Easy Recycled Cardboard Tabletop Pinball Game

Recently, I saw a large wooden pinball game made by seamster on instructables (seamsters pinball), and I was interested to try to make a budget recycled pinball game. Using cardboard and random household junk, I made a pretty good lap game. I made a flipper that could be controlled from the bottom, straying from the common flipper design.

Cardboard

Small household junk

Rubberbands

A few small nails

Straws: 2 small, 2 medium

Tools:

Hobby Knife

Scissors

School glue

Hot glue gun

Markers or paint

Stickers or decals

Pencil

I made the base about 22 by 12 inches. I drew out the base out on cardboard, and stacked and laminated them to form a thick, sturdy base that was about 3/4 of an inch high. I measured and cut the sides to fit this exactly. Using school glue, I glued it and let it dry over night. I filled in any gaps with hot glue, and punched out a small hole for the launcher. (Please check out the photos!)

After builting the base, I make the launcher. I made a T shaped cardboard piece and cut out and laminated it to create a sturdy launcher. I used thin cardboard from a TP roll to finish the outside. I then made sure it fit loosely in the hole, sliding it back and forth.

Using the same laminate technique as before, I designed a flipper and built it (x2). Make sure before building it that you have the right space on your pinball board!

I used two small nails as a pivot point.

I covered a pair of small straws in glue, placing them into the bigger straws and letting them dry. Then gave me the result of a small, strengthened bar to manipulate the flippers.

Then, to make it easy to color, I coated the bottom of the base with a thin layer of glue, and cut and matched a single layer of paper onto it. The bottom is now white, with no paper overlap, and no cardboard visible. I can now color it with common markers.

Okay, so the first step was to a glue in a thin cardboard strip next to the launcher. You can see it in picture #3. Then I glued a half rubber band over the launcher and fixed the ends near the top of the chute. I used to small nails the push through the laucher on the outside to hold it steady and add grip.

Next, the flippers. I pushed them in so that they could only move upward, and made loose holes for the straws. I used nails to act as a pivot and anchored the push-rods on the flippers. I glued on a rubber band so it would always return to the lowest position. In picture #2, you can see I used a small rubber band to hole the straws in place as they pivoted. I made the little trap door where the ball falls with two sections of cardboard glued upright. (pic #2)

I then went on to add carboard obstacles and random househouse junk. You can see it in the photos. This is the fun part! Note: be creative, but don't over do it!

I used markers to add color to the paper I laid down earlier. I then applied some stickers I had laying around. I wrote scores next to each obstacle. Then, I tested it out. It worked great!

Now, its done, but I am always editing it, trying to make it better!