Cricket is a popular game having many play regulations due to improvements in dart devices.
Earlier prior dart devices such as that shown in FIG. 1 include a woody panel 1 divided into several target blocks 11 and a bull's-eye 12. The player throws metal-pointed darts to the panel 1 and gains points according to the respective target blocks 11 which have been hit by darts. But, since the dart device shown in FIG. 1 is made of wood and has no electronic device, the manual scoring of the cricket game becomes inconvenient and/or boresome.
Another dan device, shown in FIG. 2, was created to prevent the inconvenience of manual scoring. This dart device includes a dart panel 2 having target blocks 21 and four 7-segment digital display sets 22. A set of electronic circuits (not shown) mounted on the back of the panel 2 performs the function of instantaneously displaying a play result on the 7-segment digital display set 22 according to the programmed scoring regulations.
A third prior art dart device shown in FIG. 3 includes a dart panel 3 divided into many target blocks 301, 302, 303 and 304 programmed to have different scores, four 7-segment digital display sets 31 at the lower part of the dart panel 3 and many indicating diodes 32. The 7-segment digital displays 31 display the scoring of the target blocks 301, 302, 303 and 304 which have been hit with darts, and the indicating diodes 32 display the play result which the player gains during the game.
The rules of cricket can be exemplarily illustrated with the help of the third prior dart device. Who will win or lose one game depends on who first hits the target blocks respectively marked 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and the bull's-eye with darts. Taking the block marked with 20 as an example, if the block 302 or 304 is hit with a dart, then one of the three light emitting diodes (LED) 321, 322 and 323, will be illuminated for denoting that the block marked 20 has been hit with a dart once; if the block 303 is hit with a dart, then all three LEDs 321, 322 and 323 will be illuminated simultaneously for imaginarily denoting that the block marked 20 has been hit three times; and if the block 301 is hit with a dart, then two of the three LEDs 321, 322 and 323 will be illuminated for assumedly denoting that the block marked 20 has been hit twice. The winner will be the first one who hits all of the blocks marked 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and the bull's-eye three times.
Compared with the first and the second prior dan devices, the third prior dart device provides a function for automatically recording the result of the cricket game. To achieve this function, the dart device has to be equipped with 21 LEDs for displaying the times when each block is hit and a driving circuit for driving those LEDs. Consequently, though the third prior electronic dart device can provide a function for automatically recording the result of a cricket game, it does so at a higher cost. An electronic dart device similar to the third piece of prior art can be referred to the U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,461.
To decrease the cost of such a dart device and still perform the function of automatically recording the result of a cricket game, U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,319 provides a fourth prior art electronic dart device as shown in FIG. 4. The fourth electronic dart device includes a target panel 4, two 7-segment digital display sets 41 and LED sets 421-427 for recording the play result in the game wherein each of the LED sets 421-427 consists of two LEDs having different colors. Taking target block 431 marked 20 as an example, when the target block 431 is hit with a dart once, the LED of set 421 having the first color will be illuminated; when the block 431 is hit a second time, only the second color LED of set 421 having the second color will be illuminated; and when the block 431 is hit a third time, then both of the LEDs or the LED set 421 will be illuminated.
No matter which prior dart device is used, to record the result of a cricket game, the dart device should include LED's and an LED driving circuit which not only occupy space on the dart panel, but also increase the cost of producing the dart device.