House of cards

House of cards

Building a house of cards (also known as a card tower) is a pastime involving the stacking of playing cards on top of each other in order to form a structure. House of cards is also an expression for a structure or argument built on a shaky foundation or one that will collapse if a necessary (but possibly overlooked or unappreciated) element is removed.

Description

The structures created using this method rely on nothing more than balance and friction in order to stay upright. Ideally, adhesives or other external connecting methods are not used, and no damage or alterations are made to the cards themselves. The larger the structure, therefore, the more likely it is to fall, due entirely to the higher number of balanced cards that could fail and compromise the integrity of the card building. Professional cardstacker Bryan Berg claims, however, that the more cards placed on a tower the stronger it becomes, because the weight of the cards pushing down on the base (increasing friction) allows occasional cards to stumble without the entire structure collapsing. He also claims that proper stacking technique allows cards to function as shear walls, giving considerable stability to the structure.

World records

Bryan Berg has broken "seven or eight" world records for cardstacking.cite news|accessdate=2007-11-14|publisher=Dallas Morning News|title=Card stacker hopes State Fair tower breaks his record|date=October 16, 2007|author=andrew Menzer|url=http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=16k87bd&s=3] He currently holds the record for tallest house of cards, a 25 foot 9 7/16 inch tall "skyscraper" completed at the State Fair of Texas on October 14, 2007. He also holds the record for the "largest" house of cards, a category Guinness invented for the event, for a replica of Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World. cite web|publisher=Bryan Berg|title=About Berg|accessdate=2007-11-14|url=http://www.cardstacker.com/about.html] He uses Pla-More cards, whose low gloss coating makes them much more high-friction and thus ideal for building.Fact|date=March 2008 Berg believes that it would be possible in theory to build a 100 foot (30 meter) or taller structure.Fact|date=March 2008

See also

*Bryan Berg
*Stacking
*Architecture
*Playing Cards
*Skyscrapers
*Guinness World Records

References

External links

* [http://www.cardstacker.com Bryan Berg's official webpage]
* [http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?
]


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