Jenga: Electronic Handheld Game
Manufacturer: Zizzle
Ages: 6 and up
Players: 1 or more

SRP: $19.99
Available: Now at Walmart and coming soon to Target
and other retailers  
Launch Date: Winter 2009

Date of Review: February 2009

What It Is

Have you always dreamed of playing Jenga on a plane, in a car or while riding a roller coaster? Well your dreams have been answered because now you can play Jenga in all these places. Except for the roller coaster, which while technically you can, it’s probably best that you don’t.

Zizzle’s Jenga is an electronic, handheld version of the popular wood blocks stacking game. The object here is to push or pull blocks that are stacked in rows of three, 20 rows high. Each time you remove a block, you place it on the top of the tower to create a new level. The challenge is to do all this without knocking the whole thing down. Zizzle’s electronic Jenga achieves this with a digital screen to show the tower of blocks and two, moveable plastic blocks in the unit’s base.

Why It’s Fun

If you have ever played the traditional wood version of Jenga you know why this game is fun. It’s an exciting game where players work together while competing in an exercise that is edge-of-your-seat suspense followed immediately by jubilant reward or crashing failure.

Typically, electronic versions of popular games fail to recreate the tactile experience of the game. Electronic Jenga, on the other hand, captures all of that fun and excitement by including the blocks that you have to tug and pull in order to dislodge and build the tower.

Who’s Going To Love It

The game includes a multi-player mode in which two to four people can play, however, it is the two single player modes that will really appeal to Jenga fans of all ages. Playing the traditional wood Jenga on your own isn’t a lot of fun but with the electronic version’s single player modes you can play against a computer or just challenge yourself to see how high you can build the tower.

What To Be Aware Of

During game play, keep an eye on the balance and tension meter when removing Jenga blocks; it’s a handy gage of how much force you are exerting on the blocks. Too much force and you will cause the tower to topple.

The display screen is split into two views allowing you to see the tower as well as a close up of the section you are removing the blocks from.

Jenga comes with batteries installed so it is ready to play as soon as you remove it from the package.

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