Jenga Xtreme is for the group that has gotten too good at the pulling part of the game, or just is cocky and doesn't take it seriously, so it breaks the mood. And, yes, it is comparatively vicious. Though, if you're getting 28 pulls, you're doing pretty well. And keep in mind that 28 pulls just fiddling with it solo on a desk probably translates to like 15-20 in a Dread context.
Also, a word of warning: don't buy the "Vintage Edition" Jenga for your Dread game. It has numerous flaws that make it a lousy Jenga, and extra-lousy for Dread. It is painted and due to either poor manufacturing tolerances, or the inherent nature of painting (which is why i stained a set, rather than painting it, to get it darker), the blocks vary significantly in thickness (the variance could easily hit half a millimeter which, in this context, is huge) and appear not to always have flat, parallel sides. Simply stacking up the blocks led to a tower with a noticable kink of a couple degrees part way up the tower in 2 out of 3 tries. The alignment tool is, of necessity, folded in falh in the box, meaning you'll have to assemble it eac time you play, likely significatnly decreasing its lifespan. The tower can't be stored assembled (this is also true of the latest cylindrical packaging of regular Jenga). And, while i'm bitching, the insert for keeping the blocks in place is cheap flimsy plastic which (1) won't last and (2) looks completely out of place with the nice wooden bookshelf case. It really should've been dense cardboard, like the stuff they make egg cartons out of. Finally, the paint makes the blocks super-slippery which, combined with their unevenness, makes the tower very unstable. At one point, just playing with the Jenga, with no Dread characters on the line, i successfully pulled a block, the tower was not visibly moving at all, and then it just spontaneously collapsed before i could put the block on top. Oh, except for in high-humidity situations, where they get super-sticky. All around, i can't recommend the Vintage Edition Jenga for anything, but especially not for Dread.