Apparatus for playing card games
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 130,997 filed Dec. 10, 1987, abandoned. 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     This invention relates to card games and, more particularly to an apparatus for playing card games such as the game of bridge. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Professional and non-professionals alike engage in the activity of playing cards. Leagues, associations and clubs promote whatever specific game is the focal point of their activity and the numbers of people who routinely engage in competition in the playing of cards numbers in the millions. 
     Bridge is one such card game and is considered to be the most popular card game in the world with bridge clubs nationwide and in many foreign countries. The popularity of the game is immense and involves a friendly competition between two sets of players. 
     Four people play bridge. The person sitting opposite a given player is that person&#39;s partner and the nature of the game requires that four persons play at one time and the seating thereof is in partnerships of two with partners facing each other across the table. This invention relates to games of cards and especially to the game of bridge and is an apparatus for the substitution of the usual plastic cards with spherical elements and a means for randomizing the spherical elements and subsequently dealing the spherical elements out to each of the four players. 
     The apparatus further relates to a table structure that houses or contains the randomizing means and provides retaining means on the surface thereof for the display of the spherical elements and the organization of same within the format and rules of the game and also to the dispersal of the spherical elements to a player tray area in which only the player can see the specific elements that have been dealt; a planar surface of the table structure overlaying the player tray area prevents all other players from viewing the `hand` of any of the other three players. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     The following cited references are found to be exemplary of the U.S. prior art. The are: 
     
         ______________________________________                                    
U.S. Pat. No.       Inventor                                              
______________________________________                                    
4,601,470           Kadota et al.                                         
3,853,324           Reiner et al.                                         
3,203,699           Pearson, Jr.                                          
2,383,860           Hickey                                                
3,057,625           Livingston                                            
2,026,682           Jeffries                                              
______________________________________                                    
 
    
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,470, issued to Kadota et al, discloses a roulette gaming device having an electromagnetic apparatus for dispensing a ball, thereby providing an automated means for rotating or spinning the ball during the roulette game. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,324, to Reiner et al, teaches a construction of a combined game of chance and skill. The invention relates to a modified version of the game of bingo, wherein this form of the game utilizes an apparatus for dispensing indicating balls onto a rotating playing field and into two-sets of receiving sockets. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,699, issued to Pearson Jr. discloses an amusement device or game which utilized a rotating member operated by electrical means. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,383,860, issued to Hickey discloses a machine for playing card games using balls instead of cards and a method of shuffling and dispersing the balls. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,057,625, issued to Livingston discloses a game apparatus which shuffles and deals spherical game pieces. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,026,682, issued to Jeffries discloses an apparatus for playing games which shuffles and deals chips so that each player&#39;s hand will not be visible to the other players. 
     None of the above cited prior art references, whether taken singly or in combination discloses the specific details of the present invention so as to bear upon the claims herewith. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a means for substituting spherical elements having indicia thereon identical to playing cards, for use in lieu of ordinary playing cards; and further to provide manifest advantages in the playing of card games by utilization of this substitution. 
     Another object is to provide an apparatus for shuffling or randomizing the spherical elements and for the division of a given quantity of them prior to each player retrieving the same; this operation taking the place of a dealer giving out each of the cards or elements. 
     Another object is to provide means for retrieval for the card-elements, after having been shuffled, to players, and a supplemental means for moving the collected, shuffled elements back to a player tray area. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the table illustrating its configuration while the players are bidding, and showing the planar surface of the table and an arrangement of place mat style holding means for retaining spherical elements that are used in lieu of plastic cards in this apparatus. 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of table illustrating its configuration after bidding, reflective that the player in the south position has received the bid and the north position is designated dummy, in accordance with the method of playing bridge. 
     FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the table apparatus illustrating its lightweight construction. 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the folding legs that are pivotably attached to the table. 
     FIG. 5 is a cutaway view of the apparatus illustrating its placement in the table. 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view of the upper dispersing element showing the openings through which the spherical elements fall, further illustrating the rotational nature of the upper dispersing element. 
     FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the invention, showing the major components or members of the operating apparatus and more particularly the elements for receiving the spherical elements and feeding them to a vaned device and thereafter to and within a dispensing device for randomizing and dispersal to a plurality of receiving tube members. 
     FIG. 8 is a view of a receiving tube member and illustrating the stacked or in-line nature of the spherical elements within; the length and interior volume of each of the receiving tube members being of a character sufficient to contain only a given number of spherical elements; i.e., thirteen in the game of bridge. 
     FIGS. 9, 10 and 11, illustrate a raised relief on the spherical elements to assist the visually impaired. 
     FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the invention showing the dispersing element and tube members. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the figures in which like numbers refer to like elements throughout, game apparatus 10 includes a table 12. Table 12 has four legs 12&#39;, 12&#34;, 13, and 13&#39;, the latter of which is not shown but located as indicated on FIG. 4, that are foldable to permit the table to be conveniently carried to a patio or game room and easily set up. 
     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a card table 12 for playing the game of bridge is utilized in which hard, spherical elements are substituted for use in lieu of the ordinary plastic or cardboard playing cards. A set of fifty-two spherical elements have replicated thereon indicia of an ordinary deck of playing cards. Each one of the set having indicia of one playing card corresponding to that of a deck of cards. 
     An upper planar surface 14 on table 12 has holding means such as place mats 16 with orifices 18 shown in a typical arrangement in FIG. 2 for retaining spherical elements 20 that are substituted in the use of the novel game apparatus device 10 for plastic playing cards. Holding means 16 are arrayed in an organization appropriate to the nature of the game of cards being played. Holding means 16 lay flat on planar surface 14 and may, optionally, have magnetic or any suitable adhering means to maintain a close contact with planar surface 14. Spherical elements are placed within holding means thereby being secured against the wind or any other elements of instability. 
     A planar surface 15 overlays a plurality of recessed areas 22 that prevent other players from viewing the spherical elements 20 that are held within an individual holding tray 24 as shown in FIG. 1. The planar surface may consist of an acrylic resin such as PLEXIGLASS manufactured by Rohm &amp; Haas or some other transparent material so that a player can view his hand. 
     The individual holding tray 24 can also be removed from the recessed area 22 and placed on the table when a player is in the position of &#34;dummy&#34; in the game of bridge, as shown in FIG. 2. 
     Table 12 of apparatus 10 has a circular aperture 11 in the center over which is removably affixed thereto a receiving assembly generally indicated at 26, as illustrated in FIG. 3. 
     Now referring to FIG. 5. receiving assembly 26 consists of a bowl-shaped receptacle 27 containing a dome shaped portion 28 with a channel 29 encircling the dome-shaped portion between its base and the bowl-shaped receptacle 27. The dome-shaped portion 28 is disposed in the bowl-shaped receptacle 27 but is not attached and rotates independently of the bowl-shaped receptacle. The perimeter of the base of the dome-shaped portion 28 is greater than the inner perimeter of the channel 29. The upper side of the channel is concave, and of a width substantially the same as that of the spherical elements 20. The receiving assembly 26 contains an aperture 25 along the channel defined by the space between the outer edge of the dome shaped portion 28 and the receptacle 27, having a diameter slightly larger than that of the spherical elements. The particular shape of the receiving assembly causes a spherical element 20 dropped into the receiving assembly 26 to spin due to the rotating dome shaped portion 28, and roll due to gravity towards the channel 29 of the receiving assembly 26 causing the spherical element to fall through aperture 25. Multiple spherical elements dropped into the receiving assembly wall fall through aperture 25 in a random order thereby beginning a shuffling process. 
     As spherical elements 20 fall through aperture 25 they fall randomly into a rotating upper dispersing element 40 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, which has disposed on the upper surface thereof a plurality of vanes 42 disposed as shown in FIG. 6 as a cross dividing a planar disc 41 into four quadrants. In order to contain the spherical elements in the separate quadrants the vertical height of the vanes 42 from the upper surface of the planar disc 42 is substantially greater than the diameter of the spherical elements 20. 
     As illustrated in the fragmentary view of FIG. 7, the upper dispersing element 40 of the assembly which includes the vaned planar disc, has a perimeter substantially equal to that of the outer perimeter of the channel 29 whereby the vanes 42 project up under the dome-shaped portion 28 of the receiving assembly 26. The upper dispersing element 40 has four apertures 43, corresponding to the four sections created by the vanes, which are shown in FIG. 6 but which are not shown in FIG. 7 in view of the fact that these would be disposed behind the blade portion of element 40. As spherical elements 20 are rotated in the upper dispersing element 40, they are further shuffled and fall through one of the apertures to a lower dispersing element 46. 
     In FIG. 7, lower dispersing element 46 consists of a stationary planar disc having four apertures 47 corresponding in placement to the four apertures 43 in the upper dispersing element 40. Attached through each aperture 47, abutting the lower face of the upper dispersing element 40 is a receiving tube 48. The spherical elements 20 fall due to gravity into receiving tubes 48; each such receiving tube 48 having a capacity for receiving and storing therein a predetermined number or quantity of, for example, as with the case of a bridge game, thirteen spherical elements 20, so that as each such tube is filled, not necessarily in sequence but as the spherical elements are captured and dropped through the holes, the excess spherical elements 20 are routed to another of the receiving tubes. This results in each of the receiving tubes ultimately having the correct number of spherical elements 20, therein for unloading of the tubes by the bridge player and transferred to the spherical element holding trays 24 of FIGS. 1 and 2 for playing of a round or a subsequent round of bridge. 
     The receiving assembly, upper dispersing element and lower dispersing element are stacked one upon the other and are rotatably attached through a center rod running vertically through the center point of each component. A small electric motor 45 drives the upper dispersing element 40, and the dome shaped portion 28 of the receiving assembly 26 through use of the center rod 50 as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 12. 
     Now referring to FIG. 7. receiving tubes 48 are provided with a disengaging arrangement or capability at 52 where, for example, the receiving end of a tube is preferably frictionally held in place and is pulled out of the holes on the bottom side of the element 46 and dumped into the hands of the respective players or by any other desired means. Thus the receiving tubes 48 may individually be removed by the player in the position for use of that particular group of spherical elements disposed in his or her tube. 
     As seen in FIG. 8, the spherical elements 20 may also be removed by the player through use of an aperture 53 located at 54. 
     Referring now to FIG. 12, the lower dispersing element 46, upper dispersing element 40 and receiving assembly 26 are encased in a covering 60. The covering 60 is attached to either the upper or lower surface of table 10, and the inner surface of aperture 11 so as to retain the lower dispersing element 46 level with the table while allowing the receiving tubes to extend through the aperture 11 in the table. The attachment may incorporate screws or bolts projecting through holes therein and into the table top or in the alternative toggle clamps or turn buttons spaced from the bottom side of the table 10 as desired and the choice as to which fastening arrangements will be apparent and selected as desired by those skilled in the art. Above the receiving assembly 26 is a lid 61, containing an aperture 62 centered thereon. Spherical elements 20 are dropped through aperture 62 to start the shuffling and dispersing process. 
     Spherical elements 20 may, optionally have raised indicia as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 to allow the visually impaired to play bridge with others, both visually impaired and non-visually impaired. 
     The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention, Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents, which may be resorted to, fall within the scope of the invention are intended to be protected.