Trivial PursuitO is that none of the cards have questions requiring definitive answers. which tends to give rise to difficulties in pitching the level of questions depending on the standard of play. Rather, the opinion cards are designed to provoke debates between the players, with the level of the debate being entirely dependent on the players themselves. This subjective criterion has a further advantage in that the same debate-provoking card can be used in, say, consecutive games to spark a completely different debate. This would not be the case where objective and determinative criteria are employed in the answering of factual questions. In the latter case, the more the question/answer-type game is played, the more familiar become the questions and corresponding answers to the players, as a result of which the question cards tend to become redundant.

As the proposer or drawing player wins in the case of a tie, the game has been calculated to yield an average won value of approximately 350 points for a proposer landing on an"Opinion"square. As winning typically takes place 62% of the time for the Proposer, yielding a mean value of 217 points, this makes it generally more attractive for a player to choose the"Opinion"square option except in cases where he or she lands on a"Reward"square carrying a reward of 200 or 300 points. Although less than the 217 points mean, the 200 point reward has the advantage of certainty, with no possibility of gain for an opponent. A 100 point"Reward"square is slightly less favourable than an "Opinion'square, followed by a"Press"square, which is calculated to yield an average of 70 points over the course of a game each time a player lands on it.

A proposer will tend to choose an opponent with a low score to debate against, as this will be less disadvantageous to the proposer in the event of the opponent winning the debate. This has the effect of drawing lagging players back into the game, so that most players have a chance of winning, right up to the last throw of the die.

A further advantage of the game is that it combines elements of luck and skill, with the result that it is still possible for a lucky player to win in cases where he or she is not the most skillful debater.

It will be appreciated that the"Opinion"squares and corresponding"Opinion" cards may be in the form of"Contest"squares and corresponding cards, the "Contest"cards being designed to provoke any contest between the player and a selected opponent, the outcome of which is determined by the remaining players. For example, the contest card may pit the artistic, musical, dextrous, creative, verbal, cognitive, physical or other skills of the player and opponent, the relative levels of which are qualitatively determined by the remaining players.