SUDOKU BOARD GAME

Related Applications

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 61/050,683 filed on May 6, 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a Sudoku board game.

Background

Sudoku is a very popular game that can be played on a sheet of paper or electronically. Sudoku games are usually arranged as single player games and frequently present the player with multiple game levels of increasing playing complexity. Also, some electronic Sudoku games are arranged to provide instant feedback if the player makes an incorrect selection in a square.

However, paper and electronic Sudoku games provide the player with a very limited visual experience.

Moreover, Sudoku games are limited in that they are used only as Sudoku games and are not combined with other game experiences .

The game disclosed herein provides various inventive aspects that enhance a player ⁷ s experience in playing games.

Brief Description of the Drawing

Figure 1 is a top view of a Sudoku receiver board;

Figure 2 illustrates a sub-grid of the board of Figure 1;

Figure 3 Sudoku game pieces that are placed on or inserted into the Sudoku board of Figure 1; Figure 4 illustrates one embodiment of a receiver board for the Sudoku game described herein;

Figure 5 is a side view of the receiver board of Figure 4 and of a decoder board that is used in combination with the receiver board of Figure 1; Figures 6, 7, and 8 are views of the receiver board of Figure 1 having impact pieces placed thereon or inserted therein;

Figures 9 and 10 illustrate another embodiment of the receiver board of Figure 1;

Figures 11 and 12 illustrate a decoder board that can be used in combination with the receiver board of Figure 1;

Figure 13 is a perspective view of one embodiment of an impact piece;

Figure 14 is a top view of the impact piece of Figure 13;

Figure 15 is a front view of the impact piece of Figure 13; Figure 16 is a side view of the impact piece of

Figure 13;

Figure 17 is a bottom view of the impact piece of Figure 13;

Figure 18 shows a detail of the impact piece of Figure 13;

Figure 19 illustrates one example of symbol key codes that can be used in connection with the receiver and decoder boards;

Figure 20 illustrates a blank decoder board that can be used with or without the decoder board; and,

Figures 21 and 22 show a mask having numbered holes corresponding to the starting positions of impact pieces at the beginning of a given game;

Figures 23 and 24 show an alternative decoder key and keyed hole; and,

Figure 25 shows a game piece holder.

Detailed Description

A Sudoku game 10 includes a Sudoku playing surface 30. The Sudoku playing surface 30 may be divided into any number of squares 34. However, by way of example only, the Sudoku playing surface 30 of Figure 1 is divided into 81 squares 34, which is typical with a popular form of Sudoku. In this example, the Sudoku playing surface 30 is divided into nine sub-grids 32, each having nine contiguous squares 34 in a 3x3 formation . A single player may play the Sudoku game 10, or multiple players may play the Sudoku game 10. In this latter case, each player controls at least one (and up to four - depending upon the number of players in the game) of the sub-grid (s) 32 on the Sudoku playing surface 30. On each turn, for example, a player has the right to place a Sudoku piece 36 (see Figure 3; the Sudoku piece 36, for example, may be a keyed peg) within an impact square 34 on the grid of the Sudoku playing surface 30. For a first predetermined number of turns, such as two

turns, for example, the players may only place the Sudoku pieces 36 within their own sub-grids 32. Thereafter, for example, the players may place impact pieces with any sub-grid 32. (Although only 45 pieces are shown in Figure 3, it will be understood that a 9x9 Sudoku game requires 81 pieces.)

The game ends when the Sudoku game 10 has been successfully completed by filling in all of the squares 34 of the Sudoku playing surface 30 with the correct Sudoku pieces 36.

The Sudoku game 10 is similar to the well-known Sudoku puzzle and utilizes a similar grid layout and completion principle. In Sudoku, typically a 9x9 grid of eighty-one squares is subdivided into nine 3x3 sub-grids of nine squares each.

As discussed above, one example of the Sudoku playing surface 30 has a 9x9 grid divided into nine 3x3 sub-grids 32. Alternatively, the grid may have a number of squares other than 81, and/or each of the sub-grids 32 may be larger or smaller than 3x3. Also, although the sub-grids 32 are shown as squares, the sub-grids 32 could have other shapes such as round, oval, rectangular, triangular, or otherwise. The Sudoku pieces 36 can be numbered as in Sudoku. However, the Sudoku pieces 36 may

instead use images, a combination of images and numbers/ or any other attribute or combination of attributes to distinguish the various Sudoku pieces 36.

The Sudoku game 10 can be played at different levels. For example, the Sudoku game 10 can be played at one of the following four levels: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and critical or expert. These levels, for example, can correspond to varying levels of difficulty that are provided by different Sudoku puzzles. Because the Sudoku pieces 36 are keyed as explained below, the game can be arranged to deny insertion by a player of a Sudoku piece 36 in the wrong position in a sub-grid 32. However, as discussed below, in one variation of the game, a protective device 138 (Figure 20) may be provided that does not permit the

Sudoku piece 36 to set all the way into a decoder board 102 (Figures 11 and 12) until the protective device 138 is removed, at which time all of the eighty-one of the Sudoku pieces 36 have been placed in the Sudoku playing surface 30. In this variation, therefore, the player (s) is permitted to insert the Sudoku pieces 36 in the wrong positions in the sub-grids 32. When the protective device 138 is removed such as at the end of a game, any

misplaced ones of the Sudoku pieces 36 will not fully seat into the decoder board 102.

As is typical of a Sudoku puzzle, the object of the Sudoku game 10 is to make sure that each of the sub- grids 32 has all nine different Sudoku pieces 36 situated in it so that none of the Sudoku pieces 36 conflicts with another's Sudoku piece 36 on the same horizontal (row) or vertical (column) line or sub-grid; as noted above, this is similar to conventional Sudoku rules. Because of the differences in difficulty of the selectable levels, not all of the sub-grids 32 will have an equal number of the Sudoku pieces 36 already in place at the start of the game; some of the sub-grids 32 will have several Sudoku pieces 36 and a few may have none. In a multiplayer game, and depending on the rules, it is in the best interest of the players to cooperate with one another in the placement of their Sudoku pieces 36.

As indicated herein, each of the Sudoku pieces 36 may be individually keyed so that it can be properly received by only one of the squares 34 of a sub-grid 32. Further, several others of the Sudoku pieces 36 may be keyed in the same way so that each of the other sub-grids 32 can accept one but only one of the Sudoku pieces 36 having the same key. Thus, if there are nine sub-grids

32, then nine of the Sudoku pieces 36 have the same key, nine others of the Sudoku pieces 36 have a different key, nine of the Sudoku pieces 36 have a still different key, and so on. In this manner and assuming a 9x9 grid for the squares 34 of the Sudoku playing surface 30, there are nine different keys. Thus, Sudoku pieces 36 having a particular key can be placed in each of the squares 34 such that the key is not repeated in any of the sub-grids 32, such that no key is repeated in a nine square row, and such that no key is repeated in a nine square column.

The Sudoku game 10 comprises includes the receiver board (or other mechanism such as a card) 100 and the decoder board (or other mechanism such as a card) 102 as shown in Figures 4 and 5. In the case of a 9x9 game, the receiver board 100 carries the Sudoku playing surface 30 and has eighty-one receiver holes 104 passing therethrough, although the receiver board 100 can have any number of holes passing therethrough.

As shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8, the receiver board 100 has Sudoku pieces 36 inserted therein. As shown in Figures 13-18, each of the Sudoku pieces 36 comprises a shaft 106, an indicator top 108, and a key bottom 110. In one embodiment, each of the key bottoms 110, which is received by a sub-grid of the Sudoku

playing surface 30, corresponds to a unique one of nine keys, assuming that the Sudoku playing surface 30 is a 9x9 board having 81 holes. Each of these nine keys may have a unique shape, and examples of these shapes are shown by column 112 of Figure 19.

Alternatively, as shown in column 112' of Figure 19, eight of these nine keys may have the same shape. For example, the shape may be rectangular with each key having a unique angle with respect to the others of the eight keys. The ninth of these nine keys has a neutral shape such as a round shape. The decoder board of Figures 11 and 12 complement these keys.

The indicator top 108 may carry a number for each of the Sudoku pieces 36. These numbers are shown in column 114 of Figure 19. The correspondence between the keys and the numbers is shown in Figure 19. Thus, each of these numbers corresponds uniquely to a key as shown in column 114 of Figure 19. A corresponding number appears on the indicator top 108 of each of the Sudoku pieces 36. However, indicators other that numbers could be used.

A comparison of Figures 6 and 12 using the key of Figure 19, it can be seen that game of Figure 6 matches the decoder board 102 of Figure 12.

As discussed above, each of the key bottoms 110, which is received by a sub-grid 32 of the Sudoku playing surface 30, carries a correspondingly unique one of nine keys, assuming that the Sudoku playing surface 30 is a 9x9 game board having 81 holes. Thus, a sub-grid 32 receives a set of nine of the Sudoku pieces 36 with each of the nine Sudoku pieces 36 in the set having a different one of the key shapes such as those shown by way of example in column 112 of Figure 19. For a 9x9 Sudoku playing surface 30, this set of nine Sudoku pieces 36 is repeated for each of the other eight sub-grids. According, there are nine Sudoku pieces 36 having the triangle key, there are nine Sudoku pieces 36 having the heart key, there are nine Sudoku pieces 36 having the diamond key, etc. However, if the Sudoku playing surface 30 is other than a 9x9 game board having 81 holes, then the number of Sudoku pieces 36 having the triangle key will be different, the number of Sudoku pieces 36 having the heart key will be different, the number of Sudoku pieces 36 having the diamond key will be different, etc. According to one embodiment, the decoder board 102 has key holes 116 as shown in Figure 5 that receive the key bottoms 110 of the Sudoku pieces 36. As shown in Figure 5, the key holes 116 may simply be recesses or

depressions in the decoder board 102. In this case, the bottom of each of the key hole 116 is provided with a shape corresponding to the key shape of one of the keys on the key bottoms 110. In this manner, the decoder board 102 ensures that each sub-grid 32 receives the nine different unique Sudoku pieces 36 so that no, shape, number, or other value on the indicator top 108 is repeated in any sub-grid 32 just as in the game of Sudoku. Each sub-grid 32, therefore, receives a different combination of the same nine Sudoku pieces 36. However, each sub-grid 32 can accommodate only one of the Sudoku pieces 36 having a first of the nine key shapes, each sub-grid 32 can accommodate only one of the Sudoku pieces 36 having a second of the nine key shapes, and so on for the remaining key shapes.

Shapes other than those shown in Figure 24 can be used for the key bottoms 110 and for the key holes 116. Moreover, keys that rely on an attribute other than shape may be used to key the Sudoku pieces 36 to the decoder board 102. For example, as shown in Figures 13, 15, 16, and 17, the key bottoms 110 may be rectangles. In this case, and for convenience of the players as well as for keying and decoding, and as shown in Figures 13, 15, and 17, the shafts 106 may be polarized such as by

having a flattened polarizing side 122 so that the shaft 106 appears to be in the shape of a rounded D when viewed along its longitudinal axis as in Figure 17, and the receiver holes 104 in the receiver board 100 may have correspondingly flattened polarizing edges 122 as shown in Figures 9 and 10. In this case, when a Sudoku piece 36 is inserted into the receiver hole 104, the D shape of the shaft 106 must match the D shape of the receiver hole 104. This polarization of the Sudoku pieces 36 ensures that the Sudoku pieces 36 have a single orientation when the Sudoku pieces 36 are inserted into the receiver holes 104.

In this polarized configuration, the flattened polarizing side 122 of a Sudoku piece 36 forms an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the rectangular key bottom 110, as best shown in Figure 22. This angle between the flattened sides 122 and the key bottoms 110 is different for each of the nine Sudoku pieces 36 that can be inserted into a sub-grid 32, assuming a 3x3 sub- grid. Accordingly, instead of shaping the bottom of the key holes 116 to match the key bottoms 110 shown in Figure 19, the key holes 116 of the decoder board 102 have different orientations such as those shown in Figures 11 and 12. The correspondence between the

orientation of the key holes 116 in Figures 11 and 12 and the angles between the flattened sides 122 and the key bottoms 110 of the Sudoku pieces 36 may be arranged so that no Sudoku piece 36 having the same number or other indicator value is repeated in a sub-grid 32, or in a row of squares of the Sudoku playing surface 30, or in a column of squares of the Sudoku playing surface 30, assuming a 9x9 Sudoku playing surface 30.

Shapes other than D shapes could be used for polarizing the shaft 106. Also, shapes other than rectangles can be used for coding the key bottoms 110. For example, the key bottoms 110 may have D shapes that are oriented differently than the D shapes of the shaft 106 to ensure that no Sudoku piece 36 having the same number or other indicator is repeated in a sub-grid 32, or in a row of the Sudoku playing surface 30, or in a column of the Sudoku playing surface 30. Further, the key holes 116 need not be depressions in the decoder board 102 and, especially in the case of the rectangular key bottom 110 shown in Figures 18 and 20-22, instead may go entirely through the decoder board 102. Thus, the end of the shaft 106 is received in the key hole 116 or simply passes through the decoder board 102.

Moreover, as shown above, key bottoms 110 are in the form of male plugs and the key holes 116 are in the form of female receptacles that receive the male plugs. Instead, the key bottoms 110 may be formed as female receptacles and the key holes 116 may be formed as male plugs that are received in the female receptacles of the Sudoku piece 36. The Sudoku pieces 36, the receiver board 100, and/or the decoder board 102 can be made of metal, plastic, wood, cardboard or other materials. If metal is used for the receiver board 100, the receiver board 100 can be magnetized so as to lock in the Sudoku pieces 36.

The Sudoku game 10 may be lighted or reproduce audio. For example, a sub-grid 32 which has been successfully filled in with Sudoku pieces 36 may be lit up. Alternatively, all sub-grids 32 in the Sudoku game 10 may be initially lighted so that, as each of the sub- grid 32 is successfully filled in with the Sudoku pieces 36, its light is extinguished. Audio may be provided, for example, to indicate successful or unsuccessful placement of a Sudoku piece 36 in a sub-grid 32.

Also, as seen in Figures 6-8 and 13-17, the indicator tops 108 are multifaceted or otherwise three dimensionally formed so that their indicator values can

be viewed by players from any angle around the Sudoku game 10. Accordingly, the player's experience of the Sudoku game 10 and the receiver board 100 does not need to be rotated to face a player when it is that player' s turn to play.

Moreover, as seen in Figures 13-18, the indicator tops 108 of the Sudoku pieces 36 may be provided with a gripping element 124 to make it easier for a player to insert and/or withdraw the Sudoku pieces 36 into and/or from the receiver board 100 and the decoder board 102.

Furthermore, as shown in Figures 6 and 8, legs 126, 128, and 130 are provided at the sides and rear of the receiving board 100. The side legs 126 and 128 are provided with slots 132 and 134, respectively. The slots 132 and 134 receive the decoder board 102 so that the decoder board 102 is positioned below of the receiver board 100. The leg 130 acts as a stop to terminate insertion of the decoder board 102 at the correct position with respect to the receiver board 100 so that the keyed holes 116 in the decoder board 102 align correctly with the receiver holes 104 in the receiver board 100. The decoder board 102 optionally may be

provided with a tab 136 to facilitate a user in sliding the decoder board into and out of the slits 132 and 134.

Additionally, the receiver board 100 and the decoder board 102 can be rotated 90° with respect to one another to present the players with a new game having a different combination of Sudoku pieces 36 to properly complete a sub-grid 32.

If the receiver board 100 and the decoder board 102 are turned 90° with respect to one another, all of the indicators (e.g., numbers) in all sub-grids change except for one. In this manner, there can be at least two different games per one of the decoder boards 102. Alternatively, different setup codes can be provided that would virtually make the Sudoku game 10 an entirely different puzzle to play for each code.

The decoder board 102 may be in the form of a card. Each decoder board 102 card accommodates one or more different arrangements of the Sudoku pieces 36 so that each card presents one or more different Sudoku game to the players. As shown in Figure 20, one of the decoder boards 102 can be configured as a blank card 138 so that it does not decode and so that a player can place a Sudoku piece 36 at any position within the sub-grid 32. If the blank card 138 is used, then there is no feedback

to the players when they place the Sudoku pieces 36 in incorrect positions within a sub-grid 32.

The blank card 138 can be used alone or in combination with the decoder board 102. For example, the blank card 138 can be inserted in the slots 132 and 134 just above the decoder board 102. The game is then played with the blank card 138 shielding the decoder board 102 from the Sudoku pieces 36. In this condition, no feedback is provided to the players as to whether the Sudoku pieces 36 have been applied correctly to the receiver board 100. At the end of the game, the players can determine whether they have successfully played the Sudoku game by withdrawing the blank card 138 from the slots 132 and 134. If all of the Sudoku pieces 36 drop fully seated into the decoder card 102, then the players have successfully played the game. If some of the Sudoku pieces 36 do not drop fully seated into the decoder card 102, then the players have not successfully played the game . As another alternative, inserts can be provided and can be inserted into the key holes 116 of Figure 10. In this case, it is the inserts and not the depressions that are keyed to the Sudoku pieces 36. In this manner, a new Sudoku game can be presented to the players simply

by rearranging the inserts within the key holes 116 rather than changing out the whole decoder board 102.

A mask 140 shown in Figures 21 and 22 can be provided for each of the decoder boards 102. The mask 140 is placed on top of the receiver board 100 and contains the positions of the Sudoku pieces 36 that are used to start the game. The number and placement of these starting positions determine the difficulty level of the particular Sudoku puzzle being played. The numbered holes in Figures 21 and 22 show one example for the holes that can be used to start a game. The Sudoku pieces 36 corresponding to these numbered holes are inserted into the numbered holes to start the game. Indicators other than numbers can be used to designate the starting holes. The mask 140 and the decoder board 102 must correspond to one another. Instead of one mask per decoder board 102 per difficultly level, a single mask per decoder board 102 can be provided so as to cover all difficulty levels for that particular decoder board 102.

The game described herein can be provided as a travel game. In this travel game or otherwise, the Sudoku pieces 36 may be magnetic and either or both of the receiver board 100 and the decoder board 102 can be

metal to prevent the Sudoku pieces 36 from inadvertently dislodging from the receiver board 32. Alternatively, either or both of the receiver board 100 and the decoder board 102 may be magnetic and the Sudoku pieces 36 can be metal again to prevent the Sudoku pieces 36 from inadvertently dislodging from the receiver board 32.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference has been made to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language has been used to describe these embodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of the invention is intended by this specific language, and the invention should be construed to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The Sudoku game 10 described herein can be played in conjunction with and interact with other games.

The present invention as described above is related to the game of Sudoku. However, the present invention as defined in the claims below can be applied to games other than Sudoku. Also, the game may include a plurality of decoder boards. These decoder boards may relate to different games such as different puzzles of like kind, different puzzles of different kind, different

levels of difficulty of a game or games, and/or different games entirely. For example, the present invention in one aspect provides instant feedback to a player if the player applies a game piece to an incorrect hole. This aspect of the invention can be applied to any game in which a player (s) makes a choice as to a move or a solution. The advantages of this aspect include not disclosing the solution in the event of an incorrect choice or move and allowing the player making the incorrect move or choice to continue playing the game.

Moreover, as described above, the feedback is provided when a player cannot fully insert a piece into a hole, This feedback is mechanical feedback and relies on mechanical keys. The feedback instead could be electrical relying on electrical keys.

For example. Figure 23 shows the bottom of a decoder hole 200 that carries one or more conductors 202 oriented in a particular fashion. Figure 24 shows a game piece 204 that is insertable into the decoder hole 200 and that has a key 206 formed by one or more conductors 208. If the game piece 204 is inserted into the decoder 200 such that the pattern of the key 206 matches the pattern of the one or more conductors 202, an electric signal is generated. However, if the game piece 204 is

inserted into the decoder 200 such that the pattern of the key 206 does not match the pattern of the one or more conductors 202, no electric signal is generated which provides feedback that the game piece 204 is incorrectly placed.

Alternatively, the conducts (s) 202 and the key 206 may be arranged such that, if the game piece 204 is inserted into the decoder 200 such that the key 206 matches the conductor (s) 202, no electric signal is generated. However, if the game piece 204 is inserted into the decoder 200 such that the key 206 does not match the conductor (s) 202, an electric signal is generated which provides feedback that the game piece 204 is incorrectly placed. Figure 25 shows a game piece holder 300 that holds the game pieces 36 for a player. For example, as shown in Figure 25, the game piece holder 300 has nine holes 302 that receive and store the game pieces 36 for a player. During the player's turn, the player removes one or more of the game pieces 36 temporarily stored by the game piece holder 300 and applies the game piece (s) 36 to the playing surface 30. The holes 302 may or may not be keyed to the game pieces 36 as desired.

The receiver board 100 is arranged to prevent players from directly viewing the decoder board 102 whether a player is of sitting by or standing over the game, thus keeping the integrity and challenge of the game in tact .

While the game as a whole can be played as a solitaire Sudoku puzzle, it lends itself to being played by two or more players, and with just a slight revision of the rules a team approach to the puzzle turns the game into a social puzzle. In addition to the traditional Sudoku play, with just a change of the rules and minor adjustment (all the 5's are put in play so as to allow an even number of pegs to remain for the two players) to the starting position of the puzzle the game can then be played like a game of pool, but instead of stripes and solids pool balls you play odds and evens game pieces. In this game, the object is to correctly "sink" all of the game pieces first, taking turns one player continues until that player "misses" the shot and places an incorrect game piece (which is immediately removed from the playfield) . Then the opponent continues to "shoot", or place, game pieces until the opponent either "runs the table", i.e. make all moves correctly on the board, or misses, in which case the first player resumes play. The

first player to correctly place all of game pieces wins. Additional new games can be devised, as the game as a whole is similar in nature to that of a deck of cards in its flexibility, while the same cards are used in various card games, poker, hearts, rummy, etc. the actual cards remain the same, so true of the present game design.

Other alternatives, such as other electrical systems, are possible.

The present invention may be described in terms of functional block components and various processing steps. Such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, the present invention may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, where the elements of the present invention are implemented using software programming or software elements the invention may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, assembler, or the like, with the various algorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures,

objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Furthermore, the present invention could employ any number of conventional techniques for electronics configuration, signal processing and/or control, data processing and the like. The word mechanism is used broadly and is not limited to mechanical or physical embodiments, but can include software routines in conjunction with processors, etc. The particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative examples of the invention and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the invention in any way. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships, physical connections or logical connections may be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component is essential to the practice of the invention unless the element is specifically described as "essential" or "critical". Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.