My Challenge to Make a Marble Run Machine - Honey Dipper

I added a new component to my marble run machine. I want to say that I made it, but actually, my husband made it. I just attached it to the board.
My husband named it the Honey Dipper because it looks like the head of a honey dipper.  It's a cylinder with a spiral groove dug around it. The balls can roll inside the groove.

 

 

Making spiral grooves with a CNC router is quite challenging. I've never tried, but I gave up.
It was also challenging for my husband because he used a new part of the CNC for the first time. The result was excellent. It was done so well that it was hard to believe it was the very first time.
Here's the honey Dipper. It's hung from the bracket, so when the ball comes, it swings a little. 

Looking back on each function of the marble run machine I made, nothing looks similar. I intentionally did it because it would be fun to have various functions. Until today, I could think of design ideas, but it's getting more difficult to think of new functions. I don't want to use a similar design; if so, I have to think of something new. Then, the more I made, the more I ran out of options.

That said, this has happened before, but I've somehow managed it. I believe in my own ability to think of new ideas.
I'm sure I'll come up with something else.

Simple But Fun, "Pop-Up Pirate"

I suddenly remembered a toy that I bought about ten years ago. It is a long-selling toy in Japan called "Pop-Up Pirate", the famous toy maker of Takara Tomy's products. It has been sold since 1975. It is a simple toy, yet it can be enjoyed even by adults.

The components are a pirate head, a barrel and four coloured swords in total 24. To begin with, you insert the pirate's head into the top of the barrel hole and then rotate it as you want. That is all the settings done.

Each player chooses their favourite colour sword and then inserts it into one of the narrow holes on the barrel. Each player takes a turn, sticking their sword into the barrel. The player loses if the head pops out of the barrel when the sword is stabbed.

This game is so much fun for adults and kids. In Japan, it can be used to determine who does a penalty game or if only one person cannot eat something delicious. For example, there are three pieces of cake and one cookie. You can decide in this game who cannot have a delicious cake. On such an occasion, Pop-Up Pirate would be a blast, and everybody's heart would be pounding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JExT4hGEs2U

Amazingly, such a simple toy can get people so excited. I also wondered how the mechanism works inside. I googled and found some videos explaining the mechanism. I was impressed to watch that. It was a simple mechanism. I respect people who can think of these things.

"Pop-Up Pirate" has all the elements I aim to make: simple mechanism, random movement, and making people have fun. For most people, this is just a toy, yet for me, it is special.

 https://www.amazon.com.au/TOMY-T7028A1-Pop-Up-Pirate/dp/B00000JICB/ref=sr_1_5