A Dresden man takes the popular tabletop game Jenga to another level and he is preparing to take it even higher.
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Meindert De Boer has received approval to attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the most Jenga blocks stacked on one vertical block.
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The current world record is 1,840 blocks stacked on a single vertical block.
De Boer routinely surpasses this feat, which can be seen on TicTok @professorlovesbalancing.
“I’m going to blow that right to the moon,” he said of the current record.
On Friday, De Boer stacked 2,484 Jenga blocks, the equivalent of 46 Jenga sets, on a single vertical block.
“It was all one-handed, because I’m practicing for the world record,” he said.
Not only does the Jenga tower have to be done with one hand, it also has to stay balanced for a full 30 seconds.
De Boer said his 2,484-block Jenga tower was so sturdy, “I threw 16 pieces at it. . . and then it finally fell.”
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He also noted the tower weighed 92-pounds (48 kilograms).
De Boer plans to make an official attempt at the world record early in 2024.
But, he would like to arrange for a Guinness World Records adjudicator to come to Chatham-Kent in person to verify the feat on the same day.
“That would be nice,” he said. “My friends on TikTok would like to come as well.”
De Boer is attempting to contact Hasbro, the marketer of Jenga, to seek sponsorship. He would also welcome other sponsorships to help pay the cost for the adjudicator to come.
Anyone interested in sponsoring De Boer’s world record attempt can contact him through TikTok or email at [email protected].
Some onlookers visiting Tales and Turns Board Game Café in downtown Chatham on Saturday were impressed as De Boer stacked two sets of Jenga blocks on a single block within minutes.
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He discovered this talent when he began stacking smaller size blocks he bought from the Dollar Store about five months ago, amassing 1,600 blocks on a single tiny block.
He’s only been stacking official Jenga blocks for about two months.
De Boer’s skill for stacking wood goes back to when he was a kid working in his father’s woodworking shop and would make giant towers out of wood.
“My dad was always telling me, ‘Don’t be stacking so high, it’s going to fall,’” he laughed.
Building a proper base is the key to De Boer stacking so many Jenga blocks on a single vertical block.
“The beginning is more complex, it takes more time to build it out.”
He added once he gets his pattern established he just follows it.
“It takes a lot of patience,” De Boer said.
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