US20080036147A1

US20080036147A1 - Poker chips with pictures to denote different dollar amount

Info

Publication number: US20080036147A1
Application number: US11/500,776
Authority: US
Inventors: Christopher J. Hostettler; Zachary King
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-08-08
Filing date: 2006-08-08
Publication date: 2008-02-14

Abstract

A special poker chip is manufactured to have special indicia thereon. The chip will be formed of special materials and will have special markings and colors. The value of the poker chips depends on the markings and the value of one chip relative to a second depends on the dominance of the marking on the one chip relative to the second chip. The chips can be collected in the manner of coin collecting.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the general art of games, and to the particular field of game accessories.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The history of playing cards is known to date from at least 894 A.D. from China. Although it is most probable that the invention of card games pre-dates this, and it is clear that the evolution of card games and especially poker has been quite steadily and continuously changing. The history of poker is a matter of some debate. The name of the game likely descended from the French poque, which descended from the German pochen “to knock.” There is still significant controversy of whether or not these games were the real origins of poker. Poker closely resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may have been taught to the French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. Poker is commonly regarded ad sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan. Even with the controversy regarding the history of Poker, today there are millions of people playing Poker and tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals collecting poker chips.
In fact, one single organization called the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, Inc. has more than six thousand members nationwide. There are more than 21,000 different documented chips from Nevada Casinos alone. In view of this interest, it would be desirable to have unique and novel poker chips that can also be collected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above-discussed disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by a special poker chip which is manufactured to have special pictures thereon to denote the value of the chip. For example, a bear picture on the chip will give the chip a greater value than a chip with a deer thereon because a bear is a more dominant animal than a deer. The chip will be formed of special materials and will have special markings and colors. The poker chips can also be collected in the manner of coin collecting.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the invention will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following FIGURE and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE

The invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The components in the FIGURE are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, in the FIGURE, like referenced numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 is perspective views of three chips embodying the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the FIGURE, it can be understood that the present invention is embodied in a poker kit of 500 11.5 gram poker chips, such as chips 10, 12 and 14 shown in FIG. 1. The chips are made of clay composite. The chips have various designs thereon as indicated in the FIGURE with each design being assigned a value. For example one chip may have an ornamentation associated with a bear and thus will have on dollar value which is higher value than a dollar value of a chip having the ornamentation of a deer or some other animal that is less dominant than a bear and so forth. For instance, a chip with a bear picture may be worth US$100.00, while a chip with a deer picture may be worth US$25.00. In an aquatic theme, a chip with a picture of a killer whale may be worth US$1,000.00; a picture of a shark worth US$500.00; a picture of a dolphin worth US$100.00, and etc.
Since the chips are decorated in such a unique manner, they can also be collected if desired. Collector sets comprise a stainless steel or leather carrying case, chips, two sets of playing cards, five Casino style weighted dice and a dealer's chip.
Collector's kits will include the following amount of chips:
3-4 players 300 set;
6-8 players 500 set;
6-8 players 500 set;
8-10+players 1000+set.
The chips will be unique and will be used for novelty games, collectors and gifts. He chips will be defined as “very rare,” “rare,” “scarce,” “uncommon,” and “very common.” Various types of dye and ink will further lend uniqueness to the chips. Colors can include Neon pink, Neon green or Lemon yellow.
Special colorants can also be added such as Starpaint-Sirius, Quinacridone Gold, Silver Cracked Ice, Silver Fireworks and Rain. Colorants of various shades, colors or pigments can be used.
The chips can be arranged to correspond to various other organizations, such as the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, Armed Forces, Harley Davidson chips, NASCAR or the like. The values of the chips can be assigned accordingly.
While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method of using a poker chip comprising:

A) decorating each poker chip of a plurality of poker chips with special ornamentation;

B) assigning a value to each chip depending on the decoration thereon; and

C) valuing each of the chips vis a vis other chips according to the decoration on the chips.

2. The method defined in claim 1 further including a step of collecting the chips; and grouping the chips into groups consisting of “very rare,” “rare,” “scarce,” “uncommon,” and “very common.”

3. The method defined in claim 2 wherein the chips are colored by adding special colorants.

4. The method defined in claim 2 wherein the chips are organized to correspond to selected organizations.

5. A method of using a poker chip comprising:

A) decorating different sets of chips, where each set of chips has a different animal figure thereon;

B) assigning a value to each set of chips depending on the animal figure on the each set of chips; and

C) valuing each set of chips vis a vis other set of chips according to the dominance of the animal figure on the each set of chips.