Photo: [John Hasyn Photography](http://flickr.com/photos/actsoflight/sets/72157600271506267/) Illupik is a traditional Inuit jumping game not unlike skipping rope. To play illupik, children steal local seal hunters’ avatuks (a seal skin float used to keep harpoons from sinking), tie ropes to either end, and then one child tries to jump over the avatuk as their friends swing it around them. I’ve had little luck finding out why illupik involves an avatuk, but from a purely pragmatic – as well as speculative – perspective it seems as if the added weight of the avatuk might have made swinging traditional seal rope (a tough but lightweight rope made from seal skin) easier while also increasing its visibility against the bright snow and stark sky of the arctic landscape.