The Doohickey Competition was advertised on clip art-laden fliers and Internet invite platforms, and was met with equal parts amusement and confusion over what counts as a Doohickey. The organizers were not sticklers for formal definition or entry-limitations. Some of the more memorable doohickeys included a wood and metal cat with strings that could be played like an instrument, a Cursed Kermit puppet that had been adorned with human teeth and hair, a battery-powered moving diorama of Tom & Jerry waterboarding SpongeBob Squarepants, a collapsible churchwarden pipe, a 3D printed atomic bomb with internal storage (“It’s also a dildo… if you’re brave enough.”), a ViewMaster-based VR system, a rapid-delivery salt-and-pepper shaker, and an extendable back-scratcher. The contest prize was a five-foot tall doohickey with cranks, gears, a coin slot, and a tiny disco ball, which went to Rupert, the wood and metal cat whose presenter introduced as her child. The true prize, however, was the collective shocked and confused looks of pedestrians passing the event in Union Square Park, which were shared equally among all participants.
