Tim Tam Towers

The challenge: Create the tallest, free-standing structure possible. The supplies: 30 pieces of spaghetti, 1 yard of tape, and 18 minutes. The catch: it must be able to support two Tim Tams (chocolate covered wafers) placed at the top of the structure.


Team 1:

Team 1 was inspired by the Eiffel Tower. They were convinced that by creating a series of triangular prisms that built on top of one another, the structure would achieve both the necessary strength to support the Tim Tams and the height to win the competition. Even though their tower turned into more of a Leaning Tower of Pisa, last minute adjustments put them in the best position to win (until Calisha destroyed one of the Tim Tams by accident...lol)

Team 2:

Team 2 went with the fatalist approach. They assumed all other teams would fail, and so built an extremely sturdy structure, but it was only 9 cm off the table...


Team 3:

Team 3, like Team 1, were looking at ways to incorporate triangles in their structure. Initially they were looking to have the spaghetti intertwine and have the Tim Tams rest on top, but ultimately they were unable to balance the structure and at the end of the 18 minutes their Tim Tams were...0 cm off the table...epic fail!

Team 4:

Team 4 demonstrated the best teamwork of the four. They went for the skyscraper approach, but with about 5 minutes left, when they first placed the Tim Tams on top, they too encountered the balancing issues. By quickly creating a system of braces and separating the Tim Tams on the top of their structure to even out the weight distribution, they created the most elegant structure of the 4 teams, and unlike Team 1, did not destroy any Tim Tams :)!

Results:
Team 1: 39.5 cm (but disqualified due to a destroyed Tim Tam)
Team 2: 9 cm
Team 3: 0 cm
Team 4: 25.5 cm
Perhaps the fatalist approach was not the best... :)

This was a pretty awesome team building exercise and I'm looking to do one of these each Tuesday. So far I have: Tim Tam Tower, Human Knot (oldie but a goodie), Human Scavenger Hunt (will need to consult with colleagues to make an Indonesian-style game board), Will It Float? (who can come up with the most out-landish things that actually can float), Perfect Squares Puzzles Pieces (each team member is given a envelope and inside are puzzles pieces that on the whole make a perfect square for each member, but the pieces are split up. catch: no talking allowed), and other spaghetti structures. Please feel free to share more!