Jenga is a game of physical and mental skill created by Leslie Scott, and currently marketed
by Parker Brothers, a division of Hasbro. During the game, players take turns removing
one block at a time from a tower constructed of 54 blocks. Each block removed is then balanced
on top of the tower, creating a progressively taller but less stable structure.
The name jenga is derived from a Swahili word meaning "to build."
Rules Jenga is played with 54 wooden blocks. Each
block is three times as long as its width, and one fifth as thick as its length 1.5 × 2.5
× 7.5 cm. To set up the game, the included loading tray is used to stack the initial
tower which has eighteen levels of three blocks placed adjacent to each other along their
long side and perpendicular to the previous level.
Once the tower is built, the person who built the tower gets the first move. Moving in Jenga
consists of taking one and only one block from any level of the tower, and placing it
on the topmost level to complete it. Only one hand should be used at a time when taking
blocks from the tower. Blocks may be bumped to find a loose block that will not disturb
the rest of the tower. Any block that is moved out of place must be returned to its original
location before removing another block. The turn ends when the next person to move touches
the tower or after ten seconds, whichever occurs first.
The game ends when the tower falls, or if any piece falls from the tower other than
the piece being knocked out to move to the top. The winner is the last person to successfully
remove and place a block. Origins
Jenga was created by Leslie Scott, the co-founder of Oxford Games Ltd, based on a game that
evolved within her family in the early 1970s using children's wood building blocks the
family purchased from a sawmill in Takoradi, Ghana. Though a British national, Scott was
born in East Africa, where she was raised speaking English and Swahili, before moving
to live in Ghana, West Africa. Scott launched the game she named and trademarked as 'Jenga'
at the London Toy Fair in January 1983 and sold it through her own company, Leslie Scott
Associates. The blocks of the first sets of Jenga were manufactured for Scott by the Camphill
Village Trust in Botton, Yorkshire. The V&A Museum of Childhood has exhibited one of the
original sets of Jenga since 1982. In 1984, Robert Grebler, an entrepreneur from
California who was the brother of a close friend of Scott, contacted her and expressed
interest in importing and distributing Jenga in Canada. In April 1985, Grebler acquired
from Scott the exclusive rights to Jenga for the U.S. and Canada, and then in October that
year, Scott assigned the worldwide rights in Jenga to Grebler, which he in turn assigned
to Pokonobe Associates. Convinced of Jenga's potential, Grebler had invited two cousins
to form Pokonobe Associates with him in 1985 to increase distribution of Jenga. Pokonobe
then licensed Irwin Toy to sell Jenga in Canada and to be master licensees worldwide. Irwin
Toy licensed Jenga to Schaper in the U.S. and when that company was bought by Hasbro,
Jenga was launched under the Milton Bradley banner. Eventually, Hasbro became licensee
in most countries around the world. Today, according to Leslie Scott, over 50
million Jenga games, equivalent to more than 2.7 billion Jenga blocks, have been sold worldwide.
Tallest tower
Packaging copy of one edition of the Jenga game claims that Robert Grebler may have built
the tallest Jenga tower ever at 402⁄3 levels. Grebler built the tower in 1985 while playing
with an original Jenga set produced by Leslie Scott in the early 1980s.
Official variants Throw 'n Go Jenga is a variant marketed by
Hasbro. It consists of blocks that are colored red, blue, or yellow plus a six-sided die.
Before each move, the player throws the die, and then follows the instructions on the die:
Yellow/End: Remove any yellow block or remove any color end block.
Red/Mid: Remove any red block or remove any color middle block.
Blue/End: Remove any blue block or remove any color end block.
Any two: Remove any two blocks of any color in any position.
Wild: Remove any color block in any position Reverse: Do not remove any blocks, but pass
the die to the next player in the opposite direction.
Other than the fact that the die determines the proper move, play continues the same as
regular Jenga.
Jenga Truth or Dare is an adult variation of Jenga also marketed by Hasbro. This version
looks like regular Jenga except there are three colors of blocks, red, green and natural,
instead of just the natural color of Jenga. Play is the same, but if a player moves a
red block on that play, the player must complete the dare printed on it before stacking the
block on top. A player who moves a green block must truthfully answer the question printed
on the block before stacking it. The natural blocks have nothing printed on them and are
played as in Jenga. However, it is permissible to write a player's own truths or dares on
the natural blocks if desired. Jenga Xtreme uses parallelogram-shaped blocks
that can create some interesting leaning towers. Casino Jenga: Las Vegas Edition employs a
roulette-style game play, featuring a felt game board, betting chips, and additional
rules. In addition, there have been a number of collector
edition Jenga games, featuring the colors and logos of the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Raiders,
New York Yankees, and John Deere, among others. Hello Kitty Jenga, Transformers Jenga, Tarzan
Jenga, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Jenga, and Donkey Kong Jenga are some of the
licensed variations of Jenga. The only genuine licensed life-sized giant
Jenga games are Jenga XXL and Jenga Giant, licensed to and manufactured and distributed
by Art's Ideas at jengagiant.com. Jenga Giant, like Classic Jenga, is made from hardwood,
while most of the copies are made from pine or other softwood. Jenga Giant can reach 3
feet or higher in play. Jenga XXL starts at over 4 feet high and can reach 8 feet or higher
in play. Rules are the same as in classic Jenga, except players can use two hands to
move the eighteen-inch long blocks. YouTube: Jenga XXL
Video games Jenga World Tour for Nintendo Wii and DS was
released by Atari on December 7, 2007. A new version of the Jenga game for the Nintendo
Wii is available from Electronic Arts as part of Hasbro's Family Game Night 2 offering.
An iOS version exists, released in late 2010 by NaturalMotion Games. NaturalMotion has
also released versions for Android phones and Mac computers.
Ta-Ka-Radi A very similar game called Ta-Ka-Radi was
released in the USA by the Parsons family of Maine in 1978, five years before the commercial
release of Jenga, but it was not invented before Jenga. Leslie Scott and her family
had developed the predecessor of Jenga in 1974 when they were living in Ghana. The Parsons
family did not invent the game. It had been shown to them by a friend recently returned
from a visit to Africa. According to the Parsons, Dick Dickenson was that friend. The Dickensons
and Scotts were acquainted. In fact, Leslie Scott was friends with Dick's youngest son
Bill. According to Ta-Ka-Radi's website, this style
of stacking block tower game originated in West Africa and "Ta-Ka-Radi is the original
game as it has been played by generations of West African people," but there is no historical
evidence for this claim that it was an ancient game. Many imitators of Jenga merely repeat
the Ta-Ka-Radi website claim without any factual support.
There are two main differences between Ta-Ka-Radi and Jenga. In Ta-Ka-Radi, there are 50 tiles,
and the tiles are placed on their narrow edge with gaps in between them. Jenga is played
with 54 tiles, and the tiles are placed on their broad side without gaps between them.
Ta-Ka-Radi was sold through mail-order by L.L. Bean and Lands' End stores.
Notes
References
External links Official website
Official Facebook page Jenga World Tour at Atari
The Jenga Chair in the Brohan Museum The Jenga House
Jenga at the V&A Museum of Childhood