I hope that you’ve had the pleasure of playing this game of patience and skill. If not the rules merely require you to remove lower bricks and put them on the top of the pile but without it falling over. It’s suitable for anyone from about 7 upwards and you must agree rules before you start.

The real thing is played on a table indoors but I decided to scale it up for play outdoors. The real thing is normally played between two but my larger version can involve teams, outside at a barbecue. Both require the same level of balance but the larger version invokes a larger cheer when, some  dodgy bit of hand work causes it all comes tumbling down !

Advice

Kits can be bought online but are quite expensive and the reviews indicate that the blocks are often made to a price and are not always conducive to fun play. You can do better.

There’s a bit of a shopping list of what the blocks need to be:

1. a)Not too heavy because you’ve got to cart them around !
   

2. b)Of adequate thickness so that the height builds up quickly eg nearly half their width;
   

3. c)As blocks are laid 3 per layer, and then three more at right-angles, their length must be three times their width plus 2mm for the gaps;
   

4. d)Conformed to exactly the same dimensions obviously;
   

5. e)Smooth so as to be nice to handle.
   

A Acquiring Your Timber

Firstly you must consider you source of timber quite carefully. Don’t use hardwood because not only is it seriously heavy but it’s hard to machine too. If you are lucky enough to find a reasonable quantity of timber being thrown out before you take it home ensure:

1. 1) that it’s thick enough -most pallets and scrap is relatively thin compared to its width;
   

2. 2) make sure that it’s not twisted which will frustrate the fun;
   

3. 3)Ensure that it’s not so damaged or marked that you won’t take pride in owning the set;
   

4. 4)use timber with the least number of knots in. Whilst they can add character sometimes you are going to be slicing and dicing yours and were you cut through a knot the centre will fall out and look poor.
   

I chatted up my nearest timber supplier and went through his entire stock to pick the best that he had for my purpose.

B Block Width And Length

The timber merchant had no timber that was adequately thick compared to its width so I knew that I had to cut it lengthwise. I bought square planed lengths sold as 75mm. After planing they were:

1. 68mm square - which sets the block width.
   

2. 
   

Even a bandsaw can weave very slightly through thick wood especially where the grain curves around knots, even more so when it’s blunt, so I put on a new blade. In order to minimise this effect even further I decided to produce the blocks in pairs so cut the lengths first to reset this weave frequently.

The above amazingly convenient dimension meant that to produce the stubs of block pairs the lengths of each stub needed to be cut every:

1. 68 +2 +68 + 2 + 68 (plus 2 for the saw cut) = 3 x 70 = 210mm long

C Block Thickness

Using a bandsaw I cut each of these stubs along their length to make two blocks measuring:

1. 68 / 2 = 34 less 1 for each half of the saw cut = 33mm thick.
   

AA

D Conforming

Using a bandsaw I cut each of these stubs along their length to make two blocks measuring:

1. 68 / 2 = 34 less 1 for each half of the saw cut = 33mm thick.
   

AA