US3231279A

US3231279A - Automotive racing game apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3231279A
Application number: US231479A
Authority: US
Inventors: Howarth John; Trevor F Jones
Original assignee: John Waddington Ltd
Current assignee: John Waddington Ltd
Priority date: 1962-04-04
Filing date: 1962-10-18
Publication date: 1966-01-25
Anticipated expiration: 1983-01-25
Also published as: LU43181A1; GB986415A; FR1341416A

Description

Jan. 25, 1966 J. HowARTH ETAL 3,231,279

AUTOMOTIVE RACING GAME APPARATUS Filed Oct. 18, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l A -Fm- INVENTOR: Jou/v HowA RT H TREVQR FUUL x66 @N65 BY GMM, & pdb/f;

H'rro R MEV Jan. Z5, 1966 J. HowARTH ETAL 3,231,279

AUTOMOTIVE RACING GAME APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed OCT.. 18, 1962 INVENTOH; JOHN HowARTH 4 mec/0R Fal/wf; 7o/vas H-rroRn/E/ United States Patent C) 3,231,279 AUTOMOTIVE RACING GAME APPARATUS John Howarth and Trevor F. Jones, Manchester, England, assignors to John Waddington Limited, Leeds, England Filed Oct. 18, 1962, Ser. No. 231,479 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 4, 1962,

` 12,384/ 62 3 Claims. (Cl. 273-434) The invention has as its object the provision of new or improved games and apparatus for playing the same, the game being intended .for a number of players and demanding a` degree of skill, coupled with an element of chance, in its performance.

Broadly, the game is a racing game and is more particularly though not exclusively intended for car racing upon an appropriate board whereon miniature cars or other suitable models or objects are manipulated according to prescribed rules, aided, when necessary, by the use of cards and dice, or by any other similar or suitable means.

According to the invention the apparatus comprises a board or playing area having marked thereon a motor car racing or like track dividedthroughout its length into lanes which lanes are divided by transverse lines to form spaces; a number of model or miniature cars or like devices formanipulati-on upon the board, and a dashboard layout device consisting of ya number of calibrated gauges or indicators each furnished with a manually adjustable pointer.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGIURE l is a plan view of a board or playing area for playing a game according to one aspect of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a use in playing the game.

FIGURE 3 is an elevation of a model or miniature racing car for use in the game, of which there may be several identical devices, apart from colour yor number.

FIGURES 4 and 5 are plan views of cards for use in playing the game, each of the said cards |being in sets bearing different captions.

Referring to the drawings, the board A (FIGURE l) has printed thereon a racing circuit or track divided throughout i-ts length into any number of lanes all of which lanes are divided by equidistant transverse lines to provide spaces B. Also marked upon the board are starting grid C, finishing line D, pits E and vari-ous points or' interest such as corners F, buildings, bends G (which may be named) and advertisements H, together with hazards such as spin off points which points may be indicated by printed notices in panels M projecting from coloured bands or sections J.

Framed penalty charts K are provided at convenient parts of the board for the use of players, which charts are divided into columns suita-bly headed. For instance, the columns may read Number on Dice, Speed over Safety Speed andPenalty, and beneath the headings are tabulated numbers and instructions together with another set of columns bearing headings such as Reduction in Speed, Points to be moved on Brake Wear Gauge and Points to vbe moved on Tire Wear Gauge. Beneath the headings suitable data are given.

lBoth or all the penalty charts are identical as are also the speed reduction charts.

piece of apparatus for Cil Adapted to be arranged near the aforesaid charts are calibrated dash-board layouts N (see FIGURE 2) each representing a speedometer O, a tire wear gauge or indicator P, a brake `wear gauge or indicator R and a lap indicator O1, each having numerically calibrated dials, and each provided ywith a pivoted hand or pointer U pivoted at W whereby the several pointers may be manually moved by a player to point to any of the numbers of the respective dials and thereby record. the players status as to speed, tire wear, brake wear and number of laps. On each dashboard unit is -a panel S which may be marked Danger-mo tread left, keep to safetyspeeds and No brakes left, you can reduce speed by only 20 miles per hour per move and if any more brake stress is demanded by penalty chart you must spin ott.

Assuming that the board is designed for 2-6 players, when two or three players are participating each may race one car T (FIGURE 3), but skill of players and enjoyment of the game are increased if each player races two cars, with adjacent dashboard layouts, as a team. p

It four, tive or six players participate only one car per player may be entered.

The race may be of any length, but a minimum of 3 laps must be raced for all factors in the game to take effect. The game may be played as follows:

The start Place each car T on its respective space B on the starting grid, the choice or" cars being decided by throwing'a die. The player obtaining the highest number chooses his colour of car, then the player with the next highest chooses his colour and so on. All the players thensit by their own dash-board layout(s) N.

The Tactic Cards are shumed and live cards are `dealt` Order of moving it is discarded until lst car awayyellow 3rd car away-green 5th car awayblack 2nd car away-orange l 4th car away-red last car away-blue Moving A driver may vary his speed `from turn to turn and indicate all such changes on his speedometer O at the commencement ot each turn.

Speed may be increased by 20, 40 or 60 `m.p.h. each turn but never by more than 60 m.p.hl V

It 20 m.p.h. is set on the speedometermove car l space on board. A i

lf 40 m.p.h. is set `on the speedometer`mov-e car 2 spaces on board.

If 60 m.p.h. is set on the speedometer-morecar 3 spaces on board. l

If m.p.h. is set on the speedometer-more car 4 spaces on board, and so on.

-For instance, a driver indicates 60 m.p.h., sol he moves his car 3 spaces. Next turn he wants to increase his speed by 60 m.p.h. so he moves his speedometer to l2() m.p.h. and moves his car 6 spaces.

Only one car is allowed on one space at a time.

Patented Jan. 25, 1966 r Direction of movement Movement is always in a forward direction; straight ahead or diagonally but never sideways.

Hazards (which may be indicated on the board by coloured bands or sectors J) Corners F can be taken without incurring any penalty provided that the speeds shown on the coloured bands J are not exceeded, but there can be no hope of a win if thesafety speed is always adhered to. When a car, which has been moved in accordance with the rules for moving Set out above, has passed over lor come to rest on a coloured-band J and lhas exceeded the safety speed shown, the die must be thrown. Dependent on the number thrown there is the possibility of paying the penalty of tire wear `and/or brake wear, or of spinning of.

When a car crosses two coloured bands J over the safety speedduring the course of one move the die must be thrown and the possible penalty paid separately for each band.

Tfhe penalties are listed on the penalty charts K printed on the board. The faster a corner is taken over the coloured bands J, the greater the risk of harsh penalties; a coloured band taken at any speed in excess of 40 mph. above the safety speed automatically leads to the car spinning off `the track.

Spinning o# Spinning off is a motor car racing term 4for leaving the tra-ck. The spinning off penalty results from taking corners at excessive speeds or from not allowing for badly wor-n tires when cornering.

The car spins off in the following three cases:

(1) If a coloured 'band is crossed at a speed in excess of 40 mph. above the safety speed.

(2) When a speed reduction of over 20 mph. is demanded and there are no brakes left.

(3) When a red corner band is crossed at Iany speed over the safety speed and the tire wear gauge is at its maximum v of 8.

When a car spins. oif as a result of being baulked, and being forced to brake too hard (see baulking) it is placed on the outside of the track `opposite the point at which it is standing.

When a oar spins. off yotherwise than as a result of being 'baulked, and being forced to brake too hard, it is placed on the, spin off point M for that particular coloured band and the speedometer O is moved to zero. By the rules of the game no damage is done by spinning ott and the car proceeds at its next normal turn.

Reduction in speed Due to the hazards at various points on the track, the need to slow down arises. Gentle reduction in speed does not bring any penalty, but harsher braking results in wear of the brakes and tires.

Speed redaction chart Points to be Points to be Moved on Moved on Reduction in Speed, m.p.h. Brake Tire Wear Wear Gauge Gauge As indicated by the above chart, a m.p.h. reduction does not result in any brake or tire wear; Imoderate use of brakes results only in brake wear; harsher braking results in brake and tire wear.

All such brake and tire wear must be indicated on the dials l? and R provided. As the game progresses tire wear may become excessive and reach its maximum of 8 points, in which case, speed may be reduced 'by 40 mph. only.

Second chances not allowed if a driver accelerates too hard, or positions his car incorrectly, he must pay for his error.

Once the speedometer O has been set the driver must abide by it. Once the car has been moved .and has been released by the players fingers the position of the car cannot be altered.

Baulking B'auiking the other drivers by placing your car in such a position so that they cannot overtake you is to your advantage. This usually can be brought about where the track is narrowed by islands V or some other feature such as a bridge X over a pond Y but can occur on the open track.

If at any time a player is unable to move the number of spaces indicated on his speedometer due to another car baulking him, he moves as many spaces as possible.

Pit stops Pit stops enable a driver to have his tires changed and brakes adjusted so that he can ycontinue the race with his tires and brakes in perfect condition.

When approaching the pits, a driver must set his speedometer so that by moving the number of spaces indicated the car can be brought exactly to its own pit stop. All dials are then set at zero, lthe driver takes a Pit C-ard and ycarries out the instructions given on it.

Should a driver miscalculate and the car go past its pit stop it must continue on the new lap without stopping at the pits.

Note

Pit stop squares Z form a part of the track and can be passed over in the normal Way.

The game can be made more interesting by having a League Championship of several races with l0 points for the winner, 8 points for second place, 6 points for third place, 4 points for fourth place, 2 points for fth place and 1 point for sixth place in races of 5 laps; the Champion Driver being the one who earns the highest total number of points from Iall the races.

The gameboard and apparatus may be modified, if desired, and the various penalties and manner of play varied considerably without departing from the principle of the invention.

It has been found in practice that the layouts N are more convenient to use when they are separate entities 'but it must be understood that they may be incorporated in the board which board may be foldable upon the transverse dotted lines shown in FIGURE I.

We cl-aim:

1. In an automotive race game, the combination with a plurality of toy cars of a game board having pictorially represented thereon yan automotive racing track of substantially rectangular configuration with curved turns which is divided throughout its length into lanes, which lanes are divided by transverse lines to form spaces, said track being provided with a starting and a finishing line and indicia designating safe speeds at the turns, at least one space at each turn projecting from the track and being marked to represent a hazard and divert cars thereto, a dashboard layout device for each player of the game consisting of a plurality of manually operated calibrated dials, one of said dials representing a speedometer which is provided with a series of speed indicating indicia, said indicia including the speeds designated at the turns of the game board and additional indicia designating higher speeds than those indicated on the game board, and a set of cards for indicating moves the cars are to take around the track.

2. An automotive race game as recited in claim 1 wherein the manually Voperated dials include a tire wear indicator, a brake wear indicator and a lap indicator in addition to said speedometer.

3. An automotive race game as recited in claim 2 wherein the game board bears instructions as to steps to be taken by `a player of the game when given conditions exist in the status of the game.

5 References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/ 1925 tB-ain.

5/ 1926 IPauer 273-134 12/1951 Graves 273-134 10 6/1956 Arnold 273-134 10/ 1962 Barnes 273-134 6 FOREIGN PATENTS 231,890 4/ 1959 Australia.

913,849 6/ 1946 France. 1,252,384 12/ 1960 France.

27 0, 1 52 5/ 19127 Great Britain.

505,365 4/ 1939 Great Britain.

253,493 11/ 1948 Switzerland.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner. E'VON C. BLUNK, Examiner.

S. E. FELDMAN, E. R. ZACK, Assistant Examiners.

Claims

1. IN AN AUTOMOTIVE RACE GAME, THE COMBINATION WITH A PLURALITY OF TOY CARS OF A GAME BOARD HAVING PICTORIALLY REPRESENTED THEREON AN AUTOMOTIVE RACING TRACK OF SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR CONFIGURATION WITH CURVED TURNS WHICH IS DIVIDED THROUGHOUT IS LENGTH INTO LANES, WHICH LANES ARE DIVIDED BY TRANSVERSE LINES TO FORM SPACES, SAID TRACK BEING PROVIDED WITH A STARTING AND A FINISHING LINE AND INDICIA DESIGNATING SAFE SPEEDS AT THE TURNS, AT LEAST ONE SPACE AT EACH TURN PROJECTING FROM THE TRACK AND BEING MARKED TO REPRESENT A HAZARD AND DIRVERT CARS THERETO, A DASHBOARD LAYOUT DEVICE FOR EACH PLAYER OF THE GAME CONSISTING OF A PLURALITY OF MANUALLY OPERATED CALIBRATED DIALS, ONE OF SAID DIALS REPRESENTING A SPEEDOMETER WHICH IS PROVIDED WITH A SERIES OF SPEED INDICATING INDICIA, SAID INDICIA INCLUDING THE SPEED DESIGNATED AT THE TURNS OF THE GAME BOARD AND ADDITIONAL INDICIA DESIGNATING HIGHER SPEEDS THAN THOSE INDICATED ON THE GAME BOARD, AND A SET OF CARDS FOR INDICATING MOVES THE CARS ARE TO TAKE AROUND THE TRACK.