HOW TO PLAY PIG: THE CARD GAME FOR KIDS THAT ADULTS REFUSE TO LOSE

Some seemingly card games for kids are really card games for everyone, and Pig is the proof. It's a secret-signal game played with one deck of cards, a straight face, and absolutely no mercy. The whole thing takes about thirty seconds to learn and roughly one round to get competitive about. 

👥 3–13 PLAYERS · 🎂 5+ · 🎒 A DECK OF CARDS · ⏱️ 5-10 MINS

GREAT FOR: BIG GROUPS · MIXED AGES · QUICK TO LEARN · ZERO PREP

Fair warning: this is the game the comments section adopted. Half of you turned up with your own house rules, which tells you everything about how long Pig, Spoons and it's variations have been ruling family play.

KIT YOU'LL NEED

Some links below are affiliate links, which means we earn a small cut if you buy, at no cost to you. It keeps the free games free.

🃏 GRAB A DECK OF CARDS

• A standard deck of playing cards — SHOP QUALITY CARDS
• For the Spoons version: spoons from the drawer, one fewer than players. Do not buy spoons for this. You have spoons.

HOW TO PLAY PIG

1. Pull four cards of the same rank per player from the deck. So if there are five of you, you'll need five full ranks (kings, queens, jacks, tens and nines for example).
2. Shuffle and deal four cards to each player.
3. Everyone looks at their hand. The aim: collect four of a kind.
4. All at once, every player passes one unwanted card face-down to their left, and picks up the card arriving from their right.
5. Keep passing, all together, at speed.
6. The moment you have four of a kind, put a finger on your nose. Say nothing.
7. When anyone spots a finger on a nose, they put a finger on their own nose, whether they have four of a kind or not.
8. The last person to notice is the Pig.

HOW TO SCORE

Scoring isn't really necessary in this game, you can just play for (gasps) fun, BUT, if you want to here are some options.

• The loser of each round collects a letter: first P, then I, then G. Spell P-I-G and you're out; last player standing wins the lot.
• Want a longer game? Spell P-I-G-L-E-T instead. Same game, more lives, more time for revenge.
• Add a forfeit. Forfeits can be anything, make the person do their best pig impersonation, do a truth or dare, or if you're playing with adults only, utilise the shot glasses in the cupboard. 

SHAKE IT UP

Every game we share comes with Shake It Ups: our favourite ways to twist the rules when the original gets too easy, too samey, or too heated.

• Spoons: the famous one. Pile spoons in the middle of the table, one fewer than players. When you get four of a kind grab a spoon, then everyone lunges for the rest, and whoever's left empty-handed loses the round. This flips the whole game: Pig is stealth, Spoons is a race. Expect noise.
• Nuts & Bolts (the holiday version): no spoons in the caravan? Use pistachios, bottle caps, whatever the table offers. Same rules as Spoons, plays anywhere. Beach, campsite, pub garden.
• Tongue-Out Pig: instead of a finger on the nose, four of a kind means you stick your tongue out and keep playing, this version came from a lady in our comments section (thank you!). Last player sitting there fully focused on their cards while everyone around them has their tongue out is the Pig. Totally cute, very funny. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN OUR FAMILY PLAYS PIG

We played this constantly on holiday this year, and let me tell you, the adults enjoy it every bit as much as the kids, if not more, and it's always an adult who ends up the Pig. Always. Kids are sneaky and quick. Fair warning, move the drinks away from the middle of the table before each round. The little ones at our table turned into tiny health-and-safety officers, very cute, very sensible after a lemonade landed in a handbag. Learn from our mistakes. Trust us on this one.

FOR THE FUN RUNNERS OF THE HOUSE

If your lot are into games and chaos thank us lot have the games for you. Our Darty Party game turns any dartboard into twelve games, some with chaos energy just like this, and it comes with scoreboards so you can play without the faff. Just saying.

THE GAMES CLUB

And if you join The Games Club, you'll get games delivered to your inbox to keep you playing.