# Landmark Marble Run

How gravity carries a glass marble through six famous landmarks, from the Eiffel Tower down a brass track to the Colosseum in Rome\. Built on a map table\.

By BigAl

Topic: Games

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/YVNa4fG2zZlu)

## Transcript

### 1. Landmark Marble Run

Six famous landmarks share one map table, joined by a brass track\. A glass marble waits at the top of the Eiffel Tower\. Watch as the whole run comes into view\.

The models keep their real heights in proportion: the Eiffel Tower is about seven times taller than the Colosseum\.

### 2. Ready at the top

Gravity powers every marble run\. Each stretch of track starts a little lower than the last, so the marble can roll all the way to the end\. Touch the marble to let it go\.

A marble can never roll higher than the point where it started\.

### 3. Down the Eiffel Tower

The marble spirals down the iron tower\. Built for the 1889 World's Fair, it is now 330 metres tall, and 2\.5 million rivets hold its 18,038 iron pieces together\.

It was the tallest structure in the world until 1930\.

### 4. Around the Great Pyramid

Next the track wraps around the Great Pyramid of Giza\. It once stood 146\.6 metres tall\. Its smooth white outer stones are mostly gone, so today we see rough steps of blocks\.

Rolling marbles spin as they go, so they move a little slower than a block sliding down the same slope\.

### 5. The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The track circles the Leaning Tower of Pisa\. It leans about 4 degrees because the soft ground under one side sank\. Engineers reduced the lean a little between 1993 and 2001\.

Its foundation is only about 3 metres deep\.

### 6. Statue of Liberty

The marble rolls once around the Statue of Liberty\. Her copper skin was once shiny brown, but the weather slowly turned it green\. She is 46 metres from her base to the torch\.

With the pedestal, the whole monument is 93 metres tall\.

### 7. Taj Mahal

Now the marble glides above the reflecting pool of the Taj Mahal\. This white marble building is a tomb, not a palace\. Four slender towers, called minarets, guard its corners\.

This stretch of track is gentle, so the marble keeps a calm, steady pace\.

### 8. Into the Colosseum

The run ends in the Colosseum in Rome\. It is an oval, not a circle, and once held about 50,000 people\. The marble circles the arena and settles in the finish cup\.

The tall wall on the far side still stands at full height; much of the near side fell long ago\.

### 9. Journey's end

From the top of the Eiffel Tower to the arena floor, the marble turned height into motion for about a minute\. Roll again to follow it from the start\.