How Full Color® Solitaire Was Invented by David W. Mahon The core of this document was originally written by David W. Mahon in October 2010 as part of the Full Color® Solitaire filings with the USPTO and WIPO.
Full Color® Solitaire was invented on July 26, 2010. The story of its origin stands on its own, but this document focuses on the underlying structure that makes it unique, proprietary, and not found in prior art.
This paper was prepared as a thesis-style explanation for intellectual property counsel to demonstrate how and why Full Color® Solitaire represents a fundamentally different system of play.
While the core structural insight was realized quickly, the development, validation, and implementation required tens of thousands of hours to bring the system to market.
What was not fully understood at the outset was the magnitude of a simple truth:
The number of ways to arrange a deck of cards is beyond human comprehension.
In a traditional deck of 52 cards, the total number of possible arrangements is 52 factorial, written as 52!.
52! = 8.0658175 × 10⁶⁷
Or in full:
80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000
This number is so large that it exceeds any intuitive understanding. It is not simply “big”, it is beyond astronomical scale.
To put this into perspective, there are fewer atoms on Earth than there are possible arrangements of a standard deck of cards.
Understanding this scale is essential, because it reveals the hidden complexity underlying even the simplest card systems.
The following explanation provides one of the clearest ways to comprehend this magnitude.
MORE WAYS TO SORT A DECK OF CARDS THAN ATOMS ON EARTH EXPLAINED AT A 4TH GRADE LEVEL
Now here is what is crazier than that.
A standard deck of Full Color® Cards for 21 or Nothing® or Full Color® Baccarat for Full Color® Games has 55 cards in it. That's 5 suits with 11 cards per suit. Now apply the same math above in how many ways there are to sort out that deck that is.
To extend this perspective beyond a traditional 52-card deck, consider how quickly the magnitude increases as the system scales.
55! ≈ 1.26964 × 10⁷³
126,964,033,536,220,131,313,991,551,330,550,266,456,236,792,022,347,728,728,960,000,000,000,000,000
Full Color® Solitaire begins at a minimum structure of 13 cards per suit across 5 suits, resulting in a 65-card deck:
65! ≈ 8.24765 × 10⁹⁰
824,773,071,063,059,205,370,052,060,536,252,592,028,812,058,124,080,683,675,541,617,140,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
At this point, the scale already exceeds what is typically described as a “googol” (10¹⁰⁰), a number so large it was coined to represent quantities beyond practical comprehension.
Now consider the progressive Full Color® Solitaire card sets:
16-card set per suit (80 cards total):
80! ≈ 7.15695 × 10¹¹⁸
19-card set per suit (95 cards total):
95! ≈ 1.03299 × 10¹⁴⁸
22-card set per suit (110 cards total):
110! ≈ 1.58825 × 10¹⁷⁸
25-card set per suit (125 cards total):
125! ≈ 1.88268 × 10²⁰⁹
Now consider the upper bound currently implemented in Full Color® Solitaire:
Spider 4 Suit • 25 Card Set
(250 total cards in play)
250! ≈ 3.23286 × 10⁴⁹²
In full numerical form, this value extends to hundreds of digits, far beyond any scale that can be meaningfully interpreted without scientific notation.
At this level, the number of possible arrangements is not just large, it is effectively incomprehensible within any human or physical frame of reference.
Floating-Point Limits: Standard double-precision systems typically cannot compute factorial values beyond approximately 170! (≈ 7.26 × 10³⁰⁶) without overflow.
Precision Requirements: Values such as 250! require multi-precision arithmetic ("BigInt") to be represented accurately.
These figures represent only the number of possible arrangements of a deck.
In actual gameplay, the complexity expands further. A single deal of 250 cards, distributed across tableaus and stock, introduces an additional layer of combinatorial variation through every possible sequence of moves.
Each card movement creates a new state, and the total number of possible game states grows beyond any practical capacity for enumeration.
The challenge is not simply the size of the system, but the requirement that it remains logically consistent
RAIN MAN AND BRAIN MAN
To understand the level of thinking required to conceive systems like this, it is helpful to look inside the mind of a mathematical savant. Cultural references such as Rain Man and documentaries like Brain Man offer a glimpse into how differently the human mind can process numbers, patterns, and structure.
One of the most well-known real-world examples is Daniel Tammet, a documented mathematical savant who has demonstrated extraordinary cognitive abilities, including the ability to recite tens of thousands of digits of Pi from memory. In his Oxford presentation, “How many numbers can you memorize and recite back out of memory in π?”, Tammet recites over 22,500 digits continuously, an achievement that is difficult to comprehend in conventional terms.
David W. Mahon does not claim to possess the same level of savant capability as Tammet. However, he has consistently identified similarities in how systems, patterns, and abstractions are processed. The focus is not on memorizing individual data points, but on understanding underlying structures, relationships, and paradigms. Details that do not serve a purpose are often discarded, while systems that do are retained and expanded.
This mode of thinking is what led to the development of Full Color® Cards and Full Color® Games. The objective was not to memorize complexity, but to eliminate inconsistency and replace it with a unified, logical framework.
Regardless of how improbable it may seem on paper, Full Color® Cards exist. Full Color® Games exist. The systems function, resolve mathematically, and have been implemented successfully across multiple game formats. Beyond their structural integrity, they are also highly engaging, dynamic, and enjoyable to play.
For those interested in understanding how these systems were conceived, the following pages provide a simplified, accessible explanation. This is not a doctoral thesis, nor a formally published white paper, but rather a practical, foundational view into the way these concepts were developed.
It is, simply, the clearest way to explain how David W. Mahon sees and constructs these systems.
If you identify errors, improvements, or opportunities for refinement, you are encouraged to submit feedback. All thoughtful contributions are reviewed and appreciated.
FULL COLOR® SOLITAIRE by David W. Mahon. A brief walk through the caverns of his mind.
TECHNICAL FIELD
My provisional patent application generally relates to card games, and more particularly, Solitaire, also known as Patience, which is a synecdoche referring to a ubiquitous format of single-player card games involving a layout of cards with a goal of sorting them in a specific manner until all cards are played out in a sequential order according to the rules of the chosen version or variation in play.
Although Solitaire is an individual game by design, technology has caused game play to evolve into globalized head to head competitions whereby multiple players attempt to simultaneously solve identical games with an identical deal faster and more efficiently than their competitor on linked electronic gaming platforms for a real or virtual prize, award or leader board recognition based on ending the game with the fastest time or best end score ranking.
BACKGROUND
It is unknown where Solitaire originated from or which of the thousands of known versions and variations were invented first. What is known is that the game became extremely popular in France in the early 19th Century reaching England and America in the latter half.
Patience was first mentioned in literature shortly after cartomantic layouts were developed circa 1765. The earliest known recording of a game of Patience occurred in 1783 in the German game anthology Das neue Königliche L'Hombre-Spiel. Before this, there were no literary mentions of such games in large game compendiums such as Charles Cotton's The Compleat Gamester (1674) and Abbé Bellecour's Academie des Jeux (1674).
The first collection of solitaire card games in the English language is attributed to Lady Adelaide Cadogan through her Illustrated Games of Patience, published in about 1870 and reprinted several times. Other collections quickly followed such as Patience by E. D. Cheney (1869), Amusement for Invalids by Annie B. Henshaw (1870), and later Dick's Games of Patience, published by Dick and Fitzgerald. Other books about solitaire written towards the end of the 19th century were by H. E. Jones (a.k.a. Cavendish), Angelo Lewis (a.k.a. Professor Hoffman), Basil Dalton, Ernest Bergholt, and Mary Whitmore Jones.
SUMMARY - MEANS & METHOD OF PLAY
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
- “Means” of a “card system” that utilizes a ”standard deck” of 52 Cards
All games of Solitaire regardless of its medium, tangible or intangible (printed or electronic), require two elements of a "means" and a "method" to play. The "means" (See Exhibit “1”) being a "card system" that allows the "method" (See Exhibit “2”) to be carried out.
“Method” of Traditional Game of Klondike Solitaire
The "card system" is identical in all known Solitaire games regardless of which "method" (version or variation) is used for play. Each "card system" consists of a specific quantity of cards categorized into a unique “suit” (See Exhibits “3-6”) and further subcategorized by a sequential “rank” value and further into a “class”.
Example of a “Suit” of Diamonds in a rank of 1 thru 13 in a class (color) of red
Example of a “Suit” of Hearts in a rank of 1 thru 13 in a class (color) of red
Example of a “Suit” of Spades in a rank of 1 thru 13 in a class (color) of black
Example of a “Suit” of Clubs in a rank of 1 thru 13 in a class (color) of black
THE 13 RANKS: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King
A "standard deck" (See Exhibit “1”) consists of 52 different cards subcategorized into four unique “suits”. Each suit has thirteen cards or thirteen “ranks”. Each suit in a “standard deck” includes an Ace, depicting a single symbol (a pip) of its suit as a rank of 1; ranks two through ten, with each card depicting that many pips of its suit and then the additional indicia of visual art known as a “Jack” as a rank of 11, a “Queen” as a rank of 12 and a “King” as a rank of 13 each depicted with a symbol of its suit. On the actual printed cards the Aced has a letter of ("A"), the Jack has letter("J"), the Queen has a ("Q") and the King has a ("K").
As irrational and illogical as it is to add numbers and letters in a Rank of 1-13, in a game of solitaire, the Aces and Faces are in fact "remapped" to a numerical order, despite the fact that they are out of order as they appear in the alphabet as the K ("Rank 13") comes before the Q ("Rank 12) skipping the other letters of "L, M, N, O, P" in the English alphabet as see here:
THE 4 SUITS: Heart (♥), Diamond (♦), Club (♣), Spade (♠)
Then we have the four irrational and illogical suits identified by symbols, indicia, pips, whatever you wish to call them, they only exist because they are French became the aristocracy that popularized the artistry of making playing cards more than any other country (as there were no printing presses to mass produce decks of playing cards 600 years ago) and replaced the original suits from the Mamluk deck over the centuries (as explained below).
Of the (4) “suits”, they are further subcategorized into two “classes” whereby (2) “suits” are in the red “class” (See Exhibits “3 & 4”) and (2) "suits" are in the black (color) “class” (See Exhibits “5 & 6”). Exhibits “3, 4, 5 & 6” in whole, illustrates a 3-part “card system” of “Suit, Rank & Class” in every “standard deck”.
The "standard deck" of 52 cards with a 3-part “card system” of “suit, rank & class” system that are printed and used today are the international standard of commercial playing cards and can be traced back to the Mamluk (aka Mameluke) card deck circa the early 1400's. The Mamluk format of 52 cards of 4 suits with 13 ranks have stood the test of time for over 600 years of play and the only thing that has changed in the suits were the four sets of indicia used to identify the suits in which the French symbols (pips) of diamonds (♦), spades (♠), hearts (♥) and clubs (♣) ultimately prevailed and became the international visual art (pip) standard that is used in all commercially played card games in existence including trick-taking, matching, shedding, accumulating, fishing, comparing, solitaire and casino, in both wagering and non-wagering, gambling and casual formats throughout the world.
In all standardized and popular games of Solitaire, a "deck" can be a bit of a misnomer. It can be a set of cards consisting of one or more suits from a “standard deck” of commercialized playing cards and a minimum of one or more copies of those suits, based on the rules or method used to play.
A “Single Suit Spider” Method uses a “Deck” of 52 Cards made up of (1) Suit of Spades & (3) identical copies
Exhibit “7” shows how a game “Single Suit Spider” Solitaire uses (4) copies of an identical “suit” to carry out its “method”.
“Two Suit Spider” Method uses a “Deck” of 52 Cards made up of (2) sets a Suit of Spades & (2) of Hearts
Exhibit “8” shows how a game “Two Suit Spider” Solitaire uses (2) sets of (2) identical suits to carry out its “method”.
It is unknown when the red & black classes were added to a “standard deck”. In many games, including Solitaire, “classes” create restrictions on building tableaus with alternating or same colored suits which is a staple of how virtually all current Solitaire game methods are currently played out. At a minimum, a "deal" in a game of a Solitaire consists of a single deck of four suits of six sequentially ranked cards duplicated four times for a total of 24 cards in Xerces or as complex as a Solitaire "deal" that utilizes a single "deck" with eight different suits of diamonds (♦), spades (♠), hearts (♥), clubs (♣), stars (★), suns (☀), moons (☾), open stars (☆), with thirteen cards in each suit for a total of 104 cards as seen in the “Chaotic Spider” method. The “Double Klondike” method uses two copies of a “standard deck” of cards with all 4 standard suits for a total (2) sets of each suit for a total of 104 cards. The possibilities of combinations of means and methods are virtually endless.
Regardless of the “deck” size, the “deal” or the "card system" used in the countless versions and variations of Solitaire, the "method" of playing Solitaire has never changed, …until the introduction of Full Color® Solitaire. All card play begins with a random shuffle of the "card system". The staggered order and arrangement of the way those cards are dealt out create the ability or inability to sort the cards in the specific order defined in its method of play to win and end the game
This sequential sorting requires that cards either match up for play with another by a +1 or -1 in sequential card rank in alternating suit classes (See Exhibit “8”) or in identical suits (See Exhibit “9”) or the cards must add up or subtract to obtain a specific rank value in order to be sorted out (See Exhibit “10”).
Alternating Suits” in Order / Identical Suits” Of Spades, Clubs, Hearts & Diamonds in Order
In the instance of a using a “card system” with a single “standard deck” of cards with 13 cards and the method of “Pyramid”, any two cards can be sequentially added together to create the numerical card total of “13” to be sorted together and removed from the “stock” pile or the pyramid “tableau”. In the instance in Exhibit “10” below, card number “10♦” (ten of diamonds) is added to the “3♠” (three of spades) to combine to create a numerical card total of “13_ and can then be removed to the “foundation” pile on top of the previous “Queen♠ or 12” and “Ace♣ or 1” which also create “13” when added together.
Addition method of “Pyramid” to create 13 to remove cards from the “tableau” to the “foundation”
Some "methods" use as few as six sequentially ranked cards in a suit for a sort method, none use more than thirteen. Some use one suit, duplicated a myriad of times, and some use eight unique suits as stated above. Some use one deck, some use multiple decks, but no matter what version or variation is employed, one global standard persists throughout all of them which is the universal condition that every card of every suit must play or resolve itself in a sequentially sorted order.
The only known variation to this time tested sequential standard of methodologies listed above in Exhibits “8, 9 & 10” are the rare, obscure, unpopular and obsolete versions or variations that add a "joker' to the deck. In those instances, one to four jokers, often distinguishable with some unique indicia not belonging to any of the other ranked suits, are included in the play that create a wild card situation. Jokers in Solitaire are not popular at all because they interrupt the logic of sequential card progression of +1 or -1 in card class or rank and can not be mathematically added or subtracted to a value (because they don't have a value) and in many methods make the game impossible to win in the end.
In current game methods, when a Joker is played, it replaces a natural card that is currently unavailable. Any further sequentially ordered cards are played over it. When the natural card becomes available, it replaces the Joker, which is once again returned to the top of the foundation pile. Although the method can work, it truly creates a bastardized game playing situation due to the confusion it creates as it gets buried in a pile while the player has to remember where it is when the natural card comes up and worse, taking sequences out of order by having too many cards of the same rank making it impossible to sort cards because they block sequential builds because they are out of order when they are replaced with a joker. The bigger problem with the integration of a Joker card is in the games with an addition/subtraction methods when they are combined as a wild card with other cards to create a combined total because all cards are needed to create a perfect mathematical total for the “child card” missing the “parent” (in which one or the other was pair with a Joker) leaving unusable “step-child” cards left “hanging” because they can not be combined with the parent of the suited or ranked cards that they need in order to be combined with because they left with the Joker that was used to facilitate the moment rather than used in proper time to create a perfect end game scenario, once again, making it impossible to win the game. Thusly, it may be a method of play, but it is inherently a defective one with no real commercial viability as it undermines the entire basis of any sorting game method where all cards are dependent upon each other to form a complete family and fill a home, or their “foundation” pile.
UNIVERSAL METHOD OF SOLITAIRE GAME PLAY
Solitaire games typically involve rules of varying complexity and skill levels. Every game of Solitaire starts with dealing cards from a shuffled “deck” into a prescribed arrangement on a tabletop, from which the player attempts to reorder the “deck” using the 3-part “card system” of a “standard deck” with the “suit”, “class” and “rank” as a method to sort the cards through a series of moves transferring cards from one place to another under prescribed methodical restrictions. Some games allow for the reshuffling of the deck(s) which create availability or unavailability, and/or the placement of cards into new or empty locations of tabeleaus, freecells or foundation piles which also have restrictions or conditions upon them which ultimately determines if a game can be solved (won) or not..
Most Solitaire games require the reorder of the “deck” in the sequential build of cards to alternate between classes (colors), e.g. red/black/red/black/red etc. (as seen in Exhibits “8 & 9”). This becomes incredibly limiting and can cause a great many of the games to become unsolvable, frustrating a player when no more cards can be moved from “tableau” to “tableau” or to a “foundation” pile in either the alternating or identical suit ranking system or added or subtracted to the specific number because the “class” system restricts the movement of a “red” suit to only 2 out of the 3 other decks rather than all 3, thusly totally altering the game play possibilities and inherently limiting the method.
It is a known fact that players do not want to play a game that is unsolvable. Solitaire games where the odds of solving the game are infinitesimally small, are unpopular and may be a method of play but have absolutely no real value in the commercial marketplace as no one wants to play them. Out of the thousands of methods, versions and variations of each, only a handful of them, if any, have a near 100% solvability rate.
If someone could invent a “method” or a “card system” individually or collectively that could reach a 100% solvability rate with a varying degree of difficulty to go along with it, they would create an entirely new sub-culture of fans and an instant value of unprecedented proportion in the marketplace. It is believed that the “Full Color® Solitaire means and methods” have, in many of the most popular formats of solitaire, achieved this setting the stage for an evolution.
FreeCell is the single most popular version of traditional Solitaire because the “deals” are statistically solvable if played properly with a “standard deck”. Other games like Klondike, Aces Up, Pyramid and Golf are not as high but do in fact have an incredibly high rate of solvability and ease of play. Spider, an extremely popular version, can have either very high or very low solvability rates depending on which version a player chooses.
The easiest way to increase the solvability in any method is to change the number of suits in the master decks of cards to allow more card movement which can be achieved by adding more classes to the deck. This is not realistic in the physical world of cards since nearly all of the world's printed cards are an international "standard deck". Due to the advent of electronic Solitaire, creating 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 colored suits is effortless and has allowed for a great many new additions of versions and methods of Solitaire game play however none have truly ever caught on because it's visually challenging for the human eye to process all of the numbers, colors and pip indicia on top of the white background that predominates the card in a single glance making it difficult to catch on by human limitations and not by methodology.
The invention of a new “card system” could eliminate that problem. It is believed that the “Full Color® Card” system has done that by creating a 2-part “card system” rather than a 3-part “card system” that a ”standard deck” is comprised of overcoming a myriad of visual and technical challenges and simultaneously creating an entirely new class of Solitaire methods.
The Full Color® “card system” reduced the 3-part “card system” of “suit, rank and class” system to just a “suit and rank” system. It did this by eliminating 100% of the card artwork (symbols/indicia/pips) of the “suit system” in a “standard deck” and took the colors that made up the “class” system and swapped them by making the “classes” the “suits”.
This was done by making the entire Full Color® card, exactly that, a “card full of color” or more simply stated, by making the entire card a solid color and referring to it as its identifying “suit” rather than a “class” and only marking the cards with the sequential number of its ranking rather than polluting it with symbols and the visual art of “face cards” as will be seen below. More importantly it finally puts an end to the insanity of mixing numbers and letters together through an irrational scheme of out of ordered numbers on top of that when remapped as explained above.
This accomplished drastic improvements in game methods and sorting speed while making it easier, faster and more fun to play all at the same time. In fact, after playing a game in “full color”, it actually hurts a player’s eyes to go back and play on a "standard deck" of cards and try to process all of the old indicia that is unnecessary in Full Color® Solitaire game methods that this application will demonstrate below. Secondly, the Full Color® “card system” added a fifth suit (the 5th dimension) of a “white” suit to the deck that alters every known method of Solitaire in existence to create a plethora of new and unique methods of play in combination with its new proprietary 2-part “card system”.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Since all Solitaire methods are in public domain and they all use a deck of cards that is in public domain it stands to reason that it would be virtually impossible for a new proprietary method to be derived from the prior art as a means that has existed for over 600 years and methods that have existed for over 250 years.
Despite the countless combinations of ways to create a game play "deck" for a "deal" in Solitaire and countless methods in which to "deal" out a game, virtually every single method of Solitaire and one hundred percent of every popular version uses a "card system" that employs a "standard deck" of cards, and further, there aren’t any known games of Solitaire that includes a "card system" with more than 13 ranks in its game play. This is because the traditional deck is ended with a face card, that is then further illogically remapped to an out of order alphabet and not the simple, logical and impossible to substitute numerical system of ranks.
It is believed that these limitations exist because no commercialized deck of cards has ever been invented to provide for it, much more one whose mathematics would hold up across the entire existing spectrum of Solitaire formats, until the invention of a new proprietary and copyrighted deck of cards as seen in "Full Color® Cards" due to its new “card system” dynamics.
A NEW PROPRIETARY DECK OF COMMERCIALIZED PLAYING CARDS
The "Full Color® “card system” is the first commercially viable alternative to a "standard deck" of 52 cards that not only creates an entirely new range of methods to play games of Solitaire, it creates an entirely set “card system” that permits the methods and game paradigms to all the existing formats as well as a new set of mathematical odds for playing them. The deck of "Full Color® Cards" first and foremost, increases the number of card rankings from 13 to 25 and the secondly eliminated all of the indicia off of the cards including the "pip" and “face card” visual artwork as a means of identifying the card ranking and instead identifies the card ranking by simply numbering the cards 1-25 (See Exhibit “11”).
The primary emobodiment of the 2-Part Full Color® “card system” is sequentially ranked from 1 to 25
Full Color® Cards are “naked” and have no additional indicia other than the numerical ranking. In some embodiments, the printing of the Full Color® Solitaire or Full Color® Games name and trademark may exist but those markings have absolutely no effect on game play and are only used for intellectual property identification purposes. In fact, it could be left off of the cards altogether and would not affect the “means” or the “method” of game play at all. (Compare between Exhibits “11 & 12”).
An example of a single “Full Color® Card with trademark identification markings as registered with the United States Copyright Office and a tableau to the right of it revealing its ranking while the cards are buried in a stack.
The cards have an identical small and a large numerical marking for the sole purpose of stacking cards on top of each other and being able to see only the top 1/5th of the card so they player can identify them in hands or tableaus without moving them. Once the a set of cards are naked with only a ranking system free of symbols, indicia, pips or visual art for the purpose of game play.
One embodiment of a deck of Full Color® Cards creates a total of 125 playing cards from 5 unique copies of the core 25 sequentially numbered cards and paints them with 5 colors of green, orange, purple, blue and white. (See Exhibit “13”).
An embodiment of a set of “Full Color® Cards” with 125 cards in the entire deck with 5 unique suits of Green, Orange, Purple, Blue & White
THE OLD 3-PART “CARD SYSTEM” AND THE NEW 2-PART “CARD SYSTEM
Anyone skilled in the relevant art of playing any method of Solitaire, would be quick to concede that the dual requirement of sorting cards out in a -1 sequential ranking order in a tableau and a +1 sequential order of resorting them into a foundation pile can cause a game to come to a quick and abrupt end when no other moves that are possible due to the inability to move cards blocked by the 2nd requirement of having to move them in alternating “classes” (colors) or obtain them from an identical “class” from the stock and in the tableaus. The following illustrates how a 2-part “card system” changes that method of game play making a game faster, easier and much more fun to play.
Examples of “Suits” aka “pips” & “Classes” aka the “red” or “black” colors of a “Standard Deck” of Card
“ELIMINATION OF CLASSES IN A 3-PART “CARD SYSTEM”
In a "standard deck", “colors” are actually classes and the “pip” indicia makes up the actual “suits”. (See Exhibit “14”).
“Standard Card” deck “card system” with classes (without any colors or red or black) that now only consist of “suit and rank” because all cards are of the same “color”.
If you removed the colors from a “standard deck”, you automatically eliminate the dual “classes” because you would instantly lose the “red” & “black” sub-category (See Exhibit “15”).
In the Solitaire method of Klondike (or in any card game method in existence) that relies on a “card system” that requires all three conditions of “suit, rank & class” you can not move a “black” card from one “suit” on top of a “black” card of another “suit” or a “red” on top of a “red”. The Klondike method requires alternating suit classes. Exhibit “15” above has only one “class” of color now, and that is black. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to play the Solitaire Klondike method without a minimum of two “classes” (colors) in a “standard deck” of cards because you cannot move the “black” ♠ on top of the “black” ♦ (which used to be a “red” ♦ before the dual “classes” were stripped out of it). As a matter of fact, you can’t move a single card beyond the Ace to the foundational pile before the game is over.
If there weren’t any “class” (color) restrictions, you could however move the 5♥ on top of the 6♠ as well as the 9♣ on top of a 10♠ (albeit very slowly), because they are all in the same class of black. The reality is that you’d have to invent a new Solitaire method of Klondike that would allow for it. The invention of such a new Solitaire method in Klondike that would work in that case, would then, automatically create a new patentable method. Full Color® Solitaire does that in which you’ll see below in the application.
ELIMINATION OF INDICIA IN A 3-PART “CARD SYSTEM”
If a “standard deck” removed its indicia or its “pips” it would then be a completely indistinguishable set of cards for the Ace and 1-10 and worse, a mix of 12 different face cards that can only be separated by slowly studying the visual art with an acute attention to detail by closely examining the clothing of the J, Q & K and the direction they are facing and even then, they can not be categorized because they are 12 completely different markings. You would end up with a deck of 22 different cards (rather than 52) with 40 of them repeating themselves in the same suit completely altering the entire “card system” dynamics (See Exhibit “16”).
“Standard Card” deck “card system” with the classes (colors) and the “suits” or “pips” removed creates an indistinguishable and unmanageable new deck of nothing more than stack of duplicates and 12 pieces of visual art.
Even if the (4) ranks of 13 cards kept their “classes” of “red” or “black”, you’d have two sets of red duplicate A’s & 1-10’s & 2 sets of black duplicates A’s & 1-10’s and 12 completely different face cards for a total of 32 different cards relegating a “standard deck” of cards to be that of an overly redundant and ultimately unsortable deck of cards that would have little if any value in any card game and more importantly become virtually worthless for use in any known method of Solitaire. (See Exhibit “17”).
“Standard Card” deck “card system” with the “suits” or “pips” removed but with “classes” still intact revealing 10 duplicates in the “black” and 10 duplicates in the “red” class totaling 32 unique cards rather than 52
In summary, the elimination of one of either the “class” or the “suit” out of any “standard deck” of cards or in simpler terms, making any “standard deck” become a 2-part “card system” or “rank & suit” or “rank and class”, causes the entire “standard deck” card system to fail and further, renders 100% of not only the entire suite of published Solitaire game methods useless, but such a change would also simultaneously render the vast majority of every playing card game method on the planet equally obsolete proving that the Full Color® “card system” is revolutionary in both the “means” and “methods” in how they can be used to play games with.
THE FULL COLOR® 2-PART “CARD SYSTEM”
The Full Color® Card system has created the lowest common denominator and the single most universal combination that is humanly possible in the creation of a deck of playing cards, ushering in an entirely new class of card gaming. The two most universal tools of printed language communication are numbers and colors. Every educated person on the planet is taught the sequential numbering system of 1-∞ and every single human being on the planet that has vision can identify colors or shades of colors (even those who are color-blind). They are staples of the human education system any person can instantly recognize the sequential sorting method of a “deck” of Full Color® cards, whereas it is absolutely impossible for someone to figure out the ranking system of a “standard deck” of cards until someone explains “what is an Ace, a Jack, a Queen and King and which one trumps the other”. (See Exhibit “18”). A “deck” of Full Color® cards requires nothing more than a pre-school education level in order to be understood.
Full Color® “card” with no indicia creating a proprietary new “card system” comprising of only “suit and rank”.
The primary deck of "Full Color® Cards" is numbered 1-25 although it could be 1 thru ∞ as the “rank system”. The primary deck of “Full Color® Cards” uses 5 different “colors” (although it could have 1 thru ∞ in different color sets) rather than indicia to identify its multiple sets of 25 ranked cards. Each different color code as represents a different "suit". The primary embodiment of the “Full Color® “card system” uses four of its "colored suits” to replace the four suits in “standard deck” “card system” that uses the French symbols of diamonds, spades, hearts and clubs with green, orange, purple and blue. (See Exhibits “19, 20, 21 & 22).
A deck of 25 Full Color® cards of the 1st Suit of “Full Color® Cards” in the Green Suit
A deck of 25 Full Color® cards of the 2nd Suit of “Full Color® Cards” in the Orange Suit
A deck of 25 Full Color® cards of the 3rd Suit of “Full Color® Cards” in the Purple Suit
A deck of 25 Full Color® cards of the 4th Suit of “Full Color® Cards” in the Blue Suit
In addition to the (4) suits “full of color”, the Full Color® card system adds a fifth set of ranking cards which does not exist in a "standard deck". They are a “suit” of “non-color” or simply the "white cards" (See Exhibit “23”).
A 25 Card deck of the 5th Suit of “Full Color® Cards” in the White Suit
SUMMARY
Although it may appear that the white suit is just another sortable or ordinary suit, it is anything but ordinary. From a math point of view, it unlocks mathematical formulas and gaming paradigms that were never before possible and it is the secret sauce to the entire Full Color® Gaming system. In casual card games like solitaire, it creates a free / bonus suit that allows you to unlock trapped cards and in casino games, the color cards +increase your score while the white cards -decrease your score to create an entirely new set of up and down gaming action that ensures you never play the same game twice in your entire lifetime.
In summary the 2-Part Full Color® Cards creates an entirely new and proprietary “card system” of (4) colored suits along with its “5th” suit of “white cards” as a “means” to play a plethora of new card gaming “methods” of playing Solitaire that do not and cannot exist in a “standard deck” of commercialized playing cards, all of which becomes the basis of this patent application creating a myriad of new gaming methods in Solitaire game play in every known existing format while simultaneously and exponentially increasing the number of hand possibilities, game development and skill levels by adding billions of new sets of game combinations and mathematical possibilities due to the inherent increase in the base number of cards in play from 52 to 125.
THE FULL COLOR® SOLITAIRE PATENT FILINGS
David W. Mahon retained counsel to file a patent application for Full Color® Solitaire patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") on October 4, 2010
The application was not properly prosecuted by counsel and was ultimately abandoned. As a result, Mahon filed a legal malpractice action in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada (Case No. A-18-779686-C) on August 19, 2019.
This matter is one of several legal disputes involving the protection of Mahon’s intellectual property in Full Color® Cards, Full Color® Games, and the Full Color® Gaming System. These proceedings are matters of public record and will be referenced and updated over time to provide transparency regarding the development timeline.
The Full Color® Solitaire patent was not issued. This outcome was not due to a lack of novelty or merit, but rather the failure of prosecution. The underlying system, including its means and methods, remains unique, proprietary, and not found in prior art.
Due to the procedural posture created by abandonment and the applicable USPTO framework, the application could not be revived.
Patent protection is generally limited in duration. However, Mahon secured copyright protection for the Full Color® Cards, which provides long-term protection under international frameworks, including the Berne Convention, for the life of the author plus 70 years.
Mahon pursued appellate relief, and the matter reached the Nevada Supreme Court. The Court confirmed that the misconduct or fraud of an attorney cannot be imputed to the client. The decision is available in the public record under Mahon v. Richard H. Newman, Howard & Howard, PLLC.
The matter was ultimately resolved through settlement, however the case has reopened due to more malpractice and will continue to be updated here as a matter of record.
While the initial concept for Full Color® Solitaire was developed rapidly, bringing the system to market required many years of development, validation, and legal resolution.
The result is the system presented here.