Thai tower game. Board game "Jenga" ("Tower") and its varieties

Board game "Jenga" ("Tower") and its varieties

History of appearance

The familiar "Jenga" was coined 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, behind which the whole Scott couple spent evenings in the distant seventies. Only then, instead of oblong wooden blocks, elements of the Takoradi children's designer, brought from Ghana, were used. Based on the same African fun, another game was created called Ta-Ka-Radi (Ta-Ka-Radi), very similar to Jenga. It appeared on the American market a few years earlier, but did not find such deafening popularity as Jenga.

The game has a rather exotic name. "Jenga" is a Swahili word meaning "to build". The author of the game, Leslie Scott, is of British origin, but she was born in Tanzania and spent her entire childhood in African countries. Therefore, Leslie decided to pay tribute to her second native language, christening her new offspring with such an unusual name for Europeans.

Kit contents

The original "Jenga" consists of 54 oblong wooden blocks. The surface of each bar is carefully sanded, but not varnished or painted. This increases friction between structural elements and prevents the tower from crumbling. The dimensions of the block of the classic version of the game are 1.5x2.5x7.5 cm.

With the growing popularity of Jenga, a lot of its “remakes” appeared on the market, the dimensions of the elements of which may differ from the progenitor, 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 to place the bars. In "Ta-Ka-Radi" 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" is supplied 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, it is necessary to level the original tower. You can level it using the box from the game itself. Some sets of "Jenga" come with a special plastic corner, which 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 snugly together. In this case, the bars of each subsequent row are 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 pulls out one block from an already standing structure and lays it perpendicular to the previous row. At the same time, the “penthouse” tier preceding the unfinished one remains inviolable. Also, you cannot start laying blocks in a new level, leaving the top "floor" unfinished.

You can pull the block out of the tower with only one hand. Beforehand, it is allowed to touch the elements and tap the ends of the bars, checking which of them is the most pliable. If at the same time something has moved, then the player must return all the affected blocks to their original position before the end of their turn.

All participants take turns doing their moves. The turn ends when the next player touches the tower or ten seconds after placing the pulled block.

The nature of the game

The game trains fine motor skills and analytical skills. At the same time, it does not require the participants to develop a strategy and mental stress, so the gameplay is a relaxed fun pastime.

Varieties of the game

There are a great many varieties of Jenga on the modern board game market: from small portable versions with tiny bars to huge copies that perform more of an advertising role than serving their intended purpose. Such a "tower boom" among the manufacturers of "board games" was undoubtedly due to the popularity that the game found among fans of such fun. According to the creator of the classic version of Jenga herself, about 50 million copies of the original game have been sold in the world.

"Jenga: Drop and Go" (Throw "n Go Jenga)- a game resulting from the merger of the good old Jenga and game dice. The elements of the classic set are painted in three different colors. The bones are marked with colors and words that say exactly where the block should be pulled out from (middle, top, bottom of the tower), as well as exactly how many blocks should be pulled out in one move. For example, after the first roll, you get the words "any two" on the top of the die. This means that you will have to "fight" with two bars, and not with one.

Throw the bone again, and the crimson face with the word “beginning” turns out to be the top, which means that the first element is crimson, and it is located at the base of the structure. Then you throw a bone and get the word "middle" on a black background - you pull out a black bar from the middle of the tower.

"Jenga: Truth or Dare" (Jenga Truth or Dare). The set consists of the usual number of blocks, two-thirds of which are colored orange and purple (colors may vary in different editions of the game). Orange bars are desires, purple bars are questions. In this case, one third of the elements of the game remains unpainted. It is on these pristine bars that players are invited to write their own desires or questions. Then the game acquires individual characteristics and becomes one of a kind. In general, this variation is quite fun and aims to get the participants talking, and the gameplay is generously filled with fiction and eccentricity. Due to its nature, it is designed for players over 12 years old. Nevertheless, many rightly point out that this variety of "Jengi" 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 need to sing a song or characterize one of the participants and the game (why not?). There are also more amusing statements, such as "sensual dance with a mop" and other similar inventions. Questions - from the category of tricky 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 colored pink and raspberry and filled with questions just like in the previous version. This could once be seen in children's questionnaires, which were then filled in by friends and classmates. Here you will find the traditional questions: “What is your most cherished desire?” or the more modern "Name your favorite website."

"Jenga: Extreme" (Jenga Extreme). The elements of the game 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 completely bizarre shapes.

"Jenga: Las Vegas Casino" (Las Vegas Casino Jenga)- a completely unexpected combination of two completely different fun: "Jengi" and roulette! During the formation of the tower, players make bets. The set consists of 54 numbered red and black blocks, a betting board and 75 chips. Recommended for players aged 18 and over.

Jenga XXL- an enlarged version of the classic Jenga (although there are also much larger copies of the game). The size of each bar is about 45x22.5x7.5 cm. The kit comes with 50 elements (48 directly for the game and 2 "in reserve"). All blocks are made not of polished wood, but of painted plywood, so that during the fall the structure will not knock the players to death. The original tower has a height of 120 cm and can theoretically grow up to three and a half meters during the game! This variant of Jenga is especially good for outdoor play, and it goes great as a fun accompaniment to barbecues.

We briefly talked about only some varieties of this simple board game. There are also special editions. Deserves special attention "Jenga: The Nightmare Before Christmas" (Jenga Nigthmare before Christmas)- a game designed in the spirit of a popular cartoon that appeared on the screens more than twenty years ago. The blocks are colored black, purple and orange. Each of them has images of ghosts, funny, sad, cunning Jack Skelington mines and, of course, the name of the cartoon with its signature "Halloween" font.

In addition, there are many board games created based on Jenga. In some, the rules of the original game are preserved, 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 a favorite game, but also an original interior decoration, which will also serve as a wonderful gift for lovers of various outlandish things. There are also similar sets on 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 for our long-loved board game, among which you are sure to find the best "Tower" for yourself.

The rules of the game "Jenga" are so simple that they can be explained to any person in a minute. As part of the set - wooden bars with a rectangular cross section, each of which slightly differs from the other in size. All of them are made from natural hypoallergenic materials, therefore they are safe for children and people prone to allergic reactions. Before starting the game, you need to assemble a tower from these parts, laying them out perpendicular to each other in three pieces. The task of the players is to take one block at a time from any floor of the tower and move it up.

Features of the game and the reason for its popularity

The rules of the game "Jenga" seem very simple, but this process of rearranging the details is very exciting. Due to the rough surface, each wooden part fits snugly enough to its neighbors, so it can be difficult to remove it. But due to the difference in size, some bars are taken out easier than their neighbors. You can only find out if the selected bar is mobile enough by trying to push it out. The most important thing is to prevent the building from collapsing during the player's action.

Jenga is one of many balance games. But it is one of the most popular due to the simplest rules and versatility. You can safely take it with you to nature or to gatherings with friends, without worrying that the parts will break or be lost. There are many competitions in the game "Jenga". Players practice a lot to reach heights in pulling bars from the lower floors. Some people use special clicks for this, knocking out the bottom bars so quickly that the tower remains practically motionless.

Additional rules of the board game "Jenga"

There is an additional rule in the game: after selecting a part and touching it, the player has no right to change his mind. It doesn’t matter if the piece of wood “sits” tightly, it needs to be removed. But if the tower collapses during this time, the player will be declared defeated. The rules of the Jenga board game are sometimes changed by the players themselves. For example, the bars can be numbered, painted in different colors and come up with some kind of prize for the fact that the player draws a bar of a certain color.

Varieties of board games for balance

On sale you can find similar balance games: "Leaning Tower", Tower and "Bullshie" are almost identical in appearance to "Jenga". "Villa Paletti", "Bausak", "Pack donkey", "Crash" are created on the same principle, but differ in the shape and number of bars. The parts that make up the tower can be with a square section, which facilitates the drawing process. But due to the appearance, the number of bars in each version is very different. Within the Jenga line of games itself, there are many varieties. One of the most popular is Jenga Boom. The composition is all the same wooden blocks, but additionally the set has a special stand with a timer, which greatly speeds up the process and makes the players nervous, distracting them with loud ticking. The rules of Jenga Boom aren't much more complicated: if the player doesn't make their move before the "bomb" goes off, the base vibrates and destroys the tower. The one on whose turn this happened is considered the loser.

There is a version of the game "Jenga" with plastic parts in the form of "Tetris" figures. Playing such a “tower” is much more difficult, since the configuration of parts is not visible inside it, and by pulling the stick, you can draw out, for example, a zigzag figure and bring down the building. The rules of the game "Jenga" with numbers and dice are a little more complicated than in the standard version: players need to roll four dice and get a part from the tower with a number that is the sum of all the dots that fell on their faces. In this version, all faces will be numbered.

What is useful game for adults and children

The rules of the game "Jenga" with dice can be changed at your discretion. Although the process of building a tower and destroying it seems simple, it is very exciting for players of all ages, allowing adults and children to compete on equal terms. In addition, the process of extracting parts from the structure develops fine motor skills, attentiveness and accuracy, and the Jenga Boom version will become an excellent stress resistance simulator and teach quick reactions in a critical situation when “time is running out”. Perhaps, it will become even more interesting for young players to play with wooden blocks if you combine the rules of the game "Jenga" with numbers and dice and the presence of a timer. Or apply different colors to the parts by taking an additional die with multi-colored faces, which will further complicate the game.

If you want to find out how dexterous and have a sense of balance you are, then the Jenga Tower game is exactly what you need. If you are smart, you have well-developed manual dexterity, masterfully own a sense of balance, then it is for you. This game will captivate not only children, but also adults, be careful and attentive, and then you can build a tower twice as high as the original one.

Assemble the wooden block tower by removing the blocks from the lower "floors" and building the tower from above. The number of players is not limited, as well as their age.

Jenga tower rules

1. Gather the players and select a "master" builder. He must build a tower of 18 floors. Lay out all the bars in front of you and start assembling the tower. The first floor consists of three blocks lying closely parallel to each other. Subsequent floors consist of three bars lying perpendicular to the existing ones. And so all the bars are laid out on top of each other.
2. Level the tower so that Jenga's walls are level and the tower stands on its own.
3. The one who built the tower goes first. He takes one block from any floor and puts it on the top row. The player following him takes out another block and puts it next to the block of the previous player. Attention: you can get the bars with only one hand. The bars can be touched to find one that moves freely and is easy to remove.
4. Bars from the top row cannot be taken. A row is considered complete when there are three bars.
5. The game continues until the tower collapses. The tower is considered to have fallen if any block has fallen, except for the one that the player is holding in his hand. The player who laid down his block last won, and the structure stood. If desired, the game can be continued if only a few blocks have fallen.

So, the basic rules are clear. But what if you have mastered this game and it doesn't seem so interesting anymore?

Then you can turn the Jenga tower. Write a task on each bar on the side and each player who gets it will have to complete it. Or you can number the bars according to the numbers on the dice and remove from the tower only the bar whose number fell on the die.

And these are just the simplest options. The rules of the game are only limited by your imagination. Get together with family or friends and play Jenga Falling Tower.

As a child, my sister and I got a couple of boxes with a parquet board. That was happiness!

We forgot about playing horses and jumping from the closet, because we were incredibly absorbed in building. W A mki, roads, garages, houses - we could lay out everything from these planks. It was a special thrill to build a tall tower out of them and then watch how it falls.

It is a pity that we did not think of pulling out the planks from the tower and putting them on top, otherwise we would have come up with the game “Jenga”.

Rules of the game "Jenga"

The essence of the game is to build a tower of 54 wooden blocks according to certain rules. And then pull out one block from the bottom rows and build a tower on top.

The only restriction: you can not pull out the bars from the top three rows.

Whoever the tower fell, he lost.

You can rebuild. In my opinion, the game reconciles two completely opposite human aspirations: to build and destroy 🙂

At first glance, the game is very simple. It would seem that you sit for yourself, shift the blocks and the only difficulty is to put them back into the tube later. But in fact, you need to think, figure out which block is better to pull out and where exactly to put it.

A great lesson for future architects, isn't it?

Text: Tanya Belkina

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In the board game "Tower" (also known as "Leaning Tower", "Town", "Jenga"), a tower is built from even wooden blocks (each new "floor" is made with alternating laying direction), and then the players begin to carefully pull out one at a time. bar and put it on top of the tower. The winner is the one who is the last to get the bar and not bring down the tower.

How to win at the Tower

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Alexandra

" Thanks for playing!! A great idea to spend time with a child!!! »