US2743108A - Arithmetical bingo game apparatus - Google Patents

Description

April 24, 1956 A. G. SANDERS 2,743,108

ARITHMETICAL BINGO GAME APPARATUS Filed Jan. 17, 1955 Z4 l INVENToR.

Anim" ,kmden United States Patent YO 'ZJ I y ARITHMETICL BlNGo AGAME 'APPARATUS g rdis C. r"Sa:nilrs, limitiert, Application Jennery 417,- lsafsrii N. 182,14

'1 can. et iis-155) 'Ihis invention relates to a Igaine and it 'isparti'cularly concerned with an arithmetical game. rThe main objects of the invention are "to provide a gar'ne which will have educational value in the science of arithmetic; 'tb provide such Va game which will embody' lan elen'ieirt f 'chance wherbyentertainient value is increased; to provide [such a game which maybe played by any desired niimb'er "f competing players subject only ,'t' the provision of suitable numbers of playing boards and associated equip'-` Ament 'for playing the game; to provide 'a l'g'arri'e "of th'e f character indicated whichy will ybe 'appealing to both young and old players; and in general, "it is thebject of the iiiventio'n to provide 'an improved 4gaine df the 'character 'iiidicated. n v i i Other objects and advantages 'fjthe invention .'vvillvbe understood by reference to the followi g specification 'and 'accompanying 'drawing wnereinttreis 'described aan illustrated 'a selected embodiment bf the game.

In the drawing: y l

Fig.`1s an illustrationo a set o'fplayiiigfb'dards form# ing part of the equipment 'for playing the "and Fig. 2 is a perspective illustration if p'it'in of la ser of number blocks forming another prrr er 'the edtnpm'ent for Yplaying the gal-rie."v t

The playingy nearer represented in vlignre i, are, in this'instance, f o'ur in 'number being yreps'pactive'ly designated 15, 16, 17 and 18, 'and they are preferably identical't each other in order thatuallplayeraeach being Ifurnished with one b'ad, will ct'irip'ete with ne ltli' under like conditions so Afar as the playingl boards are concerned. However, for some purposes playing boards may differ vfrom yeaclr'ltlrer. l e Y, The playing boardsA 'rep'resentedl Figure ,1f fre'japproximately of 's'qu'a'r'efo'rm 'arid they are suitably divided into squares or spaces as by printed lines represented at 19, which extend vertically and horizontally of the board. In this example, the boards are divided into 36 spaces. This division of the playing board results in theformation of six horizontal rows of spaces, six vertical rows of spaces, and two diagonal rows of spaces which respectively extend between the opposite corners of the playing board.

One of the diagonal rows of spaces is designated by the arrow-headed line marked 1. The horizontal rows of spaces are designated by arrow-headed lines marked 2, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 3, reading from the top to bottom of the playing board. Similarly, the vertical rows of spaces are designated by arrow-headed lines marked 4,'7, 9, 13, 11 and 5, reading from left to right of the playing board.

Each space is provided with an arithmetical sign such as a plus or addition sign 20, a minus or subtraction sign 21, a division sign 22, or a multiplication sign 23. The specific arrangement of these arithmetical signs or indicia is not critical and may be varied from that illustrated, but it has been found that the illustrated arrangement is very satisfactory.

For use in association with the playing boards, there is a set of number blocks 24 (Fig. 2) which, for a game `:if the tive 'number blocks drawn for the se p y 2,743,108 evt--aaien `sevens, eight eights', eight n'ines,v and eight special blog ks or jokers which are adapted to be used for any number at the option of the player who gains possessionl of a special block. Figure 2 illustrates only a portion' o'f the described set of blocks. l ,A e f y d The playing boards to y1,8 inclusive and the nu" ber blocks 24'may be made of a'nysuitable mater su ,as paper or berboard of afgrade selected inajccolifdanrce With the durability Which it iS dild to build into the Parts.- The game is p'layedby supplying eachplay'erwwith one of the playing boards 15;, 16, 17 o'r '13. Theset iaf number blocks 24`are preferably arranged face on a table or in a container -such as a part of th which the game may be 'supplied to the purch er A single 'game consists vof lthirteen plays ls uccessively fin'ade according to the numerical brder of the rows 1 to 13 inclusive. To start playing, each player is furnishe playing board and then dralv's from the ystock pile Aof number blocks, six blocks which are thenturnedfaee up s o that the players'z maysee what numbers ythey, have drawn.v The first play is to bernade on diagonal 1 and the players arrange their numbers in lthe; sA s along said row y1 in 'such' a manner that when` the 4numbers contained in the row are added yto each other,'multi plied or 'subtracted as` indicatedy by the indiciaZiiv 21,22 and z3, are highest p'ossbie 'scare win 'be man for the row. For example, if the numbers 1 4'; QOL nd 7, .and a special number block or joker aredrawnandarranged in the manner indicated :in dotted linefSl, F u're l, the sco're for row Ifvvo'nld be cmputed as followr z 1+4-=-s; 5 6=3'o; 30:0'=30; 3o 7=21`0'; .andaduraing thatthe joker is played as a nine, 2'10 9`'-l80, tiie latter being the total score for the row. I n v n For the next playron row number 2; eachplayer draws live number cards and' arranges *these to tli'ebes advantage inV the their unoccupied spaces in yrownumber 2 .1' number l 'previously playedlin one square in `the vpla n"g or a row 1, 'is cenare-d a part of row lz.-V rer ex' lte 2, 5, 7; -joker andfS, and 'ifft'lieieV are placed von he oa inthe manner indie-rea in Figure k1,* the nere refr co1 Zvi/Ould be 142 'l; Lf-5:21; lll-7:11 played asa zer 11; 'and U+S; 19, 'the 'lar being tire total 'score for row 2'.

It will be seen that considerable judgment may be exercised in the use of the special number blocks or jokers. In the illustrated arrangement in column 2, the joker was used as a zero in order to avoid lowering the score produced by the preceding numbers. When row 11 is played, the zero number applied to the joker in play 2 remains as the value of that block and will not lower the score produced by the other numbers of the row. The playing of rows lll and 13 does not require the drawing and placement of any number blocks, all spaces having been filled as an incident to the playing of preceding rows. Hence, the playing of said rows 11 and 13 involves only the computation ot' the score on the basis of such previously placed number blocks. For the playing of the successively numbered rows, number blocks are drawn from the pool or stock pile of numbers, only as many as are required to fill unoccupied spaces in the row being played and it is preferred that all players simultaneously play like numbered rows although this is not essential.

yIn the blind picking of the number blocks from the stock pile, there is, of course, an element of chance introduced into thegame and each players set of numbers for each row will usually dif'ter from the set of each of the other players so that the scores made by the respective players may vary considerably for like rows. A further element of chance occurs as an incident to the use of the same number block in two rows.

Certain rules may be made to induce the players to arrange numbers in a certain order. rule may be that a bonus of say 1,000 points shall be awarded a player for playing three number` blocks with the same number in sequence in a row and the joker may be made available to represent say one of such three numbers. The playing of like number blocks in sequence to obtain the bonus score will usually be advantageous even though the arithmetical result in par ticular row is not necessarily the best that could be obtained with the numbers available for placement in the row. For example, if the three numbers which are placed in sequence in a row happen to be the number 1, no advantage would be gained by having such number l in a space marked with a multiplication sign 23 whereas substantial advantage might have been gained by placing a higher number in such a square. In this respect, there is an element of judgment as well as of chance introduced into the game. A larger bonus say 1,500 points may be awarded to a player who has used the same number four times or more in sequence in one of the rows, using not more than two jokers to represent the number in such sequence. Similarly, a bonus may be awarded to the player who has played four jokers in sequence in a row regardless of what number they originally represented. The award of bonuses may, if desired, be limited to a single bonus on any given number, or the award may allow two or more bonuses for the use of the same number in crossing sequences in which a number is common to the crossing sequences. For example, sequences in the diagonal row 1, vertical row 9 and horizontal row 8 might be based on a number such as the number six which is represented in the space common to these three rows. The number of bonuses which may be secured in one game based on different number sequences, may be unlimited. Other rules in this respect may, of course, be made.

Another rule which may be established is that if a sum cannot be divided evenly by a number placed in a square or space bearing a division sign (rows 6, 8, 9 and 13), the answer to that part of the play shall be regarded as zero and remainder of that particular play figured from that point. For example, if in play 9, the second square from the top has a number 2 placed in it, which is not an even For example, one

divisor for the number 5, the computation for the first and second squares in play 9 would result in zero which multiplied by the 6 appearing in the next lower square would still give a zero. Hence, substantial losses may be experienced where the divisor does not enter evenly into the dividend.

` A game may consist in the completion of all of the thirteen rows or plays indicated on the boards or of any selected number thereof and the score may be the total of the scores of the thirteen plays or the selected portion thereof. For only two players, it is preferred that only one-half of the number blocks be used, onchalf of the number of each number being removed. For more than four players, additional playing boards and number blocks are provided to maintain approximately the indicated ratio of number blocks to playing boards.

In some instances, the arithmetical indicia 20, 21, 22 and 23 may be placed on the number blocks instead of on the playing board squares and in some instances, indicia may be omitted from one or more spaces (or blocks) and the player given freedom to use the number in any selected manner. Other variations may also be made while retaining the principles of the game as described.

I claim:

A game comprising a set of like playing boards and a set of number blocks, the playing boards each having markings thereon defining a plurality of spaces each of which is adapted to receive one of the blocks of said set of number blocks, said spaces being contiguously arranged in intersecting horizontal and vertical rows and at least one diagonal row, markings on said boards to indicate a sequence of use of said rows of spaces, said spaces being each provided adjacent a side thereof with arithmetical indicia of computations to be made with the numbers on the blocks placed in such spaces and aligned in the rows thereof, said blocks and spaces being so proportioned relative to each other that said number blocks may be placed in said spaces to one side of thc indicia therein so as to maintain visibility of said indicia when the number blocks occupy the spaces, saidsct of number blocks comprising a suicient number of blocks to occupy all of the spaces on said set of playing boards, said set of blocks embodying groups thereof respectively having dilerent numbers thereon, and another group having marking thereon distinguishing the same from the blocks of said plurality of groups and adapted to be used at the option of the players for any selected number.

References Cited n the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 574,192 Climenson Dec. 29, 1896 1,402,807 Tegtmeyer Jan. 10, 1922 1,655,380 Parker Jan. 3, 1928

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