Day # I lost count +2

So I didn't post a picture of my circuit board yesterday as I was barely unable to finish. I had to quick hook up the battery, so here is the finished product:

Apologies on the picture quality, that's as good as it lets me get..

Unfortunately, it is not quite functional at the moment, and I'm attempting to troubleshoot why that is. I asked yesterday how exactly this thing works, and it turns out beneath the breadboard there are metal plates. Inserting the wires in the middle columns connects them together, as they are all in one circuit. The top 2 and bottom 2 rows are the + and -, + and minus, as in the way the electricity is flowing. These rows are all connected, but are separate from the middle rows. Wires from the +/- down to the middle rows will connect them for electric current.

So I went to take the battery out to check if I had a dead battery and I about burnt my hand, so I must be short-circuiting somewhere..
I also noticed I misplaced about three wires, I moved them all but to no result. The battery has cooled so I fixed the short circuit, but it's still incomplete.

I'm not quite sure why the circuit still isn't working, so I guess I'll write out my outside reference thing now.
I'll talk to my dad, because he knows a lot about computers and circuit boards. I'll ask him how they work, what components do what, and how to know if the circuit is complete. I think if he can get me a better understanding of how the board works, I'll actually get this bad boy to working condition on Thursday.