GB2218005A - Tiddlywink table game - Google Patents

Abstract

A tiddlywinks type game has a playing surface 10 marked out (lines 13) to represent a known games court, e.g. a tennis or badminton court, a divider 20, 21 representing a net and which can be placed to stand upright on the playing surface to separate it into two halves, an object counter 23 representing the ball or shuttlecock, and two of player counters 22 representing the players. The playing surface is also divided into a pattern 11 of rectangular contiguous areas, with dots 12 marked at the midpoints of their edges. In play, the player counters are required to be left where they are when the object counter is moved, and these areas 11 and dots 12 serve to limit the extent to which the player counters can be moved for the next shot. The playing surface has a relatively rough finish. It may be a sheet of cloth which may be accompanied by a backing layer of resilient material. Alternatively, the surface may be stiff and resilient. It may be made up from separate sections of rigid material. <IMAGE>

Description

T Game The present invention relates to table games; that is, to games which are adapted to be played on table tops or similar surfaces such as floors. More specifically, it relates to games of the tiddlywinks type.

In tiddlywinks type games, an "object" counter is caused to jump around-by means of "player" counters wielded by the players. Each jump is achieved by the player pressing down on one edge of the object counter with his or her player counter, and sliding the player counter gently off the edge of the object counter; the resilience of the object counter and the playing surface result in the object counter springing up and jumping away from the player counter as the latter slides off the edge of the object counter.

Tiddlywinks itself is concerned with each player getting a plurality of his or her own object counters into a cup, but tiddlywinks type ganges have been developed in which the players play in turn using a common object counter, which they endeavour to manuvre into positions, or along routes, favourable to themselves. An example is tiddlywirrks football, in which the playing surface is marked out as a football pitch and the players endeavour to cause the object counter to enter the opposing player's goal. Such games, however, generally match only poorly the sports on which they are based.

The general object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of tiddlywinks type game.

According to a major aspect of the invention, there is provided a tiddlywinks type game comprising a playing surface marked out to represent a badminton court, squash court, tennis court, or the like, a divider representing a net and which can be placed to stand upright on the playing surface to separate it into two halves, an object counter representing the ball, shuttlecock, or the like, and a plurality of player counters representing the players. The player counters are preferably in the form of flat counters having upstanding figures of players mounted on them.

An optional but particularly significant feature is that the playing surface is also divided into a pattern of contiguous areas, which are preferably rectangular, and preferably have dots marked at the midpoints of their edges. In play, the player counters are required to be left where they are when the object counter is moved, and these dots and areas serve to limit the extent to which the player counters can be moved for the next shot, as will be explained later.

The playing surface may consist of a sheet of cloth or flexible cloth-like material which can be laid out on a flat base for use and folded or rolled up for storage. This may be relatively thin and flexible; baize may be used, but towelling material is preferred. This may be accompanied by a backing layer of resilient material, so that the playing surface alone can be used if the base is for example a carpet of suitable resiliency, but used with the backing layer beneath it if the base is hard, such as a table top. Alternatively, the playing surface may be relatively stiff and resilient, so that it presents similar playing characteristics whether the base is hard or soft.A further alternative is for the playing surface to be of rigid material, preferably in separate sections which car be disassembled or folded up for storage The playing surface preferably has a relatively rough finish, to limit the extent to which the object counter is liable to roll or slide over it.

Two tiddlywinks type games in accordance with the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the playing surface for a tennis game; Fig. 1A is a diagrammatic view of a modified playing surface for a tennis game; Fig. 2 shows the playing counters, the object counter, and the divider representing the net, all placed on the playing surface; Fig. 3 shows a modified marking layout for the playing surface; and Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the playing surface for a badminton game.

Fig. 1 shows the layout of the playing surface 10, which may conveniently be a rectangle of towelling material; the finish of such material has adequate roughness to prevent undue sliding or rolling of the object counter on it. (The playing surface can then actually be used as a towel if desired.) The material may be green, to match the surface of a grass tennis court. A suitable size is some 1200 x 600 mm.

The central part of the playing surface is marked out into two patterns of contiguous rectangles 11, one pattern at each end, the marking lines preferably being dark. A convenient size for the rectangles is some 90 x 110 mm, with a gap between the two patterns (each of 4 x 5 rectangles) of some 80 mm. Most of the lines dividing adjacent rectangles have dots 12 at their midpoints.

The central part of the playing surface 10 is also marked out in a tennis court pattern, as shown by the dotted lines 13, the marking lines preferably being white. The patterns 12 and 13 mesh with each other as shown. Although the pattern 13 looks like that of a tennis court, the dimensions need not have the same proportions as a true tennis court.

The end areas of the playing surface may have = ,maker'5 or sponsors name or an advertising slogan (not shown) printed on it.

Fig. 2 shows a portion of the playing surface 10 in perspective with the divider and counters on it. The divider consists of a thin rectangular strip 20 which is held upright by feet 21 at each end; it may conveniently be white or transparent, with a net-like pattern marked on it. A convenient height for the divider is some 40 mm. There are three counters; two player counters 22, each preferably some 20 to 25 mm in diameter, and with the figure of a tennis player on each, and an object counter 23, preferably some 15 to 20 mm in diameter. Of course, for doubles games with two teams of two players, there would be four player counters. The player counters may of course be of less representative form, e.g. shaped somewhat like small skittles with flat bases.

The game is played broadly according to the rules of true tennis. To serve, the object counter 23 is placed on the appropriate half of the back line, and one of the player counters 22 is used to make it jump over the divider 20; the service is a fault if the object counter does not clear the divider 20 and land in the court area diagonally opposite the serving point and adjacent to the divider 20. From then on, each player has to return the object counter over the divider by means of his or her player counter, making the object counter land in the opposite court area. Scoring is the same as in true tennis, for points, games, and matches.

In true tennis, a major factor is the limited mobility of the players and the desirability of a player returning the ball to a point where his or her opponent cannot reach it in time, i.e. before it has bounced twice. In the present game, this features is mimicked with the aid of the pattern of rectangles 1 1 and dots 12 shown in Fig. 1, which is used as follows. When a player plays the object counter, the player counter is in one of the rectangles 11, and after playing the object counter, the player must move the player counter onto one of the dots 12 on the edges of that rectangle.When the object counter is returned over the divider by the opponent, the player is allowed to move his or her player counter by up to 2 dots in any of the 8 principal directions (across, lengthwise, or diagonally) and then into either of the rectangles between which the player counter then stands. Thus after playing the object counter, the player has to move the player counter onto one of the sides of the rectangle it is in, seeing where the object counter has landed and in anticipation of where the opponent is likely to return it to; and the opponent can then see which rectangles the first player is able to reach for the return.

It will be noted that the pattern of dots 12, as shown in Fig. 1, forms two diamonds centred on the two playing areas. The four rectangles 11 at the corners of each playing area are therefore not accessible (except for serving).

This corresponds broadly to the area to which play is largely confined in true tennis. If desired, of course, the pattern of dots can be extended to cover these rectangles as well, so that the whole of the playing area is accessible.

Fig. 1A shows a modified form of playing surface; it has been found that this layout results in a somewhat better game than the layout of Fig. 1. It will be seen that the layout of rectangles 11 has been shortened by one row at each end, the pattern of dots 12 has been modified slightly, and the relationship of the rectangles 11 to the tennis court pattern has been changed slightly.

Convenient colours are white for the playing surface, broad black lines for the tennis court pattern, narrow red lines for the rectangles 1 1 (overlaying the black court lines where they coincide), and red for the dots 12.

Similar principles can be used for tiddlywinks badminton. For this, the court pattern preferably matches the pattern of rectangles fairly closely, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the playing counter cannot be moved far outside the boundaries of the court pattern, just as the players in true badminton cannot go far beyond those boundaries in play.

It will be realized that the arrangement of the rectangles and the details of the rules for the movement of the playing counters can both be varied. For example, the number of rectangles can be increased and their size reduced, and the number of dots which a player can move may be increased. By retaining the requirement that the move must be in a straight line, this results in the area which the player can reach having a somewhat ragged edge, so that one rectangle may be unreachable even though those on three sides of it are all reachable. It is possible to allow the player to move an unlimited distance in any of the 8 principal directions.

It is also possible, particularly if the size of the rectangles is somewhat less than shown, to omit the dots on their edges and simply allow the player counters to be moved along any principal direction, either for a limited or an urlimited number of rectanglec.

It is possible to vary the pattern of rectangles by generalizingthem to trapezia, with their width increasing with increasing distance from the centre of the playing surface. Alternatively or additionally, the length of those nearer the sides of the playing surface may be slightly decreased. A different type of generalization is to change from a tesselation of rectangles to one of hexagons, giving six principal directions, lengthwise and diagonal. The hexagonal pattern may correspondingly be generalized, by allowing the lengthwise lines of hexagons to diverge somewhat from the centre of the board and the spacing of hexagons along those lines to be diminished somewhat as the lines diverge more from the true lengthwise direction. Fig. 3 shows such a layout of hexagons, oriented to match the orientation of the right-hand pattern of rectangles in Fig. 4.

Claims (14)

G l a i m Es

1 A tiddlywinks type game comprising a playing surface marked out to represent a badminton court, squash court, tennis court, or the like, a divider representing a net and which can be placed to stand upright on the playing surface to separate it into two halves, en object counter representing the ball, shuttlecock, or the like, and a plurality of player counters representing the players.

2 A tiddlywinks type game according to claim 1 wherein the player counters are each in the form of a flat counter having an upstanding figure of a player mounted on it.

3 A tiddlywinks type game according to either previous claim wherein the playing surface is also divided into a pattern of contiguous areas.

4 A tiddlywinks type game according to claim 3 wherein said contiguous areas are rectangular.

5 A tiddlywinks type game according to either of claims 3 and 4 wherein the rectangles form two blocks, one for each side of the court, separated by a relatively narrow blank band centred on the divider.

6 A tiddlywinks type game according to any one of claims 3 to 5 wherein said contiguous areas have dots marked at the midpoints of their edges.

7 A tiddlywinks type game according to any previous claim wherein the playing surface consists of a sheet of cloth or flexible cloth-like material which can be laid out on a flat base for use and folded or rolled up for storage.

8 A tiddlywinks type game according to claim 7 wherein the playing surface is of towelling material.

9 A tiddlywinks type game according to either of claims 7 and 8 wherein the playing surface is relatively thin and flexible, and is accompanied by a backing layer of resilient material.

10 A tiddlywinks type game according to either of claims 7 and 8 wherein the playing surface is relatively stiff and resilient, so that it presents similar playing characteristics regardless of the resilience of the base it is placed upon.

11 A tiddlywinks type game according to either of claims 7 and 8 wherein the playing surface is of rigid material.

12 A tiddlywinks type game according to claim 10 wherein the playing surface is formed of a plurality of separate sections which can be disassembled or folded up for storage.

13 A tiddlywinks type game according to any previous claim wherein the playing surface has a relatively rough finish.

14 A tiddlywinks type game substantially as herein described and illustrated.