Board game designed to entertain and teach principles of law and legal reasoning

Abstract

An educational law game kit that includes a game board marked with a plurality of indicia The game kit includes several different legal topic question card decks. Each of the legal topic question card decks represents a specific field of law. An additional question card deck encompasses a wider spectrum of legal topics not covered by the other question card decks and is used for winning the game. A plurality of action cards bear instructions for players to carry out certain activities. The game kit includes a plurality of markers for positioning on the game board, and a game die for determining how many spaces along the game board a player should move.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] A law school professor offered sage advice to the inventor and his classmates upon our first day of law school. He noted that we should take a good look out our car windows as we drove home from class that day, because upon our graduations from law school, each of us would see the world as a different place. All attorneys know how true this is. There is a need for the layperson to understand general principles of law that are set out in an efficient, entertaining format. [0002] Every country and every organized group of people throughout the ages have governed themselves with rules of law. Ancient tribes and civilizations painted their civil codes on the insides of their important public buildings, or carved their rules onto stone steles and displayed them in public locations. To give an example of how far our legal traditions have evolved, the ancient Saxon doctrine of cornsned involved a ritual performed by a priest to determine the guilt or inno...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The patent describes a game called \"DISORDERLY CONDUCT™ Courthouse\" that players can play to learn about different fields of law. The game is played using a unique game board and several different question card decks. The game also includes action cards that players can use to add strategy and luck to the game. The game is designed to be educational and entertaining for players of all ages."

Problems solved by technology

In purely material terms, what we don't know really can hurt us in our daily transactions.

This game does not attempt to provide an all-encompassing survey of American law.

However, the distinctions between the answers in each multiple choice question are straight forward on one hand, and deceptively complex on the other.

Those who do well with rote memorization and who have a good memory for trivia tend to do well playing “Trivial Pursuit.” However, rote memorization and one-word or one-phrase answers offer little in the way of substantive learning.

“Trivial Pursuit” could not adequately teach fundamental principles of law using its format.

Such questions fail to teach however, because they fail to provide any answers or explanations.

The number of legal fields that are examined in the question card decks are limited to maximize the teaching impact.

Images