Improvements in Playing Cards
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Playing Cards.
A communication from abroad by ROBERT FREDERICK FOSTER, of the City of
Baltimore, State of Maryland, Professor, and ALEXANDER JOHN. LEITH, of the
City of New York, Manufacturer, both in the United States of America.
I, PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its objects to facilitate the acquisition of the knowledge of
the best modes of playing different games of cards, to permit pre-arranged games to
be properly played by a less number of persons than is necessary in ordinary playing,
but in the same manner as if all the players were present, and to indicate to each
player the order in which his cards would be played by an expert playing the same
hand in the same game; and to this end the cards of the pack are provided each with
one or more indicators or series of indicators whereby, with one or more pre-arranged
hands, the proper play of each player is clearly indicated at each play in the game,
and whereby any one or more persons can play the hand of one or more absent
players in the same manner as such players if experts would play their hands if
present.
The indicators may be figures, letters, signs or symbols of any suitable character on
the faces or backs of the cards, printed, embossed or otherwise placed thereon-and
one symbol by its difference in position, color or otherwise may be used to give two
or more indications.
For the purpose of illustrating the invention it is shown in the accompanying
drawing in connection with cards and indicators arranged to designate the proper
play of various hands in five games of whist :
Fig. 1, showing the backs of five cards of a pack embodying my invention as
pre-arranged for playing five games of whist.
Fig. 2, the face of the "joker" of said pack.
Fig. 3, the arrangement of the cards of one hand of said pack and the indicators
thereon.
Fig. 4, illustrating the distribution of the cards among the players.
In said drawing each card is shown as provided with three series of indicators a, b, c,
Fig. 1, the first being figures designating the five different games in their order, the
second, letters of the alphabet A, B, Y, Z, designating the four players or hands, in
the game of whist, A and B being partners and Y and Z the opposite partners, and
the third are figures designating the order in which the different players play each of
the cards of his hand.
In the arrangement shown the cards being reversible are provided each with two
sets of indicators, and as there are four players in whist the pack is divided into
four sections or bands of thirteen cards each and the joker is used to designate
the trump, as will be hereafter described. The thirteen cards of each hand of the
pre-arranged game are numbered in the order in which they would be played by
an expert in connection with the play of the cards from the other hands, so that
any person holding any hand has only to play the cards in the succession of their
numbers; or in inverse succession as in the arrangement shown in order to properly
play his hand. The thirteen cards of each hand are also distinguished by the indicator b,
showing the player to which they belong as A, B, Y or Z, so that by sorting the
pack by means of these indicators or letters the pre-arranged cards of each hand are
properly assembled or separated from the others..
In the drawing the indicators are shown as arranged for five separate games, but

page_text: for the purpose of description of the playing of a single game all but the indicators
of the first game, (under the numerals 1.) will be ignored. The cards being properly
sorted into four hands, the cards of each hand are preferably arranged as shown in
Fig. 3, and the players are seated as shown in Fig. 4, or if there are less than
four players the cards of each absent player are placed in proper position on the
table. One of the players will now look at the fifty-third card or joker illustrated
in Fig. 2, when he will find that the trump card for game No. 1, is the two of Hearts,
and of course Z always deals and A always leads.
Assuming that there is but one person playing and that he elects to play Z's hand,
he picks up his pile of cards and sorts thein into suits by the faces just as he would in
any ordinary game of whist. That, done, he is ready to play, and holding his (Z's)
cards in one hand he turns up A's top card No. 13, and finds it is the 2 of Diamonds.
He turns up Y's (No. 13) top card and finds it is the 4 of Diamonds; then he turns
up B's top card, and finds it is the Queen of Diamonds. It is now his (Z's) turn to
play. Looking at his hand he finds the Ace and 3 of Diamonds in it, and he takes
the trick with the Ace. It is now his lead and finding Clubs are his best suit he will
lead a Club. If he is a good player he knows the correct play is his fourth best,
the five of Clubs. To be sure that that is the correct play he notes that he has
now 12 cards in his hand, and on looking at the indicators at the back of the
of Clubs he sees it has the number 12, showing that that is the proper card to
play, or the way an expert in the gaine would play such a hand as he now holds.
Having played his five of Clubs and it being A's next play, he turns up A's top
card, it is the 3 of Clubs; then Y's top card, it is the Queen of Clubs; then B's
top card, it is the 4 of Clubs. As his partner Y took that trick he gathers it in
as he did the first trick, and as it is now his partner's lead, he turns up his
partner's (Y's) top card, and finds it is the Jack of Spades. As B plays next he
turns up his top card and finds that B takes the Jack with the Queen of Spades.
Looking at his own hand he finds only the 6 and 3 of spades, so he plays the 3
and turns up A's top card which proves to be the Ace of Spades. He puts that
trick over to A's side and turns up A's top card (No. 10,) as it is now A's lead
again, and finds that A leads trumps, the 3 of Hearts, Y now plays the 4 B plays
It is
the King, and as he (Z) cannot take it he plays his smallest heart, the 2.
now B's lead and he turns up B's top card, the 7 of Hearts. If Z is now
uncertain whether to play the Jack, the 9, or the 8, but thinks the 8 is correct,
he counts his cards, finds he has nine in his hand, and if on looking at the
indicating device on the back of the 8 of Hearts, he sees it is marked with the
figure 9, he is assured that that is the correct play. If he should decide incorrectly
and take one of the other cards, an examination of the indicator showing some other
number than 9 would inform him of his error. A now plays the 10, and Z's partner,
Y, the Ace, and so the game goes on until the adversaries win three odd tricks.
Dissatisfied with this result he thinks he will play Y's hand, and he arranges the
cards as before and turns up each in turn. He sees that Z plays his cards just as he
did when he held them, and also discovers that he cannot improve on Y's playing
of his (Y's hand). He then decides to try game No. 4, perhaps, and arranges the
4 4 44
cards so that the top cards of the piles shall show the indicators A, Y, B, Z, and
13 13 13 13
on turning up A's top card he finds he leads the 6 of Spades, and so on. If at
the last two tricks he is undecided as to which of two cards to play or to discard, he
examines the indicators and selects the card marked 2, which is the right one, as he
has only 2 cards left in his hand.
If two persons are playing they may either be partners, or adversaries, and they
will simply turn up their partner's or adversaries top cards, so that they play an
actual game of whist and not "double dummy."
If three persons are playing they can arrange the cards for the absent person and
play the top card of his hand each time just as if he were present and were an expert,
instead of playing "dummy."

page_text: If four persons play with these cards they simply sort out the A's, B's, Y's and
Z's into four piles, and each takes the right one for his position at the table. If they
" and
3
play game No. 3, Z holds all 13 cards marked Z, and he looks at the "joker
finds the Jack of Hearts is the trump of the pre-arranged game No. 3, so he places it
face up on the table until the first trick has been played. Each player will sort his cards
(by the face of course) into suits, just as at the ordinary game but the indicating
device will tell them whether they or any of them is playing correctly or not.
Suppose in this game No. 3, that five tricks have been played; it is A's lead, and
he is in doubt as to his best play, but thinks a trump lead would be judicious as his
suit is "established." He concludes to lead the three of trumps, (Hearts). He has
now only eight cards in his hand, and on looking at the back of the 3 of Hearts he finds
it has the indicator 8 and knows that is the correct card to be played.
A single pack of cards may thus be arranged for as many games as there is room
for indicators on the cards. The indicating device is intended to be printed when the
cards are manufactured. In a pack like that illustrated the indicating device would
take the place of the ordinary ornamental design on the back. The indicators can
be arranged for any game or games, one pack may have one or more indicators
or series of indicators for entirely different games, such as Whist, Boston, Sixty six,
etc., etc.
The first series of indicators a are not essential as they merely indicate the
order of the different pre-arranged games, each of which is played wholly independently
of the others, and no special order is essential although it is preferred to arrange the
cards and indicators so as to begin with a simple game and gradually lead to games of
a more complex character.
Instead of having two sets of signs or characters, one to indicate the players and
another set to indicate the proper order of playing the cards of the hands, one set of
characters may afford both indications by printing them in different colors or other-
wise to indicate the different players. Thus the series of indicators c showing the
order of playing the cards of one hand may be printed in red, or in one kind of type,
to indicate that they are A's cards; another set in blue or another kind of type to
indicate B's cards and so on.
Or, instead of two sets of indicators one set only might be used, in which case the
cards of the pack would be numbered or lettered consecutively, and when the entire
pack was arranged in order the cards might be dealt one at a time as in the ordinary
game or any number at a time given to each player. This would result in each player
receiving the proper cards, and arranged in the order in which they should be played,
as in the foregoing description; but if a player or players took up and sorted by
their faces the cards in one or more of these hands, the utility of the device for
ascertaining the correct card to play at any stage of the hand by counting the
number of cards still in hand, and comparing that number with the indicator on the
back would be lost.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
foreign correspondents, I declare that (without being limiting to the use of any
special forms of indicators or to their position or number) what I claim is :-
1. A pack of cards in which each card used in the game is provided with an
indicator designating the order in which the cards for each player should be arranged,
substantially as described.
2. A pack of cards in which each card used in the game is provided with an
indicator designating the order of playing in a pre-arranged game, substantially as
described.
3. A pack of cards in which each card used in the game is provided with two
indicators, one distinguishing the card from those of other players, and the other
designating the order in which the card should be played in a pre-arranged game,
substantially as set forth.

page_text: 4. A pack of cards in which each card used in the game is provided with two series
of indicators designating the cards of different players, and the order of playing in a
series of pre-arranged games, substantially as set forth.
5. A pack of cards in which each card used in the game is provided with an
indicator designating the cards of the different players and the order of playing in
pre-arranged games, and with a third designating the order of the games, substantially
as set forth.
11
1
T
1000
PHILIP M. JUSTICE.