If you want to win in a game of Jenga, the first thing you need to make sure is that you don’t play against obsessive compulsive friends. This happened to me--and being so NOT obsessive compulsive myself, I often ended up screaming my lungs out when I see the tower leaning unstoppably towards a topple on my watch. Funny how much a game tells you about yourself—and your friends! My three friends’ obsessive compulsive tendencies became obvious as they slowly circle around the Jenga tower, angle their heads left to right, up and down--to analyze which piece to move, then touch and poke gently to make sure they choose the right piece, and patiently tap on the piece they finally decide to move until it falls off.
I, on the other hand, touch and poke from where I’m sitting. I don’t get up and go to the other side of the tower—it never occurred to me that there could be other possibilities that might make themselves obvious from another angle—then I pry as patiently as I can manage (a feat!), whichever piece of wood that’s relatively loose. Of course, my patience snaps and I give the piece a not so gentle tug and voila! the earth’s gravity wins.
Patience, gentleness and attention to detail is the key to winning--and making sure to play the game on a solid table standing on solid cement floor.
But hey, it has to topple over some time, right? So why not do the honors and ease the tension that has built up. Allow your friends the luxury of a good long scream as they witness the tower topple in slow motion. Added bonus would be helping them remember their need for oxygen.
After all, winning isn’t everything, right? What counts is being kind and considerate (ahem).
7 comments:
Looks like a fun game. I think my kids have a mini version of jenga. But I agree that you learn a lot about a person by playing a game. Oh, I always watch out when I'm playing with my middle son. He always wants to win and he gets pikon. But that's slowly changing now. And just the other day, I heard him telling his younger brother, "It's not about winning, it's about having fun." Boy is he growing up. :)
i love that game!!! :)
but it's basically because (as you mentioned) it gives me the excuse to scream and release tension. teehee.
It's been years since I last played this game. Hala, more than 10 years na yata. lol
Doesn't it have a harder version? The colored ones and where you have a dice? Throw the dice and you move based on the color that shows up in the die?
Niceheart, very true..its about the fun and not the winning..though this is very dependent on personalities talaga. :)
Mayari, yes, the whole point is the screaming...the neighbors werent very appreciative coz we played it late at night..will try to be considerate next time. Hehehe.
Prab, the Jenga we used was a china made cheap version. We couldn't figure out what to do with the dice and the numbers on the wooden pieces so we invented rules as we went along (there was no instructions enclosed) but hey, it made the game more fun! :)
Patience, gentleness and attention to detail are needed to win this game? I think I'd suck at Jenga. :)
hi gypsy, just read your blog after a long long while. played Jenga once, with friends, years ago. the suspense was there, some excited moises but sadly no top-of-your-lung screaming. yeah, there were tense moments and some backseat drivers around but I guess we didn't want to upset neighbors. is this similar to uno stacko? miss ka na namin dito sa commonwealth.
This is a real fun game ! Played it years ago with my workmates & cousins. Nakaka-tense talaga when you see the blocks starting to wobble. It's doubly fun when you play it at medyo tipsy ka pa (hehehe)..
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