How to Play Spank the Pig!
Spank the Pig! is a fast-paced card game for 2–7 players, ages 6 and up, that takes about 5 minutes to play and tests your quick thinking (and spanking) skills. Everyone flips a card at the same time, then races to Spank the Pigs and Declare the Doubles. Collect the fewest Whammies to become the Pig Spanking Champion!
What's in the Box
- 72 cards: 12 Pig cards plus 60 non-pig cards (10 each of Pugs, Walruses, Cows, Zebracorns, Hippos and Beans)
- Instructions sheet
Setup
Shuffle the deck and deal an equal number of cards face-down to each player.
Tip: Save time by handing out stacks that look roughly equal. If a player runs out near the end, redistribute the remaining cards equally.
New players? Before your first game, play a few practice rounds so everyone understands the rules. This is especially helpful with younger players.
Flipping Over Cards
The game is played in rounds. When everyone is ready, all players flip over one card each at the same time and place it face-up in front of them. There should now be as many face-up cards on the table as there are players.
-
Flip together: Everyone says "SPANK – THE – PIG!" out loud and flips on the word "PIG!"
-
No peeking: Hold the card by the top and flip it facing outward, away from you, so you can't see it before anyone else does.
As soon as the cards are flipped, everyone rushes to do these two things as quickly as possible:
1. Spank the Pigs
Slap your hand on top of any Pig card in the play area. Don't remove your hand! Leave it there so you can see who was first and who was last to spank the Pig.
2. Declare the Doubles
Also watch for 2 or more non-pig cards with the same character. When you see one, shout the character's name as fast as you can. For example, shout "Bean!" if two or more Bean cards were just flipped.
-
Watch out for the look-alikes: The card's background color doesn't matter. Matches are made only by the character on the card.
- Every player must shout the name, even if they're later than everyone else.
- Shout it only once. This makes it easier to tell who was last.
Whammies (Scoring)
Whammies are like negative points, so you want to avoid them. You get a Whammy for:
-
Being LAST to do something right: the last player to spank a Pig card, or the last player to declare a Double.
-
Being FIRST to do something wrong: the first player to spank a non-pig card by mistake, or the first player to declare a non-double by mistake.
Only the first player to make a mistake gets the Whammy. Anyone who makes the same mistake afterward doesn't. A player can get more than one Whammy in a single round.
At the end of each round, take 1 face-up card from the play area for every Whammy you received. Keep them in your own Whammy Pile, out of the way of the cards in play. Each card in your Whammy Pile counts as 1 Whammy.
Not sure who deserves the Whammy? A Whammy is only given when it's clear who was last to do something right or first to do something wrong. If it's unclear, no one gets one.
After a round is scored, leave the other cards where they are. Next round's cards go on top, so a face-up stack builds in front of each player. If old cards get confusing, you can discard the played cards at the end of each round into a pile off to the side.
Example Round
In a 4-player game, the cards flipped are a Zebracorn, a Hippo, a Pig and another Zebracorn. Blue accidentally spanks the Hippo and is the last to spank the Pig, so Blue takes 2 Whammies. Red is the last to shout "Zebracorn!", so Red takes 1. No one else made a mistake, so no one else gets a Whammy that round.
Multiple Pigs and Doubles
- If there are 2 Pigs, spank both. If there are 2 different Doubles, declare each one.
- If more than 2 Pigs show up in one round (you only have two hands!), don't give Whammies to the last player to spank each Pig. Instead, the first player to spank each Pig gets to get rid of 1 Whammy from their Whammy Pile. If they don't have any Whammies yet, nothing happens.
5–7 Player Games
With 5 or more players, we recommend only Spanking the Pigs and skipping Declaring the Doubles. There's plenty of mayhem just spanking the Pigs, and it avoids confusion over who was last to declare a Double.
Ending the Game
Keep playing rounds until there aren't enough face-down cards left for every player to flip one. Then everyone counts the cards in their Whammy Pile. The player with the fewest Whammies is the Pig Spanking Champion!
Breaking a Tie
Tied players go head-to-head in a sudden-death face-off. Shuffle the cards, hand a small stack to each tied player and play. As soon as a tied player gets a Whammy, they're eliminated. The last player remaining is the Pig Spanking Champion! If the tied players all get the same number of Whammies at the same time, keep going until there's a clear winner.
Printable Rules and FAQs
Want the original instruction sheet? Download the full printable Spank the Pig! rules (PDF). Still have questions? Visit the Spank the Pig! FAQs.
