Platform Building

Gentleman of the Reform Party. The time has come for you to make a platform out of your ideas to lead your country. This platform will need to be sturdy and hold weight in the community.

Unfortunately, you are nothing but pitiful, empty politicians whose best idea was scrubbing your toenails with a toothbrush. Your ideas are worthless! Therefore, you will need to build your platform out of straw. Your platform will come under attack from bleeding heart liberals, from a right wing conspiracy and from those worthless, self-serving, ignorant journalists. Therefore, your platform must hold weight.

Since you are nothing put piddling politicians, worth less than mud, you will likely want to have more than 1 platform so that you can see which is more effective. You may submit as many platforms as you can.

Vital Info:

Rules:

• You need a committee of at least 4 people to build one platform.
• No one outside a committee should build the committee's platform.
• One platform per committee.
• You can have as many committees as you can staff.
• An individual may be on only 1 committee.
• To be on a committee, you must show up by 3 pm and sign in.
• You may use the following provided materials to build your platform:
  • straws.
  • Scotch Tape. (No packing tape, duct tape, masking tape, etc..)
  • pins
• You must satisfy the following rules:
  • Your structure can contain no more than a total of 200.0 straws.
  • Your structure must have a footprint at ground level that is less than 1 foot square. That is, the base of your structure must fit inside a square with a one foot side.
  • You may tape or glue your structure to a FLAT cardboard or wooden base in order to make it easily transportable. The height of the base will not be included in the calculation
  • You structure must have a flat top on which a contest judge (or you) can place loading weights. You may tape or glue a flat cardboard sheet or wooden block to the top of your structure. The height of this attachment will not be included in the overall height calculation. If a weight falls off because these is no reasonable way to place it on the top of the structure, that's your fault. The weights will likely be dumbbells. The smallest weight will be 0.5 kg.
  • No piece of tape may exceed 5" in length. Tape should not be more than 6 layers thick at any point. Glue may only be used on the base or top.
  • The structural components of your device can only be comprised of tape and regulation plastic drinking straws. Other materials can be used for artistic purposes, as long as they do not modify the weight sustaining properties or height of the structure.
  • A structure is deemed collapsed when it has lost 20% of its height.
  • You may use pins only for joints between straws. The pins may not directly hold any weight.
  • Structures must be at least 0.5 cm tall.
• You will likely want to obtain the following on your own:
  • Scissors, and razor blades or exacto knives.
  • Tape dispensers.
  • Cardboard bases (available in 7th floor recycling area)
  • Fast setting glue or epoxy that doesn't attack plastic too much.

Scoring:

• 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place: 12, 8, 4, 3 points.
• Each Olympic team may garner only 1 place.
• Best Decorated: 4 points
• Least number of straws used to hold up at least 1 kg: 4 points
• Any structure beating Samson's personal entry: 4 points.
• Any structure that can hold 0.5 kg: 3 points.
• If the structure works as a straw from ground level to the top: 3 points.
• Ingenuity (randomly awarded) : 1 to 4 points
• Judges have the right to make up awards for 1 to 4 points as they see fit. Judges have specifically been directed to reward cool-decorations and other non-mechanical engineering efforts.
• Cheating: (Judges discretion) : -2 to -8 points or disqualification.
• Judges may make up random new rules and all rulings are final.

Comments:

The best structures will be planned long before the actual building. This is really a design competition. You'll find it difficult to plan and build a structure in 3 hours.

You will likely want to build your structures in private. But, don't forget to have the team members sign in so that they can be counted.

If you decide to try and melt the straws, please be aware that the fumes can be both toxic and explosive. Dissolving the straws and making a plastic block may be difficult in 3 hours. But you can try...

Ideas for ingenuity: The loose cannons might have a structure that could shoot cannon-balls out of straw when you blow in one end. The Giant Sucking Sounds might add a horn to a straw so that you can hear noises when someone sucks on the straw. The Donalds might design the Trump Towers.

Finally, not everyone is mechanically inclined. Therefore, judges will be rewarding those who make cool looking structures.