What started as a science fair project for six Lake Braddock Secondary eighth graders has evolved into a toy that is part science and part marble mayhem.
The team of students has created a board game that has advanced to the national round of the TOYchallenge 2005, a toy and game-design competition to encourage middle schoolers to consider science and engineering careers.
On May 7, the team’s creation, a game called "Knockout," will compete against 200 other teams at the Sigma Xi Center in Raleigh, N.C., for prizes including trips to NASA Space Camp, fuel cell cars, telescopes and Hasbro figures created in the likeness of the winners.
"Knockout" is the result of a brainstorming, construction and fine-tuning process that began in December. As part of their school science fair, each student was required to enter his or her project into a competition. While numerous science-related competitions exist, Tory Robinette, one of the students, said TOYchallenge was an obvious choice.
"A lot of the competitions were kind of boring," she said. "This one was different. It was more fun, more interesting for us."
Robinette and the other five students, Timmy Galvin, Woo Young Moon, Emily Pehrsson, Yu Yu Schatz and Kelsey Sinichko, went to work coming up with an idea, and soon settled on a board game.
"When I was little, we always played Monopoly, but I wanted some more action," said Pehrsson.
And soon, "Knockout" was born.
"We walked around stores forever looking for stuff that might work," said Sinichko. "The idea came up to have some sort of game with a cannon."
BOARD GAMES make up one of several categories in the 2005 TOYchallenge. Other categories include Toys that Teach and Get Out and Play. Founded by former NASA astronaut Sally Ride, the TOYchallenge competition attempts to inspire middle school students, and especially girls, to explore careers in science and engineering. Each team must contain at least 50 percent girls and is open to U.S. and Canadian students in grades five through eight.
Incorporating science trivia with the fun of blasting an opponent with marbles, "Knockout" is a table-top game that features two marble-launching devices, one on each end of the board. A dividing line runs down the middle, and each player gets 10 character playing pieces to place on his or her side of the line. Science trivia questions are asked, and a correct answer means it’s time to blast-away at the opponent’s pawns.
A simple enough concept, but the team soon found building the game was more difficult than anticipated. The playing surface was a dry-erase board, and the marble launchers were made of PVC pipe, a wood dowel and a heavy rubber band to create the tension needed to fire the marbles. According to Pehrsson, who was tasked to design the marble launchers, it took many tries to get them right.
"We learned how much science is actually incorporated into the games we play at home. That was interesting," she said.
Other members helped to build the board, a space to hold the extra marbles, and everybody pitched in to design the 20-plus playing pieces. Made of clothespins, each piece is personalized, from classmates and teachers to characters like Harry Potter.
Working with a $200 budget, they soon found working as a group helped to make the task come together.
"Before this, I really hadn’t worked together with a group like this, and it was really cool," said Moon.
Although the game wasn’t finished, the Lake Braddock group submitted its plans to the first round of competition in mid-February, and found out last month that their game had advanced to nationals. Team members will travel with the game to North Carolina and display it at the Research Triangle Park. Awards will be presented in a variety of categories, as well as design, originality and team spirit.
While they put the finishing touches on the game, team members have learned that they are actually enjoying playing it.
"At first I thought it was dumb. But we were running out of time, so we just went with it," said Moon. "Now, I still think it’s dumb, but it’s fun to play."
Win or lose, the goal for the team is the Lake Braddock Science Fair in May.
"I just hope we get an ‘A,’" said Pehrsson.