Catapult Trivia

Have you ever been bored and had nothing to do?

Well now you have catapult trivia, a fun, competitive, and educational board game.

This game was developed and manufactured by Ricky Tran, Tri Nguyen, Martin Valencia, and Elizbe Olvera for Mr.Dobrenz's ADV MFG-1 class.

• Fusion 360
• 3D Printer
• Filament (PLA)
• Adobe Illustrator (optional-can be done in fusion 360)
• Laser cutter
• 1/4" wood board (at least 9" by 18")
• 1/4" wooden dowel rod
• Wood glue
• Paperclips
• Wire cutter
• Springs
• Ball

The basic goal of this game is to use the catapult to launch balls to hit the target and correctly answer the trivia question. The catapult is powered by a spring and the catapult can rotate, which means that you have to aim and adjust how far you pull back the catapult in order to successfully knock down the opponent's target. There are 2 sizes of targets, the larger target leads to a hard question and the smaller target leads to an easy question. You get one point for knocking the target down and one point for answering the question correctly.

There will be four main parts to this game:

1. the base/board
2. the catapult
3. the targets
4. the trivia cards

The base/board was designed on Adobe Illustrator because I am more familiar with Illustrator, but this can also be done on Fusion 360 using drawings. The board is 9"x18" split into a 3x6 grid of 3"x3" tiles. The right 2 and left 2 columns of tiles have a 1/4" circular hole cut in it. This design was exported as a PDF and imported onto a laser cutter. The design is then cut out of a 1/4" thick wooden board. Twelve 1/4" long sections of the 1/2" wooden dowel are cut and glued into the holes cut.

The catapult is made up of four parts:

1. the base
2. The base is 1.5"x2.5"x0.35" block with a 1/4" circular hole in the center on the bottom, a 1/4" square hole on the top, and rectangular extrusion on the top with a pivot hole as seen in the CAD picture.
3. the arm
4. The arm is a 1" diameter bowl with a 3" long rectangular extrusion that has a circular cut for the pivot. On the back of the arm, there is a 0.22" circular extrusion where the spring to attach to.
5. the spring
6. The spring is attached to the base using an adapter as seen in the CAD picture. The purpose of this adapter is that you can use many different sized springs, but that is not shown here.
7. the hinge
8. The hinge is a paperclip that is bent and cut so that it doesn't fall out.

The targets are made in two sizes and are made up of three parts:

1. the bas
2. The base is 1"x1.75"x0.35" block with a 1/4" circular hole in the center on the bottom and a rectangular extrusion with another smaller rectangular cut and a circular cut so that the target can fit inside. Refer to CAD picture.
3. the target
4. The target is 1/4" thick and comprised of a circle with a rectangular extrusion. There is a circular cut in the rectangular extrusion so that the target can pivot. The smaller target has a 1.25" diameter circle and the larger target has a 1.75" diameter circle. The rectangular extrusions are 3/4" for both targets.
5. the hinge
6. The hinge is a paperclip that is bent and cut so that it doesn't fall out.

The hinges are made in 3 main steps:

1. bend the paperclip
2. cut the paperclip
3. bend the paperclip

*This is a demonstration so there is no target, but normally, you would put the target in the base before you put the paperclip through and bend it.

The trivia cards are index cards with the difficulty level on the front and the question and answer on the back. The trivia questions were found online and are from a wide variety of topics.