9 Card Animal Shade-Off

Aim of the Game

To shade in the most “tangram animals” by being lucky as to what suits are called from a deck of playing cards.

Overview

Each player will have their own playing board. This board contains six “tangram animals”. These are labelled A to F. The animals are made up out of seven identical geometric shapes. Each shape contains a playing card suit.

Each player is given a pencil. They will be shading in the various shapes making up each animal.

From a pack of playing cards the party host extracts the kings, queens and jacks. Only these 12 cards are used for the game. They are given a shuffle.

The first game uses animal A. The party host deals cards one at a time from their pack of 12 calling out loud the name of the suit. If a player’s animal contains a shape bearing that suit they should shade it in. They can only shade in one shape per card. If they have no shapes bearing that suit or have already shaded in all shapes bearing that suit then they must wait for the next card.

The party host calls out nine cards in this manner. After the ninth card anyone who has shaded in their entire animal scores 1 point.

Please note that it is not a competition to see who completes their animal first. The challenge is to complete the animal within nine cards.

Depending on the number of players it may be that no one completes their animal in nine cards. When this happens the party host will announce the suit of the tenth card. Any player who completes their animal with this card scores a point.

The game is repeated for animals B, C, D & E.

Everyone has now had the chance to earn 5 points (by completing 5 animals). Identify which players have completed the most animals. There will probably be several players tying for first place.

These players move into the play off. This is done with animal F. Again the cards are shuffled and the suits called out one by one. However this time it is a race to complete animal F. The first player to shade in all parts of animal F is the winner.

Preparation you will need to do before the party

• Obtain a pack of cards and take out the kings, queens and jacks. These will be used during the game.
• Obtain a pencil for each player so they can shade in the shapes making up their animals.

Game Set Up

1. Give one playing board and a pencil to each player.
2. The Party Host should take the pack of 12 playing cards.

Playing the game

1. The party host should shuffle the cards.
2. The party host should turn nine cards face up slowly, calling out the suit of the card each time. For each card players should shade in one shape bearing the appropriate suit.
3. After nine cards see who has completed their animal.
4. If no one has completed their animal, deal out another card and ask again.
5. Repeat until you have played a game for each of the animals A to E.
6. The player who has completed most animals is the winner. If several players are tied then they should have a “Play Off” using animal F. This time it is a race to shade in the animal. The first player to complete animal F is the winner.