Tray for facilitating games involving cards

Abstract

A tray for use with games utilizing cards has a central card-receiving compartment and a plurality of auxiliary discard trays extending in a cruciform about the central compartment. The tray is actually composed of two separate elements for ease in storage and shipping.

Description

Applicant claims the benefit of provisional appl. Ser. No. 60/742,217 filed Dec. 5, 2005.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to the field of games. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a device in the nature of a tray which facilitates playing card games and board games involving cards.

In the playing of such games, the cards have a tendency to slide toward disorganization. Stopping the game to straighten the various piles is distracting from the amusement intended and takes time away from the actual playing of the game. Further, misplaced discards require extra reaching to retrieve and, can result in misplays within the game if the wrong card is perceived as the most recent discard.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device to solve these problems. More particularly, the present invention is a tray which can receive as many as four different discard piles and one source pile. Obviously, the number of source piles could be increased, depending on the specific requirements of the game and the number of discard piles, correspondingly, decreased. The tray keeps the piles neatly arrayed enhancing the amusement experience.

The device of the present invention comprises a tray for facilitating the playing of games involving cards, which includes a central card-receiving compartment having first and second ends and first and second sides; a plurality of auxiliary compartments extending from said central compartment, at least two of said plurality of compartments being positioned orthogonally relative to each other. Preferably, the plurality comprises at least four auxiliary compartments, one each of the four auxiliary compartments being positioned on first and second ends of the central card-receiving compartment, and one each of the four auxiliary compartments being positioned on each side of said central card-receiving compartment. Each of the central card-receiving compartment and the auxiliary compartments has an internal dimension sufficient to receive a conventionally sized playing card. Preferably, the tray is constructed of two separate elements, a first element comprised of the central card-receiving compartment and a first pair of the auxiliary compartments and a second element comprised of a second pair of the auxiliary compartments interconnected by a spacer. In use, the first element is positioned atop the spacer of the second element to form a cruciform-shaped tray. The use of two separate elements facilitates the storage of the tray when not in use, reduces shelf space and shipping space required for the part.

Various other features, advantages, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent after a reading of the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiment(s) of the present invention is/are described in conjunction with the associated drawings in which like features are indicated with like reference numerals and in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective front view of a first embodiment of the card tray of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the first embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a top view of the two individual pieces which comprise the first embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

A first embodiment of the tray for facilitating games involving cards is shown in FIGS. 1-3 generally at 20. Card tray 20 includes a central card-receiving compartment 22 having walls 29 and a plurality of auxiliary card-receiving compartments 24a, 24b, 24c, and 24d (shown in this embodiment as being four in number) having walls 21. Walls 29 extend higher than walls 21 since the source pile will, in most instances, be taller than a discard pile formed by a portion of the deck. The internal dimensions of walls 21 and 29 are large enough to receive a conventional sized playing card. As most clearly seen in FIG. 4, card tray 20 actually comprises two separate pieces, a first element 30 made up of central card-receiving compartment 22 having a first end 25, second end 26, first side 27 and second side 28, with a first pair of auxiliary compartments 24a, 24c axially aligned, and formed integrally, with first end 25 and second end 26, respectively. It will be appreciated that the compartments 22, 24a and 24c could be variously arranged; however, the arrangement depicted is preferred since all four auxiliary compartments are identically situated relative to players positioned about the board and extend substantially the same distance (give or take 0.5 inch) from the center of card tray 20 toward each player.

Second element 40 is made up of a second pair of auxiliary compartments 24b and 24d which are axially aligned and interconnected by an integral spacer 42. Spacer 42 is slightly longer than first element 30 is wide to enable the elements to be positioned together as shown in FIGS. 1-2 with compartment 24b adjacent side 27 and compartment 24d adjacent 28. It is within the scope of this invention for either the first element 30 or the second element 40 to have a positioning tab (not shown) to facilitate accurate placement of the first element 30 on spacer 42.

Various changes, alternatives, and modifications will become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art after a reading of the foregoing specification. It is intended that all such changes, alternatives, and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims be considered part of the present invention.

Claims

1. A tray for facilitating the playing of games involving cards, said tray comprising

a) a central card-receiving compartment having first and second ends and first and second sides;

b) a plurality of auxiliary compartments extending from said central compartment, at least two of said plurality of compartments being positioned orthogonally relative to each other.

2. The tray of claim 1 wherein said plurality includes at least four auxiliary compartments, one each of said four auxiliary compartments being positioned on first and second ends of said central card-receiving compartment, and one each of said four auxiliary compartments being positioned on each side of said central card-receiving compartment.

3. The tray of claim 2 wherein each of said central card-receiving compartment and said auxiliary compartments has an internal dimension sufficient to receive a conventionally sized playing card.

4. The tray of claim 2 wherein said tray is constructed of two separate elements, a first element comprised of said central card-receiving compartment and a first pair of said auxiliary compartments and a second element comprised of a second pair of said auxiliary compartments interconnected by a spacer.