This relates to a sequence forming and alignment game which combines aspects of conventional word spelling games with aspects of alignment games such as Tic Tac Toe and Bingo.
The game is intended for two players, or two teams. It uses two sets of flat tiles or markers, each set being distinguished by a different color, and a playing surface designed to receive five rows and five columns of such markers. In the preferred embodiment the upper surface of each of the markers is divided in half and a letter appears on each half. At the start of play, each team receives one set of markers. On each team's turn, a player draws one of his team's markers sight unseen from its set of markers; and he then attempts to place this marker on the playing surface so as to form a word using at least one of the letters on the marker he has drawn and the letters on other markers previously placed on the playing surface. Each marker must be placed so that it is contiguous to at least one previously placed marker; and one letter of the marker that is placed must begin the word that is formed.
The orientation of each marker at the time of its placement is governed by the length of the word that can be spelled during that turn of play. By way of illustration, the marker is oriented toward the right when the word formed is three letters long, it is upside down when it is four letters long, it is oriented toward the left when it is five letters long and it is right side up when it is six or more letters long.
The game is won when five markers from one set are all in a row, either horizontal, vertical or diagonal. In the event this condition is not met when the game board is finally filled with markers, the winner is determined by point scoring based on the length of the words formed by each team.
Previously played markers can be replaced during play provided that the replacing marker can be used to spell out a longer word than that for which the replaced marker was used. The orientation of the replaced marker will of course indicate how long the previous word was. No replacement is permitted, however, for markers that had been used to form words of six letters or more.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds