Quincunx - a Bean Machine

A Quincunx, otherwise known as a bean machine or Galton board, is a device designed to demonstrate how bell curves appear from combinations of random events, and so why they appear so much in nature.

A physics-based statistics toy

This cart (roughly) simulates marbles bouncing through a grid of pegs and landing in bins at the bottom - for anyone who enjoys watching marbles fall or maybe wants to demonstrate some statistical principles themselves.

The bins have a bell curve overlaid on them that should match the approximate pattern of the balls once they have all fallen, so you can test how consistent the simulation is with the theory.

How to get started

Just boot up the cart and select 'Start' to start with default settings, or use the options (adjusting with < and >) to set the number of balls and how quickly they're dispensed.

Press X to return to the menu from the simulation at any time.