Flick and Jump Magnetic Games
A toy action game where magnetic sticks work by maneuvering magnetic vehicles and riders from underneath a theme park constructed with minimal thickness, making the vehicles and riders look like they are moving under their own power. The vehicles and riders can be dragged around slowly and smoothly or can be flicked off a jump or towards a target with tremendous speed and are capable of launching over a hundred scale feet of air then landing and rolling it out. The magnetic sticks and jump plates are the key to the vehicle and rider's speed and accuracy.
The present invention has the ability to imitate real, full scale vehicles and rider's jumping techniques. The vehicles involved are non-motorized: skateboards, and motorized: dirt bikes, quad bikes, and monster trucks.
One technique: The Long Runway Technique requires a long runway on flat ground approach to a ramp. This allows the vehicle to gain high speed on the flat then to shut off the throttle at the base of the ramp then roll over the ramp face and peak edge for a safe, direction controlled jump.
Another technique: The Short Runway Technique involves a short run-up to the jump face. This technique demands that you accelerate all the way up the jump face then shut off the power to the rear wheel or wheels at the last split second before the rear wheel or wheels pass the peaked edge of the ramp. This technique can result in amazing jump distances, especially if the rear suspension is compressed on the way up the jump face and then suddenly released as the rear wheel passes the ramps peaked edge. This springs the vehicle upward and outwards adding height and overall distance to the jump. The last minute shut-off of power to the rear wheel prevents an unwanted front wheel high jump or flip upon take off.
This short runway technique is the most difficult and requires the most skill. But on some tracks can mean the difference between jumping over obstacles and saving time or not jumping and losing precious seconds resulting in slow lap times.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention allows the player to imitate a motorized and non-motorized vehicle's jumping techniques by the use of magnetic sticks and magnetic toy vehicles using flicking techniques assisted by jump plates.
For instance, involving the Long Runway Technique: a full jump plate is placed under the take off ramp allowing a straight by-pass without having to flick the vehicle free from the magnetic pull. This jump plate automatically separates the magnetic stick from a magnetic vehicle allowing the vehicle to smoothly and evenly roll over the entire jump face and peaked edge.
When imitating the Short Runway Jumping Technique there is no jump plate at all. The vehicle is flicked off at the last second at the peak of the jump face. This allows the vehicle to gain speed all the way up the jump face and then the stick twists at the last second as the vehicle reaches the peaked edge of the ramp as to flick the vehicle off giving a boosted send off.
The vehicles can have spring loaded rear axles to further propel their jumping distance just like a real Moto X rider doing a seat bounce jump, or a monster truck doing a ramp blast take off.
With the added variety offered by the skatepark's vert ramp hits and the quarter pipes non-vert hits that require their own flick off techniques, it becomes apparent that a wide array of action moves are possible with these magnetic sticks and magnet loaded vehicles.
For the most part this action is made possible by the exact magnetic pull formula allowing smooth action and enabling players to improve their skills at this toy action game.
Once a player has the feel for the magnetic pull and develops a skillful light touch, things start to happen. This sensitivity in “stick handling” is the breakthrough the player usually experiences by the second time he plays, and is able to achieve precise aim and controlled speed going into a move.
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- The bike and rider 47 on the right shows the stick 17 disconnected and the rear suspension un-weighted, revealing the ground clearance built into the keel 54 and balance wheels 55 are set high but keeps the bike and rider 47 from tipping over when free rolling and lets the bike appear to be leaned into a turn.
- This suspension loaded rear wheel (or wheels) concept can be built into all the magnetic vehicles 36, 18, 46, 47 shown in the drawings in
FIG. 34 and could be built into other toy vehicles as well. - This concept allows the player to imitate a dirt bike seat bounce jump, allowing the dirt bike and rider 47 to jump higher and farther while keeping the front wheel down.
Claims
1. A toy action game that has miniature magnet bottomed vehicles with riders that can be maneuvered around by magnetic tipped sticks from underneath a theme park constructed with minimal thickness where the vehicles can be dragged around slowly and smoothly or can be dragged off a jump or towards a target with speed and accuracy and is comprised of: a control stick with a short, right angled tip that houses a plastic encased magnet at its end; a control stick with a short, variable angled tip that houses a plastic encased magnet at its end; a control stick with a retractable plastic encased magnetic tip; a theme park constructed with minimal thickness and utilizing out of the way support legs; a jump plate to assist in flicking off vehicles; a magnetic target “rad stop”; a self-righting skateboard and rider with arms spread and round edged wheels; a self-righting quad bike and rider with extended elbows and round edged wheels; a self-righting monster truck with a roll bar and rounded edged wheels; a self-righting dirt bike and rider with extended elbows and balance wheels; a group of self-righting vehicles with wheels that are free rolling, precision rolling and non-steering; a group of self-righting vehicles with keels and magnets encased in plastic; a group of self-righting vehicles with a sprung rear axle and calculated ground clearance; a precise magnetic pull from stick to vehicle; an exact magnetic pull formula; manageable directional control when flicking off vehicles; uniquely shaped theme park attractions; rules for a points tally competition.
2. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said control stick has a short right angled tip that houses a plastic encased permanent or rare earth magnet at its end encased to prevent the magnet from coming out of the tip.
3. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said control stick has a short variable angle tip that houses a plastic encased permanent or rare earth magnet at its end to accommodate player's different stances or game table heights.
4. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said control stick has a retractable plastic encased magnetic tip that releases the magnet bottomed vehicles by pulling the trigger.
5. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said theme parks are constructed with minimal thickness so as not to stifle magnetic pull and the out of the way support legs allow un-obstructed sticking action beneath the entire surface of the theme park.
6. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said jump plates are used to assist in making it easier to flick off vehicles by gradually easing the magnetic pull between the magnetic stick and the magnetic bottomed vehicles as they are separated, without flicking.
7. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said magnetic targets or “rad stops” are placed about the theme park to aim at and are included in a points tally competition.
8. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said self-righting skateboard and rider has crouched, low center of gravity stance, arms spread for balance to serve as tip over stops to aid in self-righting, and the skateboard's wheels have rounded edges.
9. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said self-righting quad bike and rider have extended elbows that serve as roll points and rounded wheel edges, both contributing to self-righting.
10. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said self-righting monster truck has a roll bar to make the truck roll over in a crash to allow the keel weight and magnet bottom to self-right truck with rounded wheel edges that contribute as well.
11. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said self-righting dirt bike and rider has extended elbows that serve as roll points in a crash and flexible legged, balance wheels to keep the two wheeled vehicle upright.
12. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said group of self-righting vehicles have wheels that are free rolling, precision rolling and non-steering, contributing to a smooth, fast directional controlled send off.
13. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said group of self-righting vehicles have heavy weight keels and permanent or rare earth magnets that are encased in plastic so they don't come loose, both placed at a close proximity to the running surface.
14. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said group of self-righting vehicles have a sprung rear axle and wheels to enable the vehicles to jump higher and farther while keeping the front end down for smooth landings.
15. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said precise magnetic pull is achieved between the magnetic stick and the magnet bottomed vehicles allowing firmly held dragging yet easy flicking.
16. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said exact magnetic pull formula is arrived at by manipulating four variables: weight of the vehicle and rider, strength of the magnets, thickness of the running surface, and the total distance between the control stick and the vehicles's plastic encased magnets.
17. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said magnet bottomed vehicles are able to be flicked away from the magnet tipped stick with manageable directional control due to the precision, free rolling and non-steering wheels, the exact magnetic pull formula and jump plates for novices.
18. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said theme parks have the following uniquely shaped attractions: vert ramp sends board and rider strait up to come strait down and roll out, quarter pipe ramp sends the board and rider off towards different targets, rip curl ramp allows the board and rider to do an about face and barrel roll at the same time, recovery gutter and the monster truck stadium's recovery turns are shaped to collect the keel bottomed vehicles and roll them out through a tunnel to be picked up by the magnetic stick beneath the park surface while moving to keep them in play for the next move, and the jumps on the monster truck stadium and supercross stadium are engineered to allow a high success rate of staying upright throughout the jump by way of a level, sharp edged take off ramp and a level, round edged down side ramp.
19. A toy action game according to claim 1 wherein said competitions are possible with rules supplied for a points tally from named moves and “rad stop” hits executed successfully.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 22, 2009
Publication Date: Dec 23, 2010
Inventor: Steven J. Derrah (Portsmouth, RI)
Application Number: 12/488,678
International Classification: A63B 71/00 (20060101);