A matter of balance

Mardi Gras.

A day suitable for bright colours, contrasting with the grey skies above and the falling light rain, for creatures with smiling faces, and for the search for a way through, between achieving the right balance, the risk of stumbling and, eventually, the collective fall.

In here through a game almost reaching the age of fifty, which has been shared by many hands and by people from many ages, and which is still in good shape for a few more decades to come.

A clown, or acrobat, in shades of red.

10 x 1, in shades of yellow.

One, laying the foundations.

Hop! And there's two, in an easy balance.

Three and four, one of each colour, not touching the ground.

Plus more, many more, as many as possible, going upwards and sideways!

With several designations around the world, such as Stacrobats or One too many, this game is called Um para todos, in the Portuguese version by the publisher Majora.

Designed by Theo and Ora Coster (1971), founders of Theora Design, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1965, and which is still in business today.

Interestingly, on the web page telling the company history, they both appear in a photo, playing this very same game with their grandchildren.

Stacking, and or unstacking, games and balance. Always out there, across time.

Firstly, and even today, using components from other games, such as dominoes or cards, to build castles, like this one I built in the early 1990s, near a beach in  Galicia, Spain.

Then, making use of other shapes, materials, stories, or rules, using clowns (One too many, 1971), blocks (Jenga, 1983), chairs (Chairs, 1999), roads (Tokyo Highway, 2016), elements of modern art (Junk Art, 2016), construction workers (Men at Work, 2019), and more.