Jungle Speed
2-8
7+
15
Jungle Speed is the lightning-fast game of quick thinking and quicker reflexes.Your keen eye and swift hand will win the day, if you can stop laughing long enough to catch your breath.
Jungle Speed seems simple enough, and everyone can be playing minutes after you deal out the cards. But once you start playing, the chaotic action will take all your concentration. Fifteen minutes later, the game will be over and you can all pause for air – but that just leaves you time to play again!
Whether you find yourself surrounded by adult friends or trying to entertain a roomful of youngsters, Jungle Speed has enough thrills and hijinks to keep everyone laughing and having a blast, game after game.
images © Asmodee
User Reviews (6)
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Gameplay Summary
Jungle Speed features a deck of around 80 cards. Each card has a shape on it, filled with either red, green, yellow, or blue. The deck is divided among each player, and players sit with their mini-decks face down in front of them. Proceeding in a circle, players flip one card from their deck face up in front of them.
Whenever your shape matches someone else’s shape, you try to grab the totem, a wooden (or plastic in the new versions) cylinder sitting in the center of the table. If you grab it before the person who matches you grabs it, you give that person all the cards you have flipped face up from your deck. First person to completely run out of cards in his or her deck wins.
In addition, there are three special types of cards: All Grab in which everyone grabs for the totem, All Flip in which everyone flips a card and craziness ensues, and Colors in which matches in color count and matches in shape DO NOT.
Thoughts
Although not unusual among dexterity games, this game is a rarity among most games in that gamers who play Twilight Imperium everyday can play with people who only play Apples to Apples. The only prerequisite is that you have to be super competitive.
I live in a house of 20 gamers, with a board game collection of over 50 serious games, and Jungle Speed is still a favorite. At events with many people, somebody always brings out Jungle Speed and furniture is moved to clear a play area. We have even considered emblazoning a circle with a dot in the center on our carpet to ensure players are always evenly spaced from the totem.
The game’s name is evocative of some sort of heavy drug, and it’s appropriate because the game has that effect on its players.
Summary
This is one of those games (along with Pit and buffalo) that you should always have nearby in case you suddenly need to entertain 4-12 people for an indefinite amount of time! It’s easy to learn, a low minimum time commitment, and almost universally appealing.
I give it a 9/10 simply because the new version has a plastic totem instead of a beautiful wooden one. I know from experience that the plastic one results in fewer bruised knuckles, but I still prefer the wood.
Also: never play with anyone with long nails. My friends boast Jungle Speed scars from when this happens.
First impression:
I walked into a Toys R Us, saw this puppy and said “Wow, this is only 10 dollars? Don’t mind if I do!” Just from reading the cover it sounded like the Slap Jack game my friends and I used to play with playing cards. Where when the same shape or number gets flipped over we all slam our hands in the middle of the table and whoever is last or on top gets the pile of cards.
Game summary:
Everyone has a pile of cards as the flip over one by one. The cards vary in shapes and colors. If a matching shape appears, the two with the matching shapes attempts to grabs the totem. The winner gives their cards away to the loser. The first one with no more cards is the winner.
My Experience:
Roughly have about 25+ plays under my belt. I have played with large groups of 8 to small groups of 4. The players ranged from kids young of age to adults who are non-gamers and gamers alike. Everyone I introduced this game to loved it. It is especially great with highly competitive people. In the beginning, everyone will be relaxing in their chair. At the end of the night, everyone will be making their cards hard to see while hovering over the totem with intense concentration filled with perspiration.
My Likes:
It’s quick, fun and intense. This game is easy to teach, easy to set up, and easy to play. I love the reaction of the first mistake made in the game, where the player looks in awe trying to figure out if it really wasn’t a match. The look is priceless.
My Dislikes:
This game can get brutal, especially if you are playing with people who have long nails. A friend of mine had to sit out because his hand was bleeding from having a player rip the totem from his hand. Also, there are chances when cards can get lost. I think I’m down to 78 cards now and I have no clue where the other two could’ve gone.
Latest Impression:
Just as I predicted, it is just like the Slap Jack game except you are grabbing for a totem instead of slapping each other. This is a game for the competitive heart and a great game for parties. Even if you can’t get it for $10, it’s still a great buy at $20. Just be precautious; because that totem is gonna fly!
This game appeals to everyone from kids to adults. Its a great light game for parties as well as family game nights.
You deal all of the cards out, and players take turns flipping their top card over (face down in a stack in front of each player). Once a match comes up, one of the 2 players of the match must be the first to grab a totem in the middle of the table. The person missing the totem has to take all face-up cards on the table.
Some cards look very similar, causing incorrect grabs from “jumpy” players (which also nets that player the cards in play). Its got enough to its simple mechanic to keep it interesting, although I would recommend the expansion for play with more than 4 people.
One of my favourite games – I’m able to play it even if I not have enough phisical or mental power, for longer and more demanding games. But always stay the satsfaction of spent time 😉
It’s not difficult to learn. Ofc, if you have some problems with coordination, you musn’t swear to the game.
As faser is the game, as more fun it can bring ;)Sometimes, you’re not sure, that really cards are the same, but more often is more profitable to loose one duel, that gain all cards from table when you make a mistake. One thing we need to remember – there’s no the same figure in the same colour – at the beginig it’s really helpull to refreshing this rule in your mind.
Often people do not want to play we me, because of my long and hard nails 😛 They’re right. During duels I’ve lost MANY nails!
I’m not going to lie – I play Jungle Speed only at parties, especially when all the players are a bit “buzzed”. It’s perfect game for such occasions as it is simple, easy to explain, the pace if fast (so people don’t get bored) and it’s extremely funny. Game of course gets funnier with each drink as people start to confuse card symbols and are trying really hard to concentrate on cards.
But beware! People can sometimes get really excited during the game and frequent fights for wooden totem may lead to injuries;)
This game is super quick to set-up, takes only a few minutes to learn, and can be toted around with you for a quick pick-up game. The more people playing, the more fun the game becomes! I grew-up with a simple card game that I know as “Egyptian Rat Slap”, and this is the slightly more challenging version of that great down-time game.