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Squidoo's Virtual Jenga coop quest

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A chronicle of the first Jenga tower built at SquidU!

Here's a compilation of all the lenses made as a part of the first Squidoo Virtual Jenga game that Megan Casey started on the SquidU forum.

Take a look at the great work that a master lensmaster can produce on a dare!

(graphic courtesy of GreekGeek)

So here's how the game works . . .

A Jenga Truth or Dare game in progress. Photo shared on Wikimedia Commons by Euanofscotland.

It was all Megan's idea. She started a chain of challenges to make new lenses. One lensmaster chooses another lensmaster and suggests a lens for him/her to make. If you are chosen for a challenge, you have 48 hours to make the lens that was requested. After you make the lens, it's your turn to challenge someone else.

Think of the lenses as a tower, just like in a Jenga game. If someone fails their challenge (doesn't make the lens in 48 hours), then the tower collapses and has to be started over. A lensmaster who is challenged also has the option of passing on their challenge (opting out), but if more than 5 people pass, then the tower also crumbles.

When the tower of 50 lenses was completed, all 50 participating lensmasters got a special trophy! Whee!

The Virtual Jenga thread at SquidU

Here's the full tower!

#1 - Megan tagged Robin

Since Megan initiated the game, she started everything off by challenging Robin to make a lens called "The 10 Things I Miss Most About New York".

Robin accepted the challenge and the game was on!

#2 - Robin tagged Sylvestermouse

After Robin had finished her New York lens, she challenged Cynthia (Sylvestermouse) to make a lens about a Christmas themed cupcake.

Cynthia proved herself up to the task and produced:

#3 - Sylvestermouse tagged Susan52

Once Cynthia had finished her snowman cupcake lens, she challenged Susan52. Susan has written several lenses about the Kindle, so Sylvestermouse asked for a lens about another genre of books for the Kindle. Susan came up with a lens on an uber-useful category of books -- cookbooks!

#4 - Susan52 tagged MysticMama

After finishing the Cookbooks for Kindle lens, Susan52 challenged Bambi (MysticMama) to write a lens about cooking in a tiny kitchen. Bambi, a lover of real food, lives in an RV these days so she would certainly have wisdom to share with us on this topic. Here's what she created!

#5 - MysticMama tagged _Joan_

Yes, that's ME! Bambi used her turn to challenge me to write a Holiday Gift Guide lens with my Top 10 Christmas songs. I decided to go with one particular style of music and focus on that, which led to:

#6 - _Joan_ tagged Not-Pop

So after I finished my classical Christmas music lens, I challenged Not-Pop. Not-Pop writes great lenses about popular songs, so I requested a lens about a great song that debuted during my birth year, 1964. The song Not-Pop picked and the resulting lens are:

#7 - Not-Pop tagged ChapelHillFiddler

Once the "Leader of the Pack" lens was done, Not-Pop asked ChapelHillFiddler to make a lens about DIY laptop desks, so that she could make one for her husband for Christmas. Brainstorming while on the way to Thanksgiving festivities, Jane produced:

#8 - ChapelHillFiddler tagged Addaptabilities

After publishing her laptop desk lens, Jane invited Addy (Addaptabilities) to make a lens on whatever topic she would like. After a bit of suspense, Addy gave us a delightful lens that celebrates the art of the Atomic Age in the U. S.

#9 - Addaptabilities tagged KDimmick

After giving us the history of the future, Addy passed the challenge on to Karen (KDimmick), asking her to write a lens on the topic of her choice. Karen's choice was making your own Christmas cards, with the help of rubber stamps with images from "The 12 Days of Christmas".

#10 - KDimmick tagged Jhangora

After making her mark (with a rubber stamp, of course) on the game, Karen asked Dinesh (Jhangora) to tell us what are the Top Ten Bollywood Movies. So now we know:

#11 - Jhangora tagged Spirituality

After finishing his Bollywood lens, Jhangora asked Katinka (spirituality) to make a lens about "spiritual hitchhiking". And Katinka produced:

#12 - Spirituality tagged Gods_grace_notes

After the spiritual hitchhiking lens, Katinka decided to keep the spirituality theme going and asked Connie (gods_grace_notes), an expert in quiltmaking, to craft a lens about spiritual quilt patterns. Connie responded with this beautiful lens!

#13 - Gods_grace_notes tagged Chemknitsblog

Connie (Gods_grace_notes) completed her spiritual quilting lens and then looked for someone to pass the challenge on to. The first lensmaster she picked was just about to celebrate a 25th wedding anniversary and needed to take a PASS, our first official pass of the game.

So next Connie extended the challenge to Chemknitsblog, who is a PhD candidate in biochemistry. The request was for a lens about the chemistry of hope. Sounds mysterious, no? Well, here's the result:

#14 - Chemknitsblog tagged MikeEssex

After teaching us about the chemistry of hope, Chemknitsblog challenged MikeEssex to write another one of his lenses about getting free stuf. The result is a lens that every Squid should read!

#15 - MikeEssex tagged Flynn_the_Cat

Mike did a great job on his "free stuff" lens, and then challenged Flynn_the_Cat to make the next lens. Mike wanted Flynn, a graduate student in marine biology, to make a lens introducing us to marine biology.

Flynn came back with this impressive result!

#16 - Flynn_the_Cat tagged Greekgeek

After finishing the marine biology lens, Flynn kept things underwater and asked Greekgeek to make a lens about the mythology of the squid. Working at blazing speed, Greekgeek produced this beautiful and intriguing lens:

#17 - Greekgeek tagged Merylvdm

After bringing us the mythology of the Squid, Greekgeek reached back for a challenge that had been passed on before. Merylvdm had previously been challenged to make a lens about her homeland of South Africa, but had to take a pass because she was busy with the celebration of her 25th anniversary (congratulations!). Once those festivities were over Meryl was back in the game, so Greekgeek invited her to make that South Africa lens. Meryl was able to take the on the challenge this time and produced:

#18 - Merylvdm tagged BuckHawk

After giving us a tour of the beauty of South Africa, Meryl tapped Susan (BuckHawk) to make the next lens in the tower. Susan is a serious pet lover, so Meryl wanted her to give us a lens about Christmas from a pet's point of view. Here's the result:

#19 - BuckHawk tagged Pukeko

After answering the burning question of whether pets enjoy Christmas, BuckHawk passed the baton to Rhonda (Pukeko). Rhonda is an American who has emigrated to New Zealand. The challenge for her -- a lens telling us why we should all spend some time in New Zealand.

#20 - Pukeko tagged SusannaDuffy

After giving us all a virtual tour of New Zealand, Pukeko tapped SusannaDuffy and asked her to bring us all over to Australia for a dessert. Rhonda left it to Susanna to choose what dessert to give us, and Susanna decided to serve us trifle!

#21 - SusannaDuffy tagged Ener-G

This is a fascinating brick in the tower! After feeding us trifle, Susanna asked gia (Ener-G) to make a lens about something with ginger in it. Susanna was thinking about the green ginger wine she had wanted to make her trifle with, but gia took it in a whole new direction. Little did we know that she had been named Ginger at birth! Her lens talks about the ins and outs of changing one's name.

#22 - Ener-G tagged ReemaSharma1

After sharing with us the journey of her name change, Ener-G asked Reema (ReemaSharma1) to give us a lens with information about traveling to India, Reema's homeland.

Reema handled her challenge the same way I approached mine. Her subject is so vast that she narrowed it down to one category in order to produce a really good lens (that's the Squidoo way, keep it focused!). Her lens is about traveling in one Indian state, Gujarat, the state where Reema lives.

#23 - ReemaSharma1 tagged MissMerFaery

After guiding us through Gujarat, Reema gave MissMerFaery a formidable challenge: Make a lens about Robert Pattinson, the Twilight actor. This called for some serious creativity because Twilight has already been covered quite heavily on Squidoo.

Could she come up with a fresh lens on the topic? She could and she did! An instructional lens on how to draw Edward.

And MissMerFaery now plans to make a series of lenses in the same vein. The Jenga quest is inspiring some great Squidoo work!

#24 - MissMerFaery tagged Evelyn_Saenz

Having shown us all how to draw Edward Cullen, MissMerFaery asked Evelyn_Saenz for a lens that she could personally benefit from. MissMerFaery has a baby daughter and is pondering whether or not she wants to homeschool her child. What she wanted from Evelyn was a lens that talks about the reasons that a person would choose homeschooling, how parents would get started, and what they should expect.

There's no better lensmaster for this task than Evelyn, and she gave us:

#25 - Evelyn_Saenz tagged MalloryJane

With the homeschooling decision lens completed, Evelyn asked MalloryJane, who teaches ESL in China, for a lens about a game or activity that can be used to help children learn a new language. MalloryJane gave us a lens about her favorite game, which is called "slap".

#26 - MalloryJane tagged WordCustard

After showing all of us how to play "slap", Malloryjane challenged WordCustard, author of many lenses about Scotland, to make a lens about why people should want to move there. WordCustard gave us her lens of reasons:

#27 - WordCustard tagged JPTanabe

After explaining to all of us why we should want to move to Scotland, WordCustard requested that Jennifer (JPTanabe) make a Quiz lens about mythical creatures from around the world. Jennifer was quick on it and produced:

#28 - JPTanabe tagged LisaAuch

After quizzing us on mythical creatures, Jennifer asked Lisa (LisaAuch) to build the next brick in the tower -- a lens about Loch Lomond. And Lisa gave us a full tour with:

#29 - LisaAuch tagged Rwoman

Having completed her lens about the glories of Loch Lomond, Lisa passed the challenge to Deanna (rwoman). What Lisa asked for was a lens about how to write a love letter (anticipating the soon arrival of Valentine's Day). Little did Lisa know that Deanna had once been a romance writer! What a perfect setup!

So here's our tutorial on how to make that special someone feel really special!

#30 - Rwoman tagged Serenia

After giving us all some great V-Day advice, Deanna called on Serenia to make a "herstory" lens about a Canadian historical figure. Serenia went even deeper than that, and gave us the story of several historic Canadian women and their fight to establish the "personhood" of women in Canada. A fascinating read!

#31 - Serenia tagged ElleDeeEsse

After informing the world that women are people, even in Canada, Serenia challenged Lynne (ElleDeeEsse) to make a travel lens. Lynne had mentioned on one of her lenses that she has traveled to Malta, and Serenia wanted to know more about this island nation. Here's the result:

#32 - ElleDeeEsse tagged Tandemonimom

Having given us all a trip to Malta, Lynne had a request for Carma (aka Tandemonimom). Lynne wanted Carma, a four-time homebirth mom, to make a lens about home birthing vs. hospital birth.

I have to admit my own bias on this issue since I'm a two-time homebirth mom myself. I was delighted to read Carma's lens. Here it is:

#33 - Tandemonimom tagged Stargazer00

After completing her home birth lens, Carma took us from home birthing to homeschooling by asking Dianne (Stargazer00) to write a lens telling the tale of how her homeschooled son made it into the Navy's Nuclear Program. Dianne shares her inspiring story here:

#34 - Stargazer00 tagged Treasures-By-Brenda

Having shared her story of homeschooling success, Dianne then requested that Brenda (Treasures-By-Brenda) make a movie review lens about a classic Western, 1947's Duel in the Sun. Brenda is famous for her movie review lenses, but Duel in the Sun was a film that she had never seen. But she quickly came up to speed and gave us this review lens:

#35 - Treasures-By-Brenda tagged BevsPaper

With her Duel in the Sun review written, Brenda commissioned another movie review. She asked Bev (BevsPaper) to write a review of To Kill a Mockingbird. Bev isn't known for doing movie reviews, but she came through!

#36 - BevsPaper tagged DecoratingforEvents

Following up on her To Kill a Mockingbird movie review, Bev wants to see a lens for a movie-themed event, and what better person to ask than Mandee (DecoratingforEvents). Mandee gave us this guide for how to host a Hollywood-themed party:

#37 - DecoratingforEvents tagged Capriliz

After showing us all how to plan a movie-themed event, Mandee passed the challenge to Carmen (Capriliz). Carmen's mission: To make a lens about Vietnam. Carmen used it as an opportunity to make a lens she has been wanting to write for a long time.

#38 - Capriliz tagged Geekgurl

From the Vietnam War to the Korean War! After completing her lens about Agent Orange, Capriliz took us a little further back in history and challenged Kimberly (Geekgurl) to write a lens about the Korean War. Kimberly stepped up and gave this lens on the history and impact of the Korean conflict:

#39 - Geekgurl tagged Sorana

After giving us her lens about the Korean War, Kimberly asked (Sorana) to make a lens reflecting her love of math. Sorana gave us this sampling of some of history's greatest mathematicians:

#40 - Sorana tagged Jeff_McRitchie

Having given us her math lens, Sorana issued a challenge to Jeff_McRitchie. to write a lens about either stationery or sights to see in Portland, Oregon. Jeff chose sights in Portland, and one sight in particular:

#41 - Jeff_McRitchie tagged Javrsmith

After giving us a tour of the Portland Saturday Market, Jeff has called on Javrsmith to write the next lens. The topic: What children should know on computers. Right up Javrsmith's alley since he's a programmer. Here's the result!

#42 - Javrsmith tagged Hlkljgk

Having finished his computers and children lens, Javrsmith passed the baton to Heather (hlkljgk) to write a lens about photographing kids. Here's Heather's finished product:

#43 - Hlkljgk tagged PaulOnBooks

After writing her lens about photographing children, Heather asked PaulOnBooks to write a lens about his favorite figures in the world of internet marketing. Paul rose to the challenge and gave us this overview of five "good guys" in the often shark-infested waters of online money-making advice:

#44 - PaulOnBooks tagged Monarch13

Having shared with us his favorite internet marketing gurus, Paul issued a challenge to Michelle (Monarch13) to make a lens about birthstones. Michelle is a big fan of good luck charms and symbols, and here's her birthstone lens!

#45 - Monarch13 tagged Kab

After producing her birthstone lens, Michelle made her pick for the next lens. She asked Kab to write a lens related to Presidents' Day.

Kab's resulting lens is a great Squidoo lesson for all of us. Niche, niche, niche! Not just presidents, but George Washington. Not just George Washington, but George Washington's life story depicted through postcards!

#46 - Kab tagged Lady_Gotrocks

With her niche lens on Washington done, Kab picked Lady_Gotrocks, a lover of gemstones, to make a lens about pirate treasure! Shiver ye timbers, Lady_Gotrocks, gave us this!

#47 - Lady_Gotrocks tagged OneFootPutt

After sharing her pirate treasure lens, Lady_Gotrocks tapped Tom (OneFootPutt) for the next challenge. His mission: to make a lens about scouting (i.e., Boy/Girl Scouts) books. Tom is an experience Scout master, and here's his lens!

#48 - OneFootPutt tagged Thrivingmom

With his scouting lens done, Tom passed the baton to Wendy (aka Thrivingmom). Tom asked Wendy to make a lens that combines airplanes and cake pans. Here's her lens about airplane-themed cakes and birthday parties.

#49 - Thrivingmom tagged Michelle89

After treating us to airplane-shaped birthday cake, Wendy, a former teacher, passed the baton to Michelle (Michelle89), a future teacher. Michelle's assignment: make a lens about decorating a teacher's bulletin board. Here's Michelle's lens, surely worthy of an A!

#50 - Michelle89 tagged Aerome

After finishing her bulletin board lens, Michelle tagged Aerome to build the final lens in the Jenga tower! She asked him to make a lens about fantasy origami creatures and here it is, finishing off the tower in style!

The NEXT challenge!

The Jenga tower is complete, but a new game is starting! Robin has started a new Jenga quest. You can read about it here: Virtual Jenga 2 - An "About Me" Coop Quest.

Vote For Your Favorite Lens In The Jenga Tower

Connie aka Gods_grace_notes made this voting plexo where you can vote for your favorite lens in the tower.