Jenga is a Dexterity Game consisting of 54 wooden blocks stacked in a tower with three blocks per story, alternating their orientation with each layer. Players remove a single block then stack it on top, taking turns until the tower crumbles. Created by Leslie Scott and based on a game her family invented while living in Ghana, the game's name comes from the Swahili verb for "build." Since its introduction in The '80s, Jenga has become a popular game for all ages, owing to its simple premise yet difficult execution.
The game has received several variations over the years, including Throw 'n Go Jenga (which adds blocks in various colors and a six-sided die), Jenga Truth or Dare (with three colors of blocks), Jenga Xtreme (with parallelogram-shaped blocks that can create leaning towers) and Casino Jenga: Las Vegas Edition (with roulette-style game play, featuring a felt game board, betting chips, and additional rules). The game has also inspired other releases like Uno Stacko.
Jenga provides examples of:
- Defeat Means Menial Labor: The loser is supposed to stack the tower for the next match.
- Dexterity Game: There's a tower of wooden blocks. You try to remove a block and put it on top without making the tower fall over.
- Digital Tabletop Game Adaptation: Jenga World Tour is an adaptation for the Nintendo DS and Wii that aims to simulate the game, and make it more interesting by adding gimmicks like a prehistoric Zambian jungle level where dinosaurs shake the tower as to make it fall. There was also a now delisted app version called Jenga was made by Natural Motion Games which added a arcade mode with a timer and color matching elements
- Foreign Language Title: The name comes from the Swahili verb for "build."
- Obvious Rule Patch: A player must take a block from within the tower. Simply lifting a block from the top row and setting it back down is spelled out as not allowed.
- One-Word Title: Jenga, from the Swahili verb for "build."
- Pun: An occasional tagline for the series is "How do you stack up?", as the idiom also refers to the construction of the tower.
- Solo Tabletop Game: The single-player rules consist of the same pull-and-stack until the tower falls over, just with no one winning as a result of the tumble.
- Tagline: Some versions of the box feature the line "How do you stack up?" prominently.
- Themed Stock Board Game: The game has received many licensed variations based on franchises, including Super Mario Bros., Fortnite, The Walking Dead and Harry Potter.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Jenga Xtreme, a version with parallelogram-shaped blocks, spells the title like that to convey that it's harder and more "extreme" than normal Jenga.
