Game On

60-90m
Ages 5+

Make an arcade game

Have you ever wished there was an arcade at your school? This is your chance to design one! Follow the Design Thinking Process to create a series of functioning arcade games for your school festival day fundraiser.

Subjects
STEAM, Science, Design and Technologies

Objectives

Preparation

Materials

Activity

The STEAM Challenge

Pose the following scenario:

Your school is fundraising for a good cause and must create entertaining ways to raise money from the community. So far, the school has organised a festival day with raffles, prizes and an arcade, but they have yet to fill the arcade with games. Buying games would cost money that could be used to help the cause, so you have been asked to design and create the games yourself.

Check out ‘Caine’s Arcade’ for inspiration to create a set of arcade-style games, then let the fun begin.



  • Your Goal: Use Makedo tools and connectors with upcycled materials to create arcade-style games for a school event.

  • Your Role: You are a game designer.

  • Your Audience: People coming to your school event looking to play entertaining games and win prizes.

  • The Scenario: A school festival or event to raise money for a good cause.

  • The Product: A functioning set of arcade games made with Makedo tools, connectors and upcycled cardboard.

Reflection

Journal Prompts

  • What aspects of your design are you most pleased with? 

  • Were there similarities between the designs that were most effective? What were they?

  • What was difficult about this challenge? Did anything surprise you?

  • What would you do to improve your design if you embarked on this challenge again?

Extension

Take It Further

  • Design an arcade game with various moving parts.

  • Use electronics or mechanisms to keep score in your arcade game.

  • Design ‘give out’ tickets or prizes when someone wins without anyone attending to it.