Toc Toc Woodman: One knock from Cheer or Disaster

(Sourced from Board Game Point of View) 

There are few games that define a genre and the king of dexterity boardgames is definitely Jenga. It's simple rules, short play time and tension when playing are what people have come to expect in games that require a certain physical element. Thus it is these factors that Toc Toc Woodman have advanced on to make it unique yet feel so familiar. 

The first thing that Toc Toc Woodman does to break the mould is that the pieces you stack on each other are not full solid pieces but made of several easy to put together parts. The center core holding the bark on the outside and when put together does indeed look like a tree.

During gameplay, you get to knock the tree with your axe twice but the trick is you only want the bark of the tree, which are worth positive points to fall and not the core, for every core you have is negative 5 points. This continues till all the bark are gone from the tree and the player with the most points wins the game. 


Toc Toc Woodman does not look to reinvent the wheel but chooses to make it better. It has all the pros of Jenga yet the feeling of something falling and getting points is all so satisfying and to do so without a core piece falling truly tests the skill factor better than Jenga. Another fun part of the game is the natural progression of physics on the tree, which sometime results in formations that boggles the mind. 

The downside to the game is this is probably not a game that will fill your whole gaming night and is probably more of a filler in between games and such. 

Overall, a quick, fun game, which is easier to setup and keep than Jenga and replaces it on almost all levels. 

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Zhou Huibin is a smith of words who majored in Philosophy & History from the University of Western Australia and whose life has followed the flow of his hobbies. He seeks continual contentment in his ponders, reading, writing, painting and board games which fills almost all of his time.