Water game apparatus

Abstract

A water game apparatus having a buoyant seat platform with seats on opposing ends and handles on opposing sides to enables game participants to sit on the two opposing seats while other game participants jostle and rock the seat platform by holding onto and moving the handles. The game players try to maintain their balance and remain on the buoyant seat platform while being bucked and jostled. The last game player to remain on the buoyant seat platform is the winner. The seats may be concave depressions in the buoyant seat platform to provide some support of the game players and to prevent them from simply siding off the platform. The handles may be embedded in the seat platform of configured in a channel formed by a seat portion and water portion of an assembly. The water contact surface may be convex in shape from side to side.

Claims

1. A water game apparatus consisting of: a) a buoyant seat platform comprising: i) a length extending along a centerline axis from a first end to a second end; ii) a width extending along a midline axis from a first side to a second side; iii) a player surface extending from said first end to said second end and from the first side to the second side and having a first seat configured proximal to said first end and a second seat configured proximal to the second end; wherein each of the first seat and second seat-consists of a seat depression in the player surface having a seat depression depth of between 10 mm and 50 mm; and wherein the first seat and the second seat are configured for a first player sitting in said first seat to face a second player sitting in said second seat by the seat depression of each the first seat and the second seat being deeper proximal to the respective first end and second end of the buoyant seat platform than said midline; wherein the player surface is planar except for the first seat depression of the first seat and the second seat depression of the second seat; iv) a water surface opposing said player surface and having a convex surface; b) a first-side handle configured along the first side; and c) a second-side handle configured along the second side; d) a first side handle support; and e) a second side handle support; wherein the first-side handle is a monolithic handle and comprises a first-side first-end handle segment extending from a first end of the first side handle support and a first-side second-end handle segment extending from a second end of the first side handle support; wherein the second-side handle is a monolithic handle and comprises a second-side-first-end handle segment extending from a first end of the second side handle support and a second-side-second-end handle segment extending from a second end of the second side handle support; wherein the first-side first-end handle segment and the first-side second-end handle segment extend across handle recesses of the buoyant seat platform that extend in toward the centerline axis on opposing sides of the first side handle support, wherein the first side handle extends between the player surface and the water surface of the buoyant seat platform; and wherein the second-side first-end handle segment and the second-side second-end handle segment extend across handle recesses of the buoyant seat platform that extend in toward the centerline axis on opposing sides of the second side handle support, wherein the second side handle extends between the player surface and the water surface of the buoyant seat platform.

2. The water game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the convex surface of the water surface extends a depth of at least 30 mm from the first side and the second side.

3. The water game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first-side handle extends through the first side handle support, and wherein the second-side handle extends through the second side handle support.

4. The water game apparatus of claim 3, wherein the seat depression of the first seat and second seat each have a depression depth of at least 20 mm.

5. The water game apparatus of claim 1, wherein seat depression of the first seat and second seat each have a depression depth of at least 20 mm.

6. The water game apparatus of claim 5, wherein the buoyant seat platform is made of foam.

7. The water game apparatus of claim 1, wherein the buoyant seat platform is made of foam.

8. The water game apparatus of claim 7, wherein the buoyant seat platform consists essentially of foam.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a water game apparatus in a body of water with a first sitting player, a second sitting player, a first rocking player, and a second rocking player.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a top view of a water game apparatus and defines the view of FIG. 3 by the line 3-3.

(4) FIG. 3 shows the front cross-section view of the water game apparatus defined by line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

(5) FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a water game apparatus with a cutaway section showing the interior of the water game apparatus.

(6) FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of a seat portion, a water portion, a first-side handle, and a second-side handle of a water game apparatus.

(7) FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of the seat portion taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 5 and shows the seat portion first channel and seat portion second channel.

(8) Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the figures. The figures represent an illustration of some of the embodiments of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. Further, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

(9) As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Also, use of “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

(10) Certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein and are illustrated in the accompanying figures. The embodiments described are only for purposes of illustrating the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention, and certain modifications, combinations and improvements of the described embodiments, will occur to those skilled in the art and all such alternate embodiments, combinations, modifications, improvements are within the scope of the present invention.

(11) As shown in FIG. 1, a water game apparatus 10 includes of a buoyant seat platform 20, a first-side handle 50, and a second-side handle 60. The buoyant seat platform 20 has a first end 30 opposite a second end 32, and a first side 34 opposite a second side 36. The buoyant seat platform further has a player surface 40 on which are located a first seat 42 and a second seat 44. Opposite the seat platform 40 is a water surface 46 which contacts a body of water 108 in which the water game apparatus 10 is implemented.

(12) The first-side handle 50 is configured on the first side 34 of the buoyant seat platform 20, and the second-side handle 60 is configured on the second side 36 of the buoyant seat platform 20. Portions of both the first-side handle 50 and the second-side handle 60 are configured within handle recesses 68, 68′, 68″, and 68′ Handle recesses 68 and 68′ are configured on the first side 34, and handle recesses 68″ and 68″ are configured on the second side 36.

(13) The first-side handle 50 is held by a first rocking player 104, who is in the body of water 108 near the first side 34 of the water game apparatus 36. The second-side handle 60 is held by a second rocking player 106, who is in the body of water 108 near the second side 36 of the water game apparatus 10. A first sitting player 100 is seated in the first seat 42 on the player surface 40. A second sitting player 102 is seated in the second seat 44 on the player surface 40. The first rocking player 104 and the second rocking player 106 are facing each other when holding the first-side handle 50 and second-side handle 60, respectively. The first sitting player 100 and the second sitting player 102 are facing each other when seated in the first seat 42 and second seat 44, respectively.

(14) As shown in FIG. 2, the first end 30 and second end 32 of the buoyant seat platform 20 are separated by a length 26. A centerline axis 22 spans the length 26 between the first end 30 and second end 32. The first side 34 and second side 36 of the buoyant seat platform are separated by a width 28. A midline axis 24 spans the width 28 between the first side 34 and second side 36. The midline axis 24 is perpendicular to the centerline axis 22. The first seat 42 and the second seat 44 are configured on the player surface 40, and are on opposite sides of the midline axis 24. The first seat 42 is near the first end 30, and the second seat 44 is near the second end 32. The first-side handle 50 and second-side handle 60 extend parallel with the centerline axis 22, or put another way, extend in alignment with the centerline axis direction.

(15) The first-side handle 50 has a first-side first-end handle segment 52 and a first-side second-end handle segment 54. The first-side first-end handle segment 52 is configured within a handle recess 68, and is configured on the first side 34 near the first end 30. The first-side second-end handle segment 54 is configured within a handle recess 68′, and is configured on the first side 34 near the second end 32.

(16) The second-side handle 60 has a second-side first-end handle segment 62 and a second-side second-end handle segment 64. The second-side first-end handle segment 62 is configured within a handle recess 68″, and is configured on the second side 36 near the first end 30. The second-side second-end handle segment 64 is configured within a handle recess 68′″, and is configured on the second side 36 near the second end 32.

(17) The first-side first-end handle segment 52 and the first-side second-end handle segment 54 are on opposite sides of the midline axis 24 from one another. The second-side first-end 62 handle segment and the second-side second-end handle segment 64 are on opposite sides of the midline axis 24 from one another. The first-side first-end handle segment 52 and the second-side first-end handle segment 62 are on opposite sides of the centerline axis 22 from one another. The first-side second-end handle segment 54 and the second-side second-end handle segment 64 are on opposite sides of the centerline axis 22 from one another.

(18) As shown in FIG. 3, the water surface 46 of the buoyant seat platform 20 is opposite the player surface 40 of the buoyant seat platform 20. The water surface 46 is a curved surface and is a convex surface having depth 82 and extending from the first side 34 to the second side 36.

(19) As shown in FIG. 4, the water game apparatus 10 is a water game apparatus assembly 70 having a buoyant seat platform 20 that is constructed from a seat portion 72 and a water portion 80. The seat portion has a seat portion seat surface 74, which is the same surface as the player surface 40 of the buoyant seat platform 20. The water portion has a water portion water surface 46, which is the same surface as the water surface 46 of the buoyant seat platform 20.

(20) The seat portion 72 has a seat portion mating surface 76 opposite the seat portion seat surface 74. The water portion 80 has a water portion mating surface 84 opposite the water portion water surface 46. The seat portion mating surface 76 and the water portion mating surface 84 mate to form the buoyant seat platform 20. The first-side handle 50 and the second-side handle 60 are configured between the seat portion 72 and water portion 80 within a first full channel and a second full channel (not shown in FIG. 4), respectively.

(21) Also as shown in FIG. 4, a cover 38 may be implemented around the buoyant seat platform 20. The cover 38 may extend over and/or encapsulate the buoyant seat platform 20, and/or may extend over the player surface 40, water surface 46, first end 30, second end 32, first side 34, and second side 36. The first-side first-end handle segment 52, first-side second-end handle segment 54, second-side first-end handle segment 62, and second-side second-end handle segment 64 are exposed from the cover 38.

(22) Also as shown in FIG. 4, the first seat 42 comprises a first seat depression 43 that is a recess in the player surface 40. The second seat 44 comprises a second seat depression 45 that is a recess in the player surface 40. The recess may extend down a recess depth from the otherwise planar player surface 40 of the buoyant seat platform 20.

(23) Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a water game apparatus assembly 70 of a water game apparatus 10 has a seat portion 72 and a water portion 80 that are coupled together around the first-side handle 50 and the second-side handle 60. The seat portion 72 has a seat portion seat surface 74 and a seat portion mating surface 76 opposite the seat portion seat surface 74. The water portion 80 has a water portion water surface 46 and a water portion mating surface 84. The water portion mating surface 84 may mate with the seat portion seat mating surface 76 when the water game apparatus assembly 70 is assembled. A water portion first channel 86 and a water portion second channel 88 are configured on opposite sides of the water portion mating surface 84. The seat portion 72 also has a seat portion first channel 78 and a seat portion second channel 79 configured on the seat portion mating surface 76, as shown in FIG. 6. When the water game apparatus assembly 70 is assembled, the seat portion first channel 78 and water portion first channel 86 align to form a first channel that is configured around and retains the first-side handle 50. Likewise, the seat portion second channel 79 and the water portion second channel 88 align to form a second channel that is configured around and retains the second-side handle 60. A first-side handle support 35 extends around the single monolithic first-side handle 50 to provide additional support of the handle and to also produce the first-side first-end handle segment 52 and first-side second-end handle segment 54. Likewise, a second-side handle support 37 extends around the single monolithic second-side handle 60 to provide additional support of the handle and to also produce the second-side first-end handle segment 62 and second-side second-end handle segment 64. The first-side handle 50 and a second-side handle 60 may have collars configured to extend over the channels produced by the assembly of the seat portion 70 and water portion 80. The first-side handle 50 has a first-side first-end handle segment 52 and a first-side second-end handle segment 54. The second-side handle has a second-side first-end handle segment 62 and a second-side first-end handle segment 64.

(24) It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Specific embodiments, features and elements described herein may be modified, and/or combined in any suitable manner. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications, combinations and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.