How Can I Build an Electronic Game?

• one Christmas tree bulb with 3 inch wire ends stripped
• one shoebox
• 4 pieces of 8-inch long wire with stripped ends
• a battery - 6 volt
• 2 pieces of picture hanging wire,1-24 inches long and 1-10 inches long
• 1 straw
• one roll electrical wire tape

   

1. Paint or decorate your shoe box.

2. Bend the short piece of picture hanging wire so that you have a loop at one end. Slip a straw that has a one inch slit on one end onto the wire and down to the loop. Secure with tape over the slit end.

3. Bend the long piece of picture hanging wire into a curly line, leaving a path for the loop to move around it. Thread the loop through the bent wire. (See diagram at step 4)

4. Make two small holes in the lid of the box and push the ends of the bent wire through the box.

5. Twist one end of the picture hanging wire around one end of the stripped 8 inch wire. Bend back the connected ends and tape them to the lid. Bend back the other end and tape it down to the lid.

6. Make a hole big enough for the Christmas light bulb in the box lid. Push the bulb through from the inside and secure the lead wires down to the lid with tape. Do not tape the stripped ends.

7. Make another small hole in the box lid and push through the free end of the wire loop from the outside. Join the loop wire end to one end of the Christmas light bulb lead. Secure to the box with tape.

8. Place the six volt battery into the box. (If you use a D-cell battery use a rubber band to help secure the wire ends to the battery.)

9. Join the free end of the wire that is attached to the picture wire from the box lid to the battery.

10. Join another 8 inch piece of wire to the remaining christmas tree light bulb lead and secure to the box lid with tape. Attach this wire to the other end of the battery. Place the connected battery within the box.

11. Place the lid on the box making sure that all of the wires are tucked in.

12. The game is now ready to play. Try to pass the loop all the way over the wire without lighting up the bulb. The more bends you make in the wire, the harder the game will be.

13. Detach wires from batteries when not in use. This will save the battery.

14. If it doesn't work you need to check the following:

• connections:
  picture frame wire to battery wire
  loop wire connected to the extension wand wire then to light bulb wire
  light bulb wire to second battery wire
  
• battery wires are secured with rubberbands
  
• the battery works
  
• the light bulb works

You can use simple circuits to create electronic game boards.

Try to create your own electronic game. Let us know what you created.

As you have learned in previous activities, this game is made from a simple circuit.

As long as the flow of electrons are not stopped, it is said the circuit is open.

If the flow of electrons has stopped, the circuit is said to be closed.

HomePage	Table of Contents	Program Overview	Starting a Girls RISE	Explorations	Girls on the RISE