Introduction: Light and Water Quiz Game

This instructable will teach you how to make a quiz game! There will be two player: one asking the questions, and one answering. The will both we sitting facing each other, and in between them will be two buttons (for the player asking the questions), and a large box (for the player answering the questions. Behind the questioner will be a yellow paper that has a light bulb light up form behind it when the other player gets a question right, and a small pipe protruding from the large black box will squirt water at the player answering incorrectly.

Step 1: Materials (and Safety Precautions)

In this instructable, you will need:

  • 1 Large cardboard box (1 foot cubed)
  • 1 Large sheet of cardboard (1.5 feet by 1 foot)
  • 2 Sheets of cardboard (A4 paper sized)
  • 2 Small sheets of cardboard (8 inches by 10 inches)
  • 8 Springs
  • 1 Water pump
  • 1 12 volt battery
  • 1 Yellow led strip roll
  • 7 Push pins
  • 5 Black alligator clips
  • 3 Yellow alligator clips
  • 2 Meters of black wire
  • 2 Meters of yellow wire
  • 6 Sheets of yellow paper
  • 1 Sheet of blue paper
  • 14 Sheets of black paper
  • 2 Printed pictures
  • 1 Roll of duct tape
  • 1 Hot glue gun
  • 1 Hot glue gun stick
  • 1 Pair of scissors
  • 1 Box cutter
  • 1 Wire stripper
  • 1 Cutting mat

Safety Precautions:

Hot Glue Gun: The hot glue gun melts the glue sticks, and because of that, the metal tip is very hot and will burn you if you come into contact with it.

12 Volt Battery: This voltage will not harm you but will shock you. Do not touch both terminals at the same time or wires connected to both terminals. Also, make sure water does not touch the terminals as water conducts electricity.

Push Pins: The push pins are very sharp, and may go all the way through the cardboard. Do not place your fingers behind the area the push pin is going through.

Scissors: Scissor are sharp, so do not have you fingers in between the blades of the scissors.

Box Cutter: The box cutters are very sharp and will cut you if you touch the blade. Make sure there is always a cutting mat under the material being cut by the box cutter and that there is nothing in the cutter’s path.

Step 2: Create Bases for Buttons

  1. Cut the cardboard button sheets
    • Cut two pieces of cardboard (11 inches by 8 inches)
    • Cut two smaller pieces of cardboard (8 inches by 6 inches)
  2. Cover the cardboard to add aesthetic appeal to them
    • Cover one of the larger sheets of cardboard with blue paper
    • Cover the other large sheet of cardboard with yellow paper
    • Print out a large water droplet on a black sheet of paper and cover one small piece of cardboard with it
    • Print out a large light bulb droplet on a yellow sheet of paper and cover the other small piece of cardboard with it

Step 3: Prepare Buttons to Be Integrated in the Circut

  1. Cut out six small (1 inch by ½ inch) pieces of cardboard
  2. Make two sets of three pieces of cardboard glued (using a glue stick) together.
  3. Add a strip of copper tape at the bottom of each set of cardboard
  4. Glue (using a glue stick) a set of pieces of cardboard to the middle of each of the smaller pieces of cardboard
  5. Add copper strips on the bases of the button (larger pieces of cardboard). There should be two going all the way horizontally with a small gap in between and two smaller strips running above them with a small gap in between. This will ensure that the copper strip is completed with the button is pressed.
  6. Place a drop of hot glue near each of the corners on the bottom of the top part of the button and then place a spring on each drop. Do not move anything until it finishes drying.
  7. Place the top of the button (smaller piece of cardboard) on top of the bottom of the button such that the wedge is between the gap of the copper strips on the base of the button. Make a mark at each of the locations for the springs.
  8. Remove the top of the button and place a drop of hot glue at each of those locations. Then place the springs on the button on top of the hot glue drops. Do not move the button until the glue has dried. This may take up to two minutes.
  9. Repeat this process with the other button.

Step 4: Create Light Bulb

  1. Cut a large piece of cardboard out (1.5 feet by 1 foot)
  2. Print out a large picture of a light bulb to base your design of off.
  3. Tape the picture of the light bulb to the center of the cardboard sheet.
  4. Attach the led strip to the 12 volt battery to make sure it is working using two alligator clips and attaching them to the copper circles on the led strip.
  5. Trace the led strip around the outline of the light bulb. Do not cut the led strip. In order to trace the curves, fold the led strip in order to change direction. In order to keep the position, place thumbtacks at the folds. Make sure the thumbtack goes through the fold as well as the cardboard but does not go through the center of the led strip. That may cut the wire and stop the strip form working. If the strip stops working at any point, recheck the wiring. If it still does not work, cut the led strip from where it stopped working and restart the process.
  6. Cut the strip once you have completed the trace.
  7. Once you have traced the led strip, reinforce the strip with tape. Place two strips over the folds, and one every two inches on the strip.
  8. Tape the alligator clips to let strips to stop them from coming out. Take three sheets of yellow paper and tape them together to create one large yellow sheet that will cover the cardboard and light bulb.
  9. Tape together three yellow sheets of paper at their horizontal edges.
  10. Drape the yellow sheets over the cardboard and tape it at the back as to cover the front.

Step 5: Wire the Circut

Now you have all the different components of your circuit ready: the buttons, light bulb, water pump, and 12 volt battery.

Overall notes:

  • It may seem like some of the wires connected to the battery seem redundant, but follow this process to keep the battery as neatly wired as possible, as it will later be next to a water source and that may be a safety hazard.
  • Also, while the long wires are not necessary for the circuit to run, use them in order to get the appropriate lengths for the light bulb so your project can be setup properly.

You will wire the circuit in two parts: the positive terminals first:

  1. Attach the positive wires first using the yellow colored alligator clips and large yellow wire. To do this clip one end of one yellow alligator wire to the 12 volt battery.
  2. Open the mouth of the other end of that clip and attach two other alligator clips to it.
  3. Attach one of those clips to the water pump.
  4. Attach the other clip to the large yellow wire.
  5. Attach the other end of the large yellow wire to the yellow alligator clip attached to the led strip light bulb.

Now all the positive wiring is complete, so begin the negative wiring process. This will be slightly more complicated as it will run through the buttons so that the pressing of the buttons will complete the circuit.

  1. Take one of the black alligator clips and attach it to the negative terminal of the battery.
  2. From there, attach two alligator clips to the other end of the first one.
  3. Attach the two alligator clips that were just attached to the one connected to the battery to the two different buttons, one per button.
  4. Attach another alligator clip form the other side of the water button to the water pump.
  5. Attach one more alligator clip from the other side of the light bulb button to the large black wire.
  6. Attach the other side of the large black wire to the black alligator clip connected to the led strip light bulb. Use the wire stripper to expose the wire on the ends if need be.

Step 6: Create Boxes to Add Aesthetic Appeal

Create a large cardboard box to cover the water pump, water container, and battery

  1. Take a large cardboard cube (with 4 sides) with minimum length per side of 30 centimeters
  2. If the cube has less than 4 sides, you will have to get another piece of cardboard to have 4 sides. If there are more than 4 sides, cut of cardboard side until there are 4 sides left.
  3. Cover it with thick sheets of black paper in order to aesthetic appeal. Cut the paper as necessary and then use a glue stick to glue it on.
  4. Also put the paper on one more cut of side to create a removable fifth side of the cube. Create two small cardboard boxes to cover the alligator clip meetings.

Create two templates in which there are 4 squares vertically attached and one on one side of the second or third square.

  1. Each square should be 8 cm by 8cm. Cut out the templates and fold the cardboard between the squares.
  2. Fold the cardboard into a square and tape the edges together.
  3. Add aesthetic appeal by covering one box with black paper and the other with yellow paper. Once again, use glue and scissors to glue it together.

Set up the Water Container

  1. Get a large container that would fit inside the large cardboard box along with the battery and water pump (approximately 10 centimeters cubed).
  2. Get two large pipes (30 centimeters) for the water pump.
  3. Attach the two pipes to the water pump. You will have to apply a lot of pressure to secure the pipes on the holds.
  4. Then, use duct tape to secure the pipes in their positions.
  5. Place the large cardboard box with the missing side on the bottom over the batter, water pump, and water container.
  6. Push the water drop button to complete the circuit and test which pipe takes in air and which one blows it out.
  7. Duct tape the pipe that sucks in to the side of the water container (near the bottom).
  8. Make a hole in the top of the box near the edge closest to the person sitting in front of the box.
  9. Feed the pipe that blows out the water through the hole such that 1 inch of it is outside of the box.
  10. Duct tape that pipe from the inside of the cardboard box.
  11. Cover the battery so that no water will come into contact with the positive and negative terminals.
  12. Place the cardboard sheet covered in paper at the hole in the box such that the box cannot be seen inside.

Step 7: Play

Now your quiz game is ready! Place it in a place where you don't mind water splashing and invite others to play with you! Remember to have the light bulb behind the questioner, the buttons infront of the questioner, and the box in front of the player.