Roofball

Details Roofball Roofball

1999-11-19

2001-07-10

Pierce, William M. (Department: 3711)

Games using tangible projectile

Playing field or court game; game element or accessory...

C473S524000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06257996

ABSTRACT:

This invention relates to sports and games, and in particular to a method of playing a game between two players using paddles, a ball, and a roof.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART
Games such as handball, paddleball, tennis and the like have been played for many years. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,563 to Heftler et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,774 to Nankivell; U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,289 to McAllister; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,589 to Adie et al. However, each of these games generally requires elaborate courts and equipment and the like, in order to be properly played.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,048 to Kienle describes a garage roof party game that can be played on a roof. However, the game uses traps that must be positioned on the roof that can be both difficult and dangerous to position and move. Additionally, Kienle does not offer the speed and agility of the court games previously described. A web site named “www.roofball.com” and another site entitled “www.gedcities.com/capitolhill/lobby/7049/ “ describe similar roof games. However, both of these games have very general and loose rules. For example, both games rely on only using one's hand to hit the ball once. Additionally, both games are very loose as to the specific types of roofs that can be used, and can be played on roofs of most shapes and sizes. Additionally, most roofs have obstructions thereon such as chimineys, and the like. Additionally, most roofs have gutters that can obstruct and redirect the balls. Thus these roof games are played on roofs that do not have any uniformity as to playing fields. Thus, these roof games would not allow players to compete fairly at different locations. For example, players using a low roof would have advantages over players using a steep high roof. Players having greater pitched roofs would play differently than roofs having a low pitch. The lack of consistent and uniform rules in both games would not allow the games to be fairly played for nationwide leagues, and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The first objective of the present invention is to provide a game that uses a roof as a playing surface for two players using paddles and a ball.
The second object of this invention is to provide for a roof game where the roof has a uniform pitch with no obstructions, and where gutters are either eliminated or covered.
A preferred embodiment A roofball game includes a roof having a 6/12 pitch with no moveable obstructions, with a ground plane in front of the roof having no moveable ground obstructions, a tennis ball, two players each carrying two paddles at least two players. The roof has either no gutters or covered gutters. Each paddle has a longitudinal grip of approximately 5 to 6 inches long, and a paddle head having a width of approximately 5 inches, a height of approximately 12 inches, and a thickness of approximately ¾ of an inch.
The rectangular roof playing surface has upper and front edges of approximately 50 feet across, left and rightside edges of approximately 25 feet with the front edge of the roof being approximately 8 feet from ground level.
The players decide who will first serve, which can be done by a coin toss. One player keeps serving until they either create a foul or fail to return a shot. The game is played by serving a ball from the first paddle of the first player to the pitched roof surface, bouncing the ball off the pitched roof surface to a location in front of a front edge of the roof surface to a second player having a second paddle, and having the second player returning the ball to the pitched roof surface with the second paddle. The server stands approximately 12 feet in front of a midportion of the front of the roof and hits the serving ball on one bounce off the first paddle. The returning player must hit the returning ball to the roof on no more than three bounces off the second paddle. Players can lose their serve or lose a point by fouling the ball. Either player interfering with the other player's shot such as standing in front of the player whose time is to hit the ball can cause a foul. Another foul occurs if either player extends their paddle over any edge of the roof. Still another foul can occur if the hit ball first lands on a gutter/roof edge on first bounce. Still another foul is if a player causes the hit ball to bounce over any edge of the roof except for the front edge. The play of an individual game continues until one of the players achieves at least ten points and is at least two points greater than the other player's score. The final winner is the first player to win three games
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment which is illustrated schematically in the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 561618 (1896-06-01), Sefton
patent: 1291464 (1919-01-01), Folliard
patent: 3597861 (1971-08-01), Gordon
patent: 4222563 (1980-09-01), Heftler et al.
patent: 4516774 (1985-05-01), Nankivell
patent: 5112048 (1992-05-01), Kienle
patent: 5236195 (1993-08-01), Rovnyak
patent: 5562289 (1996-10-01), McAllister
patent: 5630589 (1997-05-01), Adie et al.
History of Tennis, http://www.realtenis.gbrit.com/history.htm, Dec. 1999.*
Roofball, by Donald Sauter, wysiwyg://40/http://www.geocities.com/capitolHill/Lobby/7049/roofball.htm, Feb. 1999.*
Paulies Message 5804, Subject:RE: Roofball, http://majordomo.sps.edu/archive/paulies/5804, Jul. 1998.*
Letters to the Editor, Copyright 2000, The Washington Post Company, http://digitallibrary.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000=-7/0281-073000-idx.html, Jul. 2000.*
The Roofball Association-RBA, http;//www.roofball.com/index.html, Feb. 2000.*
The Ross Raiders Ride Again, By Krby Lindsay, copyright by The Seattle Press and Journalmaker Inc., http://www.seattlepress.com/1420-1.article, Jul. 1998.*
Roofball Website at Roofball.com, Bob Saeger, pp. 1-10, created Aug. 27, 1999.
Homepage website,www.geocities.com/capitolhill/7049, Donald Sauter, 9 pages.

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