Patent Application
20250213947
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The disclosure relates to projectile tossing game systems and more particularly pertains to a new projectile tossing game system for playing a projectile tossing game.
The prior art relates to myriad projectile tossing game systems, including those with washers or discs that are tossed into a playing board with three aligned holes extending downwardly into the playing board. However, the prior art fails to describe such a system which uses a guard positioned on a first end of the playing board to guard a frame of the playing board from damage due to impacts from thrown projectiles. The prior art also does not disclose such a system comprising two playing boards that are attached via a tether so that a playing distance equal to the length of the tether is set between the boards by pulling the tether taut during setup of the game system.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a playing board made with a frame and a guard. The frame is elongated between a first end and a second end of the frame and comprises a top wall which defines a plurality of holes. The holes extend through the top wall and are positioned adjacent to the first end of the frame. The guard is coupled to the frame at the first end and comprises a durable material sufficient to protect the frame from impacts.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The pad 34 is coupled to the frame 14 and covers a top side 24 of the top wall 22 of the frame 14. The pad 34 comprises a friction enhancing material and has an upper surface 36 for supporting a user 64. The friction enhancing material facilitates the user 64 in gripping the pad 34 to avoid slipping when standing atop the frame 14. The friction enhancing material comprises rubber but may include silicone or the like. The friction enhancing material may also comprise a textured surface which enhances friction with the pad 34. The pad 34 defines a plurality of openings 38 which each align with an associated hole 26 of the plurality of holes 26 of the top wall 22.
The guard 40 is coupled to the frame 14 at the first end 16. The guard 40 comprises a durable material sufficient to protect the frame 14 from impacts. The durable material comprises a metal but may comprise any material suitable to withstand impacts which would otherwise damage the frame 14. The guard 40 has an L-shape 42, wherein a first portion 44 of the L-shape 42 covers the first end 16 of the frame 14, and a second portion 46 of the L-shape 42 extends below the frame 14.
Each playing board 12 also includes foul line indicia 72 which delineate a standing area 74 upon which the user 64 is intended to stand during the exemplary game. The foul line indicia 72 comprise a line which extends laterally across the pad 34 and is positioned between the plurality of holes 26 in the top wall 22 and the second end 18 of the frame 14. The line may be printed, embossed, engraved, or the like. The foul line indicia 72 indicate that the user 64 may stand between the foul line indicia 72 and the second end 18 of the frame 14. For embodiments without the pad 34, the foul line indicia 72 may be included directly on the top wall 22 or otherwise positioned to indicate the standing area 74. The foul line indicia 72 may also comprise other graphical images, symbols, colors, or the like which indicates the standing area 74.
A tether 48 is coupled to and extends between the pair of playing boards 12. The tether 48 is coupled adjacent to the first end 16 of the frame 14 of each playing board 12 of the pair of playing boards 12. The tether 48 joins the playing boards 12 together and also sets a distance at which the playing boards 12 may be set to play the exemplary game. The tether 48 has a length of 8.0 feet but may have alternative lengths as desired. The tether 48 may comprise a chain, a rope, a cable, or the like.
A plurality of projectiles 62 is provided for use with the playing board 12. Each projectile 62 has a size and shape such that each projectile 62 is insertable alternately through each hole 26 of the plurality of holes 26 of the frame 14 of each playing board 12. Each projectile 62 is of equal size and shape to each other and has a circular disc shape. Each projectile 62 comprises steel but may comprise any suitable material for throwing by the user 64 into a selected one of the playing boards 12. Each projectile 62 has a diameter of about 4.0 inches, while the diameter of each hole 26 in the top wall 22 is at least 4.0 inches. The projectiles 62 and holes 26 may have alternate sizes and shapes in other embodiments provided the projectiles 62 may fit through each hole 26. The exemplary game uses six projectiles 62, with three projectiles 62 being used by each of a pair of teams, but other quantities are contemplated. The friction enhancing material of the pad 34 may also have shock absorbing properties such that the projectiles 62 do not rebound significantly off of the pad 34 when striking the pad 34.
In reference to
A power supply 54 is coupled to the frame 14 and is selectively electrically couplable to the plurality of perimeter light sources 50 and the plurality of hole light sources 52. The power supply 54 comprises a battery 56. A power switch 58 is electrically coupled to the power supply 54, the plurality of perimeter light sources 50, and the plurality of hole light sources 52. The power switch 58 is operable to selectively electrically couple the power supply 54 to the plurality of perimeter light sources 50 and the plurality of hole light sources 52.
The embodiment shown in
The game system 10 illustrated by the Figures generally is used for playing one or more projectile 62-throwing games in which the projectiles 62 are thrown in an attempt to put the projectiles 62 through one or more of the holes 26 in one of the playing boards 12 spaced away from a thrower. In the exemplary game, two teams comprising two players each participate in an indefinite number of rounds after which points are scored depending on how many projectiles 62 are launched into each hole 26 and which team successfully moves the final projectile 62 through each hole 26.
To setup the game, the playing boards 12 are positioned apart from each other with the tether 48 held taut to measure out a playing distance between the playing boards 12 equal to the length of the tether 48. The playing boards 12 are then placed on a ground surface at this distance. A first player of a first team and a first player of a second team stand near a first playing board 12 of the pair of playing boards 12. A second player of the first team and a second player of the second team stand near a second playing board 12 of the pair of playing boards 12. The first players of each team participate in a first round, then the second players of each team participate in a second round. Play continues in successive rounds until a winner is determined.
During each round, each participating player launches three projectiles 62. In the first round, one team is selected to launch three projectiles 62 first, followed by the other team. In the second and later rounds, the team which has the most points launches three projectiles 62 first, followed by the other team. When a player launches the projectiles 62, the player stands on one playing board 12 in the standing area 74 as delineated by the foul line indicia 72 and launches the projectiles 62 in an attempt to land the projectiles 62 through the holes 26 of the other playing board 12. More specifically, the first players of each team stand on the first playing board 12 and launch the projectiles 62 toward the second playing board 12. The second players of each team stand on the second playing board 12 and launch the projectiles 62 toward the first playing board 12.
A projectile 62 launched through the closest hole 66 to the first end 16 of the playing board 12 earns one point, a projectile 62 launched through the second closest hole 68 to the first end 16 of playing board 12 earns two points, and a projectile 62 launched through the third closest hole 70 to the first end 16 of the playing board 12 earns three points. The last player to land a projectile 62 through a given hole 26 during a given round will earn all of the points from all projectiles 62 landed through the given hole 26 during the given round for the team associated with the last player. A projectile 62 knocked into one of the holes 26 by another projectile 62 thrown by a given player is given the same effect as a projectile 62 launched by the given player. For example, if the first player of the first team lands a given projectile 62 atop the playing board 12 and the first player of the second team throws another projectile 62 into the given projectile 62 to knock the given projectile 62 into one hole 26 of the holes 26, the first player of the second team will be considered to have landed the given projectile 62 through the one hole 26.
Points are awarded to each team at the end of each round. As described above, all points earned for each hole 26 are awarded to the team associated with the last player to land a projectile 62 into the hole 26. For example, if three projectiles 62 have been landed through the third closest hole 70 to the first end 16 of the playing board 12 during a round, the player who landed the final projectile 62 through the third closest hole 70 will earn three points for each of the three projectiles 62 for the player's associated team for a total of nine points, regardless of who landed the first and second projectiles 62 in the third closest hole 70. The same process for determining points is followed for the closest hole 66 and the second closest hole 68, except that projectiles 62 landed through the closest hole 66 earn one point each and projectiles 62 landed through the second closest hole 68 earn two points each. Points are not awarded for projectiles 62 thrown by a player who steps out of the standing area 74 across the foul line indicia 72.
A team which has a score of exactly twenty-one points at the end of a round wins the game. If a team has a score greater than twenty-one points at the end of a round, that team's score reverts to the number of points before the round was played. If at the end of a round, one team has a score of at least eleven points and the other team has a score of zero points, the one team wins the game.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
