Method and apparatus for playing a game

Abstract

A game in which one stand is used for each team, the stand having at least two cross bars. Teams take turns throwing a game piece, a “bola,” at the stand(s), trying to hang the bola on one or more bars, and are awarded points based on which bars are engaged by the bola(s). Teams can be individual players or multiple players, and each team or even each player can have multiple bolas.

1 . Game equipment including at least one stand comprising:
 two parallel support bars;   two parallel upright bars connected to respective support bars;   a top bar connected to the tops of the upright bars; and   at least one additional bar extending from one upright bar to the other.   
   
   
       2 . The game equipment of  claim 1  further comprising at least one stiffening cross piece extending from one support bar to the other support bar between front ends of the support bars and the upright bars. 
   
   
       3 . The game equipment of  claim 1  further comprising indicia on the top bar and the at least one additional bar, the indicia signifying point values. 
   
   
       4 . The game equipment of  claim 1  wherein the upright bar connection divides the support bars into front and back foot portions, the back foot portions being shorter than the front foot portion. 
   
   
       5 . The game equipment of  claim 1  comprising two stands arranged with their support bar front ends facing each other and separated by a playing distance. 
   
   
       6 . The game equipment of  claim 1  further comprising a playing piece comprising two weights connected by a length of flexible material. 
   
   
       7 . The game equipment of  claim 6  wherein the weights are balls. 
   
   
       8 . The game equipment of  claim 6  wherein the flexible material is a strap. 
   
   
       9 . A game play method comprising:
 providing at least one game stand with at least two cross bars extending between uprights, each cross bar having a point value assigned thereto;   providing at least one playing piece;   standing at a playing distance from one of the at least one game stand;   throwing the at least one playing piece at the one game stand, aiming to hang the at least one playing piece on at least one of the at least two cross bars; and   tallying a number of points scored based on the point value of each bar on which the at least one playing piece hangs.   
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein at least one team of at least one member play the game. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein at least three playing pieces are provided for each team playing the game, each team member carrying out standing, throwing, and tallying. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising repeating standing, throwing, and tallying until a desired score is achieved. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising setting back a team score if the desired score is exceeded. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 9  wherein providing at least two cross bars includes providing a top cross bar with a first point value and a first cross bar a first distance below the top cross bar with a second point value. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the first point value is lower than the second point value. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 14  wherein providing at least two cross bars further comprises providing a second cross bar a second distance below the first cross bar and having a third point value. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the first point value is lower than the second point value, which is lower than the third point value. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the second cross bar is a third distance above at least one of the ground and the support bars.