Maker Faire: The Life-Sized Mousetrap

Craft & Design
Maker Faire: The Life-Sized Mousetrap

Playamousetrap
The Life-Sized Mousetrap will make its Maker Faire debut this year. Don’t miss out on this 25,000-lb, superbly interactive kinetic sculpture reminiscent of the classic board game. Its makers say –

The unique design of this giant, Rube Goldberg-style contraption was cleverly gleaned from the memories of childhood, twisted out of scale, then sketched beyond life size. It features an enormous construct of crazy stairs, a flame-throwing lamppost, careening bowling balls, and a hand-built, 30-foot-tall crane capable of lifting and dropping 5 tons! The object of this vaudevillian encounter is to “accomplish by complex means what seemingly could be done simply”! So our lucky players get to lift a 400-lb cast-iron bathtub 13 feet into the air, crank cranks, load springs and turn impossibly huge gears, all in a supreme effort to crush a trinket of meaning (say, a 1,200 lb pumpkin) under a falling 2-ton bank safe! The Mousetrap is impressive as a static sculpture, but it is the motion, started by a human, that is the heart of its existence.

The Maker Faire is May 19 & 20 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. Get your tickets in advance now, avoid the lines and save a few bucks.

2 thoughts on “Maker Faire: The Life-Sized Mousetrap

  1. Anonymous says:

    I was lucky enough to see this working at Burning Man & it was AWESOME! Real bowling Ball! Real Bathtub! Real freakin cool!

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

current: @adafruit - previous: MAKE, popular science, hackaday, engadget, fallon, braincraft ... howtoons, 2600...

View more articles by Phillip Torrone

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK