How to Make Buzz Wire Game From Little More Than Cardboard

If you've enjoyed our series of cardboard-based builds, like making your own working replica "Tommy" gun, you might enjoy this little build too. This time around, we'll be building a very simple, yet incredibly fun, tabletop buzz wire game.

Follow this simple guide to find out how. 

As you can imagine, you'll need some tools and materials before you get started, like any project of this nature. 

Materials and gear needed

• Cardboard
• Popsicle sticks
• Bare iron or copper wire
• Switch
• 9V battery and holder
• Electrical wires, resistors, and soldering gear
• Mini buzzer
• Hot glue gun 

With all the gear and materials ready, it's time to get on with this great little build. 

Step 1: Make the electronic gubbins'

The first step is to make the electronic parts of the DIY buzz wire game. Take your mini buzzer, battery, and switch, and some wires. Wire them together in series, as shown below. 

With that done, turn on the switch and touch the loose wires to test the circuit. The buzzer should sound, if not, make the necessary adjustments and fixes.

Step 2:  Make the main game base

With that done, take your cardboard and cut the various pieces of cardboard needed to make the main housing/frame for the game. Dimensions are provided within the video. 

Using a hot glue gun, glue the battery to the main base, and assembly the rest of the game as needed. You will need to cut some holes in the cover plate for the electronic parts to fit the buzzer and switch, so cut them out as needed. 

Poke holes in the main game housing to thread the loose wires through too. 

Step 3: Make the main buzz wire

With that done, cut out some more cardboard to form the supports for the buzz wire. Assemble as instructed in the video. 

Next, take your copper or iron wire and bend it into a wavy shape. You can make this as convoluted or simple as you want to depend on how hard you want the game to be. The overall length of the wire will need to be the same as the space between the buzz wire support columns -- obviously. 

With that done, poke more holes in the support columns and insert the ends of the copper/iron wire into them. Next, place the buzz wire assembly on the base, and connect one of the loose wires to one end of the buzz wire, as needed. 

The other loose wire will connect to the player hoop piece. When the player accidentally touches the main buzz wire, the circuit will be completed and the buzzer will sound. 

Solder or glue the wire into place. With that done, glue into place some cover plates to the columns to hide the wiring. If desired, you can also make a backboard for the game, but this is not necessary. 

You can also secure the main buzz wire into place using some blobs of hot glue too.

Step 4: Make the player hoop

Next, take two popsicle sticks and cut them into shape as shown in the video. With that done, take another length of copper or iron wire and bend one end into an open-loop/hook shape.

Next, glue or solder the other loose wire from the main electronics to the metal hook. With that done glue it into place sandwiched between the sticks. 

With that done, take some short lengths of wire insulation tape, and wrap them around the start and end parts of the main buzz wire. These will provide places to rest the hook when playing the game so as to not trigger the buzzer.

With that done, your DIY buzz wire game is not finally complete. Now all you need to do is fire up the game and practice playing the game!

If you enjoyed this simple cardboard-based tabletop game, you might enjoy making some more. How about, for example, making three games for the price of one?