Next Level Sh*t...

February 27, 2016 2:45 PM

a 6 minuute spin (slyt) A top is a toy designed to be spun rapidly on the ground, the motion of which causes it to remain precisely balanced on its tip because of inertia. Such toys have existed since antiquity. Traditionally tops were constructed of wood, sometimes with an iron tip, and would be set in motion by aid of a string or rope coiled around its axis which, when pulled quickly, caused a rapid unwinding that would set the top in motion. Today they are often built of plastic, and modern materials and manufacturing processes allow tops to be constructed with such precise balance that they can be set in motion by a simple twist of the fingers and twirl of the wrist without need for string or rope. (wiki)

High end tops can be uber $$$.

posted by shockingbluamp (20 comments total)

So.... It's not a dream?
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:53 PM on February 27, 2016 [7 favorites]

The spinning top has been in existence for thousands of years. Like many traditional games, such as marbles, the earliest tops are made from clay, and were discovered in the Middle Eastas early as 3500 BC, it is likely that children would have been spinning small rocks long before.

Later wooden spinning tops emerged in around 2000 BC, and early spinning tops made from bones have been found in Europe.

Lattu

Gaming Top
posted by infini at 3:00 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Boys could often throw the rope around the nail on the spinning top and get the top to fly up into the air, to be be caught triumphantly; or actually spin along the tautly-held rope itself, like an acrobat on a high wire. It was a magical sight to see the dexterity with which some top "players" could handle their tops. I took a video of one boy in Anekal, some time ago
posted by infini at 3:03 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Try 20 minutes.
posted by leotrotsky at 3:04 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

The wiki for the Gaming Top has one of the saddest summaries:

Bambaram (in Karnataka/Tamil)/Lattu لٹو (in Urdu) or spinning tops are used to play games in India and Pakistan. Skill and interest in this game is reducing due to other interests taking priority and also due to unsafe nails along with bullying of younger, smaller, poorer kids.

posted by Fizz at 3:07 PM on February 27, 2016

Those wikis, especially the Indian entries, can not only be heavily biased or subjective opinionating, but rarely touched by the editorial oversights common elsewhere in the 'pedia - see the second link "I took a video etc" for story
posted by infini at 3:09 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

For a similar experience achieved without a Dremel. Technology is fascinating. Watching these is akin to staring at fire.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 3:10 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Man, those ones from Prometheus Lights are really top of the line!
posted by cmoj at 3:25 PM on February 27, 2016

Try 20 minutes

I couldn't find the video on that page, so here it is on dailymotion. NHK World's Supreme Skills program is always excellent.
posted by mammoth at 3:40 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Tippe tops are the coolest tops.
posted by ctmf at 3:46 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've been itchin' to make a few tops since seeing those Supreme Skills! episodes. Getting some time on an idle engine lathe is tricky, though.
posted by 2N2222 at 4:25 PM on February 27, 2016

As mentioned by leotrotsky, mammoth, and 2N2222: previously. Unfortunately it looks like all the YT links are dead :(
posted by coolname at 5:09 PM on February 27, 2016

> Unfortunately it looks like all the YT links are dead :(

/coughs conspiratorially
posted by lucidium at 6:12 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have now lost the rest of my weekend to Supreme Skills. This is fascinating television with questionable dubbing.
posted by thirtyeightdown at 6:48 PM on February 27, 2016

Nick Bantock*, in his Museum at Purgatory, created an entire alternate world history around spinning tops. I wish I could find a better link than the Amazon link, but it's a helluva book and you'll just have to take my word for the fact that the part about tops is extra cool.

*He of the Griffin & Sabine series.
posted by deadbilly at 10:39 PM on February 27, 2016

Oh dang, Bantock did something even cooler.
posted by deadbilly at 10:40 PM on February 27, 2016

Previously,

In Supreme Skills! Miracle Tops: May They Spin Forever! [24:47] A group of young satellite engineers and a group of wizened craftsmen compete to produce a top that will spin the longest in an understated drama of rapidly rotating dreams. It showcases the design focuses and production process of both teams as well as the engineering and physics concepts they demonstrate supreme mastery over as we watch the tops spin and the engineers grow increasingly nervous.

posted by Blasdelb at 5:11 AM on February 28, 2016

Last year at the Science Fair my favourite project was by a kid who built a 30,000 rpm(? can't remember exactly) energy storage unit. Basically a rotating cylinder in a vacuum box with computer/electromagnet-managed stabilization and governor. It was the top to beat all tops.
posted by sneebler at 11:22 AM on February 28, 2016

My childhood top was a Duncan Imperial. I spent as much time winding the string as I did anything else but it was a lot of fun.
posted by tommasz at 1:49 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

(If you like the Prometheus ones, see also Upsidedownworks, Foreverspin and J.L. Lawson.)
posted by box at 5:59 PM on February 28, 2016