In manually operated games as table soccer, for example, a series of operator shafts are conventionally mounted in parallel, spaced relationship over a playing surface on the base of an elongated box which defines the playing field. The shafts are journaled in the side walls of the box for axial and rotational movement. Player figures are fastened to the shaft and move with it, their depending legs engaging and directing the ball at the instance of the operator who rotates the shaft and moves it axially, a handle on one end of the shaft outwardly of the shaft mounting journal is gripped by the operator to manipulate the shaft.
In moving the player figures, the game operator normally moves the shaft axially in sharp movements designed to position the player properly. Frequently the player figure is moved forcefully into engagement with a side wall journal. Repeated shocks which result from this kind of treatment in operation would normally be effective to damage the player figures and the box, if not cushioned. To this end it is conventional to use shock absorbers on the shaft between player figures and the side wall journals.
The shock absorbers presently in use are fabricated of various materials. Conventional coil springs are sometimes employed. By their various nature, such coil springs are inherently undamped and their shock resisting force increases linearly from initial compression to total compression. Sponge rubber shock absorbers, also common, act like coil springs in several respects. They do, however, provide a damping affect. Sponge rubber, however, is quite fragile and tends to deteriorate rapidly under repeated shock load. Dense rubber shock absorbers are also well known in this art. Constructed as they are for normal compression they provide relatively little displacement, however and, accordingly, minimal shock absorption. All of the known shock absorbers are bracketed by washers to permit the shaft to rotate easily when a player is drawn tightly against a journal. Most are loose on the shaft so that they rattle disconcertingly during game play.