Coming off a world-record Jenga tower over the winter, Salmon Arm鈥檚 Auldin Maxwell now has the means to reach even greater heights.
In January, 12-year-old Auldin received word that his feat of balancing a tower of 693 Jenga blocks on top of a single narrow block was good enough to have his name inked in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Video footage of Auldin鈥檚 tower was widely viewed on the internet and his story was picked up by media all over North America. Most recently, Maxwell was a part of a New York Times feature on people using extra time over the coronavirus pandemic to take a shot at world records.
With all of the attention Auldin was receiving it is no surprise that Hasbro, the company that produces Jenga, took notice. The makers of the popular game, which challenges players to remove wooden blocks from a tower without knocking it over, sent Auldin the blocks necessary for a much larger tower.
The game maker came through with 24 packs of Jenga Giant blocks. The Jenga Giant blocks are more than eight times the size of the small blocks Auldin used to build his record-breaking tower. He said he is finding the large blocks a little more difficult to work with and things only get more difficult the more blocks he adds. Although there is a learning curve, Auldin is already brainstorming how he might use the big blocks for another record attempt.
In the coming months, Auldin plans to try to top his existing record. The only thing that stopped him on his last attempt was running out of blocks. Since then, he has bought enough standard Jenga sets to almost double his previous record if he can keep it all balanced. He also wants to try his hand at beating the record for the most big blocks stacked on a single block, and reach new heights by going for the tallest-ever tower with the normal blocks.
Auldin also plans on sharing the fun he has been having with his Jenga towers. He has already donated a set to Shuswap Middle School and hopes to give away more to other organizations and his former elementary school, Salmon Arm West.
Time will tell what other marks Auldin will leave on the record books.
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