"Want To Play Extric Jenga ?"

It's time to play inside, at least in my neck of the woods in Northern Ohio. The cold/snowy weather is upon us and unless you want to sit in the fire house all day it can be a challenge to keep your members fresh and well prepared. So why not a "game night or day".

The following game described below I call "extric-jenga" a play on the real game Jenga, its simple and challenging at the same time plus it gets the competitive juices of the players going. All you need is a large piece of plywood; my department uses thick fin form wood used in trench collapse shoring, a large glass of water and cribbing.

Objective:

Place the large glass of water on the plywood, filled to nearly the top, have two members work as a team to lift board without spilling the water. I usually have the members lift the board evenly to the height of a 4x4 piece of cribbing standing on end, you can have them lift it to as high as you want the higher you go obviously the more of a challenge, if you spill the water its game over! In my game, I only allow members to utilize cribbing, hand tools and air bags; again it’s all up to you.

I found out about this game after reading about a great FDNY Officer Captain Terry Hatton who was lost on 9/11 his Rescue Company would have his company play this game to prepare for difficult lifts and extrications. It is a great game that I am sure your members will enjoy and get some great training out of.... Give it a try on your "game night