Alexis' Site on Rube Goldberg

Most of my visitors are students, so I will try to explain the steps to you as a beginer.  I have heard some bizzare stories on how some High School teacher have their students successfully crack open and cook an egg... or pop in a CD and press play.  Both are challenging because they require timed steps.  You can't have the skillet hot before starting (cheating) and you have to make sure the sterio presses play once and only after the CD is in place - think about that!

The most basic thing to do it sit around and comtemplate on a rough draft.  Let your mind flow on what toys, materials, and tools you have that perferm [blank] steps.  Every machine I made consisted of at least one mousetrap, which always pulled a string leading to the next step.

An example.....

• I push dominos
• Dominos hit mousetrap
• Mousetrap pulls string
• String releases _____

(the first step is always started by a human)

The obvious choice is to make the string on the mousetrap release an object blocking a ball... but I bet you can be more creative.  Like... maybe a string can pull a piece from a toy that gets that going?  (I've used lots of toys, they are quite useful)  With toys you have to be careful.  Ask yourself if it will always repeat the same action, and if it has enough force to trigger the next step.