Ring-swing skill game

In a ring-swing skill game for one or two players comprising an upright game console having a front game play side, a rotatable target hook projecting from the front game play side of said console, an elongated boom projecting forwardly from the upper portion of said console, an elongated flexible member suspended from the outer free end of said boom, and a ring affixed to the lower free end of said said flexible member for swinging movement toward said game console by one or two players during game play to attain hooking engagement of said ring with said target hook, the improvement comprising:

• a) an electrically powered programmable computer board including game scoring circuitry means and progressive score accumulating means, said computer board located within said console and electrically interconnected to said ring through said boom and said flexible member and said hook for detecting and recording ring contacts with, and ring catches by, said hook as scoring events during ring-swing game play and for accumulating the progressive scores of said one or two players;
• b) electronic game score light emitting diode display means located on the front game play side of said console and interconnected to said computer board for indicating accumulated numeric score values to said one or two players during game play;
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• c) hook rotating means electrically interconnected to said computer board for rotating said hook from a pre-game position with the hook opening of said hook in a fixed vertical downward orientation to a first skill level position during game play with said hook opening in a fixed vertical upward ring catch orientation and for rotating said hook to said pre-game position upon conclusion of game play.

In a coin-operated ring-swing skill game for one or more players comprising an upright game console having a front game play side, at least one rotatable target hook projecting from the front game play side of said console, an elongated boom projecting from the upper portion of the front game play side of said console, an elongated flexible member suspended from the outer free end of said boom, and a ring affixed to the lower end of said flexible member for swinging movement toward said game console by one or more players during game play to attain hooking engagement of said ring with said at least one target hook, the improvement comprising:

• a) an electrically powered programmable computer board mounted within said console, said computer board including scoring circuitry means and progressive score accumulating means for said one or more players, said computer board being electrically interconnected to said ring via said flexible member and to said at least one hook for detecting and recording ring contacts with, and ring catches by, said at least one hook as scoring events by said one or more players during ring-swing game play and for accumulating the progressive scores of said one or more players;
• b) electronic game score light emitting diode display means located on the front game play side of said console and interconnected to said computer board for indicating accumulated numeric score values attained by each of said one or more players during game play;
• c) electronic light emitting diode display means located on the front game play side of said console and interconnected to said computer board for indicating the highest previous game score attained by an individual player as recorded in the memory of said computer board;
• d) hook rotation means electrically interconnected to said computer board for rotating said at least one target hook from a pre-game position with the hook opening in fixed vertical downward orientation to a first skill level position during game play with the hook opening in fixed vertical upward ring catch orientation and for rotating said at least one target hook to said pre-game position upon conclusion of game play;
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• e) means associated with said console for coin reception, coin acceptance or rejection, rejected coin return, and accepted coin storage with said means electrically interconnected to said computer board to initiate game play based upon the recognition by said computer board of the acceptance of said means of an appropriate number of acceptable coins.

In a ring-swing skill game comprising an upright game console having a front game play side, a rotatable target hook projecting from the front game play side of said console, a boom projecting forwardly from the upper portion of the front game play side of said console, an elongated flexible member suspended from the outer end of said boom, and a ring affixed to the lower end of said flexible member for swinging movement thereof by a game player toward said console in an attempt to attain hooking engagement of said ring with said hook, the improvement comprising:

• a) means for rotating said hook from a pre-game position with the opening of said hook positioned in a vertical downward orientation to a game play position with the opening of said hook positioned in a vertical upward ring catch orientation, said means for rotating said hook from said pre-game position to said game play position being activated by sensing means responsive to ring-grasp by a game player;
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• b) means for rotating said hook from said game play position to said pre-game position following game play attempts by said player to attain hooking engagement of said ring with said hook, said means for rotating said hook from said game play position to said pre-game position being activated by delay timing means responsive to the release of said ring by said player and swinging movement thereof toward said console.