GB1601027A

GB1601027A - Apparatus for playing a game based on poker

Info

Publication number: GB1601027A
Application number: GB624878A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1977-06-22
Filing date: 1978-02-16
Publication date: 1981-10-21
Also published as: FR2395050B1; PT67441A1; ES249528Y; GR66146B; PT67441B; PT67441A; NL7714244A; PT67441B1; ES249528U; MC1180A1; FR2395050A1

Description

(54) APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A GAME BASED ON POKER (71) I, JOSEPH GOOTT, a citizen of the United States of America, of P.O. Box 1363, Great Falls, Montana 49403, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention is directed to a game based on the card game of poker.

The game of the present invention can be played by persons having detailed knowledge of poker but, at the same time, is enjoyable and readily understood by those who enjoy Keno as well as those who are only vaguely or not at all familiar with the game of poker.

Even those who are not familiar with poker or Keno are able to play the game of the present invention in its preferred form intel ligently because the odds of guessing successfully are printed on both the game board as well as upon slips given to each player for each game. Moreover, players can make inconsistent plays, if they so desire, by virtue of the arrangement of the game surface and the maner in which the game is played.

According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus for playing a game comprising at least one game board having positions on its surface marked with com binations and values that occur in the card game of poker, a group of balls, each of which is marked with a representation of a respective one of the cards in a conventional pack of playing cards used for the game of poker, means for selecting a plurality of balls from the said group, and electronic means adapted to be fed with details of the cards which the selected balls represent and to indicate the positions showing the combinations and/or values corresponding to the combinations and/or values of balls selected.

As is well known in the game of Keno, twenty winning numbers are selected at random from a clear plastic bowl or a metal cage called a 'goose' which contains eighty balls that are numbered from 1 through 80.

All of the balls are mixed by an air current and 20 balls are blown one at a time into two 'rabbit ears'. Such machines are conventional and are manufactured, for example, by Tripp Plastics, in Reno, Nevada. Other variations of this arrangement exist, but the foregoing is illustrative of the type of arrangement which is generally used. After the twenty balls are blown into the 'rabbit ears', the results are displayed on one or more Keno boards which can be located in places where the selected numbers are prominently displayed on the boards.

With the present invention in its preferred form the selecting means is in the form of a "goose" but instead of numbers 1 through 80 being provided on Keno balls in the "goose," 52 balls are present in the "goose" and each bears a representation of one of 52 cards in a conventional playing deck of cards used in poker. That is, each ball contains the representation of a suit (e.g. Heart) as well as a number or face card (e.g. 2, 3, 4 etc. or Jack, Queen or King). At the beginning of a game, the operator blows at random five balls from the "goose", where the 52 balls have been mixed or shuffled, into the "rabbit ears" in the order 1 through 5 to represent a dealer who normally places five cards face down from a deck of cards in dealing a poker hand.Prior to the five balls representing cards of a poker hand being blown into the "rabbit ears" each participant in the game can guess on slips whether each card is a high card (e.g., 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace) or a low card (e.g.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7). If, for example, five balls are blown into the rabibt ears, each participant will have the opportunity of guessing whether one or more of the five "cards" is a high card or a low card. Of course, the participants are not required to make any guesses for this purpose, although it is obviously expected that each participant having a slip will play in some aspect of the game during each "hand" that is dealt by the operator blowing the balls into the "rabbit ears" from the "goose." Furthermore, prior to the five balls being blown into the "rabbit ears" to represent the number of cards in a poker deal, each game participant will have the opportunity of deciding, for example, by indicating on his or her slip, if the cards in that hand are all red or all black, or if all the cards in the hand are faced cards (i.e., Jacks, Queens, and/or Kings).Furthermore, the participants have the option of guessing, based upon the odds printed on the game board, whether the dealt hand will constitute all high cards (e.g., 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace), a pair of sixes or better, a pat seven or better (i.e., 7 or lower with no pairings), all low cards (e.g. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7), two pairs, three of a kind, a straight, a flush, and/or a full house.

Prior to the beginning of each game, the participants can also mark on their slips their guess for playing 'pat hands'. The players are informed of the dealer's odds against the chances of a player's being successful based upon the information of the board. According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the highest card in such a pat hand can be an '8' card and the remaining cards must be lower and unpaired. A 'wheel', i.e. a straight of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 is considered by the dealer to deserve the highest odds in playing 'pat hands'.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 shows the arrangement on the surface of the board upon which the game results are electrically displayed in a conventional manner and which arrangement is also printed on slips used by the game participants; Figures 2 is a schematic view showing a conventional device for blowing the balls and thus constituting, in effect, a dealing of the 'cards' in conjunction with the game board and the slips used by the participants for indicating their guesses; and Figure 3 shows one of the balls representing the two of Spades.

Referring now to the drawing and, in particular, to Figure 1, a game board 10 is electrically operated in a conventional manner and is large enough, e.g. 3 feet high by about 4 feet wide, to be seen in a large room. The board, also designated by the numeral 10 in Figure 2, is provided with markings for electrically displaying the results of the balls blown by a Keno-type "goose" schematically shown and designated generally by the numeral 40 in Figure 2. On the board surface 10, there are five large numbers "1" to "5" to designate each of the five cards of a conventional poker hand which are blown up into "rabbit ears" 41 of the Keno-type goose 40 during the game.

The "goose" 42 contains fifty-two balls 43 representing the thirteen cards of each suit (Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs) conventionally used in the game of poker. A control panel permits the operator before the beginning of the game to mix or "shuffle" the balls in the goose and then blow or "deal" five balls into the "rabbit ears" 41.

On one side of approximately the center line of the board surface 10 are provided two rows of boxes 11 and 17 with the box in each row aligned under each large number.

One row 11 of five boxes (the boxes of which are designated only for description purposes here by the numerals 12 to 16) is adjacent the word "HI." Similarly, the other row 17 of five boxes (the boxes of which are designated only for description purposes here by the numerals 18 to 22) aligned with each large number and with the "HI" boxes is adjacent the word "Lo." The manner and sequence in which the players proceed to utilize these boxes will be described hereinbelow. However, it can be seen that the players have a choice for each card being dealt of calculating the chance of whether such card is a high card (i.e., 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, or Ace), or a low card (i.e., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7). In any event, the odds given for guessing whether such card is "HI" or "Lo" can also be stated in each of the boxes 12 to 16 and 18 to 22 as being 1 for 1.

On the other side of the imaginary center line of the game board 10 are provided a row 23 of boxes (designated only for purposes of description here bv the numerals 24 to 29) where the players can guess the chance of the cards 1 to 5 dealt in a hand being all in red suits and/or high cards (9 through Ace) and/or all face cards (Jacks, Queens, Kings), a pair of sixes or better, a pat 7 or better (no card higher than a seven and no pairings), and/or two pairs.

Again, the odds on the correctness of any such guess can be stated in each of the appropriate boxes and may vary according to the mathematical probability of achieving such a hand.

Likewise, there is also provided a row 30 of boxes (designated only for purposes of description here by the numerals 31 to 36) with a space for each player to guess if the card hand dealt by the Keno-type machine will contain cards all in black suits, and/or low cards (2 through 7), and/or three of a kind, and/or a straight, and/or a flush, and/or a full house, which terms are well-known in the game of poker and which are used here in the same sense. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the game board clearly shows that only for the two rows 11 and 17 of boxes, the players are clearly advised that "Aces Are High And 8 Is House Card in Hl-Lo Only." At the lower part of the game board (or, alternately in another form or embodiment, arranged in the center of the game board be tween rows 17 and 23), a box 37 larger than the above-described rows of boxes is provided for "Pat Hands." In this box are contained the instructions and odds for the cards of a hand which constitute "Pat Hands." For example, for pat hands an Ace may be considered a "1." According to a present preferred embodiment of the game, prior to the beginning of the game, a player who desires to guess on the value of a "pat hand" in box 37 must specify on his or her slip whether, if the hand is a "pat hand," the hand will be any 8 or under, or any 7-6 or under, or any 7-5 or under, and so on. As will be readily appreciated, the odds for making a correct guess of any 8 or under will be less than a correct guess for any 7-6 or under and so on. A player who guesses that the cards "dealt" in the hand when displayed on the board 10 at game's end will comprise a 5, 4, 3, 2, and an Ace (also known as a "wheel"), does so on the basis of the displayed odds which are the highest odds in view of the probabilities against such a hand being dealt.

The game board 10 is about three feet high by about four feet wide and the box in each row of boxes is about 3 inches by 3 inches.

However, it should be clearly understood that these dimensions may be different in other embodiments of the present invention. The board also contains on the right-hand margin, a portion 38 which can be lit up to show when the game is "closed," i.e., is not in play.

The left-hand margin 39 of the game board, on the other hand, contains a conventional means to light up sequentially the particular number of the game being played for control purposes. Each person who participates in this game will receive a slip 45, as shown in Figure 2, bearing basically the same pattern shown on the game board surface 10 described above.

For the control purposes, the slip may be previously or subsequently marked with the game number which must correspond to the results of the game number shown on the board.

Likewise, although not absolutely critical, the basic pattern of the rows of boxes on the game board surface 10 can also be produced on a keyboard panel 46 of the Keno-type "goose" so that as the balls representing the cards are blown into the "rabbit ears," the machine operator can punch the appropriate button for the box in the panel 46 which is electrically connected in a conventional manner or electronically relayed over a telephone type cord to the game board 10 using, for example, rear screen projection for displaying the five cards selected and lamps to light up the appropriate boxes on the game board.

Prior to the game, each participant marks one or more slips with the desired guesses.

The player need mark only one box or as many boxes as are desired, even if the guesses are inconsistent with the exception of box 37 for "Pat Hands" where the player must specify the pat hand value or under. After the slips are collected, the machine operator activates the machine which shuffles or mixes the balls and thereafter blows five of these balls into the rabbit ears corresponding to numerals 1 to 5 on the game board. As each of the five balls is blown, or alternatively after all of the five balls are blown, the cards are visually displayed in the box 47 beneath each of the numerals 1 to 5 in the order in which the balls were blown into the "rabbit ears." Depending upon the hand "dealt," the machine operator will by means of panel 46 activate and illu minate one or more of the appropriate boxes in rows 11, 17, 23, 30, and 37.Any player who has correctly guessed on the slip or slips with respect to one or more of the appropriate boxes is considered a winner and receives a number of chips or the like commensurate with the particular game odds.

It will be understood that the particular odds shown in the drawing may be varied in other embodiments of the invention.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. Apparatus for playing a game comprising at least one game board having positions on its surface marked with combinations and values that occur in the card game of poker, a group of balls, each of which is marked with a representation of a respective one of the cards in a conventional pack of playing cards used for the game of poker, means for selecting a plurality of balls from the said group, and electronic means adapted to be fed with details of the cards which the selected balls represent and to indicate the positions showing the combinations and/or values corresponding to the combinations and/or values of balls selected.

2. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 1, including positions marked on the board at which representations of the cards corresponding to the selected balls can be displayed.

3. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the positions marked on the board at which representations of cards can be display, are marked consecutively as '1', '2', '3', '4', and '5'.

4. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 2 or 3, wherein the positions marked with combinations and values include a first series of defined areas arranged in a row aligned with and corresponding to each card representationdisplaying position and actuatable to notify each player if the card aligned with that area has a value of '9', '10', Jack, Queen, King or Ace.

5. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the positions marked with combinations and values include a second series of defined areas arranged in a row aligned with and corresponding to each card representation-displaying position and actuatable to notify each player if the card aligned with that area has a value of "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", or "7." 6. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein the first series of defined areas is designated as the "HI" row and the second series of defined areas is designated as the "Lo" row.

7. A game apparatus as set forth in claim

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. the game, a player who desires to guess on the value of a "pat hand" in box 37 must specify on his or her slip whether, if the hand is a "pat hand," the hand will be any 8 or under, or any 7-6 or under, or any 7-5 or under, and so on. As will be readily appreciated, the odds for making a correct guess of any 8 or under will be less than a correct guess for any 7-6 or under and so on. A player who guesses that the cards "dealt" in the hand when displayed on the board 10 at game's end will comprise a 5, 4, 3, 2, and an Ace (also known as a "wheel"), does so on the basis of the displayed odds which are the highest odds in view of the probabilities against such a hand being dealt. The game board 10 is about three feet high by about four feet wide and the box in each row of boxes is about 3 inches by 3 inches. However, it should be clearly understood that these dimensions may be different in other embodiments of the present invention. The board also contains on the right-hand margin, a portion 38 which can be lit up to show when the game is "closed," i.e., is not in play. The left-hand margin 39 of the game board, on the other hand, contains a conventional means to light up sequentially the particular number of the game being played for control purposes. Each person who participates in this game will receive a slip 45, as shown in Figure 2, bearing basically the same pattern shown on the game board surface 10 described above. For the control purposes, the slip may be previously or subsequently marked with the game number which must correspond to the results of the game number shown on the board. Likewise, although not absolutely critical, the basic pattern of the rows of boxes on the game board surface 10 can also be produced on a keyboard panel 46 of the Keno-type "goose" so that as the balls representing the cards are blown into the "rabbit ears," the machine operator can punch the appropriate button for the box in the panel 46 which is electrically connected in a conventional manner or electronically relayed over a telephone type cord to the game board 10 using, for example, rear screen projection for displaying the five cards selected and lamps to light up the appropriate boxes on the game board. Prior to the game, each participant marks one or more slips with the desired guesses. The player need mark only one box or as many boxes as are desired, even if the guesses are inconsistent with the exception of box 37 for "Pat Hands" where the player must specify the pat hand value or under. After the slips are collected, the machine operator activates the machine which shuffles or mixes the balls and thereafter blows five of these balls into the rabbit ears corresponding to numerals 1 to 5 on the game board. As each of the five balls is blown, or alternatively after all of the five balls are blown, the cards are visually displayed in the box 47 beneath each of the numerals 1 to 5 in the order in which the balls were blown into the "rabbit ears." Depending upon the hand "dealt," the machine operator will by means of panel 46 activate and illu minate one or more of the appropriate boxes in rows 11, 17, 23, 30, and 37.Any player who has correctly guessed on the slip or slips with respect to one or more of the appropriate boxes is considered a winner and receives a number of chips or the like commensurate with the particular game odds. It will be understood that the particular odds shown in the drawing may be varied in other embodiments of the invention. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. Apparatus for playing a game comprising at least one game board having positions on its surface marked with combinations and values that occur in the card game of poker, a group of balls, each of which is marked with a representation of a respective one of the cards in a conventional pack of playing cards used for the game of poker, means for selecting a plurality of balls from the said group, and electronic means adapted to be fed with details of the cards which the selected balls represent and to indicate the positions showing the combinations and/or values corresponding to the combinations and/or values of balls selected.

5. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the positions marked with combinations and values include a second series of defined areas arranged in a row aligned with and corresponding to each card representation-displaying position and actuatable to notify each player if the card aligned with that area has a value of "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", or "7."

6. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein the first series of defined areas is designated as the "HI" row and the second series of defined areas is designated as the "Lo" row.

7. A game apparatus as set forth in claim

5 or 6, wherein the positions marked with combinations and values include a third series of defined areas being selectively actuatable to notify each player if the poker hand consists of all red cards, all high cards, all face cards, a pair of "6"s or better, a pat "7" or better, and two pairs.

8. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein the positions marked with combinations and values include a fourth series of defined areas being selectively actuatable to notify each player if the poker hand consists of all black cards, all low cards, three of a kind, a straight, a flush, and a full house.

9. A game apparatus as set forth in any of claims 4 to 8, wherein the positions marked with combinations and values include a defined area being selectively actuatable for notifying each player if the card of highest value in the poker hand dealt by the balls selected from the group of balls is no higher than "8" with the hand containing no pairs.

10. A game apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the marked positions on the game board have marked against them the odds against the particular combination and/or value occurring.

11. A game apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

12. A poker-Keno game apparatus in which one or more players can guess that a poker hand will contain particular card combinations and/or particular values of one or more cards, comprising at least one game board having positions on its surface marked with combinations and values that occur in the card game of poker; game slips having said positiondesignating means associated therewith so that a player can indicate his guesses for particular combinations and/or particular values in the poker hand in each game; a group of balls, each of which is marked with a representation of a respective one of the cards in a deck of playing cards used in the game of poker and means associated with said at least one game board for selecting a plurality of balls from the said group, and electronic means adapted to be fed with details of the cards which the selected balls represent and to indicate the positions on said at least one game board corresponding to the combinations and card values of the balls selected.