This arcade-style game was built as part of Columbia Engineering's first-year Art of Engineering Course, where every freshman as a final project designs a tabletop arcade game on a $100 budget. The result? A whimsical and fully functional clown-themed game with three levels of targets and a lot of character.

Players aim and launch ping pong balls to knock down clowns in a limited amount of time. Each clown is mounted above a light sensor that detects when it’s knocked down and awards the player points. When all clowns in a row are knocked over, a stepper motor lifts the row back up. The entire structure was laser cut from 1/4" plywood. The game ran on an arduino that counted up points based on the number of clowns knocked down and played music.

Overall, it was a super fun little build freshman year.