I’ve always found the waterfall game (ball going through upright obstacle) to be interesting but lacking in interactivity and a fun game play. Therefore, I wanted to design a toy that requires beating the clock and adds more user control.
I came up with the waterfall pinball game, as sketched below. This toy is based on the concept of acceleration change due to incline as well as gravity. This is a handheld toy, and the player would trigger 8 flippers by buttons on either the side or back of the toy. The objective is to keep the ball up for a certain amount of time (could be infinite) rather than passively watch it drop to the ground like in the waterfall game. For more interesting game play, the positioning and angle of the flippers will be further explored.
To make the prototyping process more feasible, flippers can be used from existing handheld toys similar to pinball. Further, the casing can be 3D printed with an acrylic top. This toy is for ages 7 and up, and is completely safe and durable for this age group.