Ball Run Challenge Rolls to a Close with More than 14,000 Students!

By Amy Cowen on April 21, 2026 8:00 AM

Thousands of students applied STEM concepts and built and tested ball runs for the 2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge. Winners and leaderboards are now posted.

Students who entered the Ball Run Challenge watching as they tested their ball run

Above: A few of the many students who participated in the 2026 Ball Run Challenge

The 2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge

More than 14,000 K-12 students explored engineering design and entered the 2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge. Working in teams of up to four, students from thirty-one countries took on the challenge of designing a ball run from paper and tape with the goal of making the run take as long as possible for the ball to complete. In the U.S., entries were received from students in 50 states and locations (including DoD schools, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands).

Student teams with Ball Run Challenge entries

Above: Student teams with their submissions for the Ball Run Challenge.

Celebrating Innovation and Creativity in Engineering

Designed as a STEM challenge accessible to students around the world, the Ball Run Challenge allowed only simple, low-cost materials—paper and tape. Even with these constraints, students created innovative ball runs, often resembling roller coasters, marble runs, or plinko-style boards, where the ball bounced through a series of obstacles. Many students combined elements to create unique solutions with multiple features to slow the path of the ball.

Students in all grades combined engineering design, physics, and creative thinking to build their ball runs. The images below offer a look at some of the many designs submitted.

Examples of designs entered in the Ball Run Challenge

Above: Some of the many designs submitted for the 2026 Ball Run Challenge.

Tall Runs

A taller ball run didn't necessarily translate into a better score, but many students designed impressively tall runs with multiple levels.

Examples of tall designs entered in the Ball Run Challenge

Above: Some teams that submitted "tall" ball runs.

An Optional Loop

The 2026 Ball Run Challenge included an option to add a loop to the ball run. For educators who have done ball runs before or for students who wanted to stretch their design skills, this variation was available. All other rules and scoring remained the same.

Adding a loop requires additional engineering. The image below shows a few examples from teams that took the challenge.

Above: A few of the ball runs that incorporated a loop.

The 2026 Ball Run Challenge Leaderboards

The 2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge results page contains more information about this year's challenge, including winners of the random drawings, leaderboards, score distribution by age group, and additional photos of teams that entered this year's challenge.

The images below show some of the teams that earned a spot on the challenge leaderboards.

A few of the teams with high-scoring submissions in this year's challenge

Above: A few of the teams with high-scoring ball run submissions in this year's challenge.

Do Engineering with Students Throughout the Year

While the official 2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge has ended, the project directions and instructional materials for the Ball Run Challenge and all prior Engineering Challenges are available for free. These are ideal hands-on activities to teach engineering anytime and work well with a wide range of grade levels and in a variety of settings.