Desktop Skeeball

Step 6 Future Changes

My goal for this project was to see what I could make in an hour. The results are good for goofing off for a couple minutes at a time and I'm happy with it, but of course it could do with some changes. Here's a list of things that could be modified in the future.

• Ball launcher. A spring-loaded plunger, like on a pinball table, would be great for shooting balls. It gives you ore control of the shot. I tried a few ways to user rubber bands, but it never worked very well. It's too easy for the band to snap under the ball.
• Narrower ramp. The ramp doesn't need to be as wide as the target area and in fact this makes it easier to go off the side. Looking back at the pictures of the arcade machine, I found that the ramp is indeed narrower with one side used for the ball return.
• Plastic walls. A clear acrylic side to the target area would be cool so you can see more of what's happening from more of an angle.
• Score chutes. Make chutes so that the balls fall into them after going through the holes. These can lead to a collection area that holds them in different sections and lets you see what your score is.
• Ball return. An alternative to the chutes, the ball return could simply be an angled piece of cardboard underneath the target area that rolls the balls back at you.

Comments

[where is waldo]

great project! i used a McDonalds straw cut in half for a return ramp

[thing 2]

 have you tried one of those toy car launchers or battle b daman?

[fungus amungus]

Don't have either of those. Never even heard of the second one until now.

[gunman15]

i remember those those are fun

[Quazzaazazazaazaza]

Yesterday I made this, mostly out of hot glue and popsicle sticks with the ramp made out of card board. I also added a return ramp underneath the first. Thanks for the idea!

[emotschwiller]

love it, i'd love to make a mini floor version.. maybe 6 ft long instead of the 10 or 13 in arcades. you could try to use some sort of firing device similar to the crossfire game too thanks!

[camelsamba]

Fun! This also needs to be connected to some kind of flashing lights and a noise maker - but I suppose there are instructables for those if I look hard enough :^)