(In Pig, the last person to touch their nose loses.)
Card Game Rules
Pig, Donkey, or Spoons is a classic card game for four or more people and is played with a standard 52 playing card deck. In larger groups, however, two decks may be used. The objective of Pig is to be the first player to get a four of a kind or not to be the last player to see that someone else has received a four of a kind.
For more classic card games, check out our guides for Spit and Snap.
If you are looking for cards to play Pig with, check out a standard deck here or check out one of our newest arrivals here.
Set Up
Before gameplay can begin, a dealer must be selected. To do so, players must choose a random card from a shuffled deck. The player with the lowest card becomes the dealer. Ties are broken with repeated drawings. The dealer shuffles the deck and then passes out seven cards, faced down, to each player. The remaining deck is then placed to the right of the dealer.
How to Play
The dealer begins the game by drawing a card from the deck. The dealer then discards a card and passes it clockwise. This pattern continues: once a player receives a card, they then must discard a card clockwise. Players can only have seven cards in their hand at a time. The goal is to form a four of a kind.
Once a player has gotten a four of a kind, they must place a finger on their nose. The other players must follow the action after they notice it. The last player to put a finger on their nose loses the round.
In Spoons, instead of placing a finger on their nose, players grab a spoon from the center of the group. There is always one less spoon than the number of players so, the person who does not get a spoon after a player gets a four of a kind loses that round.
For more information on Pig and its rules, check out Wikipedia’s article here and Pagat’s article here.
Variations
My Ship Sails
My Ship Sails is a children's version of Spoons. The set up is the same but instead of four cards, players get seven and instead of looking for four of a kind, players try and get seven cards in the same suit. The player who achieves that shouts "My Ship Sails" to win the game.
For more information on My Ship Sails, check out this article here.
Looking for more card games to play? Check out this article:
40+ Great Card Games For All Occasions
About the author: John Taylor is a content writer and freelancer through the company Upwork.com. You may view his freelancing profile here. He has a B. A. in English, with a specialty in technical writing, from Texas A&M University and a M. A. in English from the University of Glasgow. You may view his previous articles about card games here and his LinkedIn profile here.
