Patent Application
20220258035
The present invention concerns the technical field of gaming and the subject of the invention is a gaming table cloth for playing a card game, more specifically for playing games which are similar to Baccarat-Punto Banco.
The invention includes also a table and a piece of equipment for playing a card game, more specifically for playing games which are similar to Baccarat-Punto Banco.
As is known, Baccarat-Punto Banco is a table game in which a standard deck of cards with fifty-two cards, without the joker, is used.
This game is often reproduced in casinos and in gaming houses, and in this case several decks of cards are used, usually six mixed together in such a way as to allow several rounds to be played at the same time. Baccarat-Punto Banco is played by two subjects: the bank, represented by a person who distributes the cards and collects the bets (generally called bankeror dealer) and one or more players.
According to the game rules, a player bets on the card combination held by the banker or on the card combination held by the player, whichever the player guesses will be the winning combination; the combination which is closest to number 9 is the winning combination and obviously the player receives a money reward only if he/she bets on the winning combination.
According to the rules of Baccarat-Punto Banco, the banker's hand has a slightly higher probability to win than the player's hand.
If the player bets on the banker's hand, he/she will have to pay the gaming house a commission on the win (generally 5%).
No commission, instead, is paid to the gaming house if the player bets on the player's hand and wins.
In order to determine the score that will allow the winning hand to be identified, the dealer distributes four cards alternately: the first and the third for the player, the second and the fourth for the banker.
After distributing the four cards, the dealer sums the point value of the player's cards and the point value of the banker's cards. Hands are valued according to units digit of the sum of their constituent cards, meaning that if the total value of one hand exceeds ten, only the units digit is taken in consideration: in this way, the final score achieved by the player and the final score achieved by the banker are always included between zero and nine.
The point value of ten, jack, queen, king is zero, while the point value of the rest of the cards corresponds to their face value.
The sum obtained from the two cards associated with the banker and with the player, respectively, is the starting point for further actions by the dealer: the hand, in fact, is finished if one of the sums equals eight or nine, and the hand with the highest score is the winning hand.
If, instead, the total point value of the banker's cards and that of the player's cards are the same and equal to six, seven, eight or nine, then there is a tie (egalite).
The round of play ends with the banker's win if the total point value associated with the latter equals seven while the total point value associated with the player equals six, or the round of play ends with the player's win when the same situation occurs with inverse hands.
The hand continues if the total point value of the player's cards equals zero, one, two, three, four or five. In this case, the dealer draws a third card for the player and may also draw a third card for the banker, even if this last draw depends on a series of precise combinations of the point value of the cards associated with the player.
At the end of the round of play, the dealer sums the point value of the cards associated with the banker and with the player once again, in order to establish which is the winning hand (the hand whose total point value is closest to number nine).
A first drawback of the classic version of the card game Baccarat-Punto Banco lies in that the dealer needs to make several mathematical calculations, firstly to sum up the point value of the three cards and secondly to identify the units digits in the point values higher than ten.
This condition considerably increases the risk of errors in the calculations, especially if the dealer has to manage the bank for a relatively long time (for example, for a few hours).
A further drawback associated with the classic version of the card game Baccarat-Punto Banco lies in that with six decks of cards it is possible to play a relatively limited number of hands, approximately sixty.
Again, a further drawback associated with this game is related to the calculation of the money wins associated with the banker, which are relatively difficult to calculate due to all the winning combinations allowed by the game.
This difficulty in the calculation slows down payment operations, is demanding in terms of resources and can easily cause errors to be made: these situations negatively affect the organization and management of casinos or gaming houses.
Documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,971, WO 2013/149297, US 2003/151200 and US6 742 781 describe gaming table cloths, methods and equipment for playing card games whose rules are different from the rules of Baccarat-Punto Banco or its variants. These documents, however, do not allow the drawbacks described above to be overcome. Furthermore, document US6 446 971 describes a table cloth with an odd number of areas delimited thereon (for placing the cards associated with the banker and those associated with the fictitious player) and this peculiar configuration does not allow the table cloth mentioned above to be used to play Baccarat-Punto Banco or any other variant of the latter.
The present invention intends to overcome the technical drawbacks mentioned above by providing a gaming table cloth for playing a card game which makes it possible to play a game derived from Baccarat-Punto Banco in a particularly simple and intuitive manner.
More specifically, it is the main object of the present invention to provide a table cloth for playing a card game which makes it possible to play a game of the Baccarat-Punto Banco type with no need for the dealer to make relatively complicated sums and differences.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a table cloth for playing a card game which makes it possible to calculate the amount of the money wins associated with the player in a relatively simple manner.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a table cloth for playing a card game which makes it possible to play a game of the Baccarat-Punto Banco type and considerably reduces idle times while a hand is being played.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a table cloth for playing a card game which, with the same number of decks of cards, makes it possible to play a higher number of hands compared to those allowed when playing Baccarat-Punto Banco.
Again, it is a further object of the present invention to provide a table cloth for playing a card game which makes it possible to save a few card decks compared to the classic cloths used for Baccarat-Punto Banco.
It is another, yet not less important object of the present invention to provide a table cloth for playing a card game which ensures a more flexible determination of the win percentages and of the payment methods assigned to the winning bettor by the gaming house.
These objects, together with those which are clarified in greater detail below, are achieved by a cloth for playing a card game of the type according to claim 1.
Further objects that are described more specifically below are achieved by a cloth for playing a card game according to the dependent claims from 2 to 5.
The invention concerns also a table for playing a card game according to the independent claim 6, by means of which it is possible to achieve the objects specified above.
Also in this case, further objects of said table are explained below according to the dependent claims from 7 to 9.
Finally, the present invention concerns a piece of equipment for playing a card game according to claim 10.
The advantages and characteristics of the present invention will clearly emerge from the following detailed description of some preferred but non-limiting embodiments of a table cloth for playing a card game, which is provided making reference to the following drawing:
The subject of the present invention is a table cloth for playing a card game indicated by the reference number 1 in
Said table cloth 1 is particularly suited to be used for playing card games similar to Baccarat-Punto Banco or games based on a variant of the latter even if they share most of the rules with it.
The table cloth 1 is suited to be used for those games including two hands: a banker and one or more players.
More specifically, the person in charge with the bank, who is generally called dealer in technical jargon, has the task of representing the gaming house when the table cloth 1 is used in a gaming house or casino.
The function of the dealer is to “manage the bank”, that is, to manage the bets of the players, hand out the cards and carry out the active tasks required by the game (making calculations, drawing further cards etc).
Baccarat-Punto Banco (as well as all its variants) requires the active involvement of two subjects: the banker and a fictitious player. However, many other players can bet on the result of the game and therefore, in this regard, the game is of the multi-player type.
The embodiment of the cloth 1 illustrated in
The cloth 1 conveniently comprises an underside intended to come into contact with a supporting plane (not visible in
The cloth has also an upper side 2 (shown in
The surface of the cloth 1 can be rough to the touch and the cloth 1 can be made of the same material commonly used for gaming table cloths (for example, polyester).
The upper side 2 of the cloth 1 can be provided with a plurality of graphical representations (or patterns) suited to divide the entire area into a plurality of areas, each one of which is suited to serve a precise function during the game.
More specifically, there is a plurality of areas 3 on which the players or the dealer place the tokens or casino fiches collected from the bets associated with a specific round of play.
For example, each of said areas 3 may comprise a first area 3′ and a second area 3″ respectively defined through triangular patterns 4 arranged in a reciprocal symmetrical manner in such a way as to form one pair.
Inside the triangles 4 that define the first area 3′ there can be a reference 5 to the banker (for example, the letter “B”), while inside the triangles 4 that define the second area 3″ there can be a reference 6 to the player (for example, the letter “P”).
Therefore, the triangles 4 that define the first area 3′ represent the place for the tokens/fiches associated with the banker's win, while the triangles 4 that define the second area 3″ represent the place for the tokens/fiches associated with the player's win.
It is common practice to colour in red the areas where it is possible to place the tokens/fiches associated with the banker's win and to colour in blue or black the areas where it is possible to place the tokens/fiches associated with the player's win.
Obviously, the colours associated with the areas where to place the tokens/fiches can even be different from those specified above, and analogously the triangles can be replaced by different geometrical figures (for example, circles, squares, ellipses, irregular polygons etc).
Each pair of triangles 4 is associated with a single player and therefore
Above said triangles 4 there can be a third area 3′″ suited to indicate the area where to place the tokens/fiches (or other symbolic objects) associated with the players who want to bet on the tie between banker and fictitious player.
In the representation of the cloth 1 illustrated in
The cloth 1 may comprise further graphical representations associated with different elements intended to be used by the banker or by the player while a hand is being played.
For example, there can be a representation suited to define a central area 8 of the cloth 1 intended to indicate the position of the container for collecting the tokens/fiches. This area is indicated by a coloured rectangle in
A further graphical representation, instead, can be provided to define the area 9 of the cloth 1 suited to define the position of the cards used during the game or, alternatively, of the container intended to contain them.
Even said area 9 is visible in
The cloth 1 can be provided also with a further graphical representation suited to define the area 10 where to place the cards already used in the previous rounds of play.
This representation, for example, can have an angular shape, as better visible in
The cloth 1 can also include a representation intended to define a free central area 11 that is not strictly necessary for playing the game but is useful for the insertion of graphic elements or symbols of various types, typically for advertising or informative purposes.
The cloth 1 furthermore comprises a plurality of spaces 12, 13 suited to delimit the position of the cards associated with the dealer (banker) and a plurality of spaces suited to delimit the position of the cards associated with the fictitious player.
More specifically, the spaces 12, 13 have contours inside which the dealer is expected to place the cards drawn from the deck during the round of play and associated with the fictitious player and the banker.
Obviously, said spaces 12, 13 are equally divided between the banker and the fictitious player, according to the general rules of Baccarat-Punto Banco.
However, according to a specific characteristic of the invention, the sum of all the spaces 12, 13 delimiting the position of the cards associated with the banker and the fictitious player equals four.
In practice, the banker and the fictitious player are respectively associated with one pair of spaces 12, 13 where to position the cards drawn by the dealer, as the cloth 1 that is the subject of the present invention makes it possible to play a card game which can be considered a variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco in which only two cards are used for each role (fictitious player and banker).
In other words, in this variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco no third card is drawn either for the banker or the fictitious player.
The choice to provide four spaces suited to delimit the position of the cards associated with the banker and the fictitious player is not due to purposes associated with a mere representation of information, rather it serves a precise technical function, that is, the function of facilitating the dealer's tasks during the game.
More specifically, the presence of just four spaces suited to delimit the position of the cards (associated with the banker and the fictitious player) has the purpose to considerably reduce the activities of the dealer. The latter, in fact, can determine the score associated with the banker/fictitious player by turning over a single card associated with each player (while in the embodiment of the cloth associated with the classic version of Baccarat-Punto Banco the score of the banker/fictitious player is obtained by turning over two cards).
The dealer, therefore, can determine the temporary score by simply comparing the point value of the two uncovered cards (one related to the banker and the other related to the fictitious player); in the cloths used for playing the traditional version of Baccarat-Punto Banco, in order to determine the intermediate score associated with each player the dealer, instead, has to mentally sum the point values of two cards.
The embodiment of the gaming table cloth that is the subject of the present invention makes it possible to support the dealer during the game, as it resolves the technical problem related to the difficulty in determining the score associated with the banker and with the fictitious player.
As is better clarified in the rest of the description, after turning over the two cards and making a visual comparison of the point value associated with them, the dealer can conveniently establish whether it will be necessary to draw a further card for one of the players.
In addition to the above, the quickness with which the dealer can assign the score to the players makes it possible to reduce the time required for playing a hand (compared to the duration of a hand in the classic version of Baccarat-Punto Banco).
This time reduction makes it possible to obtain a further technical advantage related to the fact that the configuration of the cloth that is the subject of the invention will make it possible to play, in the same amount of time, a larger number of hands compared to those which can be played in the classic version of Baccarat-Punto Banco.
Furthermore, the choice to introduce four spaces for positioning the cards associated with the banker and those associated with the fictitious player is not a random choice, since in order to play Baccarat-Punto Banco, be it in the standard version or in a variant of the type illustrated further on in this description, it is necessary that the total sum of the spaces gives an even number as a result.
Conveniently, the cloth 1 may comprise further graphical representations suited to represent a precise card from the deck, indicated by the reference number 14.
Said representations are provided in proximity to the areas 12, 13 which are suited to define the position of the cards respectively associated with the banker or the player.
This specific condition is illustrated in
As already mentioned above, two of said spaces 12, 13 are reserved to the cards drawn from the deck during a hand while the third space 14 is never occupied by a card drawn from the deck, in fact this area is provided with a graphical representation of a fixed card whose point value must be added to those of the other cards just drawn.
In practice, in this variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco the third card is not drawn from the deck but has a fixed and constant point value which in any case will be added to those of the other cards previously drawn from the deck.
The point value of the card graphically represented on the table cloth 1 will be the same for both roles (banker and player), and in particular said fixed card can be a ten, a jack, a queen or a king, that is, a card whose point value in this specific game is equal to zero.
In this way, the sum of the point value of the card already represented on the cloth 1 will have no influence on the score associated with the banker or the player; in fact, the total point value of the combination of each hand will be obtained by summing the point value of the two cards drawn and placed in the respective spaces 12, 13 defined on the cloth 1.
Therefore, even if the configuration of the cloth 1 may seem suited to allow a game with three cards to be played (two cards drawn from the deck and one represented in a fixed manner on the cloth), in practice this variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco uses only two cards to determine the win (those positioned on the specific spaces 12, 13), as the third card (fixed and already represented on the cloth 1) is irrelevant for the purposes of the game, its point value being equal to zero.
Conveniently, the cloth may also be provided with a plurality of additional boxes suited to allow one or more tokens or casino fiches to be placed thereon.
These boxes can, for example, be associated with the appearance of the following winning combinations:
Conveniently, all the graphical representations present on the cloth 1 can be obtained through a printing process or a similar process.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the subject of the same includes a table for playing a card game, in particular a card game of the Baccarat-Punto Banco type or its variants.
Said table, not represented in the drawings, is suited to allow the game to be played when a banker (or dealer) and one or more players are present.
Said table comprises a supporting structure provided with a bearing portion intended to be rested on the ground and a supporting surface superimposed to said supporting structure and provided with an upper side visible to the banker and the players.
Analogously to what has already been described with reference to the cloth, also the upper side of the supporting surface can be provided with a series of graphical representations that serve for playing the game.
More specifically, the upper side of the supporting surface can be provided with all the graphical representations already introduced for the cloth and described in greater detail in paragraphs [0045]-[0061].
Thus, there can be areas for positioning the tokens/fiches and spaces suited to delimit the position of the cards associated with the dealer or the player, respectively.
In fact, there can be a first area where to place the tokens/fiches in the case where the players bet on the banker's win, a second area where to place the tokens/fiches in the case where the players bet on the fictitious player's win and possibly a third area where to place the tokens/fiches or other symbolic objects in the case where the players bet on the tie between banker and the fictitious player.
Conveniently, the sum of all the areas or spaces where to place the cards associated with the banker or the player equals four.
More specifically, also in this case the upper side of the supporting surface can be provided with a graphical representation suited to show, for each role in the game, a fixed card whose point value is possibly equal to zero and which is positioned beside the pair of spaces respectively associated with the dealer and the fictitious player.
As regards the representation of a fixed card provided directly on the upper side of the supporting surface, what has been explained with reference to the cloth in paragraphs [0065]-[0081] applies to the table, too.
Preferably, the graphical representations provided on the upper side of the supporting surface can be obtained, for example, by means of printing and/or engraving and/or screen-printing processes.
Obviously, these processes are mentioned purely by way of example and the graphical representations provided on the supporting surface can be obtained through one or more surface machining processes known in the art.
Finally, the subject of the invention also includes a piece of equipment for playing a card game of the Baccarat-Punto Banco type or a similar type.
Said piece of equipment, not illustrated in the FIGURE, comprises a table provided with a supporting surface for the cards and the tokens/fiches used during a round of play.
The invention comprises also a gaming table cloth 1 of the type described in paragraphs [0034]-[0084] and designed to cover the supporting surface in such a way as to allow a variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco to be played in compliance with the rules described below.
The table cloth, the table and the equipment described above are provided with a series of graphical representations suited to allow a card game deriving from Baccarat-Punto Banco to be played.
More specifically, the main difference between this game and the classic version of Baccarat-Punto Banco lies in that the banker and the player can use maximum two cards (the third card can possibly be already represented on the cloth or table but its point value is equal to zero and therefore it has no influence for the purposes of the game).
This variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco is a game between the gaming house (represented by the banker or dealer) and one or more player/s.
In this game it is common praxis to use six card decks consisting of 52 cards, without the joker. The point value of the cards is their face value and the point value of the tens, jacks, queens and kings is zero. The winning combination is the combination that is closest to nine obtained with one or maximum with two cards.
The decks are mixed by the dealer and then placed in a card container. At this point each player can bet on the combination that he/she thinks will be the winning one (player or banker) or on the tie between banker and player (egalite).
Once the betting phase has been completed, the dealer turns over the first card extracting it from the container, this card is associated with the player and positioned—face up—in one of the apposite spaces provided on the cloth or table (for example, beside the already printed card).
The dealer extracts another card, in this case associated with the banker, from the container and positions it—face up—in one of the apposite spaces obtained on the cloth or the table (for example, beside the already printed card).
At this point it is already possible to establish if there is a winning combination at the end of the first drawing. More specifically, if one of the drawn cards has a face value equal to eight or nine, the hand ends and that is the winning hand (banker or player).
Alternatively, if the point value of both the cards associated with the banker or the fictitious player is equal to nine, or eight, or sever, or six, the hand ends because there is a condition of tie (egalite).
In the case where the point value of the player's card is zero, one, two, three, four or five, the dealer always turns over a second card (except when the point value of the banker's card is eight or nine, as in that case the game ends).
However, the dealer does not draw a second card for the player if the point value of the first card associated with the latter is six or seven.
The dealer draws a second card for the banker if the point value of the first card associated with the latter is zero, one, two or three (except when the point value of the first card associated with the player is eight or nine, as in that case the game ends).
In the case where the point value of the card associated with the banker is three and the point value of the second card associated with the player is eight, the dealer does not draw a new card from the deck for the banker's combination.
On the contrary, the dealer draws a second card for the banker if the latter is associated with a card whose point value is four and the fictitious player is associated with a first card whose point value is six or seven or a second card whose point value is two, three, four, five, six and seven.
The dealer turns over a second card for the banker also in the case where the point value of the first card associated with the latter is five and the player is associated with a first card whose point value is six or seven or a second card whose point value is four, five, six and seven.
The dealer always turns over a second card for the banker also when the point value of the first card associated with the latter is six and the point value of the second card associated with the player is six or seven.
Furthermore, the dealer turns over a second card for the banker when the point value of the first card associated with the latter is zero, one, two, three, four or five and the point value of the first card associated with the player is six or seven.
Finally, if the point value of the card associated with the banker is seven, the dealer does not draw the second card (even when a second card has already been drawn for the player).
If at the ends of the sequences of combinations (or draws) described in the previous paragraphs the scores of the combinations associated with the player and the banker are the same, the hand ends with a tie (egalite).
In this condition, the bets of the players associated with the banker's or the fictitious player's win remain available to the players, while those who bet on the tie receive a prize as decided by the gaming house.
If the score associated with the player is the winning score, the bets made by the players on said combination are paid out at 1 to 1.
On the contrary, if the score associated with the banker is the winning score, different types of payment to the players are possible as decided by the gaming house.
The cloth, the table and the equipment that constitute the subject of the present invention make it possible to play a card game deriving from Baccarat-Punto Banco which, however, has undoubted advantages compared to the latter.
First of all, the reproduction on the table cloth of four spaces for playing the game with the extraction of (maximum) two cards makes it possible to increase the overall number of hands with the same number of card decks being used.
On the other hand, compared to the supports for playing the traditional Baccarat-Punto Banco, the table cloth that is the subject of the present invention makes it possible to save some card decks while playing the same number of hands (reduction of approximately two decks every 100 hands played).
For example, using six 52-card decks it is possible to play approximately 100 hands (in the traditional version of Baccarat-Punto Banco they are approximately 60).
Secondly, the combinations associated with the banker or the player can be determined using one or maximum two cards. In this way, the numerical calculation the dealer needs to make during a round of play to determine the combinations is rather simple and intuitive.
Thus, this variant of the game makes it possible to minimize calculation errors and to play a higher number of hands in the same period of time (in fact, each hand lasts less than one hand of Baccarat-Punto Banco).
Furthermore, the variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco described above (like the game Baccarat-Punto Banco itself) is played with a total number of cards (associated with the banker/fictitious player) which is a multiple of two (or even).
Therefore, the presence of a total number of spaces equal to four is not a random choice, as this number makes it possible to play a game according to the variant of Baccarat-Punto-Banco described herein while at the same time offering all the advantages described above.
Therefore, it would not be possible to play this variant of Baccarat-Punto Banco using a table cloth with an odd number of spaces (for the cards of the banker/fictitious player), for example three or five.
In addition to the above, the cloth, the table and the equipment that constitute the subject of the present invention make it possible to increase the percentages associated with the banker's win compared to the classic version of Baccarat-Punto
Banco.
This increase in the win percentages associated with the banker represents an undiscussed advantage for the gaming house, especially in combination with the fact that each hand has a relatively limited duration and it is possible to play a considerably higher number of hands in a given period of time compared to those which can be played in Baccarat-Punto Banco.
In the application of the classic version of Baccarat-Punto Banco using fifty-two cards and six decks, the resulting situation with reference to the win percentages is the following:
In the application of the version of Baccarat-Punto Banco that can be played with the cloth that is the subject of the present invention (in the version using fifty-two cards and six decks, so that a comparison with the previous table can be made) the resulting situation with reference to the win percentages is the following:
The present invention can be carried out in other variants, all falling within the scope of the inventive characteristics claimed and described herein; these technical details can be replaced by different technically equivalent elements and materials; the shapes and sizes of the invention can be any, provided that they are compatible with its intended use.
The reference numbers and signs included in the claims and in the description have the only purpose of making the text easier to understand and must not be considered as elements limiting the technical interpretation of the objects or processes they identify.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102019000012528 | Jul 2019 | IT | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2020/056157 | 6/30/2020 | WO |
