Game Apparatus

Abstract

A game apparatus which includes a plurality of generally rigid flap-like indicating members mounted on a frame structure about a generally central indicating area for pivotal movement about horizontal axes between inner and outer generally horizontal positions. Each indicating flap member has indicia on the side thereof which faces upwardly when in its inner horizontal position. A plunger member is vertically reciprocally mounted on the frame structure radially outwardly of each of the indicating flap members and each plunger member has indicia on the top thereof corresponding to the indicia on the respective adjacent flap member. A lever member is mounted beneath each associated plunger member and flap member for pivoting the respective flap member back and forth between its inner and outer positions whenever the plunger member is successively depressed, as by striking the plunger by a player of the game. A plurality of individual striking members are provided for use by players of the game to strike the top of the plunger members in accordance with a predetermined scheme of play.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a game apparatus which may be played according to various schemes requiring constant alertness on the part of the players and which includes means for positively indicating the degree of alertness of the various players.

More particularly, there is provided a framework having a generally central indicating area with a plurality of indicating members disposed thereabout. Each indicating member is formed as a generally rigid flap-like member mounted for pivotal movement about a generally horizontal axis between an inner horizontal position disposed substantially within the central indicating area and an outer horizontal position outside of the indicating area. Each flap has indicia, preferably numerical, on the side thereof which faces upwardly when in its inner indicating position. A plunger member is vertically reciprocally mounted on the frame structure radially outwardly of each of the pivotal flap members and has indicia thereon, preferably numerical, corresponding to the indicia on the flap members. A lever member is mounted on the underside of the frame structure beneath the plunger member and its respective indicating flap member, for pivotal movement about a generally horizontal axis extending generally transverse to the pivot axis of the respective flap member. Each lever member has inner and outer upwardly protruding flap engaging portions which may be brought into striking engagement with the underside of the flap member in response to striking the top of the respective plunger member. Thus the respective flap member is alsways pivoted from either of its inner or outer positions back to the other position when the plunger is struck by a player of the game so that the flap member may be caused to pivot back and forth between said positions on successive strikings of the respective plunger.

Preferably, individual striking members, having an elongated handle portion and an enlarged striking portion on one end of the handle portion, are provided for use by players of the game in striking the top of the plungers to pivot the indicating flaps.

With the above described structure, the game may be played by players of the game in unison and in accordance with a predetermined cadence of play. Once the cadence is established by verbal chants by the players or by striking a surrounding table or the like with a player's hands or the aforesaid striking members, one player may begin by calling off his number and striking his respective plunger during one count of the cadence (whereupon his indicating flap member will pivot into the central indicating area and display that player's indicating number). The player immediately calls out another player's number either on the next count of the cadence or thereafter whereupon the other player must continue in rhythm in the predetermined cadence and take over by calling off his number, striking his respective plunger, and continue the play of the game by calling off yet another player's number or, if he desires, the previous player's number. In this manner, the players are kept in constant state of alert during the playing of the game. Appropriate scoring or penalities may be devised should a player miss or interrupt the cadence as play proceeds.

The principal object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide a new and improved game apparatus of the character described.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a game apparatus embodying the concepts of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, partially broken away, of the game apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial vertical section taken generally along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of one of the actuating plunger members of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one of the actuating lever members mounted on the underside of the frame structure of the game apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, the game apparatus of the present invention includes a frame structure, generally designated 10, the top of which defines the playing area for the game, with certain operative components of the apparatus mounted on the underside of the frame structure.

More particularly, the frame structure 10 includes a plurality of upstanding spoke-like rib members 12 defining inwardly opening recessed channels 14 within which are movably mounted a plurality of indicating means in the form of generally flat, rigid flap-like members 16. A plurality of strikable plunger members, generally designated 18, are vertically reciprocally mounted in raised portions 20 of the frame structure 10 radially outwardly of the recessed channels 14 and outwardly beyond the movable indicating flap members 16.

Each plunger 18 has a generally flat top surface portion 18a which has indicia thereon, such as the numerical indicia 21 on the six plungers shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Each indicating flap member 16 has corresponding numerical indicia 22 on one side thereof with respect to its adjacent actuating plunger 18 as shown by the "three" plunger and the "three" indicating flap in FIGS. 1 and 2. Preferably, the numerical indicia 22 on each flap is on the side thereof which faces upwardly when the flap is in its inner position, described below.

The indicating flap members 16 are fixed to generally horizontal shaft members 23 for pivotal movement therewith. The shaft members 23 are journalled in the rib portions 12 of the framework for pivotal movement within the recessed channels 14 defined by the rib portions 12. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, each indicating flap member 16 is pivotably between generally horizontal inner indicating positions (as shown by the "three" indicating flap) where the flap protrudes into a central playing or indicating area, generally designated 24, of the frame structure, and generally horizontal outer positions where the flaps are disposed within the recessed channels 14 between the upstanding ribs 12.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, each plunger member 18 has a downwardly depending cylindrical shaft portion 26 which is vertically reciprocally received within a larger cylindrical boss portion 28 on the underside of the raised portions 20 of the frame structure. A downwardly depending actuating arm portion 30 is fixed to one side of each cylindrical shaft portion 26 of each plunger, for purposes to be described in greater detail hereinafter. The upper ends of the arm portions 30 protrude into slots 32 (FIG. 2) of the frame structure and thereby serve to prevent rotation of the plunger members so as to maintain the indicia on the top surfaces 18a thereof in desired orientation.

As seen best in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, a generally flat plate-like lever member, generally designated 34, is provided as part of the actuating means for each of the indicating flap members 16. The lever members are mounted on the underside of the frame structure 10 beneath the plunger members 18 and the flap members 16. More particularly, forwardly and rearwardly protruding pin members 36 and 38, respectively, are received within apertures 40 and 42, respectively, or flange members 44 and 46, respectively, which protrude downwardly from the underside of the frame structure 10. The pins 36 and 38 define a pivot axis for the lever 34. The pivot axis extends generally radially of the frame structure and generally transverse to the axis of rotation of the respective indicating flap member 16 as defined by their respective shaft portions 23. Spaced generally axially of and protruding upwardly from the top of each lever member 34 are radially outer and inner pin members 48 and 50, respectively. The inner pin member 48 of each lever member 34 protrudes upwardly through an aperture 52 in the frame structure so as to be disposed beneath the respective indicating flap member 16 when the flap member is in its inner indicating position as shown by the "three" flap in FIGS. 1 and 2. The outer pin member 50 similarly protrudes upwardly through an aperture 54 in the frame member and is disposed beneath its respective indicating flap member when the flap member is in its outer position disposed within its respective recessed channel 14.

Thus, it is apparent that if a lever member 34 is pivoted in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 5 about its axis of rotation (as defined by its pin members 36 and 38), either the upwardly protruding pin member 48 or the pin member 50 will strike the underside of the respective indicating flap member regardless of which position the flap member is in. Thus, a flap member may be moved back and forth between the aforesaid positions simply by effecting successive pivoting motions of the respective lever member 34. To this end, the arm portion 30 of each plunger member 18 protrudes downwardly a sufficient distance, as best seen in FIG. 3, to engage the top of the lever member generally in the vicinity of the "X" 56 shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, a player of the game may strike the top of his respective plunger 18 and cause his respective indicating flap member (which is operatively associated with the plunger) to pivot to the opposite of its alternate two positions.

To facilitate the play of the game, a striking member, generally designated 58, is provided for each player of the game. The striking member has an elongated handle portion 60 and an enlarged striking portion 62. With each of the players positioned about the frame structure 10, the striking member 58 may be shaped in the form of a tomahawk, with the game apparatus simulating a drum.

Various schemes of play may be devised for employing the game apparatus of the present invention, as described above. One such scheme of play would be to proceed with the play of the game in a rhythmic cadence. For instance, once the cadence is established a given player may begin play of the game by striking the top of his plunger member 18 during one count of the cadence to cause his indicating flap member to pivot to its inner indicating position, as shown by the "three" flap in FIGS. 1 and 2. At the same time, during that count of the cadence, the player may call of his respective numerical indicia. On the next count of the cadence (or, if desired, a subsequent count), that player would call off the numerical indicia of another player of the game positioned about the game apparatus in front of his respective plunger member 18. The first "designating" player would again strike his plunger member 18 as he called off the number of the second, or designated player so that his indicating flap would return to its original position. The designated player then would have to continue the cadence in rhythm calling out his own number and then that of any other player of the game while at the same time striking his respective plunger member in two successive counts to cause his indicating flap to pivot inwardly to its indicating position and then back to its outer position. All of the movements or actuations of the indicating flap members 16 by player striking the respective plunger members 18 would have to be done in rhythm with the predetermined cadence. Should a player get out of cadence and "miss a beat" he would be appropriately penalized in accordance with predetermined rules of the game. Obviously, other schemes of play could be devised by employing the game apparatus of the present invention.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

Claims

I claim:

1. Game apparatus comprising: a supporting frame structure including a central playing area; a plurality of indicating means angularly disposed around the playing area each movable generally radially between a first position substantially within said playing area and second position substantially outside of said playing area representing indicating and non-indicating positions, respectively; individual actuating means for each of said indicating means; and means operatively associating each actuating means with its respective indicating means so as to always move the indicating means from one of said rest positions back to the other whenever the respective actuating means is selectively actuated by a player of the game whereby each indicating means may be moved back and forth between said positions on successive actuations of the respective actuating means.

2. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein said actuating means for each indicating means is manually actuatable and is disposed on said frame structure generally radially outwardly of its respective indicating means.

3. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said indicating means comprises a generally rigid flap-like member mounted on said frame structure for pivotal movement about a generally horizontal axis between inner and outer generally horizontal positions.

4. The game apparatus of claim 3 wherein each of said indicating flap members has indicia on the side thereof which faces upwardly when in said inner horizontal position.

5. The game apparatus of claim 4 wherein each of said actuating means has indicia thereon corresponding to the indicia on its respective flap member.

6. The game apparatus of claim 3 wherein said actuating means for each indicating means is manually actuatable and disposed on said frame structure generally radially outwardly of its respective indicating means.

7. The game apparatus of claim 3 wherein said actuating means for each of said indicating flap members includes a lever member mounted beneath the respective flap member for pivotal movement about a generally horizontal axis extending generally transverse to the pivot axis of the respective flap member, each lever member having inner and outer spaced flap engaging portions, with the inner flap engaging portion of each lever member being movable into striking engagement with the underside of the respective flap member when in its inner position to pivot the same to its outer position, and with the outer flap engaging portion of each lever member being movable into striking engagement with the underside of the respective flap member when in its outer position to pivot the same to its inner position.

8. The game apparatus of claim 7 wherein said actuating means for each of said flap members includes a manually actuatable portion disposed on said frame structure generally radially outwardly of the respective flap member.

9. The game apparatus of claim 8 wherein said manually actuatable portion of each of said actuating means comprises a vertically reciprocally mounted plunger member on said frame structure and engageable with the respective one of said lever members for pivoting the lever member to bring either its inner or outer flap engaging portions into striking engagement with the underside of the respective flap member.

10. The game apparatus of claim 9 including, in combination, a plurality of striking members for use by players of the game for applying a striking force to the top of said plunger members.

11. The game apparatus of claim 10 wherein the top of each of said plunger members is generally flat and said striking members are shaped generally in the form of a hammer having an elongated handle portion and an enlarged striking portion.

12. The game apparatus of claim 9 wherein each of said indicating flap members has indicia on the side thereof which faces upwardly when in said inner horizontal position, and said plunger members each have indicia on the top thereof correlated to the indicia on said one side of the respective flap member which is moved by the plunger member.

13. The game apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said indicating means and its associated actuating means have correlated indicia thereon.

14. Game apparatus comprising: a supporting frame structure including a playing area; a plurality of indicating members each having different indicia thereon, said indicating members being mounted on said supporting frame structure and each being movable independently between a first position at least partially in said playing area exposing the indicia thereon and a second rest position substantially outside of said playing area concealing the indicia thereon; individual actuating means for each of said indicating members; and means operatively associating each actuating means with its respective indicating member so as to always move the indicating member from one of said rest positions back to the other whenever the respective actuating means is selectively actuated by a player of the game whereby each indicating member may be moved back and forth between said positions on successive actuations of the respective actuating means.

15. The game apparatus of claim 14 wherein each of said indicating members comprises a generally rigid flap-like member mounted on said frame structure for pivotal movement about a generally horizontal axis between said positions, with said indicia being disposed on the side of each of said flap members which faces upwardly when in said first position.

16. The game apparatus of claim 14 wherein each of said actuating means has indicia thereon corresponding to the indicia on its respective indicating member.