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US 2012/0007312 A1Published application
Multilingual-Tile Word Games
OwnerJohn Ogilvieinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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OwnerJohn Ogilvieinventor
Estimating the term…
In a set of multilingual tiles, each tile bears a first character of a first language and also bears a second character of a second language. Tiles are positioned by players of a game, to form words in an inherently multilingual educational and entertainment experience. Tile characters are not mere transliterations of one another. The characters on a given tile may have different spatial orientations. Sometimes each player can make words only in one language, and different players try to make words in different languages. Sometimes a player gains points for words made in a language that is not the player's native language, and loses points for words made in a language that is the player's native language. Extra points may be awarded if tiles form multiple words in multiple languages, or if tiles form related words, namely, synonyms and/or antonyms.
1-20. (canceled)
A device comprising:
The device of claim 1, in which the languages are Japanese and English.
The device of claim 1, in which at least some of the tiles are positioned such that the words interlock and every sequence of adjacent tiles in the positioned tiles forms a word in at least one of the languages.
The device of claim 1, in which at least some of the tiles are positioned such that the words are located in a grid of adjacent positioned tiles which also includes character sequences that are not accepted (e.g., in the chosen dictionary or approved by the opposing player) as a word in at least one of the languages.
The device of claim 1, in which the multilingual tiles and the board are non-digital.
The device of claim 1, in which at least some of the character means for supporting multilingual game play each include multiple spaced-apart characters per language for at least one of the languages.
The device of claim 1, in which at least some of the character means for supporting multilingual game play each include multiple spaced-apart characters that are not mere transliterations or near-transliterations of one another.
The device of claim 1, in which at least some of the character means for supporting multilingual game play each include multiple spaced-apart characters that share a phonetic characteristic.
The device of claim 1, in which at least some of the character means for supporting multilingual game play evidence a cross-language correspondence based on character frequency.
The device of claim 1, in which at least some of the character means for supporting multilingual game play each include characters which have different spatial orientations from one another.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.