How to Play There’s a Moose in the House

There’s a Moose in the House is a card game for two to five players aimed at ages eight and up.

If you’re looking for a a card game that will get you laughing, then There’s a Moose in The House is the game for you. We’ll share with you how to play, what we thought of it and if we think you should add it to your Family Game Shelf.

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Setting up There’s a Moose in the House

The first time you play, you should look through the deck first to get familiar with the cards—this makes playing so much easier. Here are what the cards are:

The Rooms

Next are the room cards. On your turn, you can place a room in someone’s house. If there’s a Moose card does not need to be present to have a room. However, a player’s house can only have three empty rooms at a time. Once a room is either full or has a closed door in a three-room house, the card is set aside. Now another room card can be added to that player’s house. A player’s house can have more than one of a kind of room, for example, you can have two kitchens or three living rooms.

Moose cards

Now you are ready for the moose cards. These go in someone’s empty room on your turn. The player must have the right room to go with the right moose. For example, the moose in the bathtub must go in the bathroom. Luckily, these connections are easy to spot by the colour-coded boarder. When playing a moose card, you announce that “There’s a Moose in your kitchen” or the corresponding room.

Now that you know the cards, you are ready to start playing.

After getting familiar with the cards, deal each player four cards. The area in front of you on the table is your house—the place where moose can collect.

Playing There’s A Moose in The House

Once the cards have been dealt, the first player draws a card from the draw pile. As the player, you now have options: you can place a There’s a Moose in the House card in someone’s house, you can place an empty room in someone’s house or you can discard. Once you have made your move, play goes to the next player. Once a player has a Moose card, you have the option to place rooms and corresponding moose in that player’s house. If you have an empty room in your house, you can put down a door card.

If you have played a moose trap card, you will be short a card. On your turn, draw two cards to bring your hand back up to five and continue playing.

If you draw a There’s a Moose in the House card and all players have one of these cards in their houses, simply discard the card and draw again. As there are several There’s a Moose in the House cards, this happens often.

To keep your house tidy, I recommend stacking your rooms that have been invaded by moose.

Play continues until the last card from the draw pile is taken. Then players continue to take turns playing from their hands until no player is able to play.

Winning There’s A Moose in the House

First, each moose in your house your house and the ones left in your hand counts as one point. The player with the smallest amount of moose is the winner!

What We Liked

First, we like the easy idea of the game. The colour coded cards makes it easy to follow and it’s an easy to learn game. Second, the quality of the game and the box are great. Next, the idea of there being a moose in your bathtub makes us laugh. We enjoyed coming up with ways of announcing that there was a moose invasion–“Rub a dub dub there’s a moose in your tub.” Last, the moose facts that come with the game are quite fun to read.

What We Didn’t Like

The game claims to be “a very silly card game,” so I was thinking we would be full of giggles and craziness. Although we did enjoy announcing that there’s a Moose in the House, the game didn’t make us laugh out loud. I do think that this game would be better played with younger kids.

Is There’s a Moose in the House Worth Adding to your Family Game Shelf?

Overall, There’s a Moose in the House is a good game. It is easy to play. The quality is good. To play, you will need about 15 minutes and some table space and you can make it as silly as you would like. If you have younger kids, then we recommend making room on your Family Game Shelf for There’s a Moose in the House.

To get your copy of There’s A Moose in the House, shop here. Canadians can shop here. And if this game sounds good check out these other games: Kerfuffle, Lost Puppies and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza as well as our other card games. Be sure to check out our Family Game Shelf Shop for more fun ideas too.

Rating:

Pros: easy, quick, good quality
Cons: not as silly as we had hoped, can get repetitive
Mom: creative thinking

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