How to play Happy Families - Exploring Ireland card game

"Happy Families - Exploring Ireland" is an educational game that explores the myths, legends, traditions, and culture of Ireland.

It’s a new variation on the classic Happy Families card game but with a unique cultural twist aiming to engage both the young and the young at heart, drawing out the giggles and competition in all of us while fine tuning observation skills and sharpening those memory muscles.

How to play Happy Families Exploring Ireland

There are 6 cards in each family set and the aim of the game is to collect as many complete 6 card families as you can.

Shuffle the deck and deal 6 cards to each player, place the remaining cards in the centre draw pile.

Players look at their cards but do not show them to others. The player to the left of the dealer goes first, then play proceeds clockwise direction.

On your turn you ask 1 other player for a specific card, but you must already have at least one card from that family.
For example: “From the mythology family, I would like Queen Maeve”. If the asked player has that card, they must hand it over and you take another turn.

If the asked player does not have that card in their hand they say: “Dig!” You then must draw 1 card from the top of the draw pile.

If you draw the card you had just asked for, show it and take another turn, otherwise your turn is over.

When a player collects all 6 cards of the same family, they immediately remove those cards from their hand and place them grouped together face up in front of them.

If a player runs out of cards in their hand they continue playing on their next turn by taking a card from another player of their choice.

When the deck runs out of cards, play continues until all the families have been collected.
The winner is the player who collects the most families.