Concealed pattern detection game

US4103895A · kind A · utility

Inventors

• Gerald L. Pressman · San Jose, US
• Louis Wilk · Los Altos Hills, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 19, 1976
• Grant date: Aug 1, 1978
• Expiry date: Mar 19, 1996

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S273/27
• WIPO field: Furniture, games
• WIPO sector: Other fields

Abstract

A game or test of skill which is comprised of three principal components: a playing surface that either conceals or suggests a secret pattern of paths, a probe for selecting points on the playing surface, and an indicator that reveals whether a selected point belongs on the pattern of paths. In a preferred form of the game the playing surface is a small card on which is marked a grid that indicates the possible positions and orientations of the concealed paths in the pattern. A start point is indicated on the grid; the player places a hand-held pencil-like probe at the start point and tries to find a continuous path from the start point to the end point. The probe leaves no mark on the card, but the player is aided by the indicator which provides a signal when the probe is on-path--the signal ceases abruptly if the probe is moved off-path. The end-point is reached when the probe arrives at a designated end-point line of the grid without an off-path indication, or a separate end-point signal (for example, a bell) can sound when the end-point is reached. The object of the game is to traverse the grid from start to end without once leaving a pattern path, and to do this in the fewest …