The Rube Goldberg Story Contest

[RapeU]

Rube Goldberg was an author widely known for comic strips and animated films that had complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The writing contest for the month of October, should you choose to accept the challenge, is to write a story with a Rube Goldberg theme.

Perhaps the best example of a Rube Goldberg machine is Ok Go's music video This Too Shall Pass.



Here we have likely over 100 simple gadgets involved all so that the band can get blasted with paint at the end when it would have just been easier to have someone push the button and splatter the band with paint (though it would be less entertaining.)

You are not limited to writing about a gadget with multiple parts and steps that in the end does something simple. The Rube Goldberg theme can apply to one or more character actions. For example, a character could make a 10 part plan to rape his sister when it would have just been easier to just go into her room and rape her there.

The Rube Goldberg theme could apply to unplanned events as well. A great example of Rube Goldberg "unplanned events" is within the original Home Alone movie.



Kate flies from Chicago to Paris. After she realized they left their son at home she goes to Dallas then to Scranton then accepts a ride from Polka musicians in a van to go to Chicago when it would have just been easier to wait in Paris and go on the flight to Chicago after Christmas with the rest of the family.

So essentially, the theme of your story should be centered around multiple events which by themselves are simple. Yet when they are all combined together it’s a complex or complicated situation when it would have just been easier to _________ (fill in the blank).

You have the whole month of October plus a few days extra since I’m posting this a few days early in case I'm busy midweek. As for word count, let’s do it a little differently and set a minimum word count of 5,000 words with no upper word limit. Thus, you can either write a medium or a long story for this contest.

Rube Goldberg Contest

• Theme: Rube Goldberg
• Language: English
• Length: Medium or long (5,000 plus words with no upper limit)
• Required Tags: Eng, Finished, Medium/Long, (NonCon or Con), RubeGoldberg
• Deadline: November 1 2025, 00:00 CEST
• Voting Window: To be determined based on number of entries.
  
  Rewards
  • The winner's story will be pinned for a week to the top of the Public Stories board.
  • The winner will receive a special title of their choice (unless they are part of the moderation team).
  • 25 reputation points for the winner, 10 for the runner-up.
  If you want to enter your story, please post it in the public stories board and reply to this thread with a link to your story. Also, the subject line of your story should reference the contest in the following way:
  
  • Title of your story - Rube Goldberg
  You may remove that reference once the contest is over. Also, please include a link to the contest thread before the beginning of your story and tell your readers that the story participates in the contest.
  
  Entries
  • Why Does It Not Die? by @Writers_Bloque

[Claire]

I'm not sure I fully understand the requirements for the contest. I get that the story needs to include a needlessly complex chain of events to achieve a fairly simple goal. But does it matter whether the person planning all this is aware that what they are doing is unnecessarily complicated? Regarding your two examples: In the music video, everybody is obviously aware that what they are doing is completely over the top to shoot the band with paint. But in the Home Alone movie example, it becomes only clear in hindsight that the convoluted trip the mother went on was no faster than just waiting for the next plane in Paris. Is that important for the story?

[Writers_Bloque]

I think I see the beauty of this contest, its more like the old saying "The best laid plans of mice and men." Maybe it does not succeed, call it Karma, over complication.

Reminds me of a joke based on the narrative of men are smarter than women, but less misogynistic. Men have to talk up simple ideas to sound smart because we are dumb, women start smart and while over complicating things digs the hole deeper forcing them to do dumb things. So Rube Goldberg drew machines the could be interpreted as over complicated to the point of increasing the chance of failure, but there was a point to it. So Yeah I like this prompt, might toss a story into the ring.

[Shocker]

Not sure if this will lead to a story, but certainly something to think about.

[MillieDynamite]

Rube Goldberg Contraption opening to one of my favorite TV series.




I may just have to enter this story contest.

[SoftGameHunter]

I love it. And that video, too. I've never heard that song or that group. So this is surely a winning concept all around.

[RapeU]

I'm not sure I fully understand the requirements for the contest. I get that the story needs to include a needlessly complex chain of events to achieve a fairly simple goal.

That is the requirement.

But does it matter whether the person planning all this is aware that what they are doing is unnecessarily complicated? Regarding your two examples: In the music video, everybody is obviously aware that what they are doing is completely over the top to shoot the band with paint. But in the Home Alone movie example, it becomes only clear in hindsight that the convoluted trip the mother went on was no faster than just waiting for the next plane in Paris. Is that important for the story?

A character or multiple characters don't have to be aware that it's unnecessarily complicated. You could have a character plan out a complex chain of events, or it could be a chain of events completely unplanned that a character does that at the time seems reasonable but in hindsight really isn't.

[LtBroccoli]

I'm not sure I fully understand the requirements for the contest. I get that the story needs to include a needlessly complex chain of events to achieve a fairly simple goal.

That is the requirement.

But does it matter whether the person planning all this is aware that what they are doing is unnecessarily complicated? Regarding your two examples: In the music video, everybody is obviously aware that what they are doing is completely over the top to shoot the band with paint. But in the Home Alone movie example, it becomes only clear in hindsight that the convoluted trip the mother went on was no faster than just waiting for the next plane in Paris. Is that important for the story?

A character or multiple characters don't have to be aware that it's unnecessarily complicated. You could have a character plan out a complex chain of events, or it could be a chain of events completely unplanned that a character does that at the time seems reasonable but in hindsight really isn't.

So it sounds like anything from a heist setup to "A Series of Unfortunate Events" are in play. Our protagonists don't necessarily have to be involved in the craziness, just benefit from it. Like a perfectly timed coincidence.

I remember a story about Richard Feynman one time looking at a series of blueprints for a nuclear facility. He randomly pointed at one storm drain and asked a question about what would happen if that drain backed up. The engineers looked at it, then did the work. It turns out that if that drain failed, then a series of 39 other things would fail and cause a meltdown.

[JTCK]

I really like the theme of the new contest. Can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with – depending on the author, it could go in so many different directions. Looks like it’s gonna be super fun and varied!

[MillieDynamite]

I have my plot worked out and have outlined the story. Am I right, we must publish the story by the time the clock runs out?