The present invention relates to the popular drinking game known as beer pong, apparently known in some locations as “Beirut”. It involves bouncing ping pong balls on a flat surface into a series of standard party/beer drinking cups containing beer or another liquid beverage. Depending on the rules established before a game starts, if one lands her/her bounced ping pong ball into a cup, the bouncing player can either drink the cup contents or dictate that another player of his/her choice drink. The empty cup is removed leaving fewer targets to aim for. See also, Radhakrishnan U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0027971 for other rule variations.
The game has become so well known that there are college pong leagues and intercollegiate teams. Sophisticated pong-related devices have been disclosed including the table with cooling system of Herro et al U.S. Pat. No. 8,235,389, and electromechanical moving target table from Hoffer U.S. Pat. No. 8,028,995. There's an arcade game version per Lombardi U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,921. And the elaborate apparatus of Max et al U.S. Published Application No. 2012/0225742 includes a rounded backboard on a stand with netting. While the latter showed different sized holes, not all are meant to hold standard size drinking cups.
Numerous other pong-playing accessories have been disclosed. These include the cup holder of Webb et al U.S. Pat. No. 7,805,959 and pong cup arranging device of McDonnell et al U.S. Published Application No. 2011/0220665. A portable table, that also floats, is the subject of Brown U.S. Published Application No. 2012/0256378.
The typical pong playing cup in a 10, 12, or 16 oz. size made from polystyrene is most often aligned on a flat table, or situated like the 10 pins of bowling (rows of 1, 2, 3 and then 4) into holes for suspending from the cup rims. Red cups of these ilk are so popular as to justify country song lore. See, Toby Keith's “Red Solo Cup”. These “larger” size cups are not meant to be fully filled (to the brim) with beer during play. A bounced pong ball is only meant to land in a cup half filled or less for the winning bouncer to drink from or designate somebody else to drink empty. For hard liquors and even semi-solid drinks (like Jello® shots), these cups are too large. A typical shot glass would hold much less alcohol, whether its whiskey, rum, gin or numerous other alternatives.
What is needed is a device for situating on or about smaller drinking disposable cups, of the 5, 7 or 8 oz. variety, most often clear and made from PET, for situating IN the standard larger pong drinking cup. This invention addresses that need with Pong Size Adapters or “PSA's”, more affectionately referred to herein as cup rim adapters or Rimmerz™ (or alternately, Rimshotz™).
It is an object of this invention to provide devices letting smaller drinking cups fit inside larger drinking cups for multiple levels of alcohol (especially non-beer) consumption. It is another object to provide such devices for reuse or for removal and collection during a typical game play. It is another main object of this invention to provide devices as color coordinated collectibles, and/or for use by alcohol and other product/service advertising. It is still another main object of the present invention to make such Rimmerz devices from edible materials (including cookies, crackers and various candy products). One variation of this modified Beer Pong game may be known as BoozPong™.
Further features, objectives and advantages will become clearer with the detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown several embodiments of device, according to the invention. In the accompanying drawings, common elements are commonly numbered in the respective views. For the alternative embodiments, common elements are consistently numbered though in the next hundred series.
With the present invention, smaller diameter cups (for serving drinks other than beer) can be fitted at or around their top cup perimeter (rim) with lipped spacers/clips affixed at at least 120 degree points for sitting/situating in the confines of a larger, standard beer pong/drinking cup. This variety of Rimmerz is shown in accompanying
In an alternate variation, better seen in cross-section at
Because multiple spacer clips might pose a choking hazard (regardless of the degree of sobriety of its user), it is advisable to instead provide smaller cups with a full perimeter surround, i.e., one that goes completely about the upper rim of a smaller disposable shot or mixed drink cup such as one that holds 5, 6 or maybe up to 8 oz. of liquid (read “liquor”). See especially,
Rather than provide a full lip completely around the small, interior cup, one that may be difficult to easily sip the contents from, it is suggested that a full surround, upper lid version, generally 220 have a plurality of overhang regions 222 with three or more spaced sipping regions 224 there between. One way to accomplish same would be to provide a full rim surround 220 with three, possibly four, spacer extensions/protrusions 222 like the version shown in top view at
If properly constructed from a fuller, thicker “band” of material, a sip-around clip 320 for fitting about the entire top of a small plastic drinking cup/glass may be used as per
This variety of FULL Rimmerz clip provides a flat surface 328 on which can be printed advertisements promoting brands and/or various customer products/services including liquid/mixer products, Pong accessories, or munchies and numerous other food products. That space atop Rimmerz 320 may contain beer or other alcoholic company promotions, PSA messages, or sales/redemption coupons. Alternately, it may be banded with various professional sports team colors/logos and/or customized for various college mascots and school colors.
Two versions of that midwall spacer variety of Rimmerz are shown in more detail in the next two views.
The varieties of Rimmerz that extend midway up the sidewalls to a standard clear cup, for fitting in the larger Red “Solo”® cup according to preferred embodiments, may or may not include some adhesive material (not shown) added to one or more segments. The same for the bottom clipped varieties of cups. The staggered rim versions, by contrast, for use with smaller, inner cups having a curved upper rim or other upper protruding ledge, are not intended to have any adhesives combined therewith. They will merely connect the smaller, inner cup by resting ON the Rimmerz′ inner staggered rim for a typical game of Beer Pong.
Regardless of the means for connecting to the inner cup, this invention is intended to hold the Rimmer-ed, inner cup in place long enough for a round of Beer Pong play without interfering with play, meaning that it won't cause the inner cup to extend higher than the horizontal surfaces of adjoining, non-Rimmer-ed cups in the typical bowling pin arrangement common for most Beer Pong games. Ideally, when the Rimmer-ed cup (or cups) is (are) kept at about the same level as its “peers”, typical bouncing of a ping pong ball towards the array of cups should not be swayed either towards OR away from these higher value cup additions. For the same reasons, Rimmerz additions should not cause a ping pong ball to unintentionally bounce AWAY FROM the set of game cups through mere contact with one or more cup top additions.
The Rimmer additions to an inner cup of hard liquor are never intended to be a permanent addition to that cup. On the contrary, when a player landing in that inner cup has drunk its contents, that player is supposed to remove the Rimmerz and place it around his/her wrist as a pseudo “trophy” band, or at a minimum, as means for keeping track of how many times that evening they landed in an other-than-beer cup.
The present invention may be used for showing school allegiance (i.e., choosing one set of school colors over another), loyalty to professional sports teams (i.e., Go Black-and-Gold) and/or particular brands (i.e., Budweiser, Rolling Rock, Heineken; and/or Captain Morgan Rum, Jack Daniels' whiskey, etc.). These devices can also include true public service announcement/messages like a “PLEASE PONG RESPONSIBLY” top surround.
With the Rimmerz of this invention, Pong playing can be instantly taken to newer levels of competition. One NOT need have modified playing boards/tables with different sized cup holes/holders to accomplish variable size drinking targets and differing contents therein. There can still be the standard table (element T in
In the variation shown at
Each clip 622 includes a groove 625 for contacting with the uppermost rim 616 of inner cup 610. That groove is shown as being in the middle of the underside to clip 622. It is understood that alternative variations (not shown) may include grooves that are NOT central to each clip but rather closer to a forward edge OR to the rear edge of a clip configuration depending on: ease of manufacture and/or stability of an installed clip onto its inner cup uppermost rim.
Note that the continuous band of this invention can be made from a flexible/bendable or otherwise malleable material (elastic being preferred). Or, if made from a semi-rigid or rigid composition, it must be able to be readily slipped onto or off of a human wrist as part of means for using this invention as a device for counting the number of times an individual game player has landed his/her ping pong ball in the smaller diameter cup and had to drink its non-beer (second beverage) contents as a direct result thereof.
With regard to this latest innovation, it is preferred that edible materials be used to construct any one or more of the aforementioned models of cup adapter devices. Particularly, it is perceived that true Rimmerz clips and/or inner cup lip rests be made from a cookie-type recipe that would have the appropriate trademarks and other brand identifiers included. Suitable cookies include those used to make: Lorna Doone's, Nilla Wafers, graham crackers, Oreos, Nutter Butters and many more.
For still other edible alternatives, consider making these drink cup adapters from the waffly material of an ice cream cone, sugar OR cake. Or, they can be made from pretzel or cracker stock, like those for Cheezits and/or Goldfish. Still other rims can be made from various compressed compositions of popular cereal brands, including Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, and even Shredded Wheat.
Finally, there is a family of various candy products that can be adapted for making these Rimmerz alternatives. They include a line of gum or “gummi” products such as Razzles, gumdrops, gummi bears, Swedish Fish, Starburst, Airheads, and still other Wax Lips, saltwater taffy, Starburst, and/or other taffy-type variations. They could also be made from chocolate, or molded from rock candy-type consistencies. It is also conceivable to make these edible alternatives from compacted sugar powder materials like those used to make: Smarties, Sweetarts, and Necco wafers to name just a few.
Having described the presently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the scope of this invention may be further described by the scope of the accompanying drawings and the following claims.
This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/488,447, filed on Apr. 15, 2017, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/746,658, filed on Jun. 22, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/149,775, filed on Jan. 7, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,079,087 that issued on Jul. 14, 2015, all disclosures of which are fully incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14149775 | Jan 2014 | US |
Child | 14746658 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15488447 | Apr 2017 | US |
Child | 15666282 | US | |
Parent | 14746658 | Jun 2015 | US |
Child | 15488447 | US |