JP7696308B2 - Assembly toys - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an assembly toy.

There are known assembly toys that can be easily assembled even by beginners and young people. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes an assembly toy that does not have a runner, but has two adjacent main parts connected by a gate, and can be almost completed simply by bending the gate. Because there is no need to detach the part from the runner before assembling it, there is no need to figure out which part the detached part belongs to, and it can be easily assembled.

Patent Document 2 also proposes an assembly toy in which multiple components that can be arranged in a straight line are stacked and assembled by inserting rod-shaped support members into each through-hole. With this assembly toy, each component can be locked by inserting a support member and rotating it around an axis. This provides an assembly toy that is easy for even young people to assemble, and is safe, fun, and educational.

Publication number 8-7915 JP 2012-148172 A

Although the above-mentioned conventional technology allows easy assembly, it is difficult to arouse interest in assembling multiple parts, and it is difficult to give a desire to assemble more complicated parts. For example, in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, two main parts arranged adjacent to each other are almost completed by simply bending the gate that connects them. Although this allows easy assembly because there is no need to separate the parts, it is too easy to assemble and it is difficult to arouse interest in the assembly itself. On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, multiple parts are stacked and each part can be locked by inserting a rod-shaped support member, providing an interesting educational toy. However, each part is assembled at once by inserting the support member, and the fun and sense of accomplishment of assembling multiple parts to create a toy cannot be felt, and the motivation to challenge more difficult assembly toys cannot be given. With such conventional technology, it is not possible to know the fun of the assembly process of plastic models, etc., and to obtain the effect of promoting sales of the next toy. In addition, there is a risk that young people will find the assembly work boring if they only assemble according to the assembly instructions, and will not be able to feel the fun of the assembly process itself.

The present invention aims to provide a mechanism that, for example, can favorably increase the interest of the assembly process in an assembly toy.

The present invention is, for example, an assembly toy comprising a first assembly part assembled from a plurality of parts and whose assembly method is not indicated in the assembly instructions for the assembly toy, and a second assembly part assembled from a plurality of parts and whose assembly method is indicated in the assembly instructions, the assembly instructions including hint information for assembling the first assembly part, and the first assembly part including a shape corresponding to the hint information.The present invention is, for example, an assembly toy comprising a first assembly part assembled from a plurality of parts and whose assembly method is not indicated in the assembly instructions for the assembly toy, and a second assembly part assembled from one or more parts and whose assembly method is indicated in the assembly instructions, and the assembly instructions including hint information for assembling the first assembly part.
The present invention also provides, for example, an assembly toy comprising a first assembly part assembled from a plurality of parts and whose assembly method is not indicated in the assembly instructions for the assembly toy, and a second assembly part assembled from one or more parts and whose assembly method is indicated in the assembly instructions, wherein the assembly instructions include hint information for assembling the first assembly part, and the first assembly part includes a shape related to the hint information that is formed when the plurality of parts are assembled accurately.

The present invention provides a mechanism that effectively enhances the interest of the assembly process in assembly toys.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an external front view of a construction toy according to an embodiment. 1 is an exploded view of an entire construction toy according to one embodiment. FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a portion of a package of a construction toy according to one embodiment. 1A and 1B are assembly and exploded views of a puzzle-solving assembly part in a construction toy according to one embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state in which a part of the package of the construction toy according to the embodiment is used. 11A and 11B are diagrams showing how puzzle-solving assembly parts in a construction toy according to one embodiment are attached to a back member.

The following embodiments are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the invention. Two or more of the features described in the embodiments may be combined in any combination. In addition, the same reference numbers are used for the same or similar configurations, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

<Exterior of assembly toy>
First, an example of the external configuration of a constructional toy 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 shows the external front view of the constructional toy 100. Note that arrows indicating up/down, left/right, and front/rear indicate the orientation of the constructional toy in the figure, and the same applies to other figures.

The assembly toy (doll toy) 100 represents the final assembly product after assembly. The assembly toy 100 is composed of multiple assembly parts, including, for example, a right arm 102a, a left arm 102b, a torso 103, and a right leg 104a and a left leg 104b. An assembly part according to this embodiment represents one part of the assembly toy 100, which is composed of multiple parts. Also, in this embodiment, these assembly parts are illustrated in order to explain the example of a human assembly toy, but the assembly toy according to the present invention is not limited to a human and can be modeled after various objects, and the assembly parts also include various objects.

<Overall assembly configuration>
Next, the assembly structure of the entire assembly toy 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of the assembly toy 100 from the right front.

The assembly toy 100 includes an assembly part 203 made up of multiple parts, and assembly parts 201, 202, 204, 205, 206, and 207 made up of one or more parts. Assembly part 203 corresponds to a first assembly part, and is a puzzle-solving assembly part for which the assembly method is not shown in the assembly instructions described below, but instead hint information suggesting the assembly method is shown. Details of the assembly instructions will be described later. Meanwhile, assembly parts 201, 202, 204, 205, 206, and 207 correspond to second assembly parts, and for assembly parts made up of multiple parts, the assembly method is shown in the assembly instructions described below. Note that assembly part 205 is made up of one part.

Assembly part 201 corresponds to the head 101 of the construction toy 100. Assembly part 202 corresponds to part of the chest of the torso 103 of the construction toy 100. Assembly part 204 corresponds to the front of the torso 103 and the right arm 102a. Assembly part 205 corresponds to the back of the torso 103 and the right arm 102a. Assembly part 206 corresponds to the left arm 102b of the construction toy 100. Assembly part 207 corresponds to the lower body of the construction toy 100 (including part of the torso 103, the right leg 104a and the left leg 104b).

In FIG. 2, the assembly part 203 is shown disassembled into a plurality of parts as indicated by the dotted line frame. When these multiple parts are assembled accurately, they function as connectors that connect one or more other assembly parts (second assembly parts). In other words, if the assembly part 203 is not assembled accurately, the construction toy 100 cannot be completed. Therefore, the assembly user needs to accurately assemble the assembly part 203 using hint information, described below, shown in the assembly instructions as a clue.

<Part of the assembly instructions>
Next, a portion of the assembly instructions for the assembly toy 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows a portion of the assembly instructions that describes information about an assembly part 203. As for the other assembly parts 201, 202, 204, 205, 206, and 207, as with a normal plastic model, the method of assembling each part is shown, and illustrations thereof are omitted.

300 shows a part of the assembly instructions, and does not directly show how to assemble the assembly part 203, but shows hint information. The assembly instructions 300 are composed of characters 302, 303, 304, puzzle-solving information 305, 306, 307 corresponding to each character, an assembly area 308, and hint information 309a to 309f.

When the characters 302, 303, and 304 are combined, they become information about the construction toy 100, and as an example here, they correspond to the characters in the name of the model of the construction toy 100, "Coin." Character 302 corresponds to "Ko," character 303 corresponds to "I," and character 304 corresponds to "N." Puzzle information 305 and 306 indicate the solutions to the puzzles corresponding to characters 302 and 303, respectively. Hints for these puzzles 305 and 306 are also shown in hint information 309a.

The puzzle solving information 305 and 306 show dials, and the hint information 309a suggests that the character 302 "K" and the character 303 "I" are linked to the numbers on each dial. That is, it shows that "K" corresponds to "5" and "I" corresponds to "1". Therefore, when assembling the assembly part 203, the assembly user can assemble using the "5" and "1" as clues. Details of the actual assembly will be described later using Figures 4 and 5.

Furthermore, the puzzle solving information 307 shows a compass, and the hint information 309b indicates that the compass is upside down, suggesting that part of it is broken. This reveals that the broken part is the "N" part, and that the "N" is located lower than a normal compass. Therefore, when assembling the assembly part 203, the assembly user can use the "N" located further below in addition to the "5" and "1" as clues.

As shown in hint information 309c, assembly area 308 is an area for assembling assembly parts 203, and shows the outer shape of assembly parts 203 when assembled correctly. In other words, assembly parts 203 that are assembled correctly will have a shape that fits (or will be contained) within assembly area 308. Therefore, an assembly user can assemble assembly parts 203 using the frame that forms the outer shape of assembly area 308 as a hint.

The assembly manual 300 also shows further hint information 309d to 309f, and the assembly user can assemble the assembly parts 203 using these hint information as clues. In this way, if the assembly user solves the puzzle and accurately assembles the assembly parts 203, a sense of accomplishment can be obtained, and the interest in the assembly process can be increased. In addition, these hint information may be shown as content that makes it easier to gradually find the answer. Therefore, it is desirable that these hints are written in different positions so that not all hints can be confirmed at a glance. For example, when the assembly manual 300 is written on a paper medium, it is desirable that each hint information is written on a different page or different side, and when it is written on a product package box, it is desirable that each hint is written on a different side. In this way, the assembly user can get a higher sense of accomplishment if he or she can solve the puzzle with fewer hints. In addition, assuming that the puzzle cannot be solved, the answer or the assembly method of the assembly parts 203 may be directly written as a final hint. In this way, even if the puzzle cannot be solved, it is possible to support the assembly toy 100 to be completed.

Here, the name of the model targeted by the assembly toy 100 has been described as an example of the information about the assembly toy. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the information about the assembly toy may include symbols, figures, and patterns related to the model instead of a character string indicating the model. Such information about the assembly toy may be information that can be recognized by the assembly user. In addition, although details will be described later, such information about the model includes at least a portion of each character in each part of the assembly part 203. Therefore, the assembly user can accurately assemble the assembly part 203 by combining multiple parts to form the information obtained by solving the puzzle, in this case, "5", " 1 ", and "N".

<Mystery solving assembly parts>
Next, the assembly configuration of the assembly part 203, which is a puzzle-solving assembly part according to this embodiment, will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4(a) is a perspective view of the assembly part 203 after assembly, Fig. 4(b) is an exploded view from the front, and Fig. 4(c) is an exploded view from below.

As shown in FIG. 4(b) and FIG. 4(c), the assembly part 203 is composed of parts 401, 402, and 403. As described above, these parts 401 to 403 are composed of at least a part of the letters "5", "1", and "N" obtained by solving the puzzle in the assembly manual 300. For example, the part 401 is composed of the upper half of each of the letters "5" and "1". The part 402 is composed of the lower half of the letter "5" and the left half of the letter "N". The part 403 is composed of the lower half of the letter "1" and the right half of the letter "N". In this way, each part is composed of at least a part of each letter of the information about the assembly toy obtained by solving the puzzle, and when they are correctly combined, as shown in FIG. 4(a), information corresponding to the hint information, here, each letter indicating the information about the assembly toy, is formed. Note that the part 403 has the letter "N" separately formed at the bottom as shown in FIG. 4(c). This suggests that when connecting assembly part 203 to other assembly parts, the N should face downwards.

In addition, parts 401 to 403 can be assembled to fit the shape of the frame using assembly area 308 of assembly instructions 300 described above. In this way, according to this embodiment, it is possible to assist in the assembly of assembly parts 203 in ways other than hint information. As shown in FIG. 5, if parts 401 to 403 are assembled accurately, they can be assembled to fit within the frame of assembly area 308. In this way, if they can be assembled to fit within assembly area 308, the assembly user can determine that they have assembled assembly parts 203 accurately, and subsequent assembly can be easily performed.

<Solving the mystery and installing the assembly parts>
Next, the mounting of the assembly part 203 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 6(a) is a perspective view showing the state in which the assembly part 203 is mounted on the assembly part 205, and Fig. 6(b) is a front view of the assembly part 203.

As shown in FIG. 6(a), the assembled assembly part 203 is attached to the assembly part 205 that becomes the back member of the assembly toy 100. Here, as shown in FIG. 6(b), a downward arrow 601 is formed on the assembly part 205, and the "N" formed on the bottom of the assembly part 203 is formed so as to correspond to this position. Note that the downward arrow 601 may be emphasized in a color different from other parts of the assembly part 205 so that it is easy for the assembly user to recognize. Furthermore, it is preferable that it is formed in the same color as the "N" formed on the bottom of the assembly part 203. This allows the assembly user to easily assemble by matching parts of the same color.

As described above, the assembly toy according to this embodiment includes a first assembly part assembled from a plurality of parts, the assembly method of which is not indicated in the assembly instructions for the assembly toy, and a second assembly part assembled from a plurality of parts, the assembly instructions for which include hint information for assembling the first assembly part, and the first assembly part includes a shape corresponding to the hint information. In this way, an assembly user can assemble an assembly part whose assembly method is not directly described in the assembly instructions from the hint information, and can feel a greater sense of accomplishment. In addition, the hint information is, for example, hint information for solving a puzzle, and the assembly user can carry out the assembly process while solving the puzzle, which can increase the interest of the assembly process.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the invention. In addition, the shape of the assembly toy is not particularly limited, and includes various shapes such as people, animals, robots, insects, and dinosaurs.

100: Assembly toy, 101: Head, 102a: Right arm, 102b: Left arm, 103: Torso, 104a: Right leg, 104b: Left leg

Claims (10)

A construction toy comprising:
A first assembly component that is assembled from a plurality of parts and whose assembly method is not indicated in the assembly instruction manual of the assembly toy;
a second assembly part assembled from one or more parts, the assembly instructions indicating how to assemble the second assembly part;
the assembly instructions include hint information for assembling the first assembly part ;
The assembly toy , wherein the first assembly part includes a shape related to the hint information that is formed when a plurality of parts are assembled accurately . The assembly toy according to claim 1, characterized in that the first assembly part functions as a connecting part to which one or more of the second assembly parts are connected when the multiple parts are accurately assembled. The assembly toy according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the hint information is a puzzle to solve. 4. The assembly toy according to claim 1, wherein the shape associated with the hint information includes at least one of a letter, a symbol, a figure, and a pattern. The assembly toy according to claim 3, characterized in that the shape related to the hint information formed when the multiple parts of the first assembly component are accurately assembled indicates information that can be obtained by solving the puzzle. 6. The assembly toy according to claim 4 , wherein the shape related to the hint information is a shape related to the assembly toy. 7. The assembly toy according to claim 6 , wherein the shape related to the assembly toy is a shape indicating information about a model targeted by the assembly toy. The construction toy according to claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of parts included in the first construction part has a shape that indicates at least a portion of at least one character of the information about the model . 9. The assembly toy according to claim 8 , wherein the assembly instructions include the hint information for each character of information about the model . The assembly instructions include a frame showing an outer shape to be used when assembling the first assembly part,
The assembly toy according to any one of claims 1 to 9 , wherein the first assembly part has a shape that fits into the outer shape when a plurality of parts are accurately assembled.

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