Amusement devices: games – Chance devices – Dice
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-28
2001-10-09
Wong, Steven (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Chance devices
Dice
C273S236000, C273S268000, C273S274000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299166
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is a game for playing dice, in apparatus and method aspects.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is desirable to provide an entertaining game that may be played between two or more players in a private setting, or at a casino with players playing against a dealer. The game should provide entertainment value by blending elements of chance, strategy, and skill. Also, the game should be relatively simple to play and easy to learn, be readily transportable, and should facilitate betting to increase the competitiveness and excitement between the players.
Using dice introduces an element of chance and unpredictability to the game, which adds excitement. However, the game's entertainment value is limited if it is based solely on chance. Pitting one's strategy and skill against other players adds tension and further excitement to the game. To more fully exploit the opportunity to use strategy and skill in a dice game, it is desirable to expand the number of rollable combinations of conventional six-sided dice. The most popular method of determining the ranking of, say, a pair of rolled six-sided dice, is to merely add the value of the upturned faces of the two dice; this gives a maximum of 11 different combinations, i.e. from a two to a twelve. Such a limited number of combinations has a number of drawbacks, the most apparent being the difficulty in determining a winning roll when there are many players participating. U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,239 suggests a method of ranking a pair of dice that gives twenty-one different combinations and uses a system of letters to distinguish the ranking of combinations having the same additive value. While this method of ranking provides an expanded number of rollable combinations, this method is complicated and not easy to learn or memorize.
Provided that there is a suitable method of ranking the rollable combinations of dice, excitement can be added to the game by having players bet against each other and into a collective pot during the course of the game. Further, skill and strategy can be introduced into the game be allowing the players to have some degree of control over the frequency, amount and timing of betting, the number of rolls a player may make for a given turn, etc.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
I call my invented game “Olé”. The game of Olé is a dice game played by at least two players using a pair of conventional six-sided dice. All possible combinations of the values of upturned faces of the pair of dice are exhaustively ranked, but not necessarily in conformity with conventional ranking; a preferred ranking is described in detail below. A session of play consists of a number of turns, wherein in each turn, each player rolls the pair of dice. The value of each player's rolled dice is compared with that of each other player's rolled dice in the turn, and a losing player is determined to be the player having rolled the worst-ranked combination. In my preferred system of scoring, the losing player then deducts a point from a collection of points assigned to him at the start of the game. Turns are played until only one player has at least one point remaining, and is declared the winner. It is apparent that instead of the foregoing, alternative scoring could be arranged; my invention is not limited by the specific scoring system devised but admits of alternatives.
In my preferred scoring system as set forth above, if a player runs out of his initially allocated points, he may purchase additional points up to a number of points possessed by the player having the lowest number of points greater than zero at the time the purchase is being made. In any session of play, each player is allowed one opportunity to purchase points. When a player reaches a zero point total after he has used his point purchase opportunity, the player may be required to retire from the session, or in any event loses the capability to win the session.
The game is preferably played accompanied by betting. The game may be played as a board game by a number of players using a playing board, score-tracking means, dice, or alternatively, the game may be played as a casino game with a number of players playing against a dealer. Note that many means are known to provide six value options of each of two constituent variable-value elements; while dice are described as a preferred example, any such means may be selected for use. Further, there is no inherent reason to limit the number of value options to six, nor the number of constituent variable-value elements to two. My invention admits of variance in the foregoing respects and in other respects that will readily occur to those skilled in game design.
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Barrigar Robert H.
Collins Dolores R.
Wong Steven
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