The present invention relates to tabletop games and, more particularly, to tabletop games with clear sideboards.
Many arcade style tabletop games exists. Some of the more popular arcade style tabletop games simulate hockey, such as for example, table hockey games, which simulates regulation hockey having movable players and goalies, and AIR HOCKEY games, or soccer (or football as it is known outside of the United States). These games typically comprise a tabletop playing field that simulates the field and typically players of the actual game, although AIR HOCKEY games do not have representative players. While the below application refers to table hockey games, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize other table-top games can be substituted, such as, for example, AIR HOCKEY, foosball, tabletop baseball, tabletop football, tabletop basketball, tabletop bowling, and the like.
A table hockey game includes representative forwards and defensemen for the game (typically five men) suspended over a hockey rink simulation by slidable, rotatable rods. The rods generally slide parallel to the length of the playing field to allow movement of the players along a track. The rods rotate to spin the players to provide shooting, passing, and a checking simulation. The goalie rod is slightly different than the general rods in that the rod generally slides perpendicular to the length of the playing surface to simulate the goalie moving side to side across the goalmouth. Some limited parallel movement may be allowable by pushing and pulling the goalie rod. Of course, other games may have different, but still conventional, player arrangements.
While generally enjoyable, the flow of many tabletop games is impaired because low sidewalls allow game pieces to easily exit the playing field. U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,169, titled Table Hockey Apparatus, issued Jun. 25, 2002, to Sutter, shows one sample of a tabletop hockey game with low sidewalls, incorporated herein by reference. To counter this problem, the low sidewalls could be extended, but the solid, opaque nature of the sidewalls would cause large increases manufacturing and shipping costs as well as obstructing the player's view of the playing field.
Alternative to extending the sidewalls, some games use transparent covers or domes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,833, titled Amusement Game, issued Nov. 6, 1984, to Barcelow et al, shows one sample of a domed tabletop hockey game, incorporated herein by reference. The domes provide increase game flow because the game piece is inhibited from leaving the playing field, but the clear, curved dome obstructs the playing field. In particular, the curved dome reflects the overhead or general room lighting making it difficult to view the playing field. The reflection is increased as the overhead or area light increases. Moreover, the dome causes distortion when attempting to view the overhead scoreboard, which simulates authentic NHL hockey rinks.
As one of skill in the art will recognize, the dome could be converted for use with only a limited number of other tabletop games, such as, foosball, tabletop baseball, tabletop basketball, and the like, but would still suffer from the same drawbacks. Also, the dome is not useable with some tabletop games, such as AIR HOCKEY, tabletop bowling, and the like, because the players need access to the playing field.
To attain the advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, tabletop games with clear sideboards are provided. In particular, the tabletop games have substantially straight clear extensions. The extensions inhibit the game piece from leaving the playing field, provide views of the playing field and scoreboards without distortion.
The foregoing and other features, utilities and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles thereof. Like items in the drawings are referred to using the same numerical reference.
The present invention will be explained with reference to
An open space, not specifically shown, exists between playing surface 104 and base 110 to house player control and electronics. The player controls and electronics, which will be described in more detail below as they relate specifically to the present invention, are generally known in the art and will not be further explained herein. Sample player controls and scoring controls are shown in the '833 Patent and the '169 Patent incorporated by reference above. Rods 116 extend from stand sidewalls 112 to allow a player to control representative players 106.
Attached to about playing surface 104 is a clear sideboard extension 118. Sideboard extension 118 is made of a translucent material, such as clear plastic or glass, but the material could be colored as desired. Sideboard extensions are shown, and preferably, allow for completely clear sideboards around playing surface 104, but sideboard extensions 118 could be made in a plurality of sections connected by opaque connectors 120, such as plastic, wood, or the like. For example, the corner sections of the sideboards could be opaque connectors 120. Sideboard extensions can encompass playing surface 104 as shown, or only reside at select positions to allow access to playing surface 104. For example, for AIR HOCKEY, sideboard extensions 118 may only reside along the length L of playing surface 104 and not along the width W of playing surface 104 to allow player access to playing surface 104. Sideboard extensions 118 are substantially perpendicular to playing surface 104 and define opening 122 above playing surface 104. By having opening 122 instead of the conventional dome, the player's vision is less obstructed. Further, opening 120 cannot reflect light similar to conventional domes. Also, sideboard extensions 118 being relatively straight (and/or flat) instead of curved like conventional domes, tends to provide less glare even if playing surface is viewed through sideboard extensions 118. Lastly, sideboard extensions simulate actual hockey rinks. In particular, NHL hockey rinks contain an ice surface similar to playing surface 104 surrounded by lower opaque sideboards, similar to top portion 114. Extending above opaque sideboards, NHL hockey rinks have clear plastic extensions similar to sideboard extensions 118.
Table hockey game 100 further has a superstructure 124 to hold a scoreboard 126. Not shown in
Scoreboard 126 includes a visitor score display 132, a home score display 134, a light 136, and a time display 138. The displays, which may be more, less, or other displays as a matter of design choice, are generally known in the art and controlled by conventional mechanisms known in the art. For example, the score display is incremented when a switch below opening 308 indicates a game piece scored. The switch, display, and electronics to increment the score are generally known in the art and will not be further explained.
As shown in
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to an embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various other changes in the form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This patent application is related to U.S. Design patent application No. 29/186,526, filed Jul. 16, 2003, now Design patent D490,476, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 60/488,074, filed Jul. 16, 2003, incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60488074 | Jul 2003 | US |