Competitive board game

Claim 2

A competitive game wherein: (a) each player in the game plays with at least one of a plurality of differentiated tokens; (b) there are a plurality of money markers and property items having predetermined values; (c) the game is played on a game board having a primary path of stations around the perimeter and three alternate paths, over which tokens are moved during play, said primary path comprising a plurality of stations which are either instructional or color coded and whereby the instructional stations direct that a player will: (i) receive an insurance card or money marker or; (ii) be directed to or remain on the instructional station that is the entrance to an alternate path entitled Real Estate Trail or; (iii) be directed to or immediately proceed through the alternate path entitled Good Times Circle wherein the player may receive a large bonus or; (iv) be directed to or immediately proceed through the alternate path entitled Hard Times Circle wherein all other players property items and cash markers may be lost and, whereby the color coded stations direct that a player immediately complete the three following sequential steps in the order indicated: (v) collect money markers or property items from the bank in the amount indicated by the instructions correlated with that station; (vi) buy or sell any number (including zero) up to a predetermined maximum of property items; and (vii) refer to the next in sequence of a plurality of randomly arranged instructional members which are independent of said stations but which are correlated to the station color code and, whereby none of the instructional or color coded stations may ever be purchased or owned by players and none of the instructional or color coded stations of the primary playing path have any form of landing fees payable either to other players or the bank; (d) on said primary path each player receives a predetermined value in money markers or property items during every turn except when landing on the instructional station entitled Entrance Real Estate Trail; (e) there are a plurality of first instructional members which are independent of said stations but which are correlated with instructions that favorably affect the standing of a player in that at least one of said first instructional members make it advantageous to own each category of property items and several of said first instructional members make it advantageous to gamble with other players when that instructional member is referred to; (f) there are a plurality of second instructional members which are also independent of said stations but which are correlated with instructions that adversely affect the standing of a player in that at least one of said second instructional members makes it disadvantageous to own each category of property items and several of said second instructional members make it disadvantageous to gamble with other players when that instructional member is referred to; (g) the standing of each player in the game is evidenced by his accumulation of money markers and property items having predetermined values; and (h) the winner of the game is determined by the accumulation of a predetermined value in money markers, declaring said accumulation to the other players and thereafter arriving at a predetermined station, said competitive game comprising the steps of: (i) determine the number of stations moved by each token on each play by aleatoric means; (j) move the token to the station determined in step (i) and take the following actions in the order indicated as required; (i) transfer money markers or property items with the bank in the amount indicated by the instruction correlated with that station; (ii) buy or sell any number (including zero) up to a predetermined maximum of a predetermined number of categories of property items, whereby said property items may be bought and sold in anticipation of which instructional members will be referred to; (iii) refer to the next in sequence of a plurality of randomly arranged instructional members which are correlated to the color coding of the station on which a token has landed but which are independent of said stations but which are likewise correlated with instructions affecting the standing of a player; (iv) when authorized or directed to do so by an instructional member referred to pursuant to step (j) (iii), sell to the bank property items at increased value or turn in to the bank property items at decreased values or pay penalties to the bank for owning specific property items or transfer property items to appropriate player; (v) when authorized to do so by an instructional member referred to pursuant to step (j) (iii), bet any value in money markers (including zero) against each player up to the total value in money markers (not including the value of property items) that player has; (vi) engage in the specific gambling game depicted on the instructional member and determine the winner of the bets made pursuant to step (j) (v) by aleatoric means; (vii) when authorized to do so by an instructional member referred to pursuant to step (j) (iii), all other players bet against the player who has been referred to the instructional member any value in money markers (including zero) up to the total value of money markers and property items held by the player who has been referred to the instructional member; and (viii) engage in the specific gambling game depicted on the instructional member and determine the winner of the bets made pursuant to step (j) (vii) by aleatoric means.

Claim 3

The competitive game of claim 1 wherein: (a) there are a plurality of different categories of property items and a plurality of different categories of gambling games; (b) at least one of said first instructional members makes it advantageous to own each category of property items when that instructional member is referred to by authorizing the sale of each category of property items to the bank at inflated prices and at least one of said second instructional members makes it disadvantageous to own each category of property items when that instructional member is referred to by directing the sale of each category of property items to the bank at reduced prices or even at total loss; (c) at least thirty five percent (35%) of said first instructional members depict gambling games wherein the odds of winning are in favor of the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the referred player to bet against other players and whereupon an aleatoric means is used to determine the winner of such gambling games; (d) at least sixteen percent (16%) of said second instructional members depict gambling games wherein the odds of winning are unfavorable to the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the other players to bet against the referred player and whereupon an aleatoric means is used to determine the winner of such gambling games, whereby said property items may be bought and sold or players may convert property items to money markers to use for gambling purposes in anticipation of which instructional members will be referred to.

Claim 4

A competitive game wherein: (a) each player in the game plays with at least one of a pluarlity of differentiated tokens; (b) there are a plurality of money markers and property items having predetermined values; (c) the game is played on a game board having a primary path of stations around the perimeter and three alternate paths, over which tokens are moved during play, said primary path comprising a plurality of stations which are either instructional or color coded and whereby the instructional stations direct that a player will: (i) receive an insurance card or money marker or; (ii) be directed to or remain on the instructional station that is the entrance to an alternate path entitled Real Rstate Trail or; (iii) be directed to or immediately proceed through the alternate path entitled Good Times Circle wherein the player may receive a large bonus or; (iv) be directed to or immediately proceed through the alternate path entitled Hard Times Circle wherein all other players property items and cash markers may be lost and, whereby the color coded stations which indicated overall conditions as favorable or unfavorable, direct that a player immediately complete the three following sequential steps in the order indicated: (v) collect money markers or property items from the bank in the amount indicated by the instructions correlated with that station; (vi) buy or sell any number (including zero) up to a predetermined maximum of property items; and (vii) refer to the next in sequence of a plurality of randomly arranged instructional members which are independent of said stations but which are correlated to the station color code and, whereby none of the instructional or color coded stations may ever be purchased or owned by players and none of the instructional or color coded stations of the primary playing path have any form of landing fees payable either to other players or the bank; (d) on said primary path each player on every turn except when landing on the instructional station entitled Entrance Real Estate Trail, receives either money markers or property items from the bank, which precludes any player from ever being eliminated from the game due to the inability to function since possession of any amount of money markers or property items enables a player to advance his standing, through property manipulation or gambling, to the extent that a player reduced to absolute zero holdings can thereafter rally and win the game; (e) there are a plurality of first instructional members correlated to the color coded stations which are independent of said stations but which are correlated with instructions that favorably affect the standing of a player in that at least one of said instructional members makes it advantageous to own each category of property items when that instructional member is referred to by authorizing the sale of each category of property items to the bank at inflated prices and at least thirty five percent (35%) of said instructional members depict the gambling games Big Doubles, Seven-Eleven, Showdown, or Vegas wherein the odds of winning are in favor of the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the referred player to bet against other players; (f) there are a plurality of second instructional members correlated to the color coded stations which are independent of said stations but which are correlated with instructions that adversely affect the standing of a player in that at least one of said instructional members makes it disadvantageous to own each category of property items when that instructional member is referred to by directing the sale of each category of property items to the bank at reduced prices or even at total loss and at least sixteen percent (16%) of said instructional members depict the gambling game Craps, wherein the odds of winning are unfavorable to the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the other players to bet against the referred player; (g) the winner of the game is determined by the accumulation of a predetermined value in money markers, declaring said accumulation to the other players and thereafter arriving at a predetermined station, said competitive game comprising the steps of (h) determine the number of stations moved by each token on each play by aleatoric means; (i) move the token to the station determined in step (i) and if such station is an instructional station the player will: (i) receive either an insurance card or money marker or; (ii) be directed to or remain on the station that is entitled Entrance Real Estate Trail whereupon decision to enter or not must be made on that players next turn (entry is always optional) with such decision affecting that players standing since the stations within Real Estate Trail offer higher rewards with higher risk factors, and the only stations where a player can be eliminated from the game being within The Real Estate Trail or; (iii) be directed to the entrance station of Good Times Circle whereupon the player must continue taking turns until completely through Good Times Circle wherein if the player lands on a station within Good Times Circle that player will receive a money marker bonus or; (iv) be directed to the entrance station of Hard Times Circle whereupon the player must continue taking turns until completely through Hard Times Circle wherein if the player lands on a station within Hard Times Circle all other players will lose predetermined amounts of property items and money markers up to the entire amount owned, when the station moved to is a color coded station the player will immediately complete the three following steps in the order indicated as part of that turn: (v) step 1--collect money markers or property items from the bank in the amount indicated by the instructions correlated with that station; (vi) step 2--buy or sell any number (including zero) up to a predetermined maximum of a predetermined number of categories of property items, whereby such property items may be bought and sold in anticipation of which instructional member will be referred to wherein a player may either buy stock in anticipation of the instructional member permitting the sale of such stock at inflated prices, or sell gold in anticipation of an instructional member directing the player to turn in gold for a total loss, or sell property items to establish holdings in money markers in anticipation of an instructional marker permitting gambling, or take any of the one hundred twenty nine (129) buy/sell variations provided by the game; (vii) step 3--refer to the next in sequence of a plurality of randomly arranged first or second instructional members which are correlated to the color coding of the station on which a token has landed but which are likewise correlated with instructions affecting the standing of a player; (viii) when authorized or directed to do so by an instructional member referred to pursuant to step (i) (vii), sell to the bank property items at increased value or turn in to the bank property items at decreased value or pay penalties to the bank for owing specific property items or transfer property items to appropriate player; (ix) when authorized to do so by first instructional member referred to pursuant to step (i) (vii), bet any value in money markers (including zero) against the bank or each player up to the total value in money markers (not including the value of property items) that the player has; (x) engage in the specific gambling game named Big Doubles, Seven-Eleven, Showdown or Vegas depicted on the first instructional member whereas these gambling games are designed for the purpose of placing the odds of winning the bet in favor of the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the referred player to bet against other players and since the winner is determined by aleatoric means the gambling game creates suspense and excitement for all players as they all have a good possibility of winning the bet and thereby immediately moving into an improved position even though the referred player has preferrential odds; (xi) when authorized to do so by a second instructional member referred to pursuant to step (i) (vii), all other players bet any value in money markers (including zero) against the referred player up to the total value of money markers and property items held by the referred player whereupon the referred player must sell to the bank as many property items as necessary to cover all bets made by the other players; (xii) engage in the specific gambling game named Craps depicted on the second instructional member whereas this gambling game is designed to make the odds of winning favor the betting players rather than the referred player thereby making it advantageous for the other players to bet against the referred player and since the winner is determined by aleatoric means this gambling game creates suspense and excitement for all players as the players making the bets have the favorable odds of winning the bet and thereby moving into an improved position while at the same time the referred player has a good possibility of winning the bet.

Claim 5

A competitive game wherein: (a) each player in the game plays with at least one of a pluarlity of differentiated tokens; (b) there are a plurality of money markers and property items having predetermined values; (c) the game is played on a game board having a primary path of stations around the perimeter and three alternate paths, over which tokens are moved during play, said primary path comprising a plurality of stations which are either instructional or color coded and whereby the instructional stations direct that a player will: (i) receive an insurance card or money marker or; (ii) be directed to or remain on the instructional station that is the entrance to an alternate path entitled Real Rstate Trail or; (iii) be directed to or immediately proceed through the alternate path entitled Good Times Circle wherein the player may receive a large bonus or; (iv) be directed to or immediately proceed through the alternate path entitled Hard Times Circle wherein all other players property items and cash markers may be lost and, whereby the color coded stations which indicated overall conditions as favorable or unfavorable, direct that a player immediately complete the three following sequential steps in the order indicated: (v) collect money markers or property items from the bank in the amount indicated by the instructions correlated with that station; (vi) buy or sell any number (including zero) up to a predetermined maximum of property items; and (vii) refer to the next in sequence of a plurality of randomly arranged instructional members which are independent of said stations but which are correlated to the station color code and, whereby none of the instructional or color coded stations may ever be purchased or owned by players and none of the instructional or color coded stations of the primary playing path have any form of landing fees payable either to other players or the bank; (d) on said primary path each player on every turn except when landing on the instructional station entitled Entrance Real Estate Trail, receives either money markers or property items from the bank, which precludes any player from ever being eliminated from the game due to the inability to function since possession of any amount of money markers or property items enables a player to advance his standing, through property manipulation or gambling, to the extent that a player reduced to absolute zero holdings can thereafter rally and win the game; (e) there are a plurality of first instructional members correlated to the color coded stations which are independent of said stations but which are correlated with instructions that favorably affect the standing of a player in that at least one of said instructional members makes it advantageous to own each category of property items when that instructional member is referred to by authorizing the sale of each category of property items to the bank at inflated prices and at least thirty five percent (35%) of said instructional members depict the gambling games Big Doubles, Seven-Eleven, Showdown, or Vegas wherein the odds of winning are in favor of the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the referred player to bet against other players; (f) there are a plurality of second instructional members correlated to the color coded stations which are independent of said stations but which are correlated with instructions that adversely affect the standing of a player in that at least one of said instructional members makes it disadvantageous to own each category of property items when that instructional member is referred to by directing the sale of each category of property items to the bank at reduced prices or even at total loss and at least sixteen percent (16%) of said instructional members depict the gambling game Craps, wherein the odds of winning are unfavorable to the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the other players to bet against the referred player; (g) the winner of the game is determined by the accumulation of a predetermined value in money markers, declaring said accumulation to the other players and thereafter arriving at a predetermined station, said competitive game comprising the steps of (h) determine the number of stations moved by each token on each play by aleatoric means; (i) move the token to the station determined in step (i) and if such station is an instructional station the player will: (i) receive either an insurance card or money marker or; (ii) be directed to or remain on the station that is entitled Entrance Real Estate Trail whereupon decision to enter or not must be made on that players next turn (entry is always optional) with such decision affecting that players standing since the stations within Real Estate Trail offer higher rewards with higher risk factors, and the only stations where a player can be eliminated from the game being within The Real Estate Trail or; (iii) be directed to the entrance station of Good Times Circle whereupon the player must continue taking turns until completely through Good Times Circle wherein if the player lands on a station within Good Times Circle that player will receive a money marker bonus or; (iv) be directed to the entrance station of Hard Times Circle whereupon the player must continue taking turns until completely through Hard Times Circle wherein if the player lands on a station within Hard Times Circle all other players will lose predetermined amounts of property items and money markers up to the entire amount owned, when the station moved to is a color coded station the player will immediately complete the three following steps in the order indicated as part of that turn: (v) step 1--collect money markers or property items from the bank in the amount indicated by the instructions correlated with that station; (vi) step 2--buy or sell any number (including zero) up to a predetermined maximum of a predetermined number of categories of property items, whereby such property items may be bought and sold in anticipation of which instructional member will be referred to wherein a player may either buy stock in anticipation of the instructional member permitting the sale of such stock at inflated prices, or sell gold in anticipation of an instructional member directing the player to turn in gold for a total loss, or sell property items to establish holdings in money markers in anticipation of an instructional marker permitting gambling, or take any of the one hundred twenty nine (129) buy/sell variations provided by the game; (vii) step 3--refer to the next in sequence of a plurality of randomly arranged first or second instructional members which are correlated to the color coding of the station on which a token has landed but which are likewise correlated with instructions affecting the standing of a player; (viii) when authorized or directed to do so by an instructional member referred to pursuant to step (i) (vii), sell to the bank property items at increased value or turn in to the bank property items at decreased value or pay penalties to the bank for owing specific property items or transfer property items to appropriate player; (ix) when authorized to do so by first instructional member referred to pursuant to step (i) (vii), bet any value in money markers (including zero) against the bank or each player up to the total value in money markers (not including the value of property items) that the player has; (x) engage in the specific gambling game named Big Doubles, Seven-Eleven, Showdown or Vegas depicted on the first instructional member whereas these gambling games are designed for the purpose of placing the odds of winning the bet in favor of the player referred to the instructional member thereby making it advantageous for the referred player to bet against other players and since the winner is determined by aleatoric means the gambling game creates suspense and excitement for all players as they all have a good possibility of winning the bet and thereby immediately moving into an improved position even though the referred player has preferrential odds; (xi) when authorized to do so by a second instructional member referred to pursuant to step (i) (vii), all other players bet any value in money markers (including zero) against the referred player up to the total value of money markers and property items held by the referred player whereupon the referred player must sell to the bank as many property items as necessary to cover all bets made by the other players; (xii) engage in the specific gambling game named Craps depicted on the second instructional member whereas this gambling game is designed to make the odds of winning favor the betting players rather than the referred player thereby making it advantageous for the other players to bet against the referred player and since the winner is determined by aleatoric means this gambling game creates suspense and excitement for all players as the players making the bets have the favorable odds of winning the bet and thereby moving into an improved position while at the same time the referred player has a good possibility of winning the bet.