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High School: Egg Xpress- Packaged Eggdrop Event Management

Thank you for judging the high school Egg Xpress- Packaged Eggdrop competition.  It is important that you review all information found on this website involving your specific contest before MESA Day.  Hard copies of the information provided on this website will be available at the event.

Please review the high school Egg Xpress- Packaged Eggdrop contest rules by clicking here.

Event Management

  • Please note that for the purpose of this competition a team consists of one or two individuals.
  • Please score the 9th/10th grade students separately from the 11th/12th grade students.

There are three parts to this competition:

  1. The scoring of the students’ lab reports
    • the reports will be scored by other judges in advance of MESA Day
    • please transfer the report score onto the teams’ score sheet
    • make sure to include the report score in the final score calculation
  2. The specification check (spec check) of the project—held indoors
  3. The performance test of the project —held outdoors 

Goal: To design a container of a restricted size, which will keep as many eggs as possible from breaking after being dropped from a building.

You will find two types of scoring documents in your packet that will help you record and report the contestants’ scores:

  1. Score sheets (to record information about individual projects & provide notes/comments to students);9th/10th grade sheets will be separate from the 11th/12th.
  2. Final results sheet (reports only the winning results on one sheet); 9th/10th grade sheets will be separate from the 11th/12th.
  • The only people allowed in the room during spec checks are MESA Day staff, competition judges and participating teams (as they deliver their projects).  It is important that the teams are ONLY in contact with their own project so that other projects are not accidentally damaged.  Please enforce this!
  • Please perform the project spec checks before the performance test component.  For information about how to perform the spec checks, please refer to the materials, rules, judging and checklist sections on pages 1-3 of the competition rules.

Spec check Information

  • Review the Specification Checklist (included in Judging Packet).
  • Make sure to weigh the egg package and that the number of eggs within the package is labeled directly on the package.
  • Confirm that the egg package can pass freely through a 10-inch diameter rigid circular hoop at all angles, including diagonally. “Freely” is defined as no change to the circular shape of the hoop.
  • It is important that the projects are ONLY handled by the judges and MESA Day staff, as they are extremely fragile.  Teams may ONLY handle their own project in order to prevent accidental damage to the projects of other teams. Please enforce this!
  • It is important that all of the projects remain supervised and within the spec check room until it is time for the performance test component. If you need to leave your competition room and the projects will be unattended, please contact Headquarters so that someone can supervise the room while you are out.
  • Once a project has passed the spec check component, transfer the teams’ information onto the score sheet.  Please use one score sheet for each project.

In your competition box you will find the following:

  • Clipboards, calculators and pencils
  • Digital scales and walkie-talkies
  • Scissors and box cutters
  • Gloves, paper towels, wet napkins, hand sanitizers
  • Table tarps, garbage bags, Duct tape and caution tape
  • Embroidery hoops (10” for high school contest)
  • Safety gloves

Please transport all of the projects to the "drop zone area" after completing the spec checks.

Performance Test Information

  • A package may NOT be modified after it has been turned-in for spec checks.
  • Teams are NOT required to be present at the time their project is dropped (regional rule).
  • Each package will be dropped individually.  Once a package is dropped, it MUST be REMOVED from the “drop zone” and placed on the tables provided before another package is dropped. 

    Note:
    If a team would like their package to be dropped in a particular manner, they MUST communicate this information to the judges BEFORE the competition begins.

Only judges are permitted to drop and open packages.

Package Dropping Procedure:

  • Hold the package from its sides or from the top and bottom.  Then reach over the guardrail and release the package (see photos below). The idea is to let the package free-fall towards the “drop zone”. DO NOT PUSH, SPIN, THROW, OR TOSS projects over the guardrail.

        Proper way to hold project                      Proper way to release project over guardrail
  •  eggdrop proper hold                                    eggdrop proper release
  • Drop one package at a time
  • Once a package has been dropped, please remove it from the "drop zone" and place it aside (where the packages will be opened)
  • After all of the packages have been dropped, please proceed to open each package individually

Package Opening Procedure:

  • Anyone opening packages MUST wear a safety glove.  Wear one glove on the hand holding the package.
  • Make sure to have your MESA Day helper record the package performance information on the teams' score sheets.
  • Confirm that the number of eggs the team reported as using, which is labeled on the outside of the package, is the same as the number of eggs actually used inside the package.
  • Separate broken, chipped, or cracked "non-surviving" eggs from the surviving eggs.  After the surviving eggs are identified, please count all surviving eggs and break them inside a garbage can to confirm that the eggs are not treated, hard-boiled, or rotten.
  • Judges should be able to easily open the packages and determine the number of surviving eggs.  It is up to the judges’ discretion NOT to count possible surviving eggs if the package or egg is deemed unable to open. For example, if teams package their eggs with materials that “stick” to the shell of the egg and makes it difficult for the judges to determine if the eggs has a “crack”-then that egg will NOT be counted as a surviving egg (regional rule).
  • If time allows, please test "drop" all disqualified projects so that the disqualified teams can know if they designed a good package.
  • Spectators are NOT allowed within the “drop zone area” at any time during the competition.
  • Once all of the teams have concluded the performance test component, please review all scores and confirm the winning results. Please rank the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners on the results sheet.
  • Please turn in your final results sheet, score sheets, and competition box to Headquarters, located in room 159 of the Jack Baskin building.

Important Note:

If any team is disqualified, please complete a disqualification form and have your helper post the yellow copy of the form on a visible area outside the spec check room and return the white copy to Headquarters, located in Jack  Baskin 159.

Thank you for volunteering your time!