While we were waiting for others to arrive, I introduced Mark K, John and Ben to one of Zoch's classic dexterity games, Bamboleo. The idea is simple. Numerous irregular wooden blocks are placed on a flat, round plate, which is then balanced on top of a cork ball sat at the top of wooden pillar (lots of wood as usual for Zoch). The players then simply have to remove a piece from the plate without it overbalancing and crashing to the table.

It is amazing how such a simple concept causes people so much difficulty. The first couple of games resulted in the plate crash landing on the first go. Mark G and Nige then arrived so we tried again for a couple of turns. Nige kept trying to remove pieces from completely the wrong side of the plate much to the amusement of the rest of us. It would be unfair of me to point out that we expected better of a Physics teacher.

Eventually we all got the hang of it and managed to get down to the last four pieces before I attempted the impossible and brought the plate toppling over. Great fun!