248-209-2434

Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge

Entry Criteria

Display Board

On the day of competition, your display board must contain the following:​

  • Student Name
  • Project Name
  • Student Age and Grade
  • Student School
  • Brainstorming/Development: summarize the process you went through to develop your game/invention.
  • Testing: Who did you play your game with or test your invention on? What was their feedback? Did you make changes/adjustments based on this?

Rules/Instructions

Marketing Message: to persuade your target audience about why they should buy your game/invention. You may want to create a slogan or consider listing the benefits and unique features of your invention.

Don’t forget:

  • Your prototype
  • Your logbook (see the Design Guide for more information) so we can see notes on how your ideas developed!

NOTE: Poster displays and any accompanying written materials must be in English, though bilingual translations are welcome and encouraged.

Judging & Awarding of Prizes

The goal of this event is to inspire creativity and innovation and to provide mentorship to students in this process! It is a competition, but our hope is that the focus will be on the design process and the experience, not the outcome. Our judges’ feedback is meant to teach and inspire our contestants, and hopefully encourage them to further develop their ideas and come up with new ones!

All students will participate in a round of judging circles. These are small groups which will include judges and peers. Students will pitch their game/invention ideas to the group, and have time for peer/judge feedback and review. Each student/team will be given time for pitching and Q&A after which judges will score and make notes on the project, and then move onto the next student presentation.

NOTE: this is a time for students to present their project to judges. In fairness to all contestants, parents/teachers/mentors are not allowed to participate in any way, and are asked to wait in a separate area during the presentations.

The judges will determine overall scoring and winners. Students will receive their scores and comments at the conclusion of the event.

Judging Criteria

Judges will be looking at the following criteria and asking themselves these questions on the day of the event:

Invention or Game

  • Communication–The concept is easily communicated.  It’s simple to explain and visually obvious to use.
  • Fun or Appeal– This toy or invention has a high fun factor.  It holds the players’ attention and has repeat playability.  The invention appeals to family members and holds their desire for continued use.
  • Originality–This is a very original and new idea with potentially unique intellectual property.
  • Play Testing or Use–The students showed or explained thorough examples of play (game) or use of the invention.
  • Practicality–This game/invention is practical for the consumer market.  It is safe, easy to use and package.
  • Research–The students did research to show if a similar game/invention has been manufactured in the past, and if so, what improvements have been made to it.

Pitch, Prototype, Poster & Process

  • Pitch–This pitch was outstanding with a clear explanation of the product, good eye contact, enthusiasm and volume.  The students were able to converse thoroughly about their invention and comfortably answer questions.
  • Presentation Board–The presentation board is exceptionally engaging, well organized and neat.  It shares relevant information about the product.
  • Process–The creative process was well explained and the students shared their development process as well as trial and error experiences.
  • Prototype–This prototype is exceptional in craftsmanship and/or effectively demonstrates how the invention, game or toy would actually look and work.

Creativity

  • Creativity–This concept is highly imaginative and exhibits exceptionally fresh thinking.

Educational Value

  • Education–The game, toy or invention teaches a concept or idea.
  • Teamwork–All members of the team had involvement in the development of the product.  Members had equal involvement in the presentation.