Five games to topple Jenga
It's not all about the destructive act. These five games are great Jenga substitutes.
When you think about replacing Jenga on your shelf, there are plenty of recommendations online, all pointing at dexterity games. And that’s the right thing, of course, because that’s exactly what Jenga is: a game where the fun comes from the potential that the game collapses. It balances risk with action, but there are inherent limitations to how ability impacts play, and that’s why we’re looking at some other games today.
Most of these are focused on building things up rather than the Jenga-style act of removal-then-replacement (but not all — just wait until you get to The Fuzzies!), but the most important feature — risk — remain central to each. The interesting thing about Jenga, really, is that you can’t just outright replace it. It’s a game with a unique physical approach — that’s the whole of the game. But I do think you can find games that scratch the Jenga itch, and I think they’re better games — more engaging, more thought-provoking, or simply more fun.
With that in mind: Here are five games to consider if you’re looking to shift remove Jenga from consideration, block by block.
Viking See-Saw
One of favorite games of 2023, Viking See-Saw is a game about balancing treasure aboard a Viking ship. On your turn, you’ll add one piece of cargo from your personal supply to the ship, which tips from end to end. If the ship ever tips to the other side, you have to take a treasure chest from the middle of the ship, which you’ll later have to add. If anything falls off during your placement, that, too, becomes part of our cargo. It’s a game that encourages laughter amid its fine movements, because frankly, it’s fun to be bad at this game. (My wife’s uncle, however, has won several times while holding my son. I don’t know. Maybe it’s me.) Designed by Reiner Knizia, published by Itten.
How Viking See-Saw replaces Jenga: It’s a laugh-a-minute, it supports more players, and it involves a bit more physical strategy.
The Fuzzies
Easily the most Jenga-like game on this list, The Fuzzies is a game about removing little fuzzy balls from a tower packed with them, then placing them higher on the tower. If any of them fall, you’ll have to draw cards that restrict how you’ll be able to grab them on a future turn — like covering an eye, using two fingers, things like that. The game ends when somebody knocks the tower over. Everyone else wins. Fuzzy Jenga, right? The inspiration is exceedingly clear, but the feel of the game is simultaneously more clever and more simple. Designed by Alex Hague, Justin Vickers and Wolfgang Warsch, published by CMYK.
How The Fuzzies replaces Jenga: The basic gameplay loop of Jenga is here, but it’s softer, cuter, and it doesn’t lose any of the fun in establishing itself. This game feels like it oughtn’t work, but it does. So well.
Tokyo Highway
I’ve never been to Tokyo, but if this game is anything to go by, if I ever make it there, I’ll not be doing any driving. This is a game about building interleaved highways made of sticks stacked on discs. You earn points if your highway crosses over or under somebody else’s highway, so long as it hasn’t already been crossed over or under, respectively. It’s a simple premise, but it requires a good bit of spatial planning and a whole lot of careful movements. I am truly bad at this game, and I love that. Designed by Naotaka Shimamoto and Yoshiaki Tomioka, published by Itten.
How Tokyo Highway replaces Jenga: The fun of everything toppling over combined with the fun of building a dense network? It’s perfect.
For Science!
The only cooperative game on this list, For Science! is a take on dexterity that feels about as far from Jenga as you can get while still being basically about stacking wooden blocks. In this one, you’re racing to complete research and cure disease — and you do that by stacking building blocks in specified patterns and designs.
This one was unavailable in retail for some time, so I’m really pleased to say that for once after talking about this game, you can check it out for yourself: For Science! Retail Edition. Designed by R. Eric Reuss, published by Grey Fox Games.
How For Science! replaces Jenga: Building blocks in a frenetic, fast-paced setting — that’s Jenga in a nutshell. Except there’s quite a bit more to this, and you start from nothign.
KLASK
If you’re a Jenga fan for the raw fun it can provide and not for the building, check out KLASK. It’s a two-player game that takes the classic game of Pong and turns it into a fast-paced dexterity game. (It’s roughly two-dimensional and not three-dimensional, which is why I didn’t compare this to ping pong.)
Both players control a magnetic ‘striker’ from under the board, hitting a disc (the ‘biscuit’) back and forth attempting to land the biscuit in a hole on the opponent’s side of the board. It’s chaotic, but it’s also a fantastic time — need proof? Watch some videos of top-level players on YouTube. Designed by Mikkel Bertelsen, published by Klask.
How KLASK replaces Jenga: Jenga is the ultimate bar game — it’s fun, you can play when it’s loud, and it gets people having a bit of fun. KLASK takes that idea and shifts it into a particularly exciting experience.
Some other options
Junk Art is a piece-stacking game with a ton of different modes of play.
Crokinole is the canonical disc-flicking game. And I still haven’t played it. Hmm.
Crash Octopus sees players flicking cargo at their ship, then dropping a die on the head of a pink wooden octopus.
Animal Upon Animal is a children’s stacking game that’s remarkably good fun for all ages.
Tac Tac Jack is a game with a plastic axe you use to knock bark off a tree while trying to avoid knocking off parts of the trunk.
TEAM3 is a three-player cooperative building game in which one player can’t see, another can’t speak, and another has to relay information from one to the other.
For those in the U.S., I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. To those not, I hope you have a fantastic day all the same. I’ll see you next week — can you believe it’s almost December already? I’m working hard (in my head, at least) figuring out what’ll make my end-of-year list. We’ll chat soon!
