How tall can you build with 54 Jenga blocks?

▲ How tall can you build with 54 Jenga blocks?(johnjwang.com)

3 points by johnjwang 2 days ago | 2 comments

▲ Someone 2 days ago | parent [-]

Can’t some of these easily be improved upon?

For example, for the 12.5°, 15° and 20° ones, replace the two blocks in the top layer by the construction used for the top two blocks in the 25° record.

Also, I think “A lone upright block tips over at 11.3° in its thin direction” doesn’t imply “no matter what you do to the base, you can’t stand blocks up vertically at high tilts.”

I would think you could sneak in cage-like structures like these (seen from the top)

   ABB   A
   A D   ABB
   CCD  CCD
          D

with blocks A and D taking most of the north-to-south loads and B and C taking most of the east-to-west loads.

Possibly that will only work near the base, where there is more pressure from above that prevents these blocks from falling over.

Possibly, such a construct with only three (at 120° angles) or two blocks could work, too.

	▲	yorwba 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Rearranging blocks at the top to make them taller shifts up the center of gravity for the entire structure, which can destabilize lower levels. So copying part of a more stable tower into a less stable one won't necessarily be an improvement.