Given: 3 mailing labels, 4 rubber bands, a 1 ” cube of clay, 4 drinking straws, 100 pieces uncooked spaghetti, 2- 3″ x 3″ pieces of cardboard, 8 penny nails, a ruler and 12″ of string.
The problem is to build 2 structures at least 6″ tall, each one supporting one of the 3″ x 3″ cardboard pieces. These two towers must then span a distance of at least 10″. Eight minutes are allotted to build this bridge. After the 8 minutes expire, 8 penny nails are added to the span until the span or one of the towers collapses.
Scoring: 40 points for 2 towers 6″ tall
5 bonus points for every 2″ the towers exceed 6″
10 points if the span between the towers is at least 10″
5 bonus points for each additional 2″ in the span
1 point for every nail the span supports
1/2 bonus point for every nail if the towers are 8″
1 bonus point for every nail if the towers are 10″
1/2 bonus point for every nail if the span is 12″
1 bonus point for every nail if the span is 14″