STORAGE AND DISPLAY STRUCTURE FOR PLAYING CARDS AND GAMING TOKENS

Abstract

A structure for storing and displaying game pieces, the structure comprises two or more sheets of material joined together and at least one of the sheets is formed with a plurality of upwardly opening pockets to receive game pieces and at least one other of which sheets provides a partial wall for at least some of the pockets.

Description

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/692,880 which was filed Jun. 22, 2005 and is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to storage and display structures, and in particular storage and display structures for game implements. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a storage and display structure for playing cards and gaming tokens.

Playing cards and gaming tokens are used in a variety of leisure activities. Storage and display structures are used to organize and maintain game pieces segregated for ready use.

SUMMARY

The present invention comprises one or more of the features recited in the appended claims or in the following paragraphs or various combinations thereof. A structure for storing and displaying playing cards and gaming tokens is provided, the structure comprises two or more sheets of material joined together, at least one of the sheets is formed with a plurality of upwardly opening pockets to receive game pieces and at least one other of which sheets provides a partial wall for at least some of the pockets.

Two sheets of material may be laminated together or otherwise joined, coupled, o positioned to be in contact or close proximity. One of the two sheets may be formed with pockets to receive game pieces. The second sheet or backing sheet may provide a back wall for such pockets. Typically, but not necessarily, the two sheets may be plastic sheets cut and formed and bonded or placed together to provide the desired structure. The bonding or joining may be by adhesive or heat sealing or staking. In some cases, the two sheets may actually be joined together as by bending or folding a single sheet into a front sheet formed with pockets opening upwardly and a back sheet providing a back wall for the pockets.

It is contemplated, but not required, that the front sheet will be cut and formed by a press of some type or a vacuum form to have each of the pockets protrude outwardly and open upwardly to provide a receptacle to receive gaming pieces. The size and shape of such pockets may be varied and the location of such pockets may be varied. Some pockets may be provided for a deck of playing cards and other pockets may be provided for poker chips or other such tokens.

Additional features of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the disclosure as presently perceived.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a storage and display structures in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the organizer of FIG. 1 showing playing cards and gaming tokens in a storage position; and

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2, as viewed in the direction of the arrows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific exemplary embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

A structure 10 includes a base 12, upwardly opening pockets 14, and gaming-token-receiving pockets 16 as shown in FIG. 1. Organizer 10 is configured to assemble and segregate gaming implements used in playing, for example, card games. Structure 10 may be made of a thermo-stamped acrylic material, injection molded plastics, wood, metal, card board, fiber board, or any other suitable material.

Base 12 includes a sheet 18 coupled to a sheet 20, as shown best in FIGS. 1 and 3. Illustratively, sheet 18 is a front wall 18 and sheet 20 is a rear wall 20. The front wall 18 is formed to include the upwardly opening pockets 14 and the gaming-token-receiving pockets 16. Illustratively, the upwardly opening pockets 14 are card-receiving pockets 14. The card-receiving pockets 14 include a projecting bottom edge 22 cantilevered to the front wall 18 and an enclosure portion 24 extending upwardly from the bottom edge 22 to partially envelop a playing card deck 15 inserted therein. Illustratively, the bottom edge 22 is a bottom wall 22. The enclosure portion 24 includes the bottom wall 22, the spaced-apart left and right walls 26, 28, and a front wall 30 coupled to and extending therebetween. The left and right walls 26, 28, the front wall 30, and the bottom wall 22 cooperate with the front surface 18 to form an interior region 19. Each pocket 14 may be formed in the front wall 18 or may be coupled to the front wall 18 by use of, for example, adhesives or other fasteners.

It will be appreciated that front wall 18 and rear wall 20 may be placed or positioned in close proximity to one another to provide the desired structure 10. Front wall 18 may be formed to include apertures 19 so that a portion of rear wall 20 exposed by aperture 19 is positioned to form a rear wall of pocket 14.

The gaming token pockets 16 are configured to receive a number of gaming tokens 17 arranged in a registered relationship. Pockets 16 include a pair of end caps 32 projecting outwardly from front wall 18, a trough 34 extending therebetween, and a portion of rear wall 20 defining a rear wall portion. Illustratively, trough 34 is an upwardly opening concave wall 34 as shown best in FIG. 1. Each pocket 16 is configured to receive and partially envelop a plurality of gaming tokens 17 arranged in a registered relationship. Each pocket 16 may be formed in the front wall 18 or may be coupled to the front wall 18 by use of, for example, adhesives or other fasteners.

The base 12 is further formed to include apertures 36 in an upper portion of the rear wall 20 configured to receive a hook or nail to hang structure 10 on a vertical surface. Base 12 may also include a pivoting support member (not shown) projecting from and extending vertically along a rear surface of base 12 (not shown) and configured to support the structure 10 in a generally vertical orientation to support and display the structure 10 on, for example, a table top or other generally horizontal surface.

The front wall 18 may also include decorative indicia 38 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The indicia 38 may include symbols related to various games, slogans, advertisements, and/or game rules. Such images may be molded, stamped, or otherwise formed in the wall 18 during manufacturing, may be printed directly on the wall 18, may be printed on a decal that is attached to the wall 18, may be affixed, embossed, or imprinted on a sheet positioned between the front wall 18 and the rear wall 20, or may be otherwise fabricated as a separate element that attaches to the wall 18. The front wall 18 may be made of a transparent acrylic material so that the indicia 38 is visible therethrough.

While structure 10 is well-suited to store and display standard playing cards 15 and gaming tokens 17, it may be used to display game pieces from other types of games as well. For example, it may be useful to store and display equipment from any game using card-type media and token-type implements.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific exemplary embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and have herein been described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

There are a plurality of advantages of the present disclosure arising from the various features of the apparatus and methods described herein. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the apparatus and methods of the present disclosure may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations of an apparatus and method that incorporate one or more of the features of the present disclosure and fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A structure for storing and displaying game pieces, the structure comprising:

two or more sheets of material positioned together, at least one of which sheets is formed with a plurality of upwardly opening pockets to receive game pieces and at least one other of which sheets provides a partial wall for at least some of the pockets.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein the upwardly opening pockets are coupled to one of the sheets.

3. The structure of claim 1, wherein each upwardly opening pocket includes a bottom wall coupled to and extending away from a rear wall, a front wall coupled to an edge of the bottom wall in a spaced-apart relation to the rear wall, and a pair of spaced-apart side walls extending therebetween to define an interior region of the pocket.

4. The structure of claim 3, wherein the upwardly opening pocket is generally rectangular and configured to partially envelop a deck of cards inserted into the interior region.

5. The structure of claim 3, wherein the upwardly opening pocket is an oblong trough configured to hold coin-shaped tokens in a registered relationship.

6. The structure of claim 1, wherein the sheets of material are made of a transparent material.

7. The structure of claim 6, further comprising a sheet having decorative indicia thereon, and wherein the sheet is sandwiched between the two or more sheets.

8. The structure of claim 7, wherein the decorative indicia are rules of a card game.

9. A structure for storing and displaying game implements, the structure comprising:

a laminate wall having a front sheet positioned adjacent a rear sheet, and

an upwardly opening pocket formed in the front sheet to hold game implements.

10. The structure of claim 9, wherein the upwardly opening pocket includes a bottom wall coupled to and extending away from a rear wall portion, a front wall portion coupled to an edge of the bottom wall in a spaced-apart relation to the rear wall portion, and a pair of spaced-apart side walls extending therebetween to define an interior region of the pocket.

11. The structure of claim 10, wherein the rear wall portion is formed by a portion of the rear sheet.

12. The structure of claim 9, wherein the upwardly opening pocket is generally rectangular and configured to partially envelop a deck of cards inserted into the interior region.

13. The structure of claim 9, wherein the upwardly opening pocket is an oblong trough configured to hold coin-shaped tokens in a registered relationship.

14. The structure of claim 9, wherein the laminate sheets are opaque.

15. The structure of claim 14, further comprising a sheet having decorative indicia thereon, and wherein the sheet is coupled to the front sheet.

16. The structure of claim 15, wherein the decorative indicia are rules of a card game.

17. A structure for organizing playing cards and gaming tokens, the structure comprising

a base having a front sheet coupled to a rear sheet,

a pocket including a front wall arranged in a spaced-apart relation to a rear wall, a bottom wall coupled to and extending between the front and rear walls, and a pair of spaced-apart side walls extending between the front and rear walls to define an interior region of the pocket, and

a trough including a pair of spaced-apart side walls coupled to the trough, the trough and the side walls cooperating to define a receptacle therebetween.

18. The structure of claim 17, wherein the base, pocket, and trough are made of a plastics material.

19. The structure of claim 17, wherein the trough has a generally arcuate profile.

20. The structure of claim 17, further comprising a sheet having decorative indicia imprinted thereon, and wherein the sheet is coupled to the outer layer.