GB2346090A - Multi-game card or tile sets - Google Patents

Abstract

Sets of 2-dimensional cards or three-dimensional tiles comprise identically shaped quadrilateral pieces which are intended to be placed in abutting relationship by matching both the length of a side and distinctive indicia, eg a specific colour segment, near each edge. In a preferred embodiment, cards are each non-equilateral with a single right angle corner and there are four possible different colours, one functioning as a joker or wild colour; cards may also have one or more blank segments. In an alternative embodiment, Fig 9b (not shown), the cards or tiles are rectangular, and there are eight possible distinctive indicia to match. Each card or tile additionally carries indicia 6, 7, providing rank and category (ie suit) and sets can be made up of 52 pieces as with conventional playing cards; alphabetical characters 8 are also carried on the face of each card or tile. A variety of games can be played, eg word building games (with scoring for choice of alphabetical character), and rummy or trump-type card games, along with domino-like puzzles and games.

Description

SPECIFICATION Multi-game apparatus and methods of play This invention relates to card and tile games useful for games of type similar to conventional games of dominoes and puzzles, word games, and playing cards for a single player, competing players, or against a computer in accordance with the methods of play.

Conventional tile and card games are generally based on one of the following game concepts of assembling matching game pieces in a side-by-side relationship as in domino tiles, or words formed from individual game pieces bearing letters of alphabet, or arrangement of game pieces according to their rank and category as in conventional playing cards games.

The game of dominoes is well known and comprises a set of rectangular pieces bearing a range of number or dot combinations in which the players arrange tiles with matching indicia in an abutting manner. Other games are known to employ equilateral triangular, square, or equilateral hexagonal game pieces. These game sets either employ too many different indicia for the purpose of matching game pieces during play and thus, make the game too complex or too few indicia are employed with high frequency of possible combinations and therefore, make the game less challenging. Furthermore, these games only offer a domino like concept of play.

Word games are known wherein each piece bears a letter of the alphabet to enable a group of pieces to be assembled in a side-by-side relationship so as to spell words. Where these games involve awarding point scores for the words created, the score is based on the difficulty of the usage of the individual letters in the word. This provides an unfair advantage to those with greater prior knowledge of difficult or uncommon words.

It is an object of the invention to provide novel sets of game pieces and methods of play useful for playing novel domino type games and puzzles, conventional word and playing card games as well as modified word and card games with additional concepts of play.

According to the present invention a game set comprises a predetermined plurality of two dimensional cards or three dimensional tile pieces selected from at least one of M group of pieces identically shaped in the form of non-equilateral quadrilaterals, wherein, the length of each side provides primary indicia, the said pieces bearing on their playing face at least one of the N second indicia disposed adjacent the M sides of the pieces, to yield all possible N second indicia and M sides (primary indicia) combinations, enabling pieces to be arranged edge-to-edge in an abutting manner with matching primary and matching second indicia, the said game pieces being further characterised by a third indicia to designate rank, a fourth indicia to designate category or suit to each piece, a fifth indicia to designate alphabetic characters to each piece, and an optional sixth indicia comprising a pictorial representation of the same playing face to include at least one of the second, third, fourth, or fifth indicia ; the game set being selected to comprise at least a predetermined number of 49 pieces, wherein each piece carries at least 1 second indicia, the said game set comprising at least 3 other blank pieces not carrying any of the N second indicia; the said N second indicia and primary indicia combinations having a frequency of at least 8, the said N second indicia comprising at least 3 distinct indicia and at least one other'wild'or'joker'indicia ; the game in its one mode of operation plays Domino like games and Solitaire Puzzles by one or more players with or without a computer, requiring pieces with matching indicia to be placed edge-to-edge in an abutting relation, the game in its different mode of play requires pieces to be arranged with matching primary indicia in an edge-to-edge abutting relation and matching second indicia although not exclusively, to construct words with the aforementioned fifth alphabetic indicia, optionally the game set may constitutes a conventional playing cards deck enabling traditional card games to be played as well as modified card games to be played by utilising the said second indicia in conjunction with the said third rank and the said fourth category indicia.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

BRIFE DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAYWNGS Fig 1 illustrates the face view of one game piece from a game set of one preferred embodiment.

Fig 2 is a face view of one embodiment of the invention comprising a game set of fifty-two two-dimensional non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces.

Fig 3 illustrates five game pieces arranged between two players.

Fig 4 illustrates an example of a twenty four-piece puzzle arranged in accordance with a predefined pattern.

Fig 5 illustrates four game pieces arranged to spell the word"SANE"in a horizontal direction Fig 6 illustrates the same four game pieces as in Fig 5 arranged to spell the same word"SANE"in a vertical direction.

Fig 7 illustrates the face view of the same game piece as in Fig 1 but with alternative indicia Fig 8 illustrates a three-dimensional tile game piece from an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Fig 9a and Fig 9b illustrates views of a two dimensional irregular quadrilateral game piece with non-identical sides and its equivalent two-dimensional rectangular game piece with additional first indicia.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION For the purpose of scoring each game piece is designated a point value or rank indicia 6 as well as indicia 7 to categorise the game piece. Both the point value or rank indicia 6 and the category indicia 7 are disposed adjacent the upper right and the lower left apices of the game piece although, not exclusively. According to the preferred embodiment the point value or rank indicia 6 and the category indicia 7 may conveniently be in the form of identification found in the standard playing card deck. Thus, AD in Fig 1 refers to the game piece Ace of Diamonds with a point value of 10 and a category of diamonds. The arrangement of primary indicia and second indicia of any game piece will be represented by a sequence of four indicia at the four sides of a given piece starting with the indicia designated to the smallest side first and those of the other sides sequentially clockwise. Referring to Fig 1, a two dimensional game piece AD as in a deck of cards is shown as one embodiment of non-equilateral quadrilateral game piece wherein each sides 1,2,3, or 4 (M=4) of the quadrilateral is of non-identical length wherein the length of sides represents the primary indicia of the game pieces and the said non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces has at least one of four apices equal to 90 Degrees.

Thus in the absence of any other indicia any game piece can be arranged in an abutting relationship with the corresponding side (primary indicium) of same length from another game piece. In presence of second N indicia 5, shown in Fig 1, each game piece can only be arranged in an abutting relationship with another, with corresponding primary indicia as well as matching second indicia although not exclusively, as would be apparent from the description for word games. In the presently preferred embodiment shown in Fig 1 and Fig 2, the second indicia is represented by four different indicia (N=4) of which one of the second indicia is designated as'wild'or'joker'. The said second indicia may conveniently be represented in the form of marks, shapes, symbols, characters, or other indicia, but preferred in the form of colour codes such as represented in Fig 1 wherein, the triangular regions formed between the outer edges and the centre of game pieces are colour filled hereafter referred to as'segments'. Therefore, with reference to the preferred embodiment comprising N= 4 indicia of Red (R), Blue (B), Yellow (Y), and Black (K), the (K) is representative of'wild'second indicia and (0) represents a blank or undesignated side thus, the game piece shown in Fig 1 can be designated as (B, Y, O, R). It would therefore be apparent that families of game sets can be defined by selecting any number (N) of second indicia in all mathematical combinations of the number (M) of non-identical sides (primary indicia) of non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces. Each family of game pieces comprises (M) groups wherein each piece in a group bears one of M by N second indicia combinations such that no two pieces are identically superimposeable.

Thus one preferred embodiment comprises a selection of a predetermined number of 49 game pieces (see Fig 2 and Table 1) from the following M (4) groups.

Group 1 (M=1) Comprises 16 pieces; one side of each piece is designated with one of four indicia.

Group 2 (M=2) Comprises 96 pieces; two sides of each piece is designated with one of all possible combinations of two indicia.

Group 3 (M=3) Comprises 256 pieces; three sides of each piece is designated with one of all possible combinations of three indicia.

Group 4 (M=4) Comprises 256 pieces; four sides of each piece is designated with one of all possible combinations of four indicia.

The complete family of all possible non-identical non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces with four second indicia is listed in Table 1. It is therefore to be understood that according to one object of the invention any family of game pieces may be designed upon specifying a number (N) of second indicia and number (M) of non-identical sides of game pieces to yield a family comprising (1+N) M pieces wherein, each family comprises M by N indicia combinations with a frequency of (l+N) M-I, wherein a game set may comprise a selection of a predetermined number of game pieces with a predetermined frequency of N by M combinations and a predetermined number of blank game pieces.

According to one presently preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in Fig 2, a game set comprises a predetermined number of 49 non-equilateral quadrilateral (M=4) game pieces selected from a family of 624 pieces with four second indicia (N=4) of which one second indicia is'wild'. The said game set has 9 pieces selected from Ist group, 26 pieces selected from 2nd group, 12 pieces selected from 3rd group, 2 pieces selected from 4th group and 3 pieces are selected as blank game pieces. In the said preferred embodiment the frequency of three (blue, red, yellow segments) of the four second N indicia by M combinations is eight and that of the fourth'wild' (black segments) second N indicia by M combinations is at least two.

According to one object of the invention the play characteristics of the game set can be altered according to the number of game pieces selected from each group, the number of blank pieces, and the frequency of the second indicia and side combinations. For example, 1 segmented pieces as in those in Group 1, are useful for restricting the play of the game, since a piece with only 1 segment provides only one opportunity of play. These pieces can advantageously be used to win a round by blocking the game and so prevent opponents from further play. Two segmented pieces are useful for maintaining continuity of the play since they only generate one opportunity of play for other opponents after their use. Three segmented pieces are useful for speeding up the game as they permit greater choice of play both before and after their use. Four segmented pieces are useful for retaining as last piece as they provide choice of four play opportunities, but they also speed up otherwise slow games. Game pieces with segments designated as'wild'are useful for maintaining the continuity of the game and restrict excessive build up of non-playable pieces in the player's hand. Blank pieces are retained in hand as last pieces to win the round of play. Thus by appropriate selection of a number of pieces from some or all of the four groups of pieces as well as appropriate number of blank pieces, game sets can be devised to yield certain play characteristics. For example, children's game set may comprise greater number of pieces selected from groups 3 and 4 as well as greater number of blank pieces to yield easy play characteristics with continuity.

A particular advantage of this invention is that the non-equilateral geometry of the game pieces yields M times greater number of M sides by N second indicia combinations than those of the equilateral geometrical game pieces. For example to yield the same number of combinations of second indicia (N=4) and sides (M=4) as those of the game pieces shown if Fig 1 would require MXN =16 distinct indicia to be employed to equilateral quadrilateral pieces thus, yielding very complex and confusing game sets. A further advantage is that individual or predetermined group of second indicia may be designated to a particular predefined M side wherein, a greater number of indicia would yield fewer number of M by N combinations.

The description of the invention thus far refers to two or three dimensional card or tile game sets for the purpose of playing and constructing Domino-like games and puzzles, however it would be apparent from Figl and Fig2 that according to a preferred embodiment there comprises two alphabetic indicia 8 of which one is in an upward orientation and the other is in a downward orientation. The said two indicia being preferably of the same alphabetic characters and disposed at the centre of the game pieces although, not exclusively. A preferred game set as shown in Fig 2 comprises a predetermined number of 52 game pieces wherein each game piece carries two identical indicia 8 selected from the following distribution based on the approximate frequency of occurrence of alphabetic characters in all two, three, and four letter English words ; 5xE's, 4xA's, 4xO's, 4xS's, 3xD's, 3xI's, 3xN's, 3xR's, 3xT's, 2xG's, 2x1's, 2xU's, IxB's, IxC's, lxF's, lxH's, lxJ's, lxK's, lxM's, lxP's, lxQ's, lxV's, lxX's, lxY's, 1xZ's. It would be apparent from this distribution and Table 2 that a total of 18 vowels and 34 consonants are allocated to the preferred game set comprising 52 game pieces subdivided into Groups 1, 2,3,4, and a Group of blank cards, see Table 2, wherein each group is allocated vowels and consonants in the ratio of at least 1: 1 as in Group I comprising only 2 game pieces, but preferably in a ratio of 1 : 1.9 to 1: 2 as in Group 2 and in Groups 3,1, and Group of blank pieces respectively. Thus with the exception of Group 4, each of the other groups is allocated vowels and consonants in approximately the same ratio, yielding balanced groups of game pieces and therefore a balanced game set comprising 18 vowel game pieces and 34 consonant game pieces having a ratio of 1: 1.9.

According an object of the preferred embodiment the point value of any two or more game pieces carrying the same letter indicia 8 may or may not be the same.

Furthermore, the point value designated to each letter game pieces is not in accordance with the frequency of their occurrence in English langage as is the case in other common word games. For example, there are 5 game pieces carrying the same letter indicia'E'but with point value of 2,3,9,10, and 10. This feature adds an element of unpredictability and increases the randomisation of word scores thus enabling players with limited knowledge of complex words to maximise their score by forming less complex words utilising high point value game pieces. Fig 5 shows an example of play wherein a player has constructed a word'SANE'from 9D, 6C, AS, and 3C game pieces with a word score of 9+6+10+3=28 points. It is another object of the invention to provide an additional dimension of play wherein if a word constructed by a player comprises any two adjacent game pieces with matching second indicia 5 then the combined point score of the said two adjacent game pieces is doubled according to method of play. If a player constructs a word wherein each adjacent game pieces have matching second indicia then the combined point value of all the game pieces in the word is tripled according to one method of play. Fig 6 shows the same word'SANE'constructed in vertical orientation using the same game pieces 9D, 6C, AS, 3C, wherein the middle two game pieces 6C and AS are in an abutting relationship with matching Blue second indicia as well as spelling'AN', with the resulting word score of 9+2x (6+10) +3=44 points. It is to be noted that the same words constructed from the same game pieces may result in different word scores depending on its orientation. Therefore in this manner, players are encouraged to explore possibilities of matching adjoining game pieces, word construction as well as their orientation, thus bringing into play additional dimensions to word games.

According to one other object of the invention, the preferred game set comprising 52 card game pieces as shown in Fig 2 wherein the combined point value indicia 6 and the category indicia 7 represents the same denomination as that in a standard deck of playing cards thus, enabling the said card game pieces to play all standard playing card games. The distribution of the point value indicia 6 and category indicia 7 to each card game piece of the groups 1 to 4 and Group of blank card pieces is shown in Table 2, wherein, 2 game pieces each are designated Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, and 3 game pieces are designated Hearts, in Group 1. In-Group 2,6 pieces each are designated Spades and Clubs and 7 pieces each are designated Diamonds and Hearts. In-Group 3,2 game pieces are designated Hearts, 3 game pieces each are designated Spades and Hearts, and 4 game pieces are designated Clubs. In-Group 4,1 game piece each is designated Spades and Diamonds and 1 game piece each in the Group of blank pieces are designated Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds.

According to another object of the invention, the preferred game set shown in Fig2 enables modified or variations of standard playing card games to be played wherein, the combined point value indicia 6 and the category indicia 7 represents the same denomination as that in a standard deck of playing cards and the second indicia 5 is utilised as further means for grouping and categorising or ranking, thus enabling additional dimension of play to be introduced to playing card games. For example, a group of popular playing card games based on trumps involves either a random selection or selection by a player to call a suit (category indicia 7) to be higher ranking (trumps) than other suits wherein tricks are won by players with highest ranking card of a trump suit in a meld or highest ranking card of the leading suit in a meld. According to one object of the invention, additional dimension of play may be introduced to trumps group of games where, in addition to random or preselection of a trump suit a player also nominates one of N second indicia 5 other than'wild'second indicia which enables the player to alter the rank of the trump suit. For example, if a player selects Clubs as the trumps suit and nominates'Red segments' (second indicia 5), then the highest ranking trump card would be the highest ranking'Club'card with most number of Red segments, which in this case would be 9C with 3 Red segments. Table 3 shows how the ranking of each of the four suits, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, and Hearts would change according to which colour segment (second indicia 5) is nominated by a player.

According to another object of the invention the preferred game set shown in Fig 2, enables variations of Rummy type games to be played. Wherein, players are required to collect two groups of game pieces, one group comprising a predefined number of game pieces with each piece having at least one of the same second indicia and each piece in the group must carry the same category indicia 6. The other group comprising a second predefined number with each piece having at least one of the same second indicia and each piece in the group must carry the same category indicia 6. The game pieces in both of the said groups may or may not bear the same category indicia 6.

According to the preferred embodiment shown in Figl, there comprise indicia 9 disposed at the Upper left and lower right apices of the game piece. The said indicia 9 is a scaled down representation of the game piece and comprises two indicia 5 and 8 of the four indicia 5,6,7, and 8. A particular advantage of this feature is that the indicia 9 allows a player to read the indicia 5 and 8, or any other indicia incorporated into indicia 9 when the card game pieces are held in fan-like arrangement in a players hand.

Fig 7 shows a modification of the invention wherein the indicia 5 in Fig 1 represented by colour coded or otherwise the triangular regions are replaced by similarly coded elongated regions or stripes disposed at the outer edges of the game pieces as indicia 50. Furthermore, the alphabetic indicia 8 in Fig ! are omitted in Fig 7 thus, providing a blank central region of the game piece face to enable incorporation of other non-functional indicia.

Fig 8 shows a modification of the invention wherein the game piece is a threedimensional tile game piece. In this embodiment the second N indicia 500 is in the form of distinct geometrical shapes disposed adjacent the outer edges of the tile game piece. The tile game piece also comprises the point value or rank indicia 600 and category indicia 700 disposed adjacent the upper right and lower left apices, and the two alphabetic indicia 800 in inverted orientation relative to each other and disposed at the centre of the game pieces.

The invention described thus far as shown in Fig 1, hereafter referred to as the 15' embodiment comprises game pieces with non-equilateral quadrilateral geometry wherein each of the four sides are of non equal length and at least one of the four apices is of 90 Degrees. According to an alternative 4t embodiment of the invention shown in Fig 9b, each game piece is of non equilateral quadrilateral geometry wherein, pairs of opposite sides are of equal length but each pair of opposite sides have different lengths and at least one of the four apices is of 90 Degrees. Thus in the 4th embodiment, the two unequal sides represent primary indicia of M=2. Therefore, to yield a family of game pieces with the same number of game pieces and the same play characteristics as that of the I"embodiment N=8 second indicia must be employed, of which one half of the indicia must complement the other half by having a common property. For example the Red Segment indicium in the 1 yt embodiment may be replaced by two segments in the 4* embodiment wherein, one segment indicium is filled with red squares and another segment indicium filled with red circles, the colour red is therefore, the common indicia. In this manner, each of the Blue, Yellow, and Black segmented indicia are also replaced by two other complementary indicia. Fig 9a shows the game piece 9S from a game set of the first embodiment and Fig 9b shows its equivalent game piece from a game set of the 4h embodiment with M=2 nonidentical sides wherein, Red squares filled indicium 5000 replaces the Red colour filled indicium 5a in the 15'embodiment and the Red circles filled indicium 50001 replaces the red colour filled indicium 5b of the 1 embodiment in Fig 9a. Thus in the aforementioned modified games of Trumps, game pieces of the 4 embodiment may be employed wherein to alter the rank of the trump suit a player nominates the trump suit as well as one of the complementary or common second N indicia which, in the preferred embodiment would be represented by the complementary or common colour of the indicia. For example, a player may call 'spades'as the trumps suit and'red'as the complimentary or common colour of the second indicia to designate new rank to trumps suit. This would result in 9S as the highest trump card as it comprises the greatest number of (3) Red coloured second indicia as listed in Table 3 and Fig 9b wherein, the second indicia 5000, 5001, and 5003 all have complimentary or common colour Red.

A description of the way in which various games are played with a set of card pieces according to the invention will now be given in order that the increased game possibilities becomes apparent.

PENTA A Matching game fbr 2-4 Players The object is to play all your cards first or block the game to prevent others from playing.

Playing : Select a player to shuffle and deal 7 cards to each piayer, one at a time and place a starter card face up. The dealer starts the play by placing one card from his hand edge-to-edge to match a like coloured segment on the starter card if he can he may choose to place a second card to match any of the first two cards.

The play then continues in a clockwise direction with the next player Each player must place 1 or 2 cards on his turn to match with cards on the table, if not he must draw 1 card from the remaining deck and pass. The next player on his left starts his play.

SCORING AND WINNING 1) A round of ptay ends when a player wins by playing all his cards. A player must show one or more plain cards remaining in his hand as last cards to win but, the point value of these cards is not recorded as his score. Each losing player must add to his score the total point value of the remaining cards in his hand.

2) A round of play ends when a player wins by blocking the game so that only blank edges are exposed. Note-blank edge-to-blank edge matching is not permitted. The point value of the remaining cards in the winners hand is not recorded as his score, other players add 50 points to their score before recording it.

3) A round of play ends when further play is not possible. The last player to place his card wins the round. The point value of the remaining cards in the winners hand is not recorded as his score, other players add 50 points to their score before recording it.

WINNING When a score of 500 points is reached the player with the least score wins the game.

ASTACK A game of card stacks for 2-6 Players The object is to be the first to play all your cards by discarding them into the play pile or passing them on to your opponents.

Playing : Select a player to shuffle and deal 6 cards to each player, one at a time, the remaining cards are placed face down to form the draw pile, The dealer starts the play by placing one or more cards from his hand to form the play pile. The play continues in a clockwise direction with the next player in accordance with the followingrules.

Doubles, these cards bear only 2 segments of the same colour.

Triples, these cards bear only 3 segments of the same colour.

Quadruples, these cards bear 4 segments of any colour.

Wilds, these cards bear a black segment.

Blanks, these cards do not bear any coloured segments.

Ptaytng ff a player places : 1Double card then he must place with it 2 other cards from his hand onto the discard pile. The next player then must pick 2 cards from the draw pile and pass his turn. If a player places 2 or more Double cards then he must place with the Doubles cards twice as many cards as the Doubles from his hand.

The next player then picks twice as many cards as the Doubles cards just played and pass his turn, If a player places 1 or more Triple cards onto the play pile, then he must place with them three times as many cards from hand.

The next player picks three times as many cards from the draw pile as the Triple cards just played nd pass his turn.

A player can place only 1 wild card onto the discard pile per turn which changes the direction of play but he may place with it a second card. Or a player may place with the Wild card 1 or more Doubles or Triples in which case the direction of play changes and the next player picks twice as many or three times as many cards as the Doubles or Triples and pass his turn.

If a player plays a Quadruple card'then he must swap his hand of cards with any one of the opponents hand.

SCORING AND WINNING 1) A round of play ends when a player wins by playing all his cards. A player must show one or more plain cards remaining in his hand as last cards to win but, the point value of these cards is not recorded as his score. Each losing player must add to his score the total point value of the remaining cards in his hand plus 50 points.

2) By agreement a round of play ends when the draw pile is exhausted or the play pile may be overturned once to form a new draw pile. The point value of the remaining cards in each players hand is recorded as their score.

The winner of the round deals the cards and starts the play in the next round.

WINNING When a score of 500 points is reached the player with the least score wins the game.

SOLO 1 A game of Solitaire The object in playing SOL01 is to beat your own best score.

The best possible score is 0.

Playing : Remove all plain cards from the deck. From a shuffied deck draws 1 card at a time. The first card is placed face up on the table. Upon drawing a second card, you must if you can place it edge-to-edge with matching like-coloured segment of the first card. if you cannot make a match, then you discards it. Continue until no further cards remain in the deck. Tum over the discard pile ta form new deck and continue the play until the deck is exhausted.

Scoring: The total point value of all the unmatched cards left in the discard pile is recorded before the next play.

SOLO 2 A game of Solitaire The object in playing SOL02 is to beat your own best score.

The best possible score ts 0.

Playing : Remove all plain cards from the deck. From a shufled deck place 4 cards face-up to form the fondation row of 4 columns. Place the next card face up to form the play pile.

If any of the 4 column cards has at least 1 like coloured segment that matches with that on the play pile then it can be transferred to the play pile. In the same way any other column cards or the card on top of the discard pile can be transferred to the play pile.

If a player cannot or chooses not to transfer any card/s to the play pile then he must draw a card from the deck. When a player draws a card from the deck he must use it to replace any of the 4 column cards first and thereafter, draw more cards to place on the play or discard pile.

The game ends when all the cards in the deck have exhausted and all possible transfers from the column cards and discard pile has taken place.

Scoring: The total point value of all the unmatched column cards and those in the discard pile is recorded before the next play.

POLYGO WORD A Word game for 2-5 Players The object is to score as many points as possible by forming words using letter cards with point values.

Playing: Select a player to shuffle and deal 6 cards to each player, one at a time, the remaining cards are placed face down to form the draw pile. The dealer starts the play by placing on the table one or more words formed from the cards in his hand. The dealer then replaces the same number of cards from the Draw pile to make a total of six cards in hand. The play continues in a dockwise direction with the next player either adding to the existing word or playing a new word to cross the existing word, or placing letter cards on top of existing letterss to change into new words.

A round of play ends when all the cards in the deck have exhausted and every player has had. one additional attempt to play their cards. The winner of the round shuffles and deals the cards before starting the next round of play.

Scoring : Each player scores the total point value of all the letter cards used in making a word. If a player is able to construct a word by placing cards with matching like o. oloured segments then he scores double the point value of the two letter cards.

The total point value of aU the unused cards in players hand at the end of the game is deducted from the players total score.

WINNING When a score of 500 points or any other pre-agreed score is reached the player with the highest ! score wins the game.

ONE WORD A Word game for 2-6 Players The object is to score as many points as possible by forming one new word using at least one letter card from previous word.

Playing : Select a player to shuffle and deal 7 cards to each player, one at a time, the remaining cards are placed face down to form the draw pile. The dealer starts the play by placing on the table one word formed from the cards in his hand and discards the remaining cards. The play continues in a clockwise direction with the next player forming a new word from the previous word. A player must include at least 1 letter card from the previous word in his new word. A player may place letter cards on top of previous word letters or add letters to change into a new word.

Unused cards from hand and those removed from previous word are discarded before next players turn.

A round of play ends when a player is unable to draw aH 7 cards from the draw pile. This player collects all the cards except those of the last word, he shuffles and deals the cards before starting the next round of play.

Scoring: Each player scores the total point value of all the tetter cards used in making a word. If a player is able to construct a word by placing cards with matching Wke coloured segments then he scores double the point value of the two letter cards..

VVINNING When a score of 500 points or any other pre-agreed score is reached the player with the highestt score wins the game.

Polygo Knockout whist A Whist game for 2-7 Players The object is to win as many tricks as possible and so avoid being eliminated from the game.

RANKING for RED colured segments with Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades as Trumps Suits is a$ follows : CLUBS (HIGH) 9, jack, 10,5,3, ace, king, queen, 8,7,6,4,2 (LOW).

DIAMQNDS (HIGH) queen, ace, 10, 7, 6, 5, 3, king, jack, 9. 8, 4, 2 (LOW) HEARTS (HIGH) 6, 2, ace, jack, 10,5, king, queen, 9, 8, 74, 3 (LOW) SPADES (HIGH) 9, 10, 2, ace, king, queen, jack, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 (LOW) RANKING for YELLOW colured segments with Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades as Trumps Suits is a$ follows : CLUBS (HIGH) queen, 10,8,7, 6,2, ace, king, jack, 9, 5, 4, 3 (LOV\0.

34iAMONDS (HIGH} ace, jack, 1O, S, 8,6,3,2, king, queen, 7,5, 4(LOW) HEARTS (HIGH) 9,10,8,6,4,3, ace, king, queen. jack, 7, 5, 2 (LOW) SPADES (HIGH) queen, ace, 10, 8,7,6,3, kingJack, 9, 5, 4, 2 (LOW) RANKING for BLUE coloured segments with Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades as Trumps Suits is as follows : CLUBS (HIGH) 6,2, ace, 8,5,3, king, queen, jack, 10,9,7,4 (LOW).

DIAMONDS (HIGH) 9,2, ace, 8, 5, king, queen, jack, 10, 7, 5, 4, 3 (LOb HEARTS (HIGH) queen, ace, king, 8,7,5,3, jack, 10, 9,6,4,2 (LOY\) SPADES (HIGH) 6, acejack, 9, 8, 5, 3, king, queen, 10, 7,4,2 (LOV\0 A black segmented card is a Wild card. A'player may use it as any other colour segmented card.

Playing: Froma shuffled deck the dealer tums over one card at a time until a card with double segment of the same cotour appears.

The suite of this card becomes the Trumps suit and the colour of the double segments becomes the trumps colour. The dealer re-shuffies the cards and deals out 7 cards, one at a time to each player. The dealer starts the play by placing one card face up.

The suit of this card becomes the badir suit. Players sitting clockwise from the dealer must follow by placing a card of the same suit, if they cannot, they may place card of the trumps suite. A player with the highest ranking card wins the group of cards known as a trick. The winner of the trick starts the play for the next trick. The play continues until all the 7 tricks are made.

The person with the most tricks wins the round, if a player fails to make a trick then he drops out of the play. The winner of the round deals one card less then the in previous round before starting the play.

WINNING : A player with all 7 tricks in the first round wins the game. If all 7 rounds are played then the winner of the last round wins the game.

Polygo Rummy A Rummy game for 2-6 Players The object is to be the first to meld all your cards.

MELDS : In Polygo Rummy a meld is a group of cards of the same suite. Each card in the group must have at least one segment of the same colour. For example, 5,6, jack, and ace of hearts form a meld of 4 cards, all four card belong to hearts suite and all four cards have at least one RED segment A meld can be of a group of 3, 4, or 7 cards. A black segmented card is used as WLD card.

PLAYING : Select a dealer to shuffle and deal 7 cards, 1 card at a time to each player in a clockwise direction. The remaining cards are placed face down to form a draw pile. One card is tumed over and placed face up to forma discard pile. The dealer starts the play by taking one card either from the draw pile or the top of the discard pile. He then may make a meld and lay it face up on the table before discarding a card from hand. The discarded card must not be the same as the one picked from the discard pile.

The play continues in a dockwise direction with the next player. A player may on his lay down cards that form melds with other players. A round play ends when one player has meld all his cards, with or without a final discard. If the draw pile is exhausted, the discard pile is tumed over to form a new draw pile. The player on the left of the dealer starts the play of the next round The object is to be the first to meld all your cards.

SCORING : The winner of the round scores the total point vatue of the remaining cards in all his opponents hands.

WINNING : The first player to reach an agreed total of say, 300 points wins the game.

Similarly, the aforementioned Domino-like games, Word games, and modified Trumps-like games and modified Rummy-like games, all may be played without departing from any of their characteristics when playing with the game pieces of the 4* embirnent.

A set of card game pieces may advantageously include one or more joker game pieces to enable conventional playing card games requiring the use of jokers to be played.

The game pieces may be used in conjunction with play surfaces comprising a plurality of identically shaped compartments of same shape and size as the game pieces, printed or otherwise provided onto the surface for the purpose of constructing puzzles or playing games. The play surface may additionally bear markings, symbols, indicia, patterns, or instructions or combinations thereof.

It is to be understood that although the invention described above was primarily with reference to cards, it is contemplated that cards could be an assortment of tiles or any other medium capable of carrying out the invention. In this respect the invention can be incorporated into computer programs to be used with microprocessor based computer systems including memory units, input units, visual display units, and software programs.

The preferred embodiments of the invention and methods of play has been described as examples only, and other variations within the spirit of the invention are possible.

TABLE 1 Family of all possible non-identica} non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces GROUP 1 R000 OR00 OOR0 OOOR Y000 OY00 OOY0 OOOY BOOO OBOO OOBO OOOB KOOO OKOO OOKO OOOK GROUP 2 RROO BROO YROO KROO ORRO OBRO OYRO OKRO RBOO BBOO YBOO KBOO ORBO OBBO OYBO OKBO RY00 BY00 YY00 KY00 ORY0 OBY0 OYY0 OKY0 RKOO BKOO YKOO KKOO ORKO OBKO OYKO OKKO RORO BORO YORO KORO OROR OBOR OYOR OKOR ROBO BOBO YOBO KOBO OROB OBOB OYOB OKOB ROYO BOYO YOYO KOYO OROY OBOY OYOY OKOY ROKOBOKOYOKOKOKOOROKOBOKOYOKOKOK ROOR BOOR YOOR KOOR OORR OOBR OOYR OOKR ROOB BOOB YOOB KOOB OORB OOBB OOYB OOKB ROOY BOOY YOOY KOOY OORY OOBY OOYY OOKY ROOK BOOK YOOK KOOK OORK OOBK OOYK OOKK GROUP 3 RRRO BRRO YRRO KROO RORB BORB YORB KORB RROR BROR YROR KROR RORY BORY YORY KORY RRBO BRBO YRBO KRBO RORK BORK YORK KORK RROB BROB YROB KROB ROBR BOBR YOBR KOBR RRYO BRYO YRYO KRYO ROBB BOBB YOBB KOBB RROYBROYYROYKROYROBYBOBYYOBYKOBY RRKO BRKO YRKO KRKO ROBK BOBK YOBK KOBK RBRO BBRO YBRO KBRO ROYR BOYR YOYR KOKR RB0R BB0R YR0R KR0R R0YB B0YB Y0YB K0KB RBB0 BRB0 YRB0 KRB0 ROYY BOYY YOYY KOKY RBOB BBOB YBOB KBOB ROYK BOYK YOYK KOKK RBY0 BBY0 YBY0 KBY0 R0KR B0KR YOKR K0KR RBOY BBOY YBOY KOBY ROKB BOKB YOKB KOKB RBKO BBKO YBKO KBKO ROKY BOKY YOKY KOKY RBOK BBOK YBOK KBOK ROKK BOKK YOKK KOKK RYR0 BYR0 YYR0 KYR0 ORRR OBRR OYRR OKRR RYOR BYOR YYOR KYOR ORRB OBRB OYRY OKRB RYB0 BYB0 YYB0 KYB0 ORRY OBRY OYRY OKRY RYOB BYOB YYOB KYOB ORRK OBRK OYRK OKRK RYYOBYYOYYYOKYYOORBROBBROYBROKBR RYOY BYOY YYOY KYOY ORBB OBBB OYBB OKBB RYKOBYKOYYKOKYKOORBYOBBYOYBYOKBY RYOK BYOK YYOK KYOK ORBK OBBK OYBK OKBK RKRO BKRO YKRO KKRO ORYR OBYR OYYR OKYR RKOR BKOR YKOR KKOR ORYB OBYB OYYB OKYB RKB0 BKB0 YKB0 KKB0 ORYY OBYY OYYY OKYY RKOB BKOB YKOB KKOB ORYK OBYK OYYK OKYK RKYO BKYO YKYO KKYO ORKR OBKR OYKR OKKR TABLE 1 continued Famity of all possible non-identical non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces RKOY YKOY YKOY KKOY ORKB OBKB OYKB OKKB RKKO BKKO YKKO KKKO ORKY OBKY OYKY OKKY RK0K BK0K YK0K KK0K ORKK OBKK OYKK OKKK RORR BORR YORR KORR GROUP 4 RRRR BRRR YRRR KRRR RYRY BYRY YYRY KYRY RRRB BRRB YRRB KRRB RYRK BYRK YYRK KYRK RRRYBRRYYRRYKRRYRYBRBYBRYYBRKYBR RRRKBRRKYRRKKRRKRYBBBYBBYYBBKYBB RRBRBRBRYRBRKRBRRYBYBYBYYYBYKYBY RRBBBRBBYRBBKRBBRYBKBYBKYYBKKYBK RRBYBRBYYRBYKRBYRYYRBYYRYYYRKYYR RRBKBRBKYRBKKRBKRYYBBYYBYYYBKYYB RRYRBRYRYRYRKRYRRYYYBYYYYYYYKYYY RRYBBRYBYRYBKRYBRYYKBYYKYYYKKYYK RRYY BRYY YRYY KRYY RYKR BYKR YYKR KYKR RRYK BRYK YRYK KRYK RYKB BYKB YYKB KYKB RRKR BRKR YRKR KRKR RYKY BYKY YYKY KYKY RRKB BRKB YRKB KRKB RYKK BYKK YYKK KYKK RRKYBRKYYRKYKRKYRYKRBYKRYYKRKYKR RRKK BRKK YRKK KRKK RYKB BYKB YYKB KYKB RBRRBBRRYBRRKBRRRYKYBYKYYYKYKYKY RBRB BBRB YBRB KBRB RYKK BYKK YYKK KYKK RBRYBBRYYBRYKBRYRKRRBKRRYKRRKKRR RBRK BBRK YBRK KBRK RKRB BKRB YKRB KKRB RBBR BBBR YBBR KBBR RKRY BKRY YKRY KKRY RBBBBBBBYBBBKBBBRKRKBKRKYKRYKKRK RBBYBBBYYBBYKBBYRKBRBKBRYKBRKKBR RBBKBBBKYBBKKBBKRKBBBKBBYKBBKKBB RBYR BBYR YBYR KBYR RKBY BKBY YKBY KKBY RBYB BBYB YBYB KBYB AKBK BKBK YKBK KKBK RBYY BBYY YBYY KBYY RKYR BKYR YKYR KKYR RBYK BBYK YBYK KBYK RKYB BKYB YKYB KKYB RBKR BBKR YBKR KBKR RKYY BKYY YKYY KKYY RBKB BBKB YBKB KBKB RKYK BKYK YKYK KKYK RBKY BBKY YBKY KBKY RKKR BKKR YKKR KKKR RBKK BBKK YKBB KBKK RKKB BKKB YKKB KKKB RYRR BYRR YYRR KYRR RKKY BKKY YKKY KKKY RYRB BYRB YYRB KYRB RKKK BKKK YKKK KKKK KEY: R=RED, B=BLUE, Y=YELLOW, K=BLACK, O=BLANK

w TABLE2 Group Rank/Suit 2nd Indicia Letter Indicia ? ? 4 S-A.. ~.......

~ r GRQUP3 6s B-Y$ S GROUP3 10s R-RY GROUP3 RBY N GROUP3 6h YRR-R GROUPS 9h-YYYM GROUP3 Ah BKR-0 GROUP3 2c BBY-B GROUP3 6cBYB-A GROUP3 9cRR-RG GROUP3 Ac"YB-R.

GROUP3 2d Y & B W GROUP3 BY ; R :. 5,'=b=r.

. gem | | |B B S S S s E E Egi i.

J-i | | X R R | ~ A | f N N w~ t á : E s M ~ | | i g g -i. ~ | | m m m r\ W W S m r e &commat; 4 J F e..''.' p mm m fw = Ow. < S U v, t < v e wA&commat; ~ p S. > 2str} ; t H t. w-E w K 7 > tJ'*kf4', i. ~ ws < G*OUPT : Kd : tJ t-;. S BLANKS 4s----D BLANKS 4c---Y BLANKS 4d----A TABLE 3 Ranking of four suits in relation to the number of like coloured segments RANKING for RED colured segments with Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades as Trumps Suits is as follows : CLUBS (HIGH) 9, jack, 10, 5,3, ace, king, queen, 8,7,6,4,2 (LOW).

DIAMONDS (HIGH) queen, ace, 10, 7,6,5,3, king, jack, 9,8,4,2 (LOW) HEARTS (HIGH) 6,2, ace, jack, 10, 5, king, queen, 9, 8,74,3 (LOW) SPADES (HIGH) 9,10,2, ace, king, queen, jack, 8, 7, 6,5,4,3 (LOW) RANKING for YELLOW colured segments with Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades as Trumps Suits is as follows : CLUBS (HIGH) queen, 10, 8,7,6,2, ace, king, jack, 9,5,4,3 (LOV\0.

DtAMONDS (HIGH) ace, jack, 10, 9, 8,6,3,2, king, queen, 7,5,4 (LOW0 HEARTS (HIGH) 9,10,8,6,4,3, ace, king, queen, jack, 7,5,2 (LOW) SPADES (HIGH) queen, ace, 10, 8,7,6,3, king, jack, 9,5,4,2 (LOW) RANKING for BLUE coloured segments with Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades as Trumps Suits is as follows : CLUBS (HIGH) 6,2, ace, 8, 5,3, king, queen, jack, 10,9,7,4 (LOV\0.

DIAMONDS (HIGH) 9,2, ace, 8,5, king, queen, jack, 10, 7,5,4,3 (LOW) HEARTS (HIGH) queen, ace, king, 8, 7,5,3, jack, 10,9,6,4,2 (LOA) SPADES (HIGH) 6, ace, jack, 9,8,5,3, king, queen, t0, 7, 4, 2 (LOW)

Claims (15)

1. What is claimed: 1. Methods of playing and a game set comprising a plurality of identically shaped quadrilateral two dimensional cards or three dimensional tile game pieces, bearing on their playing face at least one of the N first indicia, at least one of the N first indicia being variable or joker indicia, the said N first indicia being disposed adjacent at least one of M sides of the game pieces, the game set comprising at least one game piece not bearing any of the N first indicia, the game pieces being characterised by a second, and a third indicia to designate rank, and category to each piece respectively disposed at two diagonally opposite corner, a fourth indicia to designate alphabet characters to each game piece disposed at diagonally opposite comers or at the centre of game pieces or both, and an optional fifth indicia comprising a pictorial representation of the same playing face to include first and fourth indicia disposed at the other two diagonally opposite corners.
2. 2. A game set as in Claim 1 being selected to comprise at least 49 quadrilateral game pieces, wherein each game piece carries at least 1 of N first indicia, and at least 3 other game pieces not bearing any of the N first indicia, the said set of game pieces collectively comprises 52 game pieces characterised by second and third indicia bearing the same denomination as standard playing cards, there being at least N=4 first indicia, the said 49 game pieces being selected from a total of (l+N) to the power M game pieces comprising 4 groups, wherein groupl comprises all non-identical combinations of N=1 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations, group2 comprises all non-identical combinations of N=2 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations, group3 comprises all non-identical combinations of N=3 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations, group4 comprises all non-identical combinations of N=4 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations.
3. 3. A game set as in Claim2 wherein at least one of the said 49 game pieces is selected from each of the 4 groups, but preferably 9 pieces selected from groupl, 26 pieces selected from group2,12 pieces selected from group3,2 pieces selected from group4.
4. 4. A game set as in Claim2 wherein game pieces in each of the 1, 2,3, or 4 groups are designated fourth indicia in the form of alphabet vowel characters and alphabet consonant characters in the ratio ranging from 1: 1.9 to 1: 2.
5. 5. A game set as in Claims2 wherein at least 18 game pieces are designated vowel alphabet characters and 34 game pieces are designated consonant alphabet characters.
6. 6. A game set as in Claim2 wherein each of the game pieces bearing the same vowel alphabet characters has different rank or point values and each of the game pieces bearing the same consonant alphabet characters has different rank or point values.
7. 7. A game set as in Claim2 wherein the same word formed with different game pieces bearing the same alphabet characters produces different word scores.
8. 8. A game set as in Claim2 wherein in a match of first indicia between two or more adjacent game pieces may result whilst constructing words.
9. 9. A game set as in Claims2 wherein the number of matches of first indicia between two or more adjacent game pieces in a word constructed in horizontal orientation may differ when the same word is constructed in vertical orientation using the same game pieces.
10. 10. A game set as in Claims2 wherein rank, suit, and first indicia, category indicia, and primary and first indicia combinations provides additional means for scoring, grouping and trumping, enabling variations of some standard playing card games to be played.
11. 11. A game set as in claims2 wherein the game pieces are of non-equilateral quadrilateral shapes having at least N=4 first indicia, at least 1 of the said N=4 indicia being variable or joker indicia, the said N indicia being in the form of distinct colours, symbols, objects, characters, emblems, pictographs, or any other indicia.
12. 12. A game set as in claim2, wherein the game pieces are of non-equilateral quadrilateral shape having the first indicia N in the form of at least 4 colour coded triangular regions with their bases disposed at the outer edges of the game pieces or the indicia N being in the form of at least 4 colour coded border regions disposed at the edges of the game pieces
13. 13. A game set as in claims 12, wherein the game pieces are rectangular or square in shape having disposed at the edges one of at least 4 colour coded triangular said first indicia or one of at least 4 said colour coded border region indicia, the said indicia being disproportionate to one another but may be proportional to the lengths of the sides of the said non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces.
14. 14. A game set as in claim2 wherein the first indicia N are colour coded or otherwise distinguishable and disproportionate relative to each other or are of differing plurality of symbols, objects, characters, emblems, pictographs, or any other indicia.
15. 15. Methods of playing games with at least one player using game sets as in claim2 with or without a computer comprising at least one or more of the following steps: placing a starter game pieces face up to initiate the play; selecting at least one of M side by N first indicia combinations on a game piece; matching and placing two game pieces in a side-by-side relationship if the said game pieces have identical side and first indicia combinations or the said two game pieces have identical sides and one said game piece has a non-joker first indicia and the other game piece has a joker first indicia, or both game pieces have first joker indicia ; placing at least one or more game pieces with the matching sides and first said indicia combination with previously placed game pieces in side-by-side relationship collectively forming a predetermined pattern or a shape; placing a game piece abutting two, three, or four previously placed game pieces wherein the said game piece must have a matching first indicia with at least one other previously placed game pieces but must not have mismatching first indicia with any of the previously placed pieces. drawing a predetermined number of game pieces and missing a turn if unable to place one or more pieces on turn of play ; ending a round of play when one player has played all his game pieces or the play is blocked or when a player declares his hand with each remaining game pieces not bearing any of the first indicia; declaration of game pieces not bearing any of the first indicia as last remaining cards in hand to win the round of play ; the winner of the round or in the case of a blocked game the contestant with the least points remaining in hand shuffles, deals the cards, and starts the next round of play; recording and totalling of each contestants score, the winner being the one with the least score when one of the contestants reaches a predetermined score; selecting a predetermined number of turns of play in a game ; placing game pieces in a side-by-side relationship to only match the length of sides of game pieces whilst forming words in horizontal or vertical orientation using the letter designation on the starter game piece or using the letter designation on at least one game piece from a previously placed word ; placing of removed game pieces from previously word into the discard pile; replenishing the hand by drawing the same number of game pieces from the draw pile as the number of game pieces placed from the hand to form the word ; changing of the discard pile into the new draw pile when the old draw pile is finished; placing game pieces to form a word horizontally or vertically in a side-by-side relationship to match side and first indicia combinations between two neighbouring game pieces to score double their point value; lacing game pieces to form a word horizontally or vertically in a side-by-side relationship to match sides and first indicia combinations between every neighbouring game pieces in a word to score triple their point value ; recording word-by-word score for each contestant to determine the winner with the highest total score after a predetermined number of turns; transferring game pieces from top of stock pile to the top of column piles or from top of column piles to the top of play pile by matching at least one combination of a side and first indicia with a side and first indicia combination of the top card of the column or play pile; forming one or more melds or groups of game pieces, each game piece bearing the same suit indicia and each game piece bearing one or more of the N first indicia having the same colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature or joker indicia; selecting a trump suit and one colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature of the first indicia other than joker indicia as trump; discarding of game pieces not bearing any of the first indicia ; ranking of game pieces and winning tricks in trump games, wherein the highest ranking game piece is of trump suit game piece and bears 4 of the N indicia having the same colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature of the first indicia, other lower ranking trump game pieces bears 3, or 2, or 1 of the said N indicia followed by trump suit game pieces and non-trump suit game pieces having the standard rank and denomination; taking turns to discard game pieces from hand, wherein if one contestant discards a multiple number of game pieces bearing 4, or 3, or 2 of the N first indicia having the same colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature of the first indicia then the next player draws the same multiple number of game pieces as the number of N first indicia on the discarded game pieces, if a contestant discards a game piece bearing only one of the N said indicia then the direction of play reverses, if a contestant discards a game piece bearing a joker first indicia then he avoids drawing game pieces on his turn of play ; shuffling of the game pieces, dealing of predetermined number of game pieces.

    15. Methods of playing games with at least one player using game sets as in claim2 with or without a computer comprising at least one or more of the following steps : placing a starter game pieces face up to initiate the play ; selecting at least one of M side by N first indicia combinations on a game piece; matching and placing two game pieces in a side-by-side relationship if the said game pieces have identical side and first indicia combinations or the said two game pieces have identical sides and one said game piece has a non-joker first indicia and the other game piece has a joker first indicia, or both game pieces have first joker indicia ; placing at least one or more game pieces with the matching sides and first said indicia combination with previously placed game pieces in side-by-side relationship collectively forming a predetermined pattern or a shape; placing a game piece abutting two, three, or four previously placed game pieces wherein the said game piece must have a matching first indicia with at least one other previously placed game pieces but must not have mismatching first indicia with any of the previously placed pieces. drawing a predetermined number of game pieces and missing a turn if unable to place one or more pieces on turn of play ; ending a round of play when one player has played all his game pieces or the play is blocked or when a player declares his hand with each remaining game pieces not bearing any of the first indicia; declaration of game pieces not bearing any of the first indicia as last remaining cards in hand to win the round of play; the winner of the round or in the case of a blocked game the contestant with the least points remaining in hand shuffles, deals the cards, and starts the next round of play ; recording and totalling of each contestants score, the winner being the one with the least score when one of the contestants reaches a predetermined score; selecting a predetermined number of turns of play in a game ; placing game pieces in a side-by-side relationship to only match the length of sides of game pieces whilst forming words in horizontal or vertical orientation using the letter designation on the starter game piece or using the letter designation on at least one game piece from a previously placed word; placing of removed game pieces from previously word into the discard pile; replenishing the hand by drawing the same number of game pieces from the draw pile as the number of game pieces placed from the hand to form the word ; changing of the discard pile into the new draw pile when the old draw pile is finished; placing game pieces to form a word horizontally or vertically in a side-by-side relationship to match side and first indicia combinations between two neighbouring game pieces to score double their point value; lacing game pieces to form a word horizontally or vertically in a side-by-side relationship to match sides and first indicia combinations between every neighbouring game pieces in a word to score triple their point value; recording word-by-word score for each contestant to determine the winner with the highest total score after a predetermined number of turns; transferring game pieces from top of stock pile to the top of column piles or from top of column piles to the top of play pile by matching at least one combination of a side and first indicia with a side and first indicia combination of the top card of the column or play pile; forming one or more melds or groups of game pieces, each game piece bearing the same suit indicia and each game piece bearing one or more of the N first indicia having the same colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature or joker indicia; selecting a trump suit and one colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature of the first indicia other than joker indicia as trump; discarding of game pieces not bearing any of the first indicia ; ranking of game pieces and winning tricks in trump games, wherein the highest ranking game piece is of trump suit game piece and bears 4 of the N indicia having the same colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature of the first indicia, other lower ranking trump game pieces bears 3, or 2, or 1 of the said N indicia followed by trump suit game pieces and non-trump suit game pieces having the standard rank and denomination ; taking turns to discard game pieces from hand, wherein if one contestant discards a multiple number of game pieces bearing 4, or 3, or 2 of the N first indicia having the same colour, or shape or, form or, plurality, or any other common feature of the first indicia then the next player draws the same multiple number of game pieces as the number of N first indicia on the discarded game pieces, if a contestant discards a game piece bearing only one of the N said indicia then the direction of play reverses, if a contestant discards a game piece bearing a joker first indicia then he avoids drawing game pieces on his turn of play ; shuffling of the game pieces, dealing of predetermined number of game pieces.

    Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows

    1. Methods of playing and a game set comprising a plurality of identically shaped quadrilateral two dimensional cards or three dimensional tile game pieces, bearing on their playing face at least one of the N first indicia, at least one of the N first indicia being variable or joker indicia, the said N first indicia being disposed adjacent at least one of M sides of the game pieces, the game set comprising at least one game piece not bearing any of the N first indicia, the game pieces being characterised by a second, and a third indicia to designate rank, and category to each piece respectively disposed at two diagonally opposite comers, a fourth indicia to designate alphabet characters to each game piece disposed at diagonally opposite comers or at the centre of game pieces or both, and an optional fifth indicia comprising a pictorial representation of the same playing face to include first and fourth indicia disposed at the other two diagonally opposite corners.

    2. A game set as in Claiml being selected to comprise at least 49 quadrilateral game pieces, wherein each game piece carries at least 1 of N first indicia, and at least 3 other game pieces not bearing any of the N first indicia, the said set of game pieces collectively comprises 52 game pieces characterised by second and third indicia bearing the same denomination as standard playing cards, there being at least N=4 first indicia, the said 49 game pieces being selected from a total of (l+N) to the power M game pieces comprising 4 groups, wherein groupl comprises all non-identical combinations of N=1 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations, group2 comprises all non-identical combinations of N=2 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations, group3 comprises all non-identical combinations of N=3 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations, group4 comprises all non-identical combinations of N=4 first indicia by M=4 sides combinations.

    3. A game set as in Claim2 wherein at least one of the said 49 game pieces is selected from each of the 4 groups, but preferably 9 pieces selected from groupl, 26 pieces selected from group2,12 pieces selected from group3,2 pieces selected from group4.

    4. A game set as in Claim2 wherein game pieces in each of the 1, 2,3, or 4 groups are designated fourth indicia in the form of alphabet vowel characters and alphabet consonant characters in the ratio ranging from 1: 1.9 to 1: 2.

    5. A game set as in Claims2 wherein at least 18 game pieces are designated vowel alphabet characters and 34 game pieces are designated consonant alphabet characters.

    6. A game set as in Claim2 wherein each of the game pieces bearing the same vowel alphabet characters has different rank or point values and each of the game pieces bearing the same consonant alphabet characters has different rank or point values.

    7. A game set as in Claim2 wherein the same word formed with different game pieces bearing the same alphabet characters produces different word scores.

    8. A game set as in Claim2 wherein in a match of first indicia between two or more adjacent game pieces may result whilst constructing words.

    9. A game set as in Claims2 wherein the number of matches of first indicia between two or more adjacent game pieces in a word constructed in horizontal orientation may differ when the same word is constructed in vertical orientation using the same game pieces.

    10. A game set as in Claims2 wherein rank, suit, and first indicia, category indicia, and primary and first indicia combinations provides additional means for scoring, grouping and trumping, enabling variations of some standard playing card games to be played.

    11. A game set as in claims2 wherein the game pieces are of non-equilateral quadrilateral shapes having at least N=4 first indicia, at least I of the said N=4 indicia being variable or joker indicia, the said N indicia being in the form of distinct colours, symbols, objects, characters, emblems, pictographs, or any other indicia.

    12. A game set as in claim2, wherein the game pieces are of non-equilateral quadrilateral shape having the first indicia N in the form of at least 4 colour coded triangular regions with their bases disposed at the outer edges of the game pieces or the indicia N being in the form of at least 4 colour coded border regions disposed at the edges of the game pieces

    13. A game set as in claimsl2, wherein the game pieces are rectangular in shape having disposed at the edges one of at least 4 colour coded triangular said first indicia or one of at least 4 said colour coded border region indicia, the said indicia being disproportionate to one another but may be proportional to the lengths of the sides of the said non-equilateral quadrilateral game pieces.

    14. A game set as in claim2 wherein the first indicia N are colour coded or otherwise distinguishable and disproportionate relative to each other or are of differing plurality of symbols, objects, characters, emblems, pictographs, or any other indicia.