Looking for some fun games to play on family night? Tired of the same old games week after week? Teach your family these fun animal themed games and you'll all be laughing and smiling in no time!

GAME: PIG

A very hilarious game for children and adults. Anybody can learn the game in two or three minutes. Studying one extra minute makes you an expert!

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
3 to 13 people can play. 5 or 6 make the best game.

CARDS
Four of a kind for each player in the game. For example, 5 players would use 20 cards: 4 Aces, 4 Kings, 4 Queens, 4 Jacks, and 4 10's. For 6 players you would add the four 9's.

THE DEAL
Any player shuffles and deals 4 cards to each player.

OBJECT
To get 4 of a kind in your own hand, or to be quick to notice it when somebody else gets 4 of a kind.

HOW TO PLAY
Each player looks at his hand to see if he was dealt 4 of a kind. If nobody has 4 of a kind, each player puts some unwanted card face down on the table and passes it to the player at his left, receiving a card at the same time from the player at his right.

Each player looks at his hand as it appears with the newly-received card. If, still, nobody has 4 of a kind, each player once again passes a card to the left and gets a new card from the right. The play is continued in this way until some player has 4 of a kind in his hand. That player stops passing or receiving cards since he is satisfied with his hand as it is. Instead of playing on, he puts his finger to his nose.

The other players must be quick to notice this, and each of them must stop passing in order to put a finger to his nose. The last player to put a finger to his nose is the Pig.

SKILLFUL PLAY
In trying to put together 4 of a kind, you must usually start with a pair. For example, suppose you are dealt 2 Kings, 1 Queen, and 1 Ace. Keep the two Kings, and pass either the Queen or the Ace. As soon as you get another King, save all 3 of them, and pass your fourth card. Sooner or later your fourth King will come in.

Don't get so interested in looking for your own 4 of a kind that you are blind to what the other players are doing. Keep one eye on everybody else, particularly on those who look very eagerly at the cards they are receiving. The eager player probably has 3 of a kind and is just waiting for the fourth.

The best Pig player I know is a little girl who doesn't try very hard to make 4 of a kind. She always tries to look excited, and talks and squeals as she gets each card, just as though she had 3 of a kind. While doing all of this, she watches the other players to see which of them are interested in her and which are interested in their own hands.

She knows that the players who are interested in her have bad hands, but that those who are thinking about the game have good hands. Since she knows which players to watch, she is never caught!

GAME: ANIMALS

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
3 or more. The best game is for 5 or 6 players.

THE DEAL
1 card at a time until the entire deck has been dealt out. It makes no difference if the cards don't come out even.

OBJECT
To win all of the cards.

HOW TO PLAY
Each player takes the name of an animal, such as pig, kangaroo, rhinoceros or hippopotamus.

When everybody fully understands which player represents which animal, the play begins. The player at the dealer's left turns up a card and then each player in turn turns up a card. As in Snap, the action takes place when a card that has just been turned up matches some other card that is face up on somebody's pile.

The players who own the two matching cards must each call out the animal that the other represents. The one who says the other's animal name 3 times first, wins both piles.

For example, suppose 3 boys have adopted the names, Goat, Pig, and Elephant. The 1st turns up a Queen, the next turns up a 10, and the 3rd turns up a Queen. The 1st and the 3rd go into action, but the 2nd must keep silent. The 1st boy shouts, "Elephant, Elephant, Elephant!" and the 3rd boy shouts "Goat, Goat, Goat!" Both piles are won by the boy who finishes first.

Play continues in this way, until one player has all of the cards.

SKILLFUL PLAY
When some other player is about to turn up a card, make sure that you have firmly fixed in your mind the card that is at the top of your turned-up pile. Then you will be ready to call out the other person's animal if he matches your card.

When it is your own turn to turn up a card, make sure that you have looked at each of the other turned-up cards so that you can instantly spot it if you match one of them. Nine-tenths of the skill in this game consists in being alert.

As you may have noticed, it takes longer to say "Elephant, Elephant, Elephant," than it does to say "Goat, Goat, Goat." For this reason, it always pays to give yourself a long animal name rather than a short animal name. The longer it takes an opponent to say your animal name three times, the better for you.

Good names to use in this game are: hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, mountain lion, boa constrictor, and so forth. One boy, after reading about some of the ancient skeletons that had been dug up, tried to call himself Pithecanthropus erectus, but we didn't let him get away with it.

GAME: BARNYARD

HOW TO PLAY
This is the same game as Animals, except that the players take barnyard animals and go by the noises made by these animals instead of by the names of the animals themselves. For example, if the first player takes Cow, he is called "Moo-Moo-Moo" rather than "Cow, Cow, Cow." Similarly, a player who took the name of Duck would be called "Quack-Quack-Quack," and a player who took Cat would be called "Meow-Meow-Meow," and so on.

What's Related
Boredom Busters
Family Fun Night
Card Games: How to Play "I Doubt It!"
Card Games: How to Play "Snap!"

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About the Author
Karen Butterworth is a successful freelance author that writes regularly for www.kids-games-n-crafts.com, a site that focuses primarily on helping you choose the fun and interactive games to help your children grow. Her articles have also been featured on related family sites such as http://www.baby-shower-ideas-n-games.com and http://www.wedding-reception-ideas-n-invitations.com

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