DIY Gigantic Jenga

We have people over all the time in the summer. We BBQ and hang out outside until way after the sun goes does. When we started this summer routine, we thought it would be great to have a bunch of lawn games for everyone to play. That way, if our friends brought their kids (or heck, if our friends got bored of idle chit chat), they could play games. The first game we made was DIY Gigantic Jenga.

We’ve had it stored away for a while, so I kind of forgot about it until I was in the mall the other day and stumbled over a gigantic Jenga game.

The photos in this post are from that game because, surprisingly, I don’t have any photos of our game. The process, though, is how we made ours.

DIY Gigantic Jenga

What You’ll Need:

• 2×4’s
• Table saw
• Pencil
• Measuring tape
• Mineral spirits
• Spar Urethane

What You’ll Do:

Okay, before we actually start, we need to have a little lesson. A 2×4 actually isn’t 2-inches by 4-inches when you buy it at the hardware store. That’s a misnomer. Sort of. A 2×4 is 2-inches by 4-inches originally. When it’s cut, a half inch is removed from each side. So when you purchase it, it’s actually a 1.5×3.5.

So, when you are doing projects like this at home, you need to keep that in mind.

The wood will be 3.5 inches across. You need three of them for Jenga. So those will end up being 10.5 inches across. So you need to cut the wood at 10.5-inches long.

Mark 10.5 inches with a pencil, then cut it with a table saw.

Three pieces equal one Jenga row.

For a full set of gigantic Jenga, you want it to be 3-feet tall. That’s 24 rows. Since each row has three pieces, you need to cut 72 pieces total.

If you really want to, you can sand the edges but after a bit of playing, they’ll basically sand themselves.

Rub them down with mineral spirits to remove any sawdust from cutting them. Then, spray them with spur urethane.

You’ll want to spray three layers of the spar urethane to seal it completely if you are using it outdoors like us. If you are keeping it indoors, you can spray it with a layer of polyurethane instead. Just keep in mind that poly is good for the indoors only.

You can also paint them if you want, like the ones that are in these photos. I would really only suggest that if you’re using them indoors though. If they’re left outdoors, the paint will really wear.

Want more DIY Outdoor Games?

DIY Lawn Dice

Giant DIY Beer Pong