Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

 

I'm not a game manufacturer, or even a game creator. But I know something about game boxes. If the box looks fun or interesting, it will get my attention, and the kids'. I guess it's like eating - you eat with your eyes first. I have had games where I have left the box in my cart and brought only the pieces up to the table because I didn't think the box gave off a very fun vibe. Like this one. With this name, and the above design, I would not even be curious enough to look inside. Maybe that is why they changed the box above, to the box below. There is still something about the name that is kind of ho hum to me, but at least they added some graphics and colors. It got my attention.

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza reminds me of a game called Slap Jack, something that we played as kids. When you find Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza on Amazon, they have a video of adults playing, but I have a hard time thinking of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza as a game that will keep the attention of adults because of its simplicity.

Did you notice the repetition of the name in the above paragraph? Get used to it, you're going to hear it a lot more as you play the game. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza consists of 64 cards with eight different designs - 11 each of taco, cat, goat, cheese, pizza, and 3 each of gorilla, narwhal, and groundhog.

Object:

Be the first person to get rid of all your cards.

Set up:

Shuffle the cards and deal them evenly, face-down, between the players. 

Play:

Players take turns placing a card, but all players play when it is time to slap. Play moves quickly. The first player takes a card from their deck, turns it over quickly and puts it in the middle of the table while saying "taco". The next player quickly covers that card with theirs while saying "cat". The next person does the same while saying "goat". The game keeps going, with each player saying the next word in the name of the game. If at any time the card that is put down matches the word that is said, all must quickly slap the deck. The person who was the last to slap must take all the cards and place them on the bottom of their deck. That person now starts up again by placing a card and saying "taco" (starting over with the game name). If one of the special cards come up, you must do this before you can slap the deck:

• Narwhal - All players must slap their hands above their head to form a horn.
  
• Gorilla - All players must beat their chest
  
• Groundhog - All players knock on the table with both hands.
  

Play continues until someone runs out of cards. That person must continue to slap stacks until they are the first person's hand down on a stack. Then they win. In the meantime, if they are last to slap, they have to join back in the game, putting down cards to get rid of them. 

Try this:

• Use this game to start a session if you are looking for deep pressure input to the hands, such as before a writing task.
• Practice saying the game name several times until everyone has it down. If necessary, start slow by just naming two, then when that is learned, name three, and so on.
• Play a game where you only say three or four words, such as taco, cat, pizza. Take out the extra cards or leave them in, it won't matter either way.
  
• Work on hand skills by practicing shuffling and dealing cards.
• Deal the cards by holding the deck in your non-dominant hand and pushing them off the top, one at a time, with your thumb. Pick the card up with the dominant hand to pass it to the individual.
• Smoosh. If you cannot hold and shuffle the cards efficiently, place them on the table, face down, and push them around in a big pile, smooshing, for about a minute to mix them. Then gather them up and deal. Or have everyone pick their own cards.
  
• Use the deck to practice sorting cards from a pile. Pick any two cards, let's say cat and taco, and remove all of those two images from the deck. Set the rest of the deck aside. Shuffle the cards of those two images and place them, face-up, in a stack in front of the individual. Place a face-up taco on the left and a face-up cat on the right. Player separates and lifts the top card from the stack, without toppling the stack and sorts it to the correct side. Keep going until the whole deck has been sorted into the two piles. 
  
• Work on auditory memory, visual discrimination, in hand manipulation, sequencing, processing speed, executive functioning skills, manual dexterity, play and leisure exploration and participation, socialization skills, process skills

In the box: 64 cards