US20060033278A1

US20060033278A1 - Card game

Info

Publication number: US20060033278A1
Application number: US10/916,145
Authority: US
Inventors: James Conde
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-08-11
Filing date: 2004-08-11
Publication date: 2006-02-16

Abstract

A pack of playing cards includes a first deck each card having a common identifying indicia printed on a first face thereof and a second face which includes a military indicia corresponding to one of a plurality predetermined categories wherein one of the categories includes at least two cards having game determining indicia printed thereon and another of the categories includes a plurality of cards having specialty card indicia printed thereon, and a second deck each card having a common identifying indicia which is different from the indicia of the first deck printed on a first face thereof so that all the first faces look substantially identical and a second face which includes a military indicia corresponding to one of a plurality predetermined categories wherein each of the categories is given a predetermined rank indicia relative to each other.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a card game which may be played by two or more persons for amusement and education. Various card games have existed for thousands of years and the present invention aims to provide a novel game for use of amusement and joy of the participants. Currently, well known card games include as poker, spades, Caribbean stud, hearts, canasta, rummy, crazy eights, Uno®, and bridge. While there exist a number of prior card games, the present invention provides a novel game over the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a card game which is amusing as well as educational. To this end, the participants are provided with a card game wherein the participants use cards bearing predetermined military indicia (which are part of a first so-called “Green deck”) in order in order to capture a Flag card (which are part of a second so-called “Red deck”) from their opponent(s). For example, participants can agree to capture the Flag card from an opponent five, eight, or ten times, depending on how long the participants wish to play.
As indicated, the card game provides for two decks which are distinguishable, for example, by color, one deck being red sided and another deck green sided. The red and green decks include various printed military indicia on one face of each card wherein each particular indicia can be given a specific numeric or special value which can be printed adjacent the indicia with the respective green or red color is on each card's other side. As one attempts to capture an opponent's Flag card, the opponent can hide the Flag card with other cards from the Red deck, so the opposing team is less likely to find the Flag card.
A participant gains and loses two cards from the red deck throughout the game which enables the opponent to hide its Flag card. The other Red deck cards provided include a Secret Agent card and Guard card (otherwise referred to as specialty cards herein). The Secret Agent and Guard cards are mixed in with the Flag card and are placed face down, so the opposing team is unable to determine which card bears the Flag indicia.
The Green deck is used for a round of play. A round of play consists of a predetermined number of points, e.g., five possible points, which can be won. The participant(s) goal as a team is to win as many points as possible in a round. This is accomplished by playing a higher numbered card or specialty card than the opponent, or by playing the dominant color of a particular round, as described hereinafter.
The winner of the majority of points for a particular round receives a Secret Agent or Guard card to protect aid in protecting one's Flag card. The number of points won in a round equate to the number of opportunities (so-called shots) earned in each round to take at picking up the card thought to be the Flag card, which is mixed among the Red deck cards. The team that won the most points in a particular round of play starts the card picking and each team will go back and forth until all shots for that round have been taken.
As shots are taken at the red cards, one will lose red cards including Secret Agents, Guards and/or Flag cards. If a Guard card is turned over, the Guard card is used as a shield and is placed in a pile with other discovered Guard cards. If a Secret Agent card is turned over, the Secret Agent card gains an opportunity to shoot back at the opposing team, and is likewise placed in a pile with other discovered Secret Agent cards. It is beneficial to have as many Secret Agent cards collected as possible.
The Green Deck includes General and Da Bomb cards which are the highest ranking cards in the Green deck. When a player wins a point by playing a General card, the player gains one shot at picking the opponent's Flag card. When player win a point by playing the Da Bomb card, the player receive two attempts at the opponent's Flag card. Each team keeps track of the number of shots earned in each round and at the end of each round the players take turns picking the card player think is the Flag card, which is mixed among the Red deck cards. The team that won the most points in a particular round of play starts the card picking and each team will go back and forth, until all shots for that round have been taken.

BRIEF OF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows one of the two Flag cards in the red deck;
FIG. 2 shows one of the eight Secret Agent cards in the red deck;
FIG. 3 shows one of the twelve Guard cards in the red deck;
FIG. 4 shows the “Da Bomb” card in the green deck;
FIG. 5 shows one of the four General cards in the green deck;
FIG. 6 shows one of the four Colonel cards in the green deck;
FIG. 7 shows one of the four Captain cards in the green deck;
FIG. 8 shows one of the four Lieutenant cards in the green deck; and
FIG. 9 shows nine of the twenty-eight Helmet cards in the green deck.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, the card game of the present invention includes two decks of cards, one which is by way of example, denoted the “Red Deck” having 22 cards and the other the “Green Deck” having 45 cards, each of which will be more fully described hereinafter. The card game provides for two decks which are distinguishable, for example, by color of example, one deck being colored red on a first face of each card thus called “Red deck” and another deck being colored green on a first face of each card thus called the “green deck”. It is understood that other respective markings can be employed to distinguish the decks. The red and green decks include various printed military indicia on a second face of each card wherein each particular indicia can be given a specific numeric or special value which can be printed adjacent the indicia. In addition, each number and/or indicia on the second face can be colored to distinguish like cards such as red, blue, black or white (making one dominant over the other) as will be explained hereinafter.
There Green deck is used to play each round of play. In order of highest to lowest rank, the cards are as follows:
For the Green Deck:

Number of cards

Card name in the deck Rank Point Value

Da Bomb 1 1 Special Trump

Generals 4 2 Special Trump

Colonels 4 3 12

Captains 4 4 11

Lieutenants 4 5 10

Helmets 28 6 to 12 9 to 3
For the Red Deck:

Number of cards

Card name in the deck Rank Value

Flags 2 1 Win Piece

Secret Agents 8 2 Used as a Weapon

Guards

12 3 Used as a Shield)

Secret Agents and Guards are won and lost throughout the game.

Number of Players:
The number of players is preferably designed for Two, Four, or Six players. The card game pits one team against another, so there must have an even number of players. The game is preferably best for use with four players.
As stated, the object of the game is to capture a predetermined number of Flag cards from the opponent(s). One can set the amount of Flag cards to be captured at five, eight, or ten times, depending on how long the players wish to play. As a player attempts to capture an opponent's Flag card, the player will hide his/her own Flag card with cards from the Red deck, so the opposing team is less likely to defeat his/her team.
A player gains and/or loses Secret Agent and Guard cards (also referred to as specialty cards) from the Red deck throughout the game to enable the player to hide his/her Flag card. The Secret Agent and Guard cards are mixed in with the Flag card and are placed face down, so the opposing team is unable to determine which card is which.
The Green deck is used for a round of play. A round of play consists of a predetermined number of points, e.g., five possible points, which can be won. The goal as a team is to win as many points in a round as possible. This is done by playing a higher numbered card or higher ranking specialty card than one's opponent, or by playing the dominant color of a particular round.
If a player wins all or the majority of points for a particular round, then such player gains a Secret Agent card or Guard card to protect the player's flag. The highest ranking cards in the Green deck are the “Da Bomb” (picture of a bomb) and “General” cards. When a player wins a point by playing a General card, the player gains one shot at picking the opponent's Flag card. When a player wins a point by playing the Da Bomb card, the player receives two attempts at the opponent's Flag card.
Each team keeps track of the number of shots earned in each round and at the end of each round each player take turns picking the card player think is the Flag card. The team that won the most points in a particular round of play starts the card picking and each team will go back and forth, until all shots for that round have been taken.
As shots are taken, a player will lose Secret Agents and Guard cards. If a Guard card is turned over, it is used as a shield and is placed in a separate formed pile of Guard cards. If a Secret Agent is turned over, this provides the player owning such card an immediate shot back at the opposing team (i.e., a free pick at the player's Flag card). The Secret Agent card is placed in a separate formed pile of the Secret Agents. It is therefore beneficial to have as many Secret Agent cards as possible. In order to understand the sequence of the game it is important for player to go through the following steps:
Step 1:
Obtain a piece of paper to keep score of the number of points won in a round, shots to be taken, and Flag cards captured throughout the game. Give each team a special name, like the night hawks, stealth bombers, bad girls, etc.
Step 2:
If there are four people playing, then teammates should be sitting directly across from one another. Your opponent should be on your left and right where the positions of teammates are staggered.
Step 3:
One player is picked to be the first dealer, who shuffles and deals cards from the Green deck (45 cards). Another player, preferably an opponent, will deal from the Red deck and give each team four cards. These cards are: a Flag card, a Secret Agent card; and two Guard cards. One member of each team will take the four cards from the Red deck and mix them up and place them face down so that the opponent does not see the position of any particular card. A player can make this fun by “leading” the opponent in a certain direction by placing cards in such a way that the Flag card appears to be somewhere it is not. The remaining 14 Red deck cards will be kept to one side, face up, wherein the remaining cards of the Red deck can be separated into two piles of Guard and Secret Agent cards and these will be taken from and added to throughout the game.
FIG. 1 shows one of the two Flag cards in the red deck. The Flag card is an outcome determinative piece during the game and must be protected throughout the course of the game. FIGS. 2 and 3 show one of the eight Secret Agent cards and one of the twelve Guard cards in the Red deck, respectively. Guard and Secret Agent cards can be positioned around one's Flag card in order to accomplish this goal. Strategy is used to position Guard and Secret Agent cards around the Flag card in such a way to “lead” your opponent into a trap in choosing an incorrect card. If a Flag card is captured, the capturing player gets 1 Flag Point, and the Flag card is then subsequently mixed back into the losing team's Guard and Secret Agent cards for play again.
The Secret Agent card is provided by rule to have a special power and it may be positioned adjacent the Flag card, for example. When the opponent selects (shoots at) the Secret Agent Card, the Secret Agent Card can immediately provide the player with such card the ability to select (shoot back at) one of the opponent's cards in an effort to obtain the opponent's Flag card. So, if the Secret Agent card is flipped over, the team that was fired upon gets to take a shot at the opposing team's Flag card. Once the Secret Agent card is turned over, such card is put into the extra Red deck cards sitting off to the side.
The Guard card guards the Flag card. When the opponent takes a shot at the Red Deck and this card turns up, the Guard card can be used as a shield and is placed in a stack of extra red cards sitting to one side of the player.
Gaining Secret Agents and Guards Back: Every time a Guard card or Secret Agent card is turned over during play, the card is lost. However, upon winning a predetermined number of points (e.g., five points) in a round, a player may obtain a Secret Agent card and mix it with the remaining cards. If a player wins the majority of points during a round of play (e.g., at least 3 points) then a Guard card may be obtained and mixed in with the remaining cards.
Step 4:
The deal of the Green cards goes to the left, and each player is dealt five green cards, face down. Of the five green cards dealt, there are four potential colors of cards in a player's hand. These colors are Red, White, Blue, and Black, and the number on each card will range from 3-12 as indicated in above for the Colonel, Captain, Lieutenant, Helmet with the General card and Da Bomb card, wherein the Da Bomb card is not numbered and does not correspond to a particular color, as it is the highest valued card (a wild card) in the Green deck. FIGS. 4-9 show the Da Bomb, General Colonel, Captain, Lieutenant, Helmet cards in the Green deck, respectively, which on the military indicia side are also printed in one color, for example, red, white, blue, or black.
Step 5:
The player to the left of the dealer looks at his/her hand and decides which color would be the best to call as the dominant color for that particular round of play. For example, if you have a relatively large number of medium to high ranking blue cards, you would call the color blue as dominant color. So, if the dominant color is blue, then that is the color that can beat all other colors for that round of play. If the player to the left of the dealer defers not to “call” a dominant color, then the “call” proceeds to the next player, and so on, until the “call” reaches the dealer, and the dealer must pick a dominant color.
Step 6:
After a player calls red, white, blue, or black, play begins to the left of the person that called the color.
Step 7:
The person that plays the first card can play any color card he/she wishes. The first card does not have to be the dominant color. The dominant color is the dominating color for that particular five point round, for example.
Step 8:
After the first person plays a color, which can be the dominating color, all other players must follow the same color, if that color is in his/her hand. If the color is not in one's hand, then the player may “throw off” by playing a color that they wish to rid. If the color that is “thrown off” is the dominating color for that round, it is possible to win that point, even if the number on the card is lower than the other cards thrown, i.e.,. it becomes a trump card, because the dominating color is the stronger color for that round. For example, if someone leads with a red 12 and then a red General is played, then a red 6, but the last person does not have any red cards and throws a blue 3, if the dominating color for that round is blue then the person that threw the blue 3 has successfully won that point. The strength of cards is as follows which in turn dictate how a point is won: Da Bomb, dominating General, Highest dominating color card, General, highest numbered card. Points are won by playing the highest card of a particular color played, playing the highest dominating color, or throwing Da Bomb card. If you have a same color card that is played preceding your play, you must play that same colored card. If not, you can play any other colored card, including the dominating color for that round.
Step 9:
For this example, there are five possible points to win in each round where each player is dealt five cards each round. Once a team has won a point, the team member that won that point plays the next colored card. This can be any color the point winner wishes. All other players must play the color or “throw off” and play continues to the next player to left. This process continues until all five points are won or lost. Since there are five possible points, one team will always win a round and one team will always lose a round.
Step 10:
After each round of play, teams have a chance(s) to capture the Flag card. These chances are gained by winning points with either a General or Da Bomb card. If a player wins a point by playing a General, the player may take a single shot at the other teams Flag card, the players will keep track of all shots to be fired during each round of play and take turns firing back and forth, with the winner of that round starting the shots at the other's Flag card.
A point must be won in order to take a shot at the end of a round. For example, if you play a red General card and the dominating color of that round is blue, and your opponent throws off a blue 3 card, the player does not take note of a shot and does not get a shot at the end of the round. If a player wins a point by playing a Da Bomb card, the player may take two shots at the opponent's Flag card at the end of the round. The Da Bomb card is the highest ranking card in the green deck and trumps any other card, including the dominating General card for a particular round. The only situation when two shots cannot be taken is when the opposing team has only one red card left, which is the Flag card.
Although this card game has been described herein in a specific embodiment, it is contemplated that various other indicia can be used and adapted to the definitions and rules of the card game of this invention. Thus there has been shown and described novel means for a card game. The present invention fulfills all the objects and advantages set forth above. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, however, that many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications for the subject invention are possible. All such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention.

Claims

1. A pack of playing cards for playing a card game, including:

a first deck of playing cards, all said cards of said first deck having a common identifying indicia printed on a first face thereof so that all said first faces look substantially identical, and wherein said cards of said first deck each have a second face which includes a military indicia corresponding to one of a plurality predetermined categories wherein one of said categories includes at least two cards having game determining indicia printed thereon and another of said categories includes a plurality of cards having specialty card indicia printed thereon,

a second deck of playing cards, all said cards of said second deck having a common identifying indicia which is different from said common identifying indicia of said first deck printed on a first face thereof so that all said first faces look substantially identical, and wherein said cards of said second deck each have a second face which includes a military indicia corresponding to one of a plurality predetermined categories wherein each of said categories is given a predetermined rank indicia relative to each other.

2. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said first deck common identifying indicia is a first color and said second deck common identifying indicia is a second color.

3. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said game determinative indicia is a flag.

4. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said specialty card indicia is a guard.

5. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said specialty card indicia is a special agent.

6. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said military indicia is a bomb.

7. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said military indicia is a general.

8. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said military indicia is a colonel.

9. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said military indicia is a lieutenant.

10. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said military indicia is a captain.

11. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said military indicia is a helmet.

12. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein one of said categories within said second deck includes a plurality of cards having a common military indicia and one of a plurality of colors on said second face.

13. The pack of playing cards according to claim 1, wherein said first deck includes twenty two cards and said second deck includes forty five cards.

14. The pack of playing cards according to claim 13, wherein said first deck includes two cards bearing said determining indicia and said second deck includes a wild card.

15. The pack of playing cards according to claim 14, wherein said first deck includes twenty cards bearing said specialty card indicia and said second deck includes forty four cards bearing said military indicia.

16. The pack of playing cards according to claim 15, wherein said second deck includes a first category four cards bearing the number three, second category four cards bearing the number four, third category four cards bearing the number five, fourth category four cards bearing the number six, fifth category four cards bearing the number seven, sixth category four cards bearing the number eight, seventh category four cards bearing the number nine, eighth category four cards bearing the number ten, ninth category four cards bearing the number eleven, tenth category four cards bearing a second highest rank value in said green deck next to said wild card.

17. A method of playing a card game, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a deck of cards having a first deck of playing cards, all said cards of said first deck having a common identifying indicia printed on a first face thereof so that all said first faces look substantially identical, and wherein said cards of said first deck each have a second face which includes a military indicia corresponding to one of a plurality predetermined categories wherein one of said categories includes at least two cards having game determining indicia printed thereon and another of said categories includes a plurality of cards having specialty card indicia printed thereon,

a second deck of playing cards, all said cards of said second deck having a common identifying indicia printed on a first face thereof which is different from said common identifying indicia of said first deck so that all said first faces look substantially identical, and wherein said cards of said second deck each have a second face which includes a military indicia corresponding to one of a plurality predetermined categories wherein each of said categories is given a predetermined rank indicia relative to each other, wherein one of said cards by rule provides for a chance to pick up one of said game determining indicia cards;

(b) dealing cards from said first deck wherein each team is dealt at least one card having said game determining indicia and at least one card having said specialty card indicia, wherein each team places said dealt cards with said second face down on a playing surface;

(c) dealing cards a plurality of cards equally to each of from said second deck;

(d) each team playing a dealt card from said second deck with the player that played the highest ranked card taking the cards as a trick and acquiring a point;

(e) repeating step (d) until the dealt cards have been played;

(f) determining whether one of said teams is provided with said chance, wherein said chance is taken by said team; and

(g) repeating steps (c)-(f) until said game determining indicia card is chosen.

18. The method of playing a card game of claim 17, wherein one of said categories within said second deck includes a plurality of cards having a common military indicia and one of a plurality of colors on said second face and wherein prior to step (d) one of said teams calls for a one of said colors to be dominant over cards bearing common military indicia with different colors.

19. The method of playing a card game of claim 17, wherein of said categories within said second deck includes a wild card which trumps all other cards played.