Q&A for How to Play Jenga

With more than 2 players, the "winner" is the last person to successfully remove and stack a block without toppling the tower. In other words, the person immediately before whoever made the tower fall.

That'd make for quite the tricky game of Jenga! For a typical game, lay them flat, but go ahead and stand them up as an experiment!

The player who caused the tower to fall loses the game. Players shouldn't be removing blocks on other players' turns.

You only remove a single block from the tower, then carefully place it on the top layer.

Yes, you must complete a row of 3 before you place blocks on a new row. That said, you can place blocks anywhere in that row that you wish.

You can manipulate the position of the blocks, yes, but if you're testing a block with your finger you must attempt to place it back in its starting position if you end up not taking it.

Yes! You can sit, stand, and move around the tower however you wish, so long as you don't touch it with 2 hands.

Try taking particularly tricky blocks to set the tower off-balance, so that when your opponent makes a move they're more likely to topple the tower.

You can use one hand, and one hand only, to manipulate the tower. In the spirit of the game, though, it's best to let the tower lean as it may.

You can take any block from beneath the last completed row. You can't take blocks from the top 2 rows.

You can, but don't do it in a way that there are gaps or the blocks are all aligned in the same way as this makes it more likely to fall down. It's recommended that you do it the normal way as in continuing the way it was stacked to start.

No, the layers you create on top of the Jenga tower do not have to contain three pieces, but layers with fewer than three pieces will not create a sturdy foundation for subsequent layers.

If the opponent has made the tower fall, you have won. Take the loosest blocks and align them properly.

Yes. The rules also require that the tower should stand for 10 seconds after your turn, or at least until the next player moves. The last person to take a block before it topples is the loser.

Yes, as long as you are only using one hand. You can take as much time as you want as well.

No, the loser is not required to rebuild the Jenga tower, but feel free to make that a rule in your game if you want to (as long as everyone agrees).

That would be a violation, as the rules imply taking one piece at a time. The consequences can be discussed among the players.

You keep going or you call it a tie.

Unfortunately you cannot, due to regulations of Jenga, otherwise everyone would start from the top and work their way down until they finish the blocks, making the game pointless.

No, you are only allowed to move the block you are trying to remove. If you start by moving one block and then decide to remove another block, the first block must be moved back into place.

Yes, you have to remove the block that you touched. However, you can poke around with your nail to see which one is loose and try to get that one.

Nope! Once the tower is misaligned, it just stays that way until it falls, making the game even harder.

If you got a number of block that is only in the middle, then leave it. Taking it would cause the tower to fall.

Stack them on the wide side. Jenga blocks are differently shaped and if they were on the narrow side then they would be hard to take out and stack in the proper manner.

Pencil should come off depending on the type of pencil and how hard it was pressed into the Jenga piece.

Yes! For example, you can have a building competition, use them as dominoes, etc. wikiHow also has a short article on turning Jenga blocks into something else that you might find useful.

No, they can't. That would be a rule violation, because the rules state that only one block may be actively used in a turn.

It depends on how you play the game. I usually like to tap at a couple of blocks before choosing the loosest to take out.

The top three layers should be off limits while playing Jenga. Not much of the tower would fall if you were to take them from the top.

It would be a violation, and usually if you get a violation you pull another block or it is 5 or 3 violations and you lose. Or you can play by rules where you just put it at the top.