Making a Low-Tech Pinball Machine

We started out with some leftover boxes from Christmas, along with a few wrapping paper rolls. Our goal was to create a roller coaster and test it with a bouncy ball. You can see from the picture above and the picture below that it wasn't all that impressive.

Afterward, we cut holes in the side and used paper towel rolls to hit the bouncy balls. Once we were happy with the slope, we added ramps, circles, half-circles, holes and boxes that would all be worth points. 

That worked out okay. However, the paper towel rolls weren't good enough. So, we used rulers instead. We also switched from a bouncy ball to a marble. Finally, we added a plastic "trap" to catch the ball if it fell (using the plastic from a toy container). As a finishing touch, we added a few drawings to give it the theme of "monster chasers." 

Here's another view of it. We might add more pictures, a new point system and a boomerang-styled launcher on the side. This could also work really well with wood instead of cardboard. However, for now, it's working just fine. They've spent hours playing with their creation.

Here's a link to see it in action. Nothing terribly special, but it kept us occupied for hours. We developed different scoring mechanisms and now we're thinking about making one out of wood. I'm not much of a handyman, but I might just give it a whirl - with some help from the kids.

If you're interested in a story about a non-magical wizard who finds magic in making stuff, check out Wendell the World's Worst Wizard.