Monday, April 22nd

Very unfortunately, our revised whack-a-ball was rejected by our PE teacher again. Ms. Piercy said that the ball was the right size, but the folds of the duct tape are protruding and may scratch someone. As a result, we need to troubleshoot again. Maybe we should consider peer reviewing at this point. We definitely need some help...

Saturday, April 20th

Today, William and I went to buy the socks and tape. Later, we started assembling the balls... AGAIN..
Here are the additional steps of making the whack-a-ball:

We are planing to cover the ball with half a sock, then sewing it together, and finally, we will use duct tape to cover the whole thing.

The sock is over the ball.

We sewed up the top opening of the sock to stabilize the ball.

Completed!

Friday, April 19th

Today, I did some research on the type of tape we should use. The tape should be durable, waterproof, and somewhat smooth. Here is a website on various types of tapes. Three types of tapes that stood out the most was duct tape, electrical tape, and silicone tape. Later, I eliminated the electrical tape because sometimes the tape releases toxins when put in contact with certain substances. I was very impressed by the functions of the silicone tape. It could stick and bind to itself, it is durable and very soft. However, after checking online, I found out that it is extremely expensive, so in the end, I decided that we would have to go with the duct tape. 

Thursday, April 18th

Today in class, we are still deciding on how we can give an alternative outer layer to our whack-a-ball. We came up with a few ideas:
Plastic bags tied up with rope
Saran Wrap
Tape

We came to an agreement later on to use tape because plastic bags are un-shapable and other people might peel off the saran wrap.

Another thing that we did is to prepare the mini-survey that we are going to give to our PE class after they have tested out our game. Here are the few main questions:

• Gender
• simplicity of the rules
• competitiveness
• movement
• skill 
• motivation (are you motivated to move around?)
• Willingness to play the game again in the future

Tuesday, April 16th

Today, I went to Ms. Piercy and unfortunately, she said that there was a safety concern with the whack-a-ball. The problem was that the ball was small enough to hit someone right in the eye. Also, the outer layer of the whack-a-ball was made of rubber. Ms. Piercy was worried that it might snap and hurt someone.  To eliminate the safety concern, Ms. Piercy suggested that we make the whack-a-ball larger and use a different type of an outer coating, Later, I mentioned this to William and we discussed about what to do, We need something soft and easy to work with for the extra filling. At first we decided to just add more newspaper, but it seems too rough, and it doesn't look too good. Then, I got the idea of using socks: soft and flexible. We could just stretch it over the current whack-a-ball. Now, we still need to decide on the outer coating.
To cope with these technical difficulties, we decided to extend our deadline by a week.

Monday, April 15th

Today, we went to our PE teacher, Ms. pierce , to tell her that we are ready to test out our game. We planned to test it out during PE class on Thursday. She agreed and we handed our a sample of our equipment and our rules for her to check over. 

Friday, April 12th

Today, we wrote out the specific rules for our game and named it "Whack-a-ball". You can find the rules at the Rules section. Also, we reviewed our criteria to see if our game matches the criteria:

Blue = Match          Red = Doesn't match     Orange = To be determined
- innovative (new type)  
- competitive *need to wait until we test out the game
- constant moving for everyone *need to wait until we test out the game
- chance to show off *The captain system
- includes characteristics of handball, capture the flag, and ultimate. *We added some elements of dodgeball
- simple rules *need to wait until we test out the game
- strategy needed
- medium skill-leveled game
- team based but depends on individual performance
- fast paced
- play with a ball
- game type
- keeps score
- no time limit

Saturday, April 6th

Today, we mass produced the balls that were needed for our game. In total, we created 30 balls and it took us about 3 hours.

Wednesday, March 27th

Today, we decided on the equipment that we are going to use for the sport. As we said before, we want to use ball type equipment. We need the sport to be safe, so these balls have to be light and soft, but able to fly a long distance. We thought about using ball pit balls, but they were too light and don't fly very far. We went to find supplies to make these balls, and in the end, we settled upon tennis ball covered by balloons. However, when we actually tested them out, they hurt a lot when you get hit. Finally, we settled upon ball pit balls covered by newspaper and covered by two balloons. This made the ball heavier, but still soft and safe. Here are the steps to make the ball:

Step 1: Prepare the necessary items: one ball pit ball, one piece of flyer paper, 2 balloons(one with end cut off), and tape.

Step 2: Cover the ball pit ball with the flyer paper and use tape to hold the ball in place.

Step 3: Stretch the balloon with the cut off end over the ball.

Step 4: Stretch the first balloon completely over the ball and apply force to make it round.

Step 5: Stretch the balloon with the end over the ball.

Step 6: Knot the balloon and apply pressure again to make it round.

FINISHED!

Tuesday, March 26th

Today, we looked at the data that we organized and came up with the basic criteria for our sport/game. (It's going to be a game.)

What we want in our game:
- innovative (new type)
- competitive
- constant moving for everyone
- chance to show off
- includes characteristics of handball, capture the flag, and ultimate.
- simple rules
- strategy needed
- medium skill-leveled game
- team based but depends on individual performance
- fast paced
- play with a ball
- game type
- keeps score
- no time limit

We also brainstormed for ideas for our game. In the end, we came up with a basic template for a war type game, a combination of capture the flag, ultimate, and dodge ball. Specific rules and description will be posted on the RULE section.