Inventor Night

[cjsmith]

Geek party idea: get a bunch of wacky creative people together, hand them a lot of scratch paper, and give them an inventor challenge. Instead of having a games night, you have an Inventor Night. At the end of it you wind up with six or seven designs for Self-Ironing Shirts, or a sturdy Homemade Pogo Stick Shoe, or an Inexpensive One-Use Emergency Insulin Refrigerator.

If you can snag some people with specialized domain knowledge that'd be handy. Otherwise keep a computer with a 'net connection nearby. Just saying "Oh, there would be some electronics to take care of that part" is nowhere near as effective as sketching the circuit or writing pseudo-microcode. Even better if, for the simpler challenges, there are some materials and guests can try some things. (Reality TV rights optional.)

Staying on-topic isn't strictly necessary. It's fun to start out with one challenge, but maybe everyone will get off-topic and you'll wind up with a Solar-Powered Hovercraft and an Automated Dice Roller. Who knows? :-)

Comments

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

That is one of the coolest ideas I have heard in quite some time. I envision it kind of like a cooperative version of Junkyard Wars, but with less junk and more provision for getting hold of what you need.

[firecat]

That sounds like a blast. If you have one, please invite me! (Except I'm not much of an inventor, so I probably wouldn't be very useful except as an appreciative audience.)

[perfect-autumn.livejournal.com]

That's a fabulous idea.... I love it.

At my old job we all had to build little house out of toothpicks at a salesmeeting in under an hour - it was a blast.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

You're silly! I like that idea. :-)

[altitudeandwine.livejournal.com]

Great idea. And yes, let's make a TV series of this!
And while we are at it, why not make a follow-up series where people solve some less technical problems in this format. They don't have to start with poverty in Africa, but there are obviously a lot of social-economic problems that need solving.
We could always add the conclave-provision to the series. There's no leaving the building until you've found a solution. And every day you get less food.
*grinning evily*

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I wanna play! :D

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

That sounds insanely fun!

[cheshyre]

Just seen in the preliminary panel ideas for Arisia:

MacGyver-O-Matic!
This event pits teams of improvisational engineers against each other and the clock to build an earth-shattering device out of discarded materials, duct tape and a Swiss Army knife. This year, compete to build an earth-smashing device.
This is an event to make flashy things and explain what they do with lots of verve, not Junkyard Wars where it has to actually do the job. Imagine the Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator from Duck Dodgers.