Puppy Pile from University Games is a fast-paced collecting game with the most energetic thing to collect: puppies! Its creator is Sami Back, won the National Game Design Contest held by Otis College of Art and Design and sponsored by University Games for this game. The winning nature shows with clear, quick gameplay that will make Puppy Pile a family favorite.
Collecting Puppies
A game of Puppy Pile goes through three rounds. Each round, a stack of 50 puppy cards are spread out face-up across the table. At the sound of “Go!”, players grab cards, racing to get as many as possible to their area before the last card is grabbed. The round will usually last only seconds as players go wild grabbing cards and herding their pups. Players will also have to keep an eye out for the special cards: Angry Kitty and Golden Squeaker. Kitties are negative points, so they may be left on the table, but a player who accidentally grabs one must keep it. Golden Squeakers are bonus points, making them a great target no matter what puppies a player collects.
When the round is over, players sort the cards they collected into piles by the seven breeds: Akita, Beagle, Corgi, French Bulldog, German Shepherd, Poodle, and Retriever. They then count each to show which pile has the most puppies in it. This will be guidance in the coming rounds for what they will want to collect since, at the end of the game, the player with the most puppies in their largest pile wins.
Counting and Recounting
The key to Puppy Pile is balancing the frenzy of grabbing puppy cards and the calculation of which puppy cards will be most beneficial at the end. With the winner being determined by the largest single pile, players will have to not only think of what puppies they have collected so far but also what puppies have been collected by their opponents. Since each round is different in the shuffled deck, players will also need to estimate how many puppies have already come into play and what might be left to come in future rounds. For example, if a player collects a lot of Retrievers in the first round, they might want to aim for getting as many more as they can in the coming rounds to try to win the game. But, if other players also collected several Retrievers, that could mean that nearly all the Retrievers have been collected, and they might be better off focusing on collecting another breed.
Another strategy in Puppy Pile is blocking. If an opponent has a lot of Poodles, a player might try to block them from winning by collecting some Poodles before their opponent gets to them. It can be a risk since it will take time to grab those Poodles, time that the player will not have to collect their own breed.
Bringing Everyone Together
Puppy Pile is a collecting card game for two to four players aged six and up. With lightning-quick rounds, it readily holds the attention of younger players. With different potential strategies and counting puppies that are still to come in the next round, it makes for a fun challenge for older players, too. Putting it all together, Puppy Pile makes for a great warm-up game or even a game night feature with strong replay ability.