Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • A63F1/00—Card games
  • A63F1/02—Cards; Special shapes of cards
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • A63F1/00—Card games
  • A63F1/04—Card games combined with other games
  • A63F2001/0491—Card games combined with other games having markings on the rear face or reverse side

Definitions

• This invention relates to playing cards and, in particular, to bifunctional packs of playing cards which may be used to play a variety of entertaining and stimulating card games as well as acting as an informative advertising and educational medium, compendium or catalogue.
• Playing cards have been known for centuries and in a very wide variety.
• a pack of playing cards conventionally consists of a set of individual cards of which one side of each card (the back) is identical throughout the pack, the other side of each card (the face) bearing one among a variety of different designs.
• the classical "standard playing card” pack consists of fifty-two cards where the fifty two different face designs consist of four "suits", conventionally called clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades, and where each suit (of thirteen cards) has a number or character associated with it, conventionally ace, two to ten, Jack, Queen and King.
• suitables conventionally called clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades
• each suit of thirteen cards
• some playing card games require extra cards having a special symbol on them (conventionally called a Joker) which, according to the rules of the game being played, may substitute for a variety of other cards, or may have its own particular role in the game played.
• the identical back sides of the cards in a pack are identical predominantly in order that a card player may hold the cards, usually in a single hand and fanned out, with the identical backs visible to the other players and the different face designs visible only to the player holding the cards. Since the other players can see the backs, the backs all need to be identical in order that the other players cannot detect what cards the player holding the cards is holding.
• US-A-4428582 discloses apparatus for educational games in the form of a pack of cards with letters on their faces and numbers on their backs, each letter being paired with each number once, so no two cards are the same, but each letter appears on the faces of several (usually 3, 4 or 5) cards. Such a pack may be used to play a variety of letter or number games, but cannot be used to play any standard card games.
• the backs of some of the cards may bear words, and the arrangement of the words on the backs of the cards may be such that when the cards are assembled in accordance with a rule applying to the markings on the faces of the cards, the wording on the backs of the assembly of cards is coordinated, e.g. to construct a sentence or sentences, a message of some other sort, or a poem - for example a Clerihew, Haiku or some other short form.
• a conventional four-card trick such as is constructed during the course of a game of Bridge or Whist may constitute a quatrain such as a Clerihew, or three of them may be arranged to provide a Haiku fitting the classical rules for the construction of Haiku.
• scoring being dependent not merely on the number of tricks which a player collects at the end of a round, but additionally on how many of the sets of three or four cards, when assembled in appropriate order (e.g. rising or descending card face value) form a correctly structured Clerihew or Haiku.
• a correctly structured Clerihew formed from a set of four cards of which the face values are not all of the same suit might score a bonus.
• sets of cards having face values in sequence may have on their backs individual sections of a complete poem.
• the coordination on the backs of the cards is not limited to text images, but may be, for example, a set of pictorial or visual images or mix of graphics, text and image which, for example, when assembled in sequence, could form a short "comic strip" or reflect some other pattern, sequence or relationship.
• the assembly may be essentially visual with the cards, when placed together, showing an overall image made up of a number of sub-images, such as one commercial product in a range of such products.
• the placement of commercial material on the backs of the cards leads to potential commercial gain to organisations, companies or individuals who use the medium to advertise their products or services.
• each card effectively reminds solo or group players 54 times per pack of the specific telecommunications link to each organisation's, company's or individual's richer store of further detail regarding the subject matter of each pack, or general information about the organisation, company or individual.
• the inter-relationship of the backs and fronts of packs of cards in accordance with the present invention may be achieved by simple physical sorting of a set of backs on to a set of fronts, or it is possible to write relatively simple and straightforward computer programs to distribute the designs for the backs appropriately coordinated with the standard designs on the faces.
• the designs on the faces are relatively straightforward standard four suit card designs.
• the differing designs on the backs of the cards may be restricted in area compared to the area of the entire card back so that a fan of cards shows only the back of the endmost one, i.e. the roughly chevron-shaped or L-shaped non-overlap areas all look the same.
• a fan of cards shows only the back of the endmost one, i.e. the roughly chevron-shaped or L-shaped non-overlap areas all look the same.
• feats of memory could be part of the rules of group play, so that the more face values a player could correctly memorise and reproduce from the differing back texts or images, the higher would be his final score, and - if the items so correctly memorised were products or educational or other promoted material - the higher the pleasure of the organisation, company or individual whose material is printed on the pack.
• a pack of playing cards according to the present invention has a set of differentiated face designs on the card faces and on the card backs a set of designs, each consisting of an outer portion identical on each card and inner portions which differ from card to card and which are coordinated with the designs on the faces as set out above.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Toys (AREA)
• Credit Cards Or The Like (AREA)
• Holo Graphy (AREA)
• Electrophonic Musical Instruments (AREA)
• Eye Examination Apparatus (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=10848262

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (8)

• 1999
  • 1999-02-22 GB GB9904031A patent/GB2347088A/en not_active Withdrawn
• 2000
  • 2000-02-22 EP EP00905178A patent/EP1159044B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-02-22 JP JP2000600740A patent/JP2002537080A/ja active Pending
  • 2000-02-22 WO PCT/GB2000/000620 patent/WO2000050134A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-02-22 ES ES00905178T patent/ES2208276T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-02-22 DE DE60005492T patent/DE60005492T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2000-02-22 AT AT00905178T patent/ATE250447T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-02-22 AU AU26807/00A patent/AU754354B2/en not_active Ceased

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