Cooler with Recessed Game Surface for Multi-Game Portability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional coolers do not provide a single, integrated solution for storage and entertainment during outdoor occasions, as they require separate elements for each game, leading to inconvenience and additional carrying burdens.
Innovation Solution
A cooler with a removable top featuring a recessed game surface surrounded by side walls, equipped with movable game players and tubes that interact with game pieces, allowing for various games such as board games, pool, and other table games to be played directly on the cooler top, with optional storage for game elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate game elements are carried for each game, then game variety is improved, but carrying burden and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple game elements (game surface, side walls, game players, tubes, game pieces) into a single integrated cooler unit. The cooler top serves as both a lid and a game platform, eliminating the need to carry separate game boards and equipment. This merging approach directly resolves the contradiction by providing game variety through multiple playable configurations while reducing carrying burden to a single compact cooler.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooler is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a cooling device and as a platform for various games. The game surface can accommodate different game types (pool, hockey, chess, etc.) by reconfiguring the same physical components. This universal design allows one device to fulfill multiple functions, addressing the contradiction between game variety and carrying burden.
2Reliability
If game surface is recessed with side walls, then game piece containment is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The side walls are merged with the cooler's existing structure, serving dual purposes: they contain game pieces during gameplay and form part of the cooler's insulating structure. This integration means the containment function is achieved without adding separate structural elements, thus improving reliability while minimizing increases in device complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple game configurations are integrated, then entertainment value is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The game system is segmented into modular components that can be independently positioned and configured. Game players are mounted on movable tubes that can be adjusted to different positions, and game pieces can be placed in various starting positions. This segmentation allows users to reconfigure the same physical components for different games without complex mechanisms, maintaining ease of operation while providing multiple game configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
A cooler can include a game table formed in a top surface thereof. The game table can include a game surface surrounded by side walls about its perimeter for storage of the game elements and to prevent game elements, such as game balls, from escaping from the recessed game surface. The game surface can include elements for various games, including foosball, hockey, football, pool, craps, roulette, chess, checkers, backgammon or the like. In some embodiments, the game elements may be interchanged to provide multiple different games that can be played in the recessed gaming surface. In some embodiments, game players may be disposed on arms that extend across the game table in a manner similar to conventional foosball players. Such arms may be made removable to permit changing between game player-based games and games that can be played directly on the recessed surface.