Write It Do It B/C

[Gemma W]

Thanks. Though even searching on ebay is expensive. [It costs so much!!!]

I know. Did you actually manage to find a set? Everything I looked at had already ended. Plus they're all "vintage" and old and stuff.

[QuantumLeaper]

I ran into the same problem with trying to find googolplex, luckily they didn't use any building toys at states. We practiced with Legos, and that's about it. To be fair, the structure that they did give us was pretty challenging from my standpoint. What's the craziest structure anyone's ever had to work with? I'm still new to WIDI, so it would be nice to know what kind of things they throw at you, if there's a pattern to it at all. I seem to remember reading on here that one structure involved a potato...? Awesome.

[Gemma W]

I don't have a ton of experience, but I think it really depends on the area and the supervisor. Everybody has a different style when it comes to WIDI. It's a fairly subjective event especially when it comes to junk materials.

[zyzzyva980]

I've had one involving a cardboard box, paper clips, some building materials, another type elsewhere in the model, and still another elsewhere. Completely random materials. Sounds difficult, no? It wasn't. Because the materials were so unique, the writing was not difficult and many teams scored highly.

It's actually harder when all of the materials are similar but not quite alike.

[Gemma W]

Sorry to intrude on this discussion, but do you know, for junk materials, how "inaccurate" you have to be to get points off? Like, if something was an inch away from where it was supposed to be on a twelve inch thing, would you get points off?

[The Eviscerator]

Sorry to intrude on this discussion, but do you know, for junk materials, how "inaccurate" you have to be to get points off? Like, if something was an inch away from where it was supposed to be on a twelve inch thing, would you get points off?

It depends on how specific the rubric is. If the rubric says that the thing has to be 3 inches away and you put it 4 inches away, you wouldn't get it, but if the rubric only said that the thing had to be not touching, then you would.

[Gemma W]

Okay thanks. I guess knowing that doesn't really help as such, but it's still useful to know. Thanks.

[googlyfrog]

Anyone from PA here? The WIDI from our state competition yesterday was composed of a ziploc bag, a dixie cup, toothpics, straws, popsicle sticks, k'nex, pipe cleaners, a paper plate, and...
some weird variation on a popsicle stick. It was the same width, but about 5-6 cm long, and on one end it was rounded like a dog bone, and on the other end it was like a pitchfork. It was inserted straight up into the cup. What did everyone else call this piece? I used about 3 or 4 lines just DESCRIBING the piece, and almost forgot to say where to put it.

[yogoperson]

Anyone from PA here? The WIDI from our state competition yesterday was composed of a ziploc bag, a dixie cup, toothpics, straws, popsicle sticks, k'nex, pipe cleaners, a paper plate, and...
some weird variation on a popsicle stick. It was the same width, but about 5-6 cm long, and on one end it was rounded like a dog bone, and on the other end it was like a pitchfork. It was inserted straight up into the cup. What did everyone else call this piece? I used about 3 or 4 lines just DESCRIBING the piece, and almost forgot to say where to put it.

The materials seem simple enough until you get to the popsicle stick ad structure part.

[Gemma W]

Anyone from PA here? The WIDI from our state competition yesterday was composed of a ziploc bag, a dixie cup, toothpics, straws, popsicle sticks, k'nex, pipe cleaners, a paper plate, and...
some weird variation on a popsicle stick. It was the same width, but about 5-6 cm long, and on one end it was rounded like a dog bone, and on the other end it was like a pitchfork. It was inserted straight up into the cup. What did everyone else call this piece? I used about 3 or 4 lines just DESCRIBING the piece, and almost forgot to say where to put it.

Well, the doer has the pieces, so they probably would be able to figure it out with one line of description. But it does sound pretty tricky. Congrats on nationals.