Anyone who knows anything about me will know I love my animals.
I have a particular love of pigs of all shapes and sizes (although mine are kunekunes)
One of my all time favourite games is Pass the Pigs, a great game for sneaking in some maths. I always have a pack in my ‘going out’ bag – you just never know when you might need it 🙂
I recently discovered another pig game this time it is Grab a Pig, you can obviously buy it from any good game shop but I thought I’d explain the rules so you could play at home with some alternative props for the pigs unless you have six plastic pigs lying around 😮
What you need
A pack of ordinary playing cards or if you have a game similar to Happy Families they would do nicely too (you basically need cards that can make up a set of 4.) So you could take 4 Kings, 4 Queens, 4 Jacks and 4 Aces for a game for four players.
A set of equal sized objects to grab – size wise I would recommend no bigger than a hen’s egg ( you always need one less than the number of people playing)
To prepare the game you need a set of four cards for each player and an object to grab for each player less one.
For example for 4 players you need 16 cards (4 of each set or pattern) and three objects, in the absence of pigs you could use dice, Sylvanian families, Lego men (whatever you have)
How to play
Write down your players names on a piece of paper and give them each 3 lives
Mrs AÂ Â Â Â Â O O O
Mrs BÂ Â Â Â Â O O O
Mrs CÂ Â Â Â Â O O O
Mrs DÂ Â Â Â Â O O O
(something like this – a circle is a life so you would cross out a circle as players lose lives)
Place your four pigs (or alternatives) in the centre of the table where everyone can reach.
Shuffle the cards and deal four to each player, the dealer is in charge. Each player picks up their cards and sorts them for sets. The dealer calls ‘Oink’ and each player passes a card to the player on their left. The player picks up the card and checks to see if it helps them collect a set. Play continues exactly like this with the dealer ‘Oinking’ (at a speed of their choice) and with the cards being passed left. As soon as a player makes a set they grab for a pig, once one player grabs a pig and declares they have a set the other players must try and grab one too, so you need to stay alert. Remember there is one less pig than players so it is like Musical Chairs, one player will be left empty handed and it is this player that loses a life.
Once the pigs have been grabbed (after a set has been collected) the cards are reshuffled and dealt again by a new dealer. Once a player loses all their lives you need to remove a set of cards and one pig. (remember until you are down to only two players you should always have a set of cards per player and a pig per player less one)
The game continues like this until only two players are left. At this point you keep three sets of cards and deal six cards per player but there should only be one pig to grab. The last player standing is the winner.
There is an added twist to this game you can bluff and go to grab a pig, inciting your fellow players to grab too, if they grab a pig and no one has made a set the grabbers lose a life. I think its best to get used to playing a couple of rounds before introducing this tactic. Although it is fun!
Do let me know how you get on or if you have any questions. drop me an email
Most of all have fun and don’t fall out!