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The 7 Most Absurd Inventions in the History of Alcoholism


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#3. The Worst Game in the World

Patent Application #US2004/0188942 A1
Mark Trokan's invented a "nonalcoholic beer-pong game system," so his other inventions must be a social network for Halo players and a flavorless inhaler with all the health benefits of regular bacon. The only other people to extract the horrible parts of something so precisely are cancer surgeons. The whole point of beer pong is getting drunk enough to engage in unhygienically sticking things into fluid with strangers.
Patenting this game means they want to sell it and are therefore insane. Drink pong is less sanitary than bobbing for apples after the Toxic Avenger.
The patent makes the usual polysyllabic attempts at intelligence, describing "a plurality of colored beer-pong balls" aimed at "frustoconical shapes." They also realize that sober beer pong misses the point of everything so hard it's almost an antimeaning of life, so they write challenges on the balls to add a "degree of edginess." They're the sort of humorless assholes who'd write "zany" in cold blood. When your invention is "something college students do, but stupider," it's not a patent, it's dangerous proof that the nurses let you have something as pointed as a pen.

#2. Beer Bottle Fruit Clip

Patent Application #US2011/0042343 A1
Jeffery Bartucci's patent reads like a dictionary cheating at Scrabble. He wants to patent keeping fruit wedges proximate a bottle spout using the distal end of a cantilevered containment arm, and when he describes his childhood he describes gustatorily investigating domicile coloration fluid.

This guy uses more steps to put fruit in a bottle than the Ghostbusters did to put ghosts in the Ecto-Containment Unit.
If you need mechanical assistance to put fruit in your beer, that's a level of impotence dick doctors don't have a word for yet. They only know that every time you fail to have sex you fade out of old photographs. The clip also has a smaller target market than giraffe leashes for dwarfs, because if you're prepared to make an effort to use special equipment for drinking, you've probably found a beer you can bear the taste of in the first place. Shoving citrus chunks into a bottle is how bartenders say, "We understand you desire our cheapest alcoholic water and have already placed vomit mops on standby."

That's not a clip, that's a kickass Need for Speed level.
A truly terrifying amount of design has gone into this thing. It's got more carefully artificial curves than Cher, and you'd have to drink several beers before considering using either. He's also designed more special-function variants of this equipment than the Batman.

I feel the sudden need to apologize to the inventor. And sleep with my dick in a safety deposit box.

#1. The Beer Belly

Patent Application #US2007/0056998 A1
The "system for beverage storage and concealment" is the exact same idea everyone who's ever paid for stadium beer has had. And Lee Tyler Olson is the worst inventor of all of them.
I'm really glad he's designing beer-smuggling equipment or I'd feel bad mocking the child with a newly discovered syndrome who drew this. I don't know if the U.S. Patent Office gives gold stars for effort, but that smiley face radiates such brain-damaged joy at his beer, body armor, carefully drawn abs and huge swinging dong that I'm seriously considering buying one forBrockway. It looks like a child drawing the worst father ever as a superhero, knowing that his parents love beer because that's what he had for amniotic fluid.
Our only proof that it wasn't drawn by a child is that a young boy would have been giggling too hard to finish scribbling a penis on the cover of a patent application. This design is actually a cunning strategy: By not threading the tube through the bag, and instead having you hunch over to suck on your own crotch, you gain several minutes of drinking time as security guards wait for police backup before even attempting to stop you.
There may be a few problems with prior art, but as we've seen, art is Olson's fatal weakness. The way this exact device was used in several comedies in the '80s and was already for sale before 2007 might also be an issue.
thebeerbelly.com
I often find that it's chiseled-jaw hunks who need to sneak drinks in public places. In the mirror.
The provisional application was made in 2005. Olson was working on this for over a year, and this was still the best he could do. Babies improve at drawing faster than that. He didn't even use a ruler. This may be the only patent application completed during product testing.
It's a tragedy, because the basic idea of body armor made with alcohol instead of Kevlar is sound: We've been threatened by sobriety far more often than by bullets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Patent Doc for The Beer Game

Patents


A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system comprises a plurality of colored beer-pong balls having printed messages thereon. Players toss or bounce one of the colored beer-pong balls across the full length of the table, attempting to successfully land the ball in one of a plurality of cups arranged in the form of a pyramid. In the event of a successful ball toss, substantially the entire contents of one or more cups must be consumed by a player from an opposing team, depending on the color of the ball; and the cup is removed from the pyramid. A successful ball toss additionally requires one or more players from an opposing team to carry out the directions printed on the beer-pong ball. Printed directions are tailored to meet the needs of the players, having a degree of edginess that varies directly with age groups into which players are categorized, whereby the directions are more risqu in game versions played by adult couples.
InventorMark Trokan
Current U.S. Classification273/342273/400
International Classification: A63F007/00

View patent at USPTO
Search USPTO Assignment Database

Referenced by

Patent NumberFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US7207565Jul 12, 2005Apr 24, 2007Bouncing ball board game
US7325807May 13, 2005Feb 5, 2008Beer pong table
US7516960Mar 23, 2007Apr 14, 2009Inflatable table
US8006980Apr 21, 2009Aug 30, 2011Big Dogg Pong LLCBeer pong table with cooling system
USD633948Oct 14, 2010Mar 8, 2011Hasbro, Inc.Cup game assembly

Claims

1. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players, comprising:

a. a distinctly colored beer-pong ball having at least one printed message thereon, said ball having a stain resistant, transparent coating;
b. a plurality of cups arranged in pyramidal form on opposing sides of a game table, each of said cups being filled with a non-alcoholic beverage;
c. first and second teams of players, each of said teams being provided with a set of said beer-pong balls, said set containing three balls bearing, respectively, a color that is RED, ORANGE and YELLOW;
d. a set of game rules, providing for at least one player of a team to toss or bounce at least one of said colored beer-pong balls across the length of the said game table in an attempt to land said colored beer-pong ball within one of said cups, whereupon, depending on the color of the ball, a successful attempt requires a player of the opposing team perform a first action, including (i) drinking substantially the entire contents of one or more cups, (ii) awarding from 0 to 2 or more prize points to the team whose player successfully tossed the ball, (iii) removing one or more cups, whose contents have been consumed, from that player's pyramid, and (iv) adding at least one cup to the opposing team's pyramid, and to execute a second action, as directed by a message printed on said colored beer-pong ball.
2. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said colored beer-pong ball has a stain resistant water repellant transparent polytetrafluoroethylene coating.
3. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said colored beer-pong ball has a stain resistant, water repellant, transparent, silicone coating covering substantially the entire exterior surface thereof.
4. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein each of said teams is categorized into one of a plurality of age groups and said printed messages have a degree of edginess that varies with ages of said age groups, whereby said printed messages are more risqu for age groups composed of adult couples.
5. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said printed message comprises one of the following messages: "Chug It", "Drink", Miss It", "Down the Hatch", "No Way", "Soft Touch" and "Harder".
6. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said risqu printed message comprises one of the following messages: "Trade", "Remove", "Give a Kiss", "Flash", and "Secret".
7. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said game rules further provide for an event whereupon a RED colored beer-pong ball lands on a cup filled with a non-alcoholic beverage, and occasion of said event requires that player's opponent to drink the cup's entire contents, remove the cup from the said pyramid and award one point to that player's team.
8. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein occasion of said ORANGE colored beer-pong ball landing on a cup filled with non-alcoholic beverage requires an opponent of a player that successfully tossed said ORANGE colored beer-pong ball to drink substantially the entire beverage content in said cup, drink substantially all beverage content from an additional cup, remove both the cups from said pyramid, and award his opponent two points.
9. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein occasion of a player successfully tossing said YELLOW colored beer-pong ball into a cup filled with non-alcoholic beverage requires an opponent of to drink the beverage in the cup, remove the cup from said pyramid and place a new cup containing a beverage in his opponent's pyramid.
10. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system as recited by claim 1, wherein said set of game rules further includes an optional election whereby a player passes said second action to his opponents by drinking substantially the entire content of an additional cup.

Drawings



Patents


A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system comprises a plurality of colored beer-pong balls having printed messages thereon. Players toss or bounce one of the colored beer-pong balls across the full length of the table, attempting to successfully land the ball in one of a plurality of cups arranged in the form of a pyramid. In the event of a successful ball toss, substantially the entire contents of one or more cups must be consumed by a player from an opposing team, depending on the color of the ball; and the cup is removed from the pyramid. A successful ball toss additionally requires one or more players from an opposing team to carry out the directions printed on the beer-pong ball. Printed directions are tailored to meet the needs of the players, having a degree of edginess that varies directly with age groups into which players are categorized, whereby the directions are more risqu in game versions played by adult couples.
InventorMark Trokan
Current U.S. Classification273/342273/400
International Classification: A63F007/00

View patent at USPTO
Search USPTO Assignment Database

Referenced by

Patent NumberFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US7207565Jul 12, 2005Apr 24, 2007Bouncing ball board game
US7325807May 13, 2005Feb 5, 2008Beer pong table
US7516960Mar 23, 2007Apr 14, 2009Inflatable table
US8006980Apr 21, 2009Aug 30, 2011Big Dogg Pong LLCBeer pong table with cooling system
USD633948Oct 14, 2010Mar 8, 2011Hasbro, Inc.Cup game assembly

Claims

1. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players, comprising:

a. a distinctly colored beer-pong ball having at least one printed message thereon, said ball having a stain resistant, transparent coating;
b. a plurality of cups arranged in pyramidal form on opposing sides of a game table, each of said cups being filled with a non-alcoholic beverage;
c. first and second teams of players, each of said teams being provided with a set of said beer-pong balls, said set containing three balls bearing, respectively, a color that is RED, ORANGE and YELLOW;
d. a set of game rules, providing for at least one player of a team to toss or bounce at least one of said colored beer-pong balls across the length of the said game table in an attempt to land said colored beer-pong ball within one of said cups, whereupon, depending on the color of the ball, a successful attempt requires a player of the opposing team perform a first action, including (i) drinking substantially the entire contents of one or more cups, (ii) awarding from 0 to 2 or more prize points to the team whose player successfully tossed the ball, (iii) removing one or more cups, whose contents have been consumed, from that player's pyramid, and (iv) adding at least one cup to the opposing team's pyramid, and to execute a second action, as directed by a message printed on said colored beer-pong ball.
2. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said colored beer-pong ball has a stain resistant water repellant transparent polytetrafluoroethylene coating.
3. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said colored beer-pong ball has a stain resistant, water repellant, transparent, silicone coating covering substantially the entire exterior surface thereof.
4. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein each of said teams is categorized into one of a plurality of age groups and said printed messages have a degree of edginess that varies with ages of said age groups, whereby said printed messages are more risqu for age groups composed of adult couples.
5. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said printed message comprises one of the following messages: "Chug It", "Drink", Miss It", "Down the Hatch", "No Way", "Soft Touch" and "Harder".
6. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said risqu printed message comprises one of the following messages: "Trade", "Remove", "Give a Kiss", "Flash", and "Secret".
7. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein said game rules further provide for an event whereupon a RED colored beer-pong ball lands on a cup filled with a non-alcoholic beverage, and occasion of said event requires that player's opponent to drink the cup's entire contents, remove the cup from the said pyramid and award one point to that player's team.
8. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein occasion of said ORANGE colored beer-pong ball landing on a cup filled with non-alcoholic beverage requires an opponent of a player that successfully tossed said ORANGE colored beer-pong ball to drink substantially the entire beverage content in said cup, drink substantially all beverage content from an additional cup, remove both the cups from said pyramid, and award his opponent two points.
9. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system for two or more players as recited by claim 1, wherein occasion of a player successfully tossing said YELLOW colored beer-pong ball into a cup filled with non-alcoholic beverage requires an opponent of to drink the beverage in the cup, remove the cup from said pyramid and place a new cup containing a beverage in his opponent's pyramid.
10. A non-alcoholic beer-pong game system as recited by claim 1, wherein said set of game rules further includes an optional election whereby a player passes said second action to his opponents by drinking substantially the entire content of an additional cup.

Drawings