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Mystery Design is a trial event for Division B in New York.

Anyone have a simpler, more understandable explanation of the rules? I was talking to my coach, and he said he didn't understand and the director for the NYC (in Queens) competition didn't know either. Thanks

MysterySkye04 wrote:Anyone have a simpler, more understandable explanation of the rules? I was talking to my coach, and he said he didn't understand and the director for the NYC (in Queens) competition didn't know either. Thanks

As best I understand it (which is not much, but hopefully alright) the event supervisor comes up with a task, and competitors build a device to do the task. It reminds me a little of Junkyard Challenge, except more vague.

Unome wrote:

MysterySkye04 wrote:Anyone have a simpler, more understandable explanation of the rules? I was talking to my coach, and he said he didn't understand and the director for the NYC (in Queens) competition didn't know either. Thanks

As best I understand it (which is not much, but hopefully alright) the event supervisor comes up with a task, and competitors build a device to do the task. It reminds me a little of Junkyard Challenge, except more vague.

Thank you, but is it at the competition that you build the device, or will they tell you before hand? It said something in the rules about you being told what to build two weeks prior to the competition, so is that what's going to happen?

Based on the name it reminds me of the old Mystery Architecture, where the event supervisor could give you one of a few predefined tasks to do, like build a boat made of paper that can hold X amount of pennies, or build a paper cantilever that can hold X amount of pennies.

The build is done on site, but the task/materials will be released ahead of time. The first part (technical drawing) is done beforehand; as far as I know, the goal is to build your "thing" to the same specs as the drawing. Then it's evaluated.

The materials will be common enough to where it should be reasonable to a few practice builds before competition. The million dollar question at this point is, What is the task and what are the materials! I'm hoping that it's the same for all regions throughout the state. I'm guessing that the State challenge won't be released until after all the regionals are finished.

I would agree with EastStroudsburg on this one- when Mystery Architecture was a trial event in Jersey, it was exactly as how he described it. For this however, it might be like experimental design but more building based which would entail more writing and more attention to detail rather than just building a structure to do "X" action.

SPP SciO wrote:The build is done on site, but the task/materials will be released ahead of time. The first part (technical drawing) is done beforehand; as far as I know, the goal is to build your "thing" to the same specs as the drawing. Then it's evaluated.

The materials will be common enough to where it should be reasonable to a few practice builds before competition. The million dollar question at this point is, What is the task and what are the materials! I'm hoping that it's the same for all regions throughout the state. I'm guessing that the State challenge won't be released until after all the regionals are finished.

How much time do they give you to build it?

CVMSAvalacheStudent wrote:

SPP SciO wrote:The build is done on site, but the task/materials will be released ahead of time. The first part (technical drawing) is done beforehand; as far as I know, the goal is to build your "thing" to the same specs as the drawing. Then it's evaluated.

The materials will be common enough to where it should be reasonable to a few practice builds before competition. The million dollar question at this point is, What is the task and what are the materials! I'm hoping that it's the same for all regions throughout the state. I'm guessing that the State challenge won't be released until after all the regionals are finished.

How much time do they give you to build it?

I believe my students said 30 minutes (at the Cornell Div. B invitational). They didn't indicate to me that there was a post-analysis write-up or anything like that, it was just a build session followed by a testing session. For context, it was a parachute constructed from cardstock, string, masking tape, and plastic flex straws that was supposed to slow the descent of a falling stuffed animal. For more context, my students placed 13th and 14th - in a field of 14 participants - so I'd definitely suggest studying the rubric that's posted on the NYS website and making sure that the technical drawing & analysis is complete!

Does anyone know if the blueprint has to be impounded?