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Our family was first introduced to Pickles to Penguins at our local library. We knew right away that this was a game for our family. However, it’s not a game to play in a library. We played once more, just to confirm, and it landed on top of our wish list.
After all, some of our favorite games are words games — Codenames, Like Minds, Scattergories.

Luckily, not long after, we came across it in our local thrift store and we didn’t have to wait until Christmas to play again.

Object of Pickles to Penguins

The Object is to be the first to get rid of your stack of cards.

Setup

To start, each player is dealt a stack of 25 cards. The cards have images on both sides. On each side there is a picture with a description under it.

Next, each player takes five cards off of their stack and places them in front of themselves, this becomes the player’s play deck. The cards can be flipped over at anytime to see the image on the other side. This is handy if you get stuck.

When all players are ready, two cards are taken off the deal deck and placed in the middle.

Playing Pickles to Penguins

Now the fun begins. To get rid of a card, you must make a connection from one of your cards to one in the middle. When you have a connection, you place your card on top of the card you are connecting with and at the same time, you must use both words in a full sentence that explains the connection.

For example, if the doll and hospital cards are used, the player would say “a child in a hospital bed could cuddle a doll,” as she places the one card on top of the other card.

When a card is played from your deck, you replace it with the top card on your players stack (the original 25 cards).

A connection cannot be used twice in a row. For example, if your connection “toys can be packed a in a suitcase’ is used, the next player cannot say, “a hairdryer can be packed in a suitcase.”

Wild cards.

There are a number of wild cards. You can play a wild card at any time, on any card and without a sentence. This can be a great advantage; however, we find that it is not necessary to have them.

To make the game fair, you can dispute a player’s connection. All play stops while everyone settles the dispute. If the connection is allowed, play continues. On the other hand, if it is not allowed, the player then gets a penalty of five cards being added to their stack and play continues.

Winning Pickles to Penguins

The first player to get rid of all of their cards is the winner.

Pickles to Penguins Variations

If 1056 images wasn’t enough to keep the game fresh, Pickles to Penguins also comes with 5 alternative games.

Shout

Shout is the version where only two cards are flipped and the first person to a shout out a connection wins the trick.

Missing Link

In Missing Link, players have to make a connection to BOTH cards in the middle.

Fast Five

For speedy games, Fast Five gives players only five cards to make connections with however, they can not flip over the cards they have.

Minute Time Trial

The minute time trial version gives players only one minute and the whole deck to see how many connections they can make.

Chain Link

And my favorite variation is chain reaction. In this game, players have five cards and they have to be the first to link all five cards together.

Traveling

For travel, Pickles to Penguins is great. You don’t need to take the whole game, only a stack (or two depending on how many people will be playing). Julia took a stack to a friend’s for the weekend and four kids played all weekend and had a great time.

Is Pickles to Penguins Worth Adding to your Family Game Shelf?

This family game is simple but it excises the brain–challenging it, making it work. The game comes with 528 double sided cards. That’s 10556 images to connect. With that many options no two games are the same. One game you may win by a landslide, the next you may struggle to get five cards off your stack–it happens. (I think that’s part of the reason my family like this game; it’s anybody’s game.)

Overall, Pickles to Penguins is a great family game. It’s easy to understand and quick to play. Between the number of cards and variations, there is hours of playability. The creative thinking this game promotes is great.

It is not, however, a quiet game. It’s loud and everyone talks at the same time. Great family fun, but not for everyone.

The one criticism is the game box. It comes in a standard sized box (great for stacking) but when we opened it, it was easy to see that there is a lot of wasted space. It could be a much smaller box.

Our finial word is that Pickles to Penguins defiantly belongs on our Family Game Shelf.

To get your copy of Pickles to Penguins shop here. Canadians can shop here.

And if you love word games like us then be sure to check out the games Last Word, Taboo, Outburst, Codenames and Like Minds. You’ll also find lots of word games in our Family Game Shelf Shop too– Scattergories Categories, Codename seasonal cards, 5 Second games and so many more. Check them out!

Rating:

Pros: easy to understand, quick, hours of playability, quality, great graphics,
Cons: box size, can be noisy
Mom: speed, creative thinking, use of full sentences

Ages: 8+
Players: 2+
Time: 10-15

To read more family favorite game reviews, click here.