Sometimes the older games are the most fun.
One of those games is Jenga, now often seen in generic guise as the tower building game.
The game has been about since 1983, and is one that almost everyone has played at one point, or at least they are aware of the game of wooden blocks.
The game is excellent for parties, family gatherings; a night at a gaming caf茅, since it supports two-to-eight players, although is better suited to four.
Jenga is played with 54 identical wooden blocks.
Each block is three times as long as it is wide, and slightly smaller in height than in width.
The blocks are stacked in a tower formation; each story is three blocks placed adjacent to each other along their long side, and each story is placed perpendicular to the previous tier. This results is 18 stories to the Jenga tower.
Moving in Jenga consists of taking one and only one block from any story except the completed top story of the tower at the time of the turn, and placing it on the topmost story in order to complete it.
Any block that is moved out of place may be left out of place if it is determined that it will knock the tower over if it is removed.
The game ends when the tower falls in any significant way -- in other words, any piece falls from the tower, other than the piece being knocked out to move to the top. The loser is the person who made the tower fall (i.e. whose turn it was when the tower fell); the winner is the person who moved before the loser.
The game might not be one to hit the game table every game鈥檚 night, but is a winner as a social game, one that is easy to learn, simple to play, and lots of laughs involved in playing.
Jenga, or generic knock-off versions of the game, have done a nice job of updating the game with a few twists.
For example, there is Jenga Xtreme, (2003), which is sort of a bigger sibling to regular Jenga.
The new neon-green-and-purple JX has blocks with slanted sides, allowing the players to construct towers that lean precariously to one side without toppling due to the weight distribution that the new blocks allow.
The game can be played as a competitive exercise where each player tries placing his block in a position so that the next player鈥檚 block will make the tower fall over. Alternatively, it can be a cooperative exercise where the players try to make the tower go as high as possible without collapsing.
Then there is the Jenga: Donkey Kong Collector鈥檚 Edition, released in 2008.
The classic game in this case features 54 black hardwood blocks decked out with the iconic Donkey Kong girders.
Build your Donkey Kong-themed Jenga tower the traditional way or climb the girders with your Mario mover and save Pauline from Donkey.
Custom Mario, Donkey Kong and Pauline playing pieces and a Donkey Kong themed spinner are included for alternate game play. Either way you play you are guaranteed edge-of-your-seat excitement.
The new rules have you place a peg-backed Mario piece into a hole of one of the bottom Jenga pieces.
Once everyone has placed their Marios you take turns flicking the spinner. This tells you how many girders you have to slide out of the stack and place back on top. Removing and replacing the pieces is just like classic Jenga, except you have to remove and replace the Donkey Kong piece as well, making sure he and Pauline are always at the highest point of the tower.
The spinner tells you to move zero to three spaces and to remove zero to three pieces.
To win you have to either move your Mario to the top of the tower, or be the highest Mario on the tower when someone else knocks the tower down.
Similar is the 2013, Space Invaders-themed Jenga set with a new type of game play. As you remove blocks you鈥檙e also trying to move your Invader down the tower, so you can kill the puny humans.
Then there is trick or treat with Halloween Jenga, also released in 2008, using festive orange and black blocks
Of course there are custom Halloween Jenga rules and a special glow-in-the-dark die make the game even more challenging and fun! The glow in the dark adds an element to a party for the season for sure.
Roll the die and you are in for a trick, or treat.
Roll a 鈥淧umpkin鈥� and reverse the direction of play; roll a 鈥淗aunted House鈥� and remove any piece or roll a 鈥淏at鈥� and remove only an orange block.
The custom dice effect is actually so simple an element to add, but works slick.
As always, the last player to remove a block without tumbling the tower wins the game.
A Christmas version, released a year earlier (2007), has similar rules, but with seasonal dice.
And there are several more 鈥榓lternate鈥� versions, and several-themed editions; John Deere, Harley Davidson, New York Yankees, so options are varied.
Pick one, and have it around for fun social board game play.
