Game equipment and games

Abstract

Alphabet game equipment for the playing of alphabet, word, numerical, and/or other amusement and educational games, said alphabet game equipment comprising one or more pluralities of playing faces, a said plurality of playing faces consisting essentially of, in combination, a plurality of base character playing faces and one or a combination of pluralities of supplementary character playing faces, a said plurality of supplementary character playing faces being a member selected from the group consisting of Repeat character playing faces, bonus character playing faces, and a combination of Wild and Super Wild character playing faces. Also, alphabet compendium games including trick-taking games, pseudo trick-taking games, and a Wood Picker game, and alphabet and word puzzle games including a Table Puzzle game and a Seven Lives game.

1 . Game equipment having one or more pluralities of playing faces for playing games with alphabet characters and words of a predetermined or playable vocabulary of an alphabetic language and for playing other games, a said plurality of playing faces consisting essentially of, in combination: 
 a plurality of base character playing faces, consisting of twenty four or more base character playing faces, a said base character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising base character indicia, said base character indicia displaying and representing an alphabet character, the alphabet characters so displayed and represented by the base character indicia born by said plurality of base character playing faces collectively forming a base character group, said base character group consisting of at least one each of the standard alphabet letters, and a selected number of non-standard alphabet characters, of the words of said playable vocabulary, or of the characters of said alphabetic language; and    a plurality of supplementary character playing faces, consisting of a plurality of playing faces distinguished from said base character playing faces by way of difference or differences in indicia means on the playing faces, said plurality of supplementary character playing faces being a member or a combination of members selected from the group consisting of: 
 first plurality of supplementary character playing faces, comprising one to twelve, preferably four to six, first wild character playing faces, a said first wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising first wild character indicia, said first wild character indicia displaying and representing a first wild character, said first wild character playing face or first wild character being designed for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of a game, as a generic representation of any alphabet character that occurs a second time, or a third, a fourth, and so on, i.e., repeated, in the word, or otherwise repeated in the playing of a game, said first wild character indicia or first wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment;  
 second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, consisting of eight to sixteen, preferably twelve, bonus character playing faces, a said bonus character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising bonus character indicia, said bonus character indicia displaying and representing an alphabet character, the alphabet characters so displayed and represented by the bonus character indicia born by said second plurality of supplementary character playing faces collectively forming a bonus character group, said bonus character group consisting of one or more copies of vowels, consonants, or a combination thereof, all or a substantial number of which vowels, consonants, or a combination thereof, preferably those that most commonly occur repeated or most frequently occur in words of said playable vocabulary and that further have certain special cultural significance, certain special lexicon significance, or a combination thereof, are selected from the base character group, the indicia means born by each of said bonus character playing faces further comprising distinction indicia means to distinguish said bonus character playing faces as a group or a type of playing faces from said base character playing faces and from any other types of playing faces that may be present in said game equipment; and  
 third plurality of supplementary character playing faces, consisting of a combination of one to twelve, preferably four to six, second wild character playing faces and one or more, preferably two or four, third wild character playing faces, a said second wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising second wild character indicia, said second wild character indicia displaying and representing a second wild character, said second wild character playing face or second wild character being suitable for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of a game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character of the group of conventional alphabet characters non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, a said third wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising third wild character indicia, said third wild character indicia displaying and representing a third wild character, said third wild character playing face or third wild character being designed for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of a game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character, excepting any conventional alphabet character that is found in the group of conventional alphabet characters non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, said second wild character indicia or second wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said third wild character indicia or third wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment, said third wild character indicia or third wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said second wild character indicia or second wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment.  
   
   
   
       2 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces.  
   
   
       3 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces.  
   
   
       4 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces.  
   
   
       5 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces and the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces.  
   
   
       6 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces and the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces.  
   
   
       7 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces and the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces.  
   
   
       8 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, and the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces.  
   
   
       9 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the indicia means born by each base character playing face and by each bonus character playing face further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a numeral, preferably a natural integer, having conventionally a numerical value, the numerals so displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the bonus character playing faces having numerical values distinctly higher than the numerals displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the base character playing faces.  
   
   
       10 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces and the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the indicia means born by each base character playing face and by each bonus character playing face further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a numeral, preferably a natural integer, having conventionally a numerical value, the numerals so displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the bonus character playing faces having numerical values distinctly higher than the numerals displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the base character playing faces.  
   
   
       11 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces and the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the indicia means born by each base character playing face and by each bonus character playing face further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a numeral, preferably a natural integer, having conventionally a numerical value, the numerals so displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the bonus character playing faces having numerical values distinctly higher than the numerals displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the base character playing faces.  
   
   
       12 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces and the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the indicia means born by each base character playing face and by each bonus character playing face further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a numeral, preferably a natural integer, having conventionally a numerical value, the numerals so displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the bonus character playing faces having numerical values distinctly higher than the numerals displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia of the base character playing faces.  
   
   
       13 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, 
 the twenty-four or more base character playing faces of the plurality of base character playing faces comprising twenty-four to forty base character playing faces as core equipment base character playing faces, said core equipment base character playing faces being divided into a plurality of ranks of core equipment base character playing faces, each of said ranks of core equipment base character playing faces consisting of an identical number of core equipment base character playing faces, said identical number of core equipment base character playing faces being a number greater than two and preferably selected from the group consisting of three, four, five, six, and ten;    the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces consisting of eight to sixteen, preferably twelve, bonus character playing faces divided into a plurality of ranks of bonus character playing faces, each of said ranks of bonus character playing faces consisting of an identical number of bonus character playing faces, said identical number of bonus character playing faces being a number greater than two and preferably selected from the group consisting of three, four, five, and six;    the plurality of playing faces of the game equipment further comprising two ranks of Wild character playing faces, each of said ranks of Wild character playing faces consisting of four or five Wild character playing faces, a said Wild character playing face bearing indicia means comprising Wild character indicia, said Wild character indicia displaying and representing a Wild character suitable for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of a game, as a generic representation of any alphabet character, said Wild character indicia or Wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment;    different ranks of the base and the bonus character playing faces being assigned different rank orders having different rank order values, the indicia means born by each core equipment base character playing face and by each bonus character playing face further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a natural integer having a numerical value same as or corresponding to the rank order value of the playing face bearing the numerical point value indicia, the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base or bonus character indicia born by base or bonus character playing faces of a same rank generally having a similar frequency or frequencies of occurrence in the words of the playable vocabulary, similar cultural significance, similar lexicon significance, or a combination thereof, the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base character indicia of base character playing faces of a lower rank having generally a higher frequency or frequencies of occurrence in the words of the playable vocabulary than the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base character indicia of base character playing faces of a higher rank, and the rank order values of the bonus character playing faces being higher than those of the base character playing faces.    
   
   
       14 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces or a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces with the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the number of first wild character playing faces in said first plurality of supplementary character playing faces being four to ten, preferably, four, five, or six, said first plurality of supplementary character playing faces further comprising a plurality of second wild character playing faces, said plurality of second wild character playing faces consisting of four to ten, preferably, four, five, or six second wild character playing faces, a said second wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising second wild character indicia, said second wild character indicia displaying and representing a second wild character, said second wild character playing face or second wild character being suitable for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of a game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character selected from the group of conventional alphabet characters that are non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, said second wild character indicia or second wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said first wild character indicia or first wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment.  
   
   
       15 . The game equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces or a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces with the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, the number of first wild character playing faces in said first plurality of supplementary character playing faces being four to ten, preferably four, five, or six, said first plurality of supplementary character playing faces further comprising a plurality of second wild character playing faces, said plurality of second wild character playing faces consisting of four to ten, preferably, four, five, or six second wild character playing faces, a said second wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising second wild character indicia, said second wild character indicia displaying and representing a second wild character, said second wild character playing face or second wild character being designed for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of a game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character selected from the group of conventional alphabet characters that are non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, excepting any alphabet character that occurs repeated in the word or that otherwise may be represented by a said first wild character playing face or said first wild character, said second wild character indicia or second wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said first wild character indicia or said first wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment.  
   
   
       16 . The game equipment of  claim 10 , wherein the number of first wild character playing faces in the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces is four to ten, preferably, four, five, or six, the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces further comprising a plurality of second wild character playing faces, said plurality of second wild character playing faces consisting of four to ten, preferably, four, five, or six second wild character playing faces, a said second wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising second wild character indicia, said second wild character indicia displaying and representing a second wild character, said second wild character playing face or second wild character being designed for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of a game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character selected from the group of conventional alphabet characters that are non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, excepting any alphabet character that occurs repeated in the word or that otherwise may be represented by a said first wild character playing face or said first wild character, said second wild character indicia or second wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said first wild character indicia or said first wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment.  
   
   
       17 . The game equipment of  claim 12 , wherein 
 the twenty-four or more base character playing faces of the plurality of base character playing faces comprise twenty-four to forty base character playing faces as core equipment base character playing faces, said core equipment base character playing faces being divided into a plurality of ranks of core equipment base character playing faces, each of said ranks of core equipment base character playing faces preferably consisting of an identical number of core equipment base character playing faces, said identical number of core equipment base character playing faces being a number greater than two and preferably selected from the group consisting of three, four, five, six, and ten;    the number of bonus character playing faces in the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces being in the range of eight to sixteen, preferably twelve or fifteen, said bonus character playing faces being divided into a plurality of ranks of bonus character playing faces, each of said ranks of bonus character playing faces preferably consisting of an identical number of bonus character playing faces, said identical number of bonus character playing faces being a number greater than two and preferably selected from the group consisting of three, four, five, and six;    each rank of the base and the bonus character playing faces being assigned a different rank order having a different rank order value, the numerals displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia born by each base or bonus character playing face being a natural integer having a numerical value the same as or corresponding to the rank order value of the playing face bearing the numerical point value indicia, the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base or bonus character indicia born by base or bonus character playing faces of a same rank generally having a similar frequency or frequencies of occurrence in the words of the playable vocabulary, similar cultural significance, similar lexicon significance, or a combination thereof, the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base character indicia of base character playing faces of a lower rank having generally a higher frequency or frequencies of occurrence in words of the playable vocabulary than the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base character indicia of base character playing faces of a higher rank.    
   
   
       18 . The game equipment of  claim 14 , wherein 
 the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is the combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces with the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces;    the twenty-four or more base character playing faces of the plurality of base character playing faces comprising twenty-four to forty base character playing faces as core equipment base character playing faces said core equipment base character playing faces being divided into a plurality of ranks of core equipment base character playing faces, each of said ranks of core equipment base character playing faces consisting of an identical number of core equipment base character playing faces, said identical number of core equipment base character playing faces being a number greater than two and preferably selected from the group consisting of three, four, five, six, and ten;    the number of bonus character playing faces in the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces being in the range of eight to sixteen, preferably twelve or fifteen, said bonus character playing faces being divided into a plurality of ranks of bonus character playing faces, each of said ranks of bonus character playing faces consisting of an identical number of bonus character playing faces, said identical number of bonus character playing faces being a number greater than two and preferably selected from the group consisting of three, four, five, and six;    different ranks of the base and the bonus character playing faces being assigned different rank orders having different rank order values, the indicia means born by each core equipment base character playing face and by each bonus character playing face further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a natural integer having a numerical value same as or corresponding to the rank order value of the playing face bearing the numerical point value indicia, the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base or bonus character indicia born by base or bonus character playing faces of a same rank generally having a similar frequency or frequencies of occurrence in the words of the playable vocabulary, similar cultural significance, similar lexicon significance, or a combination thereof, the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the base character indicia of base character playing faces of a lower rank having generally a higher frequency or frequencies of occurrence in the words of the playable vocabulary than the alphabet letters displayed and represented by the character indicia of base character playing faces of a higher rank, and the rank order values of the bonus character playing faces being higher than those of the base character playing faces.    
   
   
       19 . The game equipment of  claim 18 , wherein the number of first wild character playing faces in the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces is four, the number of second wild character playing faces being the same as the number of the first wild character playing faces, the four second wild character playing faces forming a first rank of playing faces having a rank order value of one, the four first wild character playing faces forming a second rank of playing faces having a rank order value of two, there being six to nine, preferably eight, ranks of core equipment base character playing faces in a set of the game equipment, each of said ranks of core equipment base character playing faces comprising four core equipment base character playing faces the number of bonus character playing faces being twelve, the number of ranks of bonus character playing faces being three, each rank of bonus character playing faces consisting of an identical number of four bonus character playing faces, the numerical point value indicia born by the base and the bonus character playing faces displaying and representing natural integers in the range of three to fourteen.  
   
   
       20 . A game comprising game equipment, game rules, and game steps, for playing with alphabet characters and words of a predetermined or playable vocabulary of an alphabetic language, said game equipment having one or more pluralities of playing faces, a said plurality of playing faces consisting essentially of, in combination: 
 a plurality of base character playing faces, consisting of twenty four or more base character playing faces, a said base character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising base character indicia, said base character indicia displaying and representing an alphabet character, the alphabet characters so displayed and represented by the base character indicia born by said plurality of base character playing faces collectively forming a base character group, said base character group consisting of at least one each of the standard alphabet letters, and a selected number of non-standard alphabet characters, of the words of said playable vocabulary, or of the characters of said alphabetic language; and    a plurality of supplementary character playing faces, consisting of a plurality of playing faces distinguished from said base character playing faces by way of difference or differences in indicia means on the playing faces, said plurality of supplementary character playing faces being a member or a combination of members selected from the group consisting of: 
 first plurality of supplementary character playing faces, comprising one to twelve, preferably four to six, first wild character playing faces, a said first wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising first wild character indicia, said first wild character indicia displaying and representing a first wild character, said first wild character playing face or first wild character being used, in construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of the game, as a generic representation of any alphabet character that occurs a second time, or a third, a fourth, and so on, i.e., repeated, in the word, or otherwise repeated in the playing of the game, said first wild character indicia or first wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment;  
 second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, consisting of eight to sixteen, preferably twelve, bonus character playing faces, a said bonus character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising bonus character indicia, said bonus character indicia displaying and representing an alphabet character, the alphabet characters so displayed and represented by the bonus character indicia born by said second plurality of supplementary character playing faces collectively forming a bonus character group, said bonus character group consisting of one or more copies of vowels, consonants, or a combination thereof, all or a substantial number of which vowels, consonants, or a combination thereof, preferably those that most commonly occur repeated or most frequently occur in words of said playable vocabulary, and that further have certain special cultural significance, certain special lexicon significance, or a combination thereof, are selected from the base character group, the indicia means born by each of said bonus character playing faces further comprising distinction indicia means to distinguish said bonus character playing faces as a group or a type of playing faces from said base character playing faces and from any other types of playing faces that may be present in said game equipment; and  
   third plurality of supplementary character playing faces, consisting of a combination of one to twelve, preferably four to six, second wild character playing faces and one or more, preferably two or four, third wild character playing faces, a said second wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising second wild character indicia, said second wild character indicia displaying and representing a second wild character, said second wild character playing face or second wild character being suitable for use, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of the game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character of the group of conventional alphabet characters non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, a said third wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising third wild character indicia, said third wild character indicia displaying and representing a third wild character, said third wild character playing face or third wild character being used, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of the game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character, excepting any conventional alphabet character that is found in the group of conventional alphabet characters non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, said second wild character indicia or second wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said third wild character indicia or third wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment, said third wild character indicia or third wild character consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said second wild character indicia or second wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment.    
   
   
       21 . The game of  claim 20 , wherein 
 the plurality of supplementary character playing face is the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces or a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces with one or both of the second and the third pluralities of supplementary character playing faces; and    the game rules comprising a first wild character rule, said first wild character rule permitting the use of a first wild character playing face to be used, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of the game, as a generic representation of any alphabet character that occurs repeated in the word, or otherwise repeated in the playing of the game.    
   
   
       22 . The game of  claim 20 , wherein 
 the plurality of supplementary character playing face is the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces or a combination of the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces with one or both of the first and the third pluralities of supplementary character playing faces; and    the game rules comprising a bonus character score rule, said bonus character score rule permitting the assignment to a bonus character playing face bearing an alphabet character the same as a base character playing face a score point different from the score point assigned to the base character playing face bearing the same alphabet character in the playing of the game.    
   
   
       23 . The game of  claim 20 , wherein 
 the plurality of supplementary character playing face is the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces or a combination of the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces with one or both of the first and the third pluralities of supplementary character playing faces; and    the game rules comprising a bonus character rank rule, said bonus character rank rule permitting the assignment to a bonus character playing face bearing an alphabet character the same as a base character playing face a rank order different from, preferably higher than, the rank order assigned to the base character playing face bearing the same alphabet character during the playing of the game.    
   
   
       24 . The game of  claim 20 , wherein 
 the plurality of supplementary character playing face is the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces or a combination of the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces with one or both of the first and the second pluralities of supplementary character playing faces; and    the game rules comprising a strict use third wild character rule, said strict use third wild character rule permitting the use of a third wild character playing face or a lthird wild character as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character, excepting any conventional alphabet character that is found in the set of conventional alphabet characters non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment.    
   
   
       25 . The game of  claim 20 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing face is the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces or a combination of the first plurality of supplementary character playing faces with the second plurality of supplementary character playing faces, 
 said first plurality of supplementary character playing faces further comprising a plurality of second wild character playing faces, a said second wild character playing face consisting of a playing face bearing indicia means comprising second wild character indicia, said second wild character indicia displaying and representing a second wild character, said second wild character indicia or second wild character being suitable for use as a generic representation of any alphabet character in the playing of the game,    and said second wild character indicia consisting of indicia means distinctly different from any conventional alphabet character, from said first wild character indicia or first wild character, and from any other indicia means that may be present in said game equipment;    said game rules comprising a first wild character rule, said first wild character rule permitting the use of a first wild character playing face or first wild character to be used in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of the game, as a generic representation of any alphabet character that occurs repeated in the word, or repeated otherwise in the playing of the game; and    said game rules further comprising a strict use Wild second wild character rule, said strict use second wild character rule permitting a second wild character playing face or second wild character to be used, in the construction of a word or otherwise in the playing of the game, as a generic representation of any conventional alphabet character selected from the group of conventional alphabet characters that are non-generically represented by playing faces of said game equipment, excepting any alphabet character that occurs repeated in the word or that otherwise may be generically represented by a first wild character playing face or first wild character.    
   
   
       26 . The game of  claim 24 , wherein the plurality of supplementary character playing faces is a combination of the third plurality of supplementary character playing faces with both the first and the second pluralities of supplementary character playing faces, 
 the indicia means born by each base character playing face and by each bonus character playing face further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a numeral having conventionally a numerical value in the range of one to twenty, preferably one to fifteen, different numerals displayed and represented by different numerical point value indicia born by the base and the bonus character playing faces classifying the base and the bonus character playing faces into a plurality of groups, preferably four or more groups, the numerals displayed and represented by the numerical point value indicia born by the bonus character playing faces having numerical values distinctly higher than the numerals born by the base character playing faces; and    said game rules further comprising a score rule, whereby, in the calculation of a score in the playing of the game, in reference to a particular playing face, a base or a bonus character playing face counts as its face value of the numerical indicia, a first wild character playing face counting as ten points, a third wild character playing face counting as twenty points, and a Wild second character playing face counting as minus ten points.    
   
   
       27 . A game for plaving by two to six preferably two to four players, said game comprising game equipment, and game steps, said game equipment comprising a plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces, preferably a plurality of fifty-two or so planar alphabet playing pieces, each of said planar alphabet playing pieces having a rear face indistinguishable from the rear faces of the other planar alphabet playing pieces and a front face bearing indicia means comprising character indicia displaying and representing an alphabet character, the alphabet characters displayed and represented by the character indicia born by the plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces being suitable for construction and displaying of words of a predetermined or playable vocabulary of an alphabetic language, said game steps comprising the steps of, in combination: 
 grouping the players into two or more teams, each team consisting of one or more, preferably one or two players;    dealing out an even hand of twelve or so of the planar alphabet playing pieces to each player, or a common hand to the center of the playing table;    playing out, by each player, in a plurality of rounds, the hand dealt out to each player, or the common hand;    winning, by one or more of the players or teams, planar alphabet playing piece or pieces played out;    constructing, by each team, a word or words using the planar alphabet playing pieces each team won; and    determining a winner among the teams based on the planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words constructed by the teams, or assigning a score to each team based on the planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words constructed by each team.    
   
   
       28 . The game of  claim 27 , wherein 
 the step of dealing out is the dealing out of an even hand of twelve or so of the planar alphabet playing pieces to each player;    the step of playing out being the playing out, by each player, in a plurality of rounds, of the even hand dealt out to each player, each player taking one turn to play out one playing niece in each round;    the step of winning planar alphabet playing piece or pieces played out consisting of collecting the playing pieces played out in each round, by player who first played out the highest ranked playing piece in said each round, the planar alphabet playing pieces played out in said each round being ranked in accordance with a ranking order substantially reflecting the alphabetic order of the alphabet characters represented by the alphabet character indicia of the planar alphabet playing pieces;    the step of constructing a word or words being the constructing, by each team, of a word or words out of the playing pieces player or players of each team collected from the playing of the plurality of trick talking rounds, at the end of the last round; and    the step of determining a winner or assigning a score comprising the steps of: (a.) counting the number of alphabet characters forming the word constructed by each team, or the number of planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words constructed by each team, and (b.) if the game is played in one deal, declaring the team with the highest number of alphabet characters forming the word or the highest number of planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words as the winner of the game, or if the game is played in a plurality of deals, assigning a score to each team, said score reflecting the number of alphabet characters forming the word constructed by the team or the number of planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words constructed by the team.    
   
   
       29 . The game of  claim 27 , wherein 
 the step of dealing out is the dealing out of an even hand of twelve or so of the planar alphabet playing pieces to each player;    the indicia means born by each of the planar alphabet playing pieces of the game equipment further comprising numerical rank indicia, said numerical rank indicia displaying and representing a numeral having conventionally a numerical value in the range of one to twenty, preferably one to fifteen, different numerals displayed and represented by different numerical rank indicia born by the planar alphabet playing pieces classifying the planar alphabet playing pieces into a plurality of ranks, preferably six or more ranks, further preferably ten to fifteen ranks;    the step of playing out being the playing out, by each player, in a plurality of rounds, of the even hand dealt out to each player, each player taking one turn to play out one playing piece in each round;    the step of winning planar alphabet playing piece or pieces played out consisting of collecting the playing pieces played out each round, by player who first played out the highest ranked playing piece in said each round, the planar alphabet playing pieces played out in said each round being ranked in accordance with the numerical rank indicia of the planar alphabet playing pieces;    the step of constructing a word or words being the constructing, by each team, of a word or words out of the playing pieces each player or players of each team collected from the playing of the plurality of rounds, at the end of the last round; and    the step of determining a winner or assigning a score comprising the steps of: (a.) counting the number of alphabet characters forming the word constructed by each team, or the number of planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words constructed by each team, and (b.) if the game is played in one deal, declaring the team with the highest number of alphabet characters forming the word, or the highest number of planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words, as the winner of the game, or if the game is played in a plurality of deals, assigning a score to each team, said score reflecting the number of alphabet characters forming the word constructed by the team, or the number of planar alphabet playing pieces forming the word or words constructed by the team.    
   
   
       30 . The game of  claim 27  for playing by two to four players, wherein 
 the plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces is a deck of alphabet playing cards, the indicia means born by the playing face of each of the alphabet playing cards further comprising numerical point value indicia, said numerical point value indicia displaying and representing a numeral having conventionally a numerical value in the range of one to twenty, preferably one to fifteen, different numerals displayed and represented by different numerical point value indicia born by the planar alphabet playing pieces classifying the planar alphabet playing pieces into a plurality of ranks, preferably six or more ranks, further preferably ten to fifteen ranks;    the step of dealing being the dealing out of a common hand of the alphabet playing cards to the center of the playing table, said common hand of the alphabet playing cards consisting of five to twelve of the alphabet playing cards per every player participating in the playing of the game, the alphabet playing cards of the common hand being arranged into a formation consisting of a partially overlapped pile for a two-player game, two or three partially overlapped piles for a three or four-player game, or a pyramid formation, following a substantially random order, each card facing up;    the step of playing out being the playing out of the common hand in a plurality of rounds, in each of said rounds each player taking a turn to pick up one, two, or three cards from the top of the pile or piles, or from the bottom of the pyramid formation, without disturbing the sequential order or orders of the pile or piles, or the pyramid formation, the exact number of the cards picked up being at the player's choice;    the step of winning planar alphabet playing piece or pieces consisting of collecting the cards picked up in each of said round by each player for said each player's team;    the step of constructing a word or words being the constructing of words by each team using some or all of the alphabet playing cards collected for said each team from the playing of the plurality of rounds, at the end of the last round;    the step of determining a winner or assigning a score being comprising the steps of: (a.) assigning a positive point, towards the score of a team, to each card used in the word or words constructed by the team, said positive point being preferably the face value of the numerical point value indicia of said each card or reflecting the face value of the numerical point value indicia of said each card, (b.) assigning a negative point towards the score of a team, to each card picked up but not used in constructing the words by the team, said negative point being preferably the negative of the face value of the numerical point value indicia of said each card picked up but not used, or reflecting the negative of the face value of the numerical point value indicia of said each card picked up but not used, (c.) summing up the positive points and the negative points for all of the cards picked up by each team and, if the game is played in a plurality of deals, assigning the net as the score for the playing of the deal to the team, or, if the game is played in a single deal, declaring the team with the highest net as the winner.    
   
   
       31 . The game of  claim 27  for playing by two to three players, wherein 
 the plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces is a deck of alphabet playing cards;    the step of dealing being the dealing out of a common hand, said common hand consisting of the entire deck of alphabet playing cards arranged into a plurality of partially overlapped piles, or into a pyramid formation, following a substantially random order, each card facing up;    the step of playing out being the playing out of the common hand, in a plurality of rounds in each of said rounds players taking turns to pick up any number of the alphabet playing cards, at the player's choice from the top of the piles, or from the bottom of the pyramid formation, without disturbing the sequential order of the cards in the piles or the pyramid formation;    the step of winning planar alphabet playing piece or pieces consisting of collecting the alphabet playing cards picked up by each player in each round for each player's team,    the step of constructing a word or words being the constructing of one word by each team using some or all of the cards collected for said each team from the playing of the plurality of rounds, at the end of the last round, the cards used in constructing the word becoming part of a score pile for said each team, any cards picked up but not used in constructing the word becoming part of a penalty pile for said each team;    the step of determining a winner or assigning a score being comprising the steps of (a.) counting the cards in the score pile for each team, (b.) counting the cards in the penalty pile for each team, (c.) subtracting the number of cards in the penalty pile from the number of cards in the score pile for a net number of cards for each team, and (c.) determining a winner or assigning a score based on the net number of cards for each team.    
   
   
       32 . The game of  claim 27 , wherein the step of dealing out is the dealing out of an even hand of twelve or so of the planar alphabet playing pieces to each player, the steps of playing out the hand, wining planar alphabet playing piece or pieces played out, and constructing a word or words being played as a plurality of pseudo trick-taking rounds played in sequence, a said pseudo trick-taking round being a round of playing comprising the steps consisting of: 
 establishing an area at the center of the playing table for the formation of a pool;    leading the round as a normal round by playing out one planar alphabet playing piece, a twin round by playing out two planar alphabet playing pieces, or a triple round by playing out three planar alphabet playing pieces, by a player called the lead player for the round;    taking a turn, by each of the other players, to follow the leading, by playing oa same number of playing pieces out of the hand of said each of the other players, said same number being a number the same as the number of planar alphabet playing pieces played out by said lead player for the round;    ranking all of the playing pieces played out in the round in accordance with a predetermined ranking rule;    adding, to the pool, the planar alphabet playing pieces played out in the round, excepting the one highest ranked playing piece in a normal round, the two highest ranked playing pieces in a twin round, or the three highest ranked playing pieces in a triple round;    taking a right for the playing of a step of pseudo trick-taking by the player who played out the highest ranked playing piece, said step of pseudo trick-taking consisting of a step of winning some or all of the playing pieces in the pool and the highest ranked playing piece played out by the player, by forming a word using said some or all of the playing pieces in the pool and the highest ranked playing piece played out by the player; and    leaving any playing pieces that are not won in said pseudo trick-taking step in the pool, and adding to the pool the highest ranked playing piece played out by the player who played said step of pseudo trick-taking but failed to win the highest ranked playing piece the player played out, for pseudo trick-taking by a player taking a next right for pseudo trick-taking.    
   
   
       33 . The game of  claim 32 , wherein 
 the game steps further comprising a step of naming a restriction on the number of playing pieces a player may play out in a pseudo trick-taking round, said restriction being preferably a member selected from the group consisting of: (a) normal, meaning each round has to be a normal round, (b.) twin, meaning each round has to be a twin round, (c.) triple, meaning each round has to be a triple round, and (d) mixed, meaning the plurality of pseudo trick-taking rounds in the playing: of the game may be a mixture of normal, twin, and triple rounds, said step of naming a restriction being played prior to the playing of said plurality of pseudo trick-taking rounds.    
   
   
       34 . The game of  claim 32 , wherein 
 the step of leading the round being leading the round as a normal round; and    the game steps further comprising a step of naming a restriction on the length of the word that may be constructed in the step of pseudo trick-taking, said restriction being member selected from the group consisting of: (a) short, meaning the length of the word has to be five or less playing pieces, (b.) long, meaning the length of the word has to be six or more playing pieces, and (c.) free, meaning there is no restriction on the length of the word, said step of naming a restriction being played prior to the playing of said plurality of pseudo trick-taking rounds.    
   
   
       35 . A game for playing by two to six preferably two to four players, said game comprising game equipment, and game steps, said game equipment comprising a plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces each having a rear face indistinguishable from the rear faces of the other planar alphabet playing pieces and a front face bearing indicia means comprising character indicia displaying and representing an alphabet character, the alphabet characters displayed and represented by the character indicia born by the plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces being suitable for construction and displaying of words of a predetermined vocabulary of an alphabetic language, said game steps comprising the steps consisting of, in combination: 
 designating one of the players as a puzzle host player and each of the remaining player or players a puzzle solving player;    constructing, by said puzzle host player, a puzzle of secret word, phrase, cross-word grid, or sentence, of a sufficient character length, using a plurality of the planar alphabet playing pieces forming a plurality of puzzle alphabet playing pieces, said puzzle alphabet playing pieces being sufficient in number, preferably three or more per every puzzle solving player participating in the game;    arranging, by said puzzle host player, the puzzle alphabet playing pieces face down on the playing table into a formation that would display to the puzzle solving player or puzzle solving players, in the conventional reading and writing manner, the secret word, phrase, cross-word grid, or sentence, if the planar alphabet playing pieces were turned face up revealing the identity of the puzzle alphabet playing pieces to the puzzle solving player or puzzle solving players;    choosing, by a said puzzle solving player taking a turn, in one or more rounds, one of the puzzle alphabet playing pieces to be turned face up to reveal the identity of the puzzle alphabet playing piece, said choosing being played by way of said puzzle solving player pointing to or identifying the location of the puzzle alphabet playing piece chosen; and    guessing, by any of the puzzle solving player or puzzle solving players, the identity of the secret word, phrase, cross-word grid, or sentence.    
   
   
       36 . The game of  claim 35  wherein 
 the indicia means born by a substantial number of the puzzle alphabet playing pieces further comprising numerical point value indicia, the numerical point value indicia born by a puzzle alphabet playing piece representing and displaying a numeral, preferably a natural integer in the range of one to twenty, different numerical point value indicia classifying the puzzle alphabet playing pieces into different groups, preferably five or more different groups, puzzle alphabet playing pieces of different groups carrying different score or penalty points indicated by the numerical point value indicia born by, or lack thereof on, the puzzle alphabet playing pieces, in accordance with a pre-agreed game score rule;    said game steps further comprising a step of rewarding or penalizing a puzzle solving player, played immediately after each step of each puzzle solving player's taking a turn choosing a puzzle alphabet playing piece to be turned face up, the amount of said rewarding or penalizing, to said puzzle solving player taking the turn, being measured by the score or penalty points carried by the puzzle alphabet playing piece chosen to be turned face up by the puzzle solving player taking the turn.    
   
   
       37 . A game for playing by two players, said game comprising game equipment and game steps, said game equipment comprising a plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces each having a rear face indistinguishable from the rear faces of the other planar alphabet playing pieces and a front face bearing indicia means comprising character indicia displaying and representing an alphabet character, the alphabet characters displayed and represented by the character indicia born by the plurality of planar alphabet playing pieces being suitable for construction and displaying of words of a predetermined vocabulary of an alphabetic language, said game steps comprising the steps, in combination: 
 designating one of the two game players as a puzzle host player and the other a puzzle solving player;    constructing, by said puzzle host player, a puzzle of secret word, phrase, cross-word grid, or sentence using a plurality of the planar alphabet playing pieces forming a plurality of puzzle alphabet playing pieces;    arranging, by said puzzle host player, the puzzle alphabet playing pieces face down on the playing table into a formation that would display, to the puzzle solving player, in the conventional reading and writing manner, the secret word, phrase, cross-word grid, or sentence, if the puzzle alphabet playing pieces were turned face up revealing the identity of the puzzle alphabet playing pieces to the puzzle solving player;    selecting and holding in hand, by said puzzle host player, a plurality of three to ten, preferably four to seven, further preferably, seven, counters;    guessing, by said puzzle solving player, in one or a series of attempts, the identity of the secret word, phrase, cross-word grid, or sentence;    counting, by said puzzle host player, each attempt in which the puzzle solving player failed to guess correctly the identity of the secret word, phrase, cross-word grid, or sentence, by laying down one of the counters on the playing table; and    continuing the steps of guessing and counting, recycling the counters laid down by picking up the counters for re-use each time the entire plurality of counters are laid down, and turning one of the puzzle alphabet playing card face up to reveal the identity of the card each time the counters are recycled.