Patent Application
20240091632
The present invention relates to games for children and, in more particular, to physical games that can be used to simulate fishing and/or improve eye-hand coordination.
Computer-based fishing games for children abound. However, such do not provide any real insight into the sport. Physical fishing games are designed to engage children and teach them some basic concepts of the sport including casting, retrieval of the fish, etc.
The prior art approaches to fishing simulation suffer from some certain disadvantages when used in the context of fund raising. One of the overarching concerns in fund raising is the turn-rate, i.e., how quickly a participant can be instructed and complete the assigned task and a new participant introduced to the game. For example, often a low turn rate is observed with prior art fishing games because they require a motion that simulates casting a fishing pole which then requires a relatively large amount of space. This limits the number of stations that are open to participations. Additionally, prior art approaches may require a level of skill that very young children do not possess which means the participant may need multiple casts in order to complete the assigned task. Further, the fish that are the target of the endeavor need to be disengaged from the lure after they have been snagged by the user and then manually returned to their starting position which may result in a delay due to dropped or mispositioned target fish.
Heretofore there has been a need for a physical fishing simulation game that overcomes some of the disadvantages of the prior art.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or embodiment) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims.
According to one embodiment, the apparatus of the present invention includes one or more game pieces which are removably suspended or laid on a support surface and which can be engaged and removed therefrom by an operation which can be likened to the action of casting a fishing lure toward a target in the water and then drawing it back. In this game, the user maneuvers an engaging member (referred to as a lure or an artificial lure hereinafter) toward the support member and the game pieces supported thereby, with the object of game being to engage the lure with one of the game pieces so that it can be drawn away from the support member, thus being “caught” by the user. In some embodiments the game pieces will be flat fish cutouts, i.e., they have a periphery that is shaped like a fish of some type. In some cases, each fish cutout will bear an image of a different type of fish printed thereon. In practice, the lure is maneuvered by the user in the direction of the support member and its fish or other game pieces with the intent of causing the lure to land beyond the fish so that it can then be pulled toward the user in an attempt to engage the lure with a selected one of the artificial fish. If the lure engages such a fish, the fish is considered to be caught and can be drawn away from the support toward the user.
Additionally, and unique to this embodiment, a retaining member or tether is secured to one or more of the game pieces. The retaining member allows the game piece to be engaged by the lure and drawn away from its position on the support member and then, after the lure is disengaged, the tether will be configured to draw the fish back toward its original position. In some embodiments the tether might be elastic and will extend when the caught fish is drawn toward the user and then retract to pull the fish back toward the support member after it has been released from the lure. In other embodiments, the tether might be inelastic, e.g., it might be a fishing line or other inelastic cord, which is attached at one end to the game piece and at the other end to a free hanging weight, the weight operating to draw the game piece back toward the support member after it has been released from the lure. If the retaining member is elastic, it might be attached to the underside of the support surface, the floor, etc.
According to some embodiments, the user maneuvers an artificial lure toward the support member and its fish which, if the lure is accurately positioned, can engage a fish and remove it from the support. In practice, the fish can be mounted with its lure-catchable mouth facing three different positions in relation to the fishing participant.
In still other embodiments, the above identified action game might be accompanied by, or separate from, a knock-down game in which targets are first knocked down by a user, beginning with a particular one of the targets, i.e., the reset target. In some embodiments that will be the center target. Then, after the reset target and one or more of the other targets are knocked down, the user will be able to reset all of the downed targets and move them back into an upright position by engaging the reset target and drawing it toward the user, thereby returning the reset target and any downed targets to their upright position.
The foregoing has outlined in broad terms some of the more important features of the invention disclosed herein so that the detailed description that follows may be more clearly understood, and so that the contribution of the instant inventors to the art may be better appreciated. The instant invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. Rather, the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various other ways not specifically enumerated herein. Finally, it should be understood, the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting, unless the specification specifically so limits the invention. Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon examining the accompanying drawings and upon reading the following description of the preferred embodiments.
These and further aspects of the invention are described in detail in the following examples and accompanying drawings.
While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings, and will herein be described hereinafter in detail, some specific embodiments of the instant invention. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments or algorithms so described.
This application incorporates by reference the entirety of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,891,667 and 7,484,733 as if fully set out herein at this point.
The present embodiment involves a fishing game device or apparatus 100 that requires an action on the part of the user/game player similar to that of actual fishing. In the embodiment of
It should be noted that for purposes herein the game pieces or figures that are utilized in the game will generally be referred to as “fish,” “fish shaped”, fish figures, etc. However, it should be clear that any sort of figure might be used in the same way as the fish figures are used herein. Also, the fish game pieces are typically flat and relatively thin. In some embodiments, each fish game piece bears the image of a fish on its front, back or both. In some instances, a plurality of fish game pieces will be provided and each will bear the image of a different type of fish. Thus, when this application refers to “fish” (e.g., “fish shaped”, “fish game piece”, “fish figure”, etc.) that text should not be limited to its literal meaning but instead it should be broadly construed to include any sort of game piece that is suitable for use with the support surface, tether, and lures discussed hereinafter and which includes the specialized structures discussed herein.
In
The lure 110 is connected to a rod (not shown) by line 185. Some general examples of rods are included in
In still another embodiment (not pictured), an arrangement like that illustrated in
As is generally indicated in
The rod 105 and lure 110 are connected by a thin line of some sort. In some cases this will be standard fishing line, although any sort of line or string could potentially be used. Preferably the fish will be arranged on the support member 170 in a row as is illustrated in
In some embodiments, a guide slot 320 will be provided to aid the user in snaring a fish. In this case, the user might position the lure 110 so that the line 185 from the rod passes over the guide surfaces 340 of the fish 150. Once that is done, it will then be relatively easy to maneuver the line to the slot 320 where it can be then pulled toward the user to draw the lure 110 up against lure engaging member 160. For purposes of the instant disclosure, the term “guide member” will generally refer to any structure provided on the engageable end of the fish that assists a user in guiding a lure into a position where it can become attached to the fish. By way of example only, the guide member of the embodiment of
In practice, after the line 108 is seated within the guide slot 320, the lure 110 will be in a position to snare the fish 130 by engaging the lure 110 with the complementary lure engaging member 160 on its back, e.g., by engaging the lure 110 with a compatible piece of hook-and-loop material 160 affixed to the back of the fish. After the lure 110 is so positioned, the user will be able to tug on the rod, thereby removably attaching the lure 110 to the fish 130 and disengaging it from the support surface.
Each fish 130 will have a guide surface 340 and guide slot 320 at the head of the fish 130 and proximate to the hook-and-loop material 165 (the “catching member”, hereinafter) on the underside of the fish 130. The guide surface 340 has been provided to make it easier for the user to maneuver the lure into the guide slot 320 and engage the catching member 165 on the underside of the fish 130.
In some embodiments, a single elastic or inelastic tether is used to connect the fish 130 to the support surface 170. In other embodiments, the tether 180 might attach at two or more locations on the fish 130, e.g., the tether might split into two leads at the end near the fish 130 and be attached to opposite ends of the fish tail fins. In still other embodiments, the tether 180 may be attached to a part of the fish other than proximate to the head, e.g., the tail, gills, a fin, etc. with respect to the Practically speaking, currently the preferred place is to secure the attachment member tether 165 to the fish 130 is near its midsection. Clearly, many variations of this approach are possible with the main goal being to choose a location that will cause the fish 130 to be returned to near its starting position when the tether 180 draws it back to the support surface 170.
Although the embodiments of
Note that for purposes of the instant application, when the term “support member” is used that term should be broadly construed to include any arrangement where the fish are removably attached to the support member and the guide surface 340 and guide slot 320 of the fish are presented in a way that allows the fish to be engaged by the lure 110 and pulled away from the support member by a user.
Note also that in some embodiments the hangers 175/395 could be eliminated, although that would make for a more frustrating game for the users. That is, absent the hanger 175/395 a fish would be free to rotate about the hole 190/398 in the support surface through which the tether 180/380 passes. This would make engaging the lure with the fish more difficult.
Note that some embodiments might have the following advantages. According to a Fishing Game Fund-Raising embodiment, this sort of approach would benefit greatly from the use of this new design. In this embodiment, the participants turn-rate is very high. That is because:
Turning now to
In the embodiment of
In some embodiments, the user will use a paddle and rubber ball combination 240 such as is illustrated in
As is generally illustrated in
Also, in this figure the rest target 520 is attached to a post 555 that is surmounted by a reset catcher 530. Of course, in some embodiments the reset catcher 530 might be attached directly to the reset target 520. As was the case with the fishing embodiments discussed above, the reset catcher 530 might take any form so long as a user will be able to engage a lure of some sort with it and pull the reset target 520 into an upright orientation when that is desired. Note that the device that is used to knock down the targets (e.g., the paddle and ball combination of
Note also that the reset target 520 might also include a support post 710 (
Most significantly though, the reset target 520 contains a reset bar 560 affixed (removably or otherwise) to the post 555 or to the rearward side of reset target 520 itself. The reset bar 560 extends the length of the game or at least extends far enough to include the targets 510 are intended to be reset when the reset target 520 is pulled back into an upright orientation by the user. That is, when the reset target 520 is upright, the reset bar 560 will prevent the other targets 510 from being knocked down into a horizontal orientation. It is only after the reset target 520 has been pushed down into a horizontal orientation, thereby taking the reset bar 560 away from the backs of the other targets, that the other targets can be knocked into a horizontal orientation as well.
Finally, when the user engages the catching member 530 and pulls the reset target 520 back into an upright/vertical orientation, the reset bar 560 will similarly raise into verticality any of the other targets that were knocked down previously, thereby resetting the game.
Note that some embodiments might contain a mechanism to help hold the targets in their vertical orientation until they are struck. For example, a patch of hook-and-loop material on the front of each target or on its post could be matched with a complementary patch on a barrier which has been placed in front of the targets to halt their forward rotation. Magnets could also be used. That would make it less likely that an unstruck target would fall after the reset target 520 has been struck, or that the weight of multiple targets pressing backward might cause the reset target 520 to fall without it being struck. Many other variations are possible and those of ordinary skill in the art will be readily able to devise them.
It is to be understood that the terms “including”, “comprising”, “consisting” and grammatical variants thereof do not preclude the addition of one or more components, features, steps, or integers or groups thereof and that the terms are to be construed as specifying components, features, steps, or integers.
If the specification or claims refer to “an additional” element, that does not preclude there being more than one of the additional element.
It is to be understood that where the claims or specification refer to “a” or “an” element, such reference is not to be construed that there is only one of that element.
It is to be understood that where the specification states that a component, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, “can” or “could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic is not required to be included.
Where applicable, although state diagrams, flow diagrams or both may be used to describe embodiment, the invention is not limited to those diagrams or to the corresponding descriptions. For example, flow need not move through each illustrated box or state, or in exactly the same order as illustrated and described.
Methods of the present invention may be implemented by performing or completing manually, automatically, or a combination thereof, selected steps or tasks.
The term “method” may refer to manners, means, techniques and procedures for accomplishing a given task including, but not limited to, those manners, means, techniques and procedures either known to, or readily developed from known manners, means, techniques and procedures by practitioners of the art to which the invention belongs.
For purposes of the instant disclosure, the term “at least” followed by a number is used herein to denote the start of a range beginning with that number (which may be a range having an upper limit or no upper limit, depending on the variable defined). For example, “at least 1” means 1 or more than 1. The term “at most” followed by a number is used herein to denote the end of a range ending with that number (which may be a range having 1 or 0 as its lower limit, or a range having no lower limit, depending upon the variable being defined). For example, “at most 4” means 4 or less than 4, and “at most 40%” means 40% or less than 40%. Terms of approximation (e.g., “about”, substantially”, “approximately”, etc.) should be interpreted according to their ordinary and customary meanings as used in the associated art unless indicated otherwise. Absent a specific definition and absent ordinary and customary usage in the associated art, such terms should be interpreted to be ±10% of the base value.
When, in this document, a range is given as “(a first number) to (a second number)” or “(a first number)-(a second number)”, this means a range whose lower limit is the first number and whose upper limit is the second number. For example, 25 to 100 should be interpreted to mean a range whose lower limit is 25 and whose upper limit is 100. Additionally, it should be noted that where a range is given, every possible subrange or interval within that range is also specifically intended unless the context indicates to the contrary. For example, if the specification indicates a range of 25 to 100 such range is also intended to include subranges such as 26-100, 27-100, etc., 25-99, 25-98, etc., as well as any other possible combination of lower and upper values within the stated range, e.g., 33-47, 60-97, 41-45, 28-96, etc. Note that integer range values have been used in this paragraph for purposes of illustration only and decimal and fractional values (e.g., 46.7-91.3) should also be understood to be intended as possible subrange endpoints unless specifically excluded.
It should be noted that where reference is made herein to a method comprising two or more defined steps, the defined steps can be carried out in any order or simultaneously (except where context excludes that possibility), and the method can also include one or more other steps which are carried out before any of the defined steps, between two of the defined steps, or after all of the defined steps (except where context excludes that possibility).
Further, it should be noted that terms of approximation (e.g., “about”, “substantially”, “approximately”, etc.) are to be interpreted according to their ordinary and customary meanings as used in the associated art unless indicated otherwise herein. Absent a specific definition within this disclosure, and absent ordinary and customary usage in the associated art, such terms should be interpreted to be plus or minus 10% of the base value.
Still further, additional aspects of the instant invention may be found in one or more appendices attached hereto and/or filed herewith, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference as is fully set out at this point.
Of course, many modifications and extensions could be made to the instant invention by those of ordinary skill in the art.
Thus, the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned above as well as those inherent therein. While the inventive device has been described and illustrated herein by reference to certain preferred embodiments in relation to the drawings attached thereto, various changes and further modifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made therein by those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit of the inventive concept the scope of which is to be determined by the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/408,519 filed on Sep. 21, 2022, and incorporates said provisional application by reference into this document as if fully set out at this point.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63408519 | Sep 2022 | US |
