Alignment system for proper setting of game boards
View Patent ↗An arrangement for aligning a pair of game boards as used in a tossing game such as cornhole, the arrangement including alignment fiducials located along a center line of each game board and an alignment system that uses a marking line that uses the fiducials to achieve alignment (and perhaps also proper spacing) between the pair of game boards. The marking line of the alignment system may be either a laser-based source or a non-elastic weighted string source.
1. An arrangement for providing a defined placement between a pair of game boards used in playing a tossing game, the alignment system comprising
a pair of alignment fiducials formed on a top game surface of each game board, a first alignment fiducial disposed at a midpoint of a front edge of an associated game board and a second alignment fiducial disposed at a midpoint of a central opening formed through the top game surface;
an alignment system for releasably coupling to a first game board of the pair of game boards, the alignment system including a marking line extending outward along a first positioning location over the pair of alignment fiducials on the first game board to create alignment therebetween, the marking line further extending to the second game board of the pair of game boards and to a second positioning location over the pair of alignment fiducials on the second game board, so as to create alignment between the first game board and the second game board;
wherein the alignment system comprises a laser-based alignment system, including a laser light source for generating an output beam as the marking line.
2. The arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the laser-based alignment system further comprises a support member releasably attachable to the game surface of the first game board, where the laser light source is attached to the support member through a pivoting level plate, the pivoting level plate configured to direct the laser light source along the first positioning location in a first pivot state and along the second positioning location in a second pivot state.
3. The arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the laser-based alignment system further comprises a reflective telemetry configuration for measuring a spacing between the first game board and the second game board, the reflective telemetry configuration comprising
a reflective element mounted on the second game board and disposed to intercept the output beam from the laser light source and redirect it back to the laser-based alignment system;
a photodetecting device for receiving and measuring the redirected output beam; and
a processor, responsive to the photodetecting device for calculating time-of-flight information and determining the spacing between the first game board and the second game board.
4. The arrangement as defined in claim 3 , further comprising:
a first rotational mount disposed to support the first game board; and
a second rotational mount disposed to support the second game board, wherein the processor is responsive to a loss-of-signal output from the photodetecting device and is further configured to transmit a rotational control signal to the second rotational mount for readjusting the position of the position of the second game board with respect to the first game board until the photodetecting device again receives the redirected output beam, indicating that realignment is achieved.
5. The arrangement as defined in claim 1 , wherein the tossing game is a cornhole game using a pair of angled game boards.