500 Games - 1 Year - Game #15 - Dirty Pig

 

‘Dirty Pig’ is one of the games in the very exciting ‘Open and Play’ series from Kosmos that I got to the table last night as part of my ‘500 Games in 1 Year’ series.  The game was released originally way back in 2012 and the current base edition of the game also includes the ‘Piggin Amazin’ expansion which I haven’t yet tried, so this review just covers the core game.

 

‘Dirty Pig’ is a card based game in which your objective is to take your assigned number of ‘Clean’ Pigs and cover them in mud. But parent’s don’t worry…..no mud is actually involved, you are simply flipping over cards. The premise of the game is therefore very simple, but the power cards you draw on your turn and hold in your hand are where the games becomes a little more complex and strategic and where the ‘luck’ element disappears. That is why the game is probably best for ages 6 plus as some thought is needing and random playing of cards is always going to result in defeat.

 

The power cards do a variety of things, ranging from washing your opponents dirty pigs clean, burning down their barns or making constructions to protect your own pigs from being washed and your own barns from being destroyed etc. You can happily play the game by just drawing mud cards and getting your pigs dirty, but the player who makes best use of these power cards will always win.

 

I played this with an advanced four year old initially, who can play a wide range of games, and it took a lot of learning for her and still a lot of the time she was needed reminding of rules and having to show me her hand to help her. We both enjoyed it though and when the game switched to adults, we had really good fun with this!

 

The ‘Open and Play’ series is something I am exploring a lot at the moment and ‘Dirty Pigs’ is certainly a good addition to any collection and if anything else, works well as a good introduction to card games for youngsters.