How to play it

As introduced in the section "Risky Tower?", this game wants the players to engage in a discussion, rather than just try to not make the tower tumble over.

Number of players: minimum 2 and as many as can fit around the tower
Age group: from 5 to 99, depending which situations are included. Reading skills are not crucial as the word can be read to them; the understanding of situations is the key.

On every wooden block, there should be a simple and short key situation - risk or opportunity. Write them down with black paint or a permanent marker and once all blocks are finished, you can start playing with your friends or family. See below for examples.

Education, work & personal development

Job hunting

Work accident insurance

Evening classes

University stipend

Free online courses

Couchsurfing

Labor association

& more

Family & social

Large family celebration

Birth of a child

City festival

Drug addiction

Alcoholism

New job for a parent

Job loss

Long term unemployment

& more

Health

Stray dogs & cats

Open water sewage

Elderly homes

Low-cost neighborhood clinic

Work accident insurance

Hazardous job

& more

Weather

Light rain

Flood

heavy rainfall

tropical storm

drought

humidity

& more

Urban & state

Traffic

Public construction works

High bank interest rates

High taxes

Low taxes

Extending public transport network

Unemployment

Large military

Social housing programs

Elections

& more

The general rules of Jenga or Tumbling Tower are as follows:

With all 48 (or more) wooden blocks, a tower needs to be erected following a structure of 3 blocks in a row, each level being perpendicular to the level below. See picture on the left.

Players take turns removing one block at a time from the tower. Only one hand can be used to remove the block, the other hand is not allowed to touch the tower.

Each block is then placed on the top of the tower, creating a progressively taller but less stable structure as the game goes on. The game ends when the tower tumbles over or even if any wooden blocks falls out. The winner is the last person successfully removing and placing a block.

(Ref: Wikipedia: "Jenga")

So what is different with Risky Tower?

Risky Tower follows the pattern of removing and placing a block and whoever makes the tower tumble is obviously on the losing end as well!

However, as the players extract one block after the other, they are facing new challenges, based on the key situation written on their block.

Each situation offers an opportunity or a risk the players have to identify and discuss, before placing the block on the top, following these questions:

For a risky block:

Which risks am I facing? How can I reduce the risk and/or make something positive out of it?

For an opportunity block:

What opportunity(ies) can I get? Which challenges or risks could I face by taking this opportunity?

As the game progresses, the players will increase their ability in seeing these situations in multiple dimensions, as their risks and opportunities may go beyond their individual context

Opportunities may contain a lot of risks or depend on other conditions and on the other side, risks can be mitigated and put into positive perspectives - sometimes even offer opportunities.

Opportunities, risks - what kind of situation can you include?

You might want to think about situations relevant to your geographical, cultural and social context. Be sure to also involve some situations less familiar in your country or context - the idea is to broaden the horizon of the players. You might want to make your game for an adult audience, though a it is recommended that the situation included are self-explanatory enough so that all age groups can participate.

Here below are some examples I used in my model game, grouped by category (though many are overlapping issues):