Teams of children in grades 5 through 8 -- half of whom are required to be girls -- will compete in the finals, which include the top 10 teams as selected by a panel, in addition to teams who were encouraged to finalize their toys for presentation at the national TOYchallenge festival. The festival is sponsored by the Sally Ride Science Club, Smith College and Hasbro.
The top 10 teams, each awarded $250 to cover the costs of advancing their designs from paper to prototype, were selected from more than 240 entries. The designs from the 55 teams attending the festival will be judged on originality, creativity, engineering elegance, feasibility, communication, and team participation.
Three Grand Prizes will be awarded, including: a week at Space Camp for each team member; a Hasbro action figure personalized in their likenesses and a behind-the-scenes tour of Hasbro; and a VIP tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the team members and their families, including a private question and answer session with an astronaut.
"We expected to see some really creative entries but have been truly impressed by the high level of sophistication of the designs and team presentations," said Sally Ride, founder of the Sally Ride Science Club, in a press release from Hasbro. "It's wonderful to witness how the opportunity to create something from the ground-up, in a supportive team environment, can bring out such pride and confidence in both boys and girls."
"You can preach all you want about the value of math and science, and about the important role of engineers in our society, but if kids don't see the discovery in it, and the fun, they're going to tune you out," said Domenico Grasso, chair of Smith's engineering program, in the press release. "The key is to meet them where their creative interests lie."
"At Hasbro, our heart and soul goes into making all of our products, but a key element of a truly fun toy or game is the intricate design and engineering behind it," said Alan Hassenfeld, Chairman of Hasbro, Inc., in the same press release. "We are very excited that TOYchallenge is not only helping kids understand the mechanics of product development, but is also allowing them to have fun playing with their own creations."
The top 10 entries in this year's TOYchallenge included the following game designs:
- The team Tza-ah-tzuah from Scottsdale, Arizona, designed Island Quest, a spherical board game with magnetic pieces. Players move along lines of longitude and latitude while drawing cards in competition to inhabit an island.
- The team Brookside White from Stockton, California, developed Brainia Mania, a game that challenges your mind in science and math, while testing your building skills. Answer questions correctly and you gain building materials, but if you answer wrong you lose materials.
- The team Tag Team from Weston, Connecticut, designed a strategy and planning board game entitled Myths and Legends.
- The Merritt Island team from Merritt Island, Florida, developed a Simon-like game called Wet Your Pants! It features a large mat of colored dots that light-up. Step on the dots as they make noise, but if you mess up, you "wet your pants."
- Team Lincoln from Brookline, Massachusetts, designed Road Trip, a board game set in the United States with 3-D landmarks. Follow routes and answer questions on a mission to get to California.
- From Beaufort, South Carolina, The King's Fellowship team put together a board game called Galactic Voyage. Players travel through space by answering trivia questions in a race to reach the space station.
