Eureka Crate is a monthly STEM and maker subscription box that teaches kids and adults how to apply principles of science and math to make awesome things you will love to use every day – from an articulated desk lamp to an electric pencil sharpener to a wooden ukulele. Every Eureka Crate includes an engineering project, detailed step-by-step instructions, everything you need to complete the project, a Maker’s Guide that explains all the design, process, and engineering behind the design, plus a design challenge to take your project knowledge to the next level!
DEAL: Save 30% on your first month! Just use this link to subscribe, no coupon code required! You can also use the same link to save 30% on the first month of any other KiwiCo crate – just check out this page to discover which box is right for you.
Eureka Crate is KiwiCo’s latest subscription! Eureka Crate is designed for ages 14-104. If you’re ready to graduate from KiwiCo’s other boxes or just can’t get enough (or are just too old for their other subscriptions), you’ll love this box, which is designed to create a hands-on learning experience using everyday items to delve deeply into the science and math principles they embody, along with the design process of the month’s project.
Everything in this month’s box!
Eureka Crate Maker’s Guide
Like the other crates from KiwiCo, Eureka Crate includes a booklet.
One of KiwiCo’s goals is to equip the next generation of innovators with the tools and confidence for creative exploration and problem-solving.
Pinball Machine
The booklet gives a complete history and details about this month’s project. They also included some fun facts and trivia related to the theme.
Eureka Crate Materials
This booklet means business as it jumps right to the activity.
Here are some of the materials! You may check if you have the complete parts by comparing it to the picture in the booklet.
Part A of this project is to build the flippers. The instructions kept the continuous flow of the activity easy to understand, while the drawings were very detailed too.
For easy construction, we group the materials according to sizes and identify first the use for each item, so that when we start to construct, it’ll just be easy-peasy to pick them up and immediately know which goes where.
For part B, it’s time to assemble the board.
Assembling the board is a little tricky as it requires most of the materials, even the already finished flippers are going on it.
The good thing is that the booklet reminds you to stop and check your work, like this one where you’ll see if you did the board right.
Part C of the project is adding the launcher, which will be used to launch the pinballs into the game board.
There are a lot of rubbers and screws to be used in building the whole game. It may be overwhelming, but the finished product is definitely worth it. Drop targets are also included to add more challenge and fun to the game!
Another checkpoint in building the game is testing if the plunger works right. If a pinball gets stuck anywhere, you can adjust the chute walls and tighten the plunger arts if they feel loose.
To make your pinball board look more interesting, they also included different stickers that you can use to decorate it!
To teach us more about pinball machines, the booklet provided a full article that talks about the game. Also found on the next page is the next part of the project, which is adding the drop targets.
There are instructions on how to correctly stick the other game details.
The booklet also lists the rules of the game. Again, it’s important to first read this to everybody who will take part in playing the game.
There’s also a bonus article in the booklet which presents other features that you can add on the board and make the game more interesting than just knocking down the drop targets.
Also, the booklet had a troubleshooting portion where it discusses the solutions on the common problems you might encounter while building or playing the game.
They also had a feature that talks about the design of the game, like the ramp placements, drop targets, space theme, and more!
They even shared the scientific explanation about the Physics behind the game. Pinball may look random with ball zooming all over the place, but there’s science behind it!
Another interesting feature is about the history of pinball, from its creator/developer to the design improvements.
They also listed out the 5 things that we might not know about Video Games!
For the Design Challenge, they’re encouraging us to make or customize our own machine!
Here are the other materials that will be used to complete the pinball machine.
The pinball machine is looking good so far!
On this part of the machine is the launcher. My daughter tested it out and it works just fine.
She also stuck the different features on the machine, aside from the drop targets.
We’re ready to play with this fun game!
She also read about the bonus feature and decided on what to try next!
It may take a lot of steps to create and finish the project, but my daughter had fun, from building it up until playing with it, and trying other features!
There’s the comet ramp, which looks like a slide. It’s the bonus feature that earns the player a replay to use the next time the ball falls into a black hole.
We used the flippers for the hard mode! They have short ends which means the pinball can easily fall between them.
See the long u-shaped component? That’s the multiball trap! You can hit its back to knock other pinballs on to the playfield.
Here’s a look at the final product!
My kids have played with it and they had so much fun, and I’m pretty sure they’ll be playing with it more for a long time.
Eureka Crate did it again! Just when we thought we’ve seen the best from this crate, it gives us something even better! This month is all about the classic pinball game, and who doesn’t love pinball? Although the machine is a bit complicated and tricky to make, my daughter was up for the challenge and she finished it with flying colors. We love this box because it helps develop problem-solving skills and creativity. The booklet is also loaded with information, including the scientific concepts behind the game and even its history. It’s really a well-rounded learning experience, no matter what age you’re in!
What do you think of this month’s Eureka Crate?
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