Design for an Outdoor Game Console

I have never had a shortage of ideas, enough that I have grown weary of hearing, “You should market that.” “You should sell that.” Where once those statements gave me pause, at sixty-eight I am not interested in commercializing anything. In my experience sales and marketing is where the fun stops and the real drudgery begins. Nursing an idea from inception to reality is what excites and drives me.

I thought it would be interesting to share an idea and get some feedback or perhaps generate some laughter. I call this Chain Gang; it is an outdoor game console that facilitates and enhances the game of touch (flag) football. It overcomes some of the difficulties of getting a game together; limited playing space, too few players, inaccurate measurement, lack of boundaries, counting alligators to start the rush, score keeping and the missing urgency of a ticking clock.

When I became aware that accurate laser measurement was becoming affordable, it prompted the idea for Chain Gang. Picture a backyard lawn area nowhere near the size of a football field. Moving up and down the field is impossible because there is nowhere to go. Take that space and imagine a fixed line of scrimmage, perhaps allowing the defense three quarters of the field. You run a play, then the Chain Gang measures the distance to the ball and the angle from the line of scrimmage and uses…