Surprise action game

A multiple-station surprise action game apparatus comprising:

• a base in the form of a housing;
• a plurality of player stations spaced from each other around the base and having the form of operable doorways for outward passage of an object;
• an object-projecting mechanism within the housing and capable of projecting an object at and through any one of said player stations;
• means, operatively associated with the object-projecting mechanism, for setting said mechanism on a random or apparently random basis so that the mechanism will project, when the mechanism is activated, an object at only one of said player stations, the identity of said only one player station being concealed from the players;
• and
• means, operatively associated with said mechanism, for activating said mechansim to project said object at said only one player stations;
• wherein said doorways each comprise an open door frame and an associated door pivotally mounted in the door frame said doors being hingedly supported at their upper ends and hung downward therefrom.

A multiple-station surprise action game apparatus comprising:

• a base having the form of a housing;
• a plurality of player stations spaced from each other around the base and having the form of operable doorways for outward passage of an object;
• an object-projecting mechanism within the housing and capale of projecting an object at and through any one of said player stations, the orientation of said mechanism in relation to the player stations being concealed from all of the players;
• means, operatively associated with the object-projecting mechanism, for manula manipulation by any of the players, while the orientation of said mechanism remains concealed from all of the players, to set said mechanism on a random or apparently random basis so that the mechanism will project, when the mechanism is activated, an object at only one of said player stations;
• and
• means, operatively associated with said mechanism, for activating said mechanism to project said object at said only one player station;
• wherein said manual-manipulation means include indexing means for controlling the movement of the mechanism to proceed in one direction only and by increments equal to the distance between player stations even though the orientation of said mechanism remains concealed from all of the players.

A multiple-station surprise action game apparatus comprising:

• a base in the form of a housing;
• a plurality of player stations spaced from each other around the base and having the form of operable doorways for outward passage of an object;
• an object-projecting mechanism within the housing and capable of projecting an object at and through any one of said player stations;
• means, operatively associated with the object-projecting mechanism, for setting said mechanism on a random or apparently random basis so that the mechanism will project, when the mechanism is activated, an object at only one of said player stations, the identity of said only one player station being concealed from the players;
• and
• means, operatively associated with said mechanism, for activating said mechanism to project said object at said only one player station;
• wherein said setting means include indexing means for controlling the movement of the mechanism to increments equal to the distance between player stations, and also include index release means for releasing the indexing means so that the setting means can move freely for randomly setting the position of the mechanism.

A method of carryout a multiplayer surprise action game, comprising the steps of:

• a. arranging a plurality of players spaced around an object-projecting mechanism, each player thereby defining a player station, the mechanism being capable of aiming at each of the stations;
• b. causing the mechanism to randomly or apparently randomly aim at only one of the stations without revealing which only one station to the players;
• c. allowing added time after said aiming for the players to take desired action regarding the game;
• d. only then activating the projecting mechanism to project an object at said only one station;
• and
• e. taking action in the game based on which station was said only one station.

A multiple-station surprise action game apparatus comprising:

• a base;
• a plurality of player stations spaced from each other around the base;
• an object-projecting mechanism supported from the base and capable of projecting an object at any one of said player stations;
• means, operatively associated with the object-projecting mechanism, for setting said mechanism on a random or apparently random basis so that the mechanism will project, when the mechanism is activated, an object at only one of said player stations, the identity of said only one player station being concealed from the players;
• and
• means, operatively associated with said mechanism, for activating said mechanism to project said object at said only one player station;
• wherein said setting means include indexing means for controlling the movement of the mechanism to increments equal to the distance between player stations, and also include index release means for releasing the indexing means so that the setting means can move freely to randomly setting the position of the mechanism.