This game is very simple and at the same time can bring many pleasant moments to both children and their parents. The number of players is practically unlimited: you can train alone and hold tournaments for 2, 3 and 10 people! First you need to buy a special kit out of 54 wooden blocks.
Rules of the game "Jenga"
First, a tower is built from a set of blocks on a table or floor. To do this, the blocks are stacked three in a row and the resulting layers are stacked on top of each other, one across the other. This turns out to be a tower of 18 levels. As a rule, a cardboard guide is included in the kit, which will allow you to level the tower for its exceptional evenness and verticality.
As soon as the tower is built and the order of the players' turns is determined, you can begin!
Each player, on his turn, tries to pull out any block that seems free to him. This must be done using only one hand. You cannot work with both hands at the same time, but you can use your hands in turns if it is convenient. After the block is released from the tower, it is laid on its top so that construction continues according to the rules: 3 bars per layer, each next layer across the previous one. You cannot take bars from an unfinished top layer and the next layer below it.
As soon as the block is placed, the turn passes to the next player in turn and further in a circle. The player on whom the tower collapses with a roar is considered the loser, and the game starts over. You can organize a knockout game.
Tricks:
- First of all, you need to look for loose bars. They can be either on the edge, and then they can be “picked out” from the side, or in the center, then they must be pushed out with a finger on one side and then pulled out on the other;
- It is very important to pay attention to the tilt of the tower: sometimes, after a new block is placed on one side of the tower, on the other side it becomes possible to pull out the block that was previously clamped;
- You can set up “traps” for the following players: taking into account the tilt of the tower, aggravate it by placing your block on the same side. But the main thing here is not to overdo it!
- Although you cannot use both hands, you can use several fingers of one hand, for example, grab the block with your thumb and forefinger, and with your middle hand carefully rest against the tower so that it does not fall. Well, use your hands in turn.
Jenga video game:
Here are the hero games of our review today. Let's start playing by seniority in The Mikado and Jenga.
But closer to the point...
How to play Jenga?
The meaning of the game
Our task is to build a tower out of blocks, and then carefully pull one block at a time from the base and move it to the top. The game continues until the tower collapses. The one who caused the fall of the tower is given a punishment. For example, let him build a tower for the next round. If your building blocks are of different colors (this happens, they can be different in texture or color), then the game can develop according to several scenarios.
Scenario #1
This is a lightweight version of the game to “shoot” and get acquainted with Jenga. We are building a tower of 16 floors, as shown in the figure above. Consider that the game has already begun, since building a high-rise building is like putting together a construction set. Then, one by one, we pull any block we like and place it on the top of the tower. We continue until complete collapse.
Scenario #2
Events develop in the same way as in Scenarios No. 2. This is where the dice comes into play. We've built a tower, then we roll the dice. Whichever pattern appears is the one you drag. Each time the tower becomes more and more unstable, it is not even an hour, and it will crumble like a house of cards.
Scenario #3
Let's complicate the game. Let's say we have 2 players. Distribute the cubes between them. One player is allowed to drag blocks only with a panda and a giraffe, and the second - with a cheetah and a zebra. Blocks without a pattern remain spare. They can be pulled out by both players, but only in hopeless situations. Here you will have to think carefully))
Scenario #4 - Domino effect
We arrange the blocks vertically in a row at a distance of several centimeters. Then, with one movement of the finger, we push the last block, and the entire row falls together one after another. It makes the kids a lot of fun))
Scenario No. 4 - Large construction site
Building incredible structures from Jenga blocks is almost an art. Our customers get so carried away that they purchase a second set of parts. Take a look...
And this building seems like a light cobweb. Blow and it will fall down, but no, it’s worth it....
From Jenga, of course, it’s hard to tear yourself away))) But he’s already languishing in the queue Mikado, no less interesting game. So let's move on.
Japanese tranquility with Mikado
Mikado- an ancient Japanese game, somewhat similar to our spillikins. Does not tolerate fuss and sudden movements. You need to play thoughtfully, slowly, smoothly pulling the sticks out common pile. Such finger movements perfectly develop fine motor skills in people of any age.
How to play Mikado?
The essence of the game
Place a handful of sticks freely on the table or floor. Then you try to pull out the stick without hitting the neighboring ones. If you hit it, the turn goes to another player. If the “operation” was successful, the move is yours. The whole trick is that the sticks have different values, and the player who gets larger number points.
Chopstick cost table
Spirals (“Mikado”) 1 *20 points 20 points
2 blue rings + 3 red rings (“Mandarin”) 5 *10 points 50 points
1 red ring + 2 blue rings 5 *5 points 25 points
1 red ring + 1 blue ring+ 1 yellow ring 15 *3 points 45 points
1 red ring + 1 blue ring 15 *2 points 30 points
If you pulled out the Mandarin or Mikado sticks, you can use those to pull out the rest.
Options for playing Mikado
1. Righty-Lefty- make the game more difficult for yourself. If you are right-handed, try pulling out the sticks with your left hand, and if you are left-handed, try pulling out the sticks with your right
2. Counting sticks- use Mikado sticks as counting material
3. Mikado in the ring- you will need a ring that will fit tightly around the sticks. This could be a ring from a pyramid, a not too tight hair tie, etc. Fold the sticks into a tube, then turn them, as if you were wringing out laundry.
Place the sticks in the ring and place them on a flat, smooth surface. Now this hut needs to be dismantled. Take the sticks out of the structure one by one. Whoever destroys the hut is the loser.
Mikado is so popular that a “garden” version of it has even been invented for playing outside. You need to play with giant sticks 90 cm long (!) Try to pull out such a stick))) 
These are the “thinking” games of skill. Not only your fingers, but also your brain cells become dexterous. Enjoy playing!
Olga Polovinkina
Jenga is extremely popular, meditative and at the same time gambling. During the process, players act with bated breath, and the loss is marked by the roar of a collapsed building.
Review
Board game Jenga, also known as Tower, is quite simple.
You need to build a tower from wooden blocks, and then pull the sticks out of the tower and put them on the top floor. The structure will become increasingly unstable until it collapses from careless movement or a blow of wind.
In its basic principle, it is a bit like playing spillikins (with miniature utensils) or Mikado (using wooden skewers). The game takes on average 5-10 minutes.
Who created
The game Jenga was invented by Tanzanian-born Englishwoman Leslie Scott in the early 1970s. Its ancestor was the game of blocks that Leslie played as a child. The word "jenga" comes from the Swahili verb "to build". The game is produced by one of the subsidiaries of the Hasbro company; replicas from the Igrotime company are popular in Russia.
From what age
You can play Jenga from the moment your fine motor skills have developed sufficiently. You can build a tower for the first time as early as the age of five, although it’s unlikely that an adult should compete with an impatient child.
What is in the box
There are other options for how to play the tower. For example, buy a set with numbers on the dice and take out not random blocks, but the one whose number appears on the dice.
Board game Jenga (Tower) and its variations
History of appearance
The familiar “Jenga” was invented by British board game designer Leslie Scott three decades ago. According to the author, it was created in the image and likeness of the game at which the entire Scott couple spent their evenings in the distant seventies. Only then, instead of elongated wooden blocks, elements of the Takoradi children's construction set, brought from Ghana, were used. Based on the same African fun, another game was created called “Ta-Ka-Radi”, very similar to “Jenga”. It appeared on the American market several years earlier, but did not achieve such deafening popularity as Jenga.
The game has quite exotic name. "Jenga" is a Swahili dictionary word meaning "to build." The game's author, Leslie Scott, is of British descent, but she was born in Tanzania and spent her entire childhood in Africa. Therefore, Leslie decided to pay tribute to her second native language by christening her new brainchild with a name so unusual for Europeans.
Kit Contents
The original Jenga consists of 54 oblong wooden blocks. The surface of each block is carefully sanded, but not covered with varnish or paint. This increases friction between structural elements and prevents the tower from falling apart. Block Dimensions classic version games are 1.5x2.5x7.5 cm.
With the growing popularity of Jenga, many of its “remakes” have appeared on the market, the dimensions of the elements of which may differ from the ancestor, but the aspect ratio of the blocks is mostly preserved.
"Ta-Ka-Radi" vs. "Jenga"
The two games are very similar, but have some significant differences. Ta-Ka-Radi uses only 51 rectangular blocks. As a result, the original tower is one floor lower than in Jenga, but the height of the structure is greater. The most important difference is how the bars should be placed. In “Ta-Ka-Radi” the blocks are installed on the short side of the section with significant gaps between the elements of the same row. At the same time, in Jenga, the bars lie close to each other on the long side of the section.
If “Jenga” comes in paper packaging, then “Ta-Ka-Radi” is sold in a fabric bag made of natural cloth with a print. The manufacturer also offers a choice of several types of fabrics from which the bag can be made, all colors in the spirit of Africa.
Preparing for the game
Before the start of the round, the starting tower must be level. You can level it using the box from the game itself. Some Jenga sets come with a special plastic corner that acts as a kind of level. Initially, our building has 18 “floors” of 3 blocks each. The bars are laid on the long side. All elements must fit tightly to each other. In this case, the bars of each subsequent row are located perpendicular to the blocks of the previous one.
Rules and gameplay
Jenga is designed for two or more players. The principles of the game are very simple: each participant takes out one block from an already standing structure and places it perpendicular to the previous row. At the same time, the “penthouse” tier, preceding the unfinished one, remains untouched. Also, you cannot start laying blocks in new level, leaving the top "floor" unfinished.
You can only pull the block out of the tower with one hand. You are first allowed to touch the elements and tap the ends of the bars, checking which of them is the most pliable. If something moves out of place, the player must return all affected blocks to their original position before the end of his turn.
All participants take turns taking turns. The turn ends when the next player touches the tower or ten seconds after placing the pulled out block.
Nature of the game
The game trains motor skills and analytical skills well. At the same time, it does not require participants to develop strategy and mental stress, so the gameplay is a relaxed, fun pastime.
Varieties of the game
On modern market There are a great variety of Jenga board games: from small portable versions with tiny bars to huge copies that serve more of an advertising role than serve their direct purpose. Such a “tower boom” among board game manufacturers was undoubtedly due to the popularity that the game found among fans of such games. According to the creator of the classic Jenga, about 50 million copies of the original game have been sold worldwide.
"Jenga: Throw and Go" (Throw "n Go Jenga)- a game resulting from the fusion of good old Jenga and gaming dice. The elements of the classic set are painted in three different colors. The dice are marked with colors and words that indicate where exactly the block should be pulled from (middle, top, bottom of the tower), as well as exactly how many blocks need to be pulled in one move. For example, after the first roll, you get the words “any two” on the top face of the die. This means that you will have to “fight” with two bars, and not with one.
Throw the die again, and the top one turns out to be a crimson side with the word “beginning”, which means that the first element is crimson, and it is located at the base of the structure. Next, you roll the dice and get the word “middle” on a black background - you pull out a black block from the middle of the tower.
Jenga Truth or Dare. The set consists of the usual number of blocks, two thirds of which are colored orange and purple colors(colors may vary in different editions of the game). Orange bars are desires, purple bars are questions. In this case, one third of the game elements remain uncolored. It is on these pristine bars that players are invited to write own desires or questions. Then the game becomes individual characteristics and becomes one of a kind. Overall, this variation is quite fun and aims to get participants talking, and the gameplay is generously filled with fiction and eccentricity. Due to its nature, it is intended for players over 12 years of age. Nevertheless, many rightfully note that this variety of Jenga is not suitable for children. The desires and questions proposed by the creators cannot be called crystal innocent. On the one hand, you may only be required to sing a song or describe one of the participants and games (why not?). There are also more amusing statements, such as “sensual dance with a mop” and other similar inventions. The questions are tricky ones with a touch of the now popular “American humor.”
More suitable for children Jenga Girl Talk Edition- a much more harmless edition of the game. The blocks are painted pink and crimson and the same as in previous version, covered with questions. This kind of thing could once be seen in children’s notebooks and questionnaires, which were then filled out by friends and classmates. Here you will find traditional questions: “What is your deepest desire?” or the more modern “Name your favorite website.”
Jenga Extreme. The game elements are not a rectangular parallelepiped, but a parallelogram. This adds a certain extreme to the gameplay and makes it possible to build tilted towers of absolutely bizarre shapes.
"Jenga: Las Vegas Casino" (Las Vegas Casino Jenga)- a completely unexpected combination of two completely different games: Jenga and roulette! As the tower is built, players place bets. The set consists of 54 numbered red and black blocks, a betting board and 75 chips. Recommended for players 18 years and older.
"Jenga" XXL- an enlarged version of the classic Jenga (although there are also much larger copies of the game). The size of each block is approximately 45x22.5x7.5 cm. The set includes 50 elements (48 directly for the game and 2 “in reserve”). All blocks are made not of sanded wood, but of painted plywood, so that when they fall, the structure will not kill players. The original tower is 120 cm high and can theoretically grow to three and a half meters during the game! This version of Jenga is especially good for playing on fresh air, it goes with a bang as a fun accompaniment to a barbecue.
We briefly talked about only some of the varieties of this simple board game. There are also special editions of it. Special attention deserves Jenga Nigthmare before Christmas- a game designed in the spirit of a popular cartoon that appeared on screens more than twenty years ago. The blocks are colored black, purple and orange colors. Each of them bears images of ghosts, funny, sad, cunning faces of Jack Skelington and, of course, the name of the cartoon with its signature “Halloween” font.
In addition, there are many board games created based on Jenga. Some retain the rules of the original game, but the elements themselves are significantly modified. In particular, the snow-white set looks very interesting Jenga Stack The Bones with blocks in the form of bones and a skull crowning the tower. Such a set can become not only your favorite game, but also an original interior decoration, which will also serve as a wonderful gift for lovers of various strange things. There are also similar sets with a more peaceful theme: with cats, bunnies, carrots, and so on.
As you can see, the good old Jenga does not stand still, but develops in accordance with the desires of modern users. The market is full of various options long-loved board game, among which you will definitely find the best “Tower” for yourself.
The game is a hit. A game that the whole world has been playing for 40 years. A game that is given as a gift for birthdays, holidays and corporate events.
Jenga is a standard of its own - exciting game With simple rules. It’s easy to play alone, together, with four people! Even if you just put Jenga on the table, it will fit into any interior!
The rules of the game are explained literally in a minute. First you need to build a tower. We lay out 3 bars on a table or other flat surface, on them 3 more bars perpendicular to the first row and so on until we have laid out all 45 bars. Jenga of 15 levels is ready!
The game has begun! Players take turns pulling out one block at a time and placing it on top of the tower. You cannot take bars from the top two rows. Only one hand can be used. That's all the rules. But you can complicate the task by pulling out bars with the numbers rolled on the dice.
If you play big cheerful company, then everyone will be a winner, except the “lucky” one who destroyed the tower on his turn.
Equipment:
- 45 wooden blocks;
- 2 cubes.
Reviews for the board game Jenga with numbers Small (Jenga)
Pasha
I have a question how to play Jengo I have 48 cubes with numbers and 4 dominoes so how to play so that for example 48 comes up
Answer: Hello! In our Jenga there are 45 bars with numbers and 2 dice with numbers from 1 to 6. You draw a bar with the numbers that came up on the dice, for example 25, 43, 56, etc.
NASTYA
I have such a problem - how to pull out the parts with numbers. 7, 8 and 9 if the dice only have 6 sides?
Answer: The fact is that this Jenga does not have details with the numbers 7,8,9 and 0. Let's assume that these numbers are there. In this case, you can use special 9-sided dice or more budget options: -Draw lots consisting of matches with numbers. - Roulette, lotto, random number generator. - Fortune telling using coffee grounds, a crystal ball and other available means. Have a good game.