Mind A-Mazes 2023

Ink from pens and markers is fine to use.  *The ‘no liquids’ rule is mainly set to deter students from using noticeable volumes of a fluid that both judges recognize and could cause clean-up issues.

Yes, you can participate, but you won’t get an ‘official’ score for the long-term challenge, and therefore aren’t eligible for any of the main team awards.

If you find another person (such as getting one from another team) to participate in the Spontaneous Challenge with (at least 2 students), then you could be eligible for the Spontaneous ribbon.

Teamwork is one of the key parts of “Mind A-Mazes” and also one of the most challenging for many!

Teams may possibly repeat each task up to 4 times (no more).  The intent of this long-term challenge is to devise ways for pendulums to perform multiple tasks on multiple swings, so awarding more than 4 repetitions per task may not be tackling the long-term goals of the challenge.  If you’re hoping for many repetition points, realize that judges will grant up to 4 per task – no more.

Also, please remember that ‘Create a drawing’ has additional requirements for repetition points – see limitation #5.  For example, a drawing tool or tools that repeatedly make a different mark on the same paper or same surface would NOT be granted repetition points for each additional mark.  All the marks together are making one drawing on one surface.  If teams wanted repeated drawing points, they’d need to create different ‘drawings’ on different drawing surfaces.

Since the problem packet says the ‘entire’ device must be contained in the 4′ x 4′ area (#1), and aside from popping the glove, ‘all moving parts will be required to remain within the 4’x4′ area at all times’ (#3), IF a pendulum bob were to swing outside the 4’x4′ marked area, judges “will deduct 5 points from the long-term total score for each infraction of this rule” (See Limitation rule #3).

The packet states that “Optimum points will be earned for completing tasks in separate vertical and horizontal planes.  Imagine the pendulum swinging within a box.  Extra points will be earned for events occurring on each side of the ‘box’ as well as the bottom.  Judges decisions are final.”  Judges will be sticking to this representation of what ‘separate planes’ means – essentially 4 sides of a ‘box’ and the bottom, so a maximum of 25 points per team (not per task) for multiple planes.   What this ‘box’ statement also means is that judges will only be scoring ‘separate planes’ for those tasks that are completed on significantly varying planes.

In other words, each swing of the pendulum could ‘technically’ be counted as completing a task on a separate plane (since the bob is not going to the exact same position on each swing or counter-swing), but the intent of the problem and ‘separate planes’ is to show tasks on multiple planes that are notably different than previously scored planes (which is why the imaginary ‘box’ comparison is important).

Another example would be a cluster of bells.  Each bell lives technically on a separate vertical plane, but judges would not score ‘multiple planes’ for a pendulum bob that hits a different bell in the cluster on multiple times, since essentially they’re considering the cluster of bells as one vertical plane, not multiple.

Or if some bells and an inflated glove are both in essentially a similar position of the pendulum path arc (one side of an imaginary ‘box’ one might say, not different sides like the ‘box’ analogy), they would be considered in one vertical plane (not multiple planes).   So if the pendulum swings back and forth in one general repeating path, if it completed 4 separate tasks on separate swings, and it completed those 4 tasks on what judges considered 2 sides of the ‘box’, it would get extra points for using 2 separate planes (not 4 planes).  The intent of the challenge is for teams to see if they can find a way for the pendulum bob to perform tasks on noticeably different planes (similar to the box analogy).

Yes, a maximum of 25 points per team (not per task) for multiple planes.  In addition, judges will only be scoring ‘multiple planes’ for those tasks that are completed on significantly varying planes.  When judging what ‘significantly varying’ means, think of the box analogy.  Inside a box, the various vertical planes are roughly 90 degrees different than each other (4 total vertical sides or planes).  For judge scoring, the ‘multiple planes’ will be similar – if not exactly 90 degrees different for each plane,  the pendulum swings would at least need to show a significant difference from previous vertical or horizontal planes to count as a different scoring plane.   In other words, each swing of the pendulum could ‘technically’ be counted as completing a task on a separate plane (since the bob is not going to the exact same position on each swing or counter-swing), but the intent of the problem and extra ‘planes’ points is to show tasks on multiple planes that are notably different than previously scored planes.

Another example would be a cluster of bells.  Each bell lives technically on a separate vertical plane, but judges would not score ‘multiple planes’ for a pendulum bob that hits a different bell in the cluster on multiple times, since essentially they’re considering the cluster of bells as one vertical plane, not multiple.  The intent of the challenge is for teams to see if they can find a way for the pendulum bob to perform tasks on noticeably different planes (similar to the box analogy).

Not sure what you mean exactly.  Most gloves (or boxes that contain gloves) will be labeled ‘latex-free’ or ‘non-latex’.   Inflated Nitrile gloves also are allowed, since they don’t have latex and are synthetic rubber.

Yes.  There is no rule against adding more weight to the bob or a weight limit on the bob – just make sure the washer is directly part of the bob and is visible to judges.