Make Skeeball-inspired Games Using Pizza Boxes, Party Favors, and a PC

These steps will help you make Skeeball-inspired games from post-party materials (to satisfy the morning-after crafter in you). We'll recycle some party favors such as plastic cups, plastic bottles and pizza boxes to create something that gives you new ways to play and interact with your computer. The game that I use as an example in this instructable constructs virtual pizzas on a PC based on which hole a player rolls a ball into. Each hole has a label listing a pizza topping. When a ball rolls through a hole, the ingredient on its label is added to the on-screen pizza drawing.

The video clips below show the pizza box Skeeball controller in action.

Step 1: Gather your supplies

The lists below draw from basic tools that I keep at home and supplies that I collected the morning after my housemates had a party.

You will need:
(Things you might intercept on the way to a trash can)
- 1 pizza box (grease is optional)
- 3 plastic cups (it is a good idea to wash them out first)
- 3 1-Liter plastic bottles
- 1 to 3 balls (I chose tennis balls, but a foil ball of similar size and weight would suffice)
- Extra sacrificial cardboard (the collection should amount to roughly twice as much as your pizza box offers)

(Things to which you might already have access)
- A marker
- A ruler (although rough estimates are fine for this project)
- 3 pushpins
- Tape
- A boxcutter (to be used carefully around your floor and body) or a pair of scissors
- 1 external keyboard (unless you're comfortable with hurling things at your main keyboard)
- 1 computer
- The ScratchScratch programming environment (optional, and free)

Comments

[ninjacow123]

Thanks

[ninjacow123]

how do you make the ball pop out the side

[amonmillner]

To guide the tennis balls out of one side, I attached three modified 1-liter plastic bottles under the holes (the red plastic cups). I cut the bottom off of each plastic bottle and taped them to the bottom of the red plastic cups in such a way that the tennis ball would roll through the cut-off cup into base of the 1-liter plastic bottle. I cut a hole in the neck of the plastic bottle large enough to let a tennis ball roll through it. I pointed each of these holes toward the side of the pizza box. When the ball rolls through skeeball hole, it enters the bottle. Then, the curve of the neck guides the ball out of the tennis-ball-sized hole toward the side of the pizza box.

[dragonblue80]

Everytime I go to a arcade this is the first thing I look for! Now I can make a home-made version! AWESOME! Next time we order pizza im saving the pizza box and makin' one of these. Very creative, can't wait to make one! :D

[amonmillner]

If you order pizza as much as I do, you'll have one of your own in no time :) Enjoy the pizza and the process. Thanks for the comment.

[alexh1995]

I find it interesting that you did it in Scratch. It's a great program!

[mikeasaurus]

Very clever, a great adaptation using everyday materials! I love it!

[AnarchistAsian]

ha ha, wow....

[homba]

I was looking at this thinking to myself "Yeah, real cheap once you buy a bunch of sensors" but you used the keyboard. Keep it simple! Very clever says my cynical self!

[andresmh]

This totally rocks!