Patent Document ID: 20090264212
Application ID: 12426735
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A training ball for use in pool type games wherein at least one playing ball is placed on a generally horizontal surface and is struck in order to propel the playing ball to a desired location relative to the generally horizontal playing surface, which said training ball has alignment indicia placed on the exterior thereof for enabling a player to visualize relationship of the training ball to another playing ball such as at least one of a cue ball to be struck by a cue stick and an object ball, the training ball comprising: a solid sphere displaying diameter equal to that of at least one of the cue ball and the object ball and comprising a spherical exterior surface; and an array of visually coded bounded shapes disposed on the spherical exterior surface, wherein each one visually coded bounded shape has a characteristic visual coding and a diametrically opposed corresponding visually coded bounded shape having substantially identical characteristic visual coding, and wherein the array covers substantially all of the spherical exterior surface of the solid sphere, and wherein each one of the visually coded bounded shapes displays characteristic visual coding which is easily visually discernible from each adjacent one of the visually coded bounded shapes, whereby the player may visually hypothesize a straight line passing through the center of the object ball by observing one side of the object ball and also the other side of the object ball and identifying opposed generally identical visually coded bounded shapes disposed on the object ball, in order to visualize a proposed point of contact with at least one of the cue ball and the object balls placed on the generally horizontal playing surface.