This is a review for people who aren't intense about gaming and play casually. This is written by a gaming layman, for gaming laymen. For those wondering, in my mind, Gaming layman = casual gamer who doesn't know or care what terms like "game weight and game components" mean.

Game Bits
The bits to this game are very simple (as is the game). Basically you have a wooden totem and cards. The totem is plain and wooden with "Jungle Speed" written on the top side. It's nice wood though. No worries about splinters when you grab for it.

The cards are simply ok. They are square and have a strange plastic coating on them that makes them kinda stick to each other a bit. It makes it really difficult to shuffle the cards. My hands are far too small to shuffle the cards and this results in much good natured mocking tossed my way. The backs of the cards aren't very interesting in and of themselves (though my husband claims it makes his eyes cross when he shuffles because of the spiral pattern). The "faces" of the cards are nice though. They have nicely vivid colors and the patterns are easy enough to tell at a glance.

The only other bit to Jungle Speed is a little pouch that you can carry things around in. This definitely makes up for the hard to shuffle cards. You can keep everything in one handy spot and it doesn't take up too much space.

Rules Complexity
The rules are not complex at all! This is a huge bonus for me. It's not that I don't personally like hard games or games with lots of rules, but if a game is too complex and fiddly, it is less interesting for me.

All you have to do to play this game is use the shape recognition skills that you learned in kindergarten. Everyone gets cards dealt face down until all the cards have been dealt. Then, people take turns flipping a card over face up. If someone turns over a shape that is identical to another player's, then those two players make a mad grab for the totem. The person who gets the totem, gives their turned over card pile to the loser. First person to run out of cards wins. Simple!

There are three special cards. One with gray arrows that all point inwards which means everyone should lunge for the totem. The person who gets the totem, gets to place their turned over card pile under the totem. The next card is the gray arrows pointing out. When this card is revealed, someone counts to three and everyone flips over their cards at the same time. If there is a match, those two players go for the totem like normal. The last card is for inward pointing arrows, but they are colored. This means color match and instead of matching shapes, you match colors.

The last element to this game is the "Mistake!". This is when someone touches the totem out of turn. Basically, it's a bad touch. This carries a weighty penalty. The mistaken player has to take everyone's over turned pile AND the pile under the totem. Rough!

That's all there is too it. It's really simple once you start playing.


Play
Play is good here. It's simple and fast. People seem to stay amusedly competitive. Trash talking seems to be a must. Things can get really tense, but never in an upsetting way. More like a "oh geez, the next flip could be it!" way.

There is a chance of actually injury during play. People are grabbing fastly and fiercely for the totem. Scratches from finger nails, jamming of fingers, and flying totems can make for a lot of ouches. I have heard rumors of an actual broken finger during this game. Somehow, that just makes it even more fun.

The only problem I have seen of play, is that the person sitting next to a not-so-good-player can get skipped for many turns. It can be frustrating for them.

There are a few situations that seem to crop up that aren't covered by the rules, but usually you can come to an agreement about what should be done. For example: last night, my husband and I both grabbed the totem on a mistake. Who was to get the penalty cards? We just split them in half and let both of us take them. Those instances don't really happen all that much.

Strategy N/A
There really isn't much strategy to this game. Basically, you just have to pay attention. I guess trash talking could be a strategy or making false grabs for the totem to trick someone. But really...I don't feel it necessary to go into strategies.

Set-up and Breakdown
Remember the bag I mentioned before? To play, just take the totem from the bag and set it in the middle of the play area (probably a table or some sort). Then, deal out all the cards face down to all players. That's it!

To put everything away, just put everything into the nifty bag and voila!

Conclusion
I will own up now. I am a little biased toward this game. It is one of two games that I am awesome at (Rummikub, for some reason, being the other). This makes a little special to me.

But besides that, it's a good party game. Everyone seems to have a lot of fun when playing it. Much fun is had by all. It's definitely NOT a thinking game but a dexterity game.

There's not much to this game. It makes a good game to play when you are waiting to play another game (or 'filler' as those in the know often say). Most games take about 10 minutes (but maybe that's because I'm awesome and it makes the game shorter ) and can be played most places with a table. It's can even be played by 2 players but we have never tried that.

This game has an added bonus of being played despite a language barrier. I like to play it with my Japanese students (who are learning English). It's not a good studying game after the rules have been explained, but it's a game most people can enjoy and easily play. We have also played it with a group of people who didn't speak English very well and were nervous. It's a wonderful ice breaker! I definitely recommend it!