Abstract: An inflatable ball for ball games comprises an outer ball having interconnected parts consisting of twelve equilateral pentagons (1) and twenty equiangular hexagons (2). Each pentagon (1) is enclosed by five hexagons (2) and at the location of the connection between a pentagon (1) and a hexagon (2) the sides connected to one another are of equal length. In order to minimize, and preferably reduce to zero, the difference in stress in the material of the hexagons (2) and pentagons (1) when the ball is in the inflated state, each of the hexagons (2) has three sides (a) of relatively great length connected to a pentagon (1), and three sides (b) of relatively small length connected to a hexagon (2), the length of the short sides (b) being at least 0.69 times the length of the long sides (a). Preferably, b=0.839 a.

Abstract: A game ball having a high end synthetic leather cover formed from a non-woven fiber mat impregnated with polyurethane. In one embodiment, the game ball is a football and the fibers in the backing of the cover material have a denier of about 0.1 or less. In another embodiment, the game ball cover has a dual layer coating to impart to the cover good pebble retention. The first layer has a Shore A hardness of at least about 65, and the second layer surrounding the first layer has a Shore A hardness lower than the hardness of the first layer. The game ball, which can be formed to meet association specifications, has properties of softness and durability comparable to those of a genuine full grain leather game ball.