The PBB Bobsled Game

The purpose of the game is to build the best PBB bobsleds, and become bobsled tycoons in the process.

INGREDIENTS

PBB.
about 15 feet of Mattel `Hot Wheels' orange tracks or similar product.
Monopoly paper money or equivalent.
A small blackboard/whiteboard or just sheets of paper for the formula rules and the lists of contestants.
(useful but not necessary) a small megaphone/PA system for the tournaments.
a responsible and imaginative Game Master.
two or more teams of contestants.

SETUP

1. Build the sled track. Attach it to a higher place that is easily reachable by all contestants. The track must be straight. It must start flat and drop almost immediately, have a downhill section and a fairly long flat section at the bottom. It may have bumps, but if they are too big the sleds will jump and fall out too often. The flat part must be long enough so that your initial sleds will not get anywhere close to its end.

2. Divide the contestants into teams. One or two-person teams are the best. Give start-up money to each team.

GAME

The game consists of a sequence of tournaments. Each tournament is a competition for a specific bobsled formula. Formulas establish simple parameters of the sleds, such as: maximum number of pieces, maximum length, minimum length, having only certain pieces in contact with the track, etc. etc. Make up your own formulas, as they depend on your setup and the available PBB pieces. When I played this, the best pieces were the blue PBB rails, particularly the curved ones, so most formulas were based on number and placement of those rails. If you don't have those rails, experiment.

A tournament consists of a fixed number of trials (3, usually) for each entering sled. The best finishing position is recorded and determines the final placement. To make sure people do not cheat by giving their sled a push at the start, the sled must be placed at the top near the flat part, and wiggled until gravity takes over.

To enter a tournament, each sled must have a name (teams have names too). The Game Masters ensures rules are respected, defines formulas, announces tournaments, directs them, and acts as a sport commentator.

Entering a tournament costs money, but there are cash prizes. There are also trophies (built with PBB, obviously) that the Game Master can build between tournaments. The use of the track is unregulated in between tournaments, so the teams can experiment with designs.

The sled market is free. Teams can buy and sell sleds between tournaments. A team can also patent a design. The Game Master makes decisions about patent infringements (i.e., how similar a sled needs to be to infringe, on a case-by-case basis). There are no penalties for infringements, but the infringing sled may not enter tournaments. A patent costs money.

ENDING

The game doesn't really have an end, but if times runs out or people get tired (unlikely) a good way to end is an Open Formula tournament (no rules) with a very large cash prize.

That's it! I am leaving many rules vague so that people can adapt them to their needs. It's a fascinating game: it involves engineering, finance, and competition. I have played it with max 10-12 kids of a very noisy age, and kept them relatively quiet for hours. Let me know if you like it.

Luigi Semenzato - luigi@paris.CS.Berkeley.EDU