Madison Hurst
Was it fun?- In the beginning, the game was super fun, but quickly became boring. I think there was not as much action or tension per se as the game continued. The act 2 structure was very static, and a few issues arose.
What were the player interactions?- The player interactions were competitive because we were all trying to make the fuzzy Jenga harder in order not to be the person who makes it fall apart. For instance, one interaction that happened was when it was my turn, I pulled a green fuzzy ball from the bottom, which then made the tower extremely unstable. This challenged the steadiness of my opponent’s hand and made the game harder and more intense.
How long did it take to learn? Learning was immediate since the game mirrored Jenga but used fuzzy pieces. Everyone grasped the rules instantly, while the action cards introduced a challenge.
What was the most frustrating moment or aspect? The most frustrating aspect was repeatedly drawing the same action, like getting “cover one of your eyes” while pulling a green fuzzy ball. This repetition bored players and lost their attention.
What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?- My favorite moment of the game was making it challenging for others. I would pull a fuzzy ball that would lead to the opponents messing up or making their turn difficult.
Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?- I wanted to add more variety in the action cards to make the game more challenging/interesting.
If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything
From the experience, what would it be?- I would change the use of the tweezers. All players, when it was their turn, were able to use the tweezers, but I think that made the game easier since you didn’t need to grip them as much. But, I would change the tweezers into an action card (as a benefit) and make the other actions cards harder.
Is this a game you would play again? No, because it was pretty boring. I lost focus pretty fast because there was barely any tension between the players, and the action cards didn’t challenge us. I would prefer to play regular Jenga since it’s wooden blocks, and you have to be more careful with your technique. In the Fuzzies game, the fuzzy balls tend to stick to each other, which makes it a little bit easier.
Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. – The first act was understanding the game and making sense of the action cards since normal Jenga doesn’t have them. At this point in time, the players are figuring out how easy it is to grasp a ball and understand the rhythm of the game. The second act is when players start to become more analytical with their turns and pull a fuzzy ball that could potentially put another player in a tough position. This is the act where I felt the game slowed down and was lacking fun. The third act is the ending of the game. The Fuzzies’ ending was becoming more obvious, and it was a matter of time before someone’s hand was going to be shaky and mess up. Most of the fuzzy balls were on top of the tower. At this point, everyone was fairly checked out, and we went through all of the action cards.
What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? – This game is competitive in a sense because you were challenging yourself to pull a piece/ball out of a tricky area in the tower in order to make it shaky for your opponent. The competitiveness came out when a player would make a mistake or was really close to losing.
What is the game’s metaphor, and which of the game’s mechanics stand out? – The game’s metaphor or theme is ensuring your stability and creating a risk for others. The game’s mechanics precision, tensions increase with each turn, and obvious risk. Fuzzies require precision to make a big time game move and put yourself in a good position for that round. When picking a fuzzy piece, you take the risk of collapsing the whole tower. Lastly, there is tension with each turn, as the player must avoid messing up when the tower is shaking.