>From: "FenceMasterB" {mars75@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Newsgroups: rec.games.playing-cards
>Subject: A developed card game. What is legal side?
>Date: 16 Mar 2006 16:16:54 -0800
>
>I have developed a card game from the game 'S**thead' (Karma, Palace),
>and its not so much a variation, as a game in its own right. My
>friends and I have been playing it for quite a few months now and have
>had many hours of fun from it.
>
>The reason for this post is just to seek a bit of information (if
>anyone has it of course). I really think that it would work well
>online, because of the easy 'click & go' that a mouse offers. I have
>therefore emailed Yahoo! in an attempt to start the ball rolling in
>that area.
>
>When I emailed Yahoo!, it was just in the sense of me telling them the
>rules if they were interested. I had a reply a few days later saying
>that they will be forwarding it to their Purchasing Department for
>further review. Now 2 things struck me here.
>
>Firstly, rather than just a completely automated response, someone must
>have read it in order to send a standardised email out. This means
>that they assume I want paying for it, which leads me on to the other
>point. I would guess that there is no money in inventing a card game,
>and I assume no one copyrights (or similar thing) a card game if they
>dream one up. This is where I hope someone will come in with some
>info.
>
>Just on the very slight chance that Yahoo! pay me for this game (or
>not), and miraculously it really kicks off (you have to dream), then
>other people make a wad of cash out of it, is there anything you have
>to do if you come up with a card game, or is there as I thought, no
>cash in card games?
>
>There is a large chunk of 'S**thead' in my game, so where does that fit
>in? Im waffling now as you can see, so I will end this message.
>Whatever happens, I am more than happy to add my game onto a card site
>(when I have wrote the rules down in black & white), and I definitely
>want an online version up and running.
>
>Also, does anyone if you can make a card game using visual basic and
>popping it on a website so others can play, multiplayer wise?
>
>Thanks for your time.
[The foregoing kept for the benefit of readers in rec.games.design and
comp.games.development.industry so they don't have to surf over to
rec.games.playing-cards.]
Hi Mars-Fence,
I must start by saying that this is not a playing-cards question. It's
either a game design question or a computer game development industry
question. Accordingly, I am cross-posting this response on the
rec.games.design and comp.games.development.industry groups, and I
recommend
that no further responses be posted in rec.games.playing-card, since they
are definitely off-topic there.
You asked:
>I have developed a card game from the game 'S**thead' (Karma, Palace),
>and its not so much a variation, as a game in its own right.
This is unclear. It's not a variant of $#!+#3@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
but it's developed FROM
$#!+#3@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
and is "a game in its own right"? This is confusing. I'm guessing
that you are saying that you created a game that was inspired from (but
significantly different from) $#!+#3@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Is that a fair conclusion?
>The reason for this post is just to seek a bit of information (if
>anyone has it of course).
I guarantee you with 100% certainty that someone does. But not necessarily
in rec.games.playing-cards (that was the wrong place to post this
question).
>I have
>... emailed Yahoo! in an attempt to start the ball rolling ...
>When I emailed Yahoo!, it was just in the sense of me telling them the
>rules if they were interested.
See now, when I read this at first, I assumed you had not just "developed"
(meaning "created and wrote down on paper" IOW "designed") the rules for a
card game, but that you had "developed" (meaning "programmed") a computer
card game. Perhaps Yahoo also misunderstood you in a similar way
(depending
on the wording you used in your email).
>I had a reply a few days later saying
>that they will be forwarding it to their Purchasing Department for
>further review. ...
>Firstly, rather than just a completely automated response, someone must
>have read it in order to send a standardised email out. This means
>that they assume I want paying for it,
Any reasonable person would assume this. What possible other purpose did
you
have in mind? I can't imagine one. Please enlighten.
>...I would guess that there is no money in inventing a card game,
>and I assume no one copyrights (or similar thing) a card game if they
>dream one up.
These assumptions are not necessarily correct. You can patent a game (a
method of play) and you can copyright its rules (using the words you used
to
describe them) and you can trademark its title (after you have begun doing
business with the game). There was a Los Angeles Times article within the
last couple of years that told the story of a man who invented a card game
-
Pai Gow Poker - you've probably never heard of it [retroactive sarcasm
alert] [end retroactive sarcasm alert] - and didn't patent it, so never
cashed in. Read FAQ 20 on my website.
>Just on the very slight chance that Yahoo! pay me for this game (or
>not), and miraculously it really kicks off (you have to dream), then
>other people make a wad of cash out of it, is there anything you have
>to do if you come up with a card game...
You have to patent it, copyright it, and if it starts doing business,
trademark it. And read FAQ 35 on my site.
>There is a large chunk of 'S**thead' in my game, so where does that fit
>in?
I don't know. Buy a book about copyright, patent, and trademark (see FAQ 8
on my site) and hire a lawyer (in that order).
>Whatever happens, I am more than happy to add my game onto a card site
>(when I have wrote the rules down in black & white), and I definitely
>want an online version up and running.
The likelihood of your receiving money for your idea is low (read FAQs 21
and 60 on my site).
>Also, does anyone if you can make a card game using visual basic and
>popping it on a website so others can play, multiplayer wise?
Not using visual basic, no. Try Flash or Java. Read FAQs 50 and 56.
Good luck.
--
Tom Sloper - Game Designer, Producer - Consultant, Author, Speaker
- Sloperama Productions. Services for game developers and publishers;
"Making Games Fun, And Getting Them Done."
http://www.sloperama.com/business.html.
- Helpful information and answers for game industry aspirants.
http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html.
- Information and bulletin boards about the game of mah-jongg.
http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html
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