Basketball card game

Abstract

A basketball card game is played where participants utilize basketball player cards and a unique skill score rating system to possess a required number of skill category cards to win the game. Themes and actual player statistics related to the game of basketball are employed to develop each player's skill score in the various skill categories. No one skill wins championships, successful teams must be fundamentally sound and participants act as the coach to best utilize the basketball talents of their team (player cards in hand) to possess more skill category cards than any other participant.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of playing a card game based on the game of basketball, the card game including a plurality of playing cards that include skill category cards and player cards, the method comprising:
 (a) providing at least five player cards to each card game participant, each player card representing a specific basketball player with skill score ratings for the specific basketball player, the skill score ratings corresponding to the skill category cards and being calculated based on actual statistics of the specific basketball player;   (b) selecting one of the skill category cards to be played for a first round of the card game;   (c) each of the card game participants selecting one of the player cards for play in the first round of the card game;   (d) comparing the skill score rating corresponding to the skill category card for each of the player cards played during the first round of the card game to determine which player card has a higher skill score rating corresponding to that skill category card to determine which participant obtains possession of the skill category card played in the first round of the card game; and   (e) repeating (b), (c), and (d) with additional rounds of the card game until one card game participant has obtained more skill category cards than can be obtained by any other card game participant.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the participant who gains possession of the skill category card selects the skill category card to be played for in the subsequent round of the card game. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein after each round of the card game, the card game participants draw an additional player card from a draw pile of player cards. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each card game participant is provided with seven player cards to begin the card game. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each card game participant selects player cards so as to have a unique draw pile of player cards from the other card game participants. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the player cards further include actual statistics of the specific basketball player. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein during the act of comparing the skill score rating corresponding to the skill category card, if the skill score ratings of two or more player cards are equal, the act of comparing further comprises comparing the actual statistics of the specific basketball player. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the skill category cards include one or more of the following skills: scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, 3-point field goals, and free throws. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , including seven skill category cards. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the player cards include actual biographical information for the specific basketball players to which they correspond. 
     
     
         11 . A card game based on the game of basketball, comprising:
 a plurality of skill category cards based on skills from the game of basketball; and   a plurality of player cards each representing a specific basketball player, the player cards including skill score ratings corresponding to the skills of the skill category cards, each skill score rating being calculated based on actual statistics of the specific basketball player.   
     
     
         12 . The card game of  claim 11 , wherein the skill category cards include one or more of the following skills: scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, 3-point field goals, and free throws. 
     
     
         13 . The card game of  claim 11 , including seven skill category cards. 
     
     
         14 . The card game of  claim 11 , wherein each of the player cards further include actual statistics of the specific basketball player. 
     
     
         15 . The card game of  claim 11 , wherein the player cards include actual biographical information for the specific basketball players to which they correspond. 
     
     
         16 . The card game of  claim 15 , wherein the biographical information includes one or more of the following: name, likeness, nickname, position, jersey number, number of games played, team(s) played for, college attended, height, weight, number of all-star games, and hall of fame induction year. 
     
     
         17 . The card game of  claim 11 , including about 40 to 100 player cards. 
     
     
         18 . The card game of  claim 17 , including  50  player cards and seven skill category cards. 
     
     
         19 . The card game of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of player cards correspond to specific basketball players that all played on a single basketball team or on two different basketball teams.