Themarshmallow challenge is a simple design exercise for teams.
Each team needs to build afree-standing structure from spaghetti, some string and masking tape,with a marshmallow on the top. Thetallest building wins the challenge.
The challenge teaches essential lessons aboutproduct development anddealing with unknowns.
The exercise highlights the importance ofprototyping and iterative design.
The marshmallow is much heavier than most peoplethink.
Teams who blindlyplan their structure,assuming that the marshmallow doesn't require extra attention because it's so light, usually see their structure collapse when theyfinally build the tower.
Each team has 18 minutes to build thetallest free-standing structure with themarshmallow on the top.
They can use the following ingredients: