Fall for Tatami Curling

What's not to like about an Otoshi Daruma? This toy features a hammer and a tower just begging to be knocked over. Once the pieces fall down, you can use them for a new game (more on that later). Otoshi means “fall” and Daruma is a reference to the Bodhidharma--the Father of Zen Buddhism, so the name speaks for itself (bonus fact, Yuki Daruma is the equivalent of “snowman” in Japanese). It is composed of five coloured pieces with a heavier Daruma head on top. The goal is to knock all the coloured pieces out without making the tower fall over. The trick with this game is to start at the bottom so the weight keeps the remaining pieces stable as one is removed.



I’m not very good at keeping the tower perfectly straight, but I can still manage to knock one block out at a time until only the Daruma’s head is sitting on the ground. I found that it’s possible to cheat a bit by sweeping the hammer through the block rather than tapping it, but it really takes the fun out of the game. If you watch the videos, you'll notice that I cheated most of the way through because I was trying to finish the demonstration in a hurry.



Variation: Tatami Curling. Although others have probably done this before me, I’ll take credit for inventing Tatami Curling about ten years ago when I received an Otoshi Daruma as a Christmas present (no references to it on Google when I searched today, so I'll claim the patent!). Soon after receiving it, I discovered that if I slid the circular pieces on our tatami mat with a bit of spin they reacted like shuffleboard pieces. I christened the game Tatami Curling to honour its Japanese and Canadian origins and persuaded my wife to play with me that day. Sure, we tired of the game after a week or so, but if others carry on the tradition we started, perhaps we will be inspired to try it again ourselves.

A parting tip: If you go shopping for an Otoshi Daruma of your own, go for a version where each disc is fully painted to reduce friction. Of the two toys shown in the video, the smaller one works much better because of its paint job.