Awesome Jenga

MoMA aka the Museum of Modern Art takes offers their colorful take on the block-stacking game Jenga, turning it into a work of interactive art. Their version of the tumbling tower game comes with bricks inspired by the structured color-blocking style of Piet Mondrian and the Dutch De Stijl movement. Each block is made from sustainably-harvested rubberwood.

A few years ago, we saw a guy stack almost 500 Jenga blocks on top of a single vertical block. Abbetjes Meindert de Boer smashed through that and other records by balancing an insane 3,132 blocks on one upright block at the bottom. Building his 127-pound upside-down pyramid required a solid understanding of structural engineering and physics.

A fun alternative to Jenga, Round Tower Tumbling Blocks give the classic rectangle stacking game a curvy twist. The bright box contains 54 colorful wooden blocks in two different shapes (rectangular and semi-circular) that build a circular tower. Take turns removing one block at a time — by color for added difficulty — until the tower topples.

SunnyLife makes some of the coolest-looking party games we’ve ever seen. While it’s not an official Jenga game, this colorful green, orange, and clear Lucite game is played in exactly the same way as the classic wooden block-stacking game. They also make a matching chess/checkers set and Connect Four clone.

This special edition Jenga game adds to the tower-stacking fun by adding some Super Mario fun. As players stack bricks, they must also climb the tower to make their way towards the top in order to battle and defeat Bowser. Play tokens include Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad.

Created in collaboration with Bureo, this very special version of Jenga is made 100% from recycled fishing nets. The bricks feature embossed images of marine animals threatened by plastic pollution, and each set keeps 25 square feet of the stuff from going back into the ocean.

With enough skill and patience, you can build some impressive structures with Jenga blocks. But if you’re actually playing the game by the rules, you need to remove blocks as you build. You could use your finger, or you could make a wooden mini Uzi that flicks individual bricks out using a rubber band-powered firing mechanism.

Not too long ago, we saw how somebody had managed to stack 518 Jenga planks on just one at the bottom. Now, to celebrate his 1000th YouTube subscriber, MENGA managed to perform the same feat with more than 1000 blocks. As a bonus, we get the satisfaction of watching the whole thing toppled over at the end.

It’s tricky enough to stack Jenga blocks normally. But there are some folks out there who go far beyond the ordinary block stacking and use the wooden planks to create complex structures. Jenga expert stacker Captain Noodles managed to stack 518 planks, all balanced atop a single vertical plank. Time-lapse video here.

Playing a regular game of Jenga gets pretty challenging after you’ve got a few dozen bricks in your tower. Tai Star Valianti managed to build an inverted pyramid out of a whopping 485 of the wood blocks, precariously balanced onto a single vertical block, and breaking his own Guinness World Record.

We can barely get our dog to sit or lie down, but my_aussie_gal’s Australian shepherd is smart and patient enough to play Jenga. Watch in awe as her talented pup Secret manages to remove the wood blocks without toppling the tower.

It may look a little bit like a sideways stargate, but this robot is designed to carefully position itself around a Jenga stack, methodically pluck out a wooden block, and move it to the top of the stack. We’d be curious to see if it could play an entire game, but we’re guessing not.

To show off their Giant Jenga set, Vat19 lit the wooden blocks on fire, then played a game that was only possible thanks to the fire retardant goo on their hands. And here we thought playing Jenga with construction equipment was the most dangerous way to play.

YouTuber DKBobby’s sister-in-law pulled off the Jenga move to end all Jenga moves, surgically removing a single block at the very bottom of a tall tower without flinching. Bet she can’t do that with these blocks.

Unless you want to lose, you never want to try and remove a single block at the bottom of a stack of Jenga blocks. But this guy exploited the laws of physics to help him pluck out the bar without toppling the whole tower.