Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a game, and more particular-
ly to a playing disc of unique construction for use in playing
a game.
Playing discs of various types for playing games are
well known in the art, such as poker chips, tiddly wink discs,
shuffleboard discs, and quoits.
Several lesser known playing discs of unique construc-
tion are disclosed in the following United States patents:
1,935,308 Baltzley November 14, 1933
3,201,128 Palovik August 17, 1965
3,573,869 Duckett April 6, 1971
3,610,621 Henry October 5, 1971
Although Baltzley, Palovik, and Henry disclose discs
having depressed central areas, nevertheless these discs do not
lend themselves to being arranged in a stable stack and simul-
taneously creating pockets of air capable of being compressed
upon the distortion of an upper disc in the stack.
It is therefore an object of this invention to pro-
vide a playing disc of unique construction for use in a unique
game.
The invention provides a playing disc adapted to be
stacked with other like discs for playing a game in which
another like playing disc is thrown at the stack, comprising
(a) a solid disc body of homogenous thermoplastic material hav-
ing parallel top and bottom faces, a circular edge, and a
generally uniform thickness, (b~ said bottom face being con-
tinuously coplanar, (c) a central depressed area in said top
face defining a bottom wall portion having a thickness less than
said uniform thickness of said body, (d~ said bottom wall por-
tion being more flexible than the remaining portions of said
disc body, said bottom wall portion being adapted to flex under
the impact of a playing disc thrown edge-wise against said
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bottom wall portion, (e) said top face comprising an annular,
continuously coplanar, rim, adjacent said edge, no portion of
said body projecting from said top face beyond the plane of
said annular rim, (f) a plurality of circumferentially spaced
recesses in said top face between said central depressed area
and said annular rim, (g) an annular wall of said uniform
thickness separating said recesses and said central depressed
area, the top of said annular wall being coplanar with said
rim, whereby the top of said annular wall and said coplanar rim
are adapted to seat flush against the bottom face of an adjacent
upper stacked playing disc to form air pockets between the
bottom face of an adjacent upper stacked playing disc and said
central depressed area and said recesses.
When another playing disc is thrown by a player so
that the edge of the thrown disc engages the top face of the
top disc on the stack, the impact of the thrown disc against
the top disc, and preferably against the central depressed area,
causes the bottom wall portion of the central depressed area to
flex downward thereby compressing the air trapped between the
bottom wall portions of the central depressed areas of the top
two adjacent discs. After the impact of the thrown d~sc upon
the top disc, the compressed air forces upward the top playing
disc to projec~ the top playing disc upward and over, away from
the stack.
The intermediate circumferentially spaced recesses
also provide miniature pockets of air which are also compressed.
Some of the compressed air in each of the recesses is retained
in that particular recess, while some of the compressed air
spills over the separating radially extending walls to distri-
bute the cornpressed air about the entire annular recessed area.
In the drawings which illustrate embodiments of the
invention,
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Figure 1 is a top plan view of a playing disc made
in accordance with this invention;
Figure 2 is a section taken along the lines 2-2 of
Figure l;
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Figure 3 is a top perspective view of a stack of playing
discs and another playing disc in the hand of the player in
position for being thrown down upon the stack;
Figure 4 is a side elevation of a stack of playing discs,
the upper disc being shown in section, and the thrown disc of
Figure 3 impacting the top playing disc to flex the bottom wall
portion of the central depressed area; and
Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, with the top
playing disc in a turned position projected from the stack.
Referring now to the drawings in more detail, the playing
disc 10 made in accordance with this invention is a unitary, pre-
ferably molded, solid disc body 11 of homogenous material, pre-
ferably thermoplastic material, having a slight elasticity, and
being "non-breakable". One form of thermoplastic material from
which the disc bodies 11 are made is polyethylene.
The disc body 11 is circular in shape and has substantial
uniform thickness, including a generally coplanar top face 12 and
a continuously coplanar bottom face 13, parallel to the plane of
the top face 12. The circular edge portion 14 is preferably
rounded, and in fact, semi-circular in cross-section.
The body 11 includes an annular rim face 15 continuously
coplanar, lying in the same plane as the general plane of the top
face 12, and lying adjacent the circular edge portion 14. The
rim face 15 is of sufficient radial extent that it will seat
flush against the corresponding portion of the bottom face 13 of
adjacent upper disc 10 in a stack 16 (Figures 3, 4 and 5).
A central depressed area 18 is formed concentrically in the
middle of the top face of the disc body 11. As disclosed in the
drawings, the central depressed area 18 is circular in plan view,
having a diameter about 3/8th of the overall diameter of the disc
body 11. More specifically, as disclosed in Figures 2, 4 and 5,
the central depressed area 18 has a spherical concave shape forming
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a bottom wall portion 19 relatively thin compared with the
thickness of the disc body 11, and being more flexible than
the disc body 11. The edge of the central depressed area 18
defines an annular wall 20 having a top face which is preferably
also coplanar with the rim face 15.
Between the annular wall 20 and the rim face lS is an
intermediate circumferential recess area 21, including a
plurality of circumferentially spaced recesses 22, each pair
of recesses 22 being separated by a substantially radially
extending divider wall 23. As best disclosed in Figures 2
and 4, the radial divider walls 23 have top faces which are
depressed below the plane of the top face 12, that is below the
plane of the rim face 15 and the annular wall 20. Some of these
divider walls 24 may be in the form of decorative symbols or
letters, such as the name of the game "KiNi,"illustrated in
Figure 1.
The structure of the play!ing disc 10 is particularly adapted
to play a particular game (referred to as "KiNi") in which a
plurality of the discs 10 are arranged in a vertical stack 16,
20 such as the six stacked discs 10 and 10' disclosed in Figures 3
and 4. The discs 10 in the stack are all arranged face up and
in vertical alignment so that all of the annular rim faces 15
seat flush against the corresponding portions of the bottom
face 13 of the adjacent upper discs 10, and all the central
depressed area 18 are also vertically aligned. Moreover, the
circumferential recessed areas 21 are in vertical alignment.
Thus, as best illustrated in Figure 4, air pockets are formed
between the bottom wall portions 19 and 19' of the depressed
areas 18 and 18' and confined air pockets are formed between
the various recesses 22 and the opposed bottom face portion 13
of adjacent discs 10. These air pockets 25 and 26 are completely
enclosed.
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In the game "KiNi," for which the disc 10 has been parti-
cularly designed, the player grasps in one hand 28 a throwing
disc 10-T, as illustrated in Figure 3, and throws the throwing
disc 10-T downward with great force, and as accurately as
possible, toward the stack 16. The object of the throw is to
strike the top face 12, and particularly the depressed area 18
oE the top disc 10' with an edge portion 14' of the disc 10-T,
as illustrated in Figure 4.
The impact of the disc 10-T against the bottom wall 19'
of the top disc 10' will force the flexible bottom wall portion
19' downward to compress the air within the pocket 25 between
the bottom wall portion 19' and the next lower bottom wall
portion 19~ Although the compressed air may tend to spread
readily outward to exhaust between the disc 10' and the next
lower disc 10, nevertheless, the intensity of the force of the
leading edge 14 of the throwing disc 10-T against the bottom
wall portion 19' will not give sufficient time for the compressed
air to exhaust radially. Accordingly, as the throwing disc
10-T falls away from the stack, the impact is immediately
relieved causing the compressed air within the pocket 25 to
immediately expand and exert an upward!force upon the top disc
lO'.Sin~e:it is practically impossible for the compressed air to
expand in a manner to produce a resultant upward force concentric
with the disc 10', the upward thrust will, of necessity, be
eccentric, causing the top disc 10' to be projected upwardly
and outwardly to flip over in a manner illustrated in Figure 5.
Since an object of this game is for the player to retain all
discs 10 disposed in upside down position, then the construction
of the discs 10 tend to assist in the production of the desired
action of the discs 10.
Of course, the force of the throwing disc 10-T against the
top disc 10' will produce other resultant forces which tend to
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set the stack 16. For example, the impact of the throwing
disc 10-T will create a bouncing or rebound action on the upper
disc 10 in the stack 16, as well as a radial sliding or slipping
action, also tending to upset the stack 16. Thus, the desired
results oE flipping any disc into an upside down position depends
upon the throwing skill of the player.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the central depressed area 18
also provides a depressed finger grip to assist the player in
holding the throwing disc 10-T for not only throwing the disc
10-T, but also for controlling the direction of throwing.
Upon impact of the throwing disc 10-T upon a top disc
10', the point of impact will usually be eccentric to the
vertical axis of the stack 10. Accordingly, the pockets 26 will
be compressed non-uniformly. Thus, if there is greater compres-
sion of air on one pocket 26 than another, then that particular
portion of the disc will receive a greater upward thrust upon
the expansion of the compressed air after the impace, also
facilitating the flipping of the top disc 10', such as illustra-
ted in Figure 5. Moreover, in order to distribute the compressed
air in the recess area 21, the divider walls 23 are of lesser
heights, so that some of the compressed air in the recesses 22
will spill over and flow over to other adjacent recesses 22.
However, because of the divider walls 23, albeit not of full
height, the greatest compressed air will be in the area closest
to the point of impact of the throwing disc 10-T. Since the
compressed air will be so great because of the force of the
impact and the minimal amount of air, the greater tilting effect
will be obtained by the distribution of the compressed air over
several adjacent recesses 22, than if confined to a single pocket
26 and single recess 22.
If the!divider walls 23 did not exist, then all of the
individual recesses 22 would merge into a continuous annual
recess, which would permit too much flow ~listribution of the
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compressed air around the intermediate recess area 21, thereby
diluting the effect of any upward thrust by the expanding
compressed air. The expanding compressed air in this case
would dissipate i~self throughout the entire annular recessed
area 21. In order to prevent dissipation of the compressed
air, there should be no outlets from the pockets 25 or 26 to
the outside oE the stack, and particularly radially between
the seated discs 10 and 10'. Thus, the rim must be continuously
solid and of uniform thickness throughout its circumference.
