How to play Jenga requires players to combine calculation and consistent skill.
The game brings moments of relaxation and fun, making it popular among children. Guide to the wooden stacking game includes a few basic steps, and you can master it in your first play.
What is the wooden block game?
Jenga or block pulling is an entertaining game played in many different countries. The goal of the players is to pull each block out of the tower and stack them on top without causing it to collapse. This game is known as Jenga in English, based on an ancient Swahili word meaning to build.
Currently, historians have not yet determined when wooden tower pulling first appeared. However, it gained popularity in the 1980s when it came into the hands of the board game and toy company Hasbro.
How the Jenga game works
Before learning how to play the Jenga game, you need to learn how to stack the tower from the wooden blocks. They are stacked alternately between vertical and horizontal in layers from bottom to top. Then, players will carefully pull each block out without following any order. You can pull from anywhere except the top layer of the tower. According to the rules, you need to place the blocks on the top layer to make the tower taller. The person who causes the tower to collapse during their turn must concede victory to the opponent. The aforementioned game does not have a mandatory limit on the number of participants. However, if there are too many players, they may have to wait a long time for their turn. The way to play Jenga requires skill and caution from the participants; moreover, you also need to calculate how to do it most reasonably before touching any block.
Common ways to stack Jenga
Currently, there are many different variations of this game around the world. In Vietnam, the most popular types usually consist of 48 blocks, including:
- Numbered Jenga: The blocks are numbered and follow the standard 48 block Jenga rules.
- Colored Jenga: The blocks are painted in various colors, which children particularly enjoy.
- Uno Jenga: The rules combine Jenga and the famous Uno card game.
- Love Jenga (Jenga with challenges): The blocks come with questions, and players must perform the requested task when they pull one out.
- Expanded Jenga: 54 block Jenga has more blocks than usual.
How to play numbered Jenga
The most popular and loved way to play Jenga is still the basic Jenga. In this category, it is further divided into 3 different styles of play.
1/ Even-Odd Jenga
The even-odd Jenga game is the easiest and lightest type in numbered Jenga. You must roll the dice before pulling; if you roll an even number, pull an even block, and if you roll an odd number, pull an odd block. The number of participants in this style can range from 2 to 4 people.
How to play numbered Jenga2/ Layered Jenga
The second most popular way to play Jenga is to pull by layers.“`html
For this type of play, you also need to roll the dice to determine the level to withdraw. Pulling wood by level is similar to the familiar gambling game of Sic Bo.
- If the dice result is from 1 to 3, then pull the sticks numbered from 1 to 27.
- If the dice result is from 4 to 6, then pull the sticks numbered from 28 to 54.
This category often makes it difficult for players due to the limitations when pulling the wooden blocks. Compared to method 1, pulling wood by level has a significantly smaller number of players.
3/ Pulling Jenga wood by points
The last way to play stacking wood in the Jenga group is to pull by points. This pulling style is even more complicated than pulling by level. Sometimes, just a few rounds of pulling, your tower may collapse. Specifically, you will also pull the wooden block based on the result of the dice roll:
- Dice shows 1 point: Pull the wooden block numbered from 1 to 10.
- Dice shows 2 points: Pull the wooden block numbered from 11 to 20.
- Dice shows 3 points: Pull the wooden block numbered from 21 to 30.
- Dice shows 4 points: Pull the wooden block numbered from 31 to 40.
- Player rolls 5 points: Pull the wooden block numbered from 41 to 50.
- Dice shows 6 points: Pull the wooden block numbered from 51 to 60.
How to play Uno wood pulling
Playing Uno wood pulling brings many interesting things for participants. If you are someone who understands the rules of the Uno game, this style of play will be very familiar. If you don’t know yet, don’t worry, you just need to follow the rules of the Uno cards.
Uno wood pullingThe way to stack the wood pulling game is still to take the sticks from the tower and stack them on top. However, you can only pull sticks that have the same number or color as the cards, or you will pull the wooden block based on the previous player, meaning they pull a block of a certain color/number, and you pull a block of that color/number.
Example: The previous player pulls a yellow stick with the number 6, so you must also pull a yellow stick or the number 6 on the next stick.
In particular, the way to play the 48-stick Uno wood pulling game also has a few blocks with special functions.
- Purple Wild block: The player has the right to designate the next player to pull what color.
- Draw Two block: Requires the next player to pull 2 sticks.
- Skip block: Skip one turn of pulling.
- Reserve block: Reverse the direction of play.
How to play color wood pulling
The next way to play is to pull wood by color, players will pull based on the color of the dice roll. Thus, the dice will be painted in 6 different colors instead of being numbered as above. The tower also has 6 similar colors, players pull the wooden block and stack it on top.
How to play meat pulling: Love wood pulling
Explaining this wood stacking game is a special type of play with many adult elements for couples. In this way of playing, couples also pull wooden blocks until someone causes the tower to collapse.
In addition, each block has a requirement for the person pulling to perform. The wood pulling game with questions warms up the feelings of couples in a private space. Sometimes the actions of the other person will make you feel excited and hard to control your emotions.
Tips for easy winning wood pulling
The way to play wood pulling is simple enough that even children can easily grasp. However, this game requires participants to use some special skills.
a. Push the wooden sticks
If you continuously pull the wooden sticks, you can make the tower collapse quickly. Therefore, using pushing force is a much better option.
“`When pushing, your force only goes horizontally instead of being slightly skewed as when pulling. The process of pushing the wooden block is also easier to stop and observe.
Push the wooden blocksb. Pulling blocks from the middle row
Another interesting and effective way to play wooden pulling is to pull the block from the middle. For the blocks on the sides, their task is to support the entire tower.
However, the blocks in the middle, even if lost, do not affect too much. In the case that the row still has 3 wooden blocks intact, you can pull the middle block straight without worrying at all. If that row has already had 1 of the 2 side blocks pulled, you should not continue to take the middle block.
c. Pay attention to the thickness of the wooden blocks
The wooden blocks often have a very slight difference in thickness and are not 100% uniform as you might think. Therefore, if you can choose a thinner block in the row, the player can pull it out more easily.
In addition, thinner blocks do not bear too much force, so pulling them out does not make the tower wobble too much.
d. Pull from the left, place on the right and vice versa
Your turn is counted from the moment you start pulling the wooden block until you stack it on top. Players are counted through when the turn ends and the tower has not collapsed.
Every time you pull a block from the left, the tower will tend to lean a little more to that side. To balance it out, you should place the block on the right side.
e. Pull slowly and gently
The way to play wooden pulling does not specify a specific time for a turn, so you can take as long as you want. Make good use of this advantage to think carefully, just calmly pull.
In some countries, people recognize this point and set a specific number of seconds for pulling. However, you can still make the most of that limited time.
Conclusion
The way to play wooden pulling includes many effective methods from difficult to easy. You can practice more to cultivate the necessary skills.
