Archive for the 'Best Of' Category



Building a 16:3 scale Labyrinth

Published on September 26, 2006

Image showing proposed scale of Labyrinth Mini-golf

As you can see from the image above, we’ve really got our work cut out for us in building a larger-than-life version of Brio’s Labyrinth game for the Holocene Mini-golf event. Andrew and I began a few days ago by milling some lumber, and I assembled the center portion of the game last (Monday) night. This evening, Bruce and Andrew came over to help finalize this part of the game. Here’s Bruce locating one of the bumpers. It was pretty math-y work, and Bruce did a great job, though he was a bit lippy.

Bruce Measuring Game Surface for Bumper

I cut the bumpers to length, and Andrew was the nailer. (The odd-looking brad nailer is my cordless 18 ga. nailer, sans battery. While it’s a heavy nailer for plugged-in work, it is one of the few 18 ga. nailers I’ve seen that accomodate a 2-in. brad.)

Andrew Nailing the Rails in Place with a Porter-Cable 18 ga. cordless nailer

When all the bumpers were installed, we were pretty proud of ourselves, and more than a little surprised our cocktail napkin of a plan actually worked. All in all, there are more than 40 holes (thanks Bruce), 2 and a quarter inches in diameter, cut with a hole saw. Took 3 batteries to cut that many, but it looked great all put together. The holes are not scaled to the game’s size, but rather, scaled to the golf ball’s size. So, it should play a little easier than the small version. We hope.

3 Men and a Brio Labrinth Game

And of course, we had to test it out. We haven’t built the x-y tilt mechanism yet, but three guys can do a fair approximation after a beer or two. It took about five tries, but we actually succeeded in navigating the maze. We were pretty sure it would be impossible (just like the real thing), but the dimples in the golf ball slow it down to a manageable speed.

Testing the Labyrinth Game Surface

Stay tuned!


Close up of Waterfall Drawing

Published on September 4, 2006

Americans in Paris

Published on

Garden Trap

Published on August 16, 2006

Textured Cedar Piece

Published on July 31, 2006

2 New Flowers

Published on July 25, 2006