Taxi service to a West Ada School District high school over the weekend to surprise physics students Monday morning at Centennial High School. My family set up a pinball machine in a classroom. Free play. No quarters needed.
Down dark hallways to its temporary home.
Taxi pinball is a game from 1988, from the Williams pinball company. Aim the ball to hit targets and other shots to pick up passengers. Santa, Dracula, Marilyn Monroe, a robot and Gorbachev.
Many physics principals are part of the game play: torque, friction, tension, magnetic force, electrical forces and gravity. Patterns in collisions of the pinball off the surfaces, bumpers, flippers, slingshots and rubbers are part of the learning, too. Oh, and the fun for students and faculty during a time of AP tests and finals.
Interested in pinball science for your school? Let me know. Our Treasure Valley Pinball organization (all volunteers) can help. Email:deb@riverboise.com