Long Beach Hosts the First West Coast National Rube Goldberg Contest

If there ever was a "You should have been there" moment, this was it. Sorry to be telling you now. To be informed in advance of what we do, please subscribe to the mailing list at http://makersville.net.

On may 3rd, 2026, fourteen teams converged in Downtown Long Beach, at the historic Edison theater. They were from all over the area, and there were three teams from South Korea.

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As the host for the event, I had the benefit of being front and center. I helped the visitors move their many large handmade boxes into the space, and stayed until they had all set up and left on the 2nd. Some came the day before, some came on the 3rd. I was amazed to see how quickly and industriously these elementary school students set up their machines.

Space was tight, and the competition was in two locations. It was not ideal, but we didn't have a lot of notice, and I found that a 2 day event is hard to do in most spaces, particularly a Saturday and Sunday. Most places are either regularly booked on Saturday, or on Sunday.

On the competition day, we started with the elementary teams. I will share with you that I really had not realized the benefit of the different parts of the competition requirements. The team members perform a skit that introduces their machine. It lends a playful spirit and joy to the presentation. They are encouraged to wear costumes. It creates the opportunity for team personality and requires the team to 'lean into' their story. The contraption they create is not simply any contraption. It is a Rube Goldberg Machine that is shared in the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC). Students have learned about and are celebrating the artist and his works. Referee Zach Umperovitch, the Global Contest Director of the RGMC announces the machine steps in his booming voice as balls roll, cars are started, umbrellas are turned and boxes are opened.

As we went into the Makersville Underground at Shannon's Corner (our pop-up for the event space) we were able to observe the runs of the single adult team, the Wizarding wonderland of the Innovative Inventors, very funny story of Barbie's Beanery, as narrated by Barbie and Barbie and Barbie and Barbie and Ken and Ken and Ken and Ken. My apologies to Barbies and Kens who have been inadvertently left out of this story.

The goal was to open a box in the most over engineered way possible in a 10' cube. Mt. Westminster, a high school team from Huntington Beach Unified, opened Pandora's box. A middle school team from Big Bear opened a Chinese Food container by squashing it. The Innovative Inventors opened a mailbox that contained their school grades.

The event was sponsored and made possible by the following sponsors: The Arts Council for Long Beach, the City of Long Beach, Bechtel, Sports Basement, Raising Cane's, the port of Long Beach, Farmers and Merchants Bank.

In the 2026-2027 year, we (the Royal We) are looking to support multiple regional contests in Southern California, so as to grow the competition locally and help the West Coast National to grow. In addition to the Long Beach Regional Contest, we are especially seeking to help some group to host a competition in the Valleys to the North of Los Angeles, and in the southern part of Orange County.

We have a few remaining mugs and bunnies which were sold to help offset the costs of hosting the event. To purchase, please contact Patricia@makersvilleservices.org 562-225-9589.