By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
The Rube Goldberg Institute and Lunchables have crowned the top 10 winners for the 2023 Rube Goldberg Machine x Lunchables Contest.
The official 2023 task challenged 140 teams to engineer imaginative and convoluted machines that can assemble a Kraft Heinz Lunchable product.
Thousands of kids and teens from around the world participated in the Build a Lunchables Rube Goldberg Machine challenge.
The top ten winners were selected based on whose LunchaBuild machine was the most complex, the most creative, the most engaging, and the most entertaining.
The USA winners came from California, Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, & South Carolina. The international winners came from Bermuda, the Philippines, and Israel.
“The machines this year were fantastic,” said Jennifer George, the Director of the Rube
Goldberg Institute. “Kids love Lunchables and it shows—not just in the creativity and imaginative
builds we saw, but how they ate their machines in the end!”
The competitions’ judges included members of the Kraft Heinz Lunchables team and industry professionals associated with Rube Goldberg from the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and the Arts.
The winners of the competition receive a variety of prizes including Visa gift cards, RGMC trophies and merchandise. The winners machines are also featured on The Rube Goldberg Institute’s official website and social media accounts.
Lunchables is a buildable food brand that is manufactured and owned by Kraft Heinz. The brand sponsored the 2023 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest to amplify its LunchaBuild marketing campaign. The LunchaBuild campaign is designed to encourage children to harness their creativity by playing with their food.
Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist who specialized in complex and humorous chain reaction invention cartoons.
In 1988, the first Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was started as a small college-level event. It has since grown into an international competition for students of all ages.
The Institute now offers annual contests, exhibitions, licensed consumer products, books, customized curriculum, and entertainment properties for the Rube Goldberg brand.
The Rube Goldberg Institute is a non-profit organization focused on equity and
access in STEM and arts education.
The licensing partnership with the Lunchables brand was brokered by Rube Goldberg’s exclusive licensing agency, Brand Central.
The top 10 winning machines for the 2023 Rube Goldberg Machine x Lunchables Contest can be viewed on the Rube Goldberg website.
TOP 10 WINNERS
- Redlands High School – California – Rube Goldberg 2023 Build a Lunchable AKA Lunch-a-build
- Jonathan Araujo of Enfield High School – Connecticut – JA Rube Goldberg Machine Contest Entry – Lunchables
- Anderson High School – Indiana – AHS Rube Goldberg 2023 Lunchables
- Catonsville High School Society of Women Engineers – Maryland – Catonsville High’s Society of Women Engineers 2023 Rube Goldberg Lunchabuild
- Shakopee East Middle School – Minnesota – Shakopee East MS Rube Goldberg Team 2023: Final Entry
- Fieldston Sophomores – New York – Fieldston Sophomores 2023 || Rube’s NYC!
- Spring Valley School – Pennsylvania – Lunchable 2023 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
- Woolard Technology Center Engineering & Mechatronics – South Carolina – Rube Goldberg Lunchable Machine
- Rensy Racimo – Philippines – Rensy Racimo 2023 RGMC (International Winner)
- Feargal Murphy – Bermuda – Feargal’s Rube Goldberg machine 2023 (International Winner)
Rube Goldberg & Lunchables Reinvent Concept of ‘Playing With Your Food’