GAMES WITH COMPONENT ELEMENTS HAVING A LUMINESCENT SURFACES ENABLING PLAY IN THE DARK

Abstract

At least part of the cooperating parts of a game is made luminescent to glow in the dark or under appropriate lighting conditions. The luminescence may be due to self illuminating internal stored energy (phosphorescent) of the part or alternatively coated with material that is stimulated light of a wavelength out of a normal viable spectrum, such as ultraviolet. All or selected surface areas of parts are made sufficiently visible that a player is able to recognize that parts and correlate movement between the parts required to play the game in the darkness. The invention applies to table tops or portable game boards for such purposes as providing boundary markers to find field of play and other areas and marking game pieces. Alternatively, the game may involve a court or field or a specially provided stand or table to support a playing area which requires the marking of target areas as well as the field of play, and game pieces.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to various games having cooperating parts, at least part of which are made luminescent, whether it be by phosphorescence, so that they are self-illuminating in the dark, or by fluorescence, so that they are stimulated by light, visible or invisible, such as ultraviolet light in low light or apparent darkness. The concept is to make the parts sufficiently visible and recognizable for what they are that the player who is active at the time is able to correlate movement between the cooperating parts required to play the game in the darkness.

NATURE OF THE INVENTION

In practice the invention is applicable to games of various types, and in particular, to three principal categories. Each requires a field of play, which may be an actual field of play or “court” of some sort, all or part of a table top, or a portable game board. Most fields of play are subdivided into specific areas for specific purposes and therefore require, at minimum, luminescent boundary markers to define the field of play and also allow determination of “out of bounds” and boundary markers defining subareas for designated activity or penalty as defined by the rules of the particular game. Such boundaries may be luminescent strips superimposed on, or substituted for lines, strips or stripes which are visible in daylight or artificial light, but not in the dark. Associated with the field of play of some such games may be goals, including three dimensional structures which may be constructed of luminescent material or have portions thereof made of or covered with such materials at least to the extent needed to give players a good indication of size and shape and critical functional openings therein. Equipment for playing such games may also preferably have luminescent marking sufficient to indicate size, shape, orientation and movement of each piece of equipment.

Possibly, the greatest use of the invention is likely to be in game boards, including conventional games, such as checkers and chess, which involve game board areas, which constitute fields of play and subareas thereof and need to have boundary markers which are themselves pieces of luminescent material or are coated with luminescent material in the form of tape or other paint forms of luminescent material able to be adhered to or coated onto desired areas of the field of play so that critical areas of play may be seen in the dark or low light. Such games frequently have at least one separate game piece for each player, and sometimes many. If there are multiple players competing in playing the game at the same time, in addition to being luminescent the game pieces need to be of different color, or bear other identifying symbols which can be seen in the dark. Phosphors similar to those used for color television screens might supply color. In some games, such as chess, the play pieces are of different shapes having significance in the moves they can make and other aspects of the game. In such case, mere identification of play piece is not enough so that the luminescent areas need to be large enough and sufficiently distributed over the surface to identify the shape of each piece.

Other forms of games which may be improved by the invention, include games providing all or part of a table top, such as ping pong and pool or billiards. Such games require the area of play to be made visible in the dark in a similar way, such as employing luminous boundary stripes around the area of play, particularly in games like ping pong that designate subareas of the table for use in serving, luminous lines to identify those service areas, or other designated are necessary. Also the top of the net and probably the bottom should be luminescent. The net could be fabricated with luminescent ribbons along its bottom and top and their boundaries can be painted with luminescent paint. In such games a single ball is the game piece, and it must be luminescent, at least over enough of the surface to be visible from any direction. Pool requires many balls, but since the balls are initially stationary and only one is struck at a time to initiate movement, each ball simply requires enough luminescent area to show its location, size and shape. In some cases just the numbering may need to be luminescent; but with enough phosphor or other coloring in the luminescent coating it may be possible to produces traditional ball colors in traditional configurations that glow to make the game more attractive.

Finally, it is possible to apply the invention to field or court games, but playing such games in the dark usually is not feasible because good visibility is such an important factor where movements at high speed is required and body contact is permitted under the rules and commonplace in play. On the other hand, some of the skills can be practiced by a single player alone. For example, a single person can derive exercise and acquire greater skill by practice on a partial basketball court which has full court dimensions, the bounds of which are marked off by luminescent tape borders simulating out of bounds boundaries, foul shot markers and a 3 point circle, and other marks useful in marking actual distances for shots. In many cases only one end of the court needs to be marked and parts or all of some marking can be omitted. The basketball ball is now the game piece that must be marked to show its size and shape by sufficient coating of the ball with luminescent paint or other coating or providing such marks to convey the same information. The backboard will also need to be painted with luminescent paint or have its edges marked with luminescent tape so that the dimensions of the board can be understood as well as the location determined. The hoop of the basket will also need to be marked to identify its position on the backboard. While other court and field sports may have the playing field marked, the game piece coated or marked and goals and other three-dimensional accessory or equipment marked in such a way that size orientation and location of any scoring area is defined, safety may dictate a highly modified form of use from that in the normal game played in lighted areas. The effort and small expense of making necessary additions or changes may seem daunting to some. However, having coated balls on hand, and goal marking in place, as well as floodlights or other devices for producing the proper wave length energy radiation to activate the luminescent material employed, all installed and connected to batteries or another alternative power source by switches and ready to be used when needed much reduces the activity required when the lights go out to taping selected marking with luminescent tape. That may need to be done using flashlights which could be stored with the tape and luminescent balls and any tools that allow rolling the tape into place.

It seems likely that board games can be sold in the conventional way, perhaps with an ultraviolet light source to stimulate light of coating and solid pieces of material on which they work to produce luminescence. On the other hand, kits can be assembled and sold for court and field uses for converting all or part of visible light game venues to luminescent facilities, again with ultraviolet or similar limited visibility light sources to stimulate the desired effects. Such kits have never been suggested to the inventor's knowledge and are being claimed as part of her invention. Such kits need to contain at minimum pressure applied adhesive tape which has a luminescent surface at least on the side opposite the adhesive and a container of luminescent paint sensitive to wave energy of the same wave lengths that energize luminescent material on the tape for coating critical goal area and boundaries of the structure and any other obstacle that the purchaser deems dangerous. Instructions should, of course, accompany the kit to explain application of it materials and their use, including the stimulating energy source needed to illuminate their luminescent materials and limitations on size and location of the sources relative to the field of the game. Some kits may include illumination sources and alternative power sources and their electrical connection or the connection with instruction as to what batteries or other power source is required. Optionally some kits may include a tool or equipment for application of tape and/or paint. Coated balls or other game pieces normally would not be included in kits because more selectivity by the players or teams is required and various competitive game pieces, presumably from the sources of conventional equipment of the same type may be offered from which to select.

More specifically, the present invention involves improvement of conventional game devices modified for use in what appears to be very low lighting or essentially dark conditions. The game then comprises a playing surface, selected areas of which are made luminescent to identify areas of play. At least one playing piece used with the playing surface has at least some surface area which is made luminous to permit location of the piece and allow its movement relative to the playing surface. The game in some forms may have a plurality of game pieces, at least one game piece for each player and that player's piece being of different color of luminescent material from that of each others' pieces. Where the game requires more than one piece per player, all of each player's pieces are the same color, different from that of each other. In some cases, such as chess, the shape of various pieces may be different from one another and the shape and size can be indicated by the luminescent markings on it.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one application of the present invention improvement applied to the board game: checkers;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another application of the present invention improvement applied to another board game: chess;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from above looking down on a corner of a pool table top, with balls and a cue, to all of which improvements of the present invention have been applied; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view from above looking down at one end of a basketball court with backboard and hoop basket goal to all of which improvements of the present invention have been applied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

As explained above, the present invention is directed to various types of games in which the field of play, whether it be a game board or a court or table, can be defined by delineating boundaries of the field of play and limited by position relative to the field of play and size of area defined by the rules of the particular game. According to the present invention boundaries and other defining markings are supplied by luminescent means which enable those markings to be seen in the dark or low light and therefore played without daylight or conventional lighting. Game pieces with which the game is played are also marked in ways that, at a minimum, enable their location to be seen and known so that they can be moved relative to the field of play. In some situations luminous marking must be such that the shape and size of the piece are readily discernable as well. If the game involves throwing the game piece, such as a basketball, the target area or goal and particularly opening thereof to receive the piece, whereby scoring is achieved, must also be luminously marked. In some case whole areas may be made luminous, not just the borders of areas on a game board, or the whole game piece instead of limited markings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show embodiments of the invention as applied to checkers and chess, respectively. In both games, the game board may take many forms physically, but both games are played on the same checkerboard surface pattern, generally designated 10 in FIGS. 1 and 10′ in FIG. 2. Preferably, custom checkerboards have had a planar square configuration made of 64 same size square player game piece positions, constituting subareas of the checkerboard. The player piece positions are arranged in a matrix of eight contiguous columns and eight contiguous rows, preferably completely filling and defining the checkerboard. Adjacent square player piece positions 12 and 14 in FIG. 1 and 12′ and 14′ in FIG. 2. alternate in employing two colors, classically black and red. If these colors are used, the red would be easier to make luminescent from a more readily available red phosphorescent materials, but the colors need not be conventional; and both colors may be made luminescent if different luminescent colored materials are selected. The luminescent area 12 or 12′ may be printed or painted with luminescent paint or ink, or they may be composed of luminescent material such as a suitable resinous material adhered to board surface, or inlaid into the board 10 or 10′. If only one color of luminescent material is used, the coated squares will be visible in the dark game conditions because they have been prepared to glow under game lighting, such as ultraviolet, selected for that display. The other squares will be clearly defined also by the bounding luminescent squares so as to be just as easily accessible for placement of game pieces during play. Any suitable material which has the required luminescent properties and can be prepared as a coating, molded itself or included in some other moldable material which can be formed into game pieces.

If desired, a luminescent border may be provided of similar materials as those used in the player piece positions around the actual checkerboard square or spaced as a frame from the edge of the playing board; but such decorative features are purely optional because the checkerboard luminescence will provide all guidance needed for those placing pieces on selected piece positions during actual playing of the game in the dark.

The games pieces themselves are preferably of conventional shape, e.g., conventional short cylindrical form as shown in FIG. 1, and, if desired, may be variously decorated as desired, In checkers, as suggested in FIG. 1 by numbering, game pieces 16a for one player are of one color and game pieces 16b for the other player are of another color, as in conventional checkers except that the pieces must either be made of luminescent material themselves, or have an insert of such material, or be painted or otherwise marked with luminescent paint. Such marking allows individual pieces to be seen and identified by the different colors as belonging one player or the other. The game in all other respects is played like the familiar checkers game except that it may be played in the dark.

A chess board having game pieces in place is shown in FIG. 2. The chess board is the same as a checkerboard so that all things said about the checkerboard in connection with FIG. 1 are applicable to the board of FIG. 2. Like checkers the game may come in various sizes and the board may be semi-permanent or portable. If portable, in either case, making it of lightweight material but still of material which is at least semi-rigid and foldable may be preferable and should not be harmful to the modified board. Since the board is essentially the same the number designators used on the board parts in FIG. 1 are repeated in FIG. 2 with the addition of primes thereto.

The game pieces, or chessmen may be made in as many forms as they appear in with present chess sets. Whichever way they are formed, they will need to marked in much the same way as checkers game pieces, except for the further complication that there is more than one type of piece. Therefore, in the dark, the marking is needed not only to locate the piece but to identify whether it is a pawn 18a or 18b, rook 20a or 20b, knight 22a or 22b, bishop 24a or 24b, queen 26a or 26b or king 28a or 26b, each of which must be separately identified in order to apply whatever inherent moves are attributed to that piece. If the piece is entirely coated or molded of solid material that includes a source of translucence, there is no problem. However, while only marking with the color of the player is sufficient for checkers, with chess men the marking must show enough of the shape to identify which specific piece is where on the board. It is also desirable to show the dimensions of each piece to avoid collisions. Clearly marking to show size and shape will therefore facilitate the play in the dark.

The present invention applies to board games of all types which people might enjoy playing in the dark or under controlled low or special lighting conditions. Traditional games played with board such as Monopoly®, Scrabble®, UNO®, and Trouble® are a small representative list of games which may use the present invention.

The present invention is also useful in active competitive table top games as represented herein by pool. FIG. 3 shows one corner of a pool table 20, typically supported by six substantial legs 22 at the corners and midway along the length of the sides of a rectangular table 28 supporting a heavy table top, generally designated 24, framed at its edge by a generally rectangular wall 26 having an inside surface 26a which slopes outwardly as it extends downwardly toward a flat level playing surface 28. The walls 26a are lined with a flat, resilient bumper strip which is covered by a felt cloth extending over the flat horizontal top 26b of the walls at the top and meeting a similar cloth covering over the entire horizontal flat playing surface 28a. The cloth is frequently, but not invariably, green. Spherical balls 30 and 32 are used to play various games moving over the bottom and impacting the bumper wall and other balls. The cue ball 30 is normally white and driven by a cue 34, a long tapered stick terminating in a cushioned tip 34a which impacts the cue ball 30 by moving the cue along its axial line into the cue ball 30 driving it normally in the direction of alignment of the cue. Most pool games use the cue ball to strike another ball 32 on the table top at a selected point to transfer its inertia to the other ball and drive the other ball toward and into one of the pockets 36 either directly or after bouncing off one of the side walls. The pockets are positioned in each of the four corners and the middle of each of the longer side walls 26 where the walls 26c are rounded and a conforming rounded hole 27 is provided through the top into the pocket 36 to receive any ball dropping through the hole. The pocket may be a local collection means to catch balls, frequently in the form of a bag made of a strong coarse net and attached at its open top to the table beneath the opening in the top, or a redirection means back to a storage and retrieval bin.

By placing luminescent stripes 38 and 40 by paint or adhesive luminescent tape or permanently inserting or inlaying strips of molded luminescent material into grooves along the top 26b and/or the bumper faces 26a of the sidewalls 26. The bounds of the field of play may be defined and illuminated for play in low light or darkness as with the games of FIGS. 1 and 2. Both luminescent strips 38 and 40 are preferably continued around the curved areas above each of the pockets to mark their locations. Pocket hole locations are further identified by providing curved luminescent border stripes 42 of the same type around the front of the holes.

The pool ball must be luminescent just as the game pieces need to be. The cue ball probably should be completely luminescent and traditionally white. Some choice is provided with other balls by using the traditional colors and marking. The whole ball through the 8 ball may then be the appropriate solid color in luminescent coating, unless a suitable colored phosphor to be mixed with ball material when casting can be made to work. The numbers on the ball in such case can be in non-luminescent circles with the numbers being luminescent. The eight ball can be left traditional black but have sufficient repetition of the FIG. 8 in luminescent coating to show its size and shape. Balls numbered higher than 8 may have a standard colored band for each number which can be done in luminescent coating material as ball is 32 seen in FIG. 3. The cue may also be made visible by adding a band 34b around the cue just before the tip, and might be extended onto the tip 34a and at least a lengthwise stripe 34d the length of the cue, both of luminescent material along the cue.

Other table games such as ping pong simply coat the marks already on the table top with a luminescent material and put luminescent strips along the bottom and the top of the net on both sides. The ball also must be luminescent. The paddles can be seen in the dark by paint or tape of luminescent material being applied to the edges to allow each player to see where each paddle is relative to the ball.

Other table and court games, depending on size and frequency of use, etc., may well be better managed by on the site taping with luminescent adhesive tape at the time of use to show boundaries of the court and the entire game piece whether a ball or puck might be made available already coated with luminescent surface coating in most cases. The present invention claims kits for marking courts and apparatus with luminescent tape and paint. Such kits might include luminescent tape for marking boundaries for out of bounds functions and other subareas for penalty shots and other functions necessitated by the rules or nature of the particular game. The kit might also include lighting with appropriate “lights” of invisible wave length for energizing the specific type of luminescent materials being employed. Supports for installing the light fixture and batteries or other source of power for the “lights”. Depending on the use the kit could include game pieces with luminescent coating in place, such as balls, pucks, shuttle cocks, etc., and in some cases it might include needed equipment for play such as racquets, bats, mallets already coated with luminescent material to make them useful to be seen in their particular game play. Such comprehensive kits should include game rules and instructions about setting up.

FIG. 4 shows part of a basketball court. Basketball and other contact or semi-contact sports should not be played in the dark for safety reasons, but non-contact practice could well be done. In such case, only one end of the basketball court or even part of it might be used and or special work out area, involving less than a full court might well suffice. Depending on what was being done only the back board 50 and hoop 52, with perhaps a strip or two to mark the support stand 54 might suffice. Since many basketball courts are indoors, the edge 50a of the backboard and a rectangle 50b around the basket might be pre-coated with luminescent paint. The same is true of the hoop 52. It might be worthwhile to paint at least the middle of the backboard stand 54 in areas at eye level and below to avoid collisions in the dark. In a bare bone practice facility, taping could be limited to the foul line 56 and some of the out of bounds line and the 3 point circle, and that could be decided for individual players and teams using the facility. In some cases the use could not justify painting lines on the floor of a heavily used facility which is normally well lit, so that in such case luminescent tape to cover out of bound lines in selected places could be determined, and tape applied for the limited time needed. Probably many consumers would not want to buy balls and sports equipment preferring instead to select such items on a personal individual basis but in some cases the savings offered by buying a comprehensive kit of all that is needed might be worthwhile.

But of course to be useful, the areas coated with luminescent material have to be irradiated by radiant energy similar to visible light but at a frequency outside of the visible light spectrum. The luminescent material and the source of illumination have to be chosen together such that the luminescent material will be energized when illuminated by the selected source of illumination. More specifically, it must respond to the wave length of radiation to which it is exposed to be energized so that it “lights up” and is visible. There are commercial light bulbs and flood-lights in the essentially invisible ultra violet range of frequencies. There are also commercially available luminescent materials which respond to such light so that for many applications one need not look very far for suitable lights and materials to be adapted for coating whether applied by brush or other manual means. Finding support may be the more difficult part of any installation. Since a premise of most uses of the invention is lack of power, existing electrical fixtures will not be of use. Systematic preparation of the facility required for the alternate use, and it probably requires an alternate source of power, which may be batteries. If an alternate power supply does not exist, one must be supplied and batteries come in such variety that some matching of batteries to the illumination source is required in such preparation. Supports for each illumination source 62 and its power source will probably have to be provided and/or included in a kit. To provide appropriate illumination will require engineering design and calculation in many cases to obtain lighting at a satisfactory level. Part of this design has to do with positioning the source of illumination at the proper distance, aimed in the proper direction, and support at that positioning will have to be designed for the facility to avoid blocking seating or obscuring view of people in the seating. It may involve constructing platforms or other supports. FIG. 4. does not show seating or any structure beyond the court but if such an area is provided close enough to the court side, platforms for illumination components may be supported on building structure above the seating.

Alternatively the lighting placement may be planned at a general or specified distance, if the occasion is informal and uncrowded, clamp on-lamp holders may be fixed, for example, to chair backs placed in the best available approximation of where it should be and batteries placed beside it. Movable lampstands 62a as shown in the FIG. 4 including lampstands, battery holders and connections are another possibility but also require pre-planning and directions to the setup personnel. Methods of preparing and planning in advance are novel problems subject to claiming.

Because the possibilities are many in FIG. 4 more than a single source of illuminations 62 is to represent a minimum number directed toward the court from different angles and without regard to specific ways of placing and suppling the illumination.

Claims

1. A game to be played in the dark or under a source of essentially invisible electromagnetic energy or controlled or limited light comprising, a playing surface, selected areas of which are made luminescent to identify areas of play,at least one game piece having at least some surface area of which is made luminescent to permit location of the piece and allow its movement relative to the playing surface by a player.

2. The game of claim 1 in which a plurality of game pieces are provided, pieces for each player having its area of luminescence of different color from that of other players to designate each player's piece.

3. The game of claim 2 in which each player requires more than one game piece, but each piece of each player employs the same luminescence color designation different from that of other players.

4. The game of claim 3 is checkers, wherein the game board has a generally square matrix having 8 columns and 8 rows of 8 contiguous square boxes filing the entire game board and providing the matrix with discrete area for placing game pieces in which opposing players have the same number of multiple game pieces of the same configuration but different luminescent color marking for each player.

5. The game of claim 3 in which the shapes and number of each player's multiple game pieces are the same and their luminescent areas are positioned to enable the players to identify the shape and size of each piece in order to recognize the type of piece and its significance as the well as the player it represents.

6. The game of claim 5 in which the shapes and numbers of two similar sets of game pieces enable players to recognize the game pieces as chessmen for a chess game.

7. The game of claim 1 in which the game involves putting a game piece in motion relative to and guiding it into or within specific areas of play defined by luminescent boundaries on the playing surface.

8. The game of claim 7 in which the playing piece is a generally spherical ball coated over a sufficient area of its surface so that it can be recognized as a ball of a specific size.

9. The game of claim 8 in which a plurality of balls are used and provided with luminescent surface marking which enables size and shape identification as well as providing a distinct identity for each ball.

10. The game of claim 9 in which the balls are confined within a table top framing wall enclosing a planar horizontal playing surface, the inside surface of which is resilient to provide rebound of any ball that strikes it, and at least one of the upper wall surface near the edge of the generally horizontal top of the framing wall or the resilient inside wall are provided with a luminescent surface to indicate the edge of the wall around the table and a ball movement piece is provided to initiate motion of a ball on the planar surface by striking the ball so that the ball will be directed into another ball or the resilient inside surface to begin play.

11. The game of claim 10 in which the framing wall is rectangular in shape and provided with openings through the planar playing surface at the corners and middle of the longer sides of the wall which are provided with rounded recesses to conform to the openings and means beneath the playing surface to collect and retain balls which are driven into a recess in the wall and drop into its hole, and the ball movement piece is a straight cue stick having a cushioned tip at one end to drive the ball into motion along the playing surface usually by impact of the tip on the ball using movement generally along the axis of the cue.

12. The game of claim 1 wherein the playing surface is an already existing court marked with out of bounds lines and other lines for such activities as foul shooting, in which group activity without full lighting is not advisable, but individual practice is practical wherein luminescent coating is applied over the normally used lines, but electively much less than all of them and only the part of the court and those features to be used in the dark where individual or limited practice might be undertaken, goal apparatus coated to identify the goal scoring opening and bounds of supporting apparatus to avoid collisions as well as any part considered to be effectively in play in efforts to score, and a game piece at least sufficiently coated that in all positions it might assume during play it would sufficiently visible that its size and shape could be identified.

13. The game of claim 12 in which the game piece is a basketball and goal is a basketball hoop which is coated with luminescent material with a backboard supporting the hoop and at a minimum having at least an outer border of the board coated to show its size and the court has marked by luminescent material coating as much of the out of bounds lines, as deemed desirable as well as at least a portion of the foul line to show where a foul shooter should stand.

14. A method of preparing the court area of a court type game for play in the dark using a light source that for practical purposes is essentially invisible to the human eye, comprising, determining the amount, size and location of illuminating sources of a wave length to excite selected luminescent material to be used,determining the amount of power required for such lighting and electing appropriate alternative power sources which are appropriate for this application,determining where to install and installing at least supports for the illuminating sources and any required connection to the appropriate alternative power in order to be in an advanced form of readiness sufficient to assure operability of the system in time of need,applying luminescent paint of an appropriate type responsive to the illuminating source at least at the goal to identify the size and orientation of the opening, and obtaining removable tape having a coating of appropriate luminescent material responsive to the illuminating sources which can be applied over selected out of bounds line and such other markers visible in normally lighting at least in those parts deemed necessary to be seen in the dark for the user's purposes, at a time deemed appropriate.

15. The method of claim 14 where the court is a basketball court and the hoop and the backboard are pre-painted before use with luminescent paint energized to visability in the dark by the wave length of the light illuminating sources employed so that enough of the hoop as needed to locate the goal opening and at least a framing border at the edges of the face of the backboard to identify its size will be illuminated.

16. A kit for converting a limited court area to a practice area for use in the dark comprising, illuminating sources for generating a wave length of illumination that is essentially invisible, fixtures for supporting the sources of illumination and their electrical connections to alternate power supplies and the supplies themselves to the extent required in position to illuminate the portion of the court to be used in the dark, including mechanical support means to engage existing, or to be fabricated, support structure,a supply of luminescent paint at least sufficient to apply one coat to an estimated maximum painted area to identify goal opening, show boundaries of goal related structure and identify hazardous structure for supporting goal structure, anda supply of rolls of pressure applied adhesive tape with luminescent coating stimulated by the wave length of the illumination.

17. A kit using ultra violet light to illuminate an otherwise dark court comprising, clamp on lighting fixtures for ultra violet lights and ultra violet flood lights, at least one battery pack connectable to one or more light fixtures for powering the ultra violet lights,ultra violet responsive luminescent paint to paint structure to identify goal structure including goal openings, structural boundaries and dangerous supports nearby,pressure applied tape coated with ultra violet responsive luminescent material for application to the court to show out of bounds and other positions significant to the game, and instruction for installation, anduse of the materials in the kit.