AMUSEMENT DEVICE

ARTICLE DE JEU

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An amusement device useful in spelling education
includes a base structure having an upper playing board
with a plurality of openings arranged in a matrix of rows
and columns. A removable plug is provided for each of the
openings and each plug is shaped to seat within an opening
and includes a handle to facilitate manual withdrawal and
replacement of the plug. A disk is mounted for rotation
under the playing board with an upper surface viewable
through the matrix of openings when the plugs are withdrawn.
The upper surface of the disk is provided with a plurality
of matrices rows and columns of alphabetic characters r and
each matrix is positioned to align the characters below the
openings in the playing board for viewing when the disk is
indexed into any of several rotative indexing positions.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an
exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as
follows:
1. An amusement device in the form of a spelling
education game comprising:
a base having a playing board with a cylindrical
recess on the underside thereof and a plurality of tapered
openings on the top arranged in an orthogonal matrix of
parallel rows and parallel columns normal to said rows;
a manually removable plug for covering each of
said openings, each plug having a tapered base portion
shaped to seat within an opening and including handle means
to facilitate manual withdrawal and reseating in said
opening;
means defining an axis of rotation offset from
the center of the rows and columns of said matrix; and
a disc mounted for rotation on said axis relative
to said base having an upper surface viewable through
said openings when said plugs are withdrawn, said upper
surface having a plurality of generally smaller orthogonal
matrices thereon comprising indicia arranged in parallel
rows and parallel columns normal to said rows, the indicia
of each matrix including four characters oriented with one
character in each of four orthogonal directions, each of
said matrices positioned by said axis to align the indicia
thereof below said matrix of openings when said disc is in
one of several rotative indexing positions relative to said
base and each character appearing alone in an upright
orientation when viewed through an opening of said base

in one of said indexed positions when the associated plug
is removed.
2. The amusement device of claim 1 including
means for aligning said disc in each of said indexing
positions.
3. The amusement device of claim 2 wherein said
alignment means includes an edge recess in said base
exposing a portion of the periphery of said disc, and
indicia on said disc at spaced intervals on said periphery
viewable in said recess when said disc is in an indexing
positions.
4. The amusement set of claim 1 wherein said
openings in said playing board of said base are frusto-
conical in shape and wherein said plugs include a frusto-
conical lower portion with said handle means extending
upwardly thereof.
5. The amusement set of claim 1 wherein said
indicia on said disc are alphabetic characters for use
in spelling words when said plugs are sequentially removed
from said openings to expose said indicia in a selected
order.
6. The amusement set of claim 5 including
pivotal movement about a central axis of said base.
7. The amusement set of claim 6 wherein said
disc includes an opposite surface viewable through said

openings when said disc is mounted with said opposite sur-
face facing upwardly on said pivotal mounting means, said
opposite surface including a plurality of matrices thereon
comprising indicia arranged in rows and columns, each of
said matrices positioned to align the indicia thereof
below said matrix of openings when said disc is in one of
several rotative indexing positions relative to said base.
8. The amusement device of claim 1 wherein said
base includes an integrally formed depending pin to define
the axis of rotation of the discs.
9. The amusement device of claim 5 wherein said
discs are circular and are formed with a center aperture,
and the means defining an axis of rotation is defined by
said pin for removably mounting a plurality of discs and
supporting said discs for rotation thereon fox changing
the character of each matrix aligned with the openings.
10. The amusement device of claim 1 wherein
said indicia in each matrix on said disc are spaced from
the indicia in the other matrices thereon and wherein said
openings are dimensioned to preclude the viewing of indicia
in other matrices when said disc is indexed in position
with said one matrix aligned for viewing.

Description

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The present invention relates to an amusement
device which is especially adapted for use in spelling
education.
The invention provides an amusement device in
the form of a spelling education game. The game includes a
base having a playing board with a cylindrical recess on the
underside thereof and a plurali-ty of tapered openings on the
top arranged in an orthogonal matrix of parallel rows and
parallel columns normal to the rows. A manually removable
plug is provided for covering each of the openings. Each
plug has a tapered base portion shaped to seat within an
opening and includes handle means to facilitate manual
withdrawal and reseating in the opening. Means are provided
to define an axis of rotation offset from the center of the
rows and columns of the matrix. A disc is mounted for rotation
on the axis relative to the base and has an upper surface
viewable through the openings when the plugs are withdrawn.
The upper surface has a plurali-ty o~ generally smaller
orthogonal matrices comprising indicia arranged in parallel
rows and parallel columns normal to the rows. The indicia of
each matrix includes four characters oriented with one character
in each of four orthogonal directions. Each of the matrices is
positioned by the axis to align the indicia thereof helow the
matrix of openings when the disc is in one of several rotative
indexing positions``relative to the base and each character
appears alone in an upright orientation when viewed through an
opening of the base in one o~ the indexed positions when the
associated plug is removed.
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In the drawings:
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a new and
improved amusement device constructed in accordance with
the features of the present invention and shown as the
device is used in playing the spelling educational game;
FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the device with
a portion cut away showing internal componen-ts thereof;
and
FIGURE 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view of
the device taken substantially along lines 3-3 of EIGVRE 2.
Referring now more par-ticularly to the drawings,
therein is illustrated a new and improved amusement device
referred to generally by the reference numeral 10 and
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constructed in accordance with the features of the present
nvention.
The amusement device includes a relatively thin
flat base structure 12 rounded at the corners and of square
or generally rectangular shape. The base is preferably
formed of molded plastic material and includes a 1at upper
playing surface 14 having a plurality of frustroconical
openings or windows 16 defined therein. The windows are
arranged in a matrix pattern in spaced apart rows and
columns as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. The spacing distance
between the rows and columns is equal and the matrix as a
whole, occupies a substantial portion of the upper playing
surface 14.
In accordance with the invention, for each of the
windows 16 there is provided a removable plug 18 having a
circular, frustroconically shaped lower end or base adapted
to fit and seat within a window and each plug includes an
upwardly extending handle 18a suitable for grasping between
the fingers when the plugs are removed or replaced in the
windows. Along one edge~ the base structure 12 is formed
with a semicircular shaped cut out or recess 20 for exposing
a peripheral edge portion of the upper one of a plurality of
thin flat circular disks 22 which are mounted in a cylindrical
recess 24 formed on the under section of the base as shown in
~5 FIGUP~ 3. The disks are centered for rotation on a down-
wardly depending mountin~ pin or axle 26 as shown in the
drawings. The upper surface of the uppermost disk 22 is
visible through any of the windows 16 from which the plugs 18
have ~een removed. At equilaterally spaced intervals around

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the circumference of each disk, there is provided a color
coding or other sui~able indexing ind~cia 28 which i5 used
for aligning and indexing the disks in any one of several
relatively rotative positions within the pocket 24. When
any one of the i~dicia 28 on a disk is visible in the cut
out or edge slot 20 of the base structure the disk is
properly indexed for play.
On the upper and lower opposite faces of each of
the disks Z2 there are provided a plurality of matrices of
alphabetic characters or letters. The letters in each
matrix are patterned with appropriate spacing so that they
appear directly centered beneath the windows 16 in the base
whenever a corresponding index mark 28 is aligned in the
recess 24 of the ~ase structure. The angular or rotative
spacing between the respective matrices on each disk face
is selected in accordance with the total number of matrices
on each face and the number of index marks 28 corresponding
thereto. The inside diameter of the windows or openings 16
is selected so that only the letters of one matrix at a time
are viewable through the openings and the letters of all of
the other matrices on the disk are hidden from view. In the
illustrated embodiment, each disk is provided with four
different makrices and the letters in each matrix are
differently positioned so that a variety of spelling pro-
~5 grams are available on each disk ace. In addition, becausea set of disks are provided, an even greater number of
spelling programs are available for use when a spelling
game is played with the device 10. As illustrated, a total
of three different disks are provided and each disk has four

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different matrices of alphabetic characters on each face so
that in alll a total of 24 different spelling programs are
available.
A cap 30 is adapted to seat on the lower end por-
tion of the axle pin 26 to hold the disks in place and this
cap may be removed to interchange the order of the disks
and move a new disk's surface into place just beneath the
underside of the upper surface of the board. In utilizing
the amusement device 10 for a competitive sp~lling game, a
randomly selected disk is positioned in the top positlon in
the stack of disks mounted on the pin 26 in the recess 240
The top disk is rotated until ~ne of the color coded indexing
indicia 28 is visible in the recess 20 in the edge of the
base structure 12. Previously, all of the plugs 18 have
15 been placed in position to cover the windows or apertures 16
in the playing surface. A first player then withdraws any
two of the plugs from their windows and thus exposes the
letters to both players. ~fter this exposure is made, the
plugs are returned to their original position and a second
player then withdraws any two plugs 18 from their windows 16,
and after exposure, these plugs are replaced. The second
player then may attempt to spell a word by remembering the
positions of the exposed letters in the matrix and removing
the plugs one at a time in proper spelling order. If a word
is correctly spelled, the player keeps the plugs that have
been removed and these are used for tokens for keeping his
score. The letters on the disk that are thus exposed are
then dead for the remaining portion of the game. The
players take turns in sequence by removing any two plugs

and replacing them in the windows after exposure. On all
subsequent plays, after the player lifts two plugs from
their windows and then returns them to close the windows,
he has a choice to try to spell a word or he can pass without
trying to spell a word. Play continues ln this manner until
all of the plugs 18 have been removed from the board or
until both players agree that there is no word which can be
spelled from the remaining "live'l letters in the matrix. At
this pointt the player having the most plugs in his posses-
sion wins the game and a new game may then be started byagain replacing all of the plugs in covering positions in
; the windows 16 and re-indexing the disk 22 to align a new
matrix into playing position.
From the f~regoing it will be seen that the amuse-
ment device provides an exciting competitive game between
players and increases spelling skills and is useful in
developing memory on the part of the players during the
game.