Captive Bouncer

Captive Bouncer – This is most ingenious game to make and will also have the added advantage of giving you plenty of real exercise. You will need a piece of very heavy wood or metal about 2 in. or 3 in. thick and not more than 9 in. long and 6 in. wide. When this is cut to size smooth the surfaces with sandpaper if wood, or emery paper if metal, making sure that the corners are even and no jagged edges showing. When quite smooth, give it a coating of varnish to make it look bright.

Find the centre and fasten in a strong ½ in. staple, almost right home, leaving only a small part of the arch sufficient to thread elastic. Get some strong elastic, about ¼ in. wide and not more than 6 ft. long. Rubber will do as well, but make sure that it is very elastic.

A solid rubber ball, or even a golf ball, should now be tied very securely to the end of the elastic or rubber and the other end of this tied to the staple in the block. Your game is now ready to play and this is how you perform. Hold the ball in your right hand with the elastic stretched out quite taut from the wooden base that is on the ground. Let the ball go and it will bounce and be pulled back towards you by the action of the elastic. Now hit the ball with a wooden table tennis bat and it will continue to bounce as shown in the diagram. Keep this up as long as you can and the exercise you will gain and the fun you will have more than recompense you for the slight trouble you may have had in making the game.

Should you not have a bat, you can cut one to the shape described, from ordinary three-ply wood.