Jungle Jacks

Jungle Jacks is a game combining the concepts of Pass the Pigs and Jacks and can be played by an unlimited number of people. It includes a board, 7 animal pieces, and a rubber ball. The objective of the game is to be the first player to gain 100 points. One player keeps score.

Rules and Gameplay:

1. One player rolls the animals onto the board. The player to the left of the roller begins.

2. The player chooses an animal to pick up and proceeds to pick it up Jacks style (throwing the ball into the air, picking up the animal, and catching the ball before it bounces.) If the player is not successful, the turn is lost and the ball is passed to the next player for their attempt to pick up an animal. If the player is successful, points are gained depending on the number in the square and the position of the animal, and the turn moves to the next player.

Animal Positions and Points:
~Side - single points
~Back - double points
~Tipped onto the snout - triple points
~Standing/sitting up - 5 x points

If two animals land in the same square, both can be picked up for double points. Animal poisition point system applies to each piece. If an animal lies between two squares, the point value gained is the smaller point value subtracted from the larger point value.

The first player to accumulate 100 points wins the game.

Inspiration: My inspiration for this game came from manipulating the basic concept of Jacks. In the original rules of Jacks, the game is won by picking up as many jacks at once. What if it wasn't how many jacks could be picked up, but which one was picked up? From there I developed the idea for the board with point values. I was unsuccessful in finding a Jacks set to use and came upon the small animals. They reminded me of the pigs in Pass the Pigs and the rest of my game developed from the those rules.

Design Elements: For this game I wanted to create an interesting playing surface and immediatley thought of painting it. Acrylic paints allowed mixures of colors, textures and patterns for the board where I could include elements of a jungle, including leaves. I felt that the acrylic paper alone wasn't sturdy enough, so I cut a piece of foam board to adhere the paper to. I think of a jungle as a place of many textures, shapes and sizes, which is why I chose to paint the squares and numbers the way I did. Also, I chose to paint the lines separating the squares a little wavy to emulate vines off of which I could place the leaves.