Jenga

Wooden-block tower — remove a block, place it on top, don't let the tower fall.

🌤indoor

What is Jenga?

Jenga is a physical skill game designed in the early 1980s by Leslie Scott, based on a stacking game she played as a child in Ghana. Fifty-four hardwood blocks are stacked into a tower of 18 storeys, three blocks per storey at right angles to the ones below. Players take turns removing a block from any storey below the topmost and re-stacking it on top. Whoever knocks the tower over loses.

Quick facts

Category

Party Games

Type

Individual

Players

2–8

Where played

indoor

Country of origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Estimated origin

1980s, Leslie Scott (UK/Ghana roots) — commercialised 1983

Olympic

No

Popularity

global

Sources & provenance

Last verified 2026-08-24.verified