GB2086739A - Target game - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for playing a game comprises a board with target areas (26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31) marked on a surface (21) thereof and a number of darts or like projectiles. The or each projectile has a substantially planar surface at one end and a flight at the other end. The said substantially planar surface of the or each projectile and the target surface of the board are provided with mutually-engageable releasable adhering means which cause the projectile(s) to adhere to the target surface (21) on making contact therewith. The target areas marked on the surface (21) are spaced apart from each other by a distance which is greater than the maximum dimension of the said substantially planar surface of the or each projectile. The board is provided, at its top edge, with a lug (24) having an aperture (25) to facilitate hanging the board in a conventional manner. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Target game apparatus This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for target games and is particularly concerned with darts and dartboards.

A disadvantage with conventional darts is that they have sharp points which can be dangerous especially to children. In order to overcome this problem, it has previously been proposed to provide a dart having a substantially planar face having a plurality of hooks or similar engaging means which are engageable with a target surface and releasably adhere thereto. Such arrangements are disclosed for example, in British Patent Specifications Nos.

1,265,303 and 1,547,433.

The problem with these known arrangements is that it is difficult to determine the score which should be allotted to any particular dart or other projectile which is adhering to the target surface. This is because the adjacent target areas are close to one another and sometimes the planar head of the dart or other projectile can be located on two or more adjacent target areas so that it is not possible to determine the score which should be attributed to that particular dart or other projectile.

The present invention aims to overcome the problems encountered by the known arrangements.

According to the invention, there is provided apparatus for playing a game comprising a board with target areas marked on a surface thereof and a number of darts or like projectiles having a substantially planar surface at one end and a flight at the other end, wherein the said substantially planar surface of the or each projectile and the target surface of the board are provided with mutually-engageable releasable adhering means which cause the projectile(s) to adhere to said target surface on making contact therewith and wherein the target areas marked on said surface are spaced apart from each other by a distance which is greater than the maximum dimension of the said substantially planar surface of the or each projectile.

By spacing the target areas apart in this manner, a projectile must land wholly within a target area, partly within a target area and partly within a space or wholly within a space in which case there is no score. No projectile can land so that it overlaps two adjacent target areas. In this way, scoring is not only made easy but there can be no argument as to which of the two target areas should count for the score.

The target surface of the board and the said substantially planar surface of the or each projectile are preferably covered with the material sold under the trade mark "Velcro" although other materials having a similar action to "Velcro" may be employed if desired.

The target surface should desirably be made of a flexible material which is stretched over a frame defining the edges of the board in order to exhibit a certain degree of resiliency. Such an arrangement enables the target surface to absorb the impact of projectiles landing on it and prevents the projectiles from bouncing off the target surface.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of one embodiment of a board according to the invention; Figure 2 is a section taken on the line Il-Il in Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a projectile according to the invention; and Figure 4 shows a detail of the board illustrated in Fig. 1 to an enlarged scale.

Referring first to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that the board is substantially square and has a conventional dart board printed on its target surface 21. The said target surface consists of a sheet of material such as "Velcro" which is stretched over a peripheral square frame 22. The edges of the sheet 21, which lap over the frame 22 and are secured thereto, are covered by a base sheet 23 of the board which may consist of hard board, plywood or like material. Alternatively, the sheet 23 may consist of a rigid plastic sheet material. A lug 24 having an aperture 25 is provided at the top edge of the board to facilitate hanging the board in a conventional manner.

Although the marking on the target surface 21 corresponds to that of a conventional dart board, it differs in that the wires of the conventional board are replaced by spaces so that the target areas are not directly adjacent one another. Thus, the bull 26 in the centre of the board is spaced from the outer bull 27 and the latter may consist of five arcuate strips. Alternatively, these strips could be replaced by a continuous ring if desired.

Spaced from the strips or ring 27 are a series of twenty radially extending triangles 28 which are also spaced from each other and are surrounded by a ring of twenty arcuate strips 29 which are spaced from each other and from the triangles 28. The strips 29 are in turn surrounded by twenty spaced apart quadrilaterals 30 which are spaced from the strips 29 and from an outer ring of strips 31 which are also spaced apart from each other.

The target areas 26-31 correspond to the target areas of a conventional dart board. In other words, the bull 26 counts as 50, the strips 27 as 25, the areas 28 and 30 count according to the number20 indicated on the board, the strips 29 as treble that number and the strips 31 as double that number.

Adjacent regions are preferably coloured differently as with a conventional dart board in order to aid identification.

Turning now to Fig. 3, a dart for use with the board shown in Figs. 1 and 2 has a substantially planar surface 32 which is covered with a material such as that sold under the trade mark "Velcro" and a flight 33. The surface 32 can adhere in a releasable manner to the target surface 21 when the dart is thrown at the board.

The surface 32 is circular and its diameter is less than the width of the spaces between the target areas 26-31. Thus, as shown in Fig. 4, the surface 32 cannot overlap two adjacent target areas but must land on the target surface 21 in such a manner that it falls entirely within a target area, falls partly on a target area and partly on a space or falls entirely within the spaces. The latter condition corresponds to a conventional dart hitting the wire of a dart board and flying out so that there is no score.

The width of the spaces is desirably 14mm and the diameter of the dart surfaces 32 is desirably 12mm. However, other dimensions may be utilised if desired. All that is essential is that the spaces should be wider than the diameter of the target surfaces 32.

The said target surfaces on the darts need not be circular but may, if desired, be hexagonal or have some other polygonal configuration. The maximum dimension must, however be less than the width of the spaces.

The invention is not restricted to dart boards but boards having other targets may be used in conjunction with dart-like projectiles if desired.

Further, while it is envisaged that the target surface of the board will consist of a simple sheet of material on which the target areas are marked, for example by printing, other arrangements are possible. Thus, for example, the spaces between the target areas could be formed by strips of a material which does not have releasable adhering means so that any dart landing wholly on a space will not adhere to the board. In this case, the target surface need not have the target areas marked on it since these areas can be defined by spacer strips of a contrasting colour. As a further alternative, the target surface may be made of a material which does not have releasable adhering means and the target areas may be formed by small pieces of material having releasable adhering means on one surface which are permanently secured to the board by their other surface.

Adjacent target areas are preferably of contrasting colours as with a conventional dart board in order to aid identification for aiming and scoring purposes but this is not essential and all of the target areas may have the same colour if desired. Where two or more contrast ing colours are used for the target areas however, the strips 27 should desirably all have the same colour.

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for playing a game comprising a board with target areas marked on a surface thereof and a number of darts or like projectiles having a substantially planar surface at one end and a flight at the other end, wherein the said substantially planar surface of the or each projectile and the target surface of the board are provided with mutually-enga- geable releasable adhering means which cause the projectile(s) to adhere to said target surface on making contact therewith and wherein the target areas marked on said surface are spaced apart from each other by a distance which is greater than the maximum dimension of the said substantially planar surface of the or each projectile.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the target surface is made of a flexible material which is stretched over a frame defining the edges of the board in order to exhibit a certain degree of resiliency.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the flexible material comprises a sheet which is arranged to lap over the edges of the frame and wherein the rear side of the frame remote from said target surface is covered by a base sheet.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the base sheet is made of hardboard, plywood or like material.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the base sheet is made of a rigid plastics sheet material.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a lug having an aperture is provided at or adjacent to the top edge of the board to facilitate hanging said board.

7. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein adjacent target areas are coloured in different colours.

8. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the target areas are printed on the board surface.

9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the spaces between the target areas are formed by strips of a material which does not have releasable adhering means.

10, Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the strips are coloured differently 4 from the remainder of at least the target surface of the board.

11. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the target surface is made of a material which does not have releasable adhering means and the target areas are formed by pieces of a material having releasable adhering means on one surface which are permanently secured to the board by their other surface.

1 2. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the substantially planar surface of the or each projectile is substantially circu lar.

1 3. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the substantially planar surface of the or each projectile has a polygonal configuration.

14. Apparatus for playing a game substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.