Cargo Mayhem! - a fun bathtub game

Not just any boat, but one intended as a game!

Introduce children to concepts such as buoyancy and balance on a ship at an early age.

A container ship was chosen, which could not be more striking considering the many containers lost at sea every year.

Set up as a game for 2 people, but can easily be arranged in other game formats to your own taste.

Goal of the game:

Take turns stacking the containers on the deck of the ship until the ship tips over losing container(s). The person who causes this loses the game.

Game parts:

• A cargo ship with room for containers on deck.
• 2 sets of containers (of a different color) consisting of at least* 2 long and 4 short containers.
• 1 pyramid-shaped 4-sided die that works through (and only by) buoyancy.
• A stand to place the container ship on when not in use. 
• To be provided by yourself: a filled bathtub or swimming pool. If necessary, also provide swimwear! Clean water without bubbles preferred.

* The ship is tested with 4 long and 8 short container all on deck and was still abble to be stable and not sink. You can add more containers to force “sinking” the ship / making water.

Rules:

The 2 players each have their set of containers in their own color. Take turns throwing the dice into the water. The number and color* on the surface that floats determines what kind of container should be placed on the deck and who should place it!

Instead of throwing the dice into the water, you can also hold it deep under water and release it so that it rises to the surface.

The dice have the numbers 2 or 3 (2x) at each side. Number 2 stands for the short container and number 3 for the long container. When you have no long containers left, use the short ones…

* Alternatively, you can also work with a single-colored die. The person throwing (or the opponent) must then place the corresponding container of his/her own.

Feel free to make up your own rules!

PRINTING

For all parts I used Nozzle 0.4 - Layer thickness 0.2, material PLA (PETG is also an option)

Both halves of the Cargo Ship:

Because both halves are glued together, it is preferable to print on a flat plate! To ensure waterproofness, print with at least 2 walls, 2 bottom layers and 3 top layers. For the correct buoyancy at the above settings I used an infill of 15%. The total weight of 1 half ship was 36.5 grams. Use tree support for the railing of the ship.

* Tip: If you have problems creating a fully waterproof ship you can also coat the outside of the ship by spraypainting them with a (clear) coating. 1 or 2 layers will fill those very small cracks in your print, if there are. Another method you can apply is to smear the whole hull and deck with a (very) thin layer of silicone kit. It may be easier to do all this before glueing them together..

You can scale up (not down due to buoyancy). Don't forget to scale the Containers and the Stand the same way. For buoyancy increase the infill percentage with bigger prints.

The Containers:

Print with 2 wall, 2 bottom layers and 2 toplayers. Infill at 10%. 

I used a height range modifier to set the infill of the layer just before the toplayer to 50%. This ensured a watertight finish of the top layers.

tip: To make the predictability of container placement more difficult, you can print containers with different infill degrees. This creates small differences in the weight and therefore also the balance when placing it in the game.

I have also added alternative “containers”, just plain blocks for faster printing / preference.

The Dice:

Preferable you should not scale the dice. It is hollow inside and with pre-determined wall thickness to get just the right buoyancy! Print with at least 2 outer walls and 100% infill. Use NO supports inside, and print as positioned in the STL! There are 2 versions: for one-color printing and for multi-color printing. You have to mark the one-color printing one with the right color(s) using paint, nailpolish or a waterproof marker. (Please note that with een waterproof marker you can experience color bleeding, because the ink wants to move over the outer print layers due to capillary action. Because paint or nail polish is more viscous, this effect is less/not present)

For multi-color printing mark one set of “2” and “3” with the 2 different color of containers printed.

The Stand:

Set wall thickness to 3 to prevent infill creation in the support beams. 

Warning: This model contains small parts, especially the dice. 

Not suitable for children under 3 years of age. 

For children age 4-7, it is still advisable to use it under the guidance of an adult.

p.s. it is absolutely important to have a waterproof ship! Otherwise the remaining water may grow mold inside and the model will not work as intended. 

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*** The contest ***

A few minutes before publishing I read the small print in the contest rules for the bathtub toys contest for which I had made this model: "But here's the twist: no boats this time!". A few lines before that, submarines were still being discussed... The many boats that have already been placed in the contest indicate that I was not the only one who had overlooked it!  In any case, I have decided to publish anyway (and thus lost the opportunity to participate in a future contest about boats) because I believe that this is really a toy / game for young children that belongs in a bathtub . While I expect that a separate contest for boats will be more about actual boats (not really for the bathtub).

I had hoped that the jury took above in considering, however they were strickt and it was removed from the contest (as all other boats).