Saturday, September 25, 2010

Good, Better, Creative!

I discovered Cuponk today while shopping.  In its simplest form, it's a game where you try to land your ping-pong ball in a cup.  The trickier the shot, the better.  The basic game has been around for years, but it took some clever people at Hasbro to redesign, repackage, and market it as Cuponk.  For about $13, you get a couple of ping-pong balls, some trick cards, and a fancy cup with lights and cool graphics.  I have to admit, I considered buying it.  But then I had a better thought.  I walked over to the sports area and found a box of 36 ping-pong balls for $8.86.  I bought that instead.  I already had a plastic cup at home, and I figured my kids would have more fun designing and painting their own ping-pong balls.  And guess what . . . I was right.  We've spent the last hour sitting around painting ping-pong balls with magic markers and water color paints, which both worked fabulously.  I then sprayed them with a clear acrylic coat to protect the paintings.  And now . . . Let the games begin.

Here are some sample "designer" ping-pong balls, just to give you an idea of what you can do.


photo credits:  dzingeek
One more thought:  I'm considering using this game at school as a filler project.  I think it would be fun to design balls and then trade them or try to win your opponents ball in a bit of friendly competition.  With a little creativity, the possibilities are endless.  :)

Okay, ONE more thought . . . my last, I promise:  I just found a pack of 144 balls for $11.69 from Amazon.  I'm ordering that right now.

3 comments:

Julie Wright said...

Awesome idea!

Kevin Wasden said...

So, it turns out that the box of ping pong balls that I purchased from Amazon have a different surface than the ones I bought from Walmart . . . a surface that won't absorb water at all. I took them to school today to let some students decorate a few, but the design process was a complete failure. Still, we had fun bouncing them into cups. It was a nice way to let off steam after a day of ACT testing.

Debbie said...

Love them. You may have come up with your own cuponk idea...Pokemon cuponk. Then Mario, Sonic, ...who else do kids love?