The results are in and there is quite an array of impressive designs. One of the highlights for me was luka's first solution which combined a roller coaster and a pulley.
The top scoring solution for the first level had a launcher similar to one in the movie that follows it, a $2686 design by Mark_man.
On to the second one. Here elastic became popular (for a change). Several people had flexible metal rod catchers that moved so sinuously they reminded me of artificial life forms. ?rjan was on top with $2480 using only 1 metal sheet as a catcher, which coincidentally was similar to the movie following it.
The last level was tough and brought out a variety of solutions, from fast to slow, both with and without destruction. Bob conquered the problem with a little help from the boundary getting to $1920. The movie was my solution to PeterT's Lemmdillos level.
Both Bob and ?rjan broke $7k which was no small feat.
And the winner is...
(drum roll please...)
?rjan with $7022! Congratulations!