The educational board game industry comprises a plurality of different types of games. Some games provide the players with rewards for answering questions correctly. Other types of games involve the players with the elements of chance. Still other types of games stimulate the players' minds and sharpen their skills in being prepared to answer detailed questions on a variety of topics.
Educational games may be elaborate or very simplistic in their presentation of questions and answers. An example of an elaborate educational trivia type game is one that is broadcast on television. These types of games have to some extent gained in popularity. A trivia master asks a question to a contestant and the contestant answers the question correctly or loses something of value that has been previously won by the contestant. This process continues until a given amount of things of value have been won or the allotted time for the game show has expired. On the other end of the spectrum is the flash card game. A deck of cards has one side displaying a question and the other side displaying the answer to the question. One player of the game asks a question of another player wherein that player must answer the question correctly to gain something of value. If the player answers the questions incorrectly he loses something of value. Prizes, points, and scores are generally the things of value that are awarded to the players who answer questions correctly. These items are also the things that must be given up by the players who answer questions incorrectly. The very nature of these games suggests winning or losing instead of education.
Attempts in the past have been unsuccessful in remedying the problem of providing an educational board game stimulating the players to answer questions correctly, rewarding successful players and increasing the training to the less than successful players while enhancing the education of all the players involved. One such attempt is U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,252 issued to McCrady on Dec. 3, 1996. The McCrady patent discloses a board game involving a map of one state in the United States, a die, matching player icons, and score keeping. The game also includes a compass for directing a player around the various regions of the United States in an effort to teach the player about a particular state in the United States.
The McCrady patent is an educational board game involving gamesmanship and recognition of information about a particular state in the United States. The McCrady patent does not focus on a particular state's attributes that give that state its identity, character, and history. The McCrady patent's only focus is on teaching the players about the cities and counties of the state in question. The wealth of information when presenting state attribute information is voluminous and is especially difficult for young children who may participate in the game. Young children tend to react in a negative way when presented with voluminous material in a game format. The expectation is they should know all of the material presented rather than only a given amount considering their ages and learning experience. This self imposed expectation is detrimental to the learning experience of children.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds