Adjustable buoyancy ball and swimming pool game

Abstract

Apparatus and associated methods relate to a swimming pool game having a plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls and a plurality of floatable targets. Each of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls has a water-impervious shell that separates an inside cavity from an outside of the water-impervious shell. The water-impervious shell has a fluid passageway through which a gameplayer can selectively cause fluid transport between the outside of the water-impervious shell and the inside cavity. Each of the plurality of floatable targets has a closed geometrical shape that, when floating on a water surface, defines an inside region of the water surface and an outside region of the water surface. The inside region has an area that is large enough to permit the buoyancy-adjustable ball to reside therewithin.

1 . A swimming pool game comprising:
 a plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls, each having a water-impervious shell that separates an inside cavity from an outside of the water-impervious shell, the water-impervious shell has a fluid passageway through which a gameplayer can selectively cause fluid transport between the outside of the water-impervious shell and the inside cavity, thereby changing buoyancy thereof; and   a plurality of floatable targets, each of which having a closed geometrical shape that, when floating on a water surface, defines an inside region of the water surface and an outside region of the water surface, the inside region having an area that is large enough to permit the buoyancy-adjustable ball to float on the water surface therewithin.   
     
     
         2 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein the water-impervious shell has a translucent window, thereby providing visual indication of a water lever of water within the inside cavity. 
     
     
         3 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls has indicia that indicates a water level of water within the inside cavity. 
     
     
         4 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls has indicia of teams or game players. 
     
     
         5 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein the water-impervious shell of the buoyancy-adjustable ball is deformable such that a user can manually compress the buoyancy-adjustable ball from a natural undeformed configuration so as to express water from the inside cavity to outside the water-impervious shell when the valve in in the open position. 
     
     
         6 . The swimming pool game of  claim 5 , wherein the water-impervious shell is configured to elastically expand to the natural undeformed configuration in response to the user permitting expansion thereof, thereby permitting water transport into the inside cavity of the buoyancy-adjustable ball in response to the user manually compressing the buoyancy-adjustable ball and permitting expansion thereof underwater. 
     
     
         7 . The swimming pool of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls has raised texture on an outside surface of the water impervious shell, thereby facilitating manual gripping thereof by a user. 
     
     
         8 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls has a manual valve that a user can manually configure to an open position and a closed position, the open position permitting fluid transport through the fluid passageway, and the closed position not permitting fluid transport through the fluid passageway. 
     
     
         9 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of floatable targets includes a plurality of subsets of different sizes, the different sizes defining different areas of inside regions. 
     
     
         10 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of floatable targets includes a plurality of subsets having different closed geometrical shapes, the different closed geometrical shapes defining different areas of inside regions. 
     
     
         11 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of floatable targets includes a plurality of subsets having different indicia. 
     
     
         12 . The swimming pool game of  claim 1 , further comprising two boundary markers, each boundary marker configured to be located on opposite sides of a swimming pool so as to mark a boundary between a throw zone and a play area of the swimming pool. 
     
     
         13 . A method of game play using the swimming pool game of  claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:
 step 1) distributing the plurality of floatable targets upon the water surface;   step 2) adjust, by a first game player, buoyancy of a first of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls;   step 3) throwing, by the first game player, the first of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls into a swimming pool in an attempt to position the first of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls within the inside region of one of the plurality of floatable targets;   step 4) adjust, by a second game player, buoyancy of a second of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls;   step 5) throwing, by the second game player, the second of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls into a swimming pool in an attempt to either: i) position the second of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls within the inside region of one of the plurality of floatable targets; or ii) displace the first of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls to without the inside region of the one plurality of floatable targets in which it resides; and   repeating steps 2) and 5) until every one of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls have been thrown.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 scoring a round of game play, after every one of the plurality of buoyancy-adjustable balls have been thrown.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein buoyancy-adjustable balls that reside within the inside region of any of the plurality of floatable targets are given a score. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the score given to a buoyancy-adjustable ball corresponds to a score associated with the floatable target within which the buoyancy-adjustable ball resides. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein each of the plurality of floatable targets has an index indicating the score associated with the floatable target. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein a size of the floatable target is the index indicating the score associated with the floatable target. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein a score given to a buoyancy-adjustable ball that resides within inside region of a small one of the plurality of floatable targets is greater than a score given to a buoyancy-adjustable ball that resides within inside region of a large one of the plurality of floatable targets. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein a score given to a buoyancy-adjustable ball that resides within the inside region of two intersecting ones of the plurality of floatable targets is given a score corresponding to a sum of scores given for each of the two intersecting ones of the plurality of floatable targets.