Tire Ring Game and Method of Use

Abstract

A ring toss game such as played on a lawn or at the beach which can be easily moved or carried to a new location, is disclosed. The rings used in the ring game are made from recycled material, such as used tire sidewall segments produced through a removal and an inversion process to provide the needed physical characteristics, such as rigidity and aeronautic stability, whereby the tire ring segments can be adequately tossed across a playing field in attempts to score points by landing the inverted tire segments around a scoring post. The ring toss game also includes additional novel characteristics, such as game rules and scoring posts made from recycled material, and may additionally be provided in a carrying container which collectively move all the parts of the game in a packaged fashion to store or relocate the game.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a segment ring toss game and method of use, generally in the field of beach, lawn, or open area games and recreation.

Background

In previous years and in current times alike, many people in the US and around the world enjoy lawn games as a pastime leading to fun, laughter, meeting new people and the like. There are such lawn games that offer such experiences to users, but a lawn game offering this along with the use of recyclable materials to develop the game pieces such as described herein does not exist.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This summary is an introduction of concepts which are further discussed in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Games played outside include lawn and beach games such as badminton, horseshoes, volley ball, and bean bag toss and similar. These games are routinely played by many people throughout the United States and around the world. These games and activities are played by many people at barbeques, the beach, social events, in backyards and provide a great source of entertainment for people of all ages. These games and activities provide some physical exercise as well as mental stimulation and can be a great way for various groups of people to have fun, spend time with others and to meet new people.

Also relevant to this invention, is the difficulty and expense to find new uses and/or dispose of materials such as used tires and used fence or fencing components. Tires for example, are difficult and expensive to dispose of in landfills as well as to be thermally destroyed based on their physical structure and materials of construction. This present invention, illustrated by the embodiment contained herein, creates a tire segment ring toss game using at least one tire ring segment and scoring post which may be constructed from recycled materials such as used tires and fencing components. This reuse helps repurpose and recycle used tires and fencing components that may otherwise likely be landfilled. Alternately, other materials could be used to construct the rings or other components of the ring toss game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals identify similar or identical elements.

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of the outer convex portion of an inverted, ready for use tire sidewall ring segment according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1A shows a plan view of a tire and a cutting line, such as a used tire, that the is used to manufacture a tire ring segment as well as a perspective view illustrating a cutting line/plane shown in perspective to remove a sidewall from the tire.

FIG. 1B shows elevation, plan, side and perspective views of an undeveloped tire ring segment, cut from a tire, such as the tire of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1C shows an enlarged perspective view of an undeveloped tire ring segment, cut from a tire, such as the tire of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1D shows an enlarged cutaway and profile view of an undeveloped tire ring segment, cut from a tire, such as the tire of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1D shows an enlarged cutaway and profile view of an undeveloped tire ring segment, cut from a tire, such as the tire of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1E shows an enlarged cross sectional view of an undeveloped tire ring segment, cut from a tire, such as the tire of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2—shows an enlarged cross sectional view of an inverted, ready for use in a ring toss game tire ring segment, in an exemplary embodiment of the current invention as contained herein.

FIG. 3—shows a side view of an inverted, ready for use tire ring segment according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4—shows a perspective view of an inverted, ready for use tire ring segment according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5—shows an illustration of two teams, playing a tire ring toss game, where one team player has just tossed an inverted tire ring segment towards their scoring post at the other end of a playing field.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the drawings, like numerals indicate like elements throughout. Certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to be taken as a limitation on the present invention. The terminology includes the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and words of similar import. The embodiments illustrated below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. These embodiments are chosen and described to best explain the principle of the invention and its application and practical use and to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention.

Reference herein to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments necessarily mutually exclusive of other embodiments. The same applies to the term “implementation.”

As used in this application, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.

Additionally, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, each numerical value and range should be interpreted as being approximate as if the word “about” or “approximately” preceded the value of the value or range.

The use of figure numbers and/or figure reference labels in the claims is intended to identify one or more possible embodiments of the claimed subject matter in order to facilitate the interpretation of the claims. Such use is not to be construed as necessarily limiting the scope of those claims to the embodiments shown in the corresponding figures.

It should be understood that the steps of the exemplary methods set forth herein are not necessarily required to be performed in the order described, and the order of the steps of such methods should be understood to be merely exemplary. Likewise, additional steps may be included in such methods, and certain steps may be omitted or combined, in methods consistent with various embodiments of the present invention.

Although the elements in the following method claims, if any, are recited in a particular sequence with corresponding labeling, unless the claim recitations otherwise imply a particular sequence for implementing some or all of those elements, those elements are not necessarily intended to be limited to being implemented in that particular sequence.

Also for purposes of this description, the terms “couple,” “coupling,” “coupled,” “connected,” “connecting,” “connecting mechanism”, “attached”, “secured”, “anchored” or “connected” refer to any manner known in the art or later developed in which energy is allowed to be transferred between two or more elements, and the interposition of one or more additional elements is contemplated, although not required. Conversely, the terms “directly coupled,” “directly connected,” etc., imply the absence of such additional elements.

Additionally, for purposes of this description, and in relation to any tire segment, the terms “segment,” “slice,” “wedge,” “portion,” “piece,” “wafer”, “ring,” “shaving,” “sliver,” “division”, “carving,” “portion,” “slab,” “chunk” are used to describe a tire segment at described in a first exemplary embodiment and may be used interchangeably.

Additionally, for purposes of this description, and in relation to any tire segment ring toss game, the terms “post,” “scoring post,” “pin,” “pole,” “tube,” are used to describe a tire segment ring toss scoring post a player attempts to throw an inverted tire ring segment onto and/or unto.

For further additional purposes of this description, and as it relates to a tire segment ring toss game, the terms “inversion,” “reversing,” “flipping,” “inverting,” “inside out,” “outside in” all refer to the processing of undeveloped tire segments to become inverted tire segments via an inversion process as described herein.

For further additional purposes of this description “concave” is rounded inward or hollowed out and “convex” is rounded outward, such as in a curved fashion.

For further additional purposes, any of the following terms may be used interchangeably for meaning, including the term “toss,” “throw,” “thrown,” others not mentioned here.

For further additional purposes, parallel as contained herein, may by be defined as at least one of two lines and two planes that do not intersect.

In one exemplary embodiment, the present invention is a segment ring toss game that can be played anywhere, but is generally played outdoors. As an example, the ring segment may be a tire segment manufactured from a tire, such as at least one used tire. The inverted tire ring segment of apparatus 100, shown as inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Referring to the FIG. 1, a plan view of the convex side of an inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100, according to a first exemplary embodiment is shown. Inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100, is comprised of outer diameter 5, inner diameter 10, axis 35, convex surface 15 and texture 20. The tire segment, such as inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100, is made by cutting a segment from a tire, such as used or new tire from a vehicle, as described herein.

Referring FIG. 1A showing tire 2, a whole tire, comprised of sidewall 3, sidewall portion 8, inner diameter 10, tire tread area 14 and cutting plane 6 are shown to illustrate the starting point of the manufacturing of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 of FIGS. 1, 1E, 3, 4 and 5. First, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, undeveloped tire ring segment 7 is created by cutting a segment from tire 2 along a cut area, such as along cutting plane 1 between tire tread area 14 and inner diameter 10. In this exemplary embodiment, inner diameter 10 may also represent at least one portion of a tire rim bead, such as where the tire would mate with the rim of a wheel.

Cutting plane 6 of FIG. 1A, indicated by at least one of a cutting line and cutting plane, will develop surface 4, edge 9, and inner surface 15 of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E once undeveloped tire segment 7 is one of cut and separated from tire 2. Sidewall 3, sidewall portion 8, inner diameter 10 of tire 2 of FIG. 1A remain surface 3, sidewall portion 8 and inner diameter 10 of undeveloped tire segment 7 of FIG. 1B. Axis 35 of FIG. 1B represents an axis, such as a center axis or similar, of undeveloped tire segment 7. A tire sidewall may be defined as at least one portion of the sidewall of a tire.

Referring FIG. 1B, inner surface 15 is concave on undeveloped tire segment 7 and shown in perspective view, illustrating the concave inside portion of undeveloped tire segment 7 by hatch marks. Alternately, FIG. 1C shows the outer, convex portion of undeveloped tire segment 7 in perspective, such as the convex surface provided by sidewall 3.

Referring FIGS. 1D and 1E, a perspective and cutaway view of undeveloped tire segment 7 is shown with convex sidewall 3, sidewall portion 8, edge 9, surface 4, inner surface 15 and edge 5, as well as the illustration of force application to areas of undeveloped tire segment 7 needed to transform undeveloped tire segment 7 into inverted tire segment 100 of FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. This application of force as shown in FIG. 1D at the cutaway view locations is applied to all necessary portions of undeveloped tire segment 7 to cause inversion, such as force application at least one of fully around the diameter and perimeter of undeveloped tire ring segment 7, such as 360 degrees, to create completely inverted tire segment 100 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Specifically, undeveloped tire ring segment 7 is forcibly inverted such that the original convex portions of undeveloped tire segment 7, such as sidewall 3, sidewall portion 8, edge 9 of FIG. 1E, are transformed into concave configurations of inverted tire ring segment 100 as shown in FIG. 2. This inversion process also transforms surface 15 and edge 5, originally provided on concave portions of undeveloped tire segment of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E, to become convex portions of inverted tire segment 100 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

This inversion process may be comprised of at least one of a reversing process, inverting process, force application, turning inside out, inverting, flipping, others not mentioned here, regarding undeveloped tire ring segment 7 as described. Referring FIG. 1D, the inversion process may be completed by the application of at least one of force, compression, tension, moment, and torsion to at least one of sidewall 3, sidewall portion 8, surface 4, edge 5, edge 9, edge 12, edge 13, inner diameter 10, surface 15, other portions of undeveloped tire segment 7 not mentioned here, of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E.

For illustration, texture 20, such as the hatching shown in FIGS. 1, 1B, 1D, 3 and 4 provides visual tracking of surface 15 throughout the manufacture of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 including through the inversion transition of undeveloped tire segment 7 into inverted tire segment 100 as described herein. Additionally, any surface texture of at least one of undeveloped tire segment 7 and inverted tire segment 100 of FIGS. 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 2, 3, 4 and 5 may be at least one of one portion of the original tire surface texture that existed on the any portion of tire 2 of FIG. 1A, and any texture at least one of applied and developed thereunto to any surface of inverted tire segment apparatus 100.

Inverted tire segment apparatus 100 may be at least one of sealed, encapsulated, coated, painted, painted with marine paint, others not mentioned here to provide at least one of increased longevity or life span, increased rigidity, sealing for material and/or environmental purpose, sealing for safety purpose, others reasons not mentioned here regarding inverted tire segment apparatus 100. The texture of any wall of inverted tire segment 100, as well as the rigidity and general size of tire ring segment apparatus 100 may contribute important aspects of the apparatus relating to the grip of a player thereupon tire ring segment apparatus 100 of the ring toss game, such as shown in FIG. 5.

This inversion process to form inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 from undeveloped tire ring segment 7, causes inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 to develop increased rigidity compared with undeveloped tire ring segment 7, by the imparting of at least one of force, prestress, prestressed condition, elongation, compaction, surface tension, interstitial force or tension, stress into inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100. A force as it relates to this increased rigidity may include tension, surface tension, compression, torsion, moment, others not mentioned here.

This increased rigidity of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 provides at least one improvement regarding throwing, tossing, aeronautical stability, improved flight path, trajectory, trajectory expectations, other improvements not mentioned here relevant to inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100. This improved rigidity of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 is the product of at least one force and tension of at least one of imparted, applied and created during the inversion and forming process as described herein. As an illustration, at least one of surface 15, outer diameter 5, inner diameter 10, texture 20, of FIG. 1, and surface 3 and 8 of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, may develop at least one change in at least one of tension, compression, surface tension, an internal force, an interstitial force, a membrane force, tension loading, flexural rigidity, elasticity, other force related characteristics not mentioned here, such as applied during the inversion process.

As an example of the current embodiment, the tires used to make the inverted tire segment 100s may be from at least one of an automobile tire, a used tire, a recycled tire, a truck tire, a trailer tire, a motorcycle tire, a vehicle tire, others not mentioned here. Other tire materials may include at least one of recycled material, wood, polymer, synthetic polymer, plastic, metal, foam, copolymer, others not mentioned here.

An example of the tire segment cutting process, to create the undeveloped tire ring segment 7 for later inversion into inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100, is performed by at least one of cutting, bifurcating, slicing, fractionating, removing, a portion of tire 2 as shown in FIG. 1A.

In this exemplary embodiment, the width of at least one of undeveloped tire segment ring 7 and inverted tire ring segment 100 may be in the approximate range of 0.5 inch to 2 inch, though other sizes are understood. The current embodiment, for illustrative purposes, may provide an inverted tire segment apparatus 100 width of approximately 1.5 inch. The width as described for tire segment apparatus 100 may be defined as distance from the outer most portion/edge of inverted tire segment apparatus 100 to the bottom most portion/edge of inverted tire segment apparatus 100, such as the distance from edge 5 to inner diameter 10, from the plane that inner diameter 10 resides upon to the plane that outer diameter 5 resides upon, a similar diagonal measurement, others not mentioned here. As an example, the width of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 may be between 1 and 3 inches.

As an example for the current exemplary embodiment size, at least one of outer diameter 5 and inner diameter 10 may each have a diameter between 12 and 24 inches, though additional sizes are contemplated.

In FIG. 3, a side view of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 is shown with outer diameter 5, inner diameter 10, axis 35, sidewall top 25, and sidewall bottom 30. The thickness of inverted tire segment apparatus 100 may be defined as the difference between inner diameter 10 and outer diameter 5, such as the difference between the respective radii of outer diameter 10 and inner diameter 5. The thickness and/or depth of inverted tire segment apparatus 100 may be in the approximate range of ¾″ to 4.″

In FIG. 4, a perspective view of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 is shown according to a first exemplary embodiment. Inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 is comprised of outer diameter 5, inner diameter 10, concave surface 3, axis 35, convex surface 15 and textured surface 20 as described herein, developed through the cutting and inversion process as described herein. As an example, axis 35 of FIG. 2, illustrates an axis whereby at least one portion of the inversion process may have occurred around or about, including at least one of a pivoting around axis 35, a pivoting generally around axis 35, motion around axis 35, and a motion generally occurring around any periphery of axis 35 during the inversion process to develop inverted tire segment ring apparatus 100.

Referring FIG. 5, a view of Apparatus 200, a tire ring segment game being played according to a first exemplary embodiment is shown. Apparatus 200 is comprised of at least one inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100, scoring post 57, scoring post 56, field 65, field distance 60, team 52, team 50, post insertion 59, endzone area 62, endzone area 61, and player's hand 51.

In the ring toss game, as an example, a user or player may place surface 15 of inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100, a convex surface, of FIG. 4 generally in contact with at least one portion of his or her palm for tossing.

Regarding Apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 5, a player of team 50 has just thrown an inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 into the air, towards scoring post 57 in an attempt to place inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 at least one of unto or onto scoring post 57. In FIG. 5, as an illustration, additional tire ring segments, shown as apparatus 100 inverted tire ring segments, have already been thrown into place onto scoring post 57 by team 50, whereby each successful placement of apparatus 100 onto scoring post 57 scores one point for the tossing team. In FIG. 5, three tire segment apparatus 100s are shown to illustrate the basic concept of the tire segment ring toss game apparatus 200.

In this exemplary embodiment, the scoring posts, such as scoring post 57 or scoring post 56 of FIG. 5, are scoring poles for the game and may be made from poles or posts such as fence posts, that have been removed from fencing service, or from fencing that has been removed or replaced. As an example, the fence posts may be at least one of galvanized steel post and plastic post and aluminum post that has been optionally at least one of coated, refinished, refurbished, repainted, others not mentioned here. The scoring post, as an example for the current embodiment, may be approximately 45″ to 55″ long, with an approximate length of 12″ at least one of place, buried, forced, inserted, dug, screwed, others not mentioned here, into the ground, such as illustrated by post insertion area 59 of FIG. 5. At least one of an inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100, scoring post 56, scoring post 57, can be coated and/or painted in team and/or school colors with at least one of enamel, polymer, synthetic polymer, marine paint, others not mentioned here.

Another example of the scoring poles, such as scoring post 57 and scoring post 56 of FIG. 5, are scoring posts comprised of at least two poles, such as steel, with a combined length of approximately 3 to 5 feet, with the ability to attach to the at least two poles by at least one of screwing, pinning, screwing, slip fit, friction fit, interference fit, snap fit, not mentioned here. The scoring pole used to anchor into the ground, sand, dirt, other surfaces not mentioned here, and may optionally possess at least one of a screw-in tip and a corkscrew tip for inserting into the at least one of the ground, sand, dirt, others not mentioned here.

The tire segment ring game can be played with one person, but is generally played with at least two people. As an example, a typical method of playing the game is with four players playing the game, whereby two players are on each team, with the teams playing in opposition. In a typical four player game, one player from each team may be positioned behind the scoring posts, such as in endzone area 61 or endzone area 62 of FIG. 5. Alternately, players of each team may locate in their team's respective endzone to play ring toss game 200. The endzone areas are behind the scoring posts, such as behind scoring post 56 or scoring post 57 of FIG. 5. In this current exemplary embodiment, any scoring post may be placed at least one of upright, upwards, generally upright, slanted, others not mentioned here.

As an example, each team, such as team 52 or team 50 of FIG. 5, may have four tire segment rings, such as the inverted tire ring segments of apparatus 100, in the ring toss game 200. Referring FIG. 5, in a typical game, a first team such as team 50, first team throws the apparatus 100 inverted tire ring segments from their endzone area, such as endzone area 61, across field 65 towards scoring post 57 located at the opposing end of field 65, attempting to place the inverted tire ring segments at least one of onto and unto the scoring post 57 to score one point for the tossing team.

Following the first team's throw, such as team 50's throw, another team such as a second team, shown team 52 in FIG. 5, tosses their apparatus 100 inverted tire ring segments attempting to throw each inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 at least one of onto, and unto, the scoring post at the other end of the field, such as scoring post 56 to score one point for each successful placement.

Once the players of ring toss game 200 have completed a given throwing set, typically four throws for each team for a total of eight throws for both teams, points are recorded or remembered. The thrown rings from the ground are collected and four inverted tire ring segments are given again to each team such as team 50 and team 52 of FIG. 5. Each team may remain located in their respective endzone area opposite the field from each other, as depicted in FIG. 5. Alternately, the players could choose to switch endzones on some frequency. Further alternately, the players could also switch endzones at any game milestone, such as after each throwing round or other milestones not mentioned here.

Ring toss game 200 continues in this tossing fashion, where the teams alternate the tossing of their respective apparatus 100 inverted tire ring segments, attempting to throw the rings at least one of onto and unto their respective scoring post, such as scoring post 56 and scoring post 57 at the opposing end of either team to score a point for each successful inverted tire ring segment.

As an example, team 50 may toss four inverted tire ring segment 100's towards scoring post 57, and following the first team's throwing turn, the second team, such as team 52, will again have a throwing turn where he or she or they will toss the apparatus 100 inverted tire ring segments attempting to place each inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 at least one of onto and unto scoring post 56 at the opposing end of the field to score a point for each ring successfully thrown onto a scoring post.

The teams will continue their tossing rounds in an alternating fashion between teams, such as the first and second teams until one team achieves a score of 21 to win the game. Alternately, the players of a team could also alternate tossing in some fashion if there are more than one player on a team. Further alternately, opposing teams could alternate between each apparatus 100 tire segment ring toss. As an example, the players of ring toss game 200 may alternate between each toss of ring toss game 200, such as whereby team 50 throws one tire ring segment 100 towards scoring post 57, following by team 52's tossing of one tire ring segment 100 towards scoring post 56.

Score is kept throughout the game, typically by points being recorded or remembered after each throwing round or after a new point is scored. Each time a player is able to throw and place an apparatus 100 ring onto the scoring post at the other end of the field, one point is scored. Players must remain footed behind the respective scoring post they are positioned at, such as behind scoring post 56 and 57 in endzones 61 and 62 respectively, as shown in FIG. 5, while throwing any inverted tire ring segment apparatus 100 for a point.

Other rules of the game include, if any team scores 11 straight points and the other team has no points, it is considered a “shut out” win by the team that scored the 11 straight points.

In any round when a team that did not score points on their previous round of ring tossing when the other team did score points, the team that did not score any points may be considered to have “the hammer,” where having “the hammer” gives the team that did not score any points on the previous throwing round the opportunity to get enough points on that throwing round to win.

Game variations may include at least one of the size and diameter changes of apparatus 100 inverted tire segment ring 100 to vary the level of difficulty of the game to include such as for at least one of for a beginner, an average player, an advanced player, others not mentioned here. As an example, a 17″ outer diameter inverted tire segment apparatus 100 may be for a beginner, a 16″ outer diameter inverted tire segment apparatus 100 may be for an average player, and a 15″ outer diameter inverted tire segment apparatus 100 may be for an advanced player. These varying outer diameters of inverted tire segment apparatus 100s may, as examples, correlate to various sizes of tires or used tires that may be used to manufacture the inverted tire segment ring apparatus 100 for the game, such as tire 2 of FIG. 1A. While 15″, 16″ and 17″ are described here, tire segment diameters as well as the types of tires used for manufacture of the tire segment rings could be of any diameter, size or type.

In a second exemplary embodiment, the apparatus is as described in the first exemplary embodiment, whereby at least one of the apparatus 100 ring segment, ring, and scoring pole may be constructed of materials such as at least one of recycled tire, material, plastic, metal, wood, composite, polymer, synthetic polymer, others not mentioned here. These materials may be recycled, recyclable or not. The representations of FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are illustrative of the components and nature of inverted ring segment apparatus 100 and ring segment ring toss game apparatus 200, with the materials as described in this second exemplary embodiment.

Referring FIG. 5, any variation of the ring segment ring toss game apparatus 200 game may also include at least one of varying the number, size and type of tire ring segments or number of inverted ring segment apparatus 100s in the game, the number of teams in the game, the number of scoring posts, the number of throws, the throwing alternating pattern, the number of players on each team, the size of the field such as field 65, the distance of field distance 60, the materials of construction of any relevant component, the scoring methodologies of the ring segment ring toss game apparatus 200, others not mentioned here.

It will be further understood that various changes in the details, materials, and arrangements of the parts which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the following claims.

Claims

1. A ring toss game, comprising: at least one inverted tire ring segment apparatus made from a portion of a vehicle tire whereby said tire ring segment apparatus is produced by first cutting an undeveloped tire ring segment from said vehicle tire on at least one of a cutting line and cutting plane that is at least one of a parallel and generally parallel to the sidewall of said vehicle tire, and by the inversion of said undeveloped tire ring segment whereby said inversion of said undeveloped tire ring segment is performed through forcible inversion of the internal concave and external convex portions of the undeveloped tire segment to develop said inverted tire ring segment apparatus with inverted concave and convex portions;at least one playing field; andat least one upward post, said post releasably attached to the ground at the opposite end of the playing field;whereby at least one player of said ring toss game tosses said inverted tire ring segment apparatus in an attempt to place the at least one inverted tire ring segment apparatus onto said post by tossing the at least one inverted tire ring segment apparatus across said playing field at least one of thereunto and thereon said post to score one point.

2. The ring toss game according to claim 1 whereby said at least one tire ring segment apparatus is a portion of a sidewall of said vehicle tire and where said ring toss game has at least one endzone at each end of said playing field where the at least one player must remain located while tossing the at least one inverted tire ring segment apparatus across said playing field in an attempt to place said inverted tire ring segment apparatus at least one of thereunto and thereon the at least one post located in the endzone at the opposite end of said playing field.

3. The ring toss game of according to claim 1 whereby at least one of the undeveloped tire ring segment and the inverted tire ring segment apparatus has at least one coating applied to at least one convex and concave portion of said inverted tire ring segment.

4. The ring toss game of according to claim 2 whereby at least one of the undeveloped tire ring segment and the inverted tire ring segment apparatus has at least one coating applied to at least one convex and concave portion of said inverted tire ring segment.

5. The ring toss game according to claim 3 whereby said coating increases at least one of a rigidity and aeronautic property of the inverted tire ring segment and at least one of rigidly and releasably fixes said inverted tire ring segment apparatus in the inverted tire ring segment apparatus orientation.

6. The ring toss game according to claim 4 whereby said coating increases at least one of a rigidity and aeronotic of the inverted tire ring segment and fixes said tire ring segment at least one of releasably and rigidly in the inverted tire ring segment orientation.

7. The ring toss game according to claim 2 whereby at least one of two players and two teams are playing said ring toss game and whereby any at least one player and one team scoring 11 straight points wins the game by a shutout win.

8. The ring toss game according to claim 7 whereby at least one player of said ring toss game wins by scoring 21 points.

9. The ring toss game according to claim 8 whereby at least one said upward post is between 40 inches to 60 inches in length including an approximate length of said post which is placed into said ground in the range of 8 inches to 12 twelve inches by at least one of placing, burying, forcing, inserting, digging, screwing, into said ground of said endzone.

10. The ring toss game according to claim 9 whereby said upward post is comprised of at least two separate posts whereby said posts are releasably attached together to develop said length.

11. The ring toss game according to claim 10 whereby at least one of said two separate posts possess at least one of a pointed tip and a screw-in tip and a corkscrew tip to aid in inserting portion of the at least one post into said ground.

12. The ring toss game according to claim 9 whereby said ring toss game has a hammer game rule, whereby any first team which did not score any points on their previous round of tire ring segment apparatus tossing will possess said hammer, provided any opposing team did score points during said previous round of tire ring segment ring tossing; whereby said hammer possession provides said first team the ability to score enough points on the current tossing round to win said ring toss game.

13. A game comprising: at least one inverted sidewall tire ring segment apparatus made from a sidewall portion of a vehicle tire whereby said tire sidewall ring segment apparatus is produced by first cutting an undeveloped tire ring segment from said vehicle tire on a cutting plane that is at least one of a parallel and generally parallel to the sidewall of said vehicle tire, and by the inversion of said undeveloped tire ring segment whereby said inversion of said undeveloped tire ring segment is performed through forcible inversion of the internal concave and external convex portions of the undeveloped tire ring segment to develop the inverted tire ring segment apparatus with the inverted concave and convex portions;at least one playing field; andat least one endzone located at opposite ends of said playing field at least one post in each endzone, said post located one of on and in the ground in each endzone;whereby at least one player of said ring toss game tosses said inverted tire ring segment apparatus in an attempt to place the at least one inverted tire ring segment apparatus onto said post by tossing the at least one inverted tire ring segment apparatus across said playing field at least one of thereunto and thereon said post to score a point.

14. The ring toss game according to claim 13 whereby at least one of the undeveloped tire ring segment and the inverted tire ring segment apparatus has at least one coating applied to at least one convex and concave portion.

15. The ring toss game according to claim 14 whereby any team scoring 11 straight points whereby the other team has no points wins the game via shutout.

16. The ring toss game according to claim 14 whereby any team wins said ring toss game by acquiring 21 points.

17. A method of playing a game comprising the steps of: providing at least one inverted tire sidewall ring segment and scoring post;whereby said scoring post is comprised of at least two releasably connected posts; and said scoring post is releasably placed upright and into the ground in at least one endzone at the end of a playing field;at least one of two players and a two teams playing said game;whereby any ring toss game player tosses said inverted tire ring segment across said playing field in an attempt to land said inverted tire ring segment on said scoring post to score a point;whereby any at least one player and team accumulating 11 straight points whilst any opposing at least one player and team has scored no points wins the game by shutout;and any at least one player and team scoring 21 points before any opposing player wins the game;and whereby said ring toss game contains a hammer game rule, whereby any at least one first player and one first team which did not score any points on their previous round of tire ring segment tossing will possess said hammer, provided any opposing team did score points during said previous round of tire ring segment ring tossing;whereby said hammer possession provides said at least one first player and first team the ability to score enough points on the current tossing round to win said ring toss game.