Title: Nuts about Mutts
Published By: Grandpa Beck's Games
Released: 2015
Player Count: 3-8
Time to Play: 15-30 Minutes
Ages: 7+
You've finished walking all of your pups for the day and it is time to get all the doggo's back so you can go home and relax for the rest of the evening. However, the loveable neighborhood mutt is at it again. He has gotten loose and just wants to play! Find a way to distract him or else you might just wind up chasing your dogs all around the neighborhood instead. In Nuts About Mutts, players will race against their fellow dog walkers to be the first player to drop off all of their dogs and get home before the others!
In Nuts About Mutts, you will return dogs to their owners by matching their color, number, or breed to the previous dog played. Be the first player to get rid of all of your cards and you win! Special action cards will allow you to slow down your competition and help you on your path to victory!
Gamer's familiar with Uno will pick up on Nuts About Mutts quickly as the mechanics are similar, making it super simple to start playing. To get started, shuffle the deck of cards together and deal cards to each player (10 cards for 2-5 players or 8 cards for 6-8 players). Place the deck within easy reach of all players and flip one card over to make the dogpile (aka the discard pile). If the card that was flipped is an action card (a blue card), continue flipping cards until a dog card is on top.
The grab one dog bone from the box for each player minus one and place them award side down on the table. The person to the left of the dealer goes first and either plays a card that matches the dog breed, card color, or number that is showing in the dog pile. If a player cannot (or chooses not to) play a dog card, they can play an action card instead. Action cards allow players to do the following special actions:
Dog House - the player with the least amount of cards must draw 2 cards
Fire Hydrant - swap hands with an opponent of the player's choice
Fleas - the players to the right and left of the person playing the fleas card must pick a card unless they can play a fleas card. If another fleas card is played then the original player must pick instead.
Mutt - as soon as the mutt card is played, all players must try to cover up one of the dog bones on the table. The person who does not cover a bone draws one card.
Pedigree - pick a dog breed of your choice and every player starting with the player to your left plays all of the cards of that breed from their hand.
If a player is unable to play a matching card or an action card, they must draw a card instead. If they are able to play the card they just picked, they may do so, otherwise, the card is added to their hand and their turn ends.
Unlike Uno, Nut about Mutts has some dog-lightful extra actions that can take place regardless of whether or not it is a player's turn. There are two actions that can take place regardless of who's turn it is: matches and runs.
A "match" is an identical card (same breed, color, and number) to the card on the top of the dogpile. If you have a match, shout "Match!" and add your card to the dogpile. Play then continues on that player's left.
Note: If you play a matching card on your own turn, you may play one additional card following the matching card.
A "run" is a dog card of the same color as the dog on the dogpile that is exactly one number higher or lower than the top card. When playing a run, you may play as many cards in a row as you would like but each card must be played one at a time in order to allow other players a chance to put their own applicable cards down if possible. Just like with matches, play continues to the left of the person completing the run.
A round continues until one person runs out of cards. At this point, everyone else scores their hands receiving 1 point for each dog card remaining and 2 points for each action card. Nutts about Mutts is played over 3 rounds and the person who has the lowest score at the end of the 3rd round is the Most Paw-some Dog Walker! (In the event of a tie, the first player to bark after the scores are announced is the winner!)
Nut about Mutts was super easy to learn and is a fun twist on a classic family game. There is lots to love about the a-dog-able little game. To start, we want to mention that we enjoy the wide-player counts of Grandpa Beck's Games. It is always nice to find a game you can play with the whole family and with a player count of up to 8, Nut about Mutts definitely fits most families!
As with other Grandpa Beck's Games that we have enjoyed, there are many hidden gems throughout the game. From cute awards written on the bones, to a delightfully decorated inside of the box, to a recipe to make for while you play, to a rule book that will actually make you smile while reading it. The rulebook is filled with fun little extras, such as the suggestion to use real dog bones, instead of the Beck's Bones, for added authenticity. There is also a lot of funny flavor text in the rulebook. Even if you think you understand how to play to game, we recommend reading the whole rulebook closely for some good laughs.
The rule book even includes facts about all the different dog breeds in the game, as well as information about some real-life doggos that inspired their card counterparts. We love the variety of dogs included in the game and the artwork is adorable.
We also thoroughly enjoyed the different action cards. They offer a light-hearted way to mess with opponents. Our two favorites were the fleas (it's always fun to take a little gamble with that one) and the Mutt cards! The Mutt cards help keep players engaged even when it is not their turn since you never know when you might need to go for the bone. We also liked the inclusion of runs and matches for the same reason. Any time a game can keep players engaged in between their turns, we consider it a big win!
We had a wonderful time playing Nuts About Mutt and think it would make for a wonderful game for your next family game night as it can easily be enjoyed by both kids and adults. Nuts About Mutts is simple to learn, easy to teach, and fun to play. And if your family is anything like mine, it is sure to make your family smile!
Pudgy Cat Games makes no profit off reviews. Should you wish to purchase Nuts About Mutts, you can help support us by purchasing the game through our Amazon Affiliate Link below. It will cost you nothing extra, but will help support our site! For our Pudgy Cat Family, we actually have a coupon code for you that is good for a limited time! Purchase Nutts About Mutts and Gnoming A Round (review coming shortly!) together and enter "NEWGAMES50 " at checkout to receive 50% Nutts about Mutts!
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