By submitting an entry to the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge, participants and their parents/guardians/teachers agree to abide by the following rules and requirements.
Eligibility
Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge participants must be ages 6 – 18 years old as of March 16, 2024 and enrolled in some form of elementary or secondary education (public, private, charter, or home school).
Participants can invent and enter the challenge on their own or with a team partner that meets the eligibility requirements. There is a maximum of four participants per team, no exceptions.
All entries must be the original idea, development and work product of the participant/team, and must not have previously been made available to the public as a commercial product.
Use of outside services for prototype production assistance (ie. 3D printing, playing card printing, etc.) is permitted, but students must disclose anything that is not their personal work in their entry.
Judging & Awarding of Prizes
All judging decisions are final. Judging will be done in person on March 16, 2024 in presentation circles at the Oakland Schools Administration Building. Students will meet in small groups with judges to pitch their ideas and take questions. Parents will leave the judging area during this time.
Winners will be announced and prizes awarded on Saturday, March 16, 2024.
Teams will be judged in the same way as individual entires.
Invention and Prototype Requirements
Entries must consist of only one prototype/invention per participant /team.
All entries must consist of a working prototype of the game/invention.
All entries need to fit on a 60” wide x 24” deep space on a tabletop, including poster display.
No walls or curtains will be available for hanging/posting of materials.
Logbooks showing your design process (see the Design Guide for details), or journals must be displayed at the competition along with poster boards and prototypes. Teams only need to submit one logbook for their project.
Entries may not contain hazardous materials such as explosive, combustible, or incendiary materials, blades or dangerous projectiles.
Event Staff reserves the right to reject any prototype deemed hazardous, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate in its judgment, and to prohibit challenge participation of the owners of said prototype.
Other
Event Staff will not be responsible for the supervision of minors at any time.
All participants and their parents/guardians/teachers and families are expected to conduct themselves responsibly and with respect for others during the challenge.
Event Staff reserves the right to disqualify from the challenge and to permanently remove from the facility/property, anyone whose conduct is deemed unsafe, disruptive, insensitive, inappropriate, or threatening.
All children under the age of 18 years must be accompanied by a parent/guardian/teacher when participating in the Challenge.
Liability/Permissions
When registering for the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge, the following statement will be electronically signed during the registration process by the student's parent or guardian. Participation in the event means that the following has been agreed to:
· Permission is given for me/my child to exhibit at the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge. I understand that the material used in the
project/prototype is my/my child’s responsibility. I understand that I am responsible for the supervision of the registered minor during the time they are present at the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge.
· Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge participants and their parents/guardians/teachers shall protect, save and hold the Oakland Schools Education Foundation and Oakland Schools and its officers, directors, employees and agents; Event Staff and its officers, directors, employees and agents (hereinafter collectively called "Indemnities") forever harmless from any damages or charges imposed for violations of any law or ordinance, whether occasioned by the negligence of the participants and their parents/guardians/teachers or those holding under them. Further, Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge participants and their parents/guardians/teachers shall at all times protect, indemnify, save and hold harmless the Indemnities against and from any and all losses, costs, damages, liability or expenses (including attorney's fees) arising from or out of or by reason of any accident or bodily injury or other occurrences to any property, person or persons, including the participant and their parents/guardians/teachers, which arise from or out of or by reason of said participant's challenge participation, occupancy, and use of the facilities, or any part thereof. All liabilities, including medical, shall be borne by participant and their parents/guardians/teachers.
· I grant permission for my child to be photographed, audio/video recorded, interviewed by the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge, partners, news media or others for event-related stories. I/my child understand that appropriate behavior is required at the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge and that distraction of others or any form of harassment or vandalism will not be tolerated and may lead to disqualification from the competition.
· I understand that my/my child’s project/prototype will be shown to judges/mentors. I agree that no contract, express or implied, is formed by virtue of showing my/my child’s project/prototype to judges/mentors. I hereby waive all present and future claims, actions, and remedies that relate to my/my child’s project/prototype (both damages and equitable relief) against the judges/mentors who participate in the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge, their employers, and any corporate affiliates of their employers, except for claims and actions for violations of U.S. patent or copyright laws. I acknowledge that the
judges/mentors who participate in the Oakland County Game & Invention Challenge, including their employers, and any corporate affiliates of their employers, are express, intended third party beneficiaries of this agreement.
· Event Staff reserves the right to permanently remove anyone from the facility who may violate its rules of safety and conduct.
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.