View source for Rube Goldberg

{{Short description|American cartoonist (1883–1970)}}
{{for|the namesake contraption|Rube Goldberg machine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Rube Goldberg
| image              = Rube Goldberg, 1929 (cropped).jpg
| image_size         = 
| caption            = Goldberg in 1929
| birth_name         = Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1883|7|4}}
| birth_place        = [[San Francisco|San Francisco, California]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1970|12|7|1883|7|4}}
| death_place        = New York City, U.S.
| resting_place      = Mount Pleasant Cemetery in [[Hawthorne, New York]]
| known_for          = [[Rube Goldberg machine]]s
| alma_mater         = [[UC Berkeley]]
| occupation         = Engineer, sculptor, news reporter, cartoonist
| website            = {{URL|rubegoldberg.org}}
| spouse             = {{marriage|Irma Seeman|October 17, 1916}}
| children           = 2, including [[George W. George]]
}}
[[File:Something for nothing (1940).ogv|thumb|thumbtime=18|upright=1.1|PLAY ''Something for Nothing'' (1940); runtime 00:08:45]]
'''Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg''' (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), better known as '''Rube Goldberg''' ({{IPAc-en|'|r|uː|b}}), was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor.

Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The cartoons led to the expression "[[Rube Goldberg machine]]s" to describe similar gadgets and processes. Goldberg received many honors in his lifetime, including a [[Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning|Pulitzer Prize]]   for political cartooning in 1948, the [[National Cartoonists Society]]'s Gold T-Square Award in 1955,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Rube Goldberg Awards Achieved, The Group, History and Significance of the awards.|url=http://www.rube-goldberg.com/wiki/t-square-award.html|access-date=2020-08-06|website=www.rube-goldberg.com}}</ref> and the Banshees' Silver Lady Award in 1959.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="ab">{{cite web | last = Goldberg | first = Reuben | title = Members / In Memoriam / Rube Goldberg | url = http://reuben.org/ncs/members/memorium/goldberg.jpg | format = JPEG | work = reuben.org | publisher = National Cartoonists Society | access-date = August 5, 2009 | archive-date = June 4, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604003258/http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/memorium/goldberg.jpg | url-status = dead }}</ref>  He was a founding member and first president of the [[National Cartoonists Society]],<ref>[http://www.reuben.org/history.html "The History of the NCS"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223081551/http://www.reuben.org/history.html |date=December 23, 2011 }}. ''reuben.org''. National Cartoonists Society.</ref> which hosts the annual [[Reuben Award]], honoring the top cartoonist of the year and named after Goldberg, who won the award in 1967.<ref>{{cite web |title=NCS AWARDS The Reuben Award|url=https://www.nationalcartoonists.com/awards/ |website=National Cartoonists Society |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> He is the inspiration for international competitions known as [[Rube Goldberg Machine Contest]]s, which challenge participants to create a complicated machine to perform a simple task.

==Early life and education==
Goldberg was born on July 4, 1883, in [[San Francisco]], [[California]], to [[American Jews|Jewish]] parents Max and Hannah ([[née]] Cohn) Goldberg.<ref name="Cont448">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHREAAAAMAAJ&q=%22rube+goldberg%22+jewish+max+hannah |title=Contemporary Authors: First revision, Volumes 5–8 |publisher=Gale Research Company |year=1969 |page=448 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHREAAAAMAAJ&q=%22rube+goldberg%22+francisco |title=Contemporary Authors: First revision |date=1969 |publisher=Gale Research Company |language=en}}</ref> He was the third of seven children, three of whom died as children; older brother Garrett, younger brother Walter, and younger sister Lillian also survived.<ref name="marzio">{{cite book |title=Rube Goldberg: His Life and Work |first=Peter C. |last=Marzio |publisher=Harper and Row |year=1973|isbn=978-0060128302 }}</ref> Goldberg began tracing illustrations when he was four years old, and he took his only drawing lessons with a local sign painter.<ref name="marzio"/>
==Personal life==
In 1911, he built the R. L. Goldberg Building at 182–198 Gough Street, San Francisco, for his widowed father to live in, as well as to collect rental income.<ref>{{Cite web |title=San Francisco Landmark #268: Goldberg Building |url=https://noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf268.asp |access-date=2022-11-05 |website=noehill.com}}</ref> 

Goldberg married Irma Seeman on October 17, 1916.<ref name="Cont448"/> They lived at 98 Central Park West in New York City and had two sons: Thomas and [[George W. George|George]]. During [[World War II]], as each of his sons headed off to college, Goldberg insisted that they change their surname because of antisemitic sentiment toward him stemming from the political nature of his cartoons.<ref>{{cite news |first=Alison J.|last=Peterson |title= George W. George, at 87; writer, producer of films and Broadway plays |url=http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2007/11/20/george_w_george_at_87_writer_producer_of_films_and_broadway_plays|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205000343/http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2007/11/20/george_w_george_at_87_writer_producer_of_films_and_broadway_plays|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-12-05|work= New York Times News Service |publisher=Boston Globe |date=November 20, 2007|access-date=May 24, 2024}}</ref> Thomas chose the surname George, and his brother, also named George, followed suit. In adopting the same surname, George wanted to keep a sense of family cohesiveness.

==Career==
[[File:Goldberg Himself.jpg|thumb|175px|left|Goldberg in an issue of ''[[The Moving Picture World]]'', 1916]]
Goldberg's father was a San Francisco [[police]] and fire commissioner,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHREAAAAMAAJ&q=%22rube+goldberg%22+francisco |title=Contemporary Authors: First revision |date=1969 |publisher=Gale Research Company |language=en}}</ref> who encouraged the young Reuben to pursue a career in [[engineering]]. Rube graduated from the [[University of California, Berkeley]], in 1904 with a degree in Engineering<ref name="ab" /> and was hired by the [[San Francisco|city of San Francisco]] as an engineer for the Water and Sewers Department.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHREAAAAMAAJ&q=%22rube+goldberg%22+francisco |title=Contemporary Authors: First revision |date=1969 |publisher=Gale Research Company |language=en}}</ref> After six months he resigned his position with the city to join the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' where he became a sports [[cartoonist]].<ref name="ab"/> The following year, he took a job with the ''San Francisco Bulletin'', where he remained until he moved to [[New York City]] in 1907, finding employment as a sports cartoonist with the ''[[New York Evening Mail]]''.<ref name= marzio />

Goldberg's first public hit was a [[comic|comic strip]] called ''Foolish Questions'',<ref name="toonopediafoolishquestions" /> beginning in 1908. The invention cartoons began in 1912.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sheets |first1=Hilarie M. |title=A Rube Goldberg Hand-Washing Contraption? The Race Is On |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/arts/design/rube-goldberg-bar-of-soap-challenge.html |access-date=1 January 2021 |agency=The New York Times |date=8 April 2020}}</ref> The ''New York Evening Mail'' was syndicated to the first newspaper [[syndicate]], the [[McClure Newspaper Syndicate]], giving Goldberg's cartoons a wider distribution, and by 1915 he was earning $25,000 per year and being billed by the paper as America's most popular cartoonist.<ref name= marzio /> [[Arthur Brisbane]] had offered Goldberg $2,600 <!-- $2,600 is not a typo. The Hearst chain offer was a highly prestigious position but at a low salary, and it was later raised to $50,000 --> per year in 1911 in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to move to [[William Randolph Hearst]]'s newspaper chain, and in 1915 raised the offer to $50,000 per year. Rather than lose Goldberg to Hearst, the ''New York Evening Mail'' matched the salary offer and formed the Evening Mail Syndicate to syndicate Goldberg's cartoons nationally.<ref name= marzio />

In 1916, Goldberg created a series of seven short [[animated films]] which focus on humorous aspects of everyday situations<ref>{{cite news | date=July 24, 2016 | title=Goldberg is Again Star of the Film: Artist-Humorist of The Times Seen in New Set of Animated Cartoons | work=The Washington Times | page=12 | url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1916-07-24/ed-1/seq-12/ | access-date=May 21, 2018}}</ref> in the form of an animated [[newsreel]].<ref>{{cite news | last=Photoplay Editor | date=May 5, 1916 | title=Pathé Boob Weekly News from Nowhere: Goldberg Does Some Clever Satiric Cartoons on News Pictures | page=10 | work=[[Philadelphia Evening Ledger]] | url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045211/1916-05-05/ed-1/seq-10/ | access-date=May 21, 2018}}</ref>  The seven films were released on these dates in 1916:  May 8, ''The Boob Weekly''; May 22, ''Leap Year''; June 5, ''The Fatal Pie''; Jun 19, ''From Kitchen Mechanic to Movie Star''; July 3, ''Nutty News''; July 17, ''Home Sweet Home''; July 31, ''Losing Weight''.<ref>{{cite book | last=George | first=Jennifer | title=The Art of Rube Goldberg: (A) Inventive (B) Cartoon (C) Genius | date=November 12, 2013 | location=New York | publisher=[[Harry N. Abrams]] | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JpcxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 | access-date=May 21, 2018 | isbn=978-1-419-70852-7}}</ref>

Goldberg was syndicated by the [[McNaught Syndicate]] from 1922 until 1934.

A prolific artist, it has been estimated that Goldberg created 50,000 cartoons during his lifetime.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=Emily |date=May 1, 2018 |title=The Story Behind Rube Goldberg's Complicated Contraptions |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/story-behind-rube-goldbergs-complicated-contraptions-180968928/ |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |publisher=Joseph J. Bonsignore |access-date=January 10, 2021}}</ref> Some of these cartoons include ''[[Mike and Ike (They Look Alike)]]'', ''[[Boob McNutt]]'', ''Foolish Questions'',<ref name="toonopediafoolishquestions">[http://toonopedia.com/foolishq.htm] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240527220706/https://www.webcitation.org/6jOdtzEQN?url=http://toonopedia.com/foolishq.htm Archived] from the original on July 30, 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Foolish Questions hi|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1910-06-02/ed-1/seq-13 |newspaper=[[The San Francisco Call]] |date=December 2, 1910 |page=13}}</ref> ''What Are You Kicking About'',<ref>{{cite news |title=What Are You Kicking About |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1910-06-01/ed-1/seq-13 |newspaper=[[The San Francisco Call]] |date=June 1, 1910 |page=13}}</ref> ''Telephonies'',<ref>{{cite news |title=Telephonies |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1911-07-12/ed-1/seq-10 |newspaper=[[The San Francisco Call]] |date=July 12, 1911 |page=10}}</ref> ''Lala Palooza'', ''The Weekly Meeting of the Tuesday Women's Club'', and the uncharacteristically serious [[soap-opera]] strip, ''Doc Wright'', which ran for 10 months beginning January 29, 1933.<ref>[http://toonopedia.com/docwri.htm ''Doc Wright''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]].  {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20240527194002/https://www.webcitation.org/6gWihdn6h?url=http://toonopedia.com/docwri.htm |date=May 27, 2024 }} from the original on April 4, 2016.</ref>

The cartoon series that brought him lasting fame was ''The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, A.K.'', which ran in ''[[Collier's Weekly]]'' from January 26, 1929, to December 26, 1931. In that series, Goldberg drew labeled schematics in the form of patent applications of the comically intricate "inventions" that would later bear his name.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tumey |first1=Paul C. |title=Screwball!: The Cartoonists Who Made the Funnies Funny |date=2019 |publisher=The Library of American Comics |isbn=978-1684051878 |page=135}}</ref> The character of Professor Butts was based on Rube's professor Frederick Slate at the College of Mining and Engineering at the [[University of California]], where Rube attended from 1901 to 1903.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.brainstuffshow.com/podcasts/the-man-behind-rube-goldberg-machines.htm|title=The Man Behind Rube Goldberg Machines|date=2018-06-13|work=BrainStuff|access-date=2018-06-13|language=en}}</ref> Frederick Slate gave his engineering students the task of building a scale that could weigh the Earth. The scale was called the “Barodik". To Goldberg, this exemplified a comical combination of seriousness and ridiculousness that would come to serve as an inspiration in his work.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Beschloss |first=Steven |title=19 July, 2013 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/object-of-interest-rube-goldberg-machines |magazine=The New Yorker |location=New York, NY  |access-date=January 18, 2021}}</ref>

From 1938 to 1941, Goldberg drew two weekly strips for the [[Register and Tribune Syndicate]]: ''Brad and Dad'' (1939–1941) and ''Side Show'' (1938–1941), a continuation of the invention drawings.<ref>[http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=GOLDBERG%2c+RUBE Goldberg profile], ''Who's Who of American Comic Book Artists, 1928–1999''. Accessed Jan. 5, 2018.</ref>

Starting in 1938, Goldberg worked as the editorial cartoonist for the ''[[The Sun (New York City)|New York Sun]]''.<ref name=sayej>{{cite news|title=Rube Goldberg: celebrating a remarkable life of cartoons and creations|work=The Guardian|author=Nadja Sayej|date=October 9, 2019|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/09/rube-goldberg-cartoons-pulitzer-queens-museum-new-york|access-date=2020-02-23}}</ref> He won the 1948 [[Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning]] for a cartoon entitled "[[:File:Peace Today.jpg|Peace Today]]".<ref name=sayej /> He moved to the ''[[New York Journal-American]]'' in 1949 and worked there until his retirement in 1963.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Alphabet of Satire|work=City Journal|author=Stefan Kanfer|date=Winter 2015|url=https://www.city-journal.org/html/alphabet-satire-13707.html|access-date=2020-02-23}}</ref> In the 1960s, Goldberg began a [[sculpture]] career, primarily creating [[Bust (sculpture)|busts]].<ref>Rube Goldberg and Emily S. Nathan. Transcript of interview with Rube Goldberg, 1970. Emily Nathan papers, circa 1943-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.</ref>

==Cultural legacy==
The popularity of Goldberg's cartoons was such that the term "Goldbergian" was in use in print by 1915,<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=1915 ''Vanity Fair'' The Goldbergian answer would be ‘No, I paint my nose and eyes red every day to frighten the gypsy-moths away.'}}</ref> and "Rube Goldberg" by 1928.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Atkinson|first1=J. Brooks|title=THE PLAY; "Rain or Shine," Joe Cook|newspaper=The New York Times|date=10 February 1928|page=26|quote=He then introduces the Fuller Construction Orchestra, which is one of those Rube Goldberg crazy mechanical elaborations for passing a modest musical impulse from a buzz.}}</ref> "Rube Goldberg" appeared in the ''[[Random House Dictionary of the English Language]]'' in 1966 meaning "having a fantastically complicated improvised appearance", or "deviously complex and impractical."<ref name="marzio"/>{{rp|118}} The 1915 usage of "Goldbergian" was in reference to Goldberg's early comic strip ''Foolish Questions'', which he drew from 1909 to 1934, while later use of the terms "Goldbergian", "Rube Goldberg" and "Rube Goldberg machine" refer to the crazy inventions for which he is now best known from his strip ''The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts'', drawn from 1914 to 1964.<ref name="marzio"/>{{rp|305}}

The corresponding term in the UK was, and still is, "[[W. Heath Robinson|Heath Robinson]]", after the English illustrator with an equal devotion to odd machinery, also portraying sequential or [[chain reaction]] elements. The Danish equivalent was the painter, author and cartoonist [[Robert Storm Petersen]], better known under his pen name Storm P. To this day, an overly complicated and/or useless object is known as a ''Storm P.-machine'' in Denmark.
[[Image:Rube Goldberg's "Self-Operating Napkin" (cropped).gif|right|thumb|428px|''Professor Butts and the Self-Operating Napkin'' (1931)]]
Goldberg's work was commemorated posthumously in 1995 with the inclusion of ''Rube Goldberg's Inventions'', depicting his 1931 "Self-Operating Napkin" in the [[Comic Strip Classics]] series of U.S. [[postage stamp]]s.<ref>{{cite news| title = American Topics: 20 Classic Comic Strips Get (Postage) Stamp of Approval| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/08/news/08iht-amtopics_14.html| work = The New York Times
|date = May 8, 1995| access-date = August 5, 2009}}</ref>

The [[Rube Goldberg Machine Contest]] originated in 1949 as a competition at [[Purdue University]] between two fraternities. It ran until 1956, and was revived in 1983 as a university-wide competition. In 1989 it became a national competition, with a high school division added in 1996. Devices must complete a simple task in a minimum of twenty steps and a maximum of seventy-five in the style of Goldberg. The contest is hosted nationwide by Rube Goldberg Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3), founded by Rube's son [[George W. George]], and currently managed by Rube's granddaughter, Jennifer George.<ref name=oconner>{{cite journal |last=O'Connor |first=Brendan |date=2015-04-22 |journal=The Verge |title=A Simple Task: Inside the whimsical but surprisingly dark world of Rube Goldberg machines |url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/22/8381963/rube-goldberg-machine-contest-history-ideas |access-date=2015-04-23}}</ref>

In 1998, Justice Scalia remarked in a dissent in a habeas case that "Rube Goldberg would envy the scheme the Court has created."<ref>''Bousley v. United States'', 523 U.S. 614, 635 (1998).</ref>

===Film and television===
[[File:Goldberg Cartoons.jpg|thumb|Advertisement (1916)]]
[[File:Goldberg 1916.jpg|thumb|Advertisement (1916)]]
Rube Goldberg wrote the first feature film for the pre-[[Curly Howard]] version of [[The Three Stooges]] called ''[[Soup to Nuts]]'', which was released in 1930 and starred [[Ted Healy]]. The film featured his machines and included cameos of Rube himself.

In the 1962 [[John Wayne]] movie ''[[Hatari!]]'', an invention to catch monkeys by character Pockets, played by [[Red Buttons]], is described as a "Rube Goldberg."

In the late 1960s and early '70s, educational shows like ''[[Sesame Street]]'', ''[[Vision On]]'' and ''[[The Electric Company]]'' routinely showed bits that involved Rube Goldberg devices, including the ''Rube Goldberg Alphabet Contraption'', and the ''What Happens Next Machine''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cog2a3YeDMM | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/cog2a3YeDMM| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|title=Sesame Street: What Happens Next Machine|publisher=YouTube |date=August 6, 2010 |access-date=December 8, 2013}}{{cbignore}}<!-- official, not copyvio--></ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B17OvPYM040 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/B17OvPYM040| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|title=Rube Goldberg alphabet contraption, Sesame Street | date=October 10, 2006|publisher=YouTube |access-date=December 8, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Various other films and cartoons have included highly complicated machines that perform simple tasks. Among these are ''[[Flåklypa Grand Prix]]'', ''[[Looney Tunes]]'', ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'',<ref>["Designs on Jerry" September 2, 1955]</ref> ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'', ''[[Pee-wee's Big Adventure]]'', ''[[The Way Things Go]]'', ''[[Edward Scissorhands]]'', ''[[Back to the Future]]'', ''[[Honey, I Shrunk the Kids]]'', ''[[The Goonies]]'', ''[[Gremlins]]'', the [[Saw (franchise)|''Saw'' film series]], ''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (film)|Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]'', ''[[The Cat from Outer Space]]'', ''[[Malcolm (film)|Malcolm]]'', ''[[Hotel for Dogs (film)|Hotel for Dogs]]'', the [[Home Alone (franchise)|''Home Alone'' film series]], ''[[Family Guy]]'', ''[[American Dad!]]'', ''[[Casper (film)|Casper]]'', and ''[[Waiting... (film)|Waiting...]]''

In the ''[[Final Destination]]'' film series the characters often die in Rube Goldberg-esque ways. In the film ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'', the villain Ratigan attempts to kill the film's heroes, Basil of Baker Street and David Q. Dawson, with a Rube Goldberg style device.
The classic video in this genre was done by the artist duo [[Peter Fischli & David Weiss]] in 1987 with their 30-minute video ''Der Lauf der Dinge'' or ''The Way Things Go.''

Honda produced a video in 2003 called "[[Cog (advertisement)|The Cog]]" using many of the same principles that Fischli and Weiss had done in 1987.

In 2005, the American alternative rock/indie band [[The Bravery]] released a video for their debut single, "An Honest Mistake," which features the band performing the song in the middle of a Rube Goldberg machine.

In 1999, an episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'' was titled "[[The Goldberg Variation (The X-Files)#ep6|The Goldberg Variation]]". The episode intertwined characters FBI agents Mulder and Scully, a simple apartment super, Henry Weems (Willie Garson) and an ailing young boy, Ritchie Lupone ([[Shia LaBeouf]]) in a real-life Goldberg device.

The iCarly (2007) episode iDon’t Want to Fight, Spencer built a Rube Goldberg Machine to feed his fish.

The Suite Life on Deck episode A London Carol, Cody built a Rube Goldberg Machine to help Zack wake up at six a.m.

The 2010 music video "This Too Shall Pass – RGM Version" by the rock band [[OK Go]] features a machine that, after four minutes of kinetic activity, shoots the band members in the face with paint. "RGM" presumably stands for Rube Goldberg Machine.<ref name="yt">{{cite web
  | title = OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – Rube Goldberg Machine version
  | publisher = [[YouTube]]
  | date = March 1, 2010
  | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w
  | access-date = March 2, 2010}}<!-- official --></ref>

2012 The CBS show ''[[Elementary (TV series)|Elementary]]'' features a machine in its opening sequence.

The 2012 Discovery Channel show ''[[Unchained Reaction]]'' pitted two teams against each other to create an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine. It was judged and executive-produced by [[Adam Savage]] and [[Jamie Hyneman]], known for hosting the science entertainment series ''[[MythBusters]]''.

The 2014 web series ''Deadbeat'' on Hulu features an episode titled "The Ghost in the Machine," which features the protagonist Kevin helping the ghost of Rube Goldberg complete a contraption. It will bring his grandchildren together after they make a collection of random items into a machine that ends up systematically injuring two of his grandchildren so they end up in the same hospital and finally meet.

===Games===
Both board games and video games have been inspired by Goldberg's creations, such as the '60s board game ''[[Mouse Trap (board game)|Mouse Trap]]'',<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Kiniry | first=Laura | date=November 13, 2013 | title=7 Unbelievable Rube Goldberg Machines We Love | magazine=[[Popular Mechanics]] | url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/g1348/7-unbelievable-rube-goldberg-machines-we-love/?slide=1 | access-date=April 10, 2018}}</ref> the 1990s series of ''[[The Incredible Machine (game)|The Incredible Machine]]'' games,<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Moore | first=Bo | date=May 13, 2013 | title=The Incredible Machine is Back, Spiritually | magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] | url=https://www.wired.com/2013/05/contraption-maker/ | access-date=April 10, 2018}}</ref> and ''[[Crazy Machines]]''.<ref>{{cite web | last=Colayco | first=Bob | date=January 20, 2006 | title=Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game Review | work=[[GameSpot]] | url=https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/crazy-machines-the-wacky-contraptions-game-review/1900-6142774/ | access-date=April 10, 2018}}</ref> The [[Humongous Entertainment]] game ''[[Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse]]'' involves searching for the missing pieces to a Rube Goldberg machine to complete the game.

In 1909 Goldberg invented the "Foolish Questions" game based on his successful cartoon by the same name. The game was published in many versions from 1909 to 1934.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wolfe|first1=Maynard Frank|title=Rube Goldberg Inventions|date=2000|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-86724-3|page=25}}</ref>

''Rube Works: The Official Rube Goldberg Invention Game'', the first game authorized by The Heirs of Rube Goldberg, was published by Unity Games (the publishing arm of [[Unity Technologies]]) in November 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rube-Goldberg Puzzler "Rube Works" Now Available for iPad and iPhone|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/204689/RubeGoldberg_Puzzler_ldquoRube_Works_Now_Available_foriPad_and_iPhone.php|work=[[Gamasutra]]|date= November 13, 2013|access-date=December 27, 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Chindōgu]]
*[[Deathtrap (plot device)]]
*[[Domino effect]]
*[[Domino show]]
*[[Frederick Rowland Emett]]
*[[Jean Tinguely]], Swiss artist who created Rube Goldberg-like sculptures
*''[[Mickey One]]''
*[[PythagoraSwitch]]
*[[W. Heath Robinson]]

==References==

{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | last = Wolfe | first = Maynard Frank | title = Rube Goldberg: Inventions | publisher = Simon & Schuster | location = New York | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-0684867243 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Rube Goldberg}}
*[http://www.rubegoldberg.org Official Rube Goldberg website]
*[https://archive.today/20130204113116/http://www.toonopedia.com/articles/goldberg.htm Toonopedia entry]
*[http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/rube-goldberg-interview-11521 Smithsonian's Archives of American Art: Oral History Interview with Rube Goldberg, 1970]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110209151158/http://www.reuben.org/awards.html NCS Awards]
*{{IMDb name|0325298}}
*[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7b69n96m/ Guide to the Rube Goldberg Papers] at [[The Bancroft Library]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQs4ZD3HjwQ Rube Goldberg interviewed] by [[Edward Murrow]], 1959
* [http://RubeWorks.com Rube Works: The Official Rube Goldberg Invention Game]

{{PulitzerPrize EditorialCartooning 1922–1950}}
{{Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Rube}}
[[Category:Rube Goldberg| ]]
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:American editorial cartoonists]]
[[Category:Engineers from California]]
[[Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:American humorists]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:Journalists from California]]
[[Category:Artists from New York City]]
[[Category:Writers from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners]]
[[Category:Reuben Award winners]]
[[Category:Jewish caricaturists]]
[[Category:Jewish American illustrators]]
[[Category:20th-century American illustrators]]
[[Category:Jewish American journalists]]
[[Category:Jewish engineers]]
[[Category:Jewish humorists]]
[[Category:Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni]]
[[Category:Artists from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Engineers from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Members of The Lambs Club]]

[[la:Machina Rube Goldberg]]