Cards for columnar card games

Abstract

A pack of playing cards having value and suit indicia that are judicious placed to permit exposure of both suit and value indicia with both less columnar displacements of cards and less precise vertical alignment in a columnar arrangement to than obtainable with a previously known pack of playing cards. Familiarity is enhanced by use of centrally located graphics denoting both suit and value in traditional groupings of suit indicia or Victorian dressed pictorial figures. Benefits include an improvement in visibility and convenience of play, and a reduction in the required playing area over that obtainable with a previously known pack of playing cards for the play of games involving columnar placement of at least some of the cards. Useful embodiments include, for example, packs with the cards having suit indicia horizontally adjacent to value indicia that lie in either primary corners or both primary and secondary corners of the card faces. Other useful embodiments include packs having enlarged indicia to aid visually impaired players. These embodiments, when used with familiar indicia designs with second indicia vertically adjacent to first indicia, have the additional advantage of providing a sense of familiarity while reducing required playing space, and increasing visibility and convenience over that obtainable with previously known packs of cards.

1 . A pack of playing cards comprising cards having indicia in judicious placement to lessen both precision of vertical columnar alignment and columnar length over that obtainable with a previously known pack of playing cards.  
   
   
       2 . The playing card pack of  claim 1  wherein the pack comprises 
 a series of cards each having a face and a back, the cards being organized into four suits with thirteen cards in each suit having one of 13 different values, and each face having a top edge, a bottom edge, a left edge and a right edge;    the faces on the cards having two diagonally opposing primary corners and two diagonally opposing secondary corners, and first indicia and second indicia in regions that border at least one edge, the second indicia having a height that is similar in length to or less than that of the first indicia, wherein the first indicia denote a characteristic common throughout the series of either a suit or a value and the second indicia denote the remaining characteristic;    the first indicia being in at least a first position and a second position on the faces of the cards in regions proximate the primary corners, the first indicia in the first position being in the region of the primary corner formed by the top edge and the left edge and having a right-reading orientation, and the first indicia in the second position being in region of the primary corner formed by the bottom edge and the right edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation; and    the second indicia being in at least a first position and a second position on the faces of the cards, the second indicia in the first position having a right-reading orientation, being horizontally proximate to the right-reading first indicia and being in a region bordering the top edge, and the second indicia in the second position having an upside-down-reading orientation, being horizontally proximate to the upside-down-reading first indicia and being in a region bordering the bottom edge.    
   
   
       3 . The playing card pack of  claim 2  wherein the second indicia are further located in a third and fourth position, the second indicia in the third position being proximate to and below the right-reading first indicia in the primary corner, being located in a region bordering the left edge and having a right-reading orientation, and the second indicia in the fourth position being proximate to and above the upside-down-reading first indicia in the primary corner being located in a region bordering the right edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation.  
   
   
       4 . The playing card pack of  claim 2  wherein the first indicia are further located in a third and fourth position on the face in the regions proximate the secondary corners and the second indicia are further located in a third and fourth position, the first indicia in the third position being in the secondary corner region formed by the top edge and the right edge and having a right-reading orientation, the first indicia in the fourth position having an upside-down-reading orientation in the secondary corner region formed by the bottom edge and the left edge, the second indicia in the third position having a right-reading orientation, being horizontally proximate to the right-reading first indicia in the secondary corner and being in a region bordering the top edge, and the second indicia in the fourth position having an upside-down-reading orientation, being horizontally proximate to the upside-down-reading first indicia in the secondary corner and being in a region bordering the bottom edge.  
   
   
       5 . The playing card pack of  claim 4  wherein the second indicia are further located in a fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth position, the second indicia in the fifth position being proximate to and below the right-reading first indicia in the primary corner being in a region bordering the left edge and having a right-reading orientation, the second indicia in the fifth position being proximate to and above the upside-down-reading first indicia in the primary corner, being in a region bordering the right edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation, the second indicia in the seventh position being proximate to and below the right-reading first indicia in the secondary corner, being in a region bordering the right edge and having a right-reading orientation, and the second indicia in the eighth position being proximate to and above the upside-down-reading first indicia in the secondary corner, being in a region bordering the left edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation.  
   
   
       6 . The playing card pack of  claim 2  wherein the characteristic of the first indicia is a value and the characteristic of the second indicia is a suit.  
   
   
       7 . The playing card pack of  claim 2  wherein the indicia in regions bordered by at least one edge are enlarged when compared to indicia normally located in and near primary corners of playing cards.  
   
   
       8 . The playing card pack of  claim 1  where the playing cards have a familiar appearance through use of a graphic to denote both value and suit of each card, wherein the graphic is centrally located on each face and wherein the graphic is a grouping if a Spot Card or a picture if a Face Card.  
   
   
       9 . The playing card pack of  claim 8  wherein the pack comprises 
 a series of cards each having a face and a back, the cards being organized into four suits with thirteen cards in each suit having one of 13 different values, and each face having a top edge, a bottom edge, a left edge and a right edge;    the faces on the cards having two diagonally opposing primary corners and two diagonally opposing secondary corners, and first indicia and second indicia in regions that border at least one edge, the second indicia having a height that is similar in length to or less than that of the first indicia, wherein the first indicia denote a characteristic common throughout the series of either a suit or a value and the second indicia denote the remaining characteristic;    the first indicia being in at least a first position and a second position on the faces of the cards in regions proximate the primary corners, the first indicia in the first position being in the primary corner region formed by the top edge and the left edge and having a right-reading orientation, and the first indicia in the second position being in the primary corner region formed by the bottom edge and the right edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation; and    the second indicia being in at least a first position and a second position on the faces of the cards, the second indicia in the first position having a right-reading orientation and being in a region bordering the top edge and extending to the right of the right-reading first indicia but not within a region proximate to the secondary corner formed by the top edge and the right edge, and the second indicia in the second position having a upside-down-reading orientation and being in a region bordering the bottom edge and extending to the left of the upside-down-reading first indicia but not within a region proximate to the secondary corner formed by the bottom edge and the left edge.    
   
   
       10 . The playing card pack of  claim 9  wherein the characteristic of the first indicia is a value and the characteristic of the second indicia is a suit.  
   
   
       11 . The playing card pack of  claim 9  wherein the indicia in regions bordered by at least one edge are enlarged when compared to indicia normally located in and near primary corners of playing cards.  
   
   
       12 . The playing card pack of  claim 9  wherein the region bordering the top edge extends rightward from a point proximate to the right-reading first indicia to a proximate midpoint between the primary corner and the secondary corner that are bordered by the top edge, and the region bordering the bottom edge extends leftward from a point proximate to the upside-down-reading first indicia to a proximate midpoint between the primary corner and the secondary corner that are bordered by the bottom edge.  
   
   
       13 . The playing card pack of  claim 9  wherein the second indicia are further located in a third position and a fourth position, the second indicia in the third position being proximate to and below the right-reading first indicia, being in a region bordering the left edge and having a right-reading orientation, and the second indicia in the fourth position being proximate to and above the upside-down-reading first indicia, being in a region bordering the right edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation.  
   
   
       14 . The playing card pack of  claim 9  wherein the second indicia in the region bordering the top edge is proximate to the right-reading first indicia and the second indicia in the region bordering the bottom edge is proximate to the upside-down-reading first indicia, and wherein the second indicia are further located in a third position and a fourth position, the second indicia in the third position being proximate to and below the right-reading first indicia, being in a region bordering the left edge and having a right-reading orientation, and the second indicia in the fourth position being proximate to and above the upside-down-reading first indicia, being in a region bordering the right edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation.  
   
   
       15 . The playing card pack of  claim 9  wherein the first indicia are further located in a third and fourth position on the face in the regions proximate the secondary corners, the first indicia in the third position being in the secondary corner region formed by the top edge and the right edge and having a right-reading orientation, and the first indicia in the fourth position having an upside-down-reading orientation in the secondary corner region formed by the bottom edge and the left edge.  
   
   
       16 . The playing card pack of  claim 15  wherein the second indicia are further located in a third, fourth, fifth and sixth position, the second indicia in the third position being proximate to and below the right-reading first indicia in the primary corner, being in a region bordering the left edge and having a right-reading orientation, the second indicia in the fourth position being proximate to and above the upside-down-reading first indicia in the primary corner, being in a region bordering the right edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation, the second indicia in the fifth position being proximate to and below the right-reading first indicia in the secondary corner, being in a region bordering the right edge and having a right-reading orientation, the second indicia in the sixth position being proximate to and above the upside-down-reading first indicia in the secondary corner, being in a region bordering the left edge and having an upside-down-reading orientation.  
   
   
       17 . The playing card pack of  claim 16  wherein the second indicia in the region bordering the top edge is proximate to the right-reading first indicia in the primary corner and the second indicia in the region bordering the bottom edge is proximate to the upside-down-reading first indicia in the primary corner, and wherein the second indicia are further located in a seventh and eighth position, the second indicia in the seventh position having a right-reading orientation, being in a region bordering the top edge and being proximate to the first indicia in the third position, and the second indicia in the eighth position having a upside-down-reading orientation, being in a region bordering the bottom edge and being proximate to the first indicia in the fourth position.  
   
   
       18 . A method of playing a card game, comprising the steps of, 
 a. arranging cards of  claim 1  in vertically displaced columnar formation where both first indicia and second indicia are visible to a player, and wherein the columns both occupy less vertical displacement and require less precise vertical alignment when compared with cards previously known;    b. moving cards to reform columns having both shorter columnar length and needing less precision in vertical alignment than obtainable with known packs of cards while allowing the player to view both first indicia and second indicia.    c. manipulating cards toward a desired goal while using less playing area than used with previously known packs of playing cards.    
   
   
       19 . A method of playing a card game, comprising the steps of, 
 a. forming four hands in a playing area with the playing card pack of  claim 1 , wherein the area required for satisfactory playing is less than that needed with cards previously known,    b. arranging the cards of one hand into columns, all cards of the same suit in one column, with cards in each column arranged in a vertically displaced formation where the right-reading first and second indicia of all cards in the columns are visible to the declarer, the columns both having a length that is shorter and a vertical alignment that is less precise than obtainable with cards previously known,    c. arranging the cards of the remaining hands into a fanned arrangement allowing a player to view both the first indicia and the second indicia of all 13 cards while holding the cards in one hand, and    d. playing cards to form a series of tricks until the winner of all tricks is known.