Melding card games and apparatus for playing same

Abstract

Melding card games may include a deck of cards including at least one non-suited wild card and a plurality of suits of suited cards, each of the plurality of suits further including at least one suited wild card and a plurality of subsuits of subsuited cards, each of the subsuits of subsuited cards further including at least two subsuited cards. A deck may further include one or more effect cards including effect indicia indicating an effect of the effect card when played, and/or one or more victory cards including victory indicia. Methods or sets of rules for playing melding card games may specify combinations of cards that may be used to form melds, that a player may end a round by forming a predetermined combination of one or more melds, and that a victory card is awarded to a player that ends a round.

1 . A deck of cards, comprising: 
 a plurality of suits of suited cards, each suited card in each of the plurality of suits having suit-specific indicia, each of the plurality of suits including: 
 a plurality of subsuits of subsuited cards, each subsuited card in each of the plurality of subsuits having subsuit-specific indicia, each of the subsuits of subsuited cards further including at least two subsuited cards; and  
 at least one suited wild card; and  
   at least one non-suited wild card.    
   
   
       2 . The deck of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one effect card, each effect card having effect indicia indicating an effect of the effect card when played.  
   
   
       3 . A set of rules for playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 2 , wherein the rules specify that a player's turn ends with discarding one card to a discard pile, and that the effect of an effect card is resolved when the effect card is discarded to the discard pile.  
   
   
       4 . The deck of  claim 2 , wherein the effect indicia indicates one or more of: 
 allowing a player to look at another player's hand,    requiring a player to discard a predetermined number of cards and draw the predetermined number of replacement cards from the deck,    requiring a player to draw a predetermined number of cards from the deck.    
   
   
       5 . The deck of  claim 4 , wherein the deck further comprises at least one effect card having effect indicia that indicates canceling the effect of another effect card.  
   
   
       6 . A method of playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 2 , the method comprising: 
 dealing a predetermined number of cards to each player;    placing the remaining deck face-down and turning at least one card from the remaining deck face-up to begin a discard pile;    beginning a round wherein each player in turn is allowed to choose to draw a card from either the remaining deck or the discard pile, form a meld, and discard a card to the discard pile;    resolving the effect of an effect card that is discarded to the discard pile; and    ending a round when a player forms a predetermined combination of one or more melds.    
   
   
       7 . The deck of  claim 1  further comprising at least one victory card, each victory card including victory indicia.  
   
   
       8 . A set of rules for playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 7 , wherein the rules specify that a player may end a round by forming a predetermined combination of one or more melds, and that a victory card is awarded to a player that ends a round.  
   
   
       9 . The set of rules of  claim 8  wherein the rules further specify that a game ends when a predetermined number of the at least one victory card have been awarded, and that the player to whom a majority of victory cards have been awarded at the end of the game is the winner of the game.  
   
   
       10 . A method of playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 7 , the method comprising: 
 dealing a predetermined number of cards to each player;    placing the remaining deck face-down and turning at least one card from the remaining deck face-up to begin a discard pile;    beginning a round wherein each player in turn is allowed to choose to draw a card from either the remaining deck or the discard pile, form a meld, and discard a card to the discard pile;    ending a round when a player forms a predetermined combination of one or more melds;    awarding one of the at least one victory card to a player that ends a round;    ending the game when a predetermined number of the at least one victory card have been awarded; and    identifying as a winner of the game the player to whom a majority of the predetermined number of the at least one victory card has been awarded at the end of the game.    
   
   
       11 . A set of rules for playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 1 , wherein the rules specify that a meld is one or more of: 
 a set of two or more subsuited cards of the same subsuit,    a set of subsuited cards including one subsuited card of each subsuit of a given suit,    a set of one or more subsuited cards of the same subsuit and one or more suited wild cards of the same suit as the one or more subsuited cards,    a set of one or more subsuited cards of the same subsuit and one or more non-suited wild cards,    a set of one or more suited wild cards and one or more non-suited wild cards,    a set of a set of two or more suited wild cards of the same suit, and    a set of two or more non-suited wild cards.    
   
   
       12 . A set of rules for playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 1 , wherein the rules specify that a meld is one or more of a set of two or more subsuited cards of the same subsuit and a set of subsuited cards including one subsuited card of each subsuit of a given suit, that a suited wild card may be used to represent any other card within the same suit, and that a non-suited wild card may be used to represent any other card in any suit.  
   
   
       13 . A method of playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 1 , the method comprising: 
 dealing a predetermined number of cards to each player;    placing the remaining deck face-down and turning at least one card from the remaining deck face-up to begin a discard pile;    beginning a round wherein each player in turn is allowed to choose to draw a card from either the remaining deck or the discard pile, form a meld, and discard a card to the discard pile; and    ending a round when a player forms a predetermined combination of one or more melds.    
   
   
       14 . The deck of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of subsuits of subsuited cards includes at least three subsuits, and wherein each of the subsuits of subsuited cards further including at least four subsuited cards.  
   
   
       15 . A set of rules for playing a melding card game with the deck of  claim 14 , wherein the rules specify that a meld is one or more of: 
 a set of four cards of the same subsuit,    two sets of two subsuited cards of the same suit,    a set of three cards of the same subsuit, and    a set of three cards including one subsuited card of each subsuit of the same suit.    
   
   
       16 . The set of rules of  claim 15 , wherein the rules further specify that a suited wild card may be used to represent any other card within the same suit, and that a non-suited wild card may be used to represent any other card in any suit.  
   
   
       17 . A method of playing a melding card game comprising: 
 providing a deck of cards including a plurality of melding cards, at least one effect card, and at least one victory card;    dealing a predetermined number of cards to each player;    placing the remaining deck face-down and turning at least one card from the remaining deck face-up to begin a discard pile;    beginning a round wherein each player in turn is allowed to choose to draw a card from either the remaining deck or the discard pile, form a meld of melding cards, and discard a card to the discard pile;    resolving the effect of an effect card that is discarded to the discard pile;    ending a round when a player forms a predetermined combination of one or more melds;    awarding one of the at least one victory card to a player that ends a round;    ending the game when a predetermined number of the at least one victory card have been awarded; and    identifying as a winner of the game the player to whom a majority of the predetermined number of the at least one victory card has been awarded at the end of the game.    
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of melding cards further includes: 
 a plurality of suits of suited cards, each suited card in each of the plurality of suits having suit-specific indicia, each of the plurality of suits including: 
 a plurality of subsuits of subsuited cards, each subsuited card in each of the plurality of subsuits having subsuit-specific indicia, each of the subsuits of subsuited cards further including at least two subsuited cards; and  
 at least one suited wild card; and  
   at least one non-suited wild card.    
   
   
       19 . A deck of cards, comprising: 
 a plurality of melding cards, including: 
 a plurality of suits of suited cards, each suited card in each of the plurality of suits having suit-specific indicia, each of the plurality of suits further including: 
 a plurality of subsuits of subsuited cards, each subsuited card in each of the plurality of subsuits having subsuit-specific indicia, each of the subsuits of subsuited cards further including at least two subsuited cards; and  
 at least one suited wild card; and  
 
 at least one non-suited wild card;  
   at least one effect card, each effect card having effect indicia indicating an effect of the effect card when played; and    at least one victory card, each victory card having victory indicia.    
   
   
       20 . A deck of cards, comprising: 
 a plurality of melding cards, including: 
 a plurality of suits of suited cards, each suited card in each of the plurality of suits having suit-specific indicia, each of the plurality of suits further including: 
 a plurality of subsuits of subsuited cards, each subsuited card in each of the plurality of subsuits having subsuit-specific indicia, each of the subsuits of subsuited cards further including at least two subsuited cards; and  
 at least one suited wild card; and  
 
 at least one non-suited wild card;  
   a plurality of non-melding cards, including: 
 a suit of at least one effect card, each effect card having effect indicia indicating an effect of the effect card when played; and  
 a suit of at least one victory card, each victory card having victory indicia.