Board game apparatus

Claim 1

A game apparatus comprising: four groups of movable game board pieces, each group being distinguishable one from another, each of said pieces including means defining indicia thereon, each one of said pieces of any given group having similar means defining indicia to identify them as forming a part of said given group, each one of said pieces of the other groups of said movable game board pieces including similar means defining indicia to identify them as forming a part of such other groups, said means defining indicia of each of the four groups being distinguishable from each of the other groups so that each one of the movable game board pieces of the same group are arrangeable to form changeable pathways of travel according to the rules of the game; a game board having a playing area, said game board playing area being subdivided into four separate quadrants, each quadrant being rectangularly shaped for adjoining other quadrants; each quadrant of said game board playing area being arranged in an equal number of columns and rows; said columns and rows including means defining subdivisions, each one of said means defining subdivisions being constructed to receive any one of the movable game board pieces of any one of said groups; each one of said movable game board pieces having on the front side thereof only a single element for forming a segment of the changeable pathway of travel and having on the rear side thereof only a single means for engaging an individual board subdivision, each group of movable game board pieces having the same number of pieces as every other group of movable game board pieces; four groups of movable position marking player pieces, each group being distinguishable one from another and movable along selected ones of said movable game board pieces, each of said player pieces having front and reverse sides, each one of said player pieces of any given group having similar front means defining indicia on its front side to identify it as forming a part of said given group, each one of said player pieces of any given group having similar rear means defining indicia on its reverse side and corresponding to its front means defining indicia to further identify it as forming a part of said given group, said front and rear means defining indicia of each player piece of a given group corresponding to a corresponding one of said means defining indicia of a corresponding one of the groups of movable game board pieces, said front and rear means defining indicia of each of the four groups being distinguishable from each of the other groups, each corresponding group of player pieces and game board pieces having similar means defining indicia thereon being associated collectively with an individual player of the game and being moved by their associated player according to the rules of the game; each one of said player pieces being movable substantially only on its own corresponding game board pieces having similar means defining indicia according to the game rules; move determining means having means defining at least one numerical indicia for determining either the move of the player pieces to count as moves along selected ones of said movable game board pieces defining a pathway of travel, or to count as moves the interchanging a pair of selected ones of said movable game board pieces of different groups among the game board area subdivisions for changing a pathway of travel, according to the rules of the game each one of said player pieces having progression indicia means fixed to its reverse side for determining its path progression when exposed to view according to the game rules.