A system of a new deck of cards and of an associated ranking system and their application in playing games

Abstract

A new deck of E physical cards composed of X subdecks of cards is disclosed. Each subdeck represents a category as part of human life or from our world, and comprises of at least 26 cards, each card having a face side that bears a letter of the alphabet, including 21 consonants and 5 vowels. All the cards of the deck are indistinguishable when facing down (have the same font, shape, color, and pattern) but when facing up, each card is identified by the category associated with, by one of the 26 alphabetic letters A to Z and by the name and photo of an item the card/category is associated with, if any. The deck of cards establishes a grid of X-26 cells, whereas each cell includes a single blank card without an item, or a single or multiple non-blank cards each is associated with an item. A gaming system including the deck of cards and a unique ranking system of R levels is used to play games. The gaming system is applied to play social and gambling games with physical cards or in a virtual environment executed by a video game application on a computing device.

1 . A deck of E physical cards composed of X subdecks of cards, each subdeck (i) composed of E(i) cards, represents a category (i) comprising of at least 26 cards, each card having a face side that bears a letter of the alphabet, (l), including 21 consonants and 5 vowels, a pattern associated with the category (i), and either labelled as (a) a non-blank card if it includes a photo/name of an item, associated with the category (i) and the leading letter of its name is the alphabetic letter on the card, or (b) a blank card if it is lacking a photo/name;
 wherein the number of the blank cards in each subdeck (i) is B(i), and the number of the non-blank cards is E(i)-B(i);   wherein the cards making up the deck of physical cards are associated with and distributed within a grid of X-26 (X times 26) cells formed out of the X subdecks and of the 26 alphabetic letters; and   wherein each cell of the grid is associated with a single card (blank or non-blank) or multiple non-blank cards.   
     
     
         2 . A gaming system comprising:
 The deck of claim  1  and wherein at least one player receives L cards; and a ranking system of R levels wherein the L cards received by the at least one player are compared to all the different combinations of L cards that can be formed out of the deck.   
     
     
         3 . The gaming system of  claim 2 , wherein the ranking system consist of seven levels, G to A, highest to lowest, representing all the different combinations of cards, listed, and stored in seven libraries G(L) to A(L) as follows:
 level G: a unique pre-determined combination of cards and/or player's choice of a combination of cards drawn from all possible combinations of cards listed in libraries F(L) to A(L), as listed in library G(L);   level F: combinations of non-blank cards only, all located at the same cell and their leading letter is R, S, T, L, N or E, as listed in library F(L);   level E: combinations of blank cards only, as listed in library E(L);   level D: combinations of non-blank cards only, located at the same cell and the leading letter is not R, S, T, L, N, nor E, as listed in library D(L);   level C: combinations of cards including at least one-blank card, and the leading letter is R, S, T, L, N or E, as listed in library C(L);   level B: combinations of cards including at least one-blank card, and the leading letter is not R, S, T, L, N or E, as listed in library B(L);   level A: combinations of non-blank cards only, not all located at the same cell, as listed in library A(L); and   wherein the combinations within each level A to G are re-ranked, lowest to highest, in accordance with the number of blank cards forming the combinations, and if the same, with the order of the alphabetical letters and/or the order of the categories associated with the combinations.   
     
     
         4 . The gaming system of  claim 2 , wherein the ranking system consists of five levels, E to A, highest to lowest, representing all the different combinations of cards listed and stored in five libraries E(L) to A(L) as follows:
 level E: a unique pre-determined combination of cards and/or player's choice of a combination of cards drawn from all possible combinations of cards listed in libraries D(L) to A(L), as listed in library E(L);   level D: combinations of blank cards only, as listed in library D(L);   level C: combinations of cards including at least two blank cards, as listed in library C(L);   level B: combinations of cards including at least one blank card, as listed in library B(L);   level A: combinations of non-blank cards only, as listed in library A(L); and   wherein the combinations within each level A to E are re-ranked, lowest to highest, in accordance with the number of blank cards forming the combinations, and if the same, with the order of the alphabetical letters and/or the order of the categories associated with the combinations.   
     
     
         5 . The gaming system of  claim 2 , wherein the ranking system consists of twelve levels, 1 to 12, highest to lowest, L is equal to 5, representing all the different combinations of 5 cards listed and stored in twelve libraries L(5) to A(5) as follows:
 level 1: combinations of five cards in the same cell, as listed in library L(5);   level 2: combinations of 4 blank cards, plus any non-blank card, as listed in library K(5);   level 3: combinations of cards including three blank cards, plus a pair of cards in the same cell, as listed in library J(5);   level 4: combinations of two blank cards, plus three non-blank cards, located in the same cell, as listed in library I(5);   level 5: combinations of four non-blank cards in the same cell, plus any other card in a different cell, as listed in library H(5);   level 6: combinations of three non-blank cards in the same cell, plus a pair of cards in another cell, as listed in library G(5);   level 7: combinations of three blank cards, plus two non-bank cards not located at the same cell, as listed in library F(5);   level 8: combinations of two blank cards, plus a pair of cards in the same cell, plus any non-blank card in a different cell, as listed in library E(5);   level 9: combinations of 2 pairs of cards, a pair of non-blank cards in a cell, and a second pair of non-blank cards in a different cell, as listed in library D(5);   level 10: combinations of three non-blank cards in the same cell, plus two more cards in different cells, at least one which is a non-blank card, as listed in library C(5);   level 11: combinations of two blank cards, plus three non-blank cards in three different cells, as listed in library B(5);   level 12: all other combinations not listed in libraries L(5) to B(5), as listed in library A(5); and   wherein the combinations within each level A to L are re-ranked, lowest to highest, in accordance with the number of blank cards forming the combinations, and if the same, with the order of the alphabetical letters and/or the order of the categories associated with the combinations.   
     
     
         6 . The gaming system of  claim 2 , wherein the ranking system consists of thirteen levels, 1 to 13, highest to lowest, L is at least three, representing all the different combinations of cards, listed, and stored in thirteen libraries M(L) to A(L) as follows:
 level 1: a unique pre-determined combination of cards and/or player's choice of a combination of cards drawn from all possible combinations of cards listed in libraries L(L) to A(L), as listed in library M(L);   level 2: combinations of L blank cards, as listed in library L(L);   level 3: combinations of L cards in the same cell, as listed in library K(L);   level 4: combinations of (L-1) blank cards only, as listed in library J(L);   level 5: combinations that consist of (L-1) non-blank cards, located in the same cell, as listed in library I(L);   level 6: combinations of (L-2) blank cards, plus a pair of cards in a different cell, as listed in library H(L);   level 7: combinations of (L-2) non-blank cards in the same cell, plus a pair of cards in another cell, as listed in library G(L);   level 8: combinations of (L-2) blank cards, plus two non-bank cards not located in the same cell, as listed in library F(L);   level 9: combinations of (L-3) blank cards, plus three cards in a cell, as listed in library E(L);   level 10: combinations of (L-2) non-blank cards in the same cell, and two cards at least one of them is a blank card, as listed in library D(L);   level 11: combinations of (L-2) non-blank cards in the same cell, plus two more cards in different cells, as listed in library C(L);   level 12: combinations of (L-3) blank cards, plus three non-blank cards in 3 different cells, as listed in library B(L);   level 13: all other combinations not listed in libraries M(L) to B(L), as listed in library A(5); and   wherein the combinations within each level 1 to 13 are re-ranked, lowest to highest, in accordance with the number of blank cards forming the combinations, and if the same, with the order of the alphabetical letters and/or the order of the categories associated with the combinations.   
     
     
         7 . The gaming system of  claim 2  involving at least two players competing each against the other or others during a round of play in a game, wherein each player receives randomly one or more cards to form a hand, and whereas each player has the option to replace one or more of their cards and stop the round of play by calling it. 
     
     
         8 . The gaming system of  claim 7  wherein a winner is declared after the players hands are exposed and compared. 
     
     
         9 . The gaming system of  claim 2  involving a dealer for a house conducting a game and at least one player, wherein each player makes a main wager against the house, dealing randomly one or more cards to each player and to the house to form hands with respective hand rankings, comparing the hand ranking of each player with the house hand ranking, and settling the main wager in accordance to a predetermined payout schedule. 
     
     
         10 . The gaming system of  claim 9  wherein the house qualifies to play if the house hand ranking is ranked at a specified ranking level or higher. 
     
     
         11 . The gaming system of  claim 2  involving at least one player in a game, wherein each player makes a first side wager to play, and receives randomly one or more cards to form a first hand, and the first side wager is settled in accordance to a predetermined payout schedule. 
     
     
         12 . The gaming system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one player makes a second side wager to play in a game and receives one or more additional cards to form a second hand associated with the second side wager, and the second hands are settled in accordance to a predetermined payout schedule. 
     
     
         13 . The gaming system of  claim 12  wherein an existing pre-determined condition must be met to receive one or more additional cards. 
     
     
         14 . The gaming system of  claim 13  wherein the pre-determined condition for receiving one or more cards, is that the player has a chance to form a second hand ranking at a specified ranking level or higher. 
     
     
         15 . The gaming system of  claim 11  wherein the deck includes six categories, a ranking system of five levels, E to A, and three cards are dealt to each player, L=3. 
     
     
         16 . The gaming system of  claim 11  wherein the deck of cards includes six categories, a ranking system of seven levels, G to A, and two cards are dealt to each player, L=2. 
     
     
         17 . The gaming system of  claim 11  wherein the deck of cards includes a single category, a ranking system of twelve levels, 1 to 12, and five cards are dealt to each player, L=5. 
     
     
         18 . The gaming system of  claim 11  wherein the deck of cards includes a single category, a ranking system of thirteen levels, 1 to 13, and five cards are dealt to each player, L=5. 
     
     
         19 . The gaming system of  claim 11  wherein the deck of cards includes a single category, a ranking system of eight levels, H to A, and four cards are dealt to each player, L=4.