This artwork appeared on 20 October 2013 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in New York, at 233 West 79th Street, close to Broadway. It consists of a black and white stencil of a boy holding a huge hammer, poised to strike a red fire hydrant.

The cleverest part is how it turns the existing hydrant into part of the composition. Combined with the boy’s hammer, the hydrant and the vertical pipe behind it look exactly like a classic fairground strongman game, with a player trying to strike the target and ring the bell.

The piece was part of “Better Out Than In”, the residency Banksy ran throughout October 2013 in New York, during which he announced more than thirty new works day by day, without prior notice, through social media and his official website.

Shortly after the piece appeared, the nearby family business Zabar’s arranged for a clear Perspex cover to be fitted over it, and the piece still stands in the same spot today.

This work is a fine example of Banksy’s skill at using objects already on the street as an active part of the composition. Once again he shows his talent for finding unexpected visual possibilities in everyday urban infrastructure, turning an ordinary fire hydrant into a game in an instant.