Invisible Indicia Matching And Display Device

Abstract

A game including a plurality of playing cards each having one of a set of characters printed thereon and a display device to be used in connection therewith for randomly exhibiting a second set of characters one at a time. The second set of characters are the same as those printed on the playing cards wherein the object of the game is to match the character printed on a playing card with the same character exhibited by the device. The characters printed on the playing cards are normally invisible and become visible only after exposure to concentrated light. The display device has a light for illuminating the normally invisible card characters.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to card games and is particularly directed toward a matching card game.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art

Matching card games have long been popular with children and particularly with young children who enjoy games with simple rules. Such games have taken many forms, with the simplest probably being played with an ordinary deck of cards wherein the child seeks to acquire a pair of cards of the same value.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a card game wherein characters on playing cards are matched with characters exhibited by another source. More particularly, it is the object of this invention that the characters that are printed on the playing cards be invisible until exposed to light.

The game generally includes a plurality of playing cards having one of a set of normally invisible characters printed thereon and a display device for exhibiting a second set of characters. The characters printed on the playing cards become visible only after exposure to light. The second set of characters exhibited by the display device are the same as those printed on the playing cards.

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the display device has a light source associated therewith to make the printed characters on the playing cards visible.

In the embodiment of the invention, the display device also includes a housing, a display assembly mounted within the housing and the illuminating means located within the housing. The housing has window means for observation therein and slot means for receiving a playing card therein. The display assembly has the second set of characters associated therewith so that they are visible one at a time through the window means. The illuminating means is so situated so as to illuminate the printed card of a playing card inserted in the slot means.

The display assembly in the embodiment is rotatably mounted within the housing and is constructed so as to spin therein. The second set of characters are printed on a circular tape running along the periphery of the assembly. While the display assembly is spinning, means associated therewith produce a clicking sound while at the same time provide indexing means.

The housing of the display device is made in the shape of a toy, doll, or the like. For example, the housing of the preferred embodiment described herein is in the shape of an owl. The window means are the eyes of the owl, the display assembly is housed in the head of the owl, the illuminating means is housed in the bottom portion of the owl. The slot means is located between the display assembly and the illuminating means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the game of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section view of the display device utilized with the game shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken generally along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the game taken generally along the line 4--4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the game taken generally along the line 5--5 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of two playing cards showing characters printed thereon.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail a specific embodiment therefore, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principle of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the items needed to play the game of this invention are shown in FIGS. 1 and 6 and include playing cards 10, a display device, generally designated 12, and one of a plurality of tokens 14 which is used as a means to keep score in the game. Each card 10 has a character 16 printed on one side thereof which is normally invisible to the human eye unless exposed to light. The general object of the game is to match the character shown on a card 10 after it has been exposed to light with a second set of characters which are randomly exhibited by the display device 12. A successful match results in awarding of a token 14.

The two characters 16 shown on the two cards in FIG. 6 are a skull and a bat. However, any other desirable character may be used. Each card 10 is made from plastic or plastic and paper laminate or any other suitable material. The characters 16 are either printed or painted on the cards 10 with light-sensitive material such as phosphorous paint and are normally invisible.

The device 12 is a means of exhibiting a second set of characters and at the same time providing means to make the characters 16 on playing cards 10 visible. Device 12 is seen to generally include a housing 18 having a spinner assembly, generally designated 20, and illuminating means, generally designated 22, housed therein. By virtue of the device 12 a player tries to match up the character 16 found on a particular playing card 10 with a character which may be exhibited by the device 12 as will be more fully discussed hereinafter.

The housing 18 shown in the accompanying drawings is in the form of a toy owl. The shape of the housing is optional and can be any suitable shape that may be desired. The owl housing 18 is generally hollow and is molded out of plastic or other suitable material. The owl-shaped housing of this embodiment has an opening 24 in the center of the top of the head, two openings 26 in the front of the head forming the owl's eyes, a horizontal slot 28 in front immediately below the head of the owl, and another opening 30 in the middle of the back of the owl.

The interior surface 32 of the owl-shaped housing 18 has integrally formed therewith an elongated spinner assembly support 34 horizontally extending from the interior surface 32 of the owl's head to a point past the vertical center of the housing 18. Also, integrally formed with the interior surface 32 of the lower part of the housing is a top support member 36 having an inwardly facing annular groove 36a, and middle and bottom support members 38 and 40, respectively. The housing 18 has a flat removable bottom 42. The bottom 42 is secured to the housing 18 with a suitable screw 44 as shown in FIG. 2.

The spinner assembly 20, shown in greater detail in FIGS. 2 and 3, is seen generally to include a dome-like member 46, a vertical shaft 48 and a vertically disposed knob 50. The knob 50 has a top grasping portion 52, a bottom flanged portion 54 and an elongated neck portion 56 therebetween. The knob 50 is rotatably captured at its neck portion 56 in the opening 24 on top of the owl's head.

The dome member 46 has a translucent tape 60 attached around the periphery thereof. Six pair of characters 62 are printed on the tape 60 in a fashion which will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter. Each character 62 is aligned with holes 64 in the dome member 46. The characters 62 printed on the tape 60 are the same as those printed on the cards 10.

The dome member 46 is concentrically secured to the middle of the vertical shaft 48. The top of the vertical shaft 48 is fixedly received in an opening 66 formed in the bottom of the knob 50. The bottom of the vertical shaft 48 rotatably rests on a recess 68 formed at the end of the spinner assembly support 34. The dome member 46 can be made to spin about the vertical shaft 48 by merely grasping the top portion 52 of the knob 50 and twisting.

At the top of the dome member 46 is a horizontal disc portion 70 having six radially extending notches 71. In the same plane as the notches 71 is a flexible steel or plastic member 72 horizontally extending inwardly from the inside surface 32 of the owl's body 18 towards the notches 71. The end of member 72 is adapted to contact and be received in notches 71. Whenever the dome member 46 is spinning, the flexible member 72 will contact the notches 71 causing a clicking sound.

The combination of the disc portion 70 and the flexible member 72 also provides means to index the spinner assembly 20 so that the same two characters 62 will appear through the eye openings 26 at the same time. When the dome member 46 comes to rest after spinning, the end of the flexible member 72 is intended to be received in one of the six notches 71. The spacing between the characters 62 which are printed on the tape 60 is generally the same as the spacing between holes 64 so as to result in a pair of identical characters 62 being aligned with openings 26 whenever the end of flexible member 72 is received within a notch 71.

The illuminating means 22 which is housed in the bottom portion of the owl housing 18 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5. The illuminating means 22 is seen to generally comprise a pair of batteries 74 and 76, a lightbulb 78, a reflector 80, two upper battery contacts 82 and 84, a lower battery contact 86 and a switch 88. The batteries 74 and 76 are vertically positioned over the lower contact 86 which is secured to the bottom floor 42 of the housing 18. The positive end of battery 74 faces downwardly and the positive end of the battery 76 faces upwardly with both batteries being laterally supported within openings 38a and 40a of the middle and bottom support members 38 and 40.

Secured to opposite sides of the middle support member 38 are the two upper battery contacts 82 and 84. Contact 82 is against the negative terminal of battery 74 and contact 84 abuts the positive terminal of battery 76.

Connected at the end of the upper contact 84 is the bottom of a conventional flashlight lightbulb 78. The lightbulb 78 is screwed in the center of a conventional reflector 80 found in most flashlights. The bulb 78 and reflector 80 are aimed vertically upward. The upper rim of the reflector 80 is received in an annular groove 36a of the top support member 36.

The light bulb 78 is turned on by means of the switch 88. The switch 88 extends through the back opening 30 of the housing 18 to permit a player to activate or deactivate the illuminating means 22.

The illuminating means 22 serves two general purposes. First, a card 10 inserted character side down into the slot 28 is illuminated by a concentrated light source provided by the illuminating means 22. After withdrawing the card 10 from the slot the normally invisible luminous character 16 becomes visible for a limited period of time following withdrawal of the card 10. Second, the light from the illuminating means 22 tends to highlight the characters 62 on the tape 60 when observed through the eye openings 26.

The game can be played by any number of players. The equipment required to play the game is one owl-shaped display device 12, tokens 14 and playing cards 10.

In this embodiment there are six different card characters 16 on 18 cards 10. Thus, each character 16 is printed on three playing cards 10. The same six characters 16 printed on the cards 10 are also printed on the tape 60 in pairs.

The object of the game is to match a tape character 62 exhibited by the display device 12, after spinning the dome member 46 with a randomly selected card character 16 printed on a playing card 10. The normally invisible card character 16 on the card 10 is ascertained by inserting the card into the display device as described above. For each successful match a token is awarded. The first person to collect a designated number of tokens is the winner of the game.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as some modifications may be obvious to those skilled in the art.

Claims

We claim:

1. A game wherein the object is to match the same character from two sources comprising:

a plurality of playing cards, each having one of a set of different, normally invisible, characters printed on one side thereof which characters are viewable responsive to exposure to concentrated light; and

display means for randomly displaying one of a second set of different characters, the characters of said second set being the same as those printed on the playing cards.

2. The game of claim 1 wherein said display means includes means to illuminate a playing card with a concentrated light source whereby the printed character on said card is made visible permitting comparison with the character exhibited by said display means.

3. The game of claim 2 wherein said display means includes a housing having window means for observation inside the housing and slot means for receiving a playing card within said housing;

an assembly mounted within the housing having the second set of characters associated therewith, said second set of characters being visible through said window means; and

said illuminating means is located within the housing so as to illuminate the printed side of a playing card inserted in the slot means.

4. The game of claim 3 wherein the assembly includes a generally circular dome member rotatably mounted within the housing for spinning therein and the second set of characters is printed in a straight line on a tape running around the periphery of said dome member.

5. The game of claim 4 wherein the assembly has a vertical shaft extending from the center of the circular tape out of the housing providing an axis about which the dome member spins.

6. The game of claim 5 wherein said display means includes indexing means associated with the assembly whereby only one character is observable through the window means when the dome member has come to rest after spinning.

7. The game of claim 6 wherein said indexing means produces noise whenever the dome member is spinning.

8. The game of claim 6 wherein said window means include two openings, said tape has pairs of characters printed thereon, and said indexing means causes only one pair of identical characters to be observable through the two openings when the dome member has come to rest after spinning.

9. The game of claim 3 wherein the housing of the display means is in the shape of an owl, said window means being defined by the eyes of said owl, the assembly is in the upper part of the housing, the illuminating means is in the bottom of the housing and the slot means is therebetween.