Poker Tile Game

Abstract

A poker tile game includes a plurality of tiles and trays. Each tile is hexagonal and includes a playing side with an image thereon and a non-playing side having an identical background image thereon. The tiles include a first set of 52 tiles, wherein the image on each represents a different card of a standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards consisting of a suit and a number or picture, and a second set of tiles, wherein the image on each is a joker representing any card number or image as chosen by a player. The trays have elongated slots therein to hold a randomly-selected plurality of the tiles in a vertical orientation with the non-playing side facing other players.

Claims

1. A poker tile game comprising: a plurality of tiles, each being hexagonal and comprising a playing side with an image thereon and a non-playing side having an identical background image thereon, said tiles comprising: a first set of 52 tiles, wherein said image on each represents a different card of a standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards consisting of a suit and an alphanumeric character, a second set of tiles, wherein said image on each is a joker representing any tile as chosen by a player; and trays having elongated slots therein to hold a randomly-selected plurality of said tiles in a vertical orientation with said non-playing side facing other players.

2. The poker tile game of claim 1, wherein said second set consists of eight tiles consisting of four pairs of jokers, wherein a first pair is additionally marked with a club symbol, a second pair is additionally marked with a heart symbol, a third pair is additionally marked with a diamond symbol, and a fourth pair is additionally marked with a spade symbol.

3. The poker tile game of claim 2, wherein said plurality of tiles comprises a third set of tiles, wherein said image on each comprises written instructions describing alterations to the rules of play.

4. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on each of said third set of tiles comprises one of: ALL IN, which alters the rules of play such that players can take unplayed tiles from each other for the remainder of play in a round, REVERSE DIRECTION, which alters the rules of play such that the order of play changes from clockwise to counterclockwise or vice versa for the remainder of play in a round, DRAW THREE, which alters the rules of play such that all players must draw three tiles at the start of a turn and discard two tiles at the end of a turn for the remainder of play in a round, EXTRA TURN, which alters the rules of play such that the drawing player may take one additional consecutive turn one time, FORCE STOP, which alters the rules of play such that the round is immediately ended and scores are tallied based on current play, STEAL ONE, which alters the rules of play such that a player may take one played tile from the playing area one time, SKIP TO PARTNER, which alters the rules of play such that, when playing with a partner, play is immediately advanced to the player's partner one time, and EXCHANGE TRAY, which alters the rules of play such that a player can exchange all unplayed tiles for the unplayed tiles of another player one time.

5. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises REVERSE DIRECTION, which alters the rules of play such that the order of play changes from clockwise to counterclockwise or vice versa for the remainder of play in a round.

6. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises DRAW THREE, which alters the rules of play such that all players must draw three tiles at the start of a turn and discard two tiles at the end of a turn for the remainder of play in a round.

7. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises EXTRA TURN, which alters the rules of play such that the drawing player may take one additional consecutive turn one time.

8. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises FORCE STOP, which alters the rules of play such that the round is immediately ended and scores are tallied based on current play.

9. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises STEAL ONE, which alters the rules of play such that a player may take one played tile from the playing area one time.

10. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises SKIP TO PARTNER, which alters the rules of play such that, when playing with a partner, play is immediately advanced to the player's partner one time.

11. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises EXCHANGE TRAY, which alters the rules of play such that a player can exchange all unplayed tiles for the unplayed tiles of another player one time.

12. The poker tile game of claim 3, wherein said written instructions on at least one tile of said third set comprises ALL IN, which alters the rules of play such that players can take unplayed tiles from each other for the remainder of play in a round.

13. A method of playing the poker tile game of claim 1, comprising the steps of: mixing all tiles into a draw pile; each player selecting a predetermined number of tiles randomly from said draw pile and placing the unplayed tiles in said trays; a first player drawing a predetermined number of tiles and then placing three or more tiles, comprising any combination of tiles from said first set and said second set, side by side with at least one edge touching in a play area, wherein played tiles represent one or more poker hands; said first player concluding said first player's turn by discarding an unplayed tile; repeating said steps of drawing, placing, and discarding for each player until one of the players has no more unplayed tiles in said tray and thereby concluding a round of play; recording the value of each poker hand played by the players, either during play or at the end of a round of play; subtracting the value of any unplayed tiles at the end of a round of play; and repeating rounds of play until a predetermined total score is achieved by one of the players.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said plurality of tiles comprises a third set of tiles, wherein said image on each comprises written instructions describing alterations to the rules of play, and said method further comprises drawing and playing one of said third set of tiles and altering the rules of play in accordance with the written instructions thereon during a round of play.

15. A poker tile game comprising: a plurality of tiles, each being hexagonal and comprising a playing side with an image thereon and a non-playing side having an identical background image thereon, said tiles comprising: a first set of 52 tiles, wherein said image on each represents a different card of a standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards consisting of a suit and an alphanumeric character, a second set of tiles, wherein said image on each is a joker representing any tile as chosen by a player, wherein said second set consists of eight tiles consisting of four pairs of jokers, wherein a first pair is additionally marked with a club symbol, a second pair is additionally marked with a heart symbol, a third pair is additionally marked with a diamond symbol, and a fourth pair is additionally marked with a spade symbol, a third set of tiles, wherein said image on each comprises written instructions describing alterations to the rules of play, wherein said written instructions on each of said third set of tiles comprises one of: ALL IN, which alters the rules of play such that players can take unplayed tiles from each other for the remainder of play in a round, REVERSE DIRECTION, which alters the rules of play such that the order of play changes from clockwise to counterclockwise or vice versa for the remainder of play in a round, DRAW THREE, which alters the rules of play such that all players must draw three tiles at the start of a turn and discard two tiles at the end of a turn for the remainder of play in a round, EXTRA TURN, which alters the rules of play such that the drawing player may take one additional consecutive turn one time, FORCE STOP, which alters the rules of play such that the round is immediately ended and scores are tallied based on current play, STEAL ONE, which alters the rules of play such that a player may take one played tile from the playing area one time, SKIP TO PARTNER, which alters the rules of play such that, when playing with a partner, play is immediately advanced to the player's partner one time, EXCHANGE TRAY, which alters the rules of play such that a player can exchange all unplayed tiles for the unplayed tiles of another player one time; and trays having elongated slots therein to hold a randomly-selected plurality of said tiles in a vertical orientation with said non-playing side facing other players.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

[0011] The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

[0012] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a poker tile game according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a top view of components of an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0014] FIG. 3 is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure in use.

[0015] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure in use.

[0016] FIG. 5 is a top view of components of an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 5 thereof, a new poker tile game embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

[0018] As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, the poker tile game 10 generally comprises a plurality of tiles 12 and trays 14. Each tile is hexagonal and includes a playing side 16 with an image thereon and a non-playing side 18 having an identical background image thereon, as shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the tiles 12 include a first set 28 of 52 tiles 12, wherein the image on each represents a different card of a standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards consisting of a suit 20 and an alphanumeric character 22, and a second set 30 of tiles 12, wherein the image on each is a joker 24 representing any alphanumeric character 22 as chosen by a player. As shown in FIG. 2, there are four groups of tiles 12, one set for each of the suits 20, namely clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. In the embodiment shown, there are eight joker 24 cards, two for each of the suits 20. While this is the exemplary set of tiles 12, the tiles 12 could be configured for other standard decks of playing cards, or could even be modified to different themes, such as cartoons or animated characters for children.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 1, the trays 14 have elongated slots 26 therein to hold a randomly-selected plurality of the tiles 12 in a vertical orientation with the non-playing side 18 facing other players, as shown in FIG. 4. The trays 14 shown have three slots 26, though any number or configuration is within the scope of the disclosure.

[0020] In one possible embodiment, the poker tile game 10 also includes a third set 32 of tiles 12, wherein the image on each includes written instructions describing alterations to the rules of play, as shown in FIG. 5. The written instructions on each of the third set 32 of tiles 12 can be different alterations. A first written instruction could be ALL IN, which alters the rules of play such that players can take unplayed tiles 12 from each other for the remainder of play in a round. A second written instruction could be REVERSE DIRECTION, which alters the rules of play such that the order of play changes from clockwise to counterclockwise or vice versa for the remainder of play in a round. A third written instruction could be DRAW THREE, which alters the rules of play such that all players must draw three tiles 12 at the start of a turn and discard two tiles 12 at the end of a turn for the remainder of play in a round. A fourth written instruction could be EXTRA TURN, which alters the rules of play such that the drawing player may take one additional consecutive turn one time. A fifth written instruction could be FORCE STOP, which alters the rules of play such that the round is immediately ended and scores are tallied based on current play. A sixth written instruction could be STEAL ONE, which alters the rules of play such that a player may take one played tile from the playing area one time. A seventh written instruction could be SKIP TO PARTNER, which alters the rules of play such that, when playing with a partner, play is immediately advanced to the player's partner one time. An eighth written instruction could be EXCHANGE TRAY, which alters the rules of play such that a player can exchange all unplayed tiles 12 for the unplayed tiles 12 of another player one time.

[0021] To play the poker tile game 10, players first mix all tiles 12 into a draw pile, which could be a pile on a playing surface, such as on the floor or a flat surface of a piece of furniture or a game board or mat, or could be a pile in a game bag or pouch. Regardless, the playing side 16 of the tiles 12 should be concealed. Each player selects a predetermined number of tiles 12 randomly from the draw pile and places the unplayed tiles 12 in the trays 14, as shown in FIG. 4. A first player draws a predetermined number of tiles 12 and then places three or more tiles 12, including any combination of tiles 12 from the first set 28 and the second set 30, side by side with at least one edge touching in a play area, wherein played tiles 12 represent one or more poker hands. The joker 24 of the second set 30 can be used in place of any of the first set 28 of tiles 12. Different examples of the types of poker hands are shown in FIG. 3, such as sequential alphanumeric characters 22, either of the same or different suits 20, or groups of the same alphanumeric character 22. The hexagonal design allows expansion in six different directions, as well as the connection of one tile 12 to two or more tiles 12. The first player concludes the first player's turn by discarding an unplayed tile 12, such as after the first player has made as many poker hands as possible. The steps of drawing, placing, and discarding are repeated for each player until one of the players has no more unplayed tiles 12 in the tray 14, which thereby concludes a round of play. The players record the value of each poker hand played by the players, which can be done either during play or at the end of a round of play. The poker hands and types of tiles 12 played are added to the point total, whereas the value of any unplayed tiles 12 are subtracted at the end of a round of play. The players repeat rounds of play until a predetermined total score is achieved by one of the players. Players can play individually or in teams. The third set 32 of tiles 12 can also be mixed into the tiles 12 to vary the play conditions for a game.

[0022] In one possible embodiment, the poker tile game 10 may have the following specific characteristics and variables. It should be noted that this is one possible embodiment of game contents, rules, and game play, and should not be considered as limiting the poker tile game 10 as claimed or as described herein.

[0023] There are 120 tiles 12 consisting of the first and second set 30s of tiles 12, also known as standard game tiles 12, and eight of the third set 32 of tiles 12 for advanced play, also known as chaos tiles 12. Each chaos tile changes the game in its own unique way by altering the rules of play. To begin play, first place all 120 standard game tiles 12 and any chaos tiles 12 to be used into the tile pouch and shake to ensure tiles 12 are properly mixed. Place the tile pouch in the center of the table. The game starts with each player drawing for high tile. Each player draws a single tile out of the tile pouch and lays it face-up on the table in front of their tray 14. The player that draws the highest tile goes first. In the event of two or more players drawing the same high tile those players redraw for the highest tile.

[0024] The tiles 12 are numbered as followed from the lowest to the highest: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, & JOKER. The player with the highest tile starts the game. Return all tiles 12 to the tile pouch before starting the game. The starting player draws 12 tiles 12 from the tile pouch and places them face down on the table. Play passes to the left in a clockwise direction until each player has their 12 tiles 12 to start. Players may now arrange their tiles 12 on their tray 14.

[0025] The object of the game is to be the first player to empty your tray 14 of all tiles 12. Game play begins with the starting player drawing two tiles 12 from the tile pouch, and if possible, making an initial run. A player must have at least of the same image or three sequential tiles 12 in order lay tiles 12 on the table. Once you have laid your initial run, you can make other runs or play off of your initial run. If possible, the ultimate goal is to create a single sprawling run. The player ends his/her turn by discarding one tile into the tile pouch. Play passes to the next player on the left. Each player's turn starts by drawing two tiles 12, making plays on the table if possible and ends by discarding one tile. The round ends when one player has emptied all the tiles 12 off of his/her tray 14.

[0026] The scoring patterns or poker hands are standard poker hands, such as a straight or five tiles 12 in sequence of mixed suits 20, a flush or five tiles 12 of the same suit 20, a full house or three of a kind plus a pair, four of a kind or four tiles 12 with the same rank, a straight flush or straight in which all tiles 12 are of the same suit 20, and a royal flush or Ace-high suited straight.

[0027] Each tile has a specific point value. All tiles 12 numbered 1-9 are worth 5 points per tile. All tiles 12 marked 10A are worth 10 points per tile. All jokers are worth 25 points. Played tiles 12 are positive points and unplayed tiles 12 are negative points. Any unplayed chaos tile is a 50-point deduction. Bonus points for runs that are connected to each other. Two connected runs gains the player 20 positive points. Three connected runs gains the player 30 positive points. Four connected runs gains the player 40 positive points. Each additional connected run counts as 10 positive points.

[0028] When playing in teams there must be at least 4 to 6 players divided into 2 to 3 teams. Rules are the same with one exception in that teammates play together on one set of runs or combinations. Point values are the same but bonus points are double.

[0029] Chaos tiles 12 change the rules of play. All chaos tiles 12 are played once and returned to the tile pouch with the exception of ALL IN, REVERSE DIRECTION and DRAW THREE. Only one chaos tile can be played during a player's turn. Once the ALL-IN tile is played, all tiles 12 are fair game. Every player can steal tiles 12 from all other players. However, if a player does steal tiles 12 from other players that player is responsible to ensure all tiles 12 in other player's groupings are in proper runs. After the tile has been played the player places this tile in its space on top of the tile pouch. The REVERSE DIRECTION tile changes the direction of play from clockwise to counterclockwise. This tile is played after the player has played but before the player discards a tile. After the direction has been changed the player places this tile in its space on top of the tile pouch. When the DRAW THREE tile is drawn from the tile pouch, all players must now start drawing three tiles 12 when starting his/her turn. After the player has drawn his/her three tiles 12 and played his/her turn, the player must now discard two tiles 12 to end his/her turn. The EXTRA TURN tile allows the player who draws this tile to take an additional turn. This tile is played after the player has exhausted his play using their current tiles 12 but before the player discards their tile. The player does not discard a tile. Instead the player starts another play. The player draws two more tiles 12 and continues their turn. After the player's turn is over this tile must be returned to the tile pouch. The FORCE STOP tile abruptly stops the round in place. The scores for the round are tallied. The STEAL ONE tile allows the player who draws this tile to take any tile on the table from any player. The player who drew this tile is not responsible for the run of the player from whom the tile was stolen. If, by chance, the tile stolen leaves the player from whom it was stolen an incomplete run then that player must return the incomplete run tiles 12 to their tray 14. After the player's turn is over this tile must be returned to the tile pouch. The SKIP TO PARTNER tile allows the player who plays this tile to advance game play to the player's partner skipping past all other players. After the player's turn is over this tile must be returned to the tile pouch. The EXCHANGE TRAY tile allows the player who draws this tile to exchange his/her tray 14 with the tray 14 of any player. This tile is played after the player has drawn his/her tiles 12 but before he/she starts playing tiles 12 on the table. When playing this tile, there is a random chance of getting a better set of tiles 12. After the player's turn is over this tile must be returned to the tile pouch.

[0030] With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0031] Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word comprising is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article a does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.