US Patent 9162137B2 issued for invention of a new family of casino-card games

Description

Casino games are currently a multi-billion dollar industry. Casino operators are looking for new games. Therefore, inventors are providing new games.
Finnish 27 ™ is a new family of table-card games. It was invented by Kevin Michael McDaniel. It is protected by U.S. Patent 9162137 issued to Kevin Michael McDaniel on October 20th 2015. Finnish 27 Games LLC markets and sells products and services derived from it.
Table-card games belonging to the Finnish 27 ™ family are addition games. The cards have numerical values. The dealer deals a set of hands consisting of a player’s hand and a dealer’s hand. The numerical values assigned to the cards in each hand are added up to a hand total.
Although many players may play in a single round of Finnish 27 ™, it’s fundamentally a two-player game. Players don’t play against each other; and they don’t co-operate. The only competition is the dealer. The object is to make a hand totaling as close to 27 as is possible.
People play Finnish 27 ™ using at least one deck of cards. Each of the at least one deck of cards typically, though not necessarily, consists of 54 cards. The 54 cards typically, though not necessarily, consist of 13 ranks of each of 4 suits and 2 Jokers.
The cards may bear indices of any style. However, the Finnish style of indices is preferred. The Finnish style has indices 1, 11, 12, and 13 appear on the Ace, Jack, Queen, and King respectively. These indices most closely correspond to the numerical values of the cards.
In Finnish 27 ™ games, the players assign a numerical value to each card in a hand in accordance with the following set of rules. If a hand includes an Ace, and if the Ace can be assigned a value of 14 without causing the hand total to exceed 27, then the Ace has a value of 14. Otherwise, the Ace has a value of 1. Each Jack has a value of 11. Each Queen has a value of 12. Each King has a value of 13. Each Joker has a value selected from a group of values consisting of 0 and any value required to make a hand total of 27. All other cards have a value that corresponds to the rank of the card.
A hand consisting of an Ace and a King is known a “Finnish 27” hand. The Finnish 27 hand has a numerical value of 27. 27 is the target of this new family of table-card games. Accordingly, the Finnish 27 family of table-card games is named after the Finnish 27 hand.
The ubiquitous Anglo-American style deck of playing cards can also be used to play card games belonging to the Finnish 27 family of table card games. In that case, a hand consisting of an Ace and a King is known as a "Big Slick" and the name of the game becomes Big Slick. Big Slick games are identical to Finnish 27 games except for the difference in the style of the deck(s) of playing cards used to play the game.
Accordingly, the new owner of the patent can market the new family of table card games to casino operators as Finnish 27 and or Big Slick.
In addition to the patent, I have created an app for use on Android devices. The app is currently available for free download in the Google Play store. Search for "Twenty Seven" card game in the Google Play store, and the Twenty Seven game app should appear in the search results. In this release, two of my earlier apps, Finnish 27™ and Big Slick™ are merged. People will now be able to play both with one app!!! Visit https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Finnish27.App3 to download my the app now.
Alternatively, people can play with the app without the need for downloading an app to your desktop or mobile devices. I thank my partners at uhostfull.com for making this possible. Visit http://finnish27.ihostfull.com to play Finnish 27 now.
This app makes possible the play of five comparing-card games belonging to the Finnish 27 family of table-card games. The five comparing-card games were chosen as representative examples of four subfamilies in the Finnish 27/Big Slick family of table card games. The four subfamilies are poker-like games, blackjack-like games, baccarat-like games, and no-bust games. Please note that there are many more games that are covered by the Patent as I will presently explain.
The first step to playing any card game is for the players and the host to agree upon a predetermined set of game rules. With regard to this first step, I specified the following in the Patent Claims:
Claim 1(a) agreeing upon a predetermined set of game rules so that said predetermined set of game rules corresponds substantially to a set of game rules selected from a group consisting of every set of game rules that can possibly be made by a software means for making said set of game rules;
This software means for making said set of games exists. This software means can be found in a computer program listing appendix.  I attached the computer program listing appendix to the Patent Specification. The software means makes possible a nearly limitless number, diversity and variety of sets of game rules.
Accordingly, the patent protects the nearly limitless number, diversity, and variety of set of game rules that are made possible by the software means. The patent also protects any card game with a set of game rules that is substantially the same as any of the nearly limitless number, diversity, and variety of sets of game rules that are made possible by the software means. This is how I managed to write a patent that protects the entire Finnish 27/Big Slick family of table card games.
The computer program listing appendix includes computer programs for a set of software applications. The functions of the set of software applications are explained in detail within the patent specification. I wrote comments written within the computer programs. The comments provide i
nstructions for using said software applications.
Given a user-defined predetermined set of game rules, the set of software applications enables the user to perform numerical calculations required to find a basic strategy. The basic strategy is the strategy for the play of the player's  hand that loses the least amount of money to the house in the long term with strictly average luck.
After the basic strategy is found, it is possible to calculate an estimate of a house edge.
The House Edge is a term used to describe the mathematical advantage that the gambling game, and therefore the commercial gambling venue, has over you as you play over time.  This advantage results in an assured percentage return to the venue over time, and for you an assured percentage loss of what you bet.
For the purposes of calculating the house edge, it is assumed that the player always uses basic strategy to make decisions on how to play the player's hand.
The set of software applications includes a set of game simulators. The set of game simulators enables people to do the follow. Program a computer-controlled dealer to conduct a card game belonging to the Finnish 27/Big Slick family of table card games in accordance with the predetermined set of game rules. Program a computer-controlled player to use basic strategy when making decisions upon how to play the player's hand. Program the computer-controlled player to use the combination of a card counting system and betting strategy to attempt to beat the house. Conduct a game simulation. Collect statistics from game simulation results. Estimate the house edge. Use on-going game simulation results to converge upon an optimal card counting strategy.
The set of software applications also enables people to test how vulnerable any given game might be to advantage players. Advantage players employ a combination of card counting and betting strategy to attempt to turn the odds of the game in their own favor. Various countermeasures can be tested such as shuffling after every round of play, shuffling after a user-defined percentage of the deck has been dealt, and preferential shuffling wherein; the dealer shuffles whenever the card count suggest that the player might have a statistical advantage over the house.
I also posted some of the set of software applications on GitHub. The following is a link to a page wherein; people can find some of the set of software applications:
https://github.com/orgs/Finnish27GamesLLC/dashboard.
I wrote the computer programs for the set of software applications in a computer language known as BASIC. People can compile the computer programs for the set of software applications using a QB64.
QB64 is a BASIC compatible Editor and C++ compiler that creates working Executable files from Qbasic BAS files that can be run on 32 or 64 bit PC's using WINDOWS(XP, Vista and newer), LINUX or macOS.
Please note that these software applications are game design tools. For any of these game to be used in a jurisdiction such as Las Vegas, Nevada, the game must be tested by an independent testing laboratory. The independent testing laboratory finds the basic strategy and house edge using its' own methods and its' own software. Accordingly, the values for basic strategy and the house edge given by the set of software applications should be considered preliminary estimates. These preliminary estimates enable people to design a predetermined set of game rules for a game with a desirable house edge. The game can then be tested by the independent testing laboratory to verify the accuracy of the preliminary estimates of the basic strategy and house edge given by the set of software applications.
The computer program listing application also includes a set of web applications. I wrote the computer programs for the set of web applications in HTML5/javascript/CSS. The set of web applications enables people to play with additional games besides the four games featured on the above-described apps for Android devices.
For more information about Finnish 27, visit Finnish27.com.
For more information about Big Slick, visit
https://bigslick27.wordpress.com