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A while ago it was half-price margarita night at my local Mexican restaurant, so a gang of us headed south of the border and — how shall I put this — took advantage of the discount. Unfortunately, the restaurant also equipped each table with a stack of A5 fliers inviting customers to join its “birthday club”, and we put these to good use making dozens of paper planes, which we launched across the room.

I’m not proud of this. I’m just saying that’s what happened.

Nevertheless, since we’ve established paper planes are the resort of the drunk and restless, you might as well learn how to make one properly.

Alex Schultz’s Paper Planes has heaps of designs, arranged by difficulty. Start with the classic Dart — the design familiar to generations of bored students and office workers — and perhaps try Alex’s own design, the Rapier. There’s even a paper helicopter!

Wired magazine can show you how to make Takuo Toda’s Sky King, which holds the world record for paper plane flight.

At BestPaperAirplanes.com, learn to fold everything from the basic Deltry (“the gold standard of paper airplanes”) to the more advanced Canada Goose, which can be modified into the Duck and Condor.

If you’re ready for more advanced aeronautics, head to the experts: NASA. Its model jet requires a stapler and a bent paperclip, but you’ve got that stuff on your desk already, haven’t you?

Michael O’Reilly reckons he makes the best paper airplane in the world (pictured below). It’s stiffened with multiple folds for stability. There are 35 steps, so it’s only for the patient, but he even provides tips on how to fly it.

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