Las Vegas Weekly

Planking craze plagues Las Vegas—then dies untimely death

Plank!

Submitted by Austin Spencer

For those not up to date on the things bored people do with cameras, “planking” is the act of being photographed laying facedown, flat as a board, usually in strange public locations. In the ADHD-paced world known as the Interwebz, the phenomenon is already dead. It has been replaced by the equally pointless acts of “owling”—being photographed perched like an owl—and “coning”—ordering an ice cream cone from a drive-thru and grabbing it by the ice cream rather than the cone.

Here at the Weekly, we don’t care. We like planking. We think it’s funny—funnier than owling because we don’t have to see people’s stupid smug faces in the photos. It’s also less messy and wasteful than coning. We asked readers to send us their planking photos planking, and you guys went above and beyond. Actually, you went to Target, Disneyland and even the Great Wall of China.

Better yet, you shared your planking stories. Our favorite comes courtesy of Kent T. Readon & Kathy A Kulas. They wrote, “On a recent guided tour of China we befriended a very nice couple from Australia. We ran into the same couple on one of our excursions to the Great Wall. While on the Great Wall, they asked us if we ever planked before. We were afraid the term planking meant something sexual, or maybe even spouse swapping, so we didn’t answer them …”

Eventually, the two figured it out and jumped in on the hot planking action themselves. Well done, world travelers. And happy planking to all.

(For more planking goodness, visit the Las Vegas PLANKERS Facebook group.)