Chess game pieces

Claim 2

A chess piece comprising: an elongate member having opposite ends defining the longitudinal dimension of said member, each of said ends formed to define a base lying in a planar region substantially normal to the longitudinal dimension of said chess piece and adapted to provide a stable support for said chess piece on a flat gameboard surface, thus exposing the opposite end of said member; said member being circular in cross-section along its length and having different cross-sectional diameters at different locations along said longitudinal dimension but being longitudinally symmetrical about the mid-point of said longitudinal dimension; means forming an identical symbolic representation of the rank of said chess piece on each end of said chess piece; and means on the ends of said chess piece to enable one end to be visually distinguishable from the other end of said piece.

Claim 3

A chess piece as defined in claim 1 wherein said last mentioned means comprises said symbolic representations being of different colors.

Claim 4

A set of chess pieces, said set including two objective pieces and the remaining pieces comprising non-objective pieces and further comprising: said non-objective pieces defining a plurality of said chess pieces, said plurality of said chess pieces being separable into two identical groups; each chess piece in each group being of elongate configuration and having opposite ends defining the longitudinal dimension of said chess piece, each of said ends being formed to define a base lying in a planar region substantially normal to the longitudinal dimension of said chess piece and adapted to provide a stable support for said chess piece on a flat gameboard surface thus exposing the opposite end of said chess piece; each of said chess pieces being circular in cross-section along its length and having different cross-sectional diameters at different locations along said longitudinal dimension but being longitudinally symmetrical about the mid-point of said longitudinal dimension; means forming an identical symbolic representation of the rank of said chess piece on each end of at least each of said non-objective chess pieces; and means on the ends of each of said non-objective chess pieces to enable said ends to be visually distinguishable from each other, said visually distinguishable means being the same on each of said non-objective pieces, whereby each of the sets of non-objective chess pieces is identical to the other.

Claim 5

A set of chess pieces, said set including two objective pieces and the remaining pieces comprising non-objective pieces and further comprising: said non-objective pieces defining a plurality of said chess pieces, said plurality of said chess pieces being separable into two identical groups; each chess piece in each group being of elongate configuration and having opposite ends defining the longitudinal dimension of said chess piece, each of said ends being formed to define a base lying in a planar region substantially normal to the longitudinal dimension of said chess piece and adapted to provide a stable support for said chess piece on a flat gameboard surface thus exposing the opposite end of said chess piece; each of said chess pieces being circular in cross-section along its length and having different cross-sectional diameters at different locations along said longitudinal dimension but being longitudinally symmetrical about the mid-point of said longitudinal dimension; means forming an identical symbolic representation of the rank of said chess piece on each end of at least each of said non-objective chess pieces; and means on the ends of each of said non-objective chess pieces to enable said ends to be visually distinguishable from each other, said visually distinguishable means being the same on each of said non-objective pieces, whereby each of the sets of non-objective chess pieces is identical to the other.

Claim 6

A set of chess pieces defined in claim 3 wherein said last mentioned means comprises one end of each of said pieces being provided with one color and the other end of each of said pieces being provided with another color.

Claim 7

A set of chess pieces as defined in claim 3 comprising 32 pieces in which two of said pieces comprise objective pieces each having a first longitudinal dimension and wherein the remaining pieces comprise: two pieces being of a second longitudinal dimension smaller than said first longitudinal dimension and being identical to each other; four pieces being of a third longitudinal dimension smaller than said second longitudinal dimension and being identical to each other; four pieces being of a fourth longitudinal dimension smaller than said third longitudinal dimension and being identical to each other; four pieces being of a fifth longitudinal dimension smaller than said fourth longitudinal dimension and being identical to each other; and 16 pieces being of a sixth longitudinal dimension smaller than said fifth longitudinal dimension and being identical to each other.

Claim 8

A set of chess pieces as defined in claim 5 wherein each of said pieces are of identical cRoss sectional configuration at least at the ends thereof, said ends being no smaller in cross section than the intermediate portions thereof.

Claim 9

A set of chess pieces as defined in claim 3 wherein each objective piece comprises: an elongate member having opposite ends defining the longitudinal dimension of said member, each of said ends formed to define a base lying in a planar region substantially normal to the longitudinal dimension of said chess piece and adapted to provide a stable support for said chess piece on a flat game board surface, thus exposing the opposite end; said member being circular in cross-section along its length and having different cross-sectional diameters at different locations along said longitudinal dimension but being longitudinally symmetrical about the mid-point of said longitudinal dimension; means forming an identical symbolic representation of the rank of said objective chess piece on each end of said member; and means on the ends of said member to enable the ends thereof to be visually distinguishable from each other.