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rube goldberg

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rube goldberg machines

The Top 10 Rube Goldberg Machines Featured On Film

Who doesn't love the intricacy of Rube Goldberg machines? A celebration of the most mechanical, complex and absurd way of performing an everyday task, there's nothing quite like watching a cuckoo clock set off a bowling ball that rolls into a pie pan which lifts up some guy's pants before he gets arrested for exposure—again. And combined with the over-the-top designs of Hollywood movies, these gadgets of pure imagination find their most welcome (and plausible) home.

So in celebration, here are the top 10 Rube Goldberg machines in movies, listed in handy clips for your viewing pleasure. Warning: the best Rube Goldberg machines are not always found in the best movies.

More »

Feature

12:00 PM on Thu Jun 12 2008
By Mark Wilson
85,486 views, 83 comments

Latest by n/a: Goonies was my first exposure to "Rube Goldberg-like" mechanical constructions and ever since then I've had a fascination with them. I'm a little surprised that nobody here has yet mentioned the Final Destination series.Whatever one might think about the movies themselves more »

essay

The Greatest Hangover Machine Never Built

Oof, my head. The trouble with being a weekend warrior is the day after. This morning I have a troupe of miniature MC Hammers inside my head, stomping in perfect time to the pile-driver thump, and chanting: "STOP! Hangover time!" Kingsley Amis best put the feeling into words in his novel Lucky Jim. "His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum." Oral hygiene aside, my brain has shrunk to the size of a frozen pea, and I can feel it rattling around inside my head like *ponders myopically* God, I don't know what. I'm HUNGOVER for God's sake. Is there a gadget that can help me? Or am I going to have to build one myself? More »

Feature

11:00 AM on Sun Apr 27 2008
By AddyDugdale
57,560 views, 115 comments

Latest by n/a: Many comments were interesting and funny. Some were pious-sounding or rude. Hangover cure? Sure. 1000 mg of vitamin c ~ 500 mg l-cysteine ~ Bcomplex vitamins. If you don't have the l-cysteine on hand dig into something with taurine. Like, yes, more »

rube goldberg

Purdue's 156-Step Burger Maker Wins Rube Goldberg Contest

We've brought you Rube Goldberg-style clocks and toys, but none of them are a match for the 156-step device that's just won the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. This year's challenge was to assemble a burger with vegetables, condiments and two bun halves. The meat was pre-cooked... a sensible idea to avoid fires and explosions: you'll understand when you look at the great pics of the machines that MAKE took. Beneath the gallery you'll find a demo video of some of them in action. Sadly we don't have one of the complete 156-step run yet, so you'll just have to imagine its fantasticness. More »

10:45 AM on Sun Apr 6 2008
By Kit Eaton
23,066 views, 29 comments

Latest by Shazzer: I worked for Purdue's News Service in the late 90's and assisted media covering this event for several years. One of my responsibilities was writing the university's official press release detailing the steps the winning machine used to accomplish the more »

gadgets

Q-BA-Maze Marble Toy Teaches Kids About Construction, Balls

Combining the concepts of LEGO with the concepts of Rube Goldberg, the Q-BA-MAZE gives you a set of 20 to 50 pieces that you put together to make a descending maze for marbles. It sounds boring from our description, so if you watch the video you'll notice that it's...only slightly less boring. This may be cool to use to teach your kids about gravity, mazes and the fact that you shouldn't put marbles up your nose, but we'd be much more impressed if there were more pieces that did different things. [Q-BA-MAZE]

7:00 PM on Wed Nov 28 2007
By Jason Chen
9,825 views, 18 comments

Latest by FubarGuy: @cheerfulcashew: TFSU already with the stupid blending comment - we GET it! And yeah, this is a cool toy, kinda pricey from what I saw when looking at it for my nephew though. Small kit was like $50 iirc. more »

marble madness

Make Rube Goldberg-Style Marble Madness Mechanisms

If you are a fan of Rube Goldberg-style contraptions, you will love Think Geek's Cological Marble Run Construction Set. It contains everything you need to create your own marble mayhem—including 23 different types of marble-moving mechanisms like rolling cars and whacking mallets. More info and a video after the jump. More »

4:10 PM on Fri Nov 16 2007
By Sean Fallon
5,604 views, 6 comments

Latest by strider_mt2k: @Andham: Productively something something...HEY THAT BALL IS MOVING hehehehee. more »

ads done right

New Guinness Rube Goldberg Ad Directed by Bravia 'Bouncing Balls' Creator

This new Guinness ad, airing for the first time tonight in the UK and shot over the course of a week in a village in Argentina, features a sweet Rube Goldberg contraption made out of everything from dominoes to old cars to flaming bales of hay. Apparently sequences of it were shot upwards of 15 times, so it probably wasn't a true Rube Goldberg contraption from start to finish, but that doesn't make it any less cool. It was directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, the brains behind Sony's iconic "bouncing balls" Bravia ad. Dude sure knows how to make a commercial, no? [Telegraph via Boing Boing]

9:46 AM on Fri Nov 9 2007
By Adam Frucci
52,879 views, 41 comments

Latest by soundengineer: loveitloveitloveit! Adults playing dominoes with big things...brings out my inner child. more »

flash wizardry

Outrageous Rube Goldberg-Style Animation Brings Online Catalog to Life


Is this a shopping site or a Rube Goldberg machine? It's both. Ride along with the rambunctious kitchen items in this brilliant example of Flash programming on a promo site from Dutch retailer Hema. The site loads slowly because there are probably thousands of readers just like you trying to view its hilarious animation, but we've saved you the trouble by recording its crazy sequence for you here. We'd like to see Amazon try something like this. [Hema, via boing boing]

2:15 PM on Tue Nov 6 2007
By Charlie White
14,831 views, 25 comments

Latest by Pixlmonkey: obnoxious as crap. more »

robo ramen

Japanese Rube Goldberg Machine Makes Ramen in Six Long Minutes

While this bowl of Ramen may not be instant &mdash just the way Adam Frucci likes 'em &mdash its creation is utterly, butterly wonderful, if a tad long-winded. Six minutes in the making, this Japanese Rube Goldberg-esque machine uses skittles, model cars and what looks like miniature junk sails to make a bowl of steaming noodles with an egg on top. The commentator should have got a medal for keeping up the excitement levels. [Spluch]

6:27 AM on Mon Oct 22 2007
By AddyDugdale
9,553 views, 12 comments

Latest by Kricket: this is just amazing in so many ways i mean - ramen, people - RAMEN! more »

gadgets

Rube Goldberg Machine, Opus 2: Goldbergian Concerto Kicks Major Ass


After seeing that Rube Goldberg masterpiece we showed you yesterday, we didn't think it could possibly be topped, but wait a doggone second. Here's another elaborate machine, and this one actually has a dubious purpose: to unroll toilet paper. While this presentation is not a one-shot proof that this outdoor machine can make it through its full sequence without stopping, we still like the artful background music and brilliant editing of this video clip, as well as the whimsical custom-made parts of this ingenious contraption. [Razrotem on YouTube]

10:43 AM on Tue Oct 2 2007
By Charlie White
13,810 views, 24 comments

Latest by Redwraithvienna: @homerjay: You are totaly right of course. Dont know why but i always mix that up ... Its the Canon in D-Major from Pachelbel (Same time though) more »

Amazing Rube Goldberg Machine Goes On and On, Does Nothing
Sit back and enjoy the Does-Nothing-o-Matic, an incredibly elaborate Rube Goldberg machine. It's the most complicated and imaginative we've ever seen. [College Humor]

46 comments

fire!

Pyromaniac's Delight Rube Goldberg Machine

Do you enjoy fire? Do you also enjoy very intricate Rube Goldberg machines? Of course you do. So just hit play and prepare to be entertained to an embarrassing degree. –Adam Frucci More »

7:00 PM on Wed May 9 2007
By Adam Frucci
12,387 views, 29 comments

Latest by n/a: @grafxguy just out of curiosity, what would be your #1 & 2 stops?? I think mine would be to go back to 1990 and buy shares of Cisco. Then f*** my 1990 gf's sister, DAMN was she more »

making your life that much easier

Rube Goldberg Dog Food Dispenser

It's been a while since we have seen a solid Rube Goldberg machine, so here is the latest from Instructables member Eswolowski. It is small, yet complex and accomplishes a task of feeding a dog. At first I thought it was a bit overkill to feed the dog, then I realized that is the entire purpose of the Rube Goldberg machine. –Travis Hudson More »

2:40 PM on Mon May 7 2007
By Travis Hudson
3,168 views, 6 comments

Latest by scram: and here is a compilation of more fun rude goldberg machines from a show called pythagoras switch http://video.google. more »

gadgets

Maker Faire: Life-Size Mouse Trap Game

I'm not sure what the recent trend is, but everyone seems to be life-sizing my childhood. Remember the game Mousetrap? Yes, the game that was fun for 30 seconds, and not worth the effort and time it took to set it up. Someone has created a life-size replicate of the Mousetrap Rube Goldberg machine. Rather than dropping the cage on the mouse and cheese, like in the original, this monstrous version will drop a safe on any object of your choosing (to crush and destroy). It will be on display at the Maker Faire next month. –Travis Hudson More »

3:00 PM on Mon Apr 16 2007
By Travis Hudson
2,068 views, 16 comments

Latest by x23: i saw that at burning man when it was there. i never got to see it actually do it's whole deal though. always like *just* missed it. or you know... forgot all about my "schedule". more »

gadgets

Rube Goldberg Beer Pouring Device


Lengthy of the video and shaky camera skills aside, this is a pretty good Rube Goldberg machine. And best of all, the purpose of the machine is to pour a beer. Unfortunately the beer may be warm by the time it is actually poured. Unless you want to see an overview of an entire contraption, skip to about 2:10 into the movie to see the machine function. – Travis Hudson More »

3:44 PM on Thu Jan 4 2007
By Travis Hudson
1,513 views, 20 comments

gadgets

Frigits Mini Rube Goldberg Toys

We've seen some pretty awesome Rube Goldberg machines in the past, but if you were too lazy or don't have enough room to build one yourself, Frigits may be the solution. This is a set of miniature contraptions that allow you to set up a Rube Goldberg-style machine on anything capable of holding magnets. Impress your friends at the office, or just set one up on the refrigerator. Regardless, it is a easier and painless solution to filling that Rube Goldberg fix. The complete Frigits Deluxe set goes for $30. – Travis Hudson More »

12:01 PM on Mon Nov 13 2006
By Travis Hudson
1,792 views, 17 comments

Latest by Mr. Moto: An interesting link for those who like this type of thing http://www.transbudd more »

gadgets

Rube Goldberg Machine from Office Equipment


We like to think we know a thing or two about wasting time around the office, and we hope our cubicle-warrior readers do too (you are reading this now, aren't you?). But these guys one-upped all of us and raided the office supply storage closet to make a pretty bitchin' Rube Goldberg machine. What's the deal with the toy bowling pins, though? Got kids running around the office? – Travis Hudson

11:49 AM on Fri Oct 27 2006
By Travis Hudson
1,587 views, 18 comments