Toy

Abstract

This table game involves combining multiple hexahedrons that display letters or symbols to create words, and provides a toy that can be enjoyed by many people. [Solution] The toy is composed of multiple hexahedrons, each having a face that displays a single character or symbol. The characters displayed on the hexahedrons are hiragana or katakana. When the characters displayed on the hexahedrons are hiragana, the hexahedrons consist of two rectangular prisms for each of the 45 types of unvoiced characters such as "a, i, u, e, o", one rectangular prism for each of the 20 types of voiced characters such as "ga, gi, gu, ge, go", one rectangular prism each for the semi-voiced characters "pa, pi, pu, pe, po", one rectangular prism each for the small characters "ya, yu, yo, tsu", and one rectangular prism for the long vowel mark.

Description

Technical Field

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[0001] The present invention relates to a toy used for a table game that combines hexahedrons each having a character or symbol displayed on one of its faces to create a plurality of words.

Background Art

[0002] As a toy used for the table game, as described in Patent Document 1, there is known a toy composed of a total of 144 hexahedrons, with 3 hexahedrons each having 45 hiragana characters, 48 characters or symbols in total including dakuten, handakuten, and chouon marks engraved on them.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide a toy for the table game and a unique play method of this toy that can be easily enjoyed by more people than before.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The present invention provides a toy composed of a plurality of hexahedrons each having a face displaying one character or symbol.

[0006] The character displayed on the hexahedron may be hiragana or katakana.

[0007] When the characters to be displayed on the hexahedron are hiragana, it is preferable that there are two cuboids each for displaying the unvoiced characters "あ、い、う、え、お、か、き、く、け、こ、さ、し、す、せ、そ、た、ち、つ、て、と、な、に、ぬ、ね、の、は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ、ま、み、む、め、も、ら、り、る、れ、ろ、や、ゆ、よ、わ、ん", one cuboid each for displaying the voiced characters "が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご、だ、ぢ、づ、で、ど、ざ、じ、ず、ぜ、ぞ、ば、び、ぶ、べ、ぼ", one cuboid each for displaying the semi-voiced characters "ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ", one cuboid each for displaying the small characters "ゃ、ゅ、ょ、っ", and one cuboid for displaying the long vowel mark. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to this invention, more people can easily enjoy the aforementioned table game than before. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This figure shows a part of an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This figure shows an overview of a table game that can be played using this invention. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of the relative positions of the players when playing a table game using this invention with four people. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Figure 1 shows a portion of a hexahedron in an embodiment consisting of 120 rectangular prisms in total: two rectangular prisms each for displaying the unvoiced consonant characters "a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, sa, shi, su, se, so, ta, chi, tsu, te, to, na, ni, nu, ne, no, ha, hi, fu, he, ho, ma, mi, mu, me, mo, ra, ri, ru, re, ro, ya, yu, yo, wa, n", one rectangular prism each for displaying the voiced consonant characters "ga, gi, gu, ge, go, da, ji, zu, de, do, za, ji, zu, ze, zo, ba, bi, bu, be, bo", one rectangular prism each for displaying the semi-voiced consonant characters "pa, pi, pu, pe, po", one rectangular prism each for displaying the small characters "ya, yu, yo, tsu", and one rectangular prism for displaying the long vowel mark.

[0011] The characters or symbols displayed on face 1 of the hexahedron may belong to a different character system than hiragana or katakana, as long as they belong to the same character system.

[0012] To make it easy to identify the faces that display letters or symbols, typically, the faces opposite each other on the hexahedron, and parts of each face that touches the opposite face, are colored.

[0013] The material used for the hexahedron is typically synthetic resin. The letters or symbols displayed on face 1 of the hexahedron are indicated by printing or engraving.

[0014] In this example, the surfaces of each face of the hexahedron, excluding face 1 which displays characters or symbols, are smooth. However, indentations or braille may be provided to prevent slipping or to allow the characters or symbols displayed on the hexahedron to be distinguishable regardless of visual acuity.

[0015] In this example, the hexahedron is a rectangular prism, but the shape of the hexahedron may also be a cube.

[0016] From the viewpoint of reducing the risk of accidental ingestion while ensuring visibility and portability, the dimensions of the hexahedron are preferably 22 to 30 millimeters for the long side, 16 to 22 millimeters for the short side, and 10 to 17 millimeters for the height, and it is also preferable to chamfer the corners.

[0017] The following is a typical example of a game that can be played using this example. This game can be played by 2 to 4 players simultaneously. In this game, the first player to combine the rectangular prisms they hold to create one two-letter word and four three-letter words wins. Figure 2 shows an example where the words "shoes," "raccoon," "desk," "watermelon," and "scissors" were created and the player won.

[0018] First, mix 120 cuboids that make up the toys in this example, and then distribute 13 cuboids to each player. The cuboids that are not distributed to each player are stacked in the center with the faces displaying characters or symbols facing down. As illustrated in FIG. 3, each player holds the distributed cuboids so that the characters or symbols displayed on the cuboids are not visible to other players.

[0019] Determine the player who gets the first turn by playing a game such as rock-paper-scissors. The player who gets the turn takes one cuboid from the center and adds it to the cuboids they are holding. If five sets of words are completed in this way, it is a win by "tsumo". If five sets of words are not completed, the player discards one cuboid that they consider unnecessary, and the turn passes to the next player. These procedures are repeated until either player wins or the center cuboids are exhausted, at which point that round ends.

[0020] If a player can create a word by using the cuboid discarded by another player, similar to mahjong, they can say "pon" and acquire that cuboid. However, the timing when "pon" is possible is only immediately after another player discards a cuboid, and the target is only the cuboid discarded immediately before the utterance. The player who makes a "pon" places the word created by the acquired cuboid in front of their right so that it is visible to other players, and discards one cuboid that they consider unnecessary from the cuboids they are holding.

[0021] If a player can win by using the cuboid discarded by another player, they can say "ron" immediately after the cuboid is discarded to acquire the cuboid and win. However, a player who has made a "pon" cannot make a "ron". Also, a player cannot make a "ron" for a cuboid of the same type as the cuboid they discarded themselves.

[0022] When players combine the cuboids they hold to form a word of four or more characters, they can say "Kan" and subtract three from the number of characters in the formed word, then draw that number of cuboids from the central hill. The player who draws cuboids from the central hill by saying "Kan" places the formed word to their right so that it can be seen by other players, and discards one cuboid that they consider unnecessary from the cuboids they are holding.

[0023] When a player creates seven pairs of two-character words by "Tsumo" or "Ron", the hand "Seven Pairs" is completed and the player wins.

[0024] Points are awarded or deducted from each player according to how they win. The game is played a predetermined number of times, and the player with the most points in the end becomes the winner.

[0025] This game involves fine hand movements and requires logical thinking to establish a hand before other participants, so it is also useful for providing opportunities for early childhood education or for the cognitive function of the elderly. Also, since it is based on the rules of Mahjong, it is suitable as a means for beginners of Mahjong to learn the rules. Furthermore, when using hexahedrons with hiragana characters displayed as in this example, it also contributes to the development of Japanese language application ability for young children and foreigners learning Japanese through word creation.

[0026] By changing the composition of the hexahedrons, such as excluding or adding cuboids with voiced characters in this example, it is possible to change the number of words that can be created, the ease of creating words, make it easier or conversely more difficult for a hand to be completed. Thus, the difficulty level of the game can be flexibly adjusted according to the proficiency of the players.

[0027] [Other Embodiments] In this example, the proportion of cuboids displaying characters representing unvoiced consonants, which are considered to appear relatively frequently in Japanese texts, is increased to facilitate word creation and to allow more players, including infants and foreigners learning Japanese, whose Japanese language skills are still developing, to participate. The configuration consists of 90 cuboids displaying characters representing unvoiced consonants, 20 cuboids displaying characters representing voiced consonants, 5 cuboids displaying characters representing semi-voiced consonants, 4 cuboids displaying small characters, and 1 cuboid displaying a long vowel mark. This invention can also be implemented using cuboids displaying Latin letters, for example. In this case as well, it is preferable to determine the proportion of each type of cuboid by considering the frequency of appearance of Latin letters in words.

Claims

1. A toy characterized by being composed of multiple hexahedrons, each having a face that displays a single character or symbol.

2. The toy according to claim 1, characterized in that the characters displayed on the hexahedron are hiragana or katakana.

3. The aforementioned hexahedron is Two rectangular prisms each displaying the characters "a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, sa, shi, su, se, so, ta, chi, tsu, te, to, na, ni, nu, ne, no, ha, hi, fu, he, ho, ma, mi, mu, me, mo, ra, ri, ru, re, ro, ya, yu, yo, wa, n", One rectangular prism each that displays the characters "ga, gi, gu, ge, go, da, ji, zu, de, do, za, ji, zu, ze, zo, ba, bi, bu, be, bo", One rectangular prism each displaying the characters "pa, pi, pu, pe, po", One rectangular prism each that displays the characters "ゃ, ゅ, ょ, っ", One rectangular prism for displaying the long vowel mark, The toy according to claim 2, characterized in that it is the same as the toy described in claim 2.

Images