Leslie Scott on Jenga

When I created Jenga in 1982, one of the very first things I did was to contact the V&A Museum of Childhood to ask if they would like to add my new game to their collection.

I was born and raised in Africa and for much of my childhood England was that wonderfully exotic country we travelled to by ship (the SS Uganda, via the Suez Canal) to visit my ‘Granny Scott’, who lived in London. Nothing I have done since can compare with the excitement of those holidays we spent there, which would always include a ride on a red double decker bus; a visit to Hamleys toy store; a day at the Battersea Park Fun Fair, and – best of all – a trip to the Bethnal Green Museum, to marvel at its astonishing collection of toys and games.

It thrilled me that in 1982 the museum kindly accepted and exhibited my game, which was totally unknown at that time. And today, even though it is well known and played around the world, the fact that the V&A Museum of Childhood includes Jenga amongst its collection of classic games remains, for me, a considerable source of pride.

Though I have always loved and valued museums, I have never been very good at recording and archiving my own work or possessions. A failing I came to regret when I realised that I no longer possess one of the original sets of Jenga that were manufactured by the Camphill Community in Yorkshire, and which I first put on the market in 1983. Luckily for me, the V&A Museum of Childhood has one of these few hundred sets, made in England before Irwin Toy of Canada, after which the Hasbro Corporation acquired the rights and started having Jenga made elsewhere.

Leslie Scott, December 2009