With only hours left before it all comes crashing down, San Jose’s Alex Huang paused on Friday to overlook the 40,000-piece amusement park he and his team of eight builders have constructed in the Tech Interactive lobby.
Hoping, perhaps, against an overnight earthquake.
Huang, a prominent member of the domino and machine build community known as Flash Domino, was just 16 when he launched San Jose’s first Tech Topple in 2016. Last year’s construction was a miniature city called Topple Town. It was made with 20,000 dominos and took more than five-minutes to demolish.
This year’s theme is Kinetic Carnival, featuring chain-reaction machines inspired by midway games, bumper cars and even a Ferris wheel. It has twice as many dominos as Topple Town. Nine builders joined Huang this week to construct the amusement park. Among them were professional chain-reaction artist Lyle Broughton and former domino world record holder Erez Klein.
The topple will be triggered promptly at 1 p.m. Saturday at The Tech, 201 S. Market St., San Jose. Museum officials are expecting a big crowd and encourage early arrivals.
Alex Huang puts the final touches on a 40,000-piece domino construction he and his team have built this week in the lobby of the Tech Interactive in San Jose, Calif., Friday, July 12, 2024. The largest kinetic domino build in California, it will be demolished Saturday at 1 PM as part of the 9th annual Tech Topple. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group) Alex Huang oversees the final touches on a 40,000-piece domino construction being built this week in the lobby of the Tech Interactive in San Jose, Calif., Friday, July 12, 2024. The largest kinetic domino build in California, it will be demolished Saturday at 1 PM as part of the 9th annual Tech Topple. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group) A chain reaction machine inspired by carnival bumper cars in the Kinetic Carnival will be triggered when 40,000 dominos are tipped over, Saturday July 13, 2024, in the Tech Topple at the Tech Interactive in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group)
Some of the 40,000 dominos used in construction of the Kinetic Carnival are staged Friday night, July 12, 2024, before detonation in Saturday’s Tech Topple at the Tech Interactive in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group) Some of the 40,000 dominos used in construction of the Kinetic Carnival are staged Friday night, July 12, 2024, before detonation in Saturday’s Tech Topple at the Tech Interactive in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group) Fans watch last year as Topple Town, a 20,000-piece domino chain reaction is triggered successfully at the Tech Interactive in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, July 15, 2023. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
