KerPlunk (game)

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A version of KerPlunk
A version of KerPlunk

KerPlunk is a game first marketed by the Ideal Toy Company in 1967.

It consists of a plastic tube, a number of plastic rods called straws and a number of marbles. The plastic tube stands upright and the straws are passed through holes in its side to form a "web". The marbles are then placed in the top of the tube and held in place by the web.

The players take turns removing a single straw from the cylinder while trying to minimize the number of marbles that fall to the base of the tube. Once a player has committed himself to a particular straw by touching it, they must remove it. The player who accumulates the largest number of fallen marbles loses.

The onomatopoeic name of the game derives from the sound of the marbles tumbling to the base of the cylinder when a straw is removed.

The game is still available today, manufactured and marketed by the Milton Bradley Company.

Amanda Janis, best known for her role as Punky Brewster's understudy, was on the cover of the Kerplunk box circa 1990.[citation needed]