Suspend
Thursday. Bright and sunny again this morning, but even colder… down to 0° according to the car’s thermometer as we headed into town. After dropping Dash at school, I had to hurry home for a Teams meeting at nine. After that, my unexpectedly busy day continued—a colleague at work had a family emergency, and I was asked to cover her shift this afternoon. I’m on leave, but it’s nice to help out, and the extra money doesn’t hurt either.
Today’s photo: a few of my work friends were playing the Suspend game over lunch, in the coffee room. On this occasion, they managed to get every piece hanging without the tower collapsing, and in the photo, Jason is about to start removing the pieces again, one by one.
The Suspend game by Melissa & Doug has become a modern classic since its introduction. This award-winning balance game challenges players to hang 24 notched, rubber-tipped wire rods from a tabletop frame, creating an increasingly precarious and ever-changing sculptural structure. The concept might sound straightforward, but each addition alters the centre of gravity, transforming the game into a genuine test of spatial reasoning, fine motor control and nerve. Players compete to be the first to place all their pieces without causing the structure to collapse, though a single miscalculation can send the entire construction tumbling down.
What makes Suspend particularly engaging is its accessibility combined with surprising depth. The game accommodates one to four players aged eight and above, and comes with multiple difficulty levels to suit different skill sets. Beginners start by placing pieces from longest to shortest, whilst intermediate players must roll a coloured die to determine which rod to play, adding an element of chance that can suddenly shift the advantage. The expert tournament mode introduces a scoring system based on the number of notches on unplayed pieces, eliminating players until only one remains. This scalability has contributed to its appeal across age groups, and the game has garnered recognition, including the Best Toys Guide: Best Game award in 2012.
The physics underlying Suspend offer genuine educational value without feeling didactic. As players experiment with different placement strategies, they develop an intuitive understanding of balance, counterbalance and the effects of leverage. The angled starting rod and varying rod lengths create complex equilibrium challenges, requiring players to anticipate consequences and assess risk with each move. This hands-on exploration of mechanical principles has made the game popular not only for family entertainment but also as a teaching tool. The tangible nature of the gameplay—watching the structure teeter, shift, and sometimes spectacularly collapse—provides immediate feedback that reinforces these physical concepts in ways that purely theoretical instruction cannot match.
Since its release, Suspend has proven remarkably durable in both construction and appeal. The quality of the materials, characteristic of Melissa & Doug products, ensures the game can withstand repeated use, whilst its compact tubular packaging makes it portable enough for travel. The game's enduring popularity reflects a broader appreciation for toys that encourage active problem-solving rather than passive consumption. Reviewers consistently praise its ability to hold attention across multiple rounds, with families returning to it again and again. In an era dominated by screen-based entertainment, Suspend offers a refreshingly tactile experience that brings players together around a shared physical challenge, proving that elegantly simple mechanical designs can still captivate modern audiences.
