US2199497A - Educational device - Google Patents

Description

- May 7, 1940.

R. J. JONDREAU EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Filed Feb. 6, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l W w N-l NORTH HAND NORTH BID ON NEXT SLIP BELOW lMSTRUET/ON5 FOR OPERATING PLAYER TAKES SOUTH HAND TURNS BACK TOP SLIPIOF DEALERS HAND FOR OPENING BID RECORDED ON TOP or SECOND su IN was HAND AND PROCEED IN CONTRACT BRIDGE SEQUENCE. WHEN AUCTION ls COMPLETE TURN T0 sup IN HAND T0 LEFT 0F DECLARANT.

EAST 1 HAND EAST BID ON NEXT SLIP BELOW SOUTH' AND PLAYERS HAND NQFITH AND 6OUYH VIJLNERABLE SOUTH HAND: SPADES Q48! HEARTS ACLJ43 DIAMONDE J8 CLUB!) K2 HAVING TURNED TUF' SLIP OF 3 FRECEDING HANII6 AND NOTED THEIR BIDS ;E5TIMATE HIGH CARD DISTRIBUTION W N E ESTIMATE YOUR FIRST BID CORRECT BID ON NEXT SLIP BEL W WEST PLAY ON FIRST LEAD If! 6 OF DIAMO TRICK OPENING EAST EAST PLAYS FOUR OF CLUBS ON THIRD TRICK WEST COMPLETE HAND i SPADES IO 5 4 HEARTS K IO 5 DIAMONDS Q 9 6 CLUBS 5 7 6 5 N-5 NORTH NORTH BECOMES DUMMY AND HAND I5 EXPOSEDZ SPADES AK HEARTS B76 DIAMONDS K74 CLUBS PLAYER ESTIMATE me NORTH'S FIRST PLAY ON NEXT SLIP CORRECT THIRD AFTER OPENING LEAD AND EAST PLAY NOTED IVE-ESTIMATE DISTFEI- TI W E BU ON 5 PADES H E ARTS DIAMONED CLUBS TE CARD EST! SOUTH BID l5 PASS.

TO PLAY Fl 5T INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

May 7, 1940;

Filed Feb 6, 1937 R. J. JONDREAU EDUCATIONAL DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig 7 S-I I 5-2 I r H SOUTH HAND I UT AND DEALER FIRST BID FOUND ON SLIP I FIRST BID IS PAss 52 BENEATH THIS sun I III II I I I6 I /I6 I/I -I I I r' WEST HAND I H WEST Ia' I3'-" I II FIRST BID FOUND ON su I w-a BENEATH THIS sun I I I I I I I NORTH HAND FIRST BID FOUND ON SLIP N-Z BENEATH THIS SLIP EAST AND WEST VULNERABLE EAST HAND Z SPQDES HAVING TURNED S PRECEDING HANDS CARD DISTRIBUTIONI ESTIMATE YOUR BID TOP SLIPS OF ESTIMATE HIGH N S W TURN SLIP FOR YOUR CORRECT BID E-z EAST AND PLAYER H SPADES HEARTS I DIAMONDS CLUBS ESTIMATE OWN NEXT IBID I I I I I 1 INSTRUCTIONS TURNS BACK SLIPS IN CONTRACT BRIDGE SEQUENCE WHEN AUCTION IS COMPLETED T0 LEFT 0F DECLARANT CORRECT PLAY 0F CARDS IS RECORDED 0N SLIRS IN BRIDGE SEQUENCE.

FIRST "BID AND THEN OPENING LEAD IS FOUND IN HAND INSTR /Io' INVENTORI 4a/cm HWY.

Patented May 7, 1940 PATENT 'oFFicE EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Romeo J.- Jondreau, Surprise, N. Y. 7

Application February 6, 1937, Serial No. 124 360 v 4 Claims.

This invention relates to educational means and more particularly to apparatus for playing games and teaching individuals, either in groups or singly, the art of playing games normally requiring the participation of a group of several players.

It has been heretofore proposed to provide. means for teaching interested persons the art of correctly playing auction and contract bridge, whist, poker, and other games in which the measure of a -players ability is determined to a gresses. Insofar as applicant is aware, however,

no practical means have been heretofore provided whereby one or more individuals are enabled to play, either for pleasure vor instruction or both, 'a game which normally requires more than the number of individuals present without exposing to those present the cards or in the hands for which no players are available. When cards, which in the normal playing of a game are undisclosed to a particular player both during the bidding or betting and during the play, are

prematurely exposed, the very purpose of the apparatus or exposition is defeated, since it gives the player or players who are present advance knowledge which precludes his or their analysis of the hands or problem under actual playing conditions. Some devices and expositions have been proposed to overcome the disadvantages of prematurely exposing information, but all of these require considerable manipulation of comparatively complicated and expensive mechanisms or the services of a full. complement of players.

It is believed to be universally conceded. that .a

beginner. or even one skilled in the art of playing a game, such as contract bridge, learns and retains the fundamental conventions or new and advanced conventions of bidding and playing more easily if he is permitted to experience the application thereof to one or more specific problems Or hands under conditions simulating actual playing conditions. To become a good card player and particularly a good player at contract bridge, one must be sufliciently familiar with the standard conventions or rules so that their application becomes automatic. One must also possess the ability to determine by the application of conventions the probable distribution of cards in other hands. This familiarity and ability can best be acquired by practice and instruction under conditions which simulate actual playing conditions and yet give the player or pupil ample time for reflection on the various conventions which may be applicable to a particular problem and for unhampered analytical thought with respect to the probable distribution of the tokens in the several hands involved. r v

It is accordingly one of the objects o-ffthe present invention to provide novel means whereby one or more persons are enabled to play a game which normally requires additional players without having exposed to him or them any information which would not be available during the normal playing of the hand or game'by the required or some predetermined number of persons.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel game arrangement whereby a single player may play, for amusement and/or instruction, games, such as bridge or poker, which normally require aplurality of players, the sequence of events, such as bidding and playing, taking place in a natural and proper order' so that the player will havev disclosed to him at all stagesof the game onlysuch information as would naturally be revealed to him in the normal playing of a particular set of hands or game. v

Still. another object is to provide apparatus whereby a single individual is enabled to test his skill and judgment in bidding and playing in a game against correct bidding and playing in accordance with certain conventions.

A further object is to providea novel instruction means for teaching correct bidding and methods of play in card games whereby the pupil is questioned, at all stages of the game for the purpose of instructing him as to the proper reasoning and analytical thought for determining his proper bid or play against a prearranged combination of playing card hands which are cor rectly bid and played. u

A still further object'is to provide novel'means for instructing individuals in theart of playing games, said means being very simple, both in construction and operation, and adapted for, ready and inexpensive manufacture in large'quantities.

Another object is to provide a novel means for teachingindividualsthe art of properly and intelligentlyv playinga game which normally ree quires the services :of v a plurality of players, i

The above and further objects and novel features of the invention will more fully appear from i ters refer to like parts throughout the several views,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one form of device which may be employed in carrying out the present invention, the same being adapted for giving instruction in a game normally requiring four players;

Figs. 2 to 6, inclusive, are detail views, with parts broken away, of various parts of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. '7 is a top plan of a second embodiment; of the invention; and,

Fig, 8 is a similar view, with parts broken away and parts out of their normal position, of the embodiment of Fig. '7.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, by Way of example only, in its application to a bridge game in which four players are normally required, but it will be apparent from the following detailed description that the same is applicable to a large number of games, such as whist, five-hundred, various types or versions of the game of poker, etc. One form of the invention, illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, comprises a rectangular base member H) which may be made of any suitable material, such as stiff cardboard, Celluloid, or the like, and may be of any desirable or suitable size.

Each of the players who normally participate in the particular game for which the board or instructions are prepared is represented by a stack or pad ll consisting of a plurality of cards or slips l2 on each of which printed matter, the nature of which will appear hereafter, is recorded. Said pads are attached or secured to base It! by any suitable means, such as by rings IS, the latter extending through enlarged, alined openings in said pads and base at the edges thereof, whereby the individual slips 1?! of each pad may be readily turned back in succession, in the manner in which the pages of a book are turned, to reveal to the player the printed matter on successive slips. If desired, rings l3 may be of the collapsible or detachable type used in loose-leaf note-books, so that the same base H] may be used for a plurality of combinations or sets of players hands.

Each of the pads II is preferably secured to base Ill centrally of an edge of the latter so that said pads, when mounted, are in the same positions relative to the players or pupils pad as the actual players would be in an actual game, the fastening means 18 being so located as to permit the slips of each pad to be turned outwardly from the center of base Ill. Preferably, an identifying or reference name or character is given to each pad, such as East, West, North and South, the designations generally used for identifying the four hands of a bridge game. The number of slips in each of the pads H varies with the particular combination or distribution of cards or other tokens among the several hands involved. To insure the turning of the slips of each hand in the proper order by the player, the slips of each pad or hand are numbered consecutively from top to bottom, those of the West pad, for example, bearing numbers W-l to W-l8, inclusive. Other suitable systems of numbering slips or pages l2 may be employed, if desired. For example, said pages may be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are to be turned by the player.

As pointed out above, each pad H represents a player and accordingly a prearranged hand or combination of cards, the latter having been distributed among the players hands and the pert.

correct bidding and playing of the several hands having been determined in advance by an ex- The hands are preferably so chosen as to involve one or more specific problems which will occur under such conditions as to afford good examples for demonstrating to the pupil or player the proper application of one or more conventions of the game. If desired, the application of a relatively large number of conventions may be demonstrated in a single, properly chosen combination of hands.

A space M may be provided in the center of base H) by properly proportioning the sizes of said base and pads H, which space can be employed for accommodating printed instructions for the playing of the game, advertising matter, or the like. The spaces H3 at the corners of base IR may also be used for a similar purpose, if desired, or said corner spaces may be eliminated and the remaining portions of the base folded inwardly over the center to provide a pocket-size embodiment.

The embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, is illustrative of a prearranged bridge hand prepared for the amusement and instruction of a single player, the players or pupils hand being shown in the particular illustration as South. The player is enabled to play this normally four-handed game by himself under the same and even better conditions from the standpoint of instruction than when four players are present. At the beginning of the play, i. e., before any of the slips I2 of pads II have been turned, the single player or pupil, i. e., South, in the present instance, has no information whatever with respect to the hands of his fictitious opponents and partner, but the information normally available to a player at this stage of an actual game, such as the score, the vulnerability or the non-vulnerability of the two teams, the cards or tokens in his own hand, etc., appears on the first card S-l of his, the players, pad H, which should be arranged nearest to him.

For the purpose of instructing the player in the mental processes necessary for analyzing and evaluating his own hand, i. e., his own card combination, as shown on slip S--l, questions are printed on this slip to consciously prompt the correct reasoning and thought by the player. For example, a space may be provided for filling in the honor trick value of the hand and the players own estimate of his first bid. If West is the dealer and, accordingly, the opening bidder, as indicated on slip W-l in the illustrated example, the player turns back slip W! to find Wests first bid recorded on slip W--2. Proceeding then in regular contract bridge sequence just as if four players were present, the pupil turns back slips Nl and E-l in succession and finds bids for Norths and Easts hands recorded on slips N2 and 151-2, respectively. The three bids with which the player is now confronted are bids that have been passed upon by experts and accordingly the correct bids under the system of conventions being taught. This fact renders the present device even better than an actual four-handed game of bridge, from the standpoint of instruction, since the player is assured of the opportunity of testing his skill at applying conventions to the correct bidding of the undisclosed hands for the purpose of arriving at a conclusion with. respect to the probable distribution of the entire deck of cards.

Once the player, South, isconfronted with the three bids, he may be required to fill out other spaces on his slip S--i giving his estimate of the probable high-card distribution in the other'three hands, thereby stimulating his reasoning and,

which will not hamper him in his analysis as he is hampered in a game with a full complement of players by the necessity of hurrying. Correct thought and analysis cannot be stimulated by devices wherein the player is given advance information, such as the disclosure of all of the hands. The players advance knowledge, for example, of the actual distribution of the cards precludes him from applying the necessary conventions to determine the probable distribution as he is required to do under actual playing conditions. When using the novel device of the present invention, a player is taught the proper mental processes for given stages of the game, he is given an opportunity to exercise these processes with leisure and he is at all times confronted with only that information which would be available to him under actual playing conditions.

To further enhance the instructional value of the novel device comprehended, the player, after he has applied his own reasoning to the situation and made his own estimates in answer to the several questions pro-pounded by the author on slip S-I, turns to slip S2 and finds printed thereon the correct bid and the correct analysis, together with the reasons for the conclusions reached and an exposition of the manner in which certain conventions should be applied in arriving at such conclusions. The pupil is thus permitted to benefit by seeing his own mistakes made under actual playing conditions and by being advised of the reasons why he reached improper conclusions. This, in my opinion, is one of the best, if not the best, way to teach a person fundamental and advanced principles of a game of this character.

When the player has absorbed the correct information recorded on his card 8-2, he proceeds to turn cards W2, N-2 and E' -2, in that sequence, thereby disclosing on cards W3, N3 and E3, the proper second round bids of the fictitious players West, North and East, respectively. With this additional information, the player is again required to answer questions on his slip S-2 giving his own best estimate of his next bid, a re-estimate of the high card distribution in the other hands and any other questions which are suitable for the particular situation involved. Having answered these questions, he turns to slip S-'3 on which the correct answers to the questions on slip S-2 and the reasons for said answers are recorded.

The bidding continues in the above manner and the player is properly queried in the same manner to stimulate his correct analysis and bidding until the ultimate contract is reached. It has been assumed, for the purposes of the present illustration, that the player, i. e., South, wins the contract, his last bid being recorded on slip S-l (Fig. 5) and the opening lead is recorded on the next slip W-5 (Fig. 2) in Wests hand. North becomes dummy and accordingly on the next slip on Norths pad, i. e., slip N-5= (Fig. 3),. the cards held by that hand are recorded, thereby affording the player the same information which would be available to him at the same stage ofan actual game withsa full quota of players. The player is now required to play from both his own and Norths hands, as in an actual game, and queries are accordingly recorded on slip N5 (Fig. 3) and the succeeding slips in Norths hand regarding the proper play from the dummy. Just as on the players own pad, the correct answers to the queries on page N-5 are found on the next or succeeding page or slip N6. East's correct first play is found by turning the next slip on Easts pad or hand and the player is'again given the task of determining his own best play, his judgment being. again checked against the correct play which is notdivulged by the turning of page S--5 until the player has made his own selection and analysis. The play continues in regular contract bridge order or sequence, the correct plays for the players opponents,i. e., East and West, on the various tricks being recorded in the'manner shown in 'Fig. 4., for example, and the correct plays for North and South being recorded on the slips immediately below the ones on which the player is required to write his own best estimate U of his next play and the most probable card distribution. The player is thus given an opportunity to apply standard conventions of the game to particular situations under actual playing conditions. It has been found that, even though a player has knowledge of certain conventions, he does not have the ability to recognize the situations in actual play to which the conventions are applicable nor the ability to properly apply the same. The present invention will overcome this diniculty, when the same is diligently employed by the player, and thus render theapplication of conventions by him substantially au tomatic. j

On the last card or slip in each hand or pad (Fig. 6), there is recorded the complete card combination held by that hand in the particular problem that is worked out. If the player desires, he may have a non-participating individual prepare or sort a deck of cards and arrange the hands face down in the correct, predetermined order of play so that he may experience the actual playing of the cards as called for on the slips and thus more clearlyvsimul'ate an actual game.

It will, of course, be understood that no attempt has been made in the drawings to record a complete set of queries on any one of the illustrated slips because of the limited space and. the size of the printing required and that the questions propounded on the various slips may diifer materially for differentsets of hands, depending upon the particular problems and conventions which the author chooses to illustrate and solve or apply for the instruction of the player or pupil. The cards orstokens remaining in the players or dummys hands at all stages of the game may also be recorded on the appropriate slipsof those hands. It will be understood that each combination of hands may be prepared by the author for the instruction or amusement of more than one player, if desired, by recording questions and the correct answers thereto on the successive slips of more than oneof the pads, i. e., by making the desired number of pads similar to Souths or the players hand'in the embodiment of Fig. 1.

A second illustrative embodiment of the inven tion is shown in Figs. '7 and 8 wherein four pads or hands I I are secured to an elongated base ill which is made of cardboard or some like material by any suitable means such as staples I3. The several pads, representing the players or hands in a bridge game, may be joined to each other at their adjacent edges and the individual sheets perforated as at IE to provide for the ready separation of the slips from one another during the progress of the bidding and playing. Preferably, the length of base board I0 is somewhat greater than the combined widths of pads l i so as to provide a space I! for printed instructions or advertising.

In the embodiment of Figs. 7 and 8, East is chosen as the players hand and South as the dealers hand. Accordingly, slip Sl is turned back first to the position shown in Fig. 8 by tearing the same along the perforated line it at the base thereof. The opening bid is found on slip S2 and the succeeding bids by West and North are found on slips W2 and N-Z, respectively. Before turning slip E-l, the player should answer the questions and make the estimates called for thereon. The correct answers and estimates are then found by the player on slip E2. The play is continued by turning back the successive slips of the several hands or pads in regular contract bridge order or sequence, as above described in connection with the embodiment of Fig. 1. The printed matter on the slips of the several pads will be the same for the same combination of hands and the method of instruction and play is the same in both illustrated embodiments of the invention. It is accordingly believed to be unnecessary to again discuss the same in detail.

There is thus provided novel means whereby games normally requiring the services of a plurality of players may be played by a single person, either for amusement or instruction or both, and a novel means for instructing an individual under ideal conditions in the art of playing games, such as auction and contract bridge, poker, whist, etc. The player or pupil is instructed under actual playing conditions in the art of bidding and playing and particularly in the art of recognizing situations to which standard conventions are applicable and in the art of applying said conventions to the proper situations or problems. The means provided stimulate correct reasoning and analysis by the player in response to correct bidding by the players fictitious opponents and partner and permits him to analyze the problems and situations without being hurried or hampered by the presence of additional players. The above results are accomplished by means which are extremely simple, both in construction and operation, and by means which may be readily and inexpensively manufactured and distributed.

Although only two embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be expressly understood that the same is not limited thereto but that various changes may be made in the size, shape, design and arrangement of parts illustrated without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the slips of all of the hands may be bound together in book form, said slips being arranged in the order in which they must be disclosed to simulate the normal sequence or occurrence of events in the game being played. The player may, of course, record his answers and estimates on a separate sheet of paper and thereby render the device usable by any number of. persons or by one person anynumber of times. Any suitable materials may be used in the. construction of the devices embodying the invention and various other changes which will now be apparent to those skilled in the art may also be made. For a definition of the limits of the invention, reference will be had primarily to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus of the class described comprising a plurality of pads, each constituted by a plurality of slips, said pads being labelled to designate players in a game in which marked tokens are normally employed, the successive slips of some of said pads having recorded thereon the correct bids and plays in the order in which said bids and plays are to be made by the particular hands represented and the slips of at least one of said pads having recorded thereon questions and answers designed to stimulate proper mental processes on the part of an individual playing the game and represented by said last-named pad and to instruct said individual in the proper playing of the game, said questions and the answers thereto being recorded on successive slips of the same pad.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising a plurality of multi-leaf pads rep-resenting players hands in a game which is normally played with the services of a plurality of players, the leaves of said pads having the events which occur in. the normal playing of said game recorded thereon in their correct order of occurrence and at least one pad having questions relating to the playing of one of said hands and answers to said questions recorded on the successive leaves thereof, said questions and the correct answers thereto being recorded on different leaves.

3. Apparatus of the class described comprising a plurality of slips arranged in a plurality of stacks, each of said stacks representing a players hand in a game normally played by a plurality of players, said slips having the events which occur in the normal playing of said game recorded thereon and at least one stack having questions relating to the playing of one of said hands and answers tosaid questions recorded on some of the slips constituting the same, said questions and the answers thereto being recorded on different slips and said stacks being arranged to have the slips thereof removed in proper sequence to disclose said events to a player in the same order in which said events would occur under normal playing conditions and to disclose each of said questions prior to the disclosure of the correct answer thereto and the event to which the same relates.

4. A combination game and instruction device whereby a single person is enabled to play and obtain instruction in a game normally employing the services of a plurality of players comprising a stack of slips representing each of the players normally required to play the game, successive slips in each of said stacks having the bids and plays of the player represented thereby recorded thereon in proper sequence and successive slips of at least one of said stacks having instructive questions relating to the playing by the player represented by said stack and answers to said questions recorded thereon.

ROMEO J. JONDREAU.

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