Apparatus and method of playing a building game against an opponent. The apparatus may include a podium for building a structure with stackable materials such as building blocks. The apparatus may also include an actuator that allows a first player to blow up a second players structure if the first player builds his or hers first. The Build or Boom game may simply utilize air chambers and a tube but is also capable of utilizing electrical and mechanical means to perform the same functions.

In a system having multiple coupling elements configured for single-handed coupling and single-handed de-coupling, each coupling element includes a body portion defining an opening and having a base configured to be free-standing. The body portion has an outer limb defining a hook member and at least one slot formed therein, the respective slot of a second initially free-standing coupling element being accessible to the respective hook member of a first suspended coupling element or vice versa. The coupling elements being configured so that mutual points of contact between the first and second coupling elements are maintained during both lifting and lowering the second coupling element thereby facilitating a one-handed intercoupling or decoupling operation with respect to a free standing coupling element disposed upright on a horizontal support surface.

An apparatus for shape and color matching retrieval games to be played in a body of water, such as a swimming pool, includes base stations, cover panels, and retrieval objects that players retrieve from the body of water during play of the game. The base provides a support to which cover panels can be removably affixed. The base and the cover panels each have on their top surfaces a series of position markers in the nature of slots formed in various geometric shapes. Each base and cover panel has a subset of retrieval objects matched in shape and/or color to its respective position markers. A method is provided for playing different versions of retrieval games using the base and the cover panels.

A device is provided for receiving projectiles and creating a pattern. The device includes a plurality of hoops arranged in parallel and configured to receive the projectiles. A two-dimensional grid could be providedacross a plurality of channels of the device, or on a display of the devicein order to display the projectiles received by the plurality of hoops. In some examples, projectiles may be received by a plurality of channels, and the pattern is created within the channels and is viewable through apertures across the channels. In other examples, sensors may be used to determine when a projectile has passed through one of the hoops, and indicators may be displayed in corresponding vertical columns of a two-dimensional grid on a display.

A device is provided for receiving projectiles and creating a pattern. The device includes a plurality of hoops arranged in parallel and configured to receive the projectiles. A two-dimensional grid could be providedacross a plurality of channels of the device, or on a display of the devicein order to display the projectiles received by the plurality of hoops. In some examples, projectiles may be received by a plurality of channels, and the pattern is created within the channels and is viewable through apertures across the channels. In other examples, sensors may be used to determine when a projectile has passed through one of the hoops, and indicators may be displayed in corresponding vertical columns of a two-dimensional grid on a display.

A compact mechanical toy is provided. The toy is a base coupled to several stacks including multiple story and a plurality of movable disks. The toy includes a first part including one stack having different shaped stories that go from largest to smallest starting from the bottom which fits any one of the disks at one time. The toy further includes a second part movable disks coupled to the first part, the second part including complex embodied cavity shaped to fit each of the plurality of movable disks that matches all multiple stories attributes in a certain order. The object of the game is to move each of the plurality of disks from a first stack to the opposite stack.

A system and method for operation of a game in which teams of players attempt to negotiate through a track of rooms, or several tracts of rooms. Teams attempt to progress through the track by solving problems presented in each room thereby earning access to a following room, until the team completes a track comprising several rooms. A control system is operable to control flow of teams from room to room, and to control presentation of problem solving activities to the teams, and to interpret data from the rooms to assess the performance of the team, and grant access to a following room or to bar access to a following room and/or eject the team from the room to start over on the track.

A building and demolition game apparatus includes a base, a plurality of rectangular block elements, a monitoring unit, a game control unit and a force generating unit. The base has an assembly platform located on an upside of the base. The rectangular block elements layered to form a tower, which is stood on the assembly platform. The tower has upper and lower layers held by frictional coupling between the layers. The tower height increases during game play by removing block elements from one or more lower layers to build up successive upper layers upon the assembly platform. The monitoring unit is disposed in the base to obtain at least two boundary conditions by continuously monitoring. The game control unit is disposed in the base to generate a control signal according to a predetermined threshold and the at least two boundary conditions. The force generating unit is disposed in the base and under the assembly platform. The force generating unit is applying a force forward to the assembly platform according to the control signal generated by the game control unit.

A vertically stacked educational building block device, which comprises a base, a building block base, a building block set and at least one picture card. The building block base comprises a bottom wall, several parallel and equidistantly arranged grid bars on two sides of top end of bottom wall, two sidewalls located at both ends of bottom wall and two top bars connected to the top end of grid bars and sidewalls. The building block device can be combined with a picture card to generate another game mode, which can be played by two persons together, so as to enhance the content and gameplay of the game, the building block game is more diversified, the fun of is enhanced, exciting the interest and benefit of play.

The inductive/capacitive coupling technology and the radio frequency identification devices (RFID) technology are applied to analyze the relative position of multiple RFID tagged objects located within a finite three-dimensional space. The RFID tags of the objects are read by an antenna at a series of resonance frequencies, with an effective reading range of the antenna changing as the resonance frequency changes. The spatial sequence of the objects is derived based on the information of multiple sets of RFID tags in multiple readings. The technology can be applied to a variety of toys and teaching tools, such as the Tower of Hanoi game.