Wingo

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Wingo was an experimental indoor shooting sport invented by Winchester in the early 1970s. The only Wingo facility built was in San Diego, California.

The equipment consisted of a bank of machines that created four-inch diameter hollow spheres of ice. The player had a custom-made .20 calibre shotgun that was about the same size and weight as a .22 calibre rifle. The choice of calibre was to prevent players from bringing their own .22 calibre shells from outside. The gun was teathered to the shooting bench to prevent it from being pointed toward spectators and to facilitate the wiring for the internal microphone that detected when the gun was fired.

In the game, four-inch diameter hollow spheres of ice were fired toward the shooter from one of five ports from a distance of 75 feet. When the player fired the gun a number from 1 to 10 was presented by the scoring machine. The number depended on how quickly the player fired, higher numbers for quicker reactions. If the player hit the sphere he/she scored the number presented by the scoring machine. If the player missed the sphere he/she scored zero. Ten spheres were fired in a game for a maximum score of 100.

Winchester conducted the trial in San Diego, rather than a midwest city where shooting sports were more popular, because they wanted to see if it would catch-on in a city where there was an abundance of passtimes. The sport was not financially successful and the Wingo facility was closed in less than year. The facility is now a branch of the San Diego Superior Court.