Never-Ending Demolition Derby

(From Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share )

The demolition derby holds a special place in our culture. Not unlike ultimate fighting, the premise is simple: Two cars enter, one car leaves. Problem is, once someone wins, someone else has to go looking for a new car. Actually, even the winner often has to look for a new car. Kind of a waste of materials, really.

So why not make your own Lego demolition derby with R/C cars covered in breakaway components, which can be reattached or easily replaced after each match? Now the competition is a matter of the strategic ablation (knocking pieces off) of your opponent’s vehicle, rather than a simple smash-and-bash.

Age range: 4 and up (fun for all ages!)

Materials

• 2 (or more) R/C cars (controllers must be on separate frequencies)
• Lego bricks and plates
• Peel-and-stick Velcro or foam tape or a hot-glue gun
• Foam pieces (optional, as needed)

Instructions

Step 1: Prep Your Cars

Using R/C cars that have flat surfaces so the Legos will attach easily, select a sticky option above and glue Lego plates to the roof, hood, trunk, and sides. The goal is to cover as much of the exterior surface as possible. Select Velcro or foam tape if you want the flexibility to remove and reaffix the plates mid-derby.

Step 2: Customize Your Game

Once the pre-plated cars are dry and ready to go, they can each be customized for maximum smashing. Give everyone their own car and some Lego bricks to build scoops, armor, battering rams, or any weapon they think will inflict maximum damage.

Step 3: The Arena

To add to the derby sensibility, you can build an arena for all this model carnage. If you have some spare 2-by-4s, lay them out in a useful shape and use duct tape and a staple gun to temporarily connect the ends. For an easier and potentially cheaper approach, use pool noodles as the borders of your arena, and try duct tape and rubber bands to loosely tie the ends together.

Step 4: Fight!

Once your arena and wicked-looking combat cars are assembled, it’s time to smash! But there’s more you can do besides just bashing into each other. Why not turn it into a game? Decide what kind of game you want your demolition derby to be and build brick structures on the base plates accordingly. Here are some ideas:

• Each player gets a certain number of bricks to plug on their car. Hold a timed battle (say, two minutes), and the car with the most remaining bricks at the end wins the round. Hold multiple rounds with multiple challengers to create a tournament.
• Each player has a group of specifically colored bricks that he plugs into the outside of his car. Build up structures around them to protect the special bricks. Then hold a timed battle. Each colored brick that’s knocked off earns the opponent a point. Score points to win games, win games to win a set, win sets to take the match!

Each player has a minifigure “driver.” The driver is attached on the roof, and then structures are built on the sides and around the minifig to protect it. Hold a battle, and the last minifig still attached wins.