OMG! I just saw a new project on Kickstarter that is guaranteed to make even the most grizzled and curmudgeonly of old engineers squirm in their seats as they fight the urge to click one of the “Pledge” buttons.
The project in question is a modular kit of magnetic parts that you can use to build myriad mesmerizing marble courses (and that’s not something you expect to hear yourself say very often).

The parts in question attach quickly and easily to your refrigerator, filing cabinet, locker… whatever magnets usually attach to.
As one of the commenters to the project says, “I’m looking forward to using this product as a fun ice breaker for work meetings and to encourage office drop-ins or just time to clear my mind so I can be more efficient. Thank you for designing such a creative product. I can’t wait for September to arrive so I can play with it (FYI: You are the first Kickstarter project team I have ever backed).”
Did you see the part where she says, “Or just time to clear my mind so I can be more efficient”? Talk about being self-delusional LOL. On the other hand, that’s certainly an excuse I would be tempted to use if my boss came in and saw me furiously working on a new marble masterpiece. Unfortunately, since I am the boss, I fear this wouldn’t fly and I would have to chastise myself soundly (again).
Seriously, this is something I could happily spend weeks playing with on my own, but I can also imagine having hours of fun with my grandkids (whenever my son gets around to marrying and giving me some to play with). I think it’s safe to say that if we’d had one of these kits when I worked for a big computer company, then there’s a more than batting chance our team’s productivity would have taken a bit of a nosedive.
Every now and then you see a Kickstarter project that soars. I’m watching this one as I pen these words. They just crossed the $1,000,000 mark in pledges, which is amazing when you realize their original goal was only $10,000, so they’ve already achieved 100X of their initial target. The “Pledge Counter” continues to accumulate in front of my eyes in a hypnotic fashion, and there are still 41 days to go on this project at the time of this writing.
All I can say is that my hat is off to the originator of this project, Elyasaf Shweka, who describes himself as an industrial designer, woodworker, and maker who loves machines (CNC’s, laser cutters, 3D printers) and anything that moves in a cool manner, preferably with gears in it. Who amongst out number could argue with sentiments like that?
So, what do you think? Are you, like me, tempted to click the “Pledge” button? If so, which of the project packs will you opt for – the Basic, Starter, Standard, Full, Pro, Obsessed, or Even More Obsessed?
This would be great for my grandson, who has everything. I was about to click on the Standard kit when the thought occurred to me that you have to have a ferrous surface to use it- which is both its genius (no structural support) and its shortcoming- short of a custom metal sheet, this can only be used in a kitchen, or laundry. or an old bathtub or maybe some exposed ducting.
I have 12 hours to think about it…
Why 12 hours?
now 11 hours- the time left to back it on Kickstarter
Where do you see that? When I go there it says “41 days to go” https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makeway/makeway-create-intricate-courses-watch-your-marbles-soar
At the bottom of each pledge
Oh — I see — I hadn’t seen that — maybe this is for the “Early Bird” special offers because the top of the page still says 41 days — FYI they’ve received an additional $60,000+ in pledges since I first started writing this blog
You can get magnetic whiteboards, which would be perfect for this sort of thing because you could keep his latest creation on the wall until his next visit (or until you couldn’t control yourself)
Are you trying to make me spend money?
No — that’s just a happy byproduct LOL
I can’t wait to see your first creation (and then your grandson’s)
“whenever my son gets around to marrying and giving me some [grandchildren] to play with)”
I am not sure whether you wrote this to draw comments or that living in a conservative part of the country, you didn’t want to offend…
You DO know that marriage and children are orthogonal data sets, right?.
Not as far as his mother is concerned LOL
The reminds my of an early computer game my children used to play- The Incredible Machine. (neither became an engineer!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJbEDlDDVVc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Machine_(series)
Oooh — very cool — I could spend a lot of time playing with the Incredible Machine!!!
Growing up, I made tracks like these on my bedroom wall with masking tape and cardboard. I had some pretty extensive ones – masking tape was never safe at my house.
If you and I had grown up together, goodness knows what we would have ended up building 🙂
Pretty fantastic! But maybe they could have called it Rube? 🙂 This reminds me of a concept i have for a robot (really). It may be called Absolem.
Speaking of Rube Goldberg (or his UK equivalent Heath Robinson), have you seen the OK Go video “This Too Shall Pass”? https://youtu.be/qybUFnY7Y8w
I haven’t. Omg subwoofer!