page_title: Top
section_title: Strings and whips
hierarchical_section_title: Top / Spinning methods / Strings and whips
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: „Verschiedene Kreisel“ in Pieter Bruegels Gemälde Die Kinderspiele&#91;1&#93;
context_page_description: A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect.
  Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few seconds, spin upright for a while, then start to wobble again with increasing amplitude as it loses energy, and finally tip over and roll on its side.
  Tops exist in many variations and materials, chiefly wood, metal, and plastic, often with a metal tip. They may be set in motion by twirling a handle with the fingers, by pulling a rope coiled around the body, or by means of a built-in auger.
  Such toys have been used since antiquity in solitary or competitive children games, where each player tries to keep one's top spinning for as long as possible, or achieve some other goal. Some tops have faceted bodies with symbols or inscriptions, and are used like dice to inject randomness into games, or for divination and ritual purposes.
context_section_description: A typical fist-sized model, traditionally made of wood with a blunt iron tip, is meant to be set in motion by briskly pulling a string or rope tightly coiled around the body.  The rope is best wound starting near the tip and progressing up along the widening body, so that the tension of the string will remain roughly constant while the top's angular speed increases.
  These tops may be thrown forward while firmly grasping the end of the string and pulling it back.  The forward momentum of the top contributes to the string's tension and thus to the final spin rate.
  In some throwing styles, the top is thrown upside-down, but the first loop of the rope is wound around a stubby "head".  Then, the sudden yank on the head as the string finishes unwinding causes the spinning top to flip over and land on its tip.
  Alternatively, tops of this class may be started by hand but then accelerated and kept in motion by striking them repeatedly with a small whip.
caption: Extract from Children's Games (1560)
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