Kanye West Pinball Machine
As part of the class ME101: Visual Thinking, we worked in groups to design and construct a pinball machine made out of foam core.
My group wanted to do something more memorable that just a pinball machine -- we wanted the players to actually create something every time they played. After scrolling through twitter, we became fascinated with Kanye West’s twitter feed, and chose Kanye Tweets as our theme. We designed mechanisms so that each time the players hit certain targets, wheels would spin to random works. The goal was to create the deepest Kanye tweet possible. On game day, people spun the wheels to form combinations, from “Fashion respects vulgar skill” to “Kanye is a creative genius."
My group wanted to do something more memorable that just a pinball machine -- we wanted the players to actually create something every time they played. After scrolling through twitter, we became fascinated with Kanye West’s twitter feed, and chose Kanye Tweets as our theme. We designed mechanisms so that each time the players hit certain targets, wheels would spin to random works. The goal was to create the deepest Kanye tweet possible. On game day, people spun the wheels to form combinations, from “Fashion respects vulgar skill” to “Kanye is a creative genius."
Bubble Burster Bags
This shopping bag that transforms into a virtual reality headset.
Stanford students spend our days surrounded by other Stanford students, faculty, and buildings -- enclosed in the Stanford bubble. But going off campus costs time and money. With a few folds, students can pop the bubble without leaving their dorm room.
Sharks Seats
NEED
On certain fall and winter nights, thousands of hockey fans make the pilgrimage to SAP center to watch a San Jose Sharks game. But my team noticed: very few fans use the Caltrain to get there. The Caltrain is cheap, and fans don’t have to worry about parking or drunk driving. What’s going on?
Before the game, fans have fun hanging out together. At the game, they love watching the Sharks. But the Caltrain ride is a huge interruption to sports fans’ nights. Fans are stuck amidst commuters with headphones in, and they can’t even find seats together. Caltrain is designed for commuters, travelling alone, who want quiet – not sports fans, travelling in groups who want to talk to each other.
Our team’s challenge was: how can we transform the Caltrain ride from a boring interruption into a seamless part of the social, sports game experience?
SOLUTION
We propose Sharks Seats: a system where fans can plan their whole game night experience at once. When purchasing tickets for the game, fans can also reserve a cluster of seats on the CalTrain. You can already buy parking, so why not train tickets?
Now, fans simply show up at the station and find their assigned seats. They know they’ll be able to sit with their friends, and we place all fans in the same cars. Sharks Seats give Caltrain the atmosphere of a sports bar so that the Caltrain is a fun part of the night, not an interruption.
Fans will bring the food, the drinks, and the energy. All they need is for the Caltrain to let hanging out with friend be the norm instead of the exception.
