Claims

1. A three-dimensional device for playing a game or educational experience, comprising:a plurality of cells defined by a plurality of support members, each cell having a void space, said plurality of cells forms a plurality of operably interconnected void spaces;a plurality of passageways, said plurality of passageways interconnecting said plurality of void spaces; anda plurality of gaming pieces adapted to be distributed within said plurality of void spaces, wherein a game can be played by moving at least one of said plurality of gaming pieces in one of at least three distinct directions to create predetermined patterns, shapes, or sequences in an overall game or educational strategy.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of controlling members to retain said gaming pieces within said voids until a predetermined force is applied to said gaming piece.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said cells are arranged in one or more rows, columns, and layers, and wherein one or more of said cells, rows, columns and/or layers reversibly attach and detach from said three-dimensional device.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein said cells reversibly attach and detach to form a column and/or a row, and wherein said rows and/or columns reversibly attach and/or detach to form a layer.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said cells define said gaming device shape and wherein said shape is selected from said group of shapes substantially resembling one of: cube, irregular rectangular cube, dodecahedron, icosahedron, octahedron, tetrahedron, cubeoctahedron, icosidodecahedron, rhombicubeoctahedron, rhombicododecahedron, rhombitruncated cubeoctahedron, rhombitruncated icosidodecahedron, snub cube, snub dodecahedron, truncated cube, truncated dodecahedron, truncated icosahedron, truncated octahedron, and truncated tetrahedron.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein said gaming device shape is one of a cube or irregular rectangular cube.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein said cube or irregular rectangular cube is selected from said group consisting of: 2-by-2-by-2, 3-by-3-by-3, 4-by-4-by-4, 5-by-5-by-5, 8-by-8-by-2, 8-by-8-by-3, and 8-by-8-by-4.

8. The device of claim 3, wherein at least one of said layers is rotatable and where said rotatable layer has an angel of rotation greater than about 0° less than about 360°.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein said gaming piece has one of a shape and/or volume capable of traversing said passage ways and substantially occupying said voids.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein said gaming piece is comprised of one of a plastic, a wood, a rubber, a glass, a polymer, a metal, form, or combinations thereof.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein said plurality of gaming pieces have one or more of said following designations: one or more colors; one or more symbols; differing values, markings, colors or rankings; one or more markings; and combinations thereof.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein said support member is selected from said group consisting of cellulosics, woods, plastics, polymers, laminates, metals, minerals, alloys, and combinations thereof.

13. The device of claim 2, wherein said controlling member retains said gaming piece substantially suspended in said void and substantially assists said gaming piece to traverse said passageway.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein said controlling member is selected from said group consisting of wires, magnets, ball detents.

15. The device of claim 14, said controlling member comprises said support member having at least one of curvature, ribbing, finger, dome, hook, notch, concavity, and/or convexity, and combinations thereof.

16. A computer readable storage medium comprising processor executable instructions sorted thereon, the instructions comprising:a definition of a plurality of cells defined by a plurality of support members, each cell having a void space, said plurality of cells forms a plurality of operably interconnected void spaces;a definition of a plurality of passageways, said plurality of passageways interconnecting said plurality of void spaces;a definition of a plurality of gaming pieces adapted to be distributed within said plurality of void spaces; anda rule set defining that said plurality of gaming pieces are moveable in one of at least three distinct directions to create predetermined patterns, shapes, or sequences.

17. A method of playing a three-dimensional game or educational experience, comprising:a) providing a three-dimensional gaming apparatus having:a plurality of cells defined by a plurality of support members, each cell having a void space, said plurality of cells forms a plurality of operably interconnected void spaces which are aligned in at last three directions;a plurality of passageways, said plurality of passageways interconnecting said plurality of void spaces; anda plurality of gaming pieces adapted to be distributed within said plurality of void spaces; andb) arranging said plurality of gaming pieces in said plurality of cells in a three-dimensional direction to create one or more of a predetermined pattern, shape, or sequence of game pieces according to an overall game or educational strategy.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the game strategy is to arrange a plurality of game pieces in straight line within one of a row, column, layer of the gaming apparatus.

19. The method claim 17, wherein the game strategy is selected from the group consisting of tic-tac-toe, checkers, chess, Othello™, Abalone, Sudoku, Rubik's Cube™, Scrabble™, Pentago™, puzzles, math games, word games, labyrinth, maze-style games, dominoes, slide-type games, and Battleship™.

20. A computer readable medium comprising processor executable instructions that, when executed, perform the steps of claim 17.