Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/473

 The Game ofykKe

���ROMANCE and fable say there is a pot of gold at the end of the rain- " bow. Here is a description of a new game bearing that name, in which are combined the elements of chance and skill. It is an open-air as well as an in- door game, and aside from the actual sport of putting the shots great interest is excited in figuring up and combining the counts which are available in the game.

The regulation target for outdoor sport is y}/2 ft. long and 4 ft. wide, ipounted on posts 2 ft. high. The in- door target is 3 ft. long by 20 ins. wide. On the background thus provided is painted the segment of a rainbow, the outer rim of which describes an arc of a circle 6 ft. in diameter. The arcs of circles which represent the seven colors of the rainbow, are 4 in. apart, and these are numbered successively from the red band 5 to the violet band 35.

This rainbow field is divided by radial bars, each being i^ in. wide, and 3i in. thick. There are thus five segmental spaces, the middle one being numbered 50, the two on opposite sides 30 and 40 respectively, and the extremities 10 and 20. The projectile is an adaptation of the old leather "sucker" with which boys are familiar. The stem is a turned piece of soft wood, ^ in. in diameter and 14 in. long. A short section of lead pipe is driven on one end, and a rubber sucker disk, dished as shown, is secured to the end of the stem by means of a large-headed tack. The lead ring serves two purposes, to give the necessary weight to the end of the stem and to prevent the end from splitting when the tack is driven in.

It should be observed — for this is one of the features of the game — that the

��diameter of the disk is not great- er than the width of the ra- diating strips which run across the rainbow. The throwing

device is a tube 2 ft. long, with a bore of the proper size to receive the stem. The rear end of the stem has an annular groove, and a hole is made through the wall of the tube to coincide with the location of the groove when the stem is in the tube. A trigger is hinged 'to the tube midway between its ends, one end thereof having an in-turned bend, so it will enter the hole in the tube and rest in the groove of the stem, while the rear end of the trigger is w^ithin reach of the forefinger of the thrower when it is grasped by the handle of the tube.

The ability to release the projectile at the proper time by pressing the trigger is only one of the fine points of the game, but this is soon acquired, as well as the speed with which the missile is thrown. The counting system may be varied by the players, but the approved plan is here outlined. As each projectile has a certain number its striking posi- tion on the target is an important factor. Assuming that the stem numbered 4 is thrown, and strikes and sticks on the blue at A the value of the blue is 25, which, multiplied by 4, equals 100; but being in the sector space 40, it must be diminished by that number, leaving 60 as the result. If the shot had landed on the blue in the sector 10, the result would have been 90. If in sector 50 the result would be 50. The rule of the game, therefore, is as follows: Multiply the value of the rainbow color with the

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