Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza Card Game Review

2 to 8 players ages 8 and up

When I first heard about Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, I wasn’t sure what to think. The game doesn’t even have a tag line to tell us what it might be about. But once you play it, you understand that there are no words for this fun simple game.

It is a game of speed and observation, a bit like Slapjack, Blink, Spot It and Ratuki, but it is not like anything else as you’ll see.

Setting up Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

The cards are dealt out face down evenly. (For 2 to 5 players only 12 cards are dealt to each player.) The cards are left in a pile face down in front of each player.

Object of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

The object is to be the player to get rid of all your cards first.

Playing the Game

To play, the first player takes the top card off of his stack and turns it over saying “Taco.” The next player then turns a card over and says “Cat.” The third does the same saying, “Goat.” This continues going from Taco to Pizza and then starts over with Taco. There are a few exceptions.

First, if a player’s card matches the word that they have said, then all players race to slap their hand on top of the card pile. The last player to do so has to pick up all of the cards that have been played and add them to the bottom of their card stack. Play then starts over with the player who last played a card. That player then says, “Taco.”

The pace of the game is supposed to be a steady rhythm. If you forget or break the rhythm, you are to pick up the stack and added it to yours. (This is surprising hard and we haven’t played with this rule.)

There is no peeking. If this rule is broken, the player is out of the game for that round.

To keep players from flinching—falsely reaching their hand out to slap—the rule is that if you flinch, you must pick up the cards and add them to your pile. This is also surprisingly hard to resist.

Special cards

There are a few special cards in the deck that create chaos to the already hectic game.

First, there is the gorilla card. When this card is turned over, all players must beat their chest and then slap the deck with their hands. The last player, or a player who hasn’t done the correct motion, has to pick up all the cards.

Second is the ground hog card. For this card, players must knock on the table with both hands and then slap the deck. Again, the last player has to pick up the cards.

Lastly, there is the Narwhal card. For this card, player must slap their hands over their heads like a horn before slapping the deck. And you guessed it, the last player has to pick up the cards.

Running out of Cards

When a player is out of cards the game is not over. Instead, the player continues to say the word in turn. When a match or special card is played, then the player still slaps the deck.

Winning Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

To win, a player has to have gotten rid of all their cards AND be the FIRST player to slap the deck when a match or special card is played.

What we Like

First, I have to say that the best part of this game is the quality.  The cards are made of heavier stock than most playing cards—great for the rough nature of the game, especially if you’re competitive like our family is. The box is also great as it has no wasted space but has enough room for the cards to expand a little. It also has a magnetic closure—perfect for a card game.

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is similar to the card game Spoons which is a family favorite. We like the fast pace. There is an equal playing field where the kids may have a small advantage (they are not thinking about what’s for supper or that load of laundry that needs washing…). Any one, really, can play as there is no need for reading. The extra silliness of the special cards always makes us laugh. The game is also very entraining to watch—maybe more so.

Lastly, the price is good. It won’t break the bank and the quality is really good for what you pay.

Secret Mom like: the box is simple with the words in bold print that is easy to see so you can remember what comes next in the sequence. But shh, don’t tell the kids.

What We Don’t Like

The biggest drawback for this game is the potential to get injured. Maybe it’s just our ultra-competitive family but we are all in for a game like this and have walked away with injured hands. Nails must be well groomed to play and even then, when you have so many hands moving at high speeds, colliding in one place, injuries are bound to happen. (We have also had injuries playing Spoon too.)

Next, the box says that the time play is 10 minutes. We find that this just doesn’t happen. It takes much more time than that to find a winner. Of course, it might just be us. We’ve had to quit a game when it took too long to play and super had to be made. We also played a fast test game to show a family member where we didn’t have nearly the amount of cards we were supposed to play and it was still over the 10 minutes.

Is Taco Goat Cheese Pizza Worth Adding to your Family Game Shelf?

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is a fast, silly that is similar to the card game Spoons and Christmas Shenanigans. It is great fun for all ages but it is not for the faint of heart. I would recommend this card game, especially if you have grade school kids as they will enjoy the silliness the most. Make room for Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza on your Family Game Shelf. Look for holiday themed Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza too like Halloween and Christmas for even more fun.

To get your copy of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza here. Canadians can shop here for their copy.

To find more great card games, see our card game section here.
For dice games, see our dice game section here.
If your looking for a new game to add to your Family Game Shelf read our game reviews here.

Rating

Pros: quality, easy, silly,
Cons: takes longer to play than recommend, the potential to have score hands
Mom: reaction time, observation