The World’s First 3D Printed NCAA College Tournament Bracket is Created for March Madness

It’s that time of year again folks! March Madness is here, and basketball fans everywhere are rooting for their favorite teams, wagering on games, and watching as teams begin falling off of their brackets. I’m personally an Ohio State fan, and unfortunately for us, we lost to Arizona. My husband always roots for Gonzaga, and lucky for him, they have been cruising as of late. If you ask me, no one will be getting in the way of Kentucky this year, but then again, I’m also not the world’s largest basketball fan.

While filling out a bracket for the NCAA College Basketball Tournament seems simple enough, the odds of actually getting it all correct are nearly impossible. In fact, those odds are are around 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. If you were wondering, that staggeringly large number is 9.2 quintillion. Statistically speaking, if every single person on this planet were to fill out 100 brackets each, it would take 13 million years to have one that comes out perfect. So for those of you who had actually thought you were going to get it right this year, think again. The odds are you were probably out after the first round.

Still though, it is always fun competing against friends and colleagues to see who can fill out the most accurate bracket. For one company, called Realize, Inc., they decided to do something a bit different this year. Being that they are a company specializing in rapid prototyping and 3D printing, they set out to create what they believe is the first ever 3D printed NCAA Tournament bracket.

“We are building something new each month using 3D Printing technology and for March we decided to create the World’s First (that we know of) 3D Printed College Hoops Tournament Bracket,” explained a representative from Realize, Inc.

Realize, Inc. plans to update their bracket as more and more teams drop out of the tournament, and you can follow the progress live on their blog. Without a doubt, this is quite the unique creation, albeit a very simplistic one, but then again some of the most simple 3D printed objects are the ones which really catch on within the 3D printing community.

What do you think about this unique creation from Realize, Inc.? More importantly, how are you doing on this year’s bracket? Who will win it all? Discuss in the World’s First 3D Printed Bracket forum thread on 3DPB.com.