US Patent Number One
[so, apropos of nothing: I have a new personal rule. Well, more of a guideline. call it an intention. anyway… If some thought or topic occupies my mind and takes more than 4 tweets to properly express: I really need to blog that. I’m not saying I won’t also tweet it — as twitter seems to be my default habitat these days — *that and Google Reader damn you Google damn you straight to hell* — but if I have that much to say, and that much to link to, then I should be making use of the platform here. So. New Rule]
are you done reading the long intro/aside? good.
There has been some buzz and discussion regarding the recent changes to US patent law, the first real changes since 1952, apparently. Gone is the recourse enjoyed by some inventors, that they actually invented it first (which is kinda bad, I guess, as that makes sense) and instead the new law rewards the inventor who is first to file for a patent. If you’re first to file, and the patent is awarded to you, you’re actually in the clear and don’t have to worry about some garage monkey coming in behind you (after you’ve done the work and paperwork and filing fees and headaches and all that) and ganking your patent out from underneath you. (which is kinda good, I guess)
The new law is the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) [wikipedia link] and yeah, um, whatever – what I actually wanted to do was use this as a segue to introduce to you a totally awesome boardgame.
When I read about the new “first to file” proviso in the 2013 AIA – I was immediately reminded of a super cool board game from CheapAss Games called “U.S. Patent Number One”. The premise of the game is that YOU, the player, have just invented a time machine! Mazel Tov! Having invented the time machine, and having all the time in the world [so to speak] there’s not much else to do… except, of course, to lord it over all the other inventors, ever, by making sure your time machine in fact holds US Patent Number One (hence the title of the game).
However, you’re not the only one to invent a time machine (in fact, you might not even have been first) so now there is a race on to finish your machine and be the first in line at the US Patent Office on July 31, 1790, in order to file for Patent no. 1. And that’s the goal of the game.
The premise and the mechanics of the game are fun (as it mostly involves screwing the other players a.k.a. your friends, over and over again) but that isn’t even why I’m recommending it to you today:
In looking for a link to where one might purchase this fine board game product, I discovered The Game Itself Is Now Free! Go here to see a list of amazing CheapAss board games now available for Free! and here [zip file] to go ahead and download all the PDFs you need to play the game.
It is a tad inconvenient, as you have to print out everything, including the board, but hey! Free!
And maybe with the recent changes in law (and blog posts like this one) James Ernest or CheapAss Games will go to kickstarter (or similar) and try to get a physical copy of the game in print again, for all of us to enjoy
