Piggy Escape

I created a farm-themed maze inside a cardboard box. I came up with this design from a sketch that I made of a pig that was in the shape of a circle, even the legs were tucked in. The ending came from the cardboard tube that used to hold stickers for my work. We usually go through at least one a day, and I have been trying to find ways to repurpose them. Once I had the idea of the pig marble and tree trunk, I thought of the pig escaping. I choose this structural design because it is easy for my grandma, who has a low hand grip, to play. This allows the whole family to participate in the fun.

1. Cardboard box
2. Cardboard tube (optional)
3. Paint
4. Marble
5. Scissors
6. Hot glue gun
7. Pencil
8. Paintbrushes
9. Water in a Jar
10. Napkin
11. Paint pallet (I used a plate)

Use the scissors to cut the flaps surrounding the cardboard box. You want the bottom of the box to be as flat as possible, so remove any extra pieces there as well. Keep the flaps, they will turn into the maze walls for your game.

Use the pencil to mark the maze on the inside of the bottom of the box. Don’t forget to add a start and finish. You can add as many twists and turns as you would like, but make sure you leave a complete path for the marble to reach the end. I practiced on a piece of paper before adding it to the inside of the box.

Use the scissors to cut the flaps we removed earlier to match the length of the pencil marks. Cut the flaps the short way to increase the amount of pieces you have. This is helpful if you have a lot of maze walls.

Think of a theme for your game. Is your marble a mouse scrambling to find cheese, or a frog looking for the lake, maybe even a dog searching for truffles? I will be making my box themed like a farm and my marble is a pig. This includes barn walls, fences and crops.

(Optional) If you want to make your game more challenging you can add holes or pits the marble can fall through. This requires glueing a piece of cardboard on the outside bottom of the box around the hole to stop the marble from getting lost.

Paint the inside of the box, and maze walls to match your theme. The easiest way to paint the walls is to turn the box on the side. Clean the paintbrush between each step or swap it for the best results. The pencil marks will most likely need to be darkened after this step.

Paint the marble. It can help to add a piece of tape underneath the marble so it doesn’t roll away while painting. You will still have to paint very lightly or it will move.

Use the hot glue gun to dot glue along the bottom of the maze walls. Place the walls on the pencil lines before it cools. Use the glue to attach the edges of the walls to each other and to the wall. as well. (optional) Here is where you attach the cardboard tube for a finish line.

Try out the game! To play, place the marble in the starting area. Lift the box holding from two opposing sides of the bottom. Tilt the box side to side. This will cause the marble to race through the maze, but you have to make sure the marble makes it to the end. Enjoy!