Patent ID: 8216078

Claim:
A method for use in tightly positioning balls by placing a rack on a group of balls and rotating said rack off of said balls without the need to perform a secondary actuation step in order to position said balls, said method comprising the steps of: providing a rack, said rack having a frame defining an open frame having a center and a plurality of frame walls, at least one of said frame walls being angled such that an upper frame wall end is positioned closer to said frame center than is a lower frame wall end, and wherein said rack includes at least one foot extending from said rack, said at least one foot including an alignment mark, and wherein a plurality of said frame walls include at least one resilient compressible member retentively positioned against an inner surface thereof, causing a plurality of balls resting on a playing surface to be grouped tightly together into a predetermined configuration by placing the rack upon said plurality of balls, positioning said balls at a predetermined location on said playing surface by aligning said at least one alignment mark with at least one corresponding alignment mark on said playing surface, and removing said rack from said balls by rotating said rack upwards on said at least one foot such that said rack is removed from said balls without disturbing said balls.