Photos: Battle of the Rube Goldberg machines

Pennsylvania State University recently held a competition for Rube Goldberg machines, which undertake a simple task in an overly complex manner. For this particular challenge, each team was tasked with building a device that utilizes a complicated engineering solution to reach the end result of replacing an ordinary lightbulb with a more efficient light source.

Here, a spectator looks at the first-place winner, which is themed after the Super Mario video game series and comes complete with a castle, mushrooms, green pipes, and even an old SNES console connected to it.