Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Betting or wagering board
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-21
2001-12-11
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Betting or wagering board
C273S292000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328305
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to casino games. Specifically, the present game is a wagering game utilizing Chinese tiles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pai Gow is a well known gambling game which originated in China and is played with a set of thirty two tiles. Each tile includes a number of pips which indicate the rank of the tile. For reasons of tradition, the rank of the tile is not directly related to the number of pips on the tile. For example, a tile with twelve pips is the highest ranking tile; a tile with three pips is the lowest ranking tile.
A game of Pai Gow begins with the players making a wager. The dealer separates the tiles into eight piles of four tiles each. Three dice are rolled to determine the distribution of the tile hands. The tile hands are distributed to the players and each player organizes his or her tiles into a high hand and a low hand with each hand having two tiles. The low hand must have a lower ranking than the high hand according to the well known ranking of Pai Gow tiles. The dealer likewise organizes his or her tiles into high and low hands.
The wagers are resolved by comparing the rank of the player's high hand and low hand to the dealer's high hand and low hand, respectively. If both the player's high and low hands outrank the dealer's high and low hands, the player wins and is payed even money, less a five percent commission to the casino. If the dealer's high and low hands outrank the player's high and low hands, the dealer collects the player's wager. If one, but not both, of the player's hands outrank the one of the dealer's hands, the game is a push and the wager is neither collected nor paid.
Another game which utilizes Chinese tiles is called Tien Gow. The object of Tien Gow is to win points by taking tricks, much like card games such as bridge or hearts. To play Tien Gow, eight tiles are dealt to each player. One player leads by playing a tile combination composed of one to four tiles. Each player, in turn, plays a set composed of the same number of tiles. After all four players have played, the player who played the highest ranking set takes the trick. Tien Gow uses a ranking system similar to Pai Gow but has heretofore not been a viable game for use in casinos because the large number of tiles used in the game (eight rather than four) and the potential for cheating or cooperative play.
It can be seen that there is a need in the art for a gambling game different from Pai Gow which uses Chinese tiles and may be played in casinos.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A casino game played between a dealer and at least one player using a set of Pai Gow tiles begins with each player making an initial wager. The dealer deals three tiles to himself or herself and to each player. The dealer and the players arrange the dealt tiles into two hands: a single-tile hand and a two-tile hand.
The dealer resolves each player's wager by comparing the dealer's single-tile hand to each player's single-tile hand and the dealer's two-tile hand to each player's two-tile hand. With respect to the single-tile hands, the dealer compares the rank of the player's single-tile hand to the dealer's single-tile hand. The single-tile hand with the higher ranking is the winning single-tile hand. If the rank of the player's single-tile hand equals the rank of the dealer's single-tile hand, the single-tile hands are declared tie hands. In ranking the single-tile hands, the conventional rankings of Pai Gow are used.
The dealer next compares the sum of the pips shown on the face of the tiles of the player's two-tile hand to the sum of the pips shown on the tiles of the dealer's two-tile hand. In an optional embodiment, the sum may be modulo ten. The two-tile hand with the higher sum is the winning two-tile hand. If the sum of the player's two-tile hand equals the sum of the dealer's two-tile hand, the dealer next compares the Pai Gow rank of the player's two-tile hand to the rank of the dealer's two-tile hand or, in an alternate optional embodiment, the ranks of the highest ranking tile of the player's two-tile hand and the highest ranking tile of the dealer's two-tile hand. The hand with the higher Pai Gow ranking, or in the alternate embodiment, the higher ranking tile, is the winning two-tile hand. If the player's two-tile hand is equal in sum and rank to the dealer's two-tile hand, the two-tile hands are considered tied.
The player is paid according to his or her wager if the player has a winning single-tile hand and a winning two-tile hand. A push is declared and the wager is neither rewarded nor collected if the player has only one winning hand. The player's wager is collected if the dealer has a winning single-tile hand and a winning two-tile hand or one winning hand and a tie hand or two tie hands.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5294128 (1994-03-01), Marquez
patent: 5788241 (1998-08-01), Ung
patent: 5857677 (1999-01-01), SumChau
patent: 5931472 (1999-08-01), Ko
patent: 5944314 (1999-08-01), Stavinsky
Pai Gow, Commerce Casino, 6131 E. Telegraph Rd., Commerce, CA90040, World gaming congress and expo, Las Vegas, Oct. 14, 1997.
Anderson & Morishita
Layno Benjamin H.
Mendiratta V K
Robert & Ryan Morishita
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