Thumb down, ball up.

Basketball Hooping is a court for your desk: a flick lever at one end, a red backboard and a 1.7 in rim at the other. Press the cup down, let go, and see if it drops. Whoever sinks the most wins.

Size
10.0 × 3.5 × 7.6 in
Weight
4.4 oz
Made from
PETG
Basketball Hooping on a dark backdrop: a yellow-green court with a green lever holding an orange ball at the near end, and a red post and backboard with a blue rim at the far end.

Watch one shot.

A court that fits beside the keyboard.

10.0 × 3.5 × 7.6 in end to end. The center circle and the key are cut into the floor, and the backboard stands at the far end.

Everything turns on one pin.

No motor and no spring inside. The green lever swings on a white pin between two posts. A peg on the lever and a peg on the court take an ordinary rubber band, if you want more snap.

Press the cup down.

The ball stays seated as the cup goes down. It can travel 42.5° in all, until the cup touches the court at 17.5° below level.

Let go.

The band pulls the short arm down onto the court's peg, and the lever stops dead at 25°. The ball doesn't stop with it. No band? A sharp tap on the short arm does the same.

4.2 in out, 5.3 in up.

That's the shot from cup to rim. How hard you press decides whether the ball falls short, clips the rim or drops clean.

Through the middle.

The ball is 0.8 in across and the hoop is 1.7 in, so a good shot has room to spare and a lazy one rattles out. Then it's your opponent's turn.

Up close

Close view of the hinge: the green lever passes between two yellow-green posts on a raised block, held by a white pin, with a small peg at its back end.
The hinge. A white pin runs through both posts and the lever between them. The little peg at the lever's back end is where a band hooks on.
The red backboard with a shooter's square outlined on it and a blue rim held out from the board by a mounting block.
The rim slides into a block on the backboard, under a shooter's square, the way a real one is marked.
The green lever pressed down so its cup sits near the court, with the orange ball still in the cup.
Cup pressed down, ball still in it. This is the moment before the shot.

How a game goes

  1. Seat the ball in the cup. It sits low enough to stay put while you aim.
  2. Press, then let go. Short presses for soft lobs, deep ones for distance.
  3. Score it. A ball through the rim is a point. Then the other player shoots.
  4. Play to five, or to ten. Agree before the first shot. First to the mark wins.

Basketball Hooping

One court, one hoop, one ball, and a lever that turns a thumb press into a jump shot.

Overall size
10.0 × 3.5 × 7.6 in
Weight
4.4 oz
Material
PETG
Hoop
1.7 in across
Ball
0.8 in across
Lever swing
42.5°