Comment by xigency

I used to work in the online slot machine business and saw some of the patents related to slots. Most of them seemed trivial but it did affect how we could design our games. Certain features of the reels bouncing or paylines being awarded were patented. There were other ideas like connecting players to each other that seemed like they shouldn't be patent-able.

With that perspective, this board game patent actually looks very good. It certainly isn't an idea that I've thought of before or seen.