GB2028145A - Road-crossing game - Google Patents

Abstract

A board game simulating a pedestrian crossing a road having traffic in which the board includes circular rotatable rings on which are drawn vehicles forming the traffic. Counters represent pedestrians who have to cross the roads several times to win the game. Movement of the traffic rings causes pelican crossing signs to change and is controlled by two dice each marked 1,1,2,2,3,3 and cards. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A board game FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to a board game simulating a pedestrian crossing a road having traffic.

PRIOR ART It is believed that there is no similar board game which has previously been proposed.

GENERAL STATEMENT OF INVENTION According to present invention there is provided a board game simulating a pedestrian crossing a road having traffic, including a board and playing pieces for use thereon, and elements representing vehicles forming the traffic on a road, the elements being interconnected in such a manner that movement of one element effects a corresponding movement of at least one other element.

The invention also includes a board game simulating a pedestrian crossing a road having traffic including a board having three superimposed layers consisting of a base layer on which is marked radial lines dividing a road into sections, an intermediate layer in two parts, each part having a circular traffic movement strip provided with a plurality of regularly spaced holes having the same angular spacing as the angular length of a road section and also regularly spaced representations of the three signals displayed at a "pelican" crossing each strip being connected to elements representing vehicles forming the traffic on the road, the elements of one strip having vehicles moving in one direction along the road and the elements of the other strip having vehicles moving in the other directions, and an upper layer having pathways and at least one "pelican" crossing marked thereon, a window adjacent each end of the or each "pelican" crossing in which the signals appear dependent on the movement of a strip, two arcuate traffic movement slots one on the inside of the circular road and the other on the outside of the circular road, each slot being in register with a portion of one of the strips; and playing pieces for use on the board.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:- Figure 1 is a plan view of a complete board for playing a game in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the base layer of the board of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of one part of the intermediate layer of the board of Fig. 1; Figure 4 is a plan view of the other part of the intermediate layer of the board of Fig. 1; Figure 5 is a plan view of the upper layer of the board of Fig. 1; Figure 6 is a perspective view of four playing pieces for use in playing the game; Figure 7 is a perspective view of four sets of discs for use in playing the game; Figure 8 is a perspective view of two dice for use in playing the game; and Figure 9 is a perspective view of a pack of cards for use in playing the game.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The board in its assembled condition is illustrated in Fig. 1 and the four separate parts which make up the board are illustrated in Figs. 2 to 5. The board consists of a base layer 1 (see Fig.

2) having a circular roadway 2 marked thereon. The roadway 2 is divided into sections 3 by radial lines 4 and also has a circular dotted white line 5 marked thereon to indicate the division between the lanes of the road.

The intermediate layer of the board is divided into two parts illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. With regard to Fig. 3 there is a circular strip 6 having regularly spaced holes 7 therein and having marked on the strip 6 between the holes the three symbols found at a "pelican" crossing. These symbols are a red man 8 indicating that a pedestrian must not cross the road, a green man 9 indicating that a pedestrian may cross the road and a green flashing man 10 indicating that a pedestrian has the right of way but that the signal will very shortly be turning to red.

Connected to the strip 6 are a plurality of elements 11 each having a vehicle depicted thereon. These vehicles make up the traffic on the road. The vehicles in the part illustrated in Fig. 3 are for moving in a clockwise direction and will thus be moved in playing the game. The vehicles are divided into two lanes separated by a dotted white line 1 2. The intermediate part illustrated in Fig. 4 is similar to that illustrated in Fig. 3 in that it has a strip 1 3 with regularly spaced holes 1 3 therein and the three symbols to be found at a "pelican" crossing, namely the red man 15, the green man 1 6 and the green flashing man 1 7. Connected to this strip 1 3 are elements 18 on which are depicted vehicles, for moving in an anticlockwise direction. The vehicles are divided into two lanes by a dotted white line 1 9.

The upper layer of the board is indicated in Fig. 5 and includes pathways 20 which are divided into sections and it will be observed from Fig. 5 that the circumferentially disposed sections have the same angular length as the angular length of the section on the road. It will also be observed that the angular length of the holes 7 and 1 4 in the strips 6 and 1 3 respectively correspond to the angular length of the sections of the road and the sections of the pathways. The pathways lead to four houses 21 from each of which one of the players of the game starts and returns during the playing of the game.

Joining the various pathways are two "zebra" crossings 22, two bridges 23 and two "pelican" crossings. These pelican crossings are conveniently called a "straight" crossing 24 and a "staggered" crossing 25. It will be seen from Fig. 5 that at each end of the pelican crossings 24 and 25 are windows 26 and 27, the former being positioned to register with the men on strip 6 and the latter being disposed to register with the men on strip 1 3. It will be seen that the two pelican crossings 24 and 25 have central islands or reservations 28 and 29 respectively.

Also marked on the board are "optional stay" divisions 30 and a central quartered area 31 representing a hospital.

The upper layer of the board is provided with two arcuate slots, an outer slot 32 and a inner slot 33. These slots register with the holes 7 and 14 in the strips 6 and 13 respectively and are to enable traffic to be moved along the road. It will also be noticed that adjacent the arcuate traffic movement slots 32 and 33 are rectangular blocks 34 and 35 respectively which give an indication of the distance which the traffic is to be moved in the direction indicated by the dotted arrow associated with those blocks. For this purpose the blocks are coloured and the vehicles are also coloured.

Fig. 6 shows the four playing pieces 36, each consisting of a base 37 which may be placed on the board so that a rod 38 is vertical. The rods 38 receive coloured discs 39 which are indicated in Fig. 7. The discs 39 are in four sets of three, each set having one of the colours of the houses 21.

Fig. 8 indicates the two dice 40 which are used in playing the game and the faces of these six-sided dice have the numbers 1, 2 and 3 duplicated.

Fig. 9 illustrates the pack of cards 41 used in playing the game and these cards have certain information written thereon as follows: INFORMATION NUMBER OF CARDS All retainable cards must be returned to the pack 1 You have made progess in hospital move one quarter retainable 1 You have made good progress in hospital-Move two quarters retainable 1 Your ball is in the road-stay put until road is clear.If you are not by the road-miss one turn 2 Cross the zebra-make traffic move but don't throw dice retainable 2 Move to nearest yellow disc and take another card 1 Policeman retainable 1 Lollipip Lady Retainable 1 Take an extra turn Move one extra division on the bridge Retainable 1 Move along pavement to nearest crossing 2 Take another card 2 Move up to 4 pathway divisions 2 Return all retainable cards in your possession to the pack 1 Move both directions of traffic 4 divisions 1 Miss one turn-return card to pack next turn 3 .Miss two turns-return card to pack next turn 2 + 2 divisions Retainable 1 + 1 division Retainable 3 30 The rules of the game will now be given but it should be remembered that these rules have been written specifically with young people in mind.

RULES Players The game can be played by 2, 3 or 4 players.

Equipment You will see that there is a board with a circular road, sometimes two lanes wide and sometimes four lanes wide. There are vehicles on the road, such as pedal cyclists, motor cyclists, motor cars, buses and lorries these make up the traffic using the road. You will notice that on some stretches of the road the traffic is moving in both directions and in other stretches just one way. You will see from the board that there are two traffic movement slots, having holes in them, into which you can place your finger and move the traffic around the board.

There are also four counters for moving around the boardgreen, red, yellow and blur same colours as the four houses on the board.

Each house has three discs which are to be collected by the other players during the game There is also a pack of Pedestrian Cards and two dice, each with the numbers 1, 2 and 3 on them.

Purpose of the game To cause lots of enjoyment for young and old alike with, at the same time, teaching you certain aspects of road safety.

Setting up the board Lay the board on a flat surface. Each person then chooses a house and puts the counter of that colour on that house. Also put the three discs by each house of the same colour. Shuffle the Pedestrian Cards and place them, face downwards, near the board. One player should sit opposite the traffic movement slots and also have the pack of Pedestrian Cards nearby. We will call that player the "Traffic Controller".

Object of the game To be the first player to travel along the pathways, crossing the road several times as you progress, visiting each of the other houses and collecting one disc from each of those houses before you return home again.

An average game with four players will take about 3 hour to complete.

Players throw both dice and the highest throw starts. Play then proceeds with the next player on the left.

Travelling along the pathways Both dice are thrown and you must move the total number of divisions indicated by the dice in whichever one direction you choose for that throw, unless: 1. you reach a recognised crossing and you wish to stay there; or 2. you reach a division on the pathway marked "optional stay" and you wish to stay there; or 3. you reach a house other than your own. You must throw the exact number on the dice to get back into your own house and win the game.

Crossing the road You have to be careful here! There are several ways you can cross the road; these are 1. by a zebra crossing; or 2. by a bridge; or 3. by a pelican crossing; or 4. by crossing at a place where there is no recognised crossing.

Let us see how you cross the road using each of these methods of crossing.

But first: you know that when you cross a road, you should not only listen to hear if anything is coming, but you must always look right, look left, look right again and if nothing is coming, proceed across. This is exactly what we do in playing the game, except that looking right, looking left and looking right again are replaced by moving any traffic on the board in the stretch of the road you are in from the right, from the left and then from the right again.

You will notice from the board that the traffic is coloured. Some vehicles are just one colour, for example, a car may be brown whereas other vehicles are two colours, for example, a motor cyclist may be red and blue. There are four such colours-brown, blue, red and white. (These colours are used when crossing the road by a pelican as will be explained later).

The Traffic Controller will note that from his position (sitting opposite the traffic movement slots) that all traffic rotating to the left (outside lanes) is controlled by the outer traffic movement slot and all traffic rotating to the right (inside lanes) is controlled by the inner traffic movement slot.

1. Crossing by a zebra When you are on a division of the pathway at one end of a zebra crossing and it is your turn to play, you: look right-that is you move the traffic from the right until the nearest vehicle comes up to the crossing (it is waiting for you to cross): look left-that is you move the traffic from the left unitl the nearest vehicle comes up to the crossing (it too is waiting for you to cross) look right again-you don't do anything on the board but its good to get into the habit, and then you throw both dice. If you throw a total of four or more you may then cross over. If your throw is three or less you have to stay where you are until your next turn.

If the zebra you are crossing is across a one-way road, then, of coure, the traffic will only be moved one way. But you must always look both ways even if you are in a one way street.

If more than one player is waiting to cross a zebra and one of them makes a successful crossing, all the other waiting players at that crossing, may cross at the same time without waiting for their normal turn. You can, of course, move away from a zebra or any other recognised crossing if you elect to do so.

2. Crossing by a bridge When you are on a division of the pathway marked "BRIDGE" you can cross, when it is your turn, without moving the traffic on the road. You don't throw the dice but each turn you move one division across the bridge until you reach the other side.

3. Crossing by a pelican You will notice that there are two pelican crossings, one which goes straight across four lanes of traffic with an island in the middle (called the straight pelican) and the other which goes first across two lanes of traffic to a fenced island in the middle of the road and then, a little further along the island, across two more lanes of traffic to the other side of the road (called the staggered pelican).

The straight pelican When you are on a division of the pathway at one end of the straight pelican and it is your turn to play, you look right-that is you move the traffic from the right by an amount dependent on the colour of the nearest visible vehicle on the right (not up to the crossing as you do with the zebra). The colours of the vehicles tell you in which hole of the traffic movement slots the Traffic Controller puts his finger to move the traffic. If the vehicle is one colour only, then one movement is made for that colour. If the vehicle has two colours, two movements are made one after the other for those two colours.You then look left-that is you move the traffic from the left by an amount dependent on the colours of the nearest vehicle on the left (again not like the zebra); look right again you move the traffic again from the right dependent on the colours of the nearest vehicle on the right. Now you can cross to the centre island if the man on your side of the pelican is green. You can also cross to the centre island if the man your side of the pelican is flashing green provided that there are no vehicles in the nearest two divisions on the road from which the traffic is approaching. On this same turn you can cross to the other side of the road if the man on the other side of the road is green or flashing greenonce again provided that if the man is flashing green there are no vehicles in the nearest two divisions on the road from which the traffic is approaching.

The staggered Pelican You cross the road at the staggered pelican similarly to the straight pelican except that you cannot go across all four lanes in one turn even if both men are green. If the man your side is green, you go to the centre island and then, at your next turn, you move the traffic again and if the man on the side of the road you want to go to is green than you can cross.

You will remember that if more than one player was waiting to cross a zebra at the same time and one player got across, all of them could go across. Well, the same rule applies to a pelican, but only that part of the pelican being crossed by the player whose turn it is.

4. No recognised crossing Sometimes you have to cross a road where there is no zebra, pelican or bridge. Well, if there is a policemen or a lollipop lady about, then they will stop the traffic for you and this is the most sensible way to cross. But sometimes you just have to go across on your own. You can do this in the game but you may get knocked down and have to go to hospital represented by the quartered circle in the centre of the board.

If you decide to cross the road without using a recognised crossing, then you: look right-move the traffic from the right as if you were doing it for a pelican: you look left-same again from the left (it's the nearest visible vehicle each time which decides how far you move the traffic); look right again-as before. If then there is a vehicle on one of the division you want to cross by-you can't cross. If there is no such vehicle, you have to throw the dice, one dice for a two lane road and both dice for a four lane road.

If the throw of the dice indicates that you get across, then you have been lucky. If the dice shows that you finish in the road, you must remain there until your next turn. When that comes (and if you have not been knocked down in the meantime by other players moving the traffic) you have to move the traffic as usual before you proceed to cross further. You may think it best to go back again if you elect to do so you must say that is what you are doing before you throw the dice.

Hospital If you get knocked over trying to cross the road, you go straight to hospital and miss 1,2,3 or 4 turns dependent on the colour of vehicle that knocked you down ( a two coloured vehicle counts as a white vehicle for this purpose) and you loose the last disc you obtained. You will see from the board that the hospital has four colours and you progress through the quarters of the hospital as you miss your turns.

Pedestrian Cards You will see some of the pathway divisions have yellow circles. If you stop on one of these you have to take a Pedestrain Card and, if you can, obey its instructiqns straight away. Some of the cards you have to keep to help you later on. Most of these cards will be easy to understand and follow but there are two types of cards which need special mention. These are the Lollipop lady and the Policeman cards. You keep these cards and use them when you want to cross the road at a place other than a recognised crossing when there are no vehicles on the divisions of the road to be crossed.

Lollipip Lady and Policeman When it is your turn and you want to use one of these cards, if all the division on the road you want to cross are free of traffic, the Lollipop Lady or Policeman will take you straight across.

If, however, there is a vehicle on a division across which you want to go, you move the vehicle(s) one divisions so as to make your crossing clear. When you have used your card, you return it to the bottom of the pack.

Throw bonus cards You can use these cards both on the pathway and on the road but you must elect to play the card before you throw the dice. You then add the value of your card to the throw of the dice.

Claims (9)

1. A board game simulating a pedestrian crossing a road having traffic, including a board and playing pieces for use thereon, and elements representing vehicles forming the traffic on a road, the elements being interconnected in such a manner that movement of one element effects a corresponding movement of at least one other element.

2. A board game as claimed in claim 1, in which the road is circular and the elements are interconnected by means which conform to the circularity of the road.

3. A board game as claimed in Claim 2, in which the road is divided into sections along its length and an arcuate traffic movement slot is provided in the board, the slot being in register with a portion of a circular traffic movement strip connected to the elements to effect movement thereof along the road.

4. A board game as claimed in Claim 3, in which the strip is provided with a plurality of regularly spaced holes having the same angular spacing as the angular length of a road section.

5. A board game as claimed in either Claim 3 or Claim 4 in which the strip has regularly spaced representation of three signals displayed at a "pelican" crossing, the board being provided with a drawing of a pelican crossing and a window adjacent the crossing in which the signals appear dependent on the movement of the strip.

6. A board game as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the road has two sets of elements thereon representing traffic moving in both directions.

7. A board game as claimed in Claim 6 when dependent on Claim 4, in which two arcuate traffic movement slots are provided, one on the inside of the circular road and the other on the outside of the circular road, the one being connected to the inside elements and the other being connected to the outside elements.

8. A board game simulating a pedestrian crossing a road having traffic, including a board having three superimposed layers consisting of a base layer on which is marked radial lines dividing a road into sections, an intermediate layer in two parts, each part having a circular traffic movement strip provided with a plurality of regularly spaced holes having the same angular spacing as the angular length of a road section and also regularly spaced representation of the three signals displayed at a "pelican" crossing, each strip being connected to elements representing vehicles forming the traffic on the road, the elements of one strip having vehicles moving in one direction along the road and the elements of the other strip having vehicles moving in the other direction and an upper layer having pathways and at least one "pelican" crossing marked thereon, a window adjacent each end of the or each "pelican" crossing in which signals appear dependent on the movement of a strip, two arcuate traffic movement slots, one on the inside of the circular road and the other on the outside of the circular road, each slot being in register with a portion of one of the strips; and playing pieces for use on the board.

9. A board game as claimed in Claim 8, in which additionally there are provided two dice, four sets of discs and a pack of cards for playing the game in accordance with the Rules as herein specified.