* - Not actually manufactured nor sponsored by Stern...just built using a Stern pinball box.

My 8-year-old daughter has a "Cardboard Challenge" voluntary project due at school, to build something out of cardboard. Naturally, she loves pinball, and we had a giant Stern pinball box from our recent GOT acquisition... and so we present Dragons Revenge!

We used actual pinball leg bolts (hope I get those back), and designed a linkage where you push tubes in & out (in lieu of buttons) to actuate the flippers. A ping pong ball substitutes for the pinball (think I'll paint it silver before we turn it in). Object of the game is to hit the dragons raiding the village! We'd originally intended to top-weight them so they'd fall back when hit, but the ball doesn't have enough mass to make that work. No worries, it's certainly good enough! We had a blast figuring out how to build this and putting it together, thought we'd share it with you!

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Thanks for all the comments, you guys are great. I didn't tell her I was posting this, so she'll get a kick out of it later when I show her.

We deliver it school tomorrow. I think there's a contest element to it, so we'll see how that goes.

Not much in the cabinet section, just some structural supports for the PF. Also added that nice cardboard honeycomb to the bottom of the PF to stiffen it up.

And you're right about hiding; here she is hiding behind the supports before we attached them.

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Haha, I tried to talk her into letting me install some battery powered LEDs into the backglass, but she wanted to keep the non-cardboard parts only to essentials.

Yeah I'm very concerned about this as well, and I'm already regretting not using loctite and/or jam nuts on the flipper mechs. I plan on bringing tools/parts to repair on-site if necessary. Probably the most at-risk item is the "flipper button" lever thing, since you push/pull the tube perpendicular to the cabinet to actuate the flipper. It sticks out so far that it's tempting to pull parallel to the cabinet, which will just fold/break the tube. I wrote instructions and arrows on the tube to help prevent this, but I won't get my hopes up...

Haha, might have enough room in the van...

Well just like real pinball, issues arose during transport. I had to up-end it to transport it to the van and then again into the school, during which the inner support structure detached and the playfield sagged. Fortunately there was enough flexibility in the cabinet wall, I was able to reach inside along the edge of the playfield, and get the supports back in place. A little fresh duct tape and it's back in business.

Saw a few other family projects coming in, some of them were fantastic-- a hi-fidelity mockup of an F-35 Lightning II, a Mercury space capsule, and even a tank that a kid fits in.

You were SO close! A mere 22 minutes into tonight's showcase, some kid got overzealous and ripped the flipper "button" tube right out, tearing out the bolt hole. I flipped the tube around, poked a new bolt hole, and cut an access door into the side of the cabinet to reattach it. No sooner had I finished that, the nut on the other flipper worked it's way off, so I had to cut a door on that side too. (I then secured the nuts with duct tape to prevent them from backing off.

There were some REALLY awesome projects there. Here are some pics of the others, including an F-35, a giant Lego man, an Ice Cold Beer game (sorta), a soda machine, a space capsule, and more!

The pinball machine was a huge hit, people were playing on it all evening. One parent actually noticed that it was a pinball box, which was nice to hear, lol.

We'll find out tomorrow about the winners, but seeing some of those really fancy ones, I don't expect it was us. Regardless, my daughter had a great time showing off her game and even started writing down the names of the game winners on the cabinet.

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Quick followup -- we did not win the competition. (It was based on votes cast by the families who attended the event.) Unfortunately, we don't know which project actually won; my daughter said they announced the family name but no which project it was. Since she wasn't familiar with the family name, we couldn't link it to a project.

We appreciate it! I felt that way too ... while some of the others were great to look at, being interactive really made a different. You didn't see people standing around the inanimate ones all night!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to try the Ice Cold Beer game ... by the time I got around to trying it, the kids had already broken it. (Weak string.)

Thanks again for everyone's kind words, we had a blast! I still haven't shown this thread to my daughter (we've been busy) but if she has anything to say I'll pass it along.

A certificate came home from school this week -- apparently we got 2nd place! (We still don't know which was first but I'm assuming the Lego man.)