Abstract:
The invention is an amusement device involving a ball, a set of targets and a set of obstructions. Specifically, the device has a target is a plurality of concavities towards which a ball is rolled. A plurality of obstructions located near the concavities act to deflect a rolling ball. A peripheral groove surrounds a playing surface to collect errant balls. A projection device is used to roll the ball towards the set of targets.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     None. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a type of amusement device in which one or more players or participants roll a tangible body such as a ball towards a target across a playing surface. Use of the device involves both skill and chance. A score is determined according to a set of rules. 
     2. Related Art 
     Many amusement devices have been developed as smaller versions of a popular game. An example of this can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,096,192; 5,374,220; 6,039,655 and 6,213,886. These patents are all drawn to small bowling type games. U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,681 is drawn to a shuffleboard type of game. U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,939 discloses a game table having different types of game surfaces available, including bowling and shuffleboard. 
     Other amusement devices consist of target type games. U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,635 discloses a marker toss game in which the object is to toss a marker into a central cup for maximum points. Points are assigned according to the final resting spots of the markers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,570 discloses a ball and target game in which a ball is rolled towards the target. The ball and target have hook and loop components such that the ball will stick to the target at a point where the ball contacts the target. Scores are assigned depending upon location of the contact. 
     A feature common to all of the above amusement devices is the reliance on skill to successfully play the devices. None of the devices integrates an element of chance. Accordingly, there is a need for an amusement device which incorporates both skill and chance. The invented device fills this need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is an amusement device involving a ball, a set of targets and a set of obstructions. Specifically, the device has a target which is a plurality of concavities towards which a ball is rolled. A plurality of obstructions located near the concavities act to deflect a rolling ball. The ball is rolled towards the concavities in a number of ways. The participant can directly roll the ball towards the concavities. The participant can also roll the ball away from the concavities into an elastic member which then rebounds the ball towards the concavities. Finally, the participant can place the ball in contact with the elastic member, stretch the elastic member away from the concavities, and release the elastic member causing the ball to be propelled towards the concavities as the elastic member is returned to a relaxed state. 
     Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the present invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a top plan view of the playing surface; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a cutaway view taken along line  2 — 2 ; and 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a cutaway view of the sphere. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numbers indicate like elements, FIG. 1 illustrates a top plan view of the amusement device  1 . The device  1  utilizes a sphere  10  which, in the preferred embodiment, is a marble. Sphere  10  could also be metal, plastic, rubber, glass or any other suitable material. FIG. 3 shows a cutaway view of sphere  10 . It can be seen that sphere  10  has a spherical radius R s . 
     Amusement device  1  includes a play surface  12  (FIG.  1 ). Play surface  12  is rectangular in shape (in the preferred embodiment) and is divided into a target section  14  and a launch section  16 . In the preferred embodiment, a groove  18  having a semi-circular cross section is located adjacent a periphery  20  of the play surface  12 . It should be noted that the play surface  12  can be any suitable shape. It should also be noted that groove  18  could have any suitable cross section, including square. 
     A plurality of concavities  22  are located in the target section  14 . A plurality of obstructions  24  are also located in the target section  14 . In the preferred embodiment, the plurality of obstructions  24  are pegs which extend up from the play surface  12 . The concavities  22  and obstructions  24  are located at spaced apart positions throughout the target section  14 . In the preferred embodiment, the concavities  22  and the obstructions  24  have a non-linear distribution. For clarity of illustration, only a few of the concavities  22  and obstructions  24  are labeled in the figures. A plurality of sphere holders  25  are located outside the groove  18 . In the preferred embodiment there are five sphere holders  25  on each side of play surface  12 . 
     Opposite target section  14  of play surface  12  is launch section  16 . A projection device  26  is located in launch section  16  to propel sphere  10  towards target section  14 . In the preferred embodiment, the projection device  26  is made of a pair of supports  28  extending upwardly from play surface  12  and an elastic member  30  placed around the pair of supports  28 . The elastic member  30  can be made of a continuous loop of a material such as rubber. When elastic member  30  is placed around supports  28 , elastic member  30  is divided into a launch member  34  and a storage member  36 . Launch member  34  faces target section  14  and storage member  36  is opposite launch member  34 . Launch member  34  is located a distance  38  from storage member  36 . An additional support  40  is offset from a point  42  which is located between the pair of supports  28 . Storage member  24  can be stretched around additional support  40  causing an increase in tension in launch member  34 . 
     Cross sections of one of the plurality of concavities  22  and the groove  18  are shown in FIG.  2 . Groove  18  has a groove radius denoted R g . The mathematical circle constructed by extending groove  18  into a closed curve is shown in dashed lines in FIG.  2 . Likewise, concavity  22  has a concavity radius R c . Spherical radius R s  of sphere  10  (FIG. 3) is less than both the concavity radius R c  and the groove radius R g . This allows sphere  10  to come to rest in concavity  22  or groove  18 . In addition, it should be noted that the distance  38  between launch member  34  and storage member  36  is less than two times the spherical radius R s . This allows a plurality of spheres  10  to be stored between launch member  34  and storage member  36  when launch member  34  is not being used to launch spheres. 
     The plurality of concavities  22  is organized using a color coding scheme in which groups of concavities  22  are painted different colors. In the preferred embodiment, the concavities of one group are painted yellow, the concavities of another group are painted green, the concavities of another group are painted blue and the concavities of another group are painted red. Each of the colors corresponds to a score as will be discussed below. A scoring legend  46  can be depicted on the play surface  12 . 
     In use device  1  is placed on a flat surface. Spheres  10  are removed from between storage member  36  and launch member  34 . As was noted above, the distance between storage member  36  and launch member  34  is smaller than two times the spherical radius R s . As a result, storage member  36  and launch member  34  effectively hold a plurality of spheres  10  between them. Preferably, storage member  36  is placed around additional support  40 . This increases the tension in launch member  34 . 
     Spheres  10  can then be placed in the sphere holders  25  to prepare for each turn of the game. A sphere  10  is removed from a sphere holder  25  and then is placed into play. This can be done in a number of ways. One way is for a player to hold sphere  10  against launch member  34  and to then pull launch member away from the target section  14 . Upon release of the sphere  10  the launch member  34  will return to its relaxed state sending the sphere towards the target section  14 . As the sphere arrives in the target section  14 , the obstructions  24  come into play to deflect the travel of the sphere  10 . The turn is over when the sphere  10  comes to rest in one of the concavities  22  or the groove  18 . If the sphere  10  stops in a concavity  22  the color is noted and the color coding scheme is consulted. A score is assigned based on the result according to the rules of the game. Players can take turns rolling the sphere  10  until a winning score is accumulated. 
     Another mode of use is to set the device  1  up as above, but instead of shooting the sphere with the launch member  34 , the sphere  10  is rolled from the direction of the target section  14  towards launch member  34  and rebounded towards the target section  14 . The rest of the use of device  1  in this mode is the same as above. Finally, elastic member  30  can be entirely removed from the device  1 , and then sphere  10  is manually rolled towards target section  14 . (Alternatively, sphere  10  may be manually rolled toward target section  14  without removing elastic member  30 . 
     In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that the several advantages of the invention are achieved and attained. 
     The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
     As various modifications could be made in the constructions and methods herein described and illustrated without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting. For example, the projection device could also be a ramp (not shown) or a pinball type actuator (not shown) so long as the sphere  10  is propelled towards the target section. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims appended hereto and their equivalents.