Jenga

Category	BxD Suggestion	Game Suggestion
Players	2+	1+
Age	8+	6+
Play Length	15 minutes
Overall Rating	2.5 / 5
Replay-ability	2.5 / 5

How the game works:

Jenga is a game of removing blocks and adding those same blocks on the top level without knocking down the structure. There are 54 blocks total. To setup, each row needs 3 blocks, and the rows are stacked on top of one another in alternating directions. Each person takes turns pulling out a block with the use of one hand at a time, and they cannot hold the structure with their other hand. Once pulled out, they stack it back on the top in the alternating direction of the latest top row. Then game play continues to the next person until someone pulls out a block and knocks down the structure. Each person is cleared from their turn when the next person starts or it has been 10 seconds since they put their block on the top of the stack. Technically speaking, the game says the last person to stack a block without causing the tower to crash wins, but truly we only remember who knocked down the tower as being the "loser".

Experience:

Jenga requires no experience and rules are pretty clear. This game is one of the most instant pickup games that I have come across.  The game takes about 15 minutes or so to play depending on the number of people and the time it takes each player to check and pull the wood blocks. In my experience, the current rules are lenient, so we jazz the game up a bit by increasing the number of rows from the top where we cannot pull from. I have personally played the game where we are not allowed to pull from the top 3 - top 5 rows. In terms of overall game play, I suggest playing with at least one other person since you can banter and go back and forth with someone. Since the game is fairly easy and not very involved other than during your turn or the anticipation of another player's turn, I ranked the replay-ability of the game to be slightly lower at 2.5/5. It is a fun game, but I don't think it's the go to game for consecutive game nights.

Tips:
If you want to advance the game for more fun, as I mentioned in the "Experience" section, you can disallow players from pulling from the top 3 - top 5 rows, to increase difficulty. You can also either buy or write on the wood blocks with truths or dares to spice up the game more. So once a player pulls out a block and it contains a truth or dare they will have to do as it says or receive a punishment.


Pros:

• Little to no pick up time to understand the game

Cons:

• Lots of blocks = longer clean up time + setup time

More:

Photo Credits:
Jenga photo with the kid. Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash