US20130119608A1

US20130119608A1 - Fitness card game and a method of playing the same

Info

Publication number: US20130119608A1
Application number: US13/633,905
Authority: US
Inventors: Michael Volkin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-10-03
Filing date: 2012-10-03
Publication date: 2013-05-16

Abstract

The present invention relates to games which promote fitness and exercise in a challenging and entertaining manner. The present invention provides a fitness card game having one deck of cards, having a plurality of fitness cards. Each fitness card having a front surface which includes a name of a fitness activity, a description of the fitness activity, a silhouette pictorially depicting the fitness activity, a color bar, a color name, a first number, a second number, a url of a video of a model performing the fitness activity, a QR code linking to the url of the video of the model performing fitness activity, a difficulty level indicator and a back surface. The present invention further provides a method of playing a fitness card game among a plurality of players using the fitness card game of the present invention.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to instructional games and, more particularly to games which promote fitness and exercise in a challenging and entertaining manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness, overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons including strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, honing athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance, as well as for the purpose of enjoyment. Frequent and regular physical exercise boosts the immune system, and helps prevent the diseases, such as heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.
It also improves mental health, prevents depression, helps to promote or maintain positive self-esteem, and can even augment an individual's sex appeal or body image, which is also found to be linked with higher levels of self-esteem. However in spite of all the known benefits of physical exercise, very few people do a physical exercise workout on a regular basis. Most of the people do not do any type of exercise at all. In a checkup done by one health watching agency about the America's health, it was found that fewer than two in 10 Americans get the recommended levels of exercise, and more than a quarter of U.S. adults do not devote any time to physical activity.
Various people have various reasons for not exercising. One main reason is ‘Lack or Time’. Many people feel that time required to exercise is not as attractive and gratifying as time allotted to other activities. They think that instead of doing exercise they will do some constructive work which pays them instantly. Second reason is ‘Lack of Motivation’, because they have done the exercise for some time but have not got the results as expected. They feel like their current body condition for example being obese, weak, lacking energy, state of recovery after an illness is hindrance to exercise and they do not feel to change their current body situation. The other reason is ‘Lack of access’, to the gym. It requires time and money to get a gym membership and some people would prefer partying more than spending on a gym membership fee.
Even after getting motivated to exercise, finding time to devote and joining a gym, people stop going to gym after sometime because of boredom. They feel walking or pedaling on a treadmill and other machines is getting them nowhere and feel bore to do the same routine exercises every day.
The lack of motivation and lack of time have to be managed by an individual himself by understanding the importance of exercising regularly and devoting time for such important thing, however the boredom in exercise routine still remains. There is a need of a fun, entertaining exercise routines which combine the benefits of exercises and the fun of a game.
Considering the advantages of including a concept of game and challenge to remove boredom in exercise workouts several attempts were made to provide games in combination with fitness exercises. For example US 20050244799 disclose a device and method are provided for educating and creating progressive incentives for an individual. The device includes a durable card configured to be carried by an end user. A performance chart can be located on the performance device. A plurality of performance event recording areas can be included in the performance chart. The performance event recording areas are also configured to correspond to the time period, frequency, and quality of performance events performed by an end user in a performance commitment made by the end user.
US 20070269773 disclose an educational game and activity that helps children develop fitness skills and color, number, and shape recognition abilities. The game includes a set of activity cards containing a front surface and a back surface. The front surface has an activity pictorial representation, three numbers of repetitions inside the shape of a heart, octagon or pentagon, with dots matching that amount, and an activity title located thereon. The back surface has a shape title, a shape pictorial representation, and a color title located thereon. The game also preferably includes a die used to randomly select at least one activity card from the set of activity cards. The die can contain either color designations corresponding to the color titles on the activity cards, or shape designations corresponding to shape titles and shape pictorial representations on the activity cards. The die is used to select an activity card, the activity thereon is then performed for the number of repetitions listed on the card.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,568,700 disclose a Bingo-type game and method for playing which incorporates various exercises as part of the game. The Bingo-type game generally includes a plurality of matrices having different exercises listed in the squares thereof and call-off pieces each corresponding to one of the exercises listed in the squares. A matrix is given to each game participant. As a call-off card is drawn, the exercise listed on the call-off card is called out, whereby the corresponding exercise is covered, if present, on the matrix of each participant and the exercise is subsequently performed by each participant having the exercise listed on their matrix. The game is won when one of the participants marks each space in a horizontal row, a vertical column, or a diagonal line on the game board.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,757 disclose a board game aimed at three to six year olds which is designed to teach and promote good nutrition and exercise habits which result in healthy cardiovascular systems to young children as well as provide entertainment and reinforcement for normative values.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,645 disclose a fitness and nutrition education game apparatus and method of play. The game apparatus includes a playing board having a playing path defined by a plurality of contiguous spaces; a set of playing pieces that are separate representations of an obese body image, a chubby body image and a slim body image; a die; a first plurality of playing cards each having printed thereon a first question of moderate difficulty about nutrution, diet, exercise and fitness and the corresponding answer; and a second plurality of playing cards each having printed thereon a second question of advanced difficulty about nutrition, diet, exercise and fitness and the corresponding answer. Play is conducted by advancing the playing piece along the playing path for the number of spaces determined by a throw of the die. Player directives marked on the contiguous spaces further determine the number of spaces and direction that a playing piece advances. When a playing piece lands on a space having a player directive to select and answer a first question about nutrition, diet, exercise and fitness, the playing piece can be advanced only by correctly answering the question. When a playing piece lands on a space having a player directive to select and answer a second question about nutrition, diet, exercise and fitness and the player correctly answers the second question, a body image can be exchanged for a fit body image and the player can advance the playing piece.
Most of the games described above require boards and are more like planning and recoding exercise routines. The other games available require exercise machines to perform the fitness activity. The above limitations make them non portable and dependent on a gym type environment.
In view of the limitations inherent in the available fitness games, there exists need for an improved game which promotes fitness and exercise in a portable, fast, robust, cost effective, secure, and environmental friendly manner.
It was observed by the inventor of the present invention that the power of challenge brings out the best in people. A challenge stimulates a person's mind to force his body to another level. That's because competition is fun, doesn't adhere to a routine and stimulates a desire to win.
Recent studies show that several small workouts throughout the day, as opposed to one workout, produced muscle and energy in a more efficient and effective manner. Combining this finding with the power of a fun challenge the inventor has created a concept called “nano-sport periodization”. ‘Nano’ means small or mini, ‘Sport’ is playing a game with a challenging component and ‘Periodization’ is dividing exercises into segments of different intensities.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fitness card game, which uses the concept of ‘nano-sport periodization’ in a portable, cost effective, manner and which can be played anywhere anytime.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the prior arts, the general purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved combination of convenience and utility, to include the advantages of the prior art, and to overcome the drawbacks inherent therein.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a fitness card game having one deck of cards, having a plurality of fitness cards. Each fitness card having a front surface which includes a name of a fitness activity, a description of the fitness activity, a silhouette pictorially depicting the fitness activity, a color bar, a color name, a first number, a second number, a url of a video of a model performing the fitness activity, a QR code linking to the url of the video of the model performing fitness activity, a difficulty level indicator and a back surface.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of playing a fitness card game among a plurality of players. The method comprising the steps of providing the fitness card game of the present invention, distributing the plurality of fitness cards among the plurality of players, throwing cards, such that each player throws a fitness card in center of the plurality of players one after other on their turn and evaluating the thrown cards based on the value of the second number, the player who throws the card with highest value of the second number wins that round of the game and rest of the players have to perform the fitness activity described on their respective fitness cards.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of playing a fitness card game among a plurality of players. The method comprising the steps of providing the fitness card game of the present invention, instructing a player to select a fitness card randomly from the deck of cards, and performing the fitness activity described on the selected fitness card.
These together with other aspects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty that characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The advantages and features of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following more detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the deck of cards, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a fitness card, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the front surface of a fitness card, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the front face of the wild card, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method of playing the fitness card game, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method of playing the fitness card game, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The exemplary embodiments described herein detail for illustrative purposes are subject to many variations and structure and design. It should be emphasized, however that the present invention is not limited to particular fitness card game as shown and described. Rather, the principles of the present invention can be used with a variety of configurations and arrangements of fitness cards. It is understood that various omissions, substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstances may suggest or render expedient, but the present invention is intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the it's claims.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
As used herein, the term ‘plurality’ refers to the presence of more than one of the referenced item and the terms ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘at least’ do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. The term ‘device’ also includes ‘engine’ or ‘machine’ or ‘system’ or ‘apparatus’.
The terms ‘fitness activity’ or ‘exercise’ may be used herein interchangeably and refer to convey the same meaning. Similarly the terms ‘fitness card’ or ‘card’ may be used herein interchangeably and refer to convey the same meaning. The terms ‘deck of cards’ or ‘deck of fitness cards’ or ‘deck’ may be used herein interchangeably and refer to convey the same meaning.
In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides improved fitness card game. The fitness card game of the present invention may be mass produced inexpensively and provides user an easy, robust, efficient, secure, cost effective, environment friendly and productive way.
It is to be understood that the improvements of the present invention are applicable to any of a number of fitness card games other than those which are specifically described below. Such fitness card games will be readily understood by the person of ordinary skill in the art, and are achievable by using the various elements of the fitness cards by employing techniques that are themselves known in state of the art.
Referring to FIG. 1 that illustrates a deck of cards 10, according to the present invention. The fitness card game of the present invention has at least one deck of cards 10 which comprises a plurality of fitness cards. Each fitness card 100 describes a fitness activity and all the cards are arranged on top of other fitness cards 100 to form the deck of cards. Each fitness card 100 describes a fitness activity which is different from the fitness activity described in other fitness cards of the deck of cards 10. The user performs the fitness activities described by the fitness cards to play the game. The deck of cards 10 may be used to engage in any number of games or activities suitable for an individual or a plurality of players.
The fitness activity is an activity such as body weight exercise which utilizes body weight to increase fitness, strength and well being. The exercises include upper body, lower body or core exercises. The examples of fitness activities are “crunches”, “push ups”, “jumping”, “kicking”, “twists” etc and their various different forms and combinations. The fitness activities are such that they may be performed without the need of any exercise machine and also does not need a particular place or environment. This makes the fitness activities of the game of present invention to be performed anytime, anywhere and does not require aid of any exercise machine, exercise equipment like dumbbell, weights etc or the help from an instructor.
The deck of cards 10 is used to play the fitness card game according to the present invention. The deck of cards 10 of the present invention is similar to the deck of playing cards available in the market. It is portable and may be carried in a pocket or a bag. The deck of cards 10 can be carried to an office, gym, school, college etc and can be used to play different games by challenging colleagues, friends to perform fitness activities described on the fitness cards anytime anywhere without the need of any exercise equipment. The fitness cards 100 are formed from a flexible, durable, light weight material such as coated paper and include any combination of printed, etched, or raised letters, numbers, symbols, images, or other indicia to describe the fitness activity. In one preferred embodiment the dimensions of the fitness cards 100 are 3.5 inches in height, 2.5 inches in width and formed from 300 gsm 2-sided coated art card.
In one embodiment of the present invention the deck of cards 10 is divided into three groups depending on the difficulty level of performing the fitness activity described on the card. The deck of cards 10 further comprises a wild card 150 (shown in FIG. 4) in addition to the fitness cards 100. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention the deck of cards 10 has fifty-two fitness cards in which one card is the wild card 150 and the remaining fifty-one cards are divided into three groups, each containing seventeen fitness cards.
Referring to FIG. 2 that illustrates a schematic diagram of a fitness card 100 according to the present invention. Each fitness card 100 has a front surface and a back surface. The front surface includes a name 104 of a fitness activity, a description 106 of the fitness activity, a silhouette 108 pictorially depicting the fitness activity, a color bar 110, a color name 112, a first number 114, a second number 116, a url of a video 118 of an model performing the fitness activity, a QR code 120 linking to the url of the video of the model performing the fitness activity and a difficulty level indicator 122.
The name of the fitness activity 104 describes the fitness activity by text for example “CRUNCHES” refers to the fitness activity where a player has to perform crunches as instructed by the corresponding fitness card. Each fitness card has its own fitness activity which is described by the name 104 of the fitness activity at the top. This helps in quickly knowing the fitness activity to be performed. After playing the game of the present invention for a so many times, a player may be able to recall all the contents of the fitness card only by the name 104 of the fitness activity. In this way the player may not have to read further details of the cards and saves time in reading and performing the activity of the card.
The description of the fitness activity 106 is written instructions to perform the fitness activity. It describes the preferred way of doing the fitness activity and may include tips, precautions, suggested time to perform the fitness activity, suggested time to hold the position of the fitness activity and other additional information needed to describe the fitness activity in clarity.
The fitness card 100 also has a silhouette 108 pictorially depicting the fitness activity 108. The silhouette 108 is like the boundary of a model body in the position of the exercise to help a player to pictorially understand the exercise to be performed. The silhouette 108 represents a position during performing the fitness activity which best describes the fitness activity. For example in an exemplary fitness card 100 having name of the fitness activity as “PUSH-UPS (ON YOUR KNEES)” the silhouette 108 will be representing a model in a push up position with his hands stretched about shoulder width on the ground and his knees touching the ground, will describes this fitness activity. As per a common saying that “a picture speaks thousand words”, the purpose of the silhouette 108 is to help a player understand the fitness activity better with the aid of the name of the fitness activity and the description of the fitness activity. It may also be helpful in case the player for some reason is unable to read the description properly for example a situation like the player needs glasses to read but he has forgotten to carry the glasses with him. In such case the player can understand the fitness activity by looking at the silhouette 108 only.
The front face of the fitness card has a color bar 110 which is long rectangular shaped bar having a distinguishable color. The color of the color bar is such that its color is visible and looks different from its background. The color bar 110 also includes a color name 112 written inside it. The color name 112 is the name of the color of which the color bar 110 is made. The purpose of writing the color name 112 on the color bar 110 is to help color blind players, who may not recognise the color of the color bar 110. The color name 112 is written inside the color bar in black color which can also be read by a color blind person.
The color bar 110 and the color name 112 are used to group fitness cards describing similar exercise. Same color bar 110 and same color name 112 on different fitness cards 100, means the exercises mentioned on the different fitness cards 100 are similar. The similarity may be that all the different cards describe same fitness activity with different difficulty levels. The similar exercises may also mean exercises which are focused on same body parts for example ‘upper body’, ‘lower body’, ‘chest’ etc. The similarity may also mean that the exercises are exactly same but have to be performed for different number of repetitions or for different time intervals. The color bar 110 also helps in creating different games which can be played with a plurality of players.
The front face also includes a first number 114 which indicates number of repetitions of the fitness activity to be performed, time in seconds for which the fitness activity has to be performed or time in seconds to hold an exercise position as described in the fitness card 100 to play the fitness card game. For example a fitness card describes a fitness activity “PUSH UPS (ON THE KNEES)”, a player can perform the push ups as described in the fitness card for the number of repetitions described by the first number 114.
The card also includes a second number 116 which is a number given to the card and is used to create and play different games. The second number 116 is different for different cards and is written inside the color bar 110. In one embodiment a higher value of the second number 116 indicates a higher difficulty level of the fitness activity. For example three different cards describing same fitness activity with second numbers as “13”, “26” and “34”, then the fitness card with the second number “34” will represent the highest difficulty level of the particular exercise. In the same way card with second number as “26” has more difficulty level than card with second number “13”.
The card also includes a url (Uniform Resource Locator) 118 of a video of an model performing the fitness activity. The url 118 provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing a webpage in a internet browser. The fitness activity described on the fitness card is performed by a model and its video is made. The video is stored on a website server and the url of that video is included on the fitness card. In one embodiment the url of the video is shortened by using url shortening service bit.ly and a custom url 118 is made which is short and easier to remember. The video helps in viewing the exercise performed by the model for better understanding of the instructions. The url 118 can be entered in a web browser on an internet enabled device like cellphone, iphone, tablet PC, laptop etc and the video can be seen. The silhouette 108 of the fitness activity represents only one position of the exercise but sometimes a player may not be able to properly understand the instructions on the fitness card, so in such case he has an option to see the video of the fitness activity performed by a model.
The fitness card 100 also includes a QR code 120 linking to the url 118 of the video of the model performing the fitness activity. The player instead of typing the url 118 on a web browser can use an app on cellphone, iphone etc which can read the QR code and opens the video directly.
The fitness card 100 further includes a difficulty level indicator 122. The difficulty level indicator 122 includes letters “B”, “I” and “A” corresponding to the difficulty level for a beginner, an intermediate and an advanced player respectively. The fitness level indicator 122 is used to group the fitness cards of the deck into three groups by using the letters “B”, “I” and “A” for beginner, intermediate and advanced player respectively. Same exercise has three different cards for each difficulty level.
It is to be noted that the relative positions of various information elements like description 106, name 104, silhouette 108 etc on the fitness card 100 as shown in FIG. 2 is schematic only and the position of the elements may be changed.
Referring to FIG. 3 which illustrates the front face of a fitness card 100 according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The fitness card 100 has a front face and is one exemplary card from the deck of fitness cards 10. It should be noted that any of several exercises or physical activities may be represented by the fitness card 100 and the front face represented in FIG. 3 is shown only as an example.
For the sake of explanation the fitness card 100 for activity “CRUNCHES” is shown. The name of the fitness activity 104 is “CRUNCHES”, the silhouette 108 shows a position of a model doing crunches so that a player can understand what posture has to be followed. The card also has the description 106 of the fitness activity where the instruction to perform the activity is written as “Lie on your back with your knees bent at a 90 degrees angle. Cross your arms over chest. Press lower back into the ground to raise your upper body a few inches off the ground. Return to starting position.”
The first number value is “10” which means that 10 repetitions of the crunches as described in the description 106 have to be performed. The color bar 110 is pink in color. It is to be noted that color of the color bar 110 in the FIG. 3 is pink but appears gray due to the restriction of colors on patent drawings. The name of the color 112 is also written as “PINK” so that a color blind player can identify the color of the color bar 110. The color “PINK” of the color bar 110 is used to identify cards of similar exercise. For example all the fitness cards where the color of the color bar 110 is “PINK” will describe “CRUNCHES” with different difficulty levels as indicated by the difficulty level indicator 122. The difficulty level 122 for the fitness card 100 shown is “B” which indicates it is for a “Beginner”. The second number 116 here is “10”. The second number 116 is used to create different games and the other significance of the second number 116 is that for different difficulty level cards of the similar exercise the second number 116 increases with the difficulty level.
For example for the card shown here the color bar is of pink color and first number is 10, the difficulty level is “B” and the second number is “10. The other cards which are similar to this card having pink color of the color bar 110 with difficulty level indicator 122 as “I” and “A”, are named “MASON TWISTS” which is a variation of crunches, and the first numbers are “15” and “25”, second numbers are “30” and “44” for the two cards respectively.
The card 100 includes the url 118 of the video of the model performing the exercise described on the card. The url 118 as shown in the card of “CRUCHES” is “bit.ly/ss52-crunches”. It can be observed that the url is shortened by using url shortener service bit.ly and customised to includes the keyword ‘crunches’. This helps in remembering the url and also makes it short to enter in a web browser to access the url 118. Similarly the QR code 120 is may be used to access the url 118 by a QR code reader to view the video.
The fitness card 100 comprises a back surface which is same for all the fitness cards 100 in the deck of cards 10. As seen from back it is not possible to guess the contents of the front face of the card. This helps in playing different games using the cards. The back surface may be used to print the brand name of the product. The back surface may also be used to customize the cards for a buyer by printing the company brand name, trademark or text and images as required by the buyer.
The deck of cards 10 further includes an instruction card for providing information about the game. The instructions to use the cards are given on the instruction card and link to web address where more information can be obtained is also provided.
In another embodiment the present invention provides a method 100 of playing the fitness card game among a plurality of players. The method starts with step 1010 of providing the fitness card game having deck of cards 10 of the present invention. In step 1020 the plurality of fitness cards 100 are distributed among the plurality of players. The deck of cards 10 is shuffled and the cards are distributed among them one by one on their turn such that players get equal number of cards. It may be possible that the number of cards and players are such that the deck of cards 10 does not get equally distributed among the players. In such case the cards are given to each player on their turn till all the cards in the deck are finished.
In step 1030 each player throws a card in the center of the plurality of players to start a round of the game. In one embodiment the players throw the top card from their small deck of cards. Next step 1040 is evaluating cards based on the higher value of second number. After throwing of cards by each player is done, the cards are evaluated based on the higher value of the second number 116. The player whose card bears the highest value for the second number 116 wins that round. In step 1050 all the players who lose that round have to perform the exercises described on their thrown cards in that round. The players perform the fitness activity of their respective fitness cards as indicated by the first number 114.
In another embodiment the present invention provides a method 2000 of playing a fitness card game among a plurality of players. The method 2000 starts with step 2010 of providing the fitness card game having deck of cards 10 of the present invention. In step 1020 a player is instructed to select a fitness card 100 randomly from the deck of cards 10. The deck of cards 10 is shuffled and a player is asked to pick a card from the deck randomly. In next step 1030 the player has to perform the fitness activity described on the selected fitness card. The player performs the fitness activity described on the selected fitness card as indicated by the first number.
The wild card 150 has a higher rank or importance than any other fitness card 100 of the deck 10. It can also be said that the wild card 150 trumps all cards in the deck 10. For example if in the game of above method 1000 if different players throw their cards and one player throws the wild card 150 then his card will be treated as having the highest second value 110 and he wins. Similarly in creating and playing other games the wild card 150 has to be given the highest importance and treated as the card with highest value.
Different games can be played by using the deck of cards 10 of the present invention. Following are few games:

i) Fit Poker

Players: 2-6 players
Instruction: Use the regular rules of 5 card draw poker, but follow the below guidelines for a winning hand. The winning hands are displayed from top down, meaning the first entry on the below table will beat all other hands. The loser of each hand has to do the exercises for the cards they hold.


Winning Hands	Description

Straight Ends	All five cards end with the same value number.
Royal Straight	Any five cards with consecutive value numbers.
Full House	Any three cards with the same color bar together
	with any two cards of the same color bar.
Large Straight	Any four cards with consecutive value numbers.
Small Straight	Any three cards with consecutive value
	numbers.
Three of a Kind	Three cards with the same color bar
Two Pair	Two pairs of cards where each pair has the
	same color bar
One Pair	Two cards with the same color bar
High Card	Whoever has the highest value number wins

Wild card: Play the card of your choice
Variations: A common variation is to perform exercises of three hands all at once when a player loses three hands. Or, after each loss, the winning player selects 3 of the 5 cards for the other person to perform.
(ii) The Coworker Drop
Players: 2-6 players
Instruction: This game works best when each play has their own deck. If each player doesn't have their own deck, divide the deck equally among all players. This game is played throughout a 24 hour period. It is best played with co-workers who see each other many times in one day.
Once the deck is divided equally, each player comes to an agreement as to how often they can “drop” an opponent. Create a verbal or body action that can cause a player to be dropped. An example of a verbal cue would be every time one of the players says the name of a Microsoft product like Excel or Word, or says a word that starts with the letter L. An example of a body cue would be every time a player scratches their head.
When a verbal or body cue is triggered, a player can drop the player who triggered the cue by throwing a random card down. The player doing the dropping must have the cards on their person in order to do the drop. The drop must occur within 5 seconds. In other words a player cannot trigger a cue to be dropped and then be reminded of it a minute later then get dropped. Once a player is dropped, they keep the cards that dropped them. If 3 or more people are playing, the first person to throw the cards down wins that drop. For example if a player triggers the verbal cue by saying the word “lunch” and 2 other players are standing nearby and notice, the first player to throw the card down wins that round.
The player who has the most cards at the end of the day loses, the player with the least wins.
Wild card: If a wild card is drawn, two more cards can be thrown and the person who triggers the drop has to perform both exercises.
(iii) Slap Me with a Frozen Squirrel
Players: 2-6 players
Instruction: Deal 10 cards, face down, and put them in a center pile (known as the squirrel pile). Deal remaining deck to all players. Players are to pick up their cards. One person (Player A) starts by saying a number between 1 and 9 to the person on their left (Player B). If that person on their left has a value number with that number on it, Player A must perform the exercise on that card (if Player B has 2 or more cards with that value number, s/he is to pick one card of their choosing for Player A to perform). That card is then placed in a separate pile known as the Player B's point pile. For example, if Player A picks the number 8 and Player B has card 28, Player A must perform the exercise on the card. If Player B doesn't have the number guessed, Player B must pick a card from the squirrel pile. If there are no cards in the center pile, Player B is to pick a card from Player A's pile and place it in Player A's point pile. As a twist, if Player A guesses a number and Player B has a card with that number on it, Player B could lose 2 points if Player A has a card with the same color bar (Player A just “cold slapped” Player B). In this case, Player A puts both cards (the card Player B picked plus the card with the same color bar) in his/her point pile and Player B must perform both exercises. The first player to have no cards wins.
Wild card: Can be used to cold slap your opponent, in other words, it can be used to replace any color bar.

(iv) War

Players: 2-6 players
Instruction: Deal entire deck evenly among all players. Each player throws their top card in the center of all players. The player who threw the highest card wins, all losing players must perform the exercises on the cards that were thrown.
Wild card: Trumps all cards

(v) The Peppercorn Greyhound

Players: 2-6 players
Instruction: Deal 10 cards to each player. Leave remaining cards in a side pile face down. From the side pile, deal one card face up, this is called the Peppercorn card. As soon as the Peppercorn is dealt, all players may begin playing at the same time. The players objective is to, as quickly as possible, throw a card in the pile that surrounds the value number by 1 number. For example, if the Peppercorn is a 16, the person with a 15 or 17 may throw their card on top of the 16. In addition to numbers, a player may throw a card of exact color (from the color bar) The goal is to be the first player without any cards, or the player with the least amount of cards at the end of the game. All losing players must pool their cards together and perform all the exercises. The winning player must perform the exercises for the cards s/he holds.
Wild card: The person with the wildcard may throw it on the pile at any time and call the value number of their choice.

(vi) Kevbo's Left Foot

Players: 1
Instruction: Deal 4 cards face up in front of you. If the end cards have a common digit in the value number (i.e. 21 and 52 have a 2 in common), then perform the exercises of those end cards and put all 4 cards in one pile to your left. If they do not have a common digit in the value number, perform the exercises from the middle two cards and put only those 2 middle cards in a pile to your right. The two non-matching end cards get placed randomly back in the deck. If you deal the entire deck and have more than 24 cards in the left pile, you win.
Wild card: A wild card dealt on the end is an automatic match. A wild card dealt in the middle is discarded
(vii) The Limbo Bimbo
Players: 1-2
Instruction: Place deck in one pile. Deal two cards and place the higher valued card (using the value number) face up above the deck and the lower valued card face up below the deck. These cards are called the Bimbo cards Now, deal 5 cards and place each card in the Limbo zone, which is near the Bimbo with the closest value. For example if your Bimbo cards are 6 and 48 and you dealt a 2, 5, 9, 11 and 13 all 5 cards will be placed in the Limbo zone near the lower Bimbo card. You can place a card that is of equal distance to both Bimbos near the Bimbo of your choice. If you draw two matching cards (same color bar colors), both cards are discarded and two more cards are picked from the pile. Of those 5 cards, whichever Bimbo card has the most cards in the Limbo zone, you must perform those exercises (including the Bimbo card).
Wild card: Place the wild card near the exercise of your choice, that exercise will be performed twice.
Variations: You can incorporate another player by having that player perform the exercises with cards that you pick.
(viii) Memory
Players: 1-6
Instruction: Place 10 cards face down. Start turning cards over, one by one. Perform the exercises when you pull a matching pair of B, I, or A (difficulty of exercise indicator in lower right corner).
Wild card: Automatic match
Variation: For multiple players, each player turns over two cards. If you make a match, the exercise is performed by the person to your left and you get to pick again.

(ix) 5 Card Monte

Players: 1-6
Instructions: Deal 5 cards and perform workouts described on each card. Complete 4 rounds with 5 cards each for a complete workout.
Wild card: Perform the next exercise 3 times
Variations—for multiple players, each player draws 5 cards, you can trade 2 cards with the person to your left. Once everyone performs one trade, a card remaining from the deck is chosen. If the value number of that chosen card is 26 or less, everyone gives their cards to the person on the left. If the value number is higher than 26, no card rotation is performed. For a multi-player game, the wild card is discarded.
Different games and activities can be created and played by using the deck of cards 10 of the present invention. The number of games which can be played depends only on the imagination of the players.
Although a particular exemplary embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognized to those skilled in the art that variations or modifications of the disclosed invention, including the rearrangement in the configurations of the parts, changes in sizes and dimensions, variances in terms of shape may be possible. Accordingly, the invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as may fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is understood that various omissions, substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstance may suggest or render expedient, but is intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. A fitness card game having at least one deck of cards, the deck of cards comprising a plurality of fitness cards, wherein each fitness card having a front face including:

a name of a fitness activity;

a description of the fitness activity;

a silhouette pictorially depicting the fitness activity;

a color bar;

a color name;

a first number;

a second number;

a url of a video of an model performing the fitness activity;

a QR code linking to the url of the video of the model performing the fitness activity;

a difficulty level indicator; and

a back surface.

2. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the fitness activity is such that it can be performed without need of any exercise equipment.

3. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the deck of cards is divided into three groups depending on the difficulty level of the fitness activity to be performed.

4. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the deck of cards further comprising a wild card.

5. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the first number indicates at least one from a group including a number of repetitions of the fitness activity to be performed, a time in seconds for which the fitness activity has to be performed, a time in seconds to hold an exercise position as described in the fitness activity to play the fitness card game.

6. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the second number is used for creating and playing different games.

7. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the second number is such that a higher value of the second number indicates a higher difficulty level of the fitness activity.

8. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the difficulty level indicator includes letters “B”, “I” and “A” corresponding to the difficulty level for a beginner, an intermediate and an advanced player respectively.

9. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein each fitness card describes the fitness activity which is different from the fitness activity described in other fitness cards of the deck of cards.

10. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the back surface of each of the fitness cards from the deck of cards is same.

11. The fitness card game according to claim 1, further comprises an instruction card for providing information about the game.

12. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the color bar has same color for the fitness cards describing similar fitness activities.

13. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the color name is same for the fitness cards describing similar fitness activities.

14. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the color name helps a color blind player to recognize the color of the color bar.

15. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the silhouette represents a position during performing the fitness activity which best describes the fitness activity.

16. The fitness card game according to claim 1, wherein the QR code linking to the url of the video is read by a QR code reader to open the url of the video.

17. A method of playing a fitness card game among a plurality of players, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the fitness card game of claim 1,

distributing the plurality of fitness cards among the plurality of players;

throwing cards, such that each player throws a fitness card in center of the plurality of players one after other on their turn; and

evaluating the thrown cards based on the value of the second number, the player who throws the card with highest value of the second number wins that round of the game and rest of the players have to perform the fitness activity described on their respective fitness cards.

18. The method of according to claim 14, wherein the players perform the fitness activity of their respective fitness cards as indicated by the first number.

19. A method of playing a fitness card game among a plurality of players, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the fitness card game of claim 1,

instructing a player to select a fitness card randomly from the deck of cards; and

performing the fitness activity described on the selected fitness card.

20. The method of according to claim 16, wherein the player performs the fitness activity described on the selected fitness card as indicated by the first number.