Winning Never Tasted So Good at 12th Annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

Teams were tasked with building chain-reaction machines designed to build Lunchables.

St. Louis Catholic School placed 1st in Division I. Photo provided.

(Osgood, Ind.) - The 12th annual, regional Rube Goldberg Machine Contest hosted by Genesis: Pathways to Success and the Jac-Cen-Del Community School Corporation was held on Saturday, March 4 at Jac-Cen-Del Elementary School in Osgood, Indiana.

The clever contraptions amazed and inspired contest officials and spectators with entertaining stories and fun surprise elements integrated into chain-reaction machines designed to “Build a Lunchables.” Middle School teams (Division I) participating in the contest were Batesville Middle School, Jac-Cen-Del Elementary School, Salem Middle School, and St. Louis Catholic School. High School teams (Division II) were Batesville High School, Oldenburg Academy, and the Ripley County Engineering Academy (Jac-Cen-Del High School).

Various awards were presented this year including first and second place for Divisions I and II. The Best Use of a Slinky Award was presented to a team that had the most innovative use of a slinky in their machine. The Most Innovative Way to Start a Machine Award was earned by having the most unique method to begin the chain-reaction of a machine. Finally, the Most Rube Goldbergian Award was presented to a team with a machine that demonstrated and upheld characteristics and attributes that most closely related to Rube Goldberg. This special award was judged virtually by Jennifer George, Chief Creative Officer of the Rube Goldberg Institute and Rube Goldberg’s granddaughter.

Awards for the 2023 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest are as follows:

● 1st Place Division I - St. Louis Catholic School

● 2nd Place Division I - Salem Middle School

● 1st Place Division II - The Ripley County Engineering Academy

● 2nd Place Division II - Oldenburg Academy

● Most Rube Goldbergian - The Ripley County Engineering Academy

● Best Use of a Slinky - Batesville High School

● Most Innovative Way to Start a Machine - Batesville High School

“Every school should be extremely proud of what they designed and built with such a difficult task like building a Lunchables,” said Clarice Patterson, the Director of Genesis: Pathways to Success. Patterson further stated, “The spirit of a Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was alive and well with these teams as they collaborated and demonstrated their engineering skills. Teams were truly innovative and created extremely engaging machines, and it was great to see a variety of Lunchables built with these crazy chain-reactions.

Some teams went above and beyond building sandwiches and pizzas as part of their machine instead of a traditional hand and cheese cracker Lunchables.”

The results from this year’s regional contest did not have an impact on the national contest finals. The National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest finals are still open through video submissions to anyone who would like to participate. Please visit www.rubegoldberg.org to submit a video by March 23, 2023.

Sponsors for the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest include Goldbergian Sponsor SEI REMC Operation Round-Up. Contraption Sponsors were Batesville Tool & Die, Kids Discovery Factory, and Proud Moments Engraving. Chain-Reaction Sponsors included Friendship State Bank, Great Plains Communications, Napoleon State Bank, and the Ripley County Community Foundation.

If you are interested in learning more about the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, please contact Clarice Patterson by emailing at cpatterson@genesisp2s.org, calling 812-933-1098, or stopping by the office at 13 E. George Street, Suite B, Batesville, IN, 47006.