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Q: How does the barrel mechanism work, and how many barrels can fit inside it at one time?
The barrel mechanism is essentially a pump. It uses a stack of 14 barrels that rise up the side of the model. Each time the barrel lever is pulled, it adds one barrel to the bottom of the stack and drops another from the top. The system holds 20 barrels, so there can be 6 barrels rolling down at a time.
Q: Do the barrels roll down? Do they fall out of the assembly and need to be reinserted into the slot, or does the mechanism pop them back up?
The barrels roll all the way from top to bottom where they are collected in a hopper connected to the barrel pump. This forms an infinite barrel loop which is by definition “barrels of fun”.
Q: What is the biggest obstacle in designing and testing this mechanism?
The biggest challenge was getting the barrels to roll slowly without stopping or getting stuck. This was achieved through a combination of rolling steps, LEGO studs, ramps, brackets and the use of LEGO Technic beams that are slightly thinner than LEGO bricks. This allowed us to capture the feeling of gameplay as the barrel slowly rolls. I’ve rolled thousands of barrels on those tracks to find out… those barrels drove me bananas!
The second biggest hurdle was finding a way to move the barrel from the bottom to the top again. We built all kinds of things. Things to fire a single barrel from the bottom up, worm gears, overdrive levers, and more. But it turns out the right answer was simply more barrels.
Q: How do the joystick and button move Jumpman/Mario?
The joystick moves Jumpman from left to right using a long lever on the back of the model, attached to a dingler. The jump button uses a similar mechanism used in a piano key. When pressed down in front of the model, the other end of the trapeze lever presses up onto a long rod with the Jumpman on top. When the button is released, gravity sends Jumpman back down.
