🥄 How to play Spoons

Easy rules, to read aloud 🔊

1. Put the spoons in the middle, one less than the number of players.
2. Everyone gets four cards.
3. Pass one card to the left and pick up the one from the right.
4. Try to get four cards with the same number.
5. When you do, take a spoon.
6. Then everyone grabs a spoon, gently.
7. No spoon? You get a letter.

The full rules

1. Take out one set of four matching cards for each player, like four aces and four kings, and put the rest of the deck away. Five players use five sets, which is 20 cards.
2. Place the spoons in the middle of the table where everyone can reach, one fewer spoon than there are players.
3. Shuffle and deal four cards to each player.
4. All at the same time, everyone passes one card they do not want face down to the player on their left, then picks up the card passed from their right. Keep passing in a steady rhythm.
5. When you hold four cards of the same rank, take a spoon. You may do it sneakily.
6. As soon as anyone sees a spoon go, they grab one too. The player left without a spoon loses the round.
7. That player takes the next letter of S-P-O-O-N-S. A player who spells the whole word is out, and you remove one spoon and one set of cards for the next round.

How to win: Keep playing rounds until only one player has not spelled SPOONS. That player wins.

Tips

• Use plastic or wooden spoons, stay in your seat, and grab with one hand only.
• Keep one eye on your cards and one eye on the spoons.
• Choose the number you have the most of and pass the others along.

What it practises

collecting sets, watching closely, quick decisions.

Other ways to play

• Pig. Play with no spoons. When you get four of a kind, quietly touch your nose. The last player to copy you is the pig.
• Tongue. Instead of grabbing a spoon, quietly stick out your tongue. The last player to notice gets a letter.
• P-I-G. Spell the short word PIG instead of SPOONS for a quicker game.