U.S. patent application number 10/035371 was filed with the patent office on 2003-07-03 for domino card game played within container.
Invention is credited to Santini, Luis A..
Application Number | 20030122304 10/035371 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 21882255 |
Filed Date | 2003-07-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030122304 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Santini, Luis A. |
July 3, 2003 |
Domino card game played within container
Abstract
A domino card game having a plurality of playing cards and a
container-playing field with a removable cover. The, cards are
marked with two sets of pips in the manner of domino tiles with
numerical designations on the upper left-hand corner of each card.
The container-playing filed serves as the playing field for a
domino-like card game, the sides of the container protecting the
game from disturbances. The cards are played by two to four
players, by placing their cards in turn, within the container by
covering at least a set of pips of the previously played cards
remaining visible within the container. The container with lid
stores the playing cards and the sides of the container protect the
cards from wind and other disturbances during the game.
Inventors: |
Santini, Luis A.; (Bayamon,
PR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Law Offices of Joseph Chalverus
Lake City Professional Center
2611 N.E. 125th Street
Seattle
WA
98125
US
|
Family ID: |
21882255 |
Appl. No.: |
10/035371 |
Filed: |
January 3, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
273/292 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 1/04 20130101; A63F
9/20 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
273/292 |
International
Class: |
A63F 001/00 |
Claims
I claim:
1. A domino-card game played within a container comprising: a deck
of domino cards; a back side of each card having indistinguishable
markings; a face side of each card; a pair of pip values, the first
pip value marked at an upper half-side of the face side and the
second pip value marked at the lower half-side of the face side;
the pip values corresponding to a set of tile dominos; the
container having an upper rectangular opening sufficiently wide to
receive the playing cards and sufficiently long to receive two
playing cards placed end-to-end and sufficiently deep to receive
the deck; a lid to open and close the upper opening; the game
played by matching sets of pips of a played card to sets of pips of
exposed previously played card, the played card placed
interlockingly vertical above said a matched previously played card
within the container, above the matched set if pips.
2. The game as claimed in 1 further comprising: a first set of
numbers designating said pair of pip values of said card, marked
near the top left-corner portion of the upper half-area; a second
set of numbers designating said pair of pip values marked upside
down at the bottom right-corner portion of the lower half-area, the
second set of numbers having 180 degree rotationally symmetrical
about an axis through the center of the card with the first set of
numbers.
3. The game as claimed in 1 wherein the domino fashion provides for
the cards to be distributed said players; a first card is placed
within said container by the player having the highest value pair
of pips in said deck; a next and subsequent cards placed within
said container in an order by players able to match the domino pips
of the previously placed card, the cards placed above the
previously placed card covering at least one of the half-areas of
the previously placed card.
4. The game as claimed in 1, wherein the pip values range from
naught to six, inclusive.
5. The game as claimed in 1, wherein the pip values range from
naught to nine, inclusive.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates to games. More specifically, this
invention relates to an improved game of dominos where the domino
tiles are substituted with cards marked with pips, spots or dots in
the fashion of dominos, but the domino cards are played vertically
within a playing field defined by a closable container for storage
of said domino cards.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] The game of dominos with tiles is very popular throughout
the world. There are many types of tiled domino games existing
today. Most of these games use tiles, or pieces of hard rectangular
material, the length of each tile usually about twice the width of
the tile. On the back side of the tiles, there are no individual
markings, that is all the back sides of the tiles are identical so
that they are indistinguishable each from another. But the face
side of the rectangular tiles are marked with dots, or pips.
[0005] Traditionally, the face side of the domino tile is halved
into two square fields occupying the opposite ends of the face side
of the tile. Each tile is marked different from the others
according to the markings in the fields. Each field is marked or
embossed with a set of pips into the tile. In one game of dominos,
the number of pips marked in the fields ranges from no pips
"naught" to six pips to compose 28 uniquely marked tiles. A more
advanced game using these same principles has 45 uniquely marked
tiles with field ranges from zero or "naught" pips to nine pips. My
invention works for either game.
[0006] The game of dominos can be played by two to four players,
sometimes the four players becoming partners, depending upon the
rules of the game. Before every tile domino game, one of the
players shuffles the tiles face down on a flat playing horizontal
surface, thoroughly mixing them by moving them around the surface
with his hands so that no one can follow the location of any of the
tiles. The shuffler's hands may not stay on the same tiles while
shuffling, and is the last person to draw his hand for the
game.
[0007] After the tiles are shuffled, in one set of rules, the
players take an equal number of tiles, each player hiding the face
tiles from the others. If there are remaining tiles, then these are
left face down on the horizonal surface to be used to draw from
during the play.
[0008] The tiles are then played by placing tiles onto the
horizonal playing area in its unique manner. Usually the first
player or starter having the double-six starts, that is the person
having the tile with six pips on each field (at both ends), places
the tile onto the horizontal playing field to create the line of
dominos. The line of dominos at this point has sixes on both ends.
The player, to right of the starter tries to match an end of the
line of dominos, which at this point are both double-six's. This
player must place a tile having a six field from his hand onto the
horizontal surface so that the six field on his tile is adjacent to
either six field at the ends of the line of dominos. Because every
tile is unique, this means that the end of the line of dominos will
change to a different number field. If the player does not have a
tile with a six field, then that player must pass (or draw from the
tiles left face down on the horizonal playing area) and the next
player to his right tries to match the end of the line of
dominos.
[0009] As the game progresses, the tiles are placed at ends of the
line of dominos with exposed dominos onto the horizonal surface.
Often the line of played domino tiles expands to the edge of the
playing area causing the line of played dominos to be long and take
up a lot of space on the horizonal playing area.
[0010] Because there are often disturbances during the play, tiles
sometimes fall off the playing board exposing the face side of the
tiles to others. Because of the need for a large horizontal area,
the game becomes inconvenient to play in a moving vehicle or on a
park bench or on a person's lap with the players seated side by
side.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] While the rules of play for my game are very similar to the
rules for tile dominos, my invention provides for domino cards to
replace domino tiles. In addition, my game provides for the playing
field to be within the confines of the domino cards storage
container. In this way, only the top cards played are displayed to
the players since they become interlockingly stacked in a vertical
fashion within the container. This substantially improves the game
in several important ways: as the game proceeds, many of the cards
played within the container become covered. The covered cards must
be remembered by the players in order to become proficient in the
game. The players who can do so have an advantage over other
players who either are not able to remember played cards or are
ignorant of the advantage of remembering the covered cards. Thus,
this form of dominos offers a greater challenge to domino
aficionados over tile played dominos.
[0012] My invention also permits playing my game of card dominos in
places where dominos played with tiles is difficult or not
possible. Because my invention provides for the container to be the
playing field. This enables the game to be played in situations not
possible or difficult with domino tiles. The enclosed sides and
ends of the container assist in protecting and maintaining the
domino cards in the sequence they are played so that the game can
be played in moving vehicles such as in cars, buses, trains, or on
park benches and other situations where wind may disturb the played
cards. As noted, the container serves to store the cards when not
in use and is closed with a slidable cover or lid.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective of my invention with section lines
indicating the relative size of the cards with relation to the
domino card container.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the removable top for the
container.
[0015] FIGS. 3A, B and C are serial fanciful views of the entire
set of card dominos in a preferred embodiment of 28 domino
cards.
[0016] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of two domino card hands
indicating by lines how the first card is placed into the container
playing field.
[0017] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the two domino card hands
indicating by lines how the second card is placed into the
container playing field.
[0018] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the two domino card hands
indicating by lines how the third card is placed into the container
playing field.
[0019] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the two domino card hands
indicating by lines how the fourth card is placed into the
container playing field.
[0020] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the two domino card hands
indicating by lines how the fifth card is placed into the container
playing field.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0021] My invention provides for a rectangular container 1 sized to
receive and store an entire set of playing cards 10 therein, the
interior size of the container permits the domino cards to be
placed end to end within the container 1. The interior playing
field 2 of the container 1 is the playing field of the game as will
be described below.
[0022] Container--Playing Field
[0023] The container 1 is closable with a sliding a rectangular
cover 5 across the upper opening. The cover 5 closes the interior
of the container 1 by sliding within groves 6 longitudinally cut
into the upper portion of the sides of the container and sized for
the thickness of cover 5. The groves 6 are cut into the interior
sides 7 of the container 1 is closed as indicated by the broken
lines 8. When the cover is closed, the cards 10 inside the
container are secure and protected from any disturbance or becoming
misplaced. This container 1 becomes a storage container for the
cards 10 as well as provide the playing field 2 for the game, as
will be described below.
[0024] The sides of the container 9 provide protection to the
played cards 11 from wind and other disturbing factors. This
invention provides, therefor an ideal game for playing where
normally motion would disturb played cards such as in moving
vehicles, cars, trains, boats airplanes and the like. The invention
is also ideal for playing where wind is a factor such as on a beach
or in a park or where there is no room to otherwise play, since the
container 1 with playing field 2 occupies such a small space it can
be conveniently placed between two players almost anywhere, such as
a park bench, for example. Because the container 1 serves as both
the storage container for the domino cards and playing field 2, the
game is easily and quickly stored when the game is suddenly
interrupted. In addition, because the game is played with domino
cards and not domino tiles, the game can be played silently without
the clicking and noise often associated with dominos hitting a hard
surface.
[0025] The Cards:
[0026] In one embodiment, the domino cards comprise a set of 28
rectangular cards similar in size to an ordinary playing card. The
back side of each of the cards 10 features the same arbitrary,
fanciful design so that the cards can not be identified one from
the other by the back side 11.
[0027] With view of FIGS. 3A,B and C, the face side 15 of each
domino card, shown here on card 0-0 ("naught-"naught") is
numerically marked with a two unique numbers, 16, 17 each number is
marked in a half-area occupying the half-side of the face of the
card. The numerical designation of each card also is located in the
upper areas of the card, at the left-hand region and upside down in
the lower right-hand region of card so that the markings are can be
seen correctly when the card is rotated by 180 degrees about the
center of the card.
[0028] The face side 15 of each domino card is divided into an
upper half and lower half, where pips are marked in each half-area
in a fashion similar to tile dominos. Here 18 indicates three pips
on one of the half-areas of the domino card and 19 indicates the
four pips on the other half-area of the domino cards, the
half-areas arranged in a domino fashion. When the card is rotated
by 180 degrees about an axis through the center of the card, the
four pips 19 exchange in position with the three pips 18 but the
set of numerical designations of the card at the upper left-corner
portion remains the same. This is due to the rotational symmetry of
the placement of the two sets of numbers. One set of numbers are
marked in the top left-corner portion of the card and the second
set of numbers are marked upside down at the bottom right-corner
portion of the lower half-area of the card. This becomes useful
when holding a number of cards in the hand and only exposing the
upper regions of the cards because the pips are covered as seen in
FIGS. 4-8. The player may hold a hand of cards without having to
rotate the cards to know the two sets of pip values of each card.
They are visible at the corner when the cards are held in a
fan-like fashion, the two pip values of every card is easily
seen.
[0029] In this embodiment the numerical designation of pips on each
card is set forth in FIGS. 3A, B, C and can be also be listed as
follows:
1 naught - naught six - six five - five four - four naught - one
one - one five - six four - five naught - two one - two two - two
four - six naught - three one - three two - three three - three
naught - four one - four two - four three - four naught - five one
- five two - five three - five naught - six one - six two - six
three - six
[0030] It can be observed that each domino card is uniquely
designated by two half-area on the face side, each half-area having
a set of pips of varying numbers from naught (or zero) to six,
inclusive totalling 28 unique domino cards in this deck, each
domino card in the deck marked with a unique set of pip values.
Other embodiments of decks of domino cards have pip values even
higher, such as another popular version of dominos having all the
sets of pips from naught-naught to nine-nine, inclusive. The naught
to nine set of domino cards is also readily within the concept of
my invention, the domino card game played in the same fashion as
described below within a playing container with lid sized to
receive this number of domino cards.
[0031] Description of Play
[0032] The domino cards 10 are played using similar rules to tile
dominos. But instead of playing tiles on an unlimited horizonal
playing field, the cards 10 are played within the container by
placing the played cards into the interior field 2, vertically in a
manner that will expose the pip markings only on the top cards to
be matched and covering the cards previously played.
[0033] To begin, cover 5 is removed from the container 1 by sliding
it along the groves 6 and the cards are removed and then shuffled
in the usual manner. The open container 1 is then placed between
the players. The cards are then distributed to the players as
playing cards. In this embodiment, seven cards are then distributed
to each the players, face down so that the other players are not
aware of the content of the other hands. The undistributed cards
are placed aside to be drawn from as will be described below. This
game may be played from 2 to 4 players, either individually or in
team play as in tile dominos. When there are four players either
playing individually or in teams, all the cards are distributed at
the time of the first deal.
[0034] FIG. 4 illustrates two different players' hands to explain
the manner of play and how the cards are placed into the playing
field container 2.
[0035] Hand 21 illustrates seven domino cards that have been
distributed to player A while hand 22 illustrates seven domino
cards that have been distributed to player B. The rules provide
that the person with the highest value pair of pips. In this case
the six-six card starts the play. As illustrated in this example of
play, the six-six card 25 was contained in player B's hand 22. It
is removed by player B and placed into the center of the playing
field 2 in container 1, as shown by broken lines 30. Player B will
have only six cards remaining from this play, assuming two players.
In this illustrated event neither player has the six-six card, so
the player to the right of the dealer must select a card from the
drawing pile (not shown). If that player does not draw the six-six
then the player must keep the drawn card and then the next player
to this player's right become the next player. That player must
then draw a card from the drawing pile. This goes on until the
six-six card is eventually drawn, at which point it is played by
the lucky player.
[0036] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of playing the second card by
the next player. As shown here, the next player A must play a card
that matches the six, being a card having a pip set value within
one-half area of the card equal to a pip set of the last played
card. In this case, the game started with a six-six marked in the
half-areas, so the next card must contain a six pip set in one of
the half-areas. As illustrated, the four-six card, 26 was found in
player A's hand 21 and is placed in the playing field 2 at either
end of the interior of the container as shown by the broken lines
31. In this example, card 26 was placed at the near end 35 of the
playing field 2 although it could have been played at the far end
36 since both pip sets of the prior card were the same, six.
[0037] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the next play, here player
B playing the third card. As shown here, player B must play a card
that now matches a six or a four, being the half-area pip sets of
the last played card. In this case, the five-six card 27 was
selected from player B's hand 22 and is placed at the far end 36 of
the playing field 2. It is noted that this card 27 can only be
placed in the far end 36 in order to match the six pip set
half-area of the first card. Now, the half-area ends of the domino
cards stacked interlockingly vertically comprise four at the near
end 35 from the second card and five at the far end 36 from the
third card. A six pip card may not be played at this point because
both six pip ends have been now played. In terms of strategy, the
ideal card to play next would be a card having pips five-four
half-areas, since that would make the ends both either five or
four, depending upon how it is played. Making both ends of the line
of domino cards the same number, limits the selection for following
player to play from in his hand since the following player must
have the card with the only number of matching number of pips.
[0038] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the next play, here player
A playing the fourth card. As shown here player A must play a card
that now matches a four at the near end 35 or a five at the far end
36. In this case, the two-five card is selected from player A's
hand 21 and is placed at the far end 36 of the playing field 2 as
illustrated by broken lines 33 so that the far end of the line of
dominos played vertically becomes a two pip. Thus, the ends of the
line of domino cards played interlockingly vertically are now two
and four which must be matched by the next player. In terms of
strategy, the ideal card to play next would be a card having a 2-4
to make both ends of the line of domino cards played vertically the
same number of pips.
[0039] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the next play, here the
player B playing the fifth card. As shown here, player B must play
a card that now matches a four at the near end 35 or a two at the
far end 36. In this case, the two four card is selected from player
B's hand 22 and is placed at the far end 36 of the playing field 2
as illustrated by broken lines 34 so that the far end of the line
of domino cards played vertically becomes a four. Note that now,
both ends are four forcing player A to respond from hand 21 with a
card having a four pip. If player A does not have a card with a
four pip, then the player must draw a new card, lowering the
chances to win.
[0040] The conclusion of a round occurs when one of the players can
not play a domino card having a pip matching the ends of the line
of domino cards. When this happens, according to the agreement of
the players prior to starting, the winner of the round is the other
player in the case of a two person game, or is the player with the
least number of pips. A variation of the game permits the players
to just skip the player unable to play due to lack of the
appropriate card to permit the other players to continue, in their
turn to the point where a player has played all his cards into the
playing field, at his turn.
[0041] This game lends itself to versions of play, for example
where the winner of each round counts the points left in the hands
of the losers. The player or team if four are played, that is first
to earn an agreed total number of points is declared the
winner.
[0042] After the game, the cards 10 are placed into the container,
and the container 1 is closed by sliding the cover 5 into the
groves 6.
[0043] While the above description contains many specifications,
there should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the
invention, but rather as an exemplification of a preferred
embodiment thereof. Many other variations of my game are possible,
for example instead of the half-areas having pip-values ranging
from naught to six, the value of pips in the half-areas could also
range from naught and nine, inclusive. Accordingly, the scope of
the invention should be determined not by the embodiment
illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal
equivalents.
* * * * *