Patent Publication Number: US-2022219062-A1

Title: Open Field Game Arrangement Including Glowing and Responsive Targets

Description:
This application is a continuation that claims the benefit of priority and is entitled to the filing date pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 16/882,787, filed May 26, 2020, a continuation-in-part patent application which claims the benefit of priority and is entitled to the filing date pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/260,609, filed Jan. 29, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,695,635, a divisional application that claims the benefit of priority and is entitled to the filing date pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/401,323, filed Jan. 9, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,232,241, a 35 U.S.C. § 111 patent application that claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/277,096, filed Jan. 11, 2016, the content of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     There are many large, open field areas including farms, parks, golf driving ranges, football, baseball, and soccer stadiums, that are underused and generate little or no income much of the time. It would be desirable to provide a way to make these open field areas generate more income. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention provides an open field game arrangement that enables these large, open fields to generate income when not being used for their primary purpose, or at any time. The open field game arrangement includes large, glowing targets that are responsive to being hit by an object, such as by a golf ball, a baseball, a soccer ball, a football, a paddle, or another object controlled by a player of the game. 
     This open field game arrangement may take advantage of darkness to provide a special entertainment experience, but it also can be used in the daytime. 
     The glowing targets are hollow structures made of a transparent or translucent skin, with light shining through, from the interior to the exterior of the skin, causing the skin to glow. There is a sensor arrangement that determines when the targets have been hit. There is at least one controller, which controls one or more responses when the targets have been hit. For example, the response may be one or more different colors of light or one or more flashing lights shining from the interior of the target that has been hit and/or from the interior of other targets or from other locations. The response may include a sound generated at the target or at a different location or at multiple locations. 
     The open field game arrangement may include a scoring system, which may be manually operated or automatic, creating scores when the glowing targets are hit by the players. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic end view of an open field game arrangement employing an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the control logic of a portion of the open field game arrangement of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3A  is a schematic view of one of the targets of  FIG. 1  shown in section; 
         FIG. 3B  is a schematic view of a control panel used in the target of  FIG. 3A ; 
         FIG. 3C  is a schematic view of the target of  FIG. 3A ; 
         FIG. 4  is a front schematic view of another target; 
         FIG. 4A  is a schematic perspective view of the target of  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic front view of another target; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic front view of another target; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic view of another target; 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of another target; 
         FIG. 9A  is a schematic view of a zipper that is used on the target of  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9B  is a schematic view of a zip lock that is used on the target of  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a plan view of a scoring kiosk of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 11-16  are views of a variety of print that may be used on targets; 
         FIGS. 17-19  are views of a variety of projectiles that may be used to hit the targets of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 20A  is a top view of another target; 
         FIG. 20B  is an exploded perspective view of the target of  FIG. 20A ; 
         FIG. 21A  is a front view of another target; 
         FIG. 21B  is a top view of the target of  FIG. 21A ; 
         FIG. 22  is a front view of another target; and 
         FIG. 23  is similar to  FIG. 1 , but showing an alternative embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of an open field game arrangement  10  made in accordance with the present invention. The arrangement includes a tee area  12 , from which players launch projectiles toward a plurality of targets  14 , which are spread out around the field in a desired pattern or arrangement. The tee area  12  includes a plurality of dividers  16 , which separate the tee area  12  into lanes  18 . Each lane  18  includes a scoring kiosk  20 , where the players in the respective lane  18  keep score. The arrangement  10  includes speakers  22  located in the tee area  12  so the players in the tee area  12  can hear the sounds from the speakers  22 . There may be additional speakers in other parts of the field, if desired. 
       FIG. 1  shows a variety of types of targets  14 . Farthest away from the tee area  12  are two inflated pylon targets  14 A, which are in the range of seven to fifteen feet tall in this particular embodiment. Each of these inflated pylon targets  14 A is surrounded by a plurality of much shorter inflated mushroom or dome-shaped targets  14 B. The open field includes two small ponds  24  filled with water, with a floating, waterproof, inflated mushroom target  14 C anchored in each pond  24 . In front of the two rear pylon targets  14 A is an inflated pylon target  14 A with a skirt  14 D. In front of those are some land-based, inflated mushroom targets  14 E with skirts  14 D. There also is a transparent inflated mushroom  14 F, which houses a car (or other object), as shown in  FIG. 7 . There also is a pop-up mushroom target  14 G, shown in more detail in  FIG. 8 , and various other mushroom targets  14 E in the front portion of the field. On the sides of the field are translucent banners  14 H, which may also serve as targets and which include markings indicating the distance from the tee (i.e. 50 yards 100 yards, 200 yards, and so forth). It is understood that this is just one example of an arrangement of targets and that a variety of arrangements may be used. 
     Each of the targets  14 A-H is made of a thin skin that allows light in the visible range to pass through the skin. The skin may be translucent or transparent. The skins are large, having at least one dimension that is at least three feet (i.e. 3 feet tall or 3 feet wide, etc.). While the skin may be made of a rigid material, it is preferred that the skin be made of a foldable material so it can be collapsed for storage and transport. A foldable material does not have sufficient structure of its own to hold its shape, so it uses some way to keep its shape, such as by being inflated or by being supported by a more rigid framework of some type, such as rods made of fiberglass, metal, or other desired material or inflated tubes, for example. There is at least one light associated with each target that shines outwardly through the thin skin, the light shining onto the inner surface of the thin skin and through the thin skin and out the outer surface of the thin skin, which gives the thin skin a glowing appearance. There may be several lights of various colors that can shine outwardly through the thin skin and that can be selectively controlled to turn on and off individually as desired. There also may be lights shining onto the thin skins from outside the skins, as will be described in more detail later. 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic of a portion of the control arrangement for the open field game arrangement  10 . The control arrangement includes an arrangement for sensing when the targets have been hit and generating responses, including turning on lights and generating sounds that can be heard in the tee area when the targets are hit. The sensing arrangement may use a sensor  34  adjacent to each target to sense when that target is hit. The sensors may be in the form of a piezoelectric device or other transducer adapted to generate an electrical or optical or other usable signal in response to a sensed mechanical vibration or event, e.g., sound or physical impact. In addition, or alternatively, it may use a tracking system at a control center  36  that tracks the projectiles to sense when the targets are hit. There are various known tracking systems that may be used. These tracking systems utilize cameras, GPS (Global positioning systems), Doppler, or 3D Doppler radar to track the projectiles. These tracking systems include a stored map of the target arrangement and correlate the position of the projectile with the stored map to determine when the targets are hit, generate a signal indicating that a target is hit, and communicate that signal with the control system to indicate when the targets are hit. When the control system receives a signal indicating that a target has been hit, the control system then communicates with lights, sound generators, and display screens and generates a response, which may include turning lights on and off at the target that has been hit, at other targets, and elsewhere on the field, generating sounds, including generating a different sound for each different type of target, and generating a score display on a fixed screen or on a portable device running an app, such as a smart phone. Examples of some known tracking systems that could be used include TopTracer by TopGolf, FLIGHTSCOPE® of Orlando, Fla., Trackman of Scottsdale, Ariz., Inrange of London, and Flite of Tulsa, Okla. 
       FIGS. 3A and 3C  are schematics of the pylon  14 A with skirt  14 D shown in  FIG. 1 . The pylon  14 A has a cylindrically-shaped skin  26 , including a flat top and bottom. The skin  26  is made of a foldable material that collapses and can be folded up for storage and transport but that keeps its shape when it is inflated. The skin  26  is sealed against the escape of air and has an inflation opening  28  with a sealable closure that is sealed shut when the skin  26  is not being inflated (similar to the inflation opening in an air mattress). The skin  26  defines a hollow interior. The bottom of the skin  26  is transparent or includes a transparent window portion, which rests on top of a panel  30  that rests on the ground and that houses a plurality of lights  32 , a sensor  34 , and a controller  36 . The panel  30  is shown in more detail in  FIG. 3B . The lights  32  are directed upwardly to shine through the transparent portion at the bottom of the skin  26 , onto the inner surface of the skin  26 , through the skin  26 , and out the outer surface of the skin  26 , as indicated by the broken lines radiating from the panel  30  in  FIG. 3A . 
     The sensor  34  senses when the skin  26  has been hit. In this particular embodiment, the sensor  34  includes a local transducer, e.g., a microphone that senses the sound that is made when a projectile hits the skin  26 , and generates a representative electrical signal in response to the sensed mechanical force associated with the hit/sound. The controller  36  communicates with the lights  32  and with the sensor  34  and controls the lights  32  in response to a signal received from the sensor  34 . The system of game components, i.e., sensors, controllers, lights, and other control components, typically require a power source and communicate over a communication network. For example, the communication network may be wired or wireless or a combination thereof and may be a LAN, WLAN, Ethernet, token ring, CAN bus, FDDI ring or other communications network infrastructure. The controller  36  also may communicate with other controllers and sensors in the system, in a wired or wireless configuration or combination thereof, as will be described later. Alternatively, the sensor may be implemented as a feature of a tracking system and the controller may be a central controller associated with a centralized tracking system. Also, signals may be analog, digital or a combination of both and may be modulated in some form for transmission. Signals may be electrical or optical and transmission may be in the form of a hybrid electro-optic transmission. Controllers may employ one or more integrated circuits (IC), e.g., ASIC (Application-Specific IC, FPGA (Field Programmable Array), with memory capability and may include analog-to-digital converters and other components. 
     There are ears  38  secured to the skin  26 , through which tie down cables  40  pass to secure the pylon target  14 A to the ground. The tie down cables  40  may be secured to the ground using stakes or other known anchors (not shown). 
     A tapered skirt  14 D surrounds the pylon target  14 A. The skirt  14 D has an upper edge that is secured to the pylon target  14 A at a height above the ground and a lower edge that is secured to the ground at a diameter that is much larger than the diameter of the pylon target  14 A. The upper edge of the skirt  14 D may be secured to the pylon target  14 A in a variety of ways. The upper edge of the skirt  14 D may be welded or sewn to the pylon target  14 A in a manner that retains the air-tight nature of the skin  26  of the pylon target  14 A. Alternatively, the upper edge of the skirt  14 D may define a casing that receives a stiffening ring, and the casing or the stiffening ring may be secured to the pylon target  14 A by a plurality of D-rings spaced around the perimeter of the pylon target  14 A at a desired height above the ground. The stiffening ring (not shown) may be made of fiberglass rods with ends that nest like a fishing rod, or it may be made of PVC pipe with fittings, or metal pipe or tubing, or other desired materials. 
     The skirt  14 D has a lower edge that rests on the ground, and the lower edge is secured to the ground in some known manner, such as by using a ballast such as sand bags or water bags or using D-rings spaced around the lower edge that are secured to the ground by tent stakes or other anchors. There may also be a stiffening ring in a casing at the bottom edge of the skirt  14 D, if desired. The skirt  14 D is made of a skin of a similar foldable material that is open at the bottom and that defines a hollow interior. Several lights  32 A rest on the ground underneath the skirt  14 D and are directed to shine upwardly onto the inner surface and through the skin of the skirt  14 D. A sensor  34 A is associated with the skirt  14 D and senses when the skirt  14 D is hit. A controller  36 A is associated with the skirt  14 D. The controller  36 A communicates with the lights  32 A, with the sensor  34 A, and with the controller  36 , as well as with other controllers in the system. 
       FIGS. 4 and 4A  show an inflated mushroom or dome-shaped target  14 B, which includes a skin  26 B defining a sealed, hollow interior. The skin  26 B is inflated by air. The skin  26 B is made of a foldable cloth, plastic or other material that does not hold its own shape, so, in this case, it uses air pressure to keep it in a desired shape. This target  14 B is sealed, so it does not require a constant air supply to remain inflated, but it may have to be re-inflated every few days to make sure the skin  26 B remains taut. As with the pylon target  14 A described earlier, air for inflation is added in the same manner as for an inflatable mattress, using an air pump or pressurized air canister to inject air through a port  28 B through the skin  26 B, and then closing the port  28 B. As with the target  14 A, this mushroom target  14 B has a clear window on its bottom surface. The target  14 B rests on the ground with a control panel  30  underneath the target  14 B. As described earlier with respect to the pylon target, the control panel  30  has lights  32  directed upwardly to shine through the window, through the interior of the target  14 B, onto the inner surface of the skin  26 B, and then through the skin  26 B. 
     In this embodiment, the majority of the skin  26 B is translucent. The skin  26 B (and skins for other targets) may be made from several commonly available materials. In this embodiment, the skin  26 B is foldable and may be made from relatively thick (10 ounce-33 ounce or 6 mm-30 mm-thickness) RHINOSKIN™. (RHINOSKIN™ is a trademark of INTERWRAP® of Vancouver, Canada), a high strength geomembrane specifically engineered for heavy-duty liners and covers and which is easy to weld in the factory and in the field. Other suitable foldable materials for the skin  26 B and other skins for other targets may be reinforced polyester, or a TYVEK® material (TYVEK® is a registered trademark of DUPONT™), polyurethane coated ripstop nylon or polyester, or other materials. 
     In this embodiment, the lights  32  are LED lights, but other types of lights could be used. 
     This particular panel  30  is powered by a 48 volt DC power source. As with the previous embodiment, the panel  30  includes lights,  32 , a sensor  34 , and a controller  36 . The sensor  34  senses when the skin  26 B has been hit. The sensor  34  may include one or more microphones that sense the sound waves created by the vibration of the skin  26 B when the skin  20  is hit. The sensor  34  alternatively, or in addition, may include one or more piezo-electric sensors connected to the skin  26 B to detect vibration of the skin  26 B when the skin  26 B is hit. Other types of sensors adjacent to the skin  26 B may be used. As described earlier, in addition to or instead of the sensor  34  adjacent to the skin  26 B, a tracking arrangement may be used to track the path of a projectile directed toward the targets in order to determine when the target is hit. 
     This inflated mushroom target  14 B is anchored by means of tie-down cables  40  secured to ears  38 . 
       FIG. 5  shows an inflated mushroom target  14 B′, which is similar to the previous target  14 B except that it is anchored by sandbags (water bags, or other ballast)  40 B around the perimeter. 
       FIG. 6  shows a waterproof, inflated mushroom target  14 E, which floats on water and is anchored in placed by anchors secured to tie-down cables  40  secured to ears  38 . This embodiment is inflated by injecting pressurized air through an injection port  28 B which closes after the target is inflated. In this embodiment, the panel  30  that houses the lights  32 , sensor  34  and controller  36  rests on top of a Styrofoam board  42 , which rests on top of the floor of the skin  26 B, which floats on top of the water. In order to insert the panel  30  into the interior of the sealed skin  26 B, there is a zip lock opening  44  that is zipped open to insert the panel and board  42  and to connect the panel  30  to the power cable  46  and then is zipped closed to restore the sealed condition of the target  14 E. This zip lock arrangement is shown in  FIG. 9B  and is similar to the zip lock on a sandwich bag, which creates an airtight and water tight seal. There also is a small power cable opening  48 , through which the power cable  46  passes to enter into the interior of the target  14 E. That opening  48  has a gasket around its perimeter which seals against the power cable  46  to maintain the air-tight, water-tight, sealed condition of the target  14 E. Like the other panels  30 , this panel  30  includes lights  32 , a sensor  34 , which senses when the skin  26 B is hit, and a controller  36  that communicates with the lights  32 , the sensor  34 , and with other controllers in the system. 
     It should be noted that the power cables that power the panels  30  in the previous embodiments of  FIGS. 3, 4 and 5  are not shown, but it is understood that they simply pass underneath the respective targets  14 A,  14 B,  14 B′ to connect to the respective panels  30 . It also may be possible to use battery power for the various components, which may eliminate the need for a power cable. 
       FIG. 7  shows a transparent, inflated mushroom target  14 F, which is made of a foldable, transparent skin  26 C that is inflated by means of a continuous blower  50 . The lights  32  inside this transparent skin  26 C are arrayed all around the skin  26 C and are powered by a power cable  46  which enters through a power cable opening  48  with a gasket seal as described earlier. There also are lights  32 A that are located outside of the target  14 F and shine onto the outer surface of the skin  26 C and onto the car or other product. There is a sensor  34  inside this target  14 F, which senses when the target  14 F is hit and which communicates wirelessly with a controller  36  outside the target  14 F, which communicates wirelessly with the lights  32  inside the target  14 F. The car or other object inside the target  14 F is protected by the skin  26 C, which is kept inflated by the pressurized air being continually introduced by the blower. 
     The embodiment of  FIG. 7  has zipper openings  44 A,  44 B, which are zipped open to insert the car (or other product), the lights  32  and the sensor  34 , and which then are zipped closed. This is a regular toothed zipper similar to the types of zippers used on clothing (see  FIG. 9A ). This zipper closure  44 A leaks a little bit of air, but that is not a problem, since the continuous blower  50  provides enough new air input to make up for the losses. (In other situations, a sealed zip lock closure may be used if a continuous seal is desired, as described earlier.) 
       FIG. 8  shows a pop-up type of target  14 G, similar to a pop-up tent, which has a foldable skin  26 D and uses flexible ribs  52  to support the skin  26 D. The bottom of the target  14 G is open, and the panel  30  rests on the ground on the interior of the target  14 G. The ribs  52  may be flexible rods made of fiberglass, metal or other flexible material, or they may be inflated tubes. In any case, the ribs  52  form a support structure to support the skin  26 D. 
       FIG. 10  is a plan view of one of the scoring kiosks  20 , each of which includes a touch screen showing a display of the targets arranged in the same manner as they are arranged on the field. When a player launches a projectile that hits one of the targets, a score may be generated and displayed on the screen of the kiosk in a variety of ways. If there is a tracking system as described earlier, a user uses a user interface to input into the kiosk (or into a smart phone or other device) which player is getting ready to hit the golf ball or to launch another type of projectile, and then the tracking system tracks the projectile to sense whether the projectile hits a target and communicates with the controller to generate the score displayed on the screen of the kiosk  20 . If an automated tracking system is not used, and a local sensor at the target is used to sense when the target is hit and to generate a response such as turning on lights and generating sounds, the scorekeeper can simply touch the respective target image on the screen of the kiosk  20  or generate some other input into the kiosk or smart phone or other device to generate a score that is shown on the screen of the kiosk  20  and/or displayed on the smart phone or other device. 
       FIGS. 11-16  show that the targets may have various images on them, such as circular stripes to create a bullseye, or a number to indicate the score for that target, or other images, as desired. The targets may have a variety of shapes, including the shapes of animals, cartoon characters, and other shapes, as desired. 
       FIGS. 17-19  show various types of projectiles that may be used in the game to hit the targets.  FIG. 17  shows a golf ball.  FIG. 18  shows a football.  FIG. 19  shows a soccer ball. These various projectiles may be made to glow in the dark, using known technology, so they can be seen in the dark. In that manner, the players and spectators can watch the projectiles travelling from the tee area  12  to the targets even in the dark. (If there is a visual tracking system to track the projectiles, that tracking system also may take advantage of the glowing projectile to be able to track the projectile in the dark.) The projectiles also may include paintballs, rubber bullets, soft-tipped arrows, and various other types of user-controlled projectiles that do not damage the targets. 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic of one type of control system that may be used for this system. In this arrangement, each target has a controller  36  that controls the lights at that respective target. The controller  36  communicates with other controllers  36  in the system in a daisy chain arrangement so all the controllers  36  can communicate with each other. The communication paths may be hard wired or wireless. The controllers  36  also communicate with the sensors  34 , lights  32 , and sound generators  22  through wired or wireless communication paths. A controller  36  may control the lights and sounds for more than one target or sound generator, so it is not necessary to have a controller at each target. The light sources  32  may alternatively be battery powered.  FIG. 2  shows one of the sound generators  22  located in the tee area  12 . It also shows other sound generators  22 A dispersed around the field with the targets. 
     When a sensor  34  associated with a particular target senses that the skin of its target has been hit, that sensor  34  sends a signal to a controller  36 , such as the controller  36  associated with the respective target, and that controller  36  is programmed to generate a response, which, for example, may be to flash the lights  32  inside that particular target or to change the color of some or all of the lights  32  for a brief period and then return to the original color. The controller  36  may cause the lights  32  of a target to cycle through various different colors when the target has been hit. 
     Since the controllers  36  communicate with each other, all the controllers  36  dispersed around the field as well as the central controller  36  in the tee area know which target has been hit and also may be programmed to generate a response. For example, the controllers  36  may cause the sound generators  22  to generate a different sound when each different target is hit or may generate one type of sound when one shape of target is hit and another type of sound when another shape of target is hit. The controller also may cause the lights  32  of nearby targets to light up or flash or change colors when a target is hit. For example, when the inflated pylon target  14 A in the far back of the field of  FIG. 1  is hit, the controller(s)  36  may cause the smaller mushroom targets  14 B around the base of the inflated pylon  14 A to light up or flash as well. As another example, if a target has a skirt target around it, such as the pylon  14 A with the skirt target  14 D, the skirt target  14 D may also be made to flash or change colors when the pylon  14 A is hit, or the pylon  14 A may be made to flash or change colors when its skirt  14 D has been hit. 
     If a tracking system as described above is used to track the projectiles, then the tracking system communicates with the controller(s)  36  to generate responses when the targets are hit, including turning lights on and off, generating sounds, and generating scores that may be displayed on screens or other displays. 
       FIGS. 20A and 20B  show another alternative type of target that may be used in the arrangement of  FIG. 1 . This type of target also may be used in the arrangement of  FIG. 23 , described later. This target has top and bottom skins  60 ,  62 . The top skin  60  has some rings that permit more light to pass through and some rings that permit less light to pass through, so some of the rings glow more than others. Below the top skin  60  are ring-shaped, transparent bladders  64 , which are inflated to space the top skin  60  a distance above the bottom skin  62 . The bladders  64  serve as the framework that defines the shape of the top skin. Below the bladders  64  are LED light ropes  66 , in rings having the same general dimensions as the bladders  64 , so the LED lights in the light ropes shine upwardly through the bladders  64  and through the top skin  60 . Below the bladders  64  also is one or more sensors  68 , as described earlier with respect to other targets, which senses when the top skin  60  is hit by a projectile. Since the sensors  68  and lights  66  are below the bladders  64  and between the top and bottom skins  60 ,  62 , the sensors and lights are well-protected from projectiles and from the weather. In this arrangement, the entire target may lie on top of the ground. Alternatively, a recess may be made in the ground, so everything except the top skin  60  lies within the recess, and the top skin  60  is flush with the ground. The top and bottom skins  60 ,  62  are secured to the ground around their perimeters. There also may be a pylon (as shown in  FIGS. 3A and 3C ) projecting upwardly from the center of this target or next to this target. This target functions in a similar manner to the targets described earlier. The pylon may include lights that project onto the target from outside the target&#39;s skin. 
       FIGS. 21A and 21B  show a stationary target used to display something (in this case a car). The target has a relatively rigid framework, with a transparent skin supported on the framework. The framework secures to the top of the car. The framework also includes a bottom ring, which holds the bottom of the skin down on the ground (like a hoop skirt that touches the ground). A sensor and light inside the skin perform the same functions described earlier. This framework and skin protect the car from projectiles and from the weather. 
       FIG. 22  show a movable target that is secured to a vehicle, which, in this case, is a golf cart. Again, there is a framework that mounts to the top of the vehicle, and the skin drapes over the framework. This embodiment includes a flexible skirt secured to the bottom of the skin, which allows the skirt to drag along the ground when the target is travelling, without harming the skin of the target. Again, there is a light inside the skin, and there is a sensor associated with this target. 
     In another alternative embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 23 , the portion of the arrangement between the targets (field area  70 ) is made of sheet vinyl or polyethylene or other plastic sheet instead of synthetic turf, and the ground underneath is graded so that balls automatically roll down to one or more basins or gathering areas, where they can be picked up, without requiring a person to go all around the field picking up balls. These basins also include drains, for draining away water that falls onto the plastic sheet. In this arrangement, the targets may be independent of the plastic sheet, or they may be adhered to or fused to the plastic sheet or otherwise secured to the plastic sheet. If the target shown in  FIGS. 20A and 2B  is used, and if everything except the top sheet  60  is recessed into the ground, the top sheet  60  may be fused to the plastic sheet  70 . Vinyl field design can use multiple colors of material to simulate the look of golf. This ground cover is impermeable to water, so it sheds water to the basin points, which also serve as ball shagging points. This arrangement does not require extensive ground irrigation, as compared to water permeable synthetic turf. 
     While several types of targets and controlled responses have been described, there may be many different types of targets and many types of controlled responses. 
     The targets may have a variety of shapes in addition to those already shown and described herein, including complex shapes. It should be noted that these targets are quite large. For example, the mushroom targets usually are 15 to 60 feet in diameter and up to ten feet tall. Pyramid-shaped and cylindrically-shaped pylons usually are 10-20 feet in diameter and up to 30 feet tall. The skirts that wrap around the mushrooms and the pylons can be as large as 100 feet in diameter. In any case, the targets have at least one dimension that is at least three feet so the targets can be visible from a distance by the players. 
     The tie-down cables  40  may be anchored to the ground using spikes driven into the ground or using anchoring bolts, or any other desirable anchoring method. 
     The sound generator  16  may generate the sound of an explosion when one target is hit, the sound of a scream when another target is hit, and the sound of music when another target is hit, for example. 
     Glowing golf balls or other projectiles may have a 50% strontium aluminate skin to make them glow in the dark. When activated with a suitable dopant, such as europium or dysprosium, the strontium aluminate acts as a photoluminescent phosphor with a long persistence of phosphorescence. The photoluminescent pigment in the golf ball is activated with a UV light source in a ball dispenser at the hitting bay of a driving range. Other known ways of providing a glowing projectile could be used as well, such as an LED powered range ball. 
     In this embodiment of an open field game arrangement  10 , the targets are hit by golf balls being driven from the end of the driving range. In other scenarios, the targets may be hit by other projectiles, such as a baseball or a football, or they may be hit by people running past them and hitting the targets with a paddle, for example. Because of their mobility, targets also can be placed on fairways or greens and hit from various locations. 
     This specification refers to lights shining on the targets and lights shining through the targets. It is understood that, since the targets are made of a thin skin through which light can pass, a light shining on the skin of the target also will shine through that skin. Of course, in order for a light to shine through the skin, it first shines on the skin. Also, it should be noted that turning on a light may include repeatedly turning the light on and off or flashing the light. 
     It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the present invention as claimed.