22 Dec 2023

Jenga Civilisation

A game for as many players as you like.

You will need:

A large table
An infinite number of Jenga blocks

Optionally, for advanced play:

A glue gun
Some hot glue
One or more soldering irons

Setup

Clear as much space as is practical in the middle of the table. This is the play-area.

Keep the Jenga blocks to hand, but not on the table. This is the new-blocks pile.

How To Play

Take it in turns to place a block anywhere on the play area.

When it is your turn, you may place either a new block from the new-blocks pile, or you may remove a block from its current position in the play-area and place it elsewhere.

If you take a block from its current position in the play-area, try not to disturb any other blocks in the play-area as you do so. If you do dislodge, disturb, or topple any other blocks; continue play as best you can.

While you may wish to place blocks in a neat or orderly fashion, you are not obliged to.

Changing the Player Lineup

At any time a new player may join the game, or an existing player may retire from it.

Goals

Side-Quests

At any time any player may embark upon a challenge or project, or assign a challenge or project to another player. No player is obliged to accept any challenge or project they have been assigned, or to recognise the validity of any challenge or project of any other player.

Examples of challenges and projects include:

Build a tower/structure of a given height/shape/etc
Build a tower/structure that consists only of blocks placed by a single player
Prevent another player from building a given tower or structure
Ensure that all blocks in the play-area are part of structures of a uniform height

Winning the Game

At any time, any player can declare the current state of the game to be the height of civilisation, and the game to be won. Or they can declare that the height of civilisation occurred at any time previously, or that it is certain to occur at some given time in the future.

No other player is obliged to believe this.

Of course a player may choose to retire from the game the moment they declare victory, but they are not obliged to.

Advanced Play: Traditions and Revolutions

If a critical mass of players agree, then one of them can use the glue gun and hot-glue to stick-together any number of pieces that are already placed in the playing area. The number of players that constitutes a "critical mass" is up to the players at the time.

Gluing together a number of pieces in this way can make a strong foundation for larger structures. Of course, this also makes it impossible to remove any of the glued blocks for re-use, and thus to change the shape of the existing structure.

If a critical mass of players agree, then one of them can use a soldering iron to un-glue any previously glued pieces. The number of players that constitutes a "critical mass" is up to the players at the time. If a soldering iron is damaged by the hot-glue, or if player fingers are burned, this is the price of revolution.