A superstring, also known as a cracker wall, is a name commonly given to an immense bundle of firecrackers, usually numbering in the hundreds of thousands, which are often a central fixture at fireworks conventions. Although large compound strings of firecrackers have been constructed since firecrackers were invented, the superstring was greatly popularized by the Pyrotechnics Guild International, whose yearly convention often features a huge superstring consisting of well over a million firecrackers. Superstrings are usually constructed over a rudimentary wooden or metallic structure as a sort of curtain wall.