How to Play Shady Pets

We love a good mystery around here – a good mystery game that is! And today we have a review of the Shady Pets game for you. If you love mystery games like we do – you know Clue (love that movie), Mystery Train, Mafia Murder and One Night Werewolf—then this post is for you.

In this post we’ll cover how to play, the rules and share if we think that you should make room for it on your family game shelf. Let’s get to it.

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Setting Up Shady Pets

First, who is this game for? The box claims it’s for 2 to 5 players ages 7 and up and you’ll need 15 to 20 minutes to play.

To set up Shady Pets, first separate all of the pet cards and put them into piles based on their type. There are dogs, cats, hamsters and reptiles. Now shuffle them well and pick one of each type to put in the mystery card holder for that type. With a card of each kind chosen, now shuffle all of the pets together. You now deal the pets out to the players depending on how many players you have.

You deal 10 pets cards for 2 players, 8 cards for 3 players, 7 cards for 4 players and 5 cards for 5 players. If there are any leftover cards, you place them face up on the table where everyone can see them.

Now players can look at their cards and mark off the ones they have on their score cards. Last, you shuffle the action cards together and deal out 5 cards to each player. You’re now ready to play.

Playing the Shady Pets Game

On your turn you start by drawing a card from the deck. Now you can either play an action card or place a pet card on the table face up for everyone to see and draw an extra action car into your hand. If you learned anything during your turn, mark off the information on your score sheet.

If on your turn you want to guess at any of the mystery animals, you need to announce it at the start of your turn. You will say “the shady cat is green 2”. Now, if any other player has that card, he will place it face up on the table for everyone to see. You now subtract the mystery card’s point value from your score. You also lose your next turn.

On the other hand, if no one has that card, you are allowed to look at the card in the secret envelope for that animal category. If you guessed correctly, you win points. How many points depends on which pet it is.

For the first mystery pet solved, you get 5 points. The second one is worth 10 points, the third 15 points and the 4^th 20 points.

The Action Cards

On your turn you can play one action card. These cards range from drawing extra cards into your hand, sharing cards with other players, and forcing other players to give you cards from their hands.  There are two re-action cards. There is a farcical card that allows you to copy the top card of the stack. This works when one player plays an action, say to do a sneak peak, and you play the facial card, then you also get to do the sneak peek.

The no way card allows you to make the player’s action have no effect. For example, if a player has played an ambush card where they get to steal cards from you, you can play the No Way card and won’t have to give them a card.

Winning Shady Pets

The player with the most points when all the mystery pets have been discovered is the winner. For a longer game, you can play until one player reaches 50 points.

What We Like

First, the theme of the game is super fun. Who doesn’t love animals wearing sunglasses? Next, the addiction of the action cards to the classic mystery game is fun and fresh. It’s great for younger players who might miss the more challenging aspects of a game like clue. We also like that there is more than one mystery to solve during the game. The quality is top notch.

As a second level, you can go to the Shady Pets website and learn the animals that are featured in the game which is a nice touch.

What We Don’t Like

The major problem we have with this game is that the reptile category is labeled with the color yellow and the cats are green. This seems like a small issue but when your brain is trained that reptiles are green it can cause confusion. We’ve had to stop several times to correct a mistaken card given.

Next, the point system seems a little…unfair. Basically, you have to win the last mystery pet to win. In all honestly, we haven’t played the longer version where you have to get to 50 points to win so this might be the solution to that.

I was surprised that there a card called Wild Ass. It’s a very powerful card in the game but the name isn’t what you normally see in a family game. Of course it’s referring to a donkey as shown on the card. On their website, you can print a fix for it and tape it over the card. However, I think that it would make the cards harder to shuffle and might not last. Personally, we don’t have a problem with it but our kids are teens (and have heard much worse at school).

Last, the rules about the facial card are a little confusing. We had a big discussion mid game to figure out how to use it. Once we figured it out it was fine. The rules just need to be a little clearer.

Should You Add Shady Pets to Your Family Game Shelf?

If you have grade school ages kids who love mysteries and animals then this is a must play game. For everyone else, this game is cute and fun and a nice spin on the classic who done it game. It’s also a good introduction to games with action cards like Exploding Kittens and Abandon All Artichokes. The box is a small one so it won’t take up much room on the shelf. With all that, we would recommend adding Shady Pets to your Family Game Shelf.

To get your copy of Shady Pets, shop here. You can also get expansion packs like their holiday one. There is also a version for 17 plus that our family would love to try out. Shop all things Shady Pets here. Canadians can shop all things Shady Pets here.

If you’re looking for more sleuthing fun, check out Unsolved Cases files here, Mystery Train here and Mafia Murder. Be sure to check our Family Game Shelf shop for tons of fun with seasonal and original games like our Whacky Putt mini golf dice game and our line of escape room kits!

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