Patent Application
20070107460
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cup holders, and particularly to a cup holder for a drinking game known as “Beer-Pong” or “Beirut,” the cup holder providing for quick and accurate placement of the cups and for keeping the beverage (typically beer) chilled during play of the game.
2. Description of the Related Art
Beer-Pong, or Beirut, is a drinking game that is a popular party game, particularly among young people, such as college students. Although there are many local variations in the rules of the game, typically the game comprises two teams of two people each. The game is played on a conventional ping-pong table, or a table similar in dimensions to a ping-pong table, but without the net across the center of the table. The teams have a group of drinking cups, e.g., 16-ounce cups, arranged in a close fitting triangular pattern, similar to racked billiard balls, placed centrally at opposite ends of the table. The cups are filled, or half-filled, with a beverage, typically beer, although malt liquor or other alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages may be substituted therefor.
The purpose of the game is for each team to take turns trying to eliminate the other team's cups by throwing or bouncing ping-pong balls into the cups. Any cup that a ping-pong ball falls into will be taken out of play, and a member of the team whose cup was eliminated must drink the beer or other beverage contained in the cup. Depending upon the number of cups remaining, the cups may be rearranged into a diamond configuration or other configuration as cups are eliminated. The objective is to eliminate the opposing team's cups first, and the victor is the team that does so.
Setting up the cups into a tight configuration of rows forming the triangle with the rims of the cups abutting one another can take some time. Moreover, the cups can slip or slide on the table. Finally, the game can take long enough so that, by the time the game is finished, the last few cups of beer to be eliminated are warm, diminishing enjoyment of the game, and the remaining cups for the winning team may simply be discarded because the beer is too warm and flat. Consequently, there is a need for a device that enables quick setup, that retains the cups in a tight configuration, and that keeps the beverage chilled during a game of Beer-Pong or Beirut.
Thus a cup holder for a drinking game solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The cup holder for a drinking game is a triangular multi-cup beverage tray and freezer pack insert that holds and chills multiple cups in a “billiard ball rack” formation for use in the drinking game “Beer-Pong,” “Beirut,” or variations thereof. The cup holder for a drinking game includes cup pockets, indentations or channels in a triangular row formation (front to back) of one cup, two cups, three cups, etc., which are formed in the freezer pack. The cup holding freezer pack fits into the triangular tray for added stability. Rubber or neoprene feet are disposed symmetrically on an underside of the bottom of the tray to provide traction during use. Preferably, the placement and depth of the cup pockets provide for the correct orientation of the cups for optimal playing of the drinking game with standard 16-ounce party cups.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
The present invention is a cup holder for a drinking game, designated generally as 100 in the drawings. The drinking game is “Beer-Pong,” “Beirut,” or variations thereof.
Referring to
The walls 112 and 114 of the tray 110 may be made from any-material having sufficient strength and rigidity to support the freezer pack 130 and a plurality of cups 102 filled with beverages, and to provide lateral support for the freezer pack 130. For example, the tray 110 may be made from plastic, wood, metal, stiff cardboard, laminates, or any other structural material. The walls 112 and 114 may be made from a material that provides thermal insulation, or may be made with a double wall construction having thermal insulation between the walls. The thermal insulation may be provided by styrofoam, fiberglass, air (in the case of double wall construction), or any other material that helps to keep the freezer pack 130 chilled.
The freezer pack 130 is also generally triangular in shape, having an outer perimeter dimensioned and configured for fitting snugly within well or recess 115. The freezer pack 130 has an outer shell 133 disposed over a refrigerant or gel 134 formulated to retain cold temperatures. Thermal cooling characteristics of the freezer pack 130 should maintain refrigerated temperatures from approximately 35° F. to approximately 50° F. Preferably, the freeze point of freezer pack 130 should be approximately 28° F. The freezer pack 130 may be made from any materials conventionally known in the art for making freezer packs or cold packs, which are well known in the art. However, the outer shell 133 of the freezer pack 130 has sufficient rigidity to maintain a plurality of cup pockets 132, indentations, channels, recesses, wells, or the like defined therein. The cup pockets 132 are arranged in a generally triangular or pyramid pattern in rows that have a progressively increasing number of pockets 132 in arithmetic sequence, i.e., 1, 2, 3, n . . . .
The drawings show a freezer pack 130 having six cup pockets 132 defined therein. However, it will be understood that the number of cup pockets 132 is not critical. In some areas the game of Beer=Pong is played with ten cups, so that the freezer pack may be made with ten cup pockets 132 defined therein arranged in four rows.
The cup pockets 132 may have any desired shape. In one preferred embodiment, however, the cup pockets 132 have a frustoconical shape, being narrow in diameter at the base and progressively increasing in diameter to the top of the pocket 132, being adapted to receive conventional frustoconical plastic party cups, usually of 16-ounce capacity. The cups may be filled to the top, but are usually only half-filled to allow room for receiving the ping-pong ball, and to reduce splashing. As shown in
As shown in
In use, a pair of freezer packs 130 may be placed in a freezer or refrigerator to chill before playing the game. When ready to play Beer-Pong, the freezer packs 132 are removed from the freezer and placed in trays 110. Cups 102 are placed in the cup pockets 132 and filled with beer or other beverage of choice, and the trays 110 are placed at opposing ends of a table T or other playing surface. The cup holders 100 keep the cups 102 aligned and in uniform configuration at both ends of the table T, and keep the beer or other beverage chilled so that the losing team's enjoyment of the game does not diminish because of the duration of the game, and the winning team is suitably rewarded by having several chilled beverages remaining when play has ended. Freezer packs 130 are reusable, and trays 110 may be reusable or disposable.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/735,845, filed Nov. 14, 2005.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60735845 | Nov 2005 | US |
