US404782A - Robert frederick foster - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

R. P. FOSTER. PLAYING CARDS.

No. 404,782. Patented June 4, 1889.

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ROBERT FREDERICK FOSTER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ALEXANDER J. LEITH, OF NET V YORK, N. Y.

PLAYING-CARDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,782, dated June 4, 1889.

$eria1 No. 309,356. (No mcdel.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT FREDERICK FOSTER, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing-Cards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its objects to facilitate the acquisition of the knowledge of the best modes of playing different games of cards, to permit prearranged games to be properly played by a less number of persons than is necessary in ordinary playing, but in the same manner as if all the players were present, and to indicate to each player the order in which his cards would be played by an expert playing the same hand in the same game; and to this end I provide the cards of the pack each with one or more indicators or series of indications, whereby with one or more prearranged hands the proper play of each player is clearly indicated at each play in the game, and whereby any one or more persons can play the hand of one or more absent players in the same manner as such players, if experts, would play their hands if present.

The indicators may be figures, letters, signs, or symbols of any suitable character on the faces or backs of the cards, printed, embossed, or otherwise placed thereon, and one symbol by its difference in position, color, or otherwise may be used to give two or more indications.

For the purpose of illustrating 111 y improvement I have shown it in the accompanying drawings in connection with cards and indicators arranged to designate the proper play of various hands in five games of whist.

Figure 1 shows the backs of five cards of a pack embodying my invention as prearranged for playing five games of whist; Fig; 2, the face of the joker of said pack; Fig. 3, the arrangement of the cards of one hand of said pack and the indicators thereon, Fig. 4 illustrating the distribution of the cards among the players.

In said drawings each card is shown as provided with three series of indicators a b c,

five different games in their order, the second letters of the alphabet, A B Y Z designating the four players orhauds in the game of whist, A and B being partners and Y and Z the opposite partners, and the third are figures designating the order in which the different players play each of the cards of his hand-that is, referring to the card at the left, Fig. 1, the upper figure 1 thereon indicates the first game, the letter B shows that the card is one of the thirteen constituting the hand of one player .13, and the lower figure 1 indicates that that card is played last, or when but one card remains in the hands. This relation of the indicators is the same upon all the cards, although the letters and figures vary to desiguatc the cards held by the different players and the order in which they are played. Thus on the right-hand card, Fig. 3, the top figure 1 indicates the first game, the letter A below shows that the card is one of thirteen constituting the hand of one player A, and the number 13 below the letter A shows that that card, being the thirteenth of the hand, must be the first played when the thirteen cards are in the hand. This arrangement of the cards is determined in the first instance by dealing a pack in four hands, as usual, and then,with a knowledge of what is in each hand, playing the hands in succession so as to secure the best results, and thereafter marking the cards of the different hands to distinguish the order in which they have been played in that particular game. Under the the figures 2 3 4, &c., are indicated the cards which are held by the different players and the order of playing in the second, third, fourth, duo, predetermined games.

In the arrangement shown the cards, being reversible, are provided each with two sets of indicators, and as there are four players in whist the pack is divided into four sections or hands of thirteen cards each and the joker is used to designate the trump, as will be any hand has only to play the cards in the succession of their numbers or in inverse snccession, as in the arrangement shown, in order to properly play his hand. The thirteen cards of each hand are also distinguished by the indicator 1), showing the player to which they belong, as A, B, Y, or Z, so that by sorting the pack by means of these indicators or letters the prearranged cards of each hand are properly assembled or separated from the others.

In the drawings the indicators are shown as arranged for five separate games, but for the purpose of description of the playing of a single game all but the indicators of the first game (under the numerals 1) will be ignored. The cards being properly sorted into fen r hands, the cards of each hand are preferably arranged as shown in Fig. 3, and the players are seated as shown in Fig. 4-; or if there are less than four playq's the cards of each absent player are placed in proper position on the table.

One of the players will now look at the fiftythird card or joker, illustrated in Fig-2, when he will find that the trump-card for game No. 1. is the two of hearts, and of course Z always deals and A always leads. Assuming that there is but one personv playing, and that he elects to play Zs hand, he picks up his pile of cards and sorts them into suits by the faces, just as he would in any ordinary game of whist. That done, he is ready to play, and holding his (Zs) cards in one hand he turns up As top card, No. 13, and finds it is, for instance, in the predetermined game to be now described, the two of diamonds. lie turns up Ys (No. 13) top card and finds .it is the tour of diamonds. Then he turns up lls top card and findsitis the queen of diamonds. ltisnow his (Zs) turn to play. Looking at his hand, he finds the ace and three of diamonds in it, and he takes the trick with the ace. It is now his lead, and finding clubs are his best suit he will lead a club. If he is a good player he knows the correct play his fourth-best, the five of clubs. To be sure that that is the correct play he notes that he has now twelve cards in his hand, and on looking at the indicators at the back of the five of clubs he sees it has the number 12, showing that thatis the proper card to play, or the way an expert in the game would play such a hand as he now holds. Having played his five of clubs, and it being As next play, he turns up As top card. It isthe three of clubs. ThenYs top card. It is the queen of clubs. 'lhen lls top card. It is the fourof clubs. As his partner Y took that trick, he gathers it in as he did the first trick, and as it is now his partners lead he turns 'up his partners (Ys) top card and finds itis the jack of spades. Asll plays next,heturns up his top card and finds that ll takes the jack with the queen of spades. Looking at his own hand, he finds only the six and three of spades, so he plays the three and turns up As top card, which proves to be the ace of spades. He puts that trick over to As side and turns up As top card, (No. 10,) as it is 110w As lead again, and finds that A leads trumps, the three of hearts. Y now plays the four. 13 plays the king, and as he (Z) cannot take it he plays his smallest heart, the two. It is now Bs lead, and he turns up Bs top card, the seven of hearts. It Z is now uncertain whether to play the jack, the nine, or the eight, but thinks the eight is correct, he counts his cards, finds he has nine in. his hand, and it on looking at the indicating device on the back of the eight of hearts he sees it is marked with the figure 9 he is assured that that is the correct play. If he should decide incorrectly and take one of the other cards, an examination of the indicator, showing some other number than 0, would inform him of his error. A new plays the ten and Zs partner Y the ace, and. so the game goes on until the adversaries win three odd tricks. l')issatisfi ed with this result, he thinks he will play Ys hand, and he arranges the cards as before and turns up each in turn. llo sees that Z plays his cards just as he did when he held them, and also discovers that he cannot improve on 'Ys playing 05 his (Ys) hand. 110 then decides to try game No. 4-, perhaps, and arranges the cards so that the top cards of the piles shall show the indicaters A, Y, ll, Z,

13 13 123 13 and. on turning up As top card he finds he leads the six of spades, and so on. If at the lasttwo tricks he is undecided as to which of two cards to play or to discard, he examines the indicators and selects the card marked 2, which is the right one, and he has only two cards left in his hand.

' If two persons are playing, they mayeither be partners or adversaries, and they will simply turn up their partners or adversaries top cards, so that they play an actual game of whist and not double dummy.

If three persons are playing, they can arrange the cards for the absent person and play the top card of his hand each time, just as if he were present and were an expert, instead ot j'llaying dummy.

It: i'our persons play with these cards, they simply sort out the As, lls, Ys, and Zs into four piles, and each takes the right one for his position at the table. It they play game No. 3, Z holds all thirteen cards marked jj and he looks at the joker and finds the jack. of hearts is the trump of the prearranged game No. 3, so he places it face up on the table until the first. trick has been laycd.

Each player will sort his cards (by the .t'aee, of course) into suits, just as at the ordinary game; but the indicating device will. tell them whether they or any one of them is playing correctly or not. Suppose in this game No. 3 that five tricks have been played. lead, and he is in doubt as to his best play,

IIO

It is As but thinks a trump lead would be judicious, as his suit is established. He concludes to lead the three of trumps, (hearts) He has now only eight cards in his hand, and on looking at the back of the three of hearts he finds it has the indicator 8, and knows that it is the correct card to be played. A single pack of cards may thus be arranged for as many games as there is room for indicators on the cards. The indicating-device is intended to be printed when the cards are manufactured. In a pack like that illustrated the indicating device would take the place of the ordinary ornamental design on the back.

The indicators can be arranged for any game or games. One pack may have one or more indicators or series of indicators for entirely different games, such as whist, Boston, sixty-six, &c.

The first series of indicators a are not essential, as they merely indicate the order of the different prearranged games, each of which is played wholly independent of the others, and no special order is essential, although I prefer to arrange the cards and indicators so as to begin with a simple game and gradually lead to games of a more complex character.

Instead of having two sets of signs or charactersone to indicate the players and another set to indicate the proper order of playing the cards of the handsone set of characters may afford bot-h indications by printing them in different colors or otherwise to indicate the different players. Thus the series of indicators 0, showing the order of playing the cards of one hand, may be printed in red or in one kind of type to indicate that they are As cards, another set in blue, or another kind of type to indicate 3s cards, and so on.

lVithout limiting myself to the use of any special forms of indicators or to their position or number, I claim 1. 'A pack of cards divided into sets or hands, in which each card is provided with an indicator designating the order in which that card should be arranged in its hand, substantially as described.

2. A pack of cards divided into hands, in which each card is provided with an indi cater designating the order of playing in a prearranged game, substantially as described.

3. A pack of cards divided into hands, in which each card in each hand is provided with two indicators, one distinguishing the card from those of other players and the other 5 5 designating the order in which the card should be played in a prearranged game, substantially as set forth.

4. A pack of cards divided into hands, and in which the cards are provided with tWo series of indicators, one series designating the cards of different players and the other the order of playing the cards in a series of prearranged games, substantially as set forth.

5. A pack of cards divided into hands, and in which each card is provided with indicators designating the hand to which it belongs and the order of its .playing in prearranged games, and with a third series of indicators designating the order of the games, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed -my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT FREDERICK FOSTER.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. GRAHAM, J. S. BARKER.

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