Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
"Package for a plurality of products, in particular
confectionery products"
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TEXT OF THE DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates to a "game package",
i.e., a package that can also function as a game. The
package described herein is designed for applications for
foodstuff products, and in particular for confectionery
products. It is, however, clear that the teachings provided
herein can also be used for applications relating to other
types of products.
In general, game packages are already known in the
art. For instance, packages are known that comprise basic
containers or boxes, constituted by folded sheets of paper
or card, which are appropriately printed and designed so
that they can be re-used as boards for table games. Once
again by way of example, packages are also known that are
constituted by containers, usually obtained with folded
sheets of paper or card, which reproduce imaginative
elements that can be re-used as components of a game.
In this context, the present invention regards a
package that proposes associating the action of taking out
the products contained therein to a game, so as to render
this action an opportunity of amusement.
The object of the invention is specified in Claim 1.
Further characteristics and advantages of the
invention will emerge clearly from the ensuing description
with reference to the annexed drawings, which are provided
purely by way of non-limiting example and in which:
- Figure 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the
package described herein, according to an axonometric view;
- Figure 2 illustrates the package of Figure 1
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partially disassembled; and
- Figures 3a and 3b are schematic illustrations of how
the package described herein is used as a game.
In the ensuing description, various specific details
are illustrated aimed at providing an in-depth
understanding of the embodiments. The embodiments may be
provided without one or more of the specific details, or
with other methods, components, or materials, etc. In other
cases, known structures, materials, or operations are not
illustrated or described in detail so that various aspects
of the embodiment will not be obscured.
The references used herein are only provided for
convenience and hence do not define the sphere of
protection or the scope of the embodiments.
The package described herein is a package for a
plurality of products. In preferred embodiments, the
products are foodstuff products, even more preferably
confectionery products. As has been said, the same
teachings provided herein may in any case be used also for
applications relating to other types of products.
In general, the package described herein comprises:
- an outer container; and
- a tray, which is provided with a plurality of
housings containing said products and is rotatably mounted
within said container;
wherein provided on said tray are an array of game
indications;
wherein said outer container is provided with at least
one opening or else with an opening and a transparent
portion, which is or are configured for rendering
accessible a product contained in a housing so that it can
be taken out, and for rendering visible from outside an
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indication of said game; and
wherein said tray is provided with a shaped portion,
which faces, or projects on, the outside of the container
and which the consumer can get hold of, and wherein said
tray is configured for being rotated, via said shaped
portion, so as to render accessible a new product and,
simultaneously, render visible from outside a new
indication, through said at least one opening or else said
opening and said transparent portion.
The game and its indications may be of a wide range of
types.
Preferably, the game envisages presenting to the
single player or to the players a test that the
player/players have to pass in order to be able to take the
product out of the package.
By way of example, the game may envisage quizzes,
riddles and puzzles, logic tests, etc. Alternatively, the
game may require the players to carry out a series of
actions or activities in the form of forfeits or trials of
skill.
The indications referred to above are the questions,
instructions, and riddles that constitute the game.
In any case, in the package described herein, the
products are presented as prizes when the various trials or
tests envisaged by the game have been passed.
The drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of the
package described herein.
According to this embodiment, the outer container,
designated by the reference number 2, is constituted by a
box obtained from a sheet of dinked card material folded on
itself so as to define a container closed on all sides.
The box may be closed by fitting elements such as tabs
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into slots to enable opening of the box once the products
are finished, for example, so that the package can be
filled up again and re-used for playing, or else with glue
so that closing is definitive.
With reference to Figure 2, the tray of the package
described herein, designated by the reference number 4, is
instead preferably made of thermoformed plastic material,
and has the overall shape of a wheel. In various preferred
embodiments, as in the one illustrated, the tray 4 is
constituted by a single body of thermoformed plastic
material that identifies, simultaneously, an annular array
of housings 6 in the peripheral region, a plane surface 8,
of an annular shape, which is delimited by the array of
housings 6, and a central gripping element 12.
Figures 1 and 3A-3B represent the housings 6
containing confectionery products P of various types. In
various preferred embodiments, as in the one illustrated,
the box 2 may be provided with a transparent portion 28,
which is configured for displaying a part of the array of
products P contained in the tray 4.
Applied on the surface 8 of the tray is a disk 14,
made, for example, of card material, printed on which are
the aforesaid game indications, designated in the figures
by the reference X, which are also arranged according to an
annular array as are the housings 6. In various
embodiments, the disk 14 is applied on the tray 4 in a
removable way, for example by slotting, so that it can be
replaced with another disk. In this connection, the package
described herein may be provided with a plurality of disks,
each bearing the indications for a corresponding game,
which are interchangeable on the tray 4 according to the
desired game.
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The array of indications and the array of housings are
the same in number so that an indication is assigned to
each housing.
To return to the box 2, this has at its top surface 2A
an opening 21 (Figure 2) through which the central gripping
element 12 of the tray exits from the box. In various
preferred embodiments, as in the one illustrated, the
opening 21 and the gripping element 12 have corresponding
circular profiles and are mutually engaged according to a
rotatable coupling, so that the tray 4 will be coupled in a
rotatable way to the box 2. In addition, in further
embodiments, the tray 4 may be rotatably mounted directly
on a pin that is attached, in a central position, to the
side of the box 2 opposite to the side from which the
gripping element 12 exits. The box 2 moreover has, on its
top surface 2A, another two openings 24 and 22, the first
one of which overlies the disk 14, and the other overlies
the array of housings 6. The opening 22 is configured for
rendering accessible the product of a single housing 6 so
that it can be taken out. The opening 24 has, instead, the
purpose of rendering visible from outside a number of
indications X, preferably just one, of the array of
indications reproduced on the disk 14.
The openings 22 and 24 are mutually arranged so that
the product P will be accessible and simultaneously the
indication X will be visible.
It is evident that the opening 22 constitutes the only
point where the products can be taken out of the package.
In various preferred embodiments, as in the one
illustrated, the opening 22 can be closed by a removable
covering element. In various preferred embodiments, as in
the one illustrated, the covering element is constituted by
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a tab 26 (Figure 2) defined on the box 2 through a
perforated line, which at the moment of use of the package
can simply be torn away, thus exposing the opening 22.
Moreover, in various preferred embodiments, on the
upper side 2A of the box there can be directly printed
instructions (not illustrated) that will render immediately
evident the rules of the game of the package.
The embodiment illustrated above constitutes a
preferred embodiment. It is, however, possible to envisage
alternative embodiments that depart from the configuration
illustrated above. For instance, in a first alternative
embodiment, the box 2 is provided with a single opening,
which overlies both the array of housings 6 and the disk
14, so as to expose just one product and one game
indication. In a second alternative embodiment, the opening
22 is, instead, replaced by a transparent portion that
defines part of the outer surface of the box. On the other
hand, once again in the preferred embodiment illustrated
herein, it is possible to envisage a transparent film that
closes the opening 24.
With reference to Figures 3a and 3b, the mode of use
of the package envisages rotating the tray 4 randomly,
bringing a new product P and a new game indication
underneath the respective openings 22 and 24.
Incidentally, it should be noted that it is preferable
that there is a gap or clearance between the tray and the
surrounding walls of the box, the aim being to favour free
movement of the tray. In this way, the tray can be rotated
by actually making it spin freely, thus enhancing enjoyment
of the game package.
Once the tray 4 has been spun, the player will have to
follow the game indication X on the disk 14 that is
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displayed through the opening 24, and if he passes the
test presented by the indication, he will be rewarded by
being able to take the product that is contained in the
housing 6 set underneath the opening 22.
Of course, without prejudice to the principle of the
invention, the details of construction and the embodiments
may vary, even significantly, with respect to what has been
illustrated herein purely by way of non-limiting example,
without thereby departing from the scope of the invention,
as defined by the annexed claims.
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