Card game

Abstract

A golf-themed card game in which each player's cards are initially dealt in a face-down board is disclosed. Each player in succession may choose a card from a drawing stock or from the discard pile to replace a card in the player's board. Once each of the cards in any player's board are all face up, each other player is allowed one additional turn. The game is then scored by totaling the numerical value for all cards in each player's board, with identical cards in the same column not being scored. The player with the lowest score for a series of nine hands, or “holes,” is determined to be the winner.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the board layout of an example card game with three player according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2-15 each illustrate a particular card in a card deck according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

With reference to FIGS. 1-15, the preferred embodiment of the present invention may be described. The cards used for the preferred embodiment are made from paper or similar materials, and coated with a plastic protective coating as is known in the art. The preferred embodiment uses a deck of cards that reference the game of golf, as shown in FIGS. 2-15, although in other embodiments other games could be referenced; a non-sports theme could be used; or the cards could be created without reference to any particular theme.

The preferred size of a deck is 168 cards, although other size decks are possible in alternative embodiments. The deck is preferably composed of those cards shown in FIG. 2-15, with quantities of each card as shown in the following table:

Value	Card Name	No.
−2	wild card	12
0	eagle	12
1	birdie	12
2	par	12
3	bogie	12
4	fore	12
5	reaching	12
6	having doubts	12
7	oh man	12
8	dog leg	12
9	last request	12
10	in the rough	12
10	sand trap	12
10	care for a swim	12

The game according to the preferred embodiment may be played with two or more players. One person is designated as the dealer. The dealer shuffles the deck of cards and distributes cards individually in a clockwise manner beginning to the dealer's left, until each player has a total of six cards. The cards are distributed face down and, in the preferred embodiment, arranged by each player into a 3×2 grid pattern, as shown in FIG. 1 for the example of three players. As depicted in FIG. 1, player 1 controls cards 10A-F; player 2 controls cards 12A-F; and player 3 controls cards 14A-F. The remaining undealt cards are placed face down in the center of the table to form drawing stock 16. The top card of drawing stock 16 is turned face up and placed beside drawing stock 16 to begin discard pile 18.

Before play begins, each player selects two of the cards in his or her board and turns them face up. The other cards in a players' board may not be turned face up until they are discarded or turned face up during the course of play, as will be explained below, or at the end of the game when all remaining face-down cards are turned face up for the purpose of scoring.

Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer, and each player's turn proceeds in a clockwise manner around the table. During each player's turn, that player must either draw the top card from drawing stock 16, or draw the (face-up) top card of discard pile 18. The player may view the card chosen from drawing stock 16. The chosen card may then be used to replace any one of the six cards in that players' board. For example, on player 1's turn, that player may replace any of cards 10A-F with a card drawn from either drawing stock 16 or discard pile 18. If the player chooses to replace a card in his or her board that is currently face down, the player may not look at the card to be replaced prior to making the decision to replace the card. The replaced card is removed from the player's board and placed face up on top of discard pile 18. The chosen card (from either drawing stock 16 or discard pile 18) is placed in the position that the removed card formerly occupied. Play then proceeds clockwise to the next player.

As an alternative to the play described above, a player may draw a card from drawing stock 16 and determine that the player does not wish to replace any card in his or her board with the drawn card after viewing the drawn card. In that case, the player may simply move the drawn card (face up) to discard pile 18. A player may not, however, select a card from discard pile 18, and then discard that same card to discard pile 18, thereby leaving the position of all cards in the game unchanged. A card drawn from discard pile 18 must be used to replace one of the cards in the drawing player's board.

Once any player's board reaches a position where all six cards are positioned face up, each of the other players take one additional turn, in clockwise order, before the game reaches its end. Each remaining face-down card in each players' board is then turned face up for the purpose of scoring. Each card bearing a numeral scores its face value for the player. Thus in the preferred embodiment, a wildcard card is scored at minus two points; a hole-in-one card is scored at zero points; a birdie card is scored at one point; an eagle card is scored at two points; a “3” card is scored at three points; a “4” card is scored at four points; a “5” card is scored at five points; a “6” card is scored at six points; a “7” card is scored at seven points; an “8” card is scored at eight points; a “9” card is scored at nine points; and each of the three types of trap card is scored at 10 points.

A pair of cards (that is, two cards that are identical not only in numerical value but also their text) that appear in the same column of a player's board scores zero total points for the column. In effect, the cards cancel each other out. For example, if two sand trap cards appear in the same column of a player's board—such as cards 10B and 10E of player 1's board as shown in FIG. 1—then the total score for that column would be zero points. If, however, two different cards appear in the same column, then no point deduction is allowed, even if those cards have the same point value. For example, if card 10B in player 1's board was a “sand trap” card, but card 10E was an “in the pond” card, then the total score for that column would be twenty points.

The player with the lowest score for the game or “hole” is declared the winner of that hole. Preferably, a game may consist of nine holes, with a cumulative score kept for each hole and the player with the lowest overall score winning the game. It may be seen that a key strategy of the game according to the preferred embodiment is to align like cards in each column of a player's board where possible, while simultaneously trying to prevent other players from accomplishing this goal.

The present invention has been described with reference to certain preferred and alternative embodiments that are intended to be exemplary only and not limiting to the full scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims. For example, and not by way of limitation, the invention is not limited to a golf theme, and is not limited to the particular 3×2 grid arrangement of cards as described herein. Cards of other design and value may be substituted for those described, and the deck size may be varied and quantity of each card type may be varied within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for playing a card game on a play area with a deck comprised of a plurality of cards, and each card comprising a face, comprising the steps of: (a) dealing a plurality of cards from the deck of cards to each of a plurality of players;(b) arranging the cards dealt to each player into a pattern to form a board for each player on the play area;(c) placing the remaining cards from the deck in a drawing stock on the play area;(d) creating a discard pile on the play area;(e) on a designated player's turn, allowing the designated player to select either a card from the drawing stock or a card from the discard pile; and(f) on a designated player's turn, allowing the designated player to choose to either replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card or place the selected card in the discard pile.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of turning at least one of the cards dealt to each player face up before play begins.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising the step of turning two of the cards dealt to each player face up before play begins.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each board is formed in a grid pattern.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each board is formed in a grid pattern comprising columns of two cards in height and rows of three cards in width.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the deck comprises 160 cards.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the face of at least a first subset of the plurality of cards bears a numerical value.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the face of at least a second subset of the plurality of cards bears sports-theme indicia.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the face of the at least a second subset of the plurality of cards bears golf-theme indicia.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of arranging the cards dealt to each player into a pattern is performed without any of said plurality of players looking at the face of the cards.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of forming the discard pile comprises the step of turning the top card of the drawing stock face up.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of allowing the designated player to choose to either replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card or place the selected card in the discard pile comprises the step of, if a card from the drawing stock is selected, allowing the designated player to replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card face up or place the selected card in the discard pile, or, if a card in the discard pile is selected, allowing the designated player only to replace a card in the designated player's board with the selected card face up.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of additional players taking turns in succession until one player has all cards in such player's board turned face up and each other player has thereafter taken one turn.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each card is associated with a numerical value, and further comprising the steps of: (a) turning each remaining face-down card in each player's board face up; and(b) assigning a score to each player.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said assigning a score to each player step comprises the step of assigning a numerical value to each card in each player's board.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each player's board comprises one or more sections, and said assigning a score to each player step comprises the step of summing the numerical value of each card within each section, and then adding the sums for each section together to form a total score.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the sections are columns.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said summing the numerical value of each card within each section comprises the step of, for each set of two identical cards within each such section, not counting the numerical value of each card in such set of two identical cards within such section to form the total score.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein a plurality of games are played and a cumulative score from each assigning a score to each player step for each game is assigned to determine a winning player.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the player with the lowest cumulative score is determined to be the winning player.