Looking for specific Penguin Panic rules? | Setup | Playing the Game | Penguin Cards | Winning the Game | Variant Games |
Setup
- Separate the cards by their backs. Shuffle the two sets of cards separately.
- Place the Penguin Panic cards face down in the middle of the table.
- Place the Ice Breaker cards face down next to the Penguin Panic cards leaving enough room between for another card. Take the top card from the Ice Breaker deck and place it face up on top of the rest of the cards.
- Choose a player to start the game.
How to Play Penguin Panic
To start each turn the current player flips over the top card from the Penguin Panic deck. They will place the card between the two decks on the table.
All of the players will look at the card to determine what action they will try to complete this turn. If the card is one of the special penguin cards, the players will take a special action. See the Penguin Cards section below for details. Otherwise the players will have to try and come up with a word that matches the card. There are two different types of cards which you will handle differently.
Word cards feature a word on them. One of the letters in the word will be blue and one will be red. Look at the back of the next card in the Penguin Panic deck. The circle on the card determines what color letter you will use from the current card. For example the circle on the next card is red, you will use the red letter from the current card. The players race to say a word that starts with the corresponding colored letter.
Number cards have a number on them. The number tells you what letter the word you come up with has to starts with. For example a card has a two on it. Two starts with a “T”, so players have to come up with a word that starts with “T”
When coming up with a word, you must follow a few rules:
- You cannot say the word on the face-up card.
- Names and numbers are not allowed.
- You may not use a word used in a previous round that scored a point(s).
The first player to say a word that matches the card, scores a point. They will collect the face-up card, and place it in front of themselves.
Penguin Cards
Whenever a Penguin card is flipped over, the players will have to take a special action. Players will also have to reference the top card from the Ice Breaker deck, and the color of the circle on the top card from the Penguin Panic deck.
When you win a Penguin card turn, you take the Penguin Panic card and the top card from the Ice Breaker deck. You will flip the top card on the Ice Breaker card, so the top card is visible for the next time a Penguin card is revealed.
Repeat
When a repeat card is flipped over, you will will look for the letter on the Ice Breaker card that matches the circle from the top card on the Penguin Panic deck. When you come up with a word that uses the corresponding letter, you have to say the word twice.
The first player to repeat a correct word, wins the turn. They will take the Repeat card and the top Ice Breaker card as their reward for winning the turn. They end up scoring two points this turn.
Slap
All of the players race to slap the card. The first player to slap the card takes it along with the top card from the Ice Breaker deck. The winner scores two points.
Red & Blue
Look for the color of the circle on the top card of the Penguin Panic deck. This color indicates what letter from the Ice Breaker card is the first letter in the word you have to create. You also have to use the other colored letter in your word though. For example the circle is blue. You have to use the blue letter as the first letter in the word you create. Somewhere in the word though, you also have to use the red letter.
The first player to create a matching word, takes both the flipped over card and the top card from the Ice Breaker pile.
3 Words
Look at the color of the circle and the corresponding letter on the Ice Breaker card. The players race to say words that start with the corresponding letter from the Ice Breaker card. The first player to say three qualifying words, wins the turn. They take the current card and the Ice Breaker card.
Winning Penguin Panic
The game ends when all of the cards from the Penguin Panic pile are played. Each player counts up how many cards they collected during the game. The player that collected the most cards, wins the game.
Should there be a tie, shuffle the cards. The tied players will play five cards. The player that collects the most cards, wins the game.
Variant Games
Teams
You can choose to play Penguin Panic in teams. For each round one player from each team is chosen to play for their team. Whichever chosen player is first to complete the required action, wins the card for their team. The team that scores the most points, wins the game.
Head to Head
Choose one of the players at the start of the game to be the “Head Penguin”. For the first turn, the Head Penguin faces off against the player on their left. That player is referred to as the “Challenger Penguin”. These two players are the only players that will compete for the next card that is flipped over. The Head Penguin flips over the next card. Whoever wins the challenge takes the card as a point.
If the Head Penguin wins the challenge, they will compete against the player to the left of the Challenger Penguin for the next card. Whenever the Challenger Penguin wins a card, they become the new Head Penguin. The player on their left becomes the next Challenger Penguin.
The game continues until all of cards are played. Whichever player collects the most cards, wins the game.
Elimination
In this variant game, you will use the rules from the Head to Head game.
Instead of taking a card when you win a turn, the loser takes the card as a penalty. Once a player acquires their ninth penalty card, they are eliminated from the game. The last remaining player wins the game.
Should you lose a Penguin round, you take both cards for a two point penalty.
Components
- 100 Penguin Panic Cards
- 10 Ice Breaker Cards
- Instructions
Year: 2020 | Publisher: S&S Capital LLC | Designer: Eric Stephenson, Lonnie Sackett
Genres: Card, Family, Party, Word
Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-10 | Length of Game: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.