US20080128992A1

US20080128992A1 - Playing card

Info

Publication number: US20080128992A1
Application number: US11/633,668
Authority: US
Inventors: Martin Dane Howell; Mace David Howell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-12-04
Filing date: 2006-12-04
Publication date: 2008-06-05

Abstract

An improved playing card is provided. In one embodiment, on each of the four corners of the face of a standard playing card is provided the rank and suit of the card in a font size that is relatively small compared to the font size of the rank and suit that appears elsewhere prominently on the face of the card.

Description

FIELD

The present invention is in the field of playing cards such as poker cards and pinochle cards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the accompanying drawings in which, like references may indicate similar elements:

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of a prior art playing card.

FIG. 2A depicts an embodiment of an improved standard playing card.

FIG. 2B depicts an embodiment of an improved jumbo index playing card.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following is a detailed description of example embodiments of the invention depicted in the accompanying drawings. The example embodiments are in such detail as to clearly communicate the invention. However, the amount of detail offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. The detailed description below is designed to render various embodiments obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
An improved playing card is provided. In one embodiment, on each of the four corners on the face of a standard playing card is provided the rank and suit of the card in a font size that is relatively small compared to the font size of the rank and suit that appears elsewhere prominently on the face of the card.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art cards that are used in a poker or pinochle deck of cards. In a poker deck, for example, the cards have a rank of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1. Each card also is of a suit: clubs, diamonds, hearts, or spades. Clubs and spades are printed in black ink, and hearts and diamonds are printed in red ink. The Kings, Queens, and Jacks are face cards and exhibit the faces of the rank. Each of the remainder of the cards, 1-10, exhibits the number of clubs, or diamond, or hearts, or spades corresponding to the card's rank. For example, the 10 of clubs exhibits 10 clubs, the nine of diamonds, exhibits 9 diamonds, etc.
In addition, each card has its rank and suit printed in a prominent font size in the upper left and lower right areas near the corner and side of the card as shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 102 and 104, respectively. In many, if not most card games, and poker in particular, one or more cards are dealt to each player face down. Each player may look at his own face-down, or “hole”, cards in a manner that does not reveal the cards to the other players. This may be done by gently lifting and/or slightly bending up the corner and side of the card that prominently exhibits the card's rank and suit near the corner and side of the card.
Prior art cards such as shown in FIG. 1 have several disadvantages. First, to reveal the rank and suit of a hole card, so much of the card must be lifted up to see its rank and suit that it might be revealed to another player. Also, a left handed person and a right handed person may experience different degrees of difficulty in lifting the upper left corner of the card to see the index (rank and suit) without the card being seen by another player. (When a card is face down, the upper left corner is at the end of the card closest to the player and to the left.)
An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B for an improved regular playing deck (FIG. 2A) and an improved jumbo index playing deck (FIG. 2B). As can be seen, an improvement provided by some embodiments of the present invention is the inclusion very near to each of the four corners of the card, the rank and suit of the card, reference numerals 202. Thus, to view a player's hole card, the player need only lift a corner of the card a slight amount to see its rank and suit. This can be done quickly, which is an advantage. Further, either the left-hand corner or the right-hand corner can be lifted to peek at the rank and suit of the card. Thus, right and left handed players may peek at their cards with equal ease, without revealing their hole cards to other players. Many poker players prefer to make only a quick peek at their hole cards, and the present invention facilitates a quicker peek than prior art cards. In some embodiments, then, a player may lift up either the left or right corner of the card to gain a quick peek at the card value.
The font size of the corner index (rank and suit) 202 is small relative to the font size of the side index 204. This is so that only a small portion of the card need be raised to see its rank and suit from the corner index 202, while also providing a larger index (rank and suit) 204 to be seen by all players at a stage of the game when the card is turned face up. Thus, some embodiments provide a corner index 202 in a relatively small font size in close proximity to each of the four corners of a card, and an upper-left and lower right side index 204 in a relatively large font. Notice that in the embodiments of FIG. 2A and of FIG. 2B, the elements (rank and suit) of the corner index 202 are place side by side, whereas the elements (rank and suit) of the side index 204 are placed one above the other. Thus, in some embodiments, the elements of an index may be placed side by side or one above the other.
For clarification, the following terms are defined herein:

- Index—the rank and suit of a card.
- Element of an index—the rank or suit depicted by an index. Thus, the rank is an element of an index and the suit is an element of the index.
- Corner index—the rank and suit of a card placed in close proximity to a corner of the card. In some embodiments, a corner index is placed in each of the four corners of the card. In some embodiments, a corner index is in a smaller font than another index denoting the rank and suit of the card displaced from a corner index.
- Side index—the rank and suit of a card placed at a side of the card, sometimes generally near a corner of the card, but displaced by some amount apart from the corner index. In some embodiments, a side index is in a larger font size than the font size of a corner index.
- Font size—the height and/or width of an index and its elements. In some embodiments, the elements of a corner index are in the same font size placed side by side. In some embodiments, the elements of a side index are in the same font sized placed one above the other. In some embodiments, the font size of an index displaced from a corner index is larger than the font size of the corner index.
- Face value—the rank and suit of a card. Thus, an index denotes the face value of the card.
- Top of the card—a side of a card that exhibits a width that is less than another side of the card. Thus, a card will typically have one side that is narrower than another. The narrower side is the top of the card.
- Side of the card—a side of the card that is wider than the top of the card.

Thus, one embodiment is an improved playing card, comprising, exhibited on the face of the card, in each of the four corners of the card, an index disclosing the rank and suit of the card. Embodiments may comprise, in an upper left side of the card and in a lower right side of the card and displaced from the corner indices, a side index disclosing the rank and suit of the card. Alternative embodiments may comprise, in an upper right side of the card and in a lower left side of the card and displaced from the corner indices, a index disclosing the rank and suit of the card in a larger font size than a font size of the corner indices. In some embodiments, a side index, displaced from a corner index, is in a larger font size than a font size of the indices exhibited on the four corners of the card. Thus, in some embodiments, the font size of the corner indices is smaller than a font size of one or more indices disclosing the card's rank and suit placed elsewhere on the face of the card.
Another embodiment is a playing card comprising, exhibited on the face of the card, in at least two corners of the card, an index disclosing the rank and suit of the card. The embodiment further comprises, exhibited on the face of the card and spaced apart from the corner indices, at least one index disclosing the rank and suit of the card in a font size that is larger than the font size of the corner indices. In some embodiments, at least one index spaced apart from the corner indices is placed on an upper left side of the card below a corner index. In another embodiment, at least one index spaced apart from the corner indices is placed on a lower right side of the card above a corner index. In some embodiments, a corner index is placed within a centimeter from a top of the card. In some embodiments, a corner index is placed within 7 tenths of a centimeter from a top of the card. In some embodiments, the elements of a corner index are placed side by side and the elements of an index displaced from a corner index are placed one above the other.
Another embodiment is a method for making a playing card, comprising, exhibiting on the face of the card, in at least two corners of the card, an index disclosing the rank and suit of the card. The embodiment of the method further comprises, exhibiting on the face of the card, spaced apart from the corner indices, at least one index disclosing the rank and suit of the card in a font size that is larger than the font size of the corner indices. In some embodiments, a corner index is of a width of about a centimeter and an index spaced apart from a corner index is of a height about 1¾ centimeters. In some embodiments, an index spaced apart from a corner index is of a height about 3½ centimeters. And in some embodiments, the elements of a corner index are placed side by side and the elements of an index spaced apart from a corner index are placed one above the other. Also, in one embodiment, in each of two corners is a small index and in each of the other two corners is a larger index.
Although the present invention and some of its advantages have been described in detail for some embodiments, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Although an embodiment of the invention may achieve multiple objectives, not every embodiment falling within the scope of the attached claims will achieve every objective. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

Claims

1. An improved standard or jumbo index playing card, comprising:

exhibited on the face of a standard or jumbo index playing card, in each of the four corners of the card, corner index disclosing the rank and suit of the card placed side by side in a font size much smaller than the font size of a side index, a side index near each of two corners vertically displaced from the nearest corner index to make room for the nearest corner index with the remainder of the standard or jumbo index playing card elements substantially unchanged.

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. The playing card of claim 1, wherein the font size of the corner indices is smaller than a font size of none or more indices or elements disclosing the card's rank or suit placed elsewhere on the face of the card.

6. An improved standard or jumbo index playing card, comprising:

exhibited on the face of a standard or jumbo index card, in at least two corners of the card, an index disclosing the rank and suit of the card in a font size that is much smaller than the font size of the side indices of the card, while leaving the remainder of elements of the standard or jumbo index card substantially unchanged.

7. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. The playing card of claim 6, wherein a corner index is placed within a centimeter from a top of the card.

10. The playing card of claim 6, wherein a corner index is placed within 7 tenths of a centimeter from a top of the card.

11. The playing card of claim 6, wherein the elements of a corner index are placed side by side.

12. The playing card of claim 6, wherein the elements of side index are placed one above the other.

13. The playing card of claim 6, wherein in each of two corners is a small corner index and in each of the other two corners is a larger corner index.

14. A method for making an improved standard or jumbo index playing card with small corner indices for taking a quick peek at a corner index, comprising:

exhibiting on the face of the card, in at least two corners of the card, an index disclosing the rank and suit of the card in a font size much smaller than a font size of side indices of the card, while leaving the remainder of elements of the standard or jumbo index card substantially unchanged.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a corner index is of a width of about a centimeter.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein side index spaced apart from a corner index is of a height about 1¾ centimeters.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein side index spaced apart from a corner index is of a height about 3½ centimeters.

18. (canceled)

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the elements of a corner index are placed side by side and the elements of side index spaced apart from a corner index are placed one above the other.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein in each of two corners is a small corner index and in each of the other two corners is a larger side index.

21. The improved playing card of claim 1, wherein a corner index is of a width of about a centimeter and a side index is of a height greater than about 1¾ centimeters.

22. The playing card of claim 6, wherein a side index is vertically displaced to make room for a corner index.

23. The playing card of claim 6, wherein a corner index is of a width of about a centimeter.

24. The playing card of claim 6, wherein a side index spaced apart from a corner index is of a height about 1¾ centimeters.

25. The playing card of claim 6, wherein a corner index is exhibited in each of the four corners of the card.

26. The method of claim 14, wherein a side index is vertically displaced from a corner to make room for a corner index.