Amusement devices: games – Card or tile games – cards or tiles therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-30
2001-01-30
Layno, Benjamin H. (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Card or tile games, cards or tiles therefor
C463S012000, C463S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179291
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to betting games suitable for casino play.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Objectively, all successful casino games have a positive expectation for the house against the average player. This is simply a necessity to ensure casino profitability.
More subjectively, successful casino games are also easy to understand, easy to deal, and fun to play. Complex rules make for difficulty in learning by patrons. A general rule of thumb is that the game should be comprehensible to customers within a few minutes of introduction. Moreover, the game also must be easy for casino personnel to understand. Dealers must learn to broker the game, and pit supervisors must be able to quickly identify miscues and resolve any disputes on the part of players or dealers.
Variety is a further beneficial required element of play, be it in the betting, the play itself, or a combination of these. It has been said that no two games of chess are ever alike. So too, with casino games, the customer is demanding more entertainment for their gambling dollars.
Certainly one of the easiest concepts to comprehend is that of comparing two quantities and determining which is greater. An extension of this is the comparison of two numbers to determine which is higher and which is lower.
This idea is so universal that it would be desirable to create a casino game employing such a simple higher/lower method of building a hand. In principle, players could decide on whether the value of a future even would be higher/lower than a previous value In particular, successive events could be employed with regard to decision-making, and the total number of such events in the hand used as the score. The advantage of this type of game is that newcomers could quickly grasp the rules. A further advantage is that while some decisions are more risky than others, the general chance of a success, per decision, does not decay as the hand is built.
The game could be played with cards, for example, with a dealt card serving as a random event and its rank comprising the associated value. Such was the case with the former television game show
Card Sharks,
in which contestants, in part, conjectured upon the relative rank of cards as compared to those previous.
Several casino games presently employ the concept of comparing two quantities during the course of game play. For example, we can consider card games. In Blackjack, the values of unbusted hands are compared to determine the winner, with the higher total prevailing. In Baccarat also, totals are compared to resolve wagers. A more recent casino entry, Casino War (Boylan et al., 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,041), utilizes a single card dealt to the player and dealer, with the higher card winning. Another example is a dice game like Craps, where players are allowed to wager on, among other things, a total of exactly 7, over 7, or under 7, for the next roll of two dice.
Pyramid Dice (Saint Ive, 1987, U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,453) functions in a somewhat different manner. The game also uses two dice to produce random events. However, the player generally rolls until re-rolling a combination which has previously appeared, and the number of rolls at that point are compared to a pay table. However, since re-rolling any previous combination stops the game, the player's chance of success decays considerably as the number of rolls, hence number of previous combinations, increases.
Destiny 21 (Vancura, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,917), a side bet for Blackjack, utilizes the number of cards in hand to compare to a pay table. However, the criterion for determining successful hits is simply that of Blackjack, i.e. a total less than or equal to 21. Thus, as with Pyramid Dice, the player's chance of success decays considerably as the number of hits grows.
With slot machines, the player participates in a solitary way. This has proved popular as many individuals prefer the fact that “no one is critiquing” their strategy, and that they may play as fast or as slow as desired.
On the other hand, in Blackjack the player vs. dealer motif is quite popular with casino patrons. It would thus be desirable to create an embodiment with a similar friendly rivalry. Additionally, the popularity of Blackjack can be traced to the notion that people are in charge of their own hands and can play them as they see fit. So, too, a new game would be well served in allowing players complete control over the play of their hands. In Blackjack, the house edge arises because in hands in which both the player and dealer bust, the house wins. This is a subtle effect because it rarely occurs; it would be advantageous to incorporate a similar conceptual house edge in a new game.
In summary, there is the need for a very simple casino game with high replay value and significant strategy decisions that the player controls. Ideally, the game could utilize a simple higher/lower type of theme in comparing successive random events, use the total number of such events in a hand as the score, and embody both solitaire and player vs. dealer motifs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method for playing a game. The game employs random events, each of which has at least one assigned value, in conjunction with a method of hitting (sometimes referred to as drawing) and standing in which each player must continually surmise, for his/her hand, how next event's value will compare to the immediately previous event's value.
In principle, any device capable of generating random data, which are subsequently ordered according to some predefined algorithm, can be employed to generate a series of events, hence associated values, used as input for the game. Both independent and dependent events can be utilized.
As an example of independent events, the rolling of two dice may be used as the random events, and their sum adopted as the value. Alternatively, a random number generator (many of which are commercially available) may be used to provide independent random events, and the number itself (or, e.g., a multiple thereof truncated to an integer) adopted as the value.
Dependent random events may arise, for example, through the use of one or more shuffled decks of playing cards in which successive hands are played from the same pack. For example, individually dealt cards may be utilized to provide random events, with card rank adopted as the associated value. Alternatively, pairs of cards may be dealt with their numerical sum adopted as the associated value, and so forth. As another example, cards may be employed but suits utilized as the adopted values. Or, cards may be employed with rank as the primary value and suit as a secondary, tie-breaking value.
Another example of random events are the use of numbered balls, for example as commonly used in existing Keno or lottery games. In this case, the drawing of balls may comprise the random events, and their numerical labels may provide the associated value. The game may be played with replacement (drawn balls are immediately replaced before mixing and redrawing), hence allowing for independent events, or without replacement (drawn balls stay out until the next game), hence allowing for dependent events. Too, the drawing of balls may occur from successive independent sets of balls. Alternately, as in the case of Keno, the selection of 20 balls may serve as the random event, and their numerical sum as the associated value. A Roulette or other wheel outcome may also serve as the random event, e.g. for Roulette with ordered values 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . . , 36 from lowest to highest.
In general, a variety of hitting mechanisms may be employed to establish a score. A preferred method has participants indicate “higher” or “lower” in a designation of whether the next event's value will be greater than or less than the immediately previous event's value. The events may be common to all participants (e.g., as in Craps), or each participant may be given a distinct set of events (e.g., as in Blackjack).
The designation of “higher” or “lower” may be st
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