The Winner of this 3D Printed Plinko Game Gets the Most Candy & Extra Credit, Too!

Corben White was an architectural drafter before he began teaching 3rd year Industrial Technology at both Shelbyville and Windsor High Schools in Illinois. When teaching his students CAD lessons, he focuses on practical problems in fun and innovative ways — to say the least. We first covered one of White’s designs when he 3D printed a jelly bean dispenser. Using the same design principles, and candy as the central theme, White has moved onto another 3D printed project inspired by the television game show “The Price is Right’s” Plinko.

White took time out of his busy candy game making schedule to share with 3DPrint.com how he designed the Plinko Candy Game, which grew out of the Jelly Bean Dispenser. He used the basic dispenser design, making it taller and wider, added more pegs, and added a candy collection system. On the “Price is Right” the middle slot was the $10,000 slot, and he followed that same idea. He explained he only had a few problems:

“The main problem I ran into while designing this was that my printer was too small to print the entire shaft all at once. So I divided it into three parts, and then super glued them together. Finally, I wanted to design a completely removable top for this dispenser, which was different from my Jelly Bean Dispenser. I also wanted to make the top very eye-catching, so I made sure to make the works “Plinko” very bold and visible.”

And bold and visible it is! He really put some thought into making a game that makes you want to play it. And it’s almost all 3D printed. The only part of the project that is not 3D printed is the plexi-glass, which he plans to attempt to print at some later time using a clear plastic filament.  As for the printed parts, White explains:

“This design consists of six 3D printed parts. The main Plinko part took 12 hours to print. The remaining five parts took 12 hours to print all together. One thing that I did was pause my printer and switch colors to really make the letters and numbers stick out. This took me a little more time, but the results were well worth it. The printers used to create this were two open source (RepRap) printers which are the flexMendel and the Aluminum Mendel.”

As for how White plans to use the game, it has several functions in his mind. He plans to use it at the school’s orientation day to show students the fun they can expect to have if they sign up for his courses.  And he also plans to use it as an extra credit exercise:

“For example, if a student answers a tough question correctly then they get a spin on the Candy Plinko game. If their candy lands in the 5 slot, then they get 5 extra credit points on their next test. If they land on a 3, then they get 3 extra credit points (and so on).”

I can also think of one more way I’d use it, as a teacher.  I would proudly sit it in my classroom so my students are encouraged to pursue 3D printing (and maybe more education) in their futures! White describes his fortunate students as having very bright futures indeed:

“One thing that readers might find interesting is that I am from a very small town and teach at a high school with around 300 students. Even though the school is very small, the amount of creativity and ingenuity that students possess is huge! And I am very proud to be a teacher!”

It’s designs like these which encourage individuals to get involved with technologies such as 3D printing.  Let’s hear your thoughts on this awesome little candy dispenser in the 3D Printed Plinko forum thread on 3DPB.com.  Be sure to check out the video of White’s creation below: