The largest functional Rube Goldberg machine consisted of 300 different steps and was made by the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE) Rube Goldberg Team (all USA). It was activated at the National Rube Goldberg Machine Competition at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, USA, on 31 March 2012.

The machine was presented at the National Rube Goldberg Machine Competition. As per the rules of the competition the machine ran in under 2 minutes (1 min 56 sec). Its objective was to blow up and pop a balloon.

Reuben “Rube” Lucius Goldberg (1883–1970) was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor. He was known for a series of cartoons depicting complex gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways.