Abstract:
There is disclosed an aggregation of cards. The aggregation may have at least one card deck, a first quantity of first species wild card, and a second quantity of second species wild card. Each card deck may have a plurality of cards having respective fixed values. Each first species wild card may have a value selectable within a first set of values. The first set of values has less than all of the respective fixed values. Each second species wild card may have a value selectable within a second set of values. The second set of values is not identical to the first set of values. The second quantity is different than the first quantity.

Description:
NOTICE OF COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE DRESS  
       [0001]     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to card games.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Playing cards are believed to have originated in China or India circa 900 A.D. Card games are believed to have been introduced to Europe during the twelfth or thirteenth century by the Mamelukes of Egypt. Card games have been popular in Western society since the fifteenth century.  
         [0006]     Pan Nine is a card game. Pan Nine is also known as Super Nine or Super Pan Nine. People play Pan Nine for diversion, competition and profit. The goal of Pan Nine is to have a hand with a value as close as possible to nine.  
         [0007]     Pan Nine is typically played among a player/dealer and up to nine other players. Each of the players plays against the player/dealer. A player/dealer is a player against whom other players play and wager. The player/dealer is typically the dealer, though it is possible to have someone else, such as a designated casino employee, actually deal. The role of the player/dealer includes responsibilities akin to a banker, and the player/deal could be viewed as a banker who plays and deals. The role of player/dealer is typically rotated amongst the players.  
         [0008]     Pan Nine is played with several Pan Nine card decks, together forming a “multi-deck”. Multi-decks of eight, ten or twelve decks in a shoe are common. A Pan Nine card deck is a standard card deck which has all of the sevens, eights, nines and tens removed. A standard card deck consists of a face value set of ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three and two for each suit of hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds. A face value is an identifier which indicates a worth, utility, numerical value, or importance. The respective value for each face value is typically one, ten, ten, ten, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three and two. Thus, a Pan Nine deck has thirty-six cards.  
         [0009]     To determine the value of a player&#39;s hand in Pan Nine, the value of each card in the hand is summed. Only the ones-digit counts; the tens-digit is ignored. Kings, queens, and jacks all have a value of zero (or ten, since there is no difference in the game between zero and ten). All the other cards in a Pan Nine card deck have a value equal to their face value.  
         [0010]     Casinos often collect a fee from each player. Often, the fee is a fixed amount based upon a range of wagers.  
         [0011]     In Pan Nine, the player/dealer typically shakes a dice cup containing up to three dice and throws the dice to determine which player receives the first deal. Then, the dealer deals three cards to each player (including the player/dealer) in a clockwise direction. Typically, cards are dealt in three rounds, plus up to one additional card after the third round. Thus, each player and the player/dealer initially has a three-card hand.  
         [0012]     After receiving their three-card hand, the players and the player/dealer each decide how to handle their hand. The players in turn make their decision, typically starting with the player to the left of the player/dealer and continuing clockwise around the table. The player/dealer has the last draw option.  
         [0013]     In some casinos, each player and the player/dealer may draw or receive one additional card regardless of the value of their three-card hand. However, their decision typically is governed by three rules: 
        The player must draw an additional card if the player&#39;s three-card hand has a value equal to or less than four.     The player has the option to draw an additional card or to stand (play as is) if the player&#39;s three-card hand has a value of five or six.     The player must stand if the player&#39;s three-card hand has a value of seven, eight or nine.        
 
         [0017]     These break points in the player and player/dealer decisions are based upon the odds of getting different kinds of hands, and also the odds of what could happen with a fourth card.  
         [0018]     Some players seek help in their playing decisions, such as from a friend or a casino employee. In general, the casino will advise the player to draw an additional card if the three-card hand has a value of five or less, and otherwise to stand.  
         [0019]     After all the players and the player/dealer have exercised the requirement or option to receive or not to receive an additional card, the value of the hand of each player is compared to the player/dealer&#39;s hand. A player wins their wager against the player/dealer if the player&#39;s hand has a total value closer to nine than the player/dealer&#39;s hand. The player and player/dealer push or tie if the total value of their respective hands are the same. However, in Super Pan Nine, if both the player and the player/dealer have a four-card hand with a value of zero or one, then the player/dealer either wins or pushes, depending on the table specific rules. Based on whether the player wins or loses the wager, the wagers are settled.  
         [0020]     The player/dealer is the last person to have the option to receive an additional card. This affords the player/dealer a slight advantage regarding the decision to draw an additional card. This advantage is based upon knowing what the other player&#39;s hands values may be, based on whether they received an additional card or stood.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]      FIG. 1  is a plan view of wild cards.  
         [0022]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of Pan Nine with wild cards.  
         [0023]      FIG. 3  is a player&#39;s decision tree.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0024]     Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus and methods of the present invention.  
         [0025]     In order to improve the player/dealer&#39;s odds, semi-wild cards and/or wild cards may be introduced into Pan Nine. There may be several kinds of wild cards, and different quantities of the different kinds of wild cards.  
         [0026]     A wild card is a card that has different possible values (its “value set”). The value of the wild card may be selected by the player, the dealer, automatically (e.g., according to a rule), and may improve, leave unchanged, or degrade the value of the hand. The value set may be but need not be a contiguous range of values. Although in some games, cards such as aces may have two values, such as one or eleven, aces are not considered to be wild cards. By adding the wild cards, a variant of Pan Nine (or other game) results. A variant is a difference or alteration from a standard.  
         [0027]     Like other cards, a wild card may have an identifier to indicate what it is. The identifier distinguishes the wild card from other cards in a standard deck. The identifier may be or include a color, a graphic, an alphanumeric character, a geometry, a material, an other identifier, and combinations therein. For example, an identifier may be the color green, gold, purple or other color.  
         [0028]     Wild cards can improve a game such as Pan Nine. The following description is made with respect to three kinds of wild cards, deemed “green”, “gold” and “full-wild”. However other kinds of wild cards may be used, and the green, gold and full-wild kinds are not required. The following description identifies the quantity of each kind of. wild card that may be added to a deck. Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there are shown representations of the green card  110 , the gold card  120  and the full-wild card  130 .  
         [0029]     The green card has a value set of 0, 1, 2, and 3. This value set is based upon the odds of what could be in a three-card hand. The green card has the potential of giving most hands a better value. In this regard, three-card hands with a high value (i.e., a value of 6, 7 or 8) plus a green card will be worth nine. Alternatively, the rules may specify that a player must stand on a high value. The rules may further specify that low value must hit, and/or that a mid value has the option to hit.  
         [0030]     The gold card has a value set of 0, 4 5 or 6. This value set is also based upon the odds of what could be in a three-card hand. The gold card has the potential of giving most low value hands (i.e., a value of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) a better value. In fact, three-card hands with a low value plus a gold card will be worth six, seven, eight, or nine.  
         [0031]     The full-wild card has a value set of 0 through 9. The full-wild card has the potential of improving or not harming any hand. As with the green card, it may be desirable to restrict use of the full-wild card to low value and mid value hands.  
         [0032]     The value sets of the green card and the gold card are not identical. Furthermore, between the these two wild cards, all possible card values are represented. The full-wild card can be viewed as a combination of the green card and the gold card, or as a card which can have any legal value at all. Other variations can be employed. For example, the green card may have a value set of 1 and 2, the gold card a value set of 3 and 4, and the full-wild card a value set of 5 and 6. The value sets may overlap in various ways.  
         [0033]     The number of each kind of wild card may be selected to achieve particular odds, or to change other aspects of game play. Wild cards have the ability to create more excitement in a game, and to introduce change into a game&#39;s rules when the rules have gotten stale. By manipulating the value sets and numbers of wild cards, the odds for the player/dealer may be changed (e.g., improved) as compared to the odds for the players. Increasing the odds for the player/dealer can encourage the player/dealer to place larger wagers, thus increasing the likelihood that the player/dealer can cover the players&#39; bets. Player/dealers will typically increase their wagers when the odds favor the player/dealer by approximately 1% or more.  
         [0034]     According to one variant, each Pan Nine deck includes two green cards per deck, one gold card per deck, and one full-wild card in every other deck (i.e., half the decks). The addition of a variety of wild cards at a random frequency further alters the odds in a game. The odds modification may make player/dealers believe that they have a greater advantage of winning, thereby inducing the player/dealers and/or players to augment their wagers and gamble more money. Casinos can directly profit with increased gambling and increased wagering. By adding a variety of wild cards, it becomes more difficult for players to count cards or cheat.  
         [0035]     According to another variation, a player may choose to have the house (e.g, a casino employee) play his hand. In that case, it may be desirable for the house to be controlled by fixed rules. Accordingly, there would be no mid value hands—only high value hands and low value hands. The low value may be set, for example, at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The high value may be set, for example, at 6, 7, 8 and 9. In this way, the hands that might otherwise be mid value and therefore subject to options are assigned to either low value or high value.  
         [0036]     By including a variety of wild cards with existing card games, passion for playing may be increased. The addition of a variety of wild cards to Pan Nine introduces variable odds to the game and makes it more difficult for people to master the game. People tend to enjoy game variants that have simple or minor changes so that they may gain extra excitement without too many surprises.  
         [0037]     Although the description to this point has been with respect to in-person game play, card games such as Pan Nine may also be played using computers, over computer networks, and in other kinds of computing environments. A “computing environment” is one or more computing devices which can communicate with one another. A “computing device” is a device with a processor and memory that can execute instructions. Computing devices can be, for example, personal computers, server computers, computing tablets, set top boxes, video game systems, personal video recorders, telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers and special-purpose devices. Computing devices may run an operating system, such as Linux, Unix, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Palm OS, and Apple Mac OS X operating systems.  
         [0038]     Game play may be enabled, managed and tracked through one or more computer software programs. In a computing environment, players (including the player/dealer) may be emulated. While cards may appear on a video display or other output device, the computing environment may maintain and manipulate data which represents the cards and the wagers.  
         [0039]     The discussion above about “cards” applies in a computing environment, but a card in a computing environment has a visual representation separate from its value and status. A card&#39;s status could be dealt, undealt, or in a particular player&#39;s hand. Likewise, terms such a deck and multi-deck have analogous meanings in a computing environment to the non-computing environment.  
         [0040]     Wagers are typically made with currency or representations of currency such as tokens, chips or coupons. However, wagers may be effected for any type of property including accounts, chattel paper, goods, software, information, licenses, equipment, inventory, intangibles, proceeds, and real property. Alternatively, wagers may be made for points, ranking, bragging rights, status, services or non-monetary fin such as being identified as a“winner”.  
         [0041]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a flow chart of Pan Nine with wild cards. The process flows that described above. At the outset, a player/dealer is selected  210 . Then, the players and the player/dealer place their wagers  220 . Then, a player is selected to receive his cards first  230 . The dealer then deals three rounds  240 . The players in turn make their decision on a fourth card  250 . The player/dealer then makes his decision on a fourth card  260 . Finally, each player&#39;s hand is compared to the player/dealer&#39;s hand, and the wagers are settled  270 .  
         [0042]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , there is shown a decision tree for the players and the player/dealer. If the hand is less than or equal to four  310 , then a fourth card must be taken  340 . If the hand is greater than or equal to seven  330 , then a fourth card may not be taken  350 . If the hand is five or six  320 , then choosing whether to take a card or not is optional.  
         [0043]     Closing Comments  
         [0044]     The foregoing is merely illustrative and not limiting, having been presented by way of example only. Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that changes, modifications, and/or alterations may be made, none of which depart from the spirit of the present invention. All such changes, modifications and alterations should therefore be seen as within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0045]     Although many of the examples presented herein involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives. Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.  
         [0046]     As used herein, “plurality” means two or more.  
         [0047]     As used herein, a “set” of items may include one or more of such items.  
         [0048]     As used herein, whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising”, “including”, “carrying”, “having”, “containing”, “involving”, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.  
         [0049]     Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.  
         [0050]     As used herein, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items.