Interactive and dynamic multi-target toss games

Abstract

The present invention provides apparatus and methods for playing toss games. A playing surface is divided into two or more areas. At least one of these areas is used as a standing area and one of these areas or combination of some such areas is used as target area. A player stands on a standing area to throw projectiles to a target area. The apparatus of toss game comprises plurality of projectiles each of which is used as a target after being thrown onto a target area and only uses projectiles as targets. In some methods, players play to gain points by throwing projectiles to form standard clusters on a target area. In some other methods, the object is to be the first to complete a predetermined wining pattern. In the other methods, players play to complete a winning pattern and gain points.

1 . A method of playing toss game for at least two teams, the toss game has a criterion distance of standard clusters and a set of rules including (1) turn ending rule specifying under what condition a turn ends, (2) game ending rule specifying under what condition a game ends, (3) scoring rule specifying whether scoring points is required, when and how to score points and (4) retrieving rule specifying whether taking back one or more thrown projectiles is required, when and how to taking back thrown projectiles, and whether the projectiles taken back can be reused, comprises, but not necessarily in the order of the steps of
 (a) preparing, which includes, but not necessarily in the order of: 1) choosing a playing surface, 2) dividing said playing surface into two or more areas and specifying what area or areas are standing areas and what area or combination of some areas is target area, 3) for each player, determining which standing area this player should stand and throw projectiles, 4) providing two or more groups of projectiles, each of said projectiles is also used as a target after being thrown onto a target area; any projectile in any one of said groups looks different from any projectile in the other groups; each team obtains one group of projectiles and the team members of a team share their team's projectiles, and 5) determining a playing order,   (b) throwing a projectile from a standing area onto said target area to make this thrown and already stationary projectile touch or close to one or more projectiles already on the target area for forming one or more standard clusters, or to make the thrown projectile lie on a desired spot within the target area,   (c) scoring points according to said scoring rule if scoring is required by the said scoring rule after a throw and if there is at least one standard cluster on the target area,   (d) taking back one or more projectiles from the target area according said retrieving rule if retrieving is required by the said retrieving rule after a throw,   (e) determining whether current turn ends according to said turn ending rule, if current turn ends then pass the turn to the next player according to said playing order, otherwise the player on current turn continues to play,   (f) scoring points according to said scoring rule if scoring is required by the said scoring rule at this point and if there is at least one standard cluster on the target area,   (g) taking back one or more projectiles from the target area according said retrieving rule if retrieving is required by the said retrieving rule at this point,   (h) repeating (b) through (g) until the game ending condition of the game ending rule is satisfied,   (i) scoring points according to said scoring rule if scoring is required by the said scoring rule at this point.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are rings with substantially the same size and weight; each group has 6 rings; all the rings in the same group have the same color and different groups of rings have different colors; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends if a pure linked cluster consisting of three or more rings is completed or if all rings are thrown; said scoring rule is that no scoring is required; said retrieving rule is that no retrieving is required; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are rings with substantially the same size and weight; each group has 6 rings; all the rings in the same group have the same color and different groups of rings have different colors; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends if all rings are thrown; said scoring rule is that score points only after a game ends, only pure linked clusters can be awarded points, and a pure linked cluster of N rings is counted as 0.5*N*(N−1) points, where * denotes math multiplication; said retrieving rule is that no retrieving is required; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are rings with substantially the same size and weight; each group has 6 rings; all the rings in the same group have the same color and different groups of rings have different colors; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends if a pure lined cluster consisting of three or more rings is completed or if all rings are thrown; said scoring rule is that score points only if no pure linked cluster is completed when a game ends, only pure linked clusters can be awarded points, and a pure linked cluster is counted as one point; said retrieving rule is that no retrieving is required; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are rings with substantially the same size and weight; each group has 6 rings; all the rings in the same group have the same color and different groups of rings have different colors; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends when a player completes one of the winning patterns that are a) one linked cluster pattern that is a linked cluster consisting only of this player's four or more rings, b) two linked cluster pattern that has two linked clusters, one of which consists only of two or more this player's rings and the other of which consists only of three or more this player's rings and c) three linked cluster pattern that has three linked clusters, each of which consists only of this player's two or more rings; said scoring rule is that no scoring is required; said retrieving rule is that right after a throw remove all mixed linked clusters from a target area if any, at the beginning of a player's turn if all this player's rings are on the target area then this player takes back all his isolated rings from the target area, and the rings taken back can be reused; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer, said projectiles are rings with substantially the same size and weight; each group has 6 rings; all the rings in the same group have the same color and different groups of rings have different colors; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends when a player completes one of the winning patterns that are a) one linked cluster pattern that is a linked cluster consisting only of this player's four or more rings, b) two linked cluster pattern that has two linked clusters, one of which consists only of two or more this player's rings and the other of which consists only of three or more this player's rings and c) three linked cluster pattern that has three linked clusters, each of which consists only of this player's two or more rings; said scoring rule is that no scoring is required; said retrieving rule is that at the beginning of a player's turn if all this player's rings are on the target area then this player takes back all his isolated rings and removes all mixed linked clusters from the target area, and the rings taken back can be reused; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are rings with substantially the same size and weight; each group has 6 rings; all the rings in the same group have the same color and different groups of rings have different colors; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends when a player's total points reach or exceed 21; said scoring rule is that score points only right after a throw, only pure linked clusters can be awarded points; and a pure linked cluster of N projectiles is counted as 0.5*N*(N−1) points, where * denotes math multiplication; said retrieving rule is that after a throw and scoring is done remove all linked clusters from a target area if any, and at the beginning of a player's turn if all this player's rings are on the target area then this player takes back all his isolated rings from the target area, and the rings taken back can be reused; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1  further includes a winning rule specifying under what condition a team or teams are winners. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1  further includes markers for marking standing areas. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  further includes a winning rule specifying under what condition a team or teams are winners, and markers for marking standing areas. 
   
   
       11 . Method B of playing toss game for at least two teams, the toss game has a criterion distance of standard clusters and a set of rules including (1) turn ending rule specifying under what condition a turn ends, (2) game ending rule specifying under what condition a game ends, (3) scoring rule specifying whether scoring points is required, when and how to score points and (4) retrieving rule specifying whether taking back one or more thrown projectiles is required, when and how to taking back thrown projectiles, and whether the projectiles taken back can be reused, comprises, but not necessarily in the order of the steps of
 (a) preparing, which includes, but not necessarily in the order of: 1) choosing a playing surface, 2) dividing said playing surface into two or more areas and specifying what area or areas are standing areas and what area or combination of some areas is target area, 3) for each player, determining which standing area this player should stand and throw projectiles, 4) providing plurality of projectiles, all players share all said projectiles, and 5) determining a playing order,   (b) throwing a projectile from a standing area onto said target area to make this thrown and already stationary projectile touch or close to one or more projectiles already on the target area for forming one or more standard clusters, or to make the thrown projectile lie on a desired spot within the target area,   (c) scoring points according to said scoring rule if scoring is required by the said scoring rule after a throw and if there is at least one standard cluster on the target area,   (d) taking back one or more projectiles from the target area according said retrieving rule if retrieving is required by the said retrieving rule after a throw,   (e) determining whether current turn ends according to said turn ending rule, if current turn ends then pass the turn to the next player according to said playing order, otherwise the player on current turn continues to play,   (f) scoring points according to said scoring rule if scoring is required by the said scoring rule at this point and if there is at least one standard cluster on the target area,   (g) taking back one or more projectiles from the target area according said retrieving rule if retrieving is required by the said retrieving rule at this point,   (h) repeating (b) through (g) until the game ending condition of the game ending rule is satisfied,   (i) scoring points according to said scoring rule if scoring is required by the said scoring rule at this point.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are 12 rings with substantially the same size and weight; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends if a linked cluster consisting of three or more rings is completed or if all rings are thrown; said scoring rule is that no scoring is required; said retrieving rule is that no retrieving is required; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are 12 rings with substantially the same size and weight; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends if all rings are thrown; said scoring rule is that score points only right after a throw; if a throw results that the number of rings of all linked clusters increases by N then the thrower gains N points, where N is a positive integer; said retrieving rule is that no retrieving is required; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are 12 rings with substantially the same size and weight; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends after a throw; said game ending rule is that a game ends when a winning pattern is completed, the winning patterns are a) one linked cluster pattern that is a linked cluster consisting of four or more rings, b) two linked cluster pattern that has two linked clusters, one of which consists of two or more rings and the other of which consists of three or more rings and c) three linked cluster pattern that has three linked clusters, each of which consists of two or more rings; said scoring rule is that no scoring is required; said retrieving rule is that take back all isolated rings from the target area only when all rings are thrown onto the target area, and the rings taken back can be reused; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the number of teams is two and each team has only one payer; said projectiles are 12 rings with substantially the same size and weight; said playing surface is divided into a standing area and a target area; all players should throw rings from the same standing area onto the target area; said criterion distance of standard clusters is 0 and said standard clusters are linked clusters; said turn ending rule is that a turn ends if a throw does not result any linked cluster; said game ending rule is that a game ends if a player's total points reach or exceed 21; said scoring rule is that score points only right after a throw and a linked cluster of N rings is counted as 0.5*N*(N−1) points, where * denotes math multiplication; said retrieving rule is that right after a throw and when scoring is done remove all linked clusters from a target area if any, and if all rings are on the target area after a turn ends then take back all rings from the target area, the rings taken back can be reused; the playing order is that toss a coin to determine who plays first and two players play alternately. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 11  further includes a winning rule specifying under what condition a team or teams are winners. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 11  further includes markers for marking standing areas. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 11  further includes a winning rule specifying under what condition a team or teams are winners, and markers for marking standing areas. 
   
   
       19 . A apparatus of playing toss game comprising plurality of projectiles each of which is used as a target after being thrown onto a target area and only using projectiles as targets, if wrap any one of said projectiles from outside with a layer of thread then this wrapped projectile looks flat. 
   
   
       20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein said projectiles are rings and said rings are further divided into plurality of groups, the rings in the same group have the same color and the rings from different groups have different colors.