They Invented What? (No. 220)
U.S. Patent Appl. Pub. No. 20120187627: Scallywags board game.
JW Note: In honor of “International Talk Like A Pirate Day”, September 19, 2012 – Yarrrrr.
1. An interactive pirate themed board game comprising: a. a pirate ship shaped game board; b. a plurality of spaces on the game board, where said plurality of spaces are arranged in a plurality of levels; c. a plurality of physically acquired pirate related paraphernalia is provided as a player moves along the plurality of spaces on the game board; d. a starting position, where said starting position is at a lowest level of the plurality of levels; and e. a finishing position, where said finishing position is at a highest level of the plurality of levels, and where said finishing position is associated with physically receiving at least one object and with winning the interactive pirate themed board game.
2. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 1, where a plurality of pirate related paraphernalia is associated with a portion of the plurality of spaces.
3. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 2, where said plurality of pirate related paraphernalia includes at least swords, eye patch, telescope, scarf, markers, coins and earrings.
4. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 1, where a plurality of pirate related activity is associated with a portion of the plurality of spaces.
5. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 1, where a plurality of penalties is associated with a portion of the plurality of spaces.
6. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 1, where the at least one object includes one of at least a captain’s hat and a stuffed parrot.
7. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 1, where said finishing position is a helm of the pirate ship.
8. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 1, where said plurality of physically acquired_pirate related paraphernalia includes at least swords, eye patch, telescope, earrings, captain’s hat, and compass.
9. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 5, where the plurality of penalties includes requiring the player to move backwards along the board game.
10. The interactive pirate themed board game according to claim 9, where the plurality of penalties further includes requiring the player to go back to the start position.
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I finished off a few R+D and patent papers. Patent pooling makes sense for basic R+D especially. Looks like most of the efficiencies (in North America) have been captured post-recession. One paper was looking for a better means of measuing R+D. It kept referencing Apple (low R+D high product success post-bankruptcy Microsoft bailout), which is retarded because we don’t want all companies to have a brainwashed clientelle. Apple iTunes wouldn’t even work in Canada for a while. Anyway, the one paragraph that did make sense was capturing individual product cumulative investment, and adding to a portfolio. Such a portfolio would be a better R+D metric than a headcount or divide by revenues. Still, the tiniest product (iTunes) might be a company’s salvation, so it is still hard to track a complete portfolio.