Blue and Gray
Blue and Gray Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Description
This invention relates to improvements in game-boards, the object being to provide a board of novel construction with which movable devices are to be employed and a game which will not only be interesting, but will require a considerable amount of skill in playing.
The game-board is described and the novel features are pointed out in the appended claim. Reference is made to the accompanying drawing, which shows a plan view of a game-board embodying the invention.
Pieces
As a preliminary, the movable devices for each player consist of a captain and guards for each captain. The captains are movable in prescribed lines leading to a safety or winning position at the center of the board, while the guards are movable in any direction along lines on the board for the purpose of protecting and opening the ways for the captains.
It is proposed to call the game the "Blue and Gray," and the men or devices movable thereon from opposite sides will represent soldiers of opposing armies.
Board
Extended across the board are sets of parallel lines 1, and also extended across the board in the opposite direction to the lines 1 is another series of parallel lines 2. Starting from one side of the board at the center of the first line 2 is a line 3, on which a captain is designed to move. A similar line 4 for the opposing captain leads from the opposite side of the board, and both these lines terminate in a central field or winning-space 5, and each line, it will be noted, is irregular or circuitous. The drawing shows each of these lines as outlining in the course of its length the configuration of a star; but the invention must be understood, is not confined to any particular shape.
The field within each star-shaped figure is of a different color than that of the central space 5, and the board is divided by different colors, say by blue and gray, at the center.
Setup
In playing the game the captains are to be placed on their respective starting-points, and arranged on each side of each captain are the guards. These guards are set on the junctions of the first and second lines 2 and the lines 1 crossing the same.
Turns and Movement
As before stated, each player makes an effort to move his captain into the safety or winning central position, and the opposing player will make an effort to prevent such entrance of his opponent's captain by moving his own guards.
The guards may be moved crosswise, backward, or forward on any of the lines, and the guards of one player may take the guards of the opposing player by jumping the opposing player's guards.
Jumps and Captures
One, two, three, four, or more jumps may be made, provided the guards to be taken are in proper sequence, such, for instance, as in the game of checkers.
A guard cannot be taken by a captain, and therefore should an opposing guard be in the line of movement of a captain, the said opposing guard must be taken or forced away by the guards belonging to the side of said captain.
Winning the Game
The captain first entering the central space wins the game.
Claim
Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:
A game-board having delineated thereon two opposing fields, two sets of parallel lines, one set being at right angles to the other set, a central space or field, and circuitous lines leading from opposite sides to the central space or field, the said lines intersecting with the first-named lines and each circuitous line having a portion extended into the opposing field.