Spinagogue - The First-Ever Dreidel Spinning Stadium
Created by Eric Pavony
Dreidel is now a tabletop game of skill, played competitively and socially by spinners of all ages. No Gelt, No Glory!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Dreidel in January, it's a thing!
over 7 years ago
– Mon, Jan 02, 2017 at 03:57:15 PM
Happy New Year!
What a wonderful Hanukkah it was. From Christmas Eve to New Years Eve, the Festival of Lights was beautiful and bright.
I had such a fun and love-filled Hanukkah this year. Celebrating with so many friends and lighting the menorah each night live on Kickstarter made it extra special. We spun the dreidel, played all the awesome Spinagogue games and sang happy songs. If you missed any of our 8 crazy nights on Kickstarter Live you can replay them at the links below.
With 22 days left in the campaign, the Spinagogue is 80% funded! This is truly excellent and if we can maintain the love and support generated during the holiday season, we should no doubt hit that 100% goal soon. From there, the plan is to keep spinning and spinning beyond the goal, so we can bring as many Spinagogues as possible into the world in 2017. It will go down as The Year of The Dreidel!
If you didn't see the article in the Jewish Standard this past week about Spinagogue, you can check it out HERE. Journalist Larry Yudelson put together a great write-up about the game and how it makes the dreidel more fun and social for all players.
Also, I'm excited to share this funny and punny link with you. Almost as important as great dreidel spinning form is a great dreidel spinner name. Players typically come up with outrageous and hilarious monikers when participating in our dreidel tournaments. We thought it would be both silly and helpful to put together a Spinner Name Generator. If you don't have your very own dreidel spinner name yet, I'm happy to say we got you covered! You can find the official Major League Dreidel Spinner Name Generator HERE.
If you generate your own Dreidel Spinner Name, please share it with us by leaving a comment on the Spinagogue Kickstarter page. It would be fun to see everybody's inputs and the name that was generated by them.
A big congratulations and mazel tov to Brett and Jay, who won the Target Tops tournament on Hanukkah Night 6 at Full Circle Bar. Brett was hotter than a menorah all evening and led the tournament in "Spinny Dips". You can check out a fun slow-motion video of a "Spinny Dip Hei" by Brett, HERE.
Thank you to some very special Kickstarter buddies we have made, who have shared Spinagogue with their communities. Thank you to Jewish Wisdom Ball and Rami, who donated one as a Hanukkah tournament prize. Thank you to GeltFiend and Carin who make those rad Hanukkah sweaters. Thank you to BetterDreidel and Heirloom Games. Also, thank you to our amazing friend Amy at ModernTribe, who has also spread the word.
As we begin 2017 this week, we will continue to spin dreidels in the Spinagogue. The dreidel is no longer confined to the 8 nights of Hanukkah : ) Please continue to share the campaign with your friends, family and colleagues as we push towards 100%. Use this short and snazzy link: http://BackTheSpin.com
Thank you for your continued love and support and stay tuned as we have a lot more fun events and live streams planned. Dreidel in January, it's a thing!
Oh Hanukkah! Oh Hanukkah!
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Dec 29, 2016 at 09:54:51 AM
Happy 6th Night everybody!
I hope the holiday season and Festival of Lights has been beautiful and bright. I have been having such a blast with Kickstarter Live. What an awesome new feature. My friends and I have been hosting a live Hanukkah show each night. We light the menorah, talk about the project and play one of the many Spinagogue dreidel games. I hope you have been tuning in and celebrating both the holiday and the great start to the campaign with us.
If you have missed any of these spintastic live streams, you can replay them at the links posted at the bottom of this update.
Tonight, we'll be going live from Full Circle Bar in Austin, TX. We're having a special Hanukkah party and hosting a few sanctioned Major League Dreidel tournaments. The broadcast will begin at 9 p.m. EST with the lighting of the menorah. You can tune in tonight and watch some competitive dreidel spinning at the link below.
If you live in or around the Austin area, we happily invite you to spin and celebrate with us tonight. Full Circle Bar is located at 1810 E. 12th Street. Beyond the gelt and the glory this evening, there will also be...Pastrami Cuban Sandwiches! Yuuuup, "The Jewbano" is real. Our friends at Cafe Ybor will be serving these delicious sandwiches from 6:00 to Midnight. It's hot pastrami with Gulden's Spicy Brown mustard on pressed Cuban style bread. Boom!
As we head into Day #10 of the campaign, I'm proud to say the Spinagogue is 69% funded with 281 backers and counting! Thank you so much for the early and vital support. There are 3 more nights of Hanukkah left. Let's see how close to 100% funded we can get by the eighth night. Please keep spreading the word to friends, family and colleagues. You can use this fun little url to share the campaign: http://BackTheSpin.com
You may have already seen this Hanukkah music video online. It has 13,000+ views in just a few days. Our friend Erez Cohen totally nailed this parody of Bruno Mars' "24k Magic". He entitled it "44 Candle Magic" and it's all about the dreidel! The Spinagogue makes some really sweet cameos in this video and we can't thank Erez enough for the shout out and for his dedication to professional dreidel spinners around the globe. You can watch the entire music video HERE.
Also, I was honored to be a guest on The Kibitz, a project of Reboot. Host Dan Crane put together an awesome Hanukkah episode. We discuss the history of dreidel and that fateful Hanukkah party where the Spinagogue was conceived. We played some other original dreidel games and reviewed the "Four Phases of a Spin". You can give this Hanukkah episode a listen HERE. Thanks again to Dan, The Kibitz and Reboot.
As Hanukkah continues to spin along, so do we! We're getting closer and closer to our goal and to bringing the Spinagogue to smiley spinners everywhere. We couldn't possibly accomplish this without you. Thanks a latke : )
Happy Hanukkah and Happy Spinning!
Please join us tonight on the live stream at 9 p.m. EST. If you have any questions or are in need of some dreidel spinning tips, ask us on the show!
50% Funded - Happy Hanukkah!
over 7 years ago
– Sun, Dec 25, 2016 at 06:10:57 AM
Happy Christmas Eve-ukkah!
On this first night of the Festival of Lights I have some very bright news to share with you. We hit 50% funded this evening! Spinagogue now has 200+ beautiful backers and it's only Day 5. This is, in a word, spintastic!
Spinagogue was also the "Project of the Day" today on Kickstarter. How sweet is that! What an honor. It's wonderful to see the dreidel get so much love.
Before I tell you about some other exciting things that have happened this week, I want to let you know that we'll be hosting our first Kickstarter Live tonight at 9 p.m. EST. We'll be going live on Kickstarter every night of Hanukkah at 9 p.m. EST, so please tune in with your friends and family as you celebrate. Tonight we will light the first candle on a very special custom menorah. We'll also discuss the history of dreidel and review the rules of traditional game play.
And if you didn't catch it, Spinagogue was on ABC News Live yesterday! You can watch the entire segment HERE and please share.
I joined in from Austin, TX via Skype as "Gelta Force" and "Virtual Dreidel" battled inside the Spinagogue, live in the New York City studio. Virtual Dreidel, the 2008 Major League Dreidel Champion, took down Gelta Force in dramatic fashion.
Gelta Force, the current MLD Record Holder for Longest Spin (18:03 seconds) did not wobble easily against the champ. It came down to Spin Zone 3, the smallest spinning surface. Gelta spun a respectable 11.06 seconds in the cramped quarters, but Virtual Dreidel has been there before and when the walls close in he knows how to spin. He took the ABC News Spin-Off with a very strong 12.31 twist.
And now, for some very sweet news... It's Stretch Goal Time! I'm psyched to announce Stretch Goal #1 and hint at Stretch Goal #2.
You may have noticed that the dreidel being spun on ABC News had a certain sparkle to it, some extra magic that the 6 dreidels currently included with the Spinagogue don't possess. Well, that's because the Golden Dreidel is the official dreidel used in sanctioned Major League Dreidel tournaments. If we can hit $36,000 (Double Chai) we will include the Official Gold Dreidel with every Spinagogue.
We don't want to give everything away just yet, but we do plan on including a brand new dreidel game we invented if we can reach $54,000 (Triple Chai). When we hit Stretch Goal #1 we will unveil this spincredible new game!
Okay everybody, we'll see you on Kickstarter Live at 9 p.m. EST to personally wish you a Happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas.
Thank you so much.
Oh, and we're using a fun new URL now to drive folks to the Spinagogue Kickstarter page. When sharing the project, you can now use, www.BackTheSpin.com
Let's keep spinning towards the next 50% : )
-eric, The Knishioner
100 Backers!
over 7 years ago
– Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 01:08:04 PM
Hello again hello,
I'm super happy to report that Spinagogue hit and surpassed 100 backers! 31% funded and Day #3 is still spinning along. We already have more backers today than yesterday and pledges have now been made from 10 countries!
Also, the great gang at Table Top Gaming News posted a sweet write-up about Spinagogue today. You can check it out here.
Tomorrow will be a very exciting day. At 11:30 a.m. EST, I will be on ABC News Live along with two dreidel spinning legends. I'll be talking about Spinagogue, reviewing the original games and demonstrating different spinning strategies. However, the main event will no doubt be a live Heavyweight Spin-Off between two of the greatest spinners to ever twist a top.
Gelta Force (Eric Schulmiller) holds the current Major League Dreidel Record for Longest Spin. A mind-blowing 18.03 seconds. He'll be battling Virtual Dreidel (Howard Pavony) the 2008 Major League Dreidel Champion. If Howard's last name looks familiar, it's because he's my dad!
These two Gods of Gelt will spin finger-to-finger inside the Spinagogue at the ABC studio in New York City. I will be skyping in from Full Circle Bar in Austin, TX.
And...here's a fun video from our first night. The moment when we reached our 50th backer! The guy on top of the Skee-Ball lanes holding the Spinagogue is my good buddy Cooper.
Thank you to all of our supporters and backers so far. It's been a wonderful start. A lot more fun and dreidels to be spun in the coming days leading up to Hanukkah.
No gelt, No glory!
-eric
We're Off and Spinning!
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 04:36:37 PM
Hi! Hei! Chai!
Today was a spincredible day : )
I couldn't be more excited to have launched Spinagogue on Kickstarter. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that this dreidel game, which adds so much joy and fun to the holiday season, is once again available to spinners around the world.
Here are some sweet highlights from Day #1:
*We became a project loved by Kickstarter (Woo!)
*We have hit nearly 60 backers
*In 12 hours we are 16% funded
*We had backers from 4 countries (US, Canada, Australia and Indonesia...Spindonesia!?!)
I want to thank everyone who supported and backed the campaign today. We saw folks pledge for Hanukkah postcards, Hanukkah Gone Metal albums, Spinagogue t-shirts and of course the Spinagogue board game. We even had a backer grab the Spinagogue Party Pack (12 games).
Please continue to share the Spinagogue Kickstarter with your friends, family and community. If we can fully fund this game it will no doubt give rise to a dreidel revival and ensure that Hanukkah will forever be brighter.
There is a ton of fun to look forward to. We're currently working on sweet stretch goals that will include even more original games and we will be hosting a party for every night of Hanukkah that we'll stream live on Kickstarter. We plan on explaining the rules of a different Spinagogue game each night and have special guests teach you some dreidel spinning tips. We'll also be broadcasting a sanctioned Major League Dreidel tournament live from Full Circle Bar Austin on December 29.
If you haven't seen it yet, check out this Spinagogue video that we're super psyched about. My talented buddy Chadwick made an adorable and funny animated short that reviews several original Spinagogue games and spinning terrains. It stars two little animated dreidel dudes named Jimmy Gimel and Frank Spinatra. They couldn't be happier to learn that the dreidel finally has a home!
