Amusement devices: games – Card or tile games – cards or tiles therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-26
2001-10-23
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Card or tile games, cards or tiles therefor
C273S274000, C463S012000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305689
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to card games and, more particularly, to Blackjack variant card games.
With the expansion of gaming and the increase in competition, casinos are striving to offer a wider variety of games. Growth in slot machine popularity and the increase in variety of specialty games has resulted in the overall reduction in conventional Blackjack (“21”) tables.
Many casinos, however. are reluctant to reduce the number of Blackjack tables because of the inherent game attractiveness to both players and casinos. The game is based on simple concepts and procedures that are readily understood by both casual and regular players. Moreover, the game requires relatively low overhead to facilitate and monitor. In addition, floor space is limited in a casino, and casino operators are reluctant to replace an income-generating Blackjack table with a new game variety.
In conventional Blackjack, however, experienced players can utilize established strategies to practically eliminate the house advantage. The ability to eliminate the house advantage is obviously a concern for casino operators. Additionally, less experienced or beginning players may be hesitant to play Blackjack because they are aware that such strategies exist, but are unable to execute them themselves. Novice players play poorly even with some knowledge of the basic strategy and therefore have a more negative experience than might otherwise have been the case. Still further, with conventional Blackjack, these established strategies can be enhanced to actually achieve a player advantage when coupled with the use of card counting. Although discouraged in most casinos, it is difficult to police card counting as a rehearsed card counter can typically count cards without exhibiting any outward appearance of counting.
Still further, disputes between the players can arise when novice players are seated with experienced players. That is, a novice player may instruct the dealer to deal an additional card or instruct the dealer not to deal an additional card when the experienced player believes the contrary was appropriate. Often, the experience player perceives that the novices improper instruction resulted in an adverse outcome.
Another drawback associated with conventional Blackjack is that the dealer is instructed to deal a player's hand through particular gestures by the player. It is possible that these gestures may intimidate novice players. Moreover, if a dealer misinterprets a particular gesture, a likely dispute must be resolved.
In an attempt to accommodate the desire for variety and the retention of a significant Blackjack presence, several Blackjack variant games have been introduced. These games include Multiple Action Blackjack, Spanish 21, Face-Up 21, and Royal Match. See. e.g.. U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,917 to Vancura. A summary of known Blackjack variants is discussed in the Vancura patent. Spanish 21, however, seems to be the only Blackjack variant that has endeavored to address the primary problems of Blackjack. In Spanish 21, the cards with a value of 10 are removed from the regular deck. As the 10 cards are valuable for a card counter, Spanish 21 is less attractive to the card counter. The removal of 10's alone increases the house advantage too high, so additional play options and bonus pays are incorporated to give a better balanced house advantage. However, there is still a best basic strategy for Spanish 21, which the majority of players are probably unaware is quite different from regular basic strategy. Thus, while the game is an enjoyable variant and has achieved some popularity, many players will have had a substantively more negative experience than at regular Blackjack.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, a “reverse” Blackjack derivative provides a game that eliminates the experienced players′ ability to significantly reduce house advantage using an established strategy. The game also eliminates the potential impact of card counting. Moreover, by virtue of the method and apparatus according to the invention, novice players play the game correctly and are thus not intimidated, player disputes are eliminated amongst each other as well as versus the dealer; thus, the adversarial nature of the game is removed, and casino operators need not replace an existing Blackjack table.
According to the present invention, the game of reverse Blackjack, so called JackBlack,™ is played on Blackjack-shaped table with dealer and cards similar to a Blackjack game. Similar to conventional Blackjack, each player receives two cards and the dealer receives two cards. Unlike regular Blackjack, however, both the dealer cards rather than only one, are exposed, and the dealer hand is completed first. If the dealer is still in the game after resolving the dealer hand, the players then play out their hands until either tying or beating the dealer or exceeding an upper limit.
This reverse play methodology has a dramatic impact on the dynamics of Blackjack. Because there is no skill element, the house advantage must be set higher than for regular Blackjack. This is because the majority of Blackjack players play at less than optimum strategy, whereas at JackBlack™ according to the invention, everybody plays a correct strategy. The use of a higher basic house advantage deters skilled players from playing JackBlack™.
Operationally, there are significant advantages resulting from the method and apparatus according to the invention. First, the player cannot make an error, as the dealer deals and totals all cards without a player having to request cards. Second, a player does not need to memorize or use hand signals to the dealer in order to indicate whether requesting an additional card or standing with the current hand. Third, disputes between the dealer and player over a misunderstanding of hand signals are eliminated. Fourth, disputes between player and player over whether a player was correct or not to make a certain play are eliminated. Fifth, the supervisors do not have to spend time following the play pattern of higher-stakes players to determine if the player is using advanced skill techniques such as card counting or shuffle tracking.
Still further, there are additional advantages from a casino operator point of view. That is, there is no downtime where a player deliberates about whether to draw a card or not, thus improving the speed of play. Moreover, when the dealer hand exceeds an upper limit (bust), there has been no time spent on improving or busting player hands and no associated depletion of the cards remaining. Similarly, when the dealer busts, all hands push (tie), so there was no requirement to take or pay wagers. Additionally, when the dealer is still in the game after resolving the dealer hand. each player draws cards automatically until tying, winning or exceeding the upper limit, resulting in a procedure where busted hands are removed and wagers taken. tied hands are removed and wagers stand, and players remaining with cards win, enabling all payoffs to be made at the same time.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention are achieved by providing a method of playing a card game including:
(a) dealing hands of cards to a player and to a dealer;
(b) determining a numerical total of the dealer's hand, wherein:
(b1) if the numerical total of the dealer's hand is below a lower limit, dealing an additional card to the dealer and repeating step (b),
(b2) if the numerical total of the dealer's hand is equal to or greater than the lower limit without exceeding an upper limit, proceeding to step (c), and
(b3) if the numerical total of the dealer's hand exceeds the upper limit, discarding the dealer's hand and skipping steps (c) and (c1)-(c4); and
(c) determining a numerical total of the player's hand, wherein:
(c1) if the numerical total of the player's hand is below the numerical total of the dealer's hand. dealing an additional card to the player and repeating step (c),
(c2) if the numer
Layno Benjamin H.
Mendiratta Vishu K
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
Prime Table Games LLC
LandOfFree
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