Each year, a group of people converge on a piece of land with their Trebuchets, Catapults, Torsions & Air Air Cannons with one thing on their mind, “WHO WANTS TO SEE A PUNKIN FLY”?
Trebuchets
Powered exclusively by gravity, these machines use a counterweight attached to an arm to swing the pumpkin attached to a sling around and release at an optimal pin angle.
Trebuchet World Record: 2,835.81 feet
Catapults
Similar to a Trebuchet in terms of an arm swinging a pumpkin around attached to a sling, with the exception that these machines are normally powered by springs or rubber bands.
Catapult World Record: 2,862.28 feet
Torsion
They get their name from how much torque they put on twisted rope that is the main power to sling a pumpkin into the air.
Catapult World Record: 3,636.39 feet
Air Cannons
If you ever built a potato gun or at least had the opportunity to shoot one, Air Cannons at the annual Punkin Chunkin are the big daddy of potato guns. Using compressed air, nothing flamable, these machines shoot pumpkins over 4,000 feet.
Air Cannon World Record: 4,694.68 feet
Centrifugals
Around, around and around the pumpkin goes, when it will be released, no one knows. These machines build up centrifugal force in an circular motion and have ways to release the pumpkin at the optimal trajectory for an outstanding distance shot.
Centrifugal World Record: 3,245.58 feet
Human Powered
With only so much time on the clock, you get out of it what you put into it. Only one human has limited amount of time to cock and fire their machine.
Human Powered – Centrifugal World Record: 1,776.37 feet
Human Powered – Open Class World Record: 2,048.52 feet
Theatrical
We just want to show off our pumpkins and without our Theatrical division, the show wouldn’t be complete.